MS
THE PUBLIC GOOD SHOULD EVER BE PREFERRED TO PRIVATE ADVANTAGE
Volume 4.
Lincolnton, North Carolina, Friday Morning, September 1, 1848.
Number 30.
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED WEEKLY, BY
THOM AS J. KCCLES.
Tkrms. Two dollars pei annum, payable
ii advance ; $2 CO if payment be delayed 3
months. A discount to clubs of 3 or more.
Advertiserrents willbe conspicuously insert
ed, at f 1 pel square (14 linea) for the first, and
25 cents for each subsequent insertion.
OREGON TERRITORY
The Washington papers contain the
Message addressed by President Polk
to the House of Representatives onMon-
day morning, on eigning the Oregon
Territorial Bill. The Message, it will
Tbe recollected, was not read in either
House. It is as follows:
Washington, August 14, IS IS.
To the House of Representatives of the
United States:
When the President has given his of
ficial sanction to a bill which has pas
sed Congress, usage requites that he
shall notify the House in which it origi
nated of that fact. The mode of giving
this notification has been by an oral
message, delivered by his private Secre
tary. Having this day approved and signed
an act entitled "An act to establish
the Territorial Government of Oregon,"
I deem it proper, under the existing cir
cumstances, to communicate the fact in
a more solemn form. The deeply in
teresting and protracted discussions
which have taken place in both Houses
of Congress, and the absoibing interest
which the tubject has excited throughout
the country, justify, in my judgment,
this Jeparture from the form ol notice
observed in other cases. la this com
tnnnication with a co-ordinate branch
of the government, made proper by the
considerations referred to, 1 shall frank
ly and without reserve express the rea
son which have constrained me not to
withhold my sigrrture from the bill to
establish a govt nent over Oregon
even though the twoTerritories of New
Mexico and Calitornia are to be left for
lie Dresent without overnments. None
doubt that it is proper to establish
a'government in Oiegon. Indeed it
has been two long delayed. I have
tnado itoeated recommendations to
Congress to th'i9 e fleet. The petitions
f the people of that distant region
have been presented to the Government,
and ouirht not to be. disregarded. To
give to them a regularly organized go
vernment and the protection of our laws.
which as citizens of the United States
they claim, is a high duly on or part,
and one which we are bound to perlorm
unless there be controlling reasons to
prevent it.
In the progress of all Governments
questions of such transcendent impor
tance occasionally arise as to cast in
the shade all those of a mere party char
acter. But one such question can now
be agitated in this country; and this
may endanger our glorious Union, the
source of our greatness and all our po
litical blessings. This question is
slavery. With the slave-holding States
this does not embrace merely the rights
of holding property, however valuable,
but it ascends far higher, and involves
the domestic peace and security of every
family.
The fathers of the constitution the
wise and patriotic men who laid the
f foundations of our institutions foresee
ing the danger from this quarter, acted
in a spirit of compromise and mutual
concession on this dangerous and deli
cate subject, and their wisdom ought
to be the guide of their successors.
Whilst they left to' the States cxslu
sively the question of domestic slavery,
within their respective limits, they pro
vided that slaves who might escape into
other States not recognising the institu
lion of slavery, shall be "delivered up
on the claim of the party to whom such
service or labor may be due."
Upon this foundation the matter res
ted until the .Missouri question arose.
In December 1819 application was
made to Congress by the people of the
Missouri Territory for admission into
the Union as a State. The discussion
upon the subject to Congress involved
the question of slavery, and was prose
cuted with such violence as to produce
excitements alarming to every patriot in
the Union. But the good genius of
conciliation which presided at the birth
of our institutions finally prevailed, and
the Missouri compromise was adopted.
The eighth section of the act ofCongress
of the Cih of March, 1320, "to autho
rize the people of the Missouri Terri
tory to form a Constitution end State
Governtner &c., provides.
"That in all that territory ceded by
Trance to the United Stairs, under the
U3iue of Louisiana, which bea noith of
limits of the State contemplated by this
act, slavery and invoiuniary servitude,
otherwise than in punishment of crimes,
whereof the parlies shall have been duly
convicted, shall be, and is hereby fore
ver prohibited: Provided, always, That
any person escaping into the same from
whom labor or service is lawfully
claimed in any State or Territory of the
United States, such fugitive may be
lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the
person claiming his or her labor or ser
vice as aforesaid."
This compromise had the effect of
calming the troubled waves and resto
ring good will and peace throughout the
States of the Union.
The Missouri question had excited in
tense agitation ot the public mind,
and threatened lo divide the country in
to geographical parties, signaling the
feelings of attachment which each por
tion of our Union should bear to every
other. The compromise allayed the
excitement, tranquilized the popular
mind, and restored confidence and fra
ternal feelings. Its authors were hailed
as public benefactors.
I do not doubt that a similar adjust
ment of the questions which now agitate
the public mind would produce the
same happy results. If the legislation
of Congress on the subject of the other
I erritones shall not be adopted in a
spirit of conciliation and compromise, it
is impossible that the country can be
satisfied, or that the most disastnous
consequences shall fail to ensue.
When 1 exas was admitted into the
Union, the same spirit of compromise
which guided our predecessors in the
admission of Missouri, a quarter of a
century before, prevailed without any
serious opposition. The joint resolution
for annexing I exas to the United btates,
approved March the first, one thousand
eight hundred and forty -five, provides
that "such States as 'may be formed out
of that portion of said territory lying
south of thirty -six degrees thirty mm
utes north latitude, commonly known
as the Missouri compromise line, shall
be admitted into the Union with or with
out slavery, as the people of each Sta'e
asking admission may desire ; and in
such State or States as shall be formed
out of said territory north of the M issou
ri compromise line, slavery or involun
tary servitude (except for crime) shall
be prohibited.
The territory of Oregon lies far north
of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, the
Missouri and Texas compromise line.
lis southern boundary is the parallel of
42, leaving the intermediate distance
to be three hundred and thirty geogra
phical miles.
4 degrees of latitude,the question wheth
er, in the language of the Texas com
promise, they " shall be admitted (as a
State) into the Union with or without
slavery." Is this a question to be pushed
to such extremities by exciting partisans,
on the cne side or the other, in regard
to our newly-acquired distant possessions
on the Pacific, as to endanger the Union
of thirty glorious States which ) consti
tute our confederacy ? I have an abi
ding confidence that tho sober reflection
and sound patriotism of the people of all
the btates will bring them to the conclu
sion that the dictate of wisdom is tofoU
low the example cf those who have gone
before us, and settle this ; dangerous
question on the Missouri compromise,
or 6ome other equitable compromise
which would respect the rights of all,
and prove satisfactory to the different
portiot.s of the Union.
Holding as a sacred trust the Execuv
tive authority for the whole Union, and
bound to guard the rights of all, 1 should
be constrained, by a sense of duty, to
withhold my official sanction from any
measure which would conflict with these
important objects.
1 cannot more appropriately close this
message than by quoting from the fare-
well address of t he Father of hisCountry.
His warning voice can never be heard in
vain by the American people. If the
spirit of prophecy had distinctly present
ed to his view, more than a half century
ago, the present distracted condition of
his country, the language which he then
employed could not have been more
appropriate than it is to the present
occasion. He declared :
" The unity of government which
constitues you one people is also dear to
you. It is justly so; for it is a main
pillar in the edifice of your real inde
pendence, the support of your tranquility
" Many cf the citizens of the South
wished him to veto the bill. Most of the
Northern citizens hoped that he would
consent to extend the restriction of this
bill to the whole extent of our newly
acquired territories of California and
New Mexico. The President has done
neither. He has signed the bill reluc
tantly, from a stern sense of duty to
wards Oregon, and from a respect to the
principles of the Missouri Compromise ;
but he has not stopped here. Knowing
and feeling that this question of slavery
is by far the most important which has
engaged the attention of hia countrymen
that it stands ahead of the rest in diffi
culty, in delicacy and in importance
that it is the only one which can seri
ously distract tbe people and shake the
Union itself, he has felt it to bo his duty
boldly to take a new course, and to send
in a message along with the bill. In
tht3 masterly paper, firm as it is concili
atory, and dictated by the highest sense
of public duty, he comes forward with
all frankness 10 state that he must with
hold his constitutional sanction from
every bill in relation to New Mexico and
Upper Calitornia which is not framed
in the same spirit of compromise in
which the constitution was founded, and
which does not provide for the rights of
every section o&our country. Had the
present bill extended the Wilmot Provi
so to New Mexico and California, ha
would clearly have vetoed the bill. Wo
have no hesitation in expressing our
firm belief that, in like manner he will
veto any bill which indiscriminately ex
tends the Wilmot Proviso to these new
acquisitions. In fact such is the express
meaning and intention of the important
message now before us.
VOTE OFTHE N.Y. REGIMENT
of returned Volunteers at Fort IIstnnN
ton, August 1st?
Officers. Privates.
Cass. Taylor. Cass. Tayto
Comp. A. 2 2 37 13
B. 3 1 46 4
C. 2 2 39 11
D. 1 3 41 9
E. 2 2 35 15
F. 2 2 40 15
G- 1 4 2? 11
H. 1 3 33 13
I. 4 0 40 2
K. 4 0 48 2
22 18 405 89
18 89
The President's Protest. We pub
lish the President's Message on return
t a i cj
at home, your peace abroad, of your ing with his signature to the House of
safety, of your prosperity, of that very
liberty which you so highly prize. But,
as it is easy to foresee that, from diffe
rent quarters much pains will be taken,
many artifices employed, to weaken in
your minds the conviction of this truth
as this is the point in your political
fortress against which the batteries of
internal and external enemies will be
moat constantly and actively - (though
often covertly and insidiously) directed
it is of infinite moment that you should
properly estimate the immense value of
your national union to your collective
and individual happiness ; that you
should cherish a cordial, habitual and
immovable attachment to it ; accustom
ing yourselves to think and to speak of
it as a palladium of your political safety
and prosperity ; watching for its pres-
Representatives, the bill for the estab
shment ot z lerntorial Government in
Oregon. It is, we believe, the second
message cf the sort since the origin of
val of a bill with a prctestando. Under j Gen Taylor was a whig
expected that the President should refuse ; . . f
his signature to the bill ; and certainly, .r "7 . uw
a, Tua r a:...:-. l -..'.. fa letter be taken from the name of the
nominee, it leaves "ass" 1
retorts, that the whig nominee
makes an ass of himself every tiroe Jie
writes a letter
And it is because the provisions of j ervation with jealous anxiety : discoun
this bill are not inconsistent with the
terms of the Missouri compromise, if
extended from the Rio Grande to the
Pacific ocean, that I have not felt at
liberty to withhold my sanction. Had
it embraced territories south of the
compromise, the question presented for
my consideration would have been of a
tar different character, and my action
upon it must have corresponded with
my convictions.
Ought we now to disturb the Missouri
and Texas compromises ? Ought we,
at this late day, in attempting to annul
what ha3 been so Ion-; established and
acquiesced in, to excite sectional divisions j
and jealousies ; to alienate the people cf
different portions o! the U nion Irom each
other, and to endinger the existence ot
the Union itself ?
From the adoption of the Federal
Constitution, during a period of sixty
years, our progress as a nation ha3 been
without example in the annals of history.
Under the protection of a bountiful Pro.
vtdence, we have advanced with giant
strides in the career of wealth and pros
perity. We have enjoyed the blessings
of freedom to a greater extent than any
other peeple, ancient or modern, under a
Government which has preserved order
and secured to every citizen life, liberty
and propcrtv. iVc have become an
example for imitation to the whole world.
I he friends of freedom in every clime
point with admiration to our institutions
Shall we, then, at the moment when the
people of Europe are devoting all their
energies in the attempt to assimilate
their institutions lo our own, peril all
our blessings by despising the lessons of
experience and refusing to tread in th
footsteps our fathers have trodden!
And for what cause would we endanger
our Morions Union? The Missouri
compromise contains a proniouion o
slavery throughout all that vast region
extending twelve and a half degrees a
long the Pacific, from the parallel of
thirty-six depress, and east from that
ocean to and beyond the summit of the
Rocky Mountains. Why, then, should
our institutions be endangered because
it is proposed to submit to the people of
lenancing whatever may suggest even a
suspicion that it can in any event be a
bandoned ; and indignantly frowning
upon the first dawning of every attempt
lo alieniate any portion of our country
from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred
ties which now liak together the vari
ous parts.
" Fur this you have every inducement
of sympathy and interest. Citizens by
birth or choice of a common country, that
country has a right to concentrate your
affections. The name of American,
which belongs to you in your national
capacity, must always exalt the just
pride of patriotism more than any ap
pellation derived Irom local discrimina
tions. With slight shades of difference
you have the same religion, manners
habits, and political principles, lou
have in a common cause fought and tn
umphed together. The independence
and liberty you possess are the work of
joint council and joint efforts, of com
mon dangers, sufferings, and success
With such powerlui and obvious motives
to union affecting all parts of our country
while experience shall not have demon
stratcd its impractibihty, there will al
ways be reason to distiust the patriotism
of those who in any quarter may endea
vor to weaken its bands.
"in contemplating the causes which
may disturb our Union, it occurs as mat
ter of seious concern that ?ny ground
should have been lurnished for charac
terizing parties by geographical discrim
inations, Northern anaSoutkern, Afan
tic and fVestern, whence designing men
may endeavor to excite belief that there
is a real difference of local interests and
views. One of the expedients of party
lo acquire iniluence within particular
districts i3 to misrepresent the opinions
and aims of other districts. You can not
shield yourselves too mush against the
jealousies aud heart-burnings whicl
spring irom these misrepresentations. J
14 m fur Ca, SI 6 Cmam m.
Where the Soldiers cirr.c from.- On
a call from the War Department, it is
made to appear, that of the Volunteer
seldiers that were engaged in the Mexi
can campaign, there ere 43,213 men
from the Southern states, and 22,136
from the Northern Accordingly, the
South, on every principle of justice and
fairness, should have two-thirds of the
conquered territory, for the introduction
therein of its peculiar institutions, tf she
so desired. Instead of that, however,
she is likely to be chiselled out of the
whole, through Northern fanaticism up
held by Southern parlizatis, such as A.
II. Stephens, of Georgia, and several o
thers of tho sume kidney Muscogee
(Geo.) Democrat.
Taylor's Politics. TheBelfsst Jour
nal gives the following conclusive evi
dence that the Philadelphia Convention
nominated a whig. The question as te
Taylor's politics may notv be considered
at rest i "Mother Hopkins told me that
she heard Green's wife say that John
Glane's wife tcld her that Capt Wood's
wife thought Col Hopkins' wife believed
tiaf -! rt Mice r.amn rttmnnA that Ram
the Government-President Tyler hav , Dunham8 wile hadrlold Spalding's .wife
ing set the i only precedent for this appro- j lbalBhe heard Granny Cook say ah at
after the stormy discus3ions,threatening " " "utr b
still worse slorma for the future, that mocratic
marked its progress, he could not very eQI-or r
well pass by the occasion to indicate his
opinions, and try to exert the influence
of his high position. I he President lays
great s'.ress on the Missouri Comprom
ise, renewed again in the case of lexas,
nd says jn very plain terms that, if any
portion of thi3 territory were to the south
of that line.he should interpose the veto;
and further, that, wmle he is President,
no bill excluding slavery from the region
South of 36 30 can receive his approval.
The justice and the importance to tho
peace and harmony cf the Union of
Compromising tho Slave Q.uestion he
enforces with much earnestness. The
tone and sentiments cf tho message are
highly pairiouc and commendable.
Mercury.
From the Democratic Flag.
Bless vs just listen a moment.- Would
anv Doav believe it A ter accenting
the Philadelphia Whig nomination, and
praising its patriotic constituency,"
tjen laylor has actually written to Mr.
Lippard, ot Philadelphia, as follows :
Baton Rouge, La. July 24.
Dear Sir Your letter of the 5ih inst.
asking of me a line or two in regard to
my position as a candidate for the Pres
idency, hae been dulv received.
In reply, I have to 9ay that I am not
a party candidate, and if elected shall not
be the President of a party, but the Pre
sident of the whole people.
I am, dear sir, with high sespect and
regard, your obedient servant,
Z. TAYLOR.
Laconic, truly! And Gen Taylor not
a party candidate 1 'Veil, well, well ?
Won t this be news up in Stanly county,
and all along there? Who knows but he
will yet come out a democrat?
C7 Hold vs, or we shall cert tinly
"BUST."-Since writing the above, things
have positively come to light, as we pre
dicted. Silence! Compose yourselves
for something decidedly wealthy in the
candidox'a line. Here it is from the
Charleston News (a Taylor paper) and
addressed by Gen Taylor to a citizen of
lhat place :
Mr. Adams and Gen. Taylor. The
North Carolina Register contains s let
ter from the Hos. Trios. L. Clingman,
in which he statea that the late John
Quincy Adams was ftvcrable (o the
nomination and election of Gen. Taylor.
Straiigely enough, Mr. Clingman pub
lishes this letter as an argument for his
support by Southern msn.
Col. Benton. The telegraphic des
patch in regard to the difficulty between
this Senator and Judge Butler led us.and
most probably our readers, to the conclu
sion that the affair had been adjusted,
which cf course, impiifd that Col. Ben
ton had made the amende for hie ruffian-
like attack in the Senate. This wo
learn is a mistake. The matter is end
ed in consequence of Col. Benton's fail
ure to reply to Judge Butler's invitation
to a meeting, though notified on tho
third day xhat unless some answer was
given before 5 o'clock that evening, he
would be considered as having declined
the meeting.
So much for Col. Benton's anxiety for
"indemnity." Charleston Mercury.
Popping the Question. Some writer
who takes the soubriquet of Jtremy
Short, thus giving his experience on
thissubject. Jeremy has been "about,"
and is "one of "em," decidedly:
"It will pop itself. nonsense
thu3 lending your young folks a helping
hind lake tny word for it, all they
wish is to be left alone and if there be
any confounded youngsters about, let
them be put in bed or drowned, it don't
matter a fig w hich. If lovers havn't
no tongues, havn't they ye, gad! and
where is tire simpleton that can't tell
whether a girl loves him, without a word
un her pari? No one adores modesty
more than I do, but the most oelicat
nngel of them all won't disguise her lit
tle heart when yotfre alone wrth her.
A blush, a eigh, a studied avoidance ot
. i i :
you in company, one a low, uirioing,
They lend lo render alien to each other i l,'C nomination of many primaiy acni
"1 have accepfed the nomination of j irernl:tjnfr cf the voice at timt s, w hm no
the Philadelphia Lonventiou, hs well hs
those who ought to be bound together by
fraternal affection."
JAMES K. POLK.
The ' Washinzlon Union,
speaking
the remainder ol our newiv-acquired of the Oreeon lerntorial i5ill and tne
territory, Iving south of thirty-six de. President's message, pub'ished above,!
one c!te s by, lell n're than the smil
of a thousand con-iettc. Ab'ynu needn't.
bhes gotten tip in variuu bCi;tions l the j Amy, hhahb your hearf, you H no d obt
thirty 6ix decrees anJ thirty minutes
north htiuide, not included within the rees thirty minutes embracing less than j 8av; :
Union, in some instances irrespective ol
party : and would have accepted the no
mination of the Baltimore Convention,
had it been tendered on the same terms."
That letter, as somebody once oo-J
naturcdly said Mr Clay's mouth.
speaks for i'self !
be sr on enough but tf )ou fall in love,
a? vou will, my word on it, the very
echo of one fo'tep will make your
heart flutter hkc a frghiened bird."
Rrincn.br thu Printer, and his works
shall the belter please tho. .