enforce the laws or the guarantees of the constitution of the United States in reference to any such state. I utterly repudiate the idea, in terms as emphatic as I can employ, that those laws are not to be enforced, or those guarantees complied with, because the president may believe that the right of suffrage, or any other great popular right, is either too restricted or too broadly enlarged. I also with equal strength, resist the idea that it falls within the executive competency to decide in controversies of the nature of that which existed in Rhode Island, on which side is the majority of the people, or as to the extent of the rights of a mere numerical majority. For the executive to assume such a power, would be to assume a power of the most dangerous character. Under such assumptions, the states of this Union would have no security for peace or tranquillity, but might be converted into the mere instruments of executive will. Actuated by selfish purposes, he might become the great agitator, fomenting assaults upon the state constitutions, and declaring the majority of to-day to be the minority of to-morrow; and the minority, in its turn, the majority, before whose decrees the established order of things in the state should be subverted. Revolution, civil commotion, and bloodshed, would be inevitable consequences. The provision in the constitution intended for the security of the states, would thus be turned into the instrument of their destruction. The president would become, in fact, the great constitutionmaker for the states, and all power would be vested in his hands.

When, therefore, the governor of Rhode Island, by his letter of the 4th of April, 1842, made a requisition upon the executive for aid to put down the late disturbances, I had no hesitation in recognising the obligations of the executive to furnish such aid, upon the occurrence of the contingency provided for by the constitution and laws. My letter of the 11th of April, in reply to the governor's letter of the 4th, is herewith communicated; together with all correspondence which passed at a subsequent day, and the letters and documents mentioned in the schedule hereunto annexed. From the correspondence between the executive of the United States and that of Rhode Island, it will not escape observation, that, while I regarded it as my duty to announce the principles by which I should govern myself, in the contingency of an armed interposition on the part of this government being necessary to uphold the rights of the state of Rhode Island, and to preserve its domestic peace; yet, that the strong hope was indulged, and expressed, that all the difficulties would disappear before an enlightened policy of conciliation and compromise. In that spirit I addressed to Governor King the letter of the 7th of May, 1842, marked "private and confidential," and received his reply of the 12th of May, of the same year. The desire of the executive was, from the beginning, to bring the dispute to a termination without the interposition of the military power of the United States; and it will continue to be a subject of self-congratulation that this leading object of policy was finally accomplished. The executive resisted all entreaties, however urgent, to depart from this line of conduct. Information from private sources had led the executive to conclude that little else was designed by Mr. Dorr and his adherents than mere menace, with a view to intimidation. Nor was this opinion in any degree shaken until the 22d of June, 1842, when it was strongly represented, from reliable sources, as will be seen by reference to the documents herewith communicated, that preparations were making by Mr. Dorr, with a large force in arms, to invade the state; which force had been recruited in the neighboring states, and had been preceded by

the collection of military stores, in considerable quantities, at one or two points. This was a state of things to which the executive could not be indifferent. Mr. Dorr speedily afterward took up his headquarters at Chepachet, and assumed the command of what was reported to be a large force, drawn chiefly from voluntary enlistments made in the neighboring states. The executive could with difficulty bring himself to realize the fact that citizens of other states should have forgotten their duty to themselves and the constitution of the United States, and have entered into the highly reprehensible and indefensible course of interfering so far in the concerns of a sister state, as to have entered into plans of invasion, conquest, and revolution; but the executive felt it to be his duty to look minutely into the matter; and, therefore, the secretary of war was despatched to Rhode Island, with instructions (a copy of which is herewith transmitted), and was authorized, should a requisition be made upon the executive by the government of Rhode Island, in pursuance of law, and the invaders should not abandon their purpose, to call upon the gov ernors of Massachusetts and Connecticut for a sufficient number of militia at once to arrest the invasion, and to interpose such regular troops as could be spared from Fort Adams, for the defence of the city of Providence, in the event of its being attacked, as was strongly represented to be in contemplation. Happily, there was no necessity for either issuing the proclamation or the requisition, or for removing the troops from Fort Adams, where they had been properly stationed. Chepachet was evacuated, and Mr. Dorr's troops dispersed, without the necessity of the interposition of any military force by this government; thus confirming me in my early impressions, that nothing more had been designed, from the first, by those associated with Mr. Dorr, than to excite fear and apprehension, and thereby to obtain concessions from the constituted authorities, which might be claimed as a triumph over the existing government.

With the dispersion of Mr. Dorr's troops ended all the difficulties. A convention was shortly afterward called, by due course of law, to amend the fundamental law; and a new constitution, based on more liberal principles than that abrogated, was proposed and adopted by the people.

Thus the great American experiment of a change in government, under the influence of opinion, and not of force, has been again crowned with success; and the state and people of Rhode Island repose in safety under institutions of their own adoption, unterrified by any future prospect of necessary change, and secure against domestic violence or invasion from abroad. I congratulate the country upon so happy a termination of a condition of things which seemed, at one time, seriously to threaten the public peace. It may justly be regarded as worthy of the age and of the country in which we live.

VOL. II.-40

enforce the laws or the in reference to any sue'. emphatic as I can empl guarantees complied wit of suffrage, or any other broadly enlarged. I' within the executive co of that which existed : the people, or as to the For the executive to a the most dangerous cl Union would have no verted into the mere purposes, he might the state constitution nority of to-morrow whose decrees the subverted. Revol able consequences security of the st destruction. The

maker for the stat

When, therefor

of April, 1842, n the late disturba: the executive to provided for by 1 reply to the gove with all corres and documents correspondene. Rhode Island my duty to an contingency necessary to serve its d expressed, policy of e ernor Kin

dential," a. The desi to a tern United S that this tive resi conduct. clude tl

mere m

degree sented.

ments

Dorr, v been

!

levoting most of her energies to the raising of these productions, will an extensive market to the western states, in the important articles of pork, horses, mules, &c., as well as breadstuffs. At the same time, Southern and southwestern states will find, in the fact of annexation, ection and security to their peace and tranquillity, as well against all estic as foreign efforts to disturb them; thus consecrating anew the on of the states, and holding out the promise of its perpetual duration. Thus, at the same time that the tide of public prosperity is greatly ollen, an appeal, of what appears to the executive to be of an imposing, not of a resistless character, is made to the interests of every portion the country. Agriculture, which would have a new and extensive maropened for its produce-commerce, whose ships would be freighted th the rich productions of an extensive and fertile region—and the meanical arts, in all their various ramifications-would seem to unite in one niversal demand for the ratification of the treaty.

But important as these considerations may appear, they are to be regarded but secondary to others. Texas, for reasons deemed sufficient by herIf, threw off her dependence on Mexico, as far back as 1836, and consumated her independence by the battle of San Jacinto, in the same year; nce which period, Mexico has attempted no serious invasion of her tertory; but the contest has assumed features of a mere border war, charcterized by acts revolting to humanity. In the year 1836, Texas adopted her constitution, under which she had existed as a sovereign power ever since, having been recognised as such by many of the principal powers of the world; and contemporaneously with its adoption by a solemn vote of her people, embracing all her population but ninety-three persons, declared her anxious desire to be admitted into association with the United States, as a portion of their territory.

This vote, thus solemnly taken, has never been reversed; and now, by the action of her constituted authorities, sustained as it is by the popular sentiment, she reaffirms her desire for annexation. This course has been adopted by her without the employment of any similar measures on the part of this government. No intrigue has been set on foot to accomplish it. Texas herself wills it, and the executive of the United States, concurring with her, has seen no sufficient reason to avoid the consummation of an act esteemed to be so desirable by both. It can not be denied that Texas is greatly depressed in her energies, by her long-protracted war with Mexico.

Under these circumstances, it is but natural that she should seek for safety and repose under the protection of some stronger power; and it is equally so that her people should turn to the United States, the land of their birth, in the first instance, in the pursuit of such protection. She has often before made known her wishes; but her advances have, to this time, been repelled. The executive of the United States sees no longer any cause for pursuing such a course. The hazard of now defeating her wishes, may be of the most fatal tendency. It might lead, and most probably would, to such an entire alienation of sentiment and feeling, as would inevitably induce her to look elsewhere for aid, and force her either to enter into dangerous alliances with other nations, who, looking with more wisdom to their interests, would, it is fairly to be presumed, readily adopt such expedients; or she would hold out the proffer of discriminating duties in trade and commerce, in order to secure the necessary assistance. Whatever step she might adopt, looking to this object, would prove dis

TEXAS TREATY MESSAGE.

APRIL 22, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States :—

I TRANSMIT, herewith, for your approval and ratification, a treaty, which I have caused to be negotiated between the United States and Texas, whereby the latter, on the conditions therein set forth, has conveyed all its right of separate and independent sovereignty and jurisdiction to the United States. In taking so important a step, I have been influenced by what appeared to me to be the most controlling considerations of public policy and the general good; and in having accomplished it, should it meet your approval, the government will have succeeded in reclaiming the territory which formerly constituted a portion, as it is confidently believed, of its domain, under the treaty of cession of 1803, by France to the United States.

The country thus proposed to be annexed, has been settled principally by persons from the United States, who emigrated on the invitation of both Spain and Mexico, and who carried with them, into the wilderness which they have partially reclaimed, the laws, customs, and political institutions of their native land. They are deeply indoctrinated in all the principles of civil liberty, and will bring along with them, in the act of reassociation, devotion to our Union, and a firm and inflexible resolution to assist in maintaining the public liberty unimpaired-a consideration which, as it appears to me, is to be regarded as one of no small moment. The coun

try itself, thus obtained, is of an incalculable value in an agricultural and commercial point of view.

To a soil of inexhaustible fertility, it unites a genial and healthy climate, and is destined, at a day not distant, to make large contributions to the commerce of the world. Its territory is separated from the United States, in part, by an imaginary line, and by the river Sabine, for a distance of 310 miles; and its productions are the same with those of many of the contiguous states of the Union. Such is the country, such are its inhabitants, and such its capacities to add to the general wealth of the Union. As to the latter, it may be safely asserted, that in the magnitude of its productions, it will equal, in a short time, under the protecting care of this government, if it does not surpass, the combined productions of many states of the confederacy.

A new and powerful impulse will thus be given to the navigating interest of the country, which will be chiefly engrossed by our fellow-citizens of the eastern and middle states, who have already attained a remarkable degree of prosperity by the partial monopoly they have enjoyed of the carrying trade of the Union, particularly the coastwise trade, which this new acquisition is destined in time, and that not distant, to swell to a magnitude which can not easily be computed; while the addition made to the boundaries of the home-market, thus secured to their mining, manufacturing, and mechanical skill and industry, will be of a character the most commanding and important.

Such are some of the many advantages which will accrue to the eastern and middle states by the ratification of the treaty-advantages, the extent of which it is impossible to estimate with accuracy, or properly appreciate. Texas, being adapted to the culture of cotton, sugar, and rice,