TOPICS OF THE DAY.
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
THE House of Representatives have declared in favour of annex- ing Texas and organizing a territorial government in Oregon ; and they have received petitions from Michigan and Maine praying for the annexation of Canada I The Government of Texas dig., claimsall desire to be incorporated into the Union ; the bill for organizing a government in Oregon is a violation of an existing treaty with England ; and the Canadas certainly have evinced no wish to fraternize. The spirit that animates the House of Re- presentatives is a lust of domination, as precipitate and insatiable as that of any crowned tyrants, the butts of American oratory. The rational and honest portion of the U. S. citizens en- deavour to reassure other countries by protesting that the Senate never will adopt such measures. Let us hope so : mat- ters are already bad enough when one of the three coordinate branches of the Legislature can violate decorum and respect for the rights of other nations to the extent of passing the Texas and Oregon bills. But how long can the Senate persevere in re- sistance to these annually-repeated assaults on its virtue It stands between two fires : the President is as friendly to the acquisitive line of policy as the House of Representatives ; and both are urged on by popular feeling. The House of Representa- tives is goaded by _petitions for annexation and appropriation' General Jackson publishes oracles, that if Texas be not acquired peaceably. now, it must be hereafter by the sword ; and even Mr. John Qumcey Adams tells stories about pattern young Americans, looking on the St. Lawrence and exclaiming, " It is and must be ours I" The Senate is elective as well as the other branches of the Legislature : for how long can the honest Americans guaran- tee to England, Texas, and Mexico, (California being already eyed wistfully by the annexers,) that the Senators who stem the torrent of national cupidity will be allowed to retain their seats! The hardest task of the respectable class of Americans, of late years, has been to apologize for their Government. • The Government wished to abolish slavery; the Government wished to preserve national faith inviolate ; the Government highly dis- approved of the conduct of the New York Sympathizers : but the Government was checkmated in all its attempts to redress those wrongs, by "States rights." Foreigners and Negroes are not the only parties for whom the United States Government is to weak to procure justice. In North Carolina there is a law that every sailor of colour in a foreign vessel shall be kept locked up until his vessel departs : under this law, free Black citizens Of Massachusetts have been repeatedly deprived of their liberty : the Government of Massachusetts lately sent an agent to remon- strate against this conduct of the Carolinian authorities—the envoy, and (ap(apparently)his daughter also' were only saved from the American accolade of tarring and feathering, by the gentle compulsion of some gentlemen who conveyed them on board ship and obliged them to set sail. Respectable citizens wish their Government to be thought the best-disposed and most honourable in the world ; but, unfor- tunately-, it lacks power to give effect to its good intentions. It can only sigh over the excesses of its subjects, (we beg pardon—" citi- zens,") not prevent, check, or punish them. Do the Americans fancy that other nations will always be put off with these whining protestations of weakness and regret ? that injured, insulted, and sufficiently powerful European states, will not some day take in hand to punish those who are too strong for their own Govern- ment? Do they fancy that when other nations see their Govern- ment not only tolerating the outrages of the worst class of citizens, but carrying into act its dishonest mandates, suspicions of com- plicity will not be awakened?
In the United States are to be found individuals and classes as honourable, as intelligent, as in any country in the world. Amid all the obliquities of other departments, the Bench of the United States has maintained its character untarnished. The officers of the army and navy are, as a body, gentlemen in the strictest ac- ceptation of the word. The educated clergymen of the Union are, in general, men of integrity, and set an excellent example. But, year after year, these classes appear to be losing their hold upon the Executive and the Legislature. It is not merely that these are now, as they ever have been, forced to give way before mobs, and content themselves with repairing the damage as they best might after the mischief has been done. They are worsted at every election : the degrading sentiments of the mere rabble are unblushingly avowed in their Legislatures. The constitution of the United States seems on the eve of changing from a demo- cracy—for demos elevates the whole people—to a kakocracy.
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