The Hillsborough Recorder

From the Raleigh Times.

Speech of Mr. Ashe.—The last Standard publishes a speech delivered by Mr. Ashe on the 6th of August, on the President's message concerning Texas and New Mexico, in which the President is denounced for assuming that it becomes his duty to maintain the treaty stipulations of Guadalupe Hidalgo, with respect to the rights of the New Mexicans against the interference of the authorities of the State of Texas.

We remark that Mr. Ashe, following the example of all the Democratic commentators we have noticed, leaves completely out of view (we believe he does not mention it at all) the letter of Gov. Bell, which elicited the very Message which they find it convenient to condemn in such unmeasured terms. That letter was dated June 13, and is very peremptory in its tone, breathing a spirit of defiance and resistance to the General Government; it demands that all instructions heretofore given for the maintenance of the subsisting Government in New Mexico shall be revoked; and threatens, that Texas knows her rights and will maintain them, with the means which God and nature have given her. This is nothing more nor less than an open declaration of war made by a state against the National Government, accompanied by the levying of forces, and the exhibition of other warlike preparations. There is no mistaking the position of Texas, as indicated in the letter of her Executive. She demands the abandonment of the Territory, and backs that demand by a threat that, if her requests are not acceded to, she will enforce them at the point of the bayonet.

These are the circumstances under which the message so strongly condemned by Mr. Ashe was sent to Congress. Texas had leaped armed into the controversy—she assumed to settle it by force and arms—and where were Mr. Ashe's denunciations? All reserved for the President—who, conceiving it to be his duty to enforce the laws and treaties, while expressing his determination to do so, lays the whole matter before Congress, and prays of that body to relieve him from the disagreeable necessity of so doing, by a full and fair settlement of the whole matter in controversy.

Mr. Ashe prates a good deal about the 'assumption' of power on the part of the President! And pray, is there no 'assumption' on the part of Texas? Where does a State get the power, under the constitution, to array herself in hostile attitude against the National Government, and enforce her claims by the sword? Nay, what sort of National Government should we have, that could permit such a state of things? Is it common, when boundaries are in dispute, for one of the parties to settle it by seizing the whole country she thinks proper to claim? We thought such things were settled by law, or by adjustment in negotiation, or some other legal mode, in the United States. But we now learn, for the first time, and from Mr. Ashe's speech, that the President has no right to enforce the law against Texas, or obstruct her in working out her will—because, forsooth, that would be to prescribe Territorial limits to a sovereign State! to undertake to cut, slash and divide her at his pleasure! Then Texas, we suppose, is to cut and slash and divide the National Territory at her pleasure—and take as large a slice of it as may suit her!—and like Mr. Ashe? The President was right in taking the firm and manly stand he did in this message. The claim of Texas may be a good one, for aught we know to the contrary. But she was clearly in the wrong when she attempted to enforce it by arms against the General Government. Mr. Ashe was not one of those who were willing to preserve the quiet of the country by voting for the measures of pacification recently passed.

Mr. Ashe, at the close of his speech—and we were sorry to see it—takes occasion to misrepresent the President. He declares him 'blind to the consequences of intestine war—invites not the action of Congress—awaits not its action—but boldly avows his determination to pursue the dictates of his own judgment, at all hazards—at all risks.' This is far from being true—and we pity Mr. Ashe for having given utterance to such a sentiment. Here is the President's language:

If the claim of title on the part of Texas appears to Congress to be well founded, in whole or in part, it is in the competency of Congress to offer her any indemnity for the surrender of that claim. In a case like this, surrounded as it is by many cogent considerations, all calling for amicable adjustment and immediate settlement, the Government of the United States would be justified, in my opinion, in allowing an indemnity to Texas, not unreasonable and extravagant, but fair and liberal, and awarded in a just spirit of accommodation.

I think no event would be hailed with more gratification by the people of the United States, than the amicable adjustment of questions of difficulty which have now, for a long time, agitated the country, and occupied, to the exclusion of other subjects, the time and attention of Congress.

Having thus fully communicated the results of my own reflection, on the most advisable mode of adjusting the boundary question, I shall, nevertheless, cheerfully acquiesce in any other mode which the wisdom of Congress may devise. And, in conclusion, I repeat my conviction that every consideration of the public interest manifests the necessity of a settlement.
provision by Congress for the settlement of this boundary question, before the present session be brought to a close. The settlement of other questions connected with the same subject, within the same period, is greatly to be desired; but the train of such an adjustment, we may well hope that there will follow a return of harmony and good will, an increased attachment to the Union, and the general satisfaction of the country.

MILLARD FILLMORE
Washington, August 9, 1850.

From this, the misrepresentation being apparent, and Mr. Ashe's motives not being under our consideration, this part of the case may as well be confessed. Mr. Ashe is welcome to all the rest of the glory he may gain by his speech.

Union, the Constitution and the Laws—the Guardians of our Liberty.

HILLSBOROUGH, N. C.
Wednesday, September 18.