compact, and the institution guarded by provisions, which make emancipation a moral impossibility.

During these proceedings the dwellers in the cities, and they that go down to the sea in ships, were startled by rumors of war which was to spring from this just cause, if just cause of war can be. The indignation of Mexico was to be visited upon the commerce of the country, and many a breast that had never felt a throb of sympathy for the miseries which Annexation was to work in thousands of human hearts, nor a thrill of indignation at the mingled chicanery and ruffianism which had accomplished it, bled in view of the possible calamity of whale-ships and Indiamen. To calm these fears, the providence of the Executive concentrated the main body of the army upon the frontiers of Texas and Mexico, not to say within the borders of Mexico itself, and bade our fleet to hover, like birds of ill-omen, upon the Mexican sea-coast. Whether it were owing to these displays of superior force, or whether the inherent weakness and internal dissensions of Mexico prevented any hostile demonstrations, none were made. The law of the lion prevailed, and the weaker party went quietly to the wall. The slavery party, it seems, knew their men, and had not exaggerated the weakness of the victim they had selected to despoil. All apprehensions of a Mexican war have long since died away; and, by the last accounts, there is a prospect of a speedy renewal of diplomatic intercourse between the two Republics!

At the opening of the present Congress, therefore, the Nation of Texas offered herself at the threshold of the Union, and presenting the proofs that she had complied with all the conditions required of her, and proffering a constitution to which the most devoted lover of the peculiar institutions of his country could not object, demanded that she should be permitted to merge her nationality in the embrace of the United States. So reasonable a request was not to be gainsaid or denied. At the earliest possible moment, the neces

sary resolutions were introduced into the House of Representatives, and carried, at the point of the bayonet, under the previous question, moved before the resolutions were before the House, by a vote of ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-ONE to FIFTY-NINE. In the Senate the farce was conducted with rather more regard to appearances; but the resolutions passed, after a short debate, by a vote of THIRTY-ONE to THIRTEEN. They immediately received the signature of the President, and the long contest is at last ended by the triumphant union of the two nations. They twain are henceforward one. The area of Freedom is indefinitely extended into the dominions of Mexico, and there seems to be no consistent reason to be given why it should not extend itself till it cover the whole continent embraced, on either side, by the Atlantic and the Pacific, and terminate its career of Annexation only at Terra del Fuego.

During the progress of this nefarious business, we are proud to say, that Massachusetts was not wholly silent and supine. Her words of remonstrance at least were heard protesting against the deed. The House of Representatives passed resolutions, by a majority of 288 to 41, denying the constitutional right of Congress to annex a foreign country by legislation; that such act of admission would have no binding effect upon the people of Massachusetts; that such annexation could only be made by the people in their original sovereign capacity; and that Massachusetts would never consent to the admission of Texas, or any other State, except on the basis of perfect equality of freemen. When these resolutions came up for concurrence before the Senate, Mr. WILSON, of Middlesex, moved as an amendment, that if Texas should be admitted by a legislative act of Congress, this act could, and ought to be, repealed, at the earliest possible moment. This was rejected by a vote of twenty-four to eight. Other amendments were proposed, but finally the House resolutions were adopted by a unanimous vote.

This action on the part of the Legislature, though much better than nothing, lacked the only declaration for which the friends of Annexation would have cared, that Massachusetts would regard the consummation of the act as a dissolution of the Union, and would treat it, in very deed, as if not binding and of no effect. Messrs. ADAMS, WILSON and BORDEN, of the Senate, deserve the highest honor for the courage and consistency with which they opposed this act of treason to freedom and humanity.

Nor were protestations against its accomplishment confined to the 'Halls of Legislation. In pursuance to a call signed by many of the most prominent citizens of the State, for intelligence, moral weight and political eminence, of all parties, a convention of delegates from all parts of the Commonwealth, representing the opposition to Annexation, assembled in Faneuil Hall, on the 29th of January, and continued its session into the following day. The Hall was filled with an assembly of earnest and thoughtful men, who were of one mind as to the iniquity of Annexation, widely as they differed in many other points of opinion and practice. The discussions were marked by great freedom and ability, and attracted large crowds to listen to them. Among the more prominent of the speakers we may mention, though necessarily omitting many names deserving of mention, the Hon. STEPHEN C. PHILLIPS, the Hon. CHARLES ALLEN, Mr. GEORGE S. HILLARD, Mr. GARRISON, President ALLEN, the Rev. CALEB STETSON, and the Rev. SAMUEL J. MAY. The principal business done by the Convention was the adoption of an Address, said to have been dictated, in part, by the foremost of the public men of Massachusetts. It was well worthy of the highest powers. The Anti-Slavery argument against Annexation was most forcibly presented in it, and the duty of Massachusetts to take the lead in the opposition, strongly set forth. Its weak point, and consequently, that of the doings of the Convention, lay in its containing merely an argument and a protest against the

crime, but without indicating any course of conduct to be pursued by Massachusetts, in case it should be finally committed. After adopting the address by a unanimous vote, the Convention adjourned, leaving further action in the hands. of a Committee of Correspondence, whose doings have not as yet been made public.

Though this Convention was not attended by all the good results which might have followed a more vigorous line of action, still it was highly honorable to the gentlemen who were mainly instrumental in calling it, and truly encouraging in the signs it made manifest of an increasing sense of the general share of the whole people in the guilt and the punishment of slavery. Though it was summoned and attended by members of all parties, still its most numerous and active friends belonged to the Whig party, and they were rewarded for their efforts by the coldness and the opposition of many of their political friends. The extent to which, not only the rank and file, but prominent men, of the Whig party, showed themselves unwilling to hold their peace, in obedience to the wishes and the example of its leaders, when their sense of duty bade them speak, on this subject, was an encouraging sign of the times in the midst of evil days and evil tongues. These remarks are, of course, even more true of the members of the Democratic party who took part in, or sympathized with, the Convention.

The same disposition on the part of a certain portion of the influential members of the Whig party to check any agitation in the general mind, on the subject of Texas, has been evinced at a later period. The Spring and Summer wore away without any concentrated action of the enemies of Annexation. In consequence of a proposition made at the celebration of West India Emancipation, at Waltham, on the first of August, one of the simultaneous meetings called by this Board, Mr. WILLIAM H. CHANNING, a member of the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society,

proposed that a committee should be appointed to call a County Convention on the subject of Annexation. This Committee issued a call, which was signed by many prominent men of all parties, in the County of Middlesex, for a Convention to be held at Concord. Accordingly this meeting was held, in September, and was one of deep interest. This Convention met, by adjournment, again at Cambridge on the 21st day of October. An animated meeting was there held; and, as the call of the Convention was exclusively addressed to the citizens of Middlesex County, and as it seemed to be a good opportunity for instituting a more general scheme of opposition, a meeting was held of citizens who were present from various other parts of the State, at an interval of the Convention, of which ELLIS GRAY LORING, of Boston, was Chairman, and EDMUND QUINCY, of Dedham, Secretary, which appointed a numerous State Committee to assume the duty of rallying the people to the rescue, if it might be done. This Committee, of which the Hon. CHARLES F. ADAMS was Chairman, entered upon their duties with zeal, and devoted themselves to their performance with a spirit and industry that did them the highest honor. They issued an address to the people; they entered into correspondence with the opposers of Annexation throughout the State; they sent forms of remonstrance against the admission of Texas, as a Slave State, not only to every part of this State, but to every county in the Free States; they published a weekly paper devoted to the cause; they held public meetings in the Metropolis, and in many other towns, to excite the general mind on the subject, and many of its members were untiring in their personal exertions to promote the same wholesome agitation. A public meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, on the 4th of November, which was well attended, upon a most tempestuous evening, and addressed by Messrs. ADAMS, PALFREY, CHARLES SUMNER, WENDELL PHILLIPS, GARRISON, WILLIAM H. CHANNING STANTON and HILLARD. Meetings were subsequently held in