House of Representatives, June 28, 1850.
Hon. H. Mann. Sir; In reply to your note of this date, I have the honor to say, that I was an officer of the first regiment, Illinois volunteers, commanded by Colonel J.J. Hardin, during the Mexican war, and that during the time Colonel Hardin was in command of the regiment he was not in New Mexico. His nearest point to New Mexico was Monclova or Parras, which was several hundred miles distant. In my opinion, Colonel Hardin was never in New Mexico; he certainly was not in that country during the Mexican war.
Respectfully,
W. A. RICHARDSON.
Now what possible excuse can be offered for these misleading citations? What information would be given of the soil of the Genesee valley of New York, by proving the condition of the sands of Cape Cod?
Mr. Webster next quotes, for the second time, the letter of Hugh N. Smith, Esq. This letter, if taken by itself, would render it improbable, in Mr. Smith’s opinion, that slavery would go into New Mexico; but it by no means proves the physical impossibility of its existence there. But what different language has Mr. Smith since held in his address to his constituents in New Mexico itself? I will quote a few passages from this address to show its general drift and intent.
“Your state, [New Mexico,] is threatened with dismemberment, and what is yet more fatal, the introduction of slavery into its bosom.” (p. 1.)
“The most formidable part of this combination against you is that which originates in the slave interest. It not only rallies against you the whole slaveholding south, but all the influence of selfish, venal, and ambitious men in the north, looking to speculations in discredited bonds and land jobbing, or to the political honors which the combined vote of the south may promise.” (p. 2.)
“The doctrine of the slaveholding states, in regard to their domestic institutions, is non-intervention; but with regard to yours, it is instant intervention, to set at nought the prohibition of slavery, which you brought with you into the Union,” &c. Ib.
“I am myself a native of the section, [Mr. Smith is a Kentuckian,] whose fate I deplore, and if my duty did not require, I would be the last to advert to the malady that preys upon its life.... The schemes of those who would bind you to the destiny of the slave states, render it necessary that your representative should be excluded from the halls of Congress.” (p. 3.)
“You are left prostrate, that Texas may dismember and divide New Mexico, and subject her to southern influence; that negro slavery may be introduced into the remnant of territory that may not be appropriated to Texas; and, finally, that the region thus secured to southern policy may become the stock on which to graft new conquests from Mexico.” (p. 4.) [These are Mr. Smith’s italics.]