S. Surveyor of the Mexican Boundary line, I. Smith McMicken, Esq., whose residence for many years on the Mexican frontier has entitled his opinion to some weight, and A. H. Campbell, Esq., Superintendent of Wagon Roads, whose information is full and reliable. To these names it may not be improper to add that of the writer, who has for two years past, while residing at the junction of the Gila and Colorado Rivers, made the new Territory and its resources, an object of constant observation and study, and whose experience on the Pacific coast, and in the frontier Territories, and on the route across the continent, during the past five years, has enabled him to speak understandingly of the capabilities and necessities of a new country, and of a frontier people.
In five years a great State may be built upon this remote frontier, and a population gathered, such as will, when we make further acquisition of territory, spread at once over it, diffusing national sentiment and extending the area of American principles.
Aside from these considerations, justice and humanity, imperatively demand that Congress shall bear and at once answer the prayer of the people of Arizona for protection. If these considerations fail, then they offer INTEREST; for the organization of the Territory is the guarantee of a supply of silver, which will create as great a revolution in the commercial world as has the gold of California. Arizona will be known as the silver State, and the prediction of Humboldt, that the balance between gold and silver, destroyed by the California discoveries, would one day be restored, will be made good, from the resources of the Gadsden purchase.
TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:
The undersigned, your humble petitioners, citizens of the United States, and residents of the Territory known as the Gadsden Purchase, respectfully represent:
That since the annexation of their Territory to the United States, they have been totally unprotected from Indian depredations and civil crimes.
That the protection of the Mexican Government has been with drawn, and that it has not been replaced by any visible protection from the United States.
That the annexation of the Purchase to New Mexico, carried with it no protection for life or property.
That the present force of United States troops, four companies of dragoons, reduced by desertion and death to about one half, is entirely inadequate to protect us against the depredations of the Apaches.
That many of your petitioners have expended their time and means in opening and prospecting rich mines of Copper and Silver, and have been driven from them by the Indians--losing their all, and also many valuable lives.
That the Territory is immensely rich in minerals, especially Silver and Copper; and, as your petitioners most firmly believe, the development of these mines will make a change in the currency of the world, only equalled by that caused by the gold mines of California.
That a great part of the Territory, between the Rio Grande and Tueson, is susceptible of cultivation and will support a large agricultural population.
That this portion of the Territory is in the hands of the Apaches, and useless, unless redeemed from their grasp and protected to the farmer.
That the highways of the Territory are stained with the blood of citizens of the United States, shed by Indians and by public marauders, who commit their crimes in open day, knowing there is no law to restrain and no magistrate to arrest them.
That this Territory, under a separate organization, would attract a large population and become immediately developed: and, that its isolation--its large Indian population--its proximity to a semi-civilized Mexican province, and its peculiar and wonderful resources, demand protection from the Government more emphatically than any other territory yet recognised.
That our soil has been stained with the blood of American citizens, shed by Mexican hands, in an armed invasion of our Territory near Sonoita, and that there is no civil magistrate or officer here to even protest against such an outrage.
That throughout their whole Territory, from the Rio Grande to the Rio Colorado, six hundred miles, there is no Court of Record, and no redress except that inefficiently administered in a Justice's Court, for civil injuries or crimes.
That the population of the Territory is much greater than was that of Kansas or Nebraska or Washington Territory, at the time of their organization, and that it is steadily increasing, and will, under the influence of the Road and Mail Bills of the last Congress, be greatly augmented.
That there are no post routes or mail facilities throughout the Territory, and that finally, we are cut off from all the comforts of civilization--and that we claim, as a right, that protection which the United States should everywhere extend to her humblest citizen. Wherefore your petitioners humbly pray that the Gadsden Purchase may be separated from New Mexico and erected into a separate Territory under the name of Arizona, with such boundaries as may seem proper to your honorable bodies, and that such other legislation may be made as shall be best calculated to place us on the same footing as our more fortunate brethren of Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington, that we may be enabled to build up a prosperous and thriving State, and to nourish on this extreme frontier a healthy national sentiment.
And we, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
[Signed by more than five hundred resident voters.]
End
