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A REVIEW 
 
 OF 
 
 €\}i Causes anb Cnnstquenrni 
 
 OF 
 
 THE MEXICAI ¥AR. 
 
 BY WILLIAM JAY 
 
 FOURTEENTH THOUSAND. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 BENJAMIN B. MUSSEY k CO.; 
 
 URIAH HUNT & CO., PHILADELPHIA; M. W. DODD, 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 1840. 
 

 Entered according to Act of Congren, in the year 1849, 
 
 Bt benjamin B. MUSSEY & CO., 
 
 In the Clerk's OfTtce of the District Court of Massaehiuetts. 
 
INTKODUCTION 
 
 -.^^. TtXl 
 
 liter is a believer in the Divine authority of the 
 Scriptures — he acknowledges no standard of right and 
 wrong but the Will of God, and denies the expediency 
 of any act which is forbidden by laws dictated by Infi- 
 nite AVisdom and Goodness. This avowal will prepare 
 the reader to find in the following pages many opinions 
 not ha\ing the stamp of public approbation. Patriot- 
 ism, honor, glory, and national prosperity, are terms to 
 which the Christian and the mere politician attach dif- 
 ferent ideas, and estimate by different standards. He 
 who admits the authority of the Bible will not readily 
 acknowledge that whatever is "highly esteemed among 
 men" must be right, nor that what is unpopular is, of 
 course, wrong. 
 
 In the following Review, the public conduct and 
 opinions of public men are freely and fearlessly can- 
 vassed, but in no instance, it is hoped and believed, at 
 the expense of truth. In justice to the writer, the 
 reader is earnestly entreated to bear in mind the dis- 
 tinction between the statement of a fact, and the ex- 
 
4 INTRO DrCTTON. 
 
 pression of an opinion. Conscious of his own anxious 
 and often laborious efforts to secure accuracy of detail, 
 and of quotation, the author flatters himself that his 
 facts will be found incontrovertible — for his opinions 
 he claims no infallibility, and anticipates no general 
 assent. 
 
 The Review has far loftier objects than those of an 
 historical record. It aims to recommend and enforce 
 the duty of preserving Peace, by exhibiting the wicked- 
 ness, the baseness, and the calamitous consequences of 
 a victorious War, effecting all the ends for which it was 
 waged. It seeks to warn the country against that ad- 
 miration of military prowess, which, by degrading in the 
 public estimation the virtues which conduce to the hap- 
 piness and security of society, and by fostering the arts 
 and passions which minister to human destruction, is 
 corrupting the morals and jeoparding the hberties of 
 the Republic. It strives to excite the abhorrence of 
 the good for that statesmanship which seeks the ag- 
 grandizement of the country in defiance of the laws of 
 God ; while by presenting a true portrait of the patriot, 
 it would fain afford some aid in detecting spurious re- 
 semblances. 
 
 Such are the purposes for which the design of the 
 Review was conceived and executed. The author hopes 
 for a hearing, not from the selfish throng ignobly strug- 
 gling , in the political arena for office, and power, and 
 money, and lavishly squandering in the strife their own 
 truth and honor, and the pubhc good ; but from that 
 
INTRODUCTION. 6 
 
 Bmall, yet increasing number, who are inquiring how far 
 their relations to the State are to be governed by the 
 precepts of Christianity. 
 
 The maxim that "all's fair in pohtics," and the mon- 
 strous frauds, falsehoods, and forgeries, attending almost 
 every important election, illustrate the lamentable facty 
 that in general "Religion has nothing to do with poli- 
 tics." But rehgious people in vast numbers have much 
 to do with pohtics, and too often seem to think that in 
 their character of office-holders, or office-seekers, they 
 have received a dispensation from the obligations of the 
 Moral Law. Such persons, should they deign to read 
 the ensuing pages, may possibly be reminded with 
 profit, that moral responsibility is not attached solely 
 to such of our actions as may be termed private and 
 domestic, but that " God will bring every work into 
 judgment" — works done in political meetings, at elec- 
 tions, and even on the floor of Congress : and, that as 
 there is an express prohibition against following " a mul- 
 titude to do evil," no majority, however great, can be 
 pleaded in justification of crime, or in mitigation of 
 punishment. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chap 
 
 I. Early eflForts to wrest Texas from Mexico, 
 II. Independence of Texas, 
 
 III. Professions of the Federal Government in refer- 
 
 ence t-o the war between Mexico and Texas, 
 
 IV. Efforts of the Administration to excite war with 
 
 Mexico, 
 
 V. Claims on Mexico, and war recommended, 
 VI. Acknowledgment of the Independence of Texas, . 
 Vn. New claims made against Mexico, 
 VIII. Treaty of annexation proposed and rejected, 
 IX. Treaty of arbitration — action of the slaveholders, 
 X. Results of the treaty of arbitration, . 
 XI. New treaties with Mexico about claims, 
 XII. Seizure and surrender of Monterey in California, 
 by Commodore Jones, 
 
 XIII. Negotiation and rejection of the Tyler treaty of 
 
 annexation, 
 
 XIV. More attempts to irritate Mexico, 
 XV. Election of Mr. Polk, .... 
 
 XVI. Annexation by joint resolution, 
 XVII. Annexation of California determined on, 
 XVIII. Slidell's mission to Mexico, 
 
 XIX. Western boundary of Texas, . 
 XX. Commencement of war against Mexico, 
 
 XXI. Conquest of California, .... 
 
 XXII. Declaration of war against Mexico, . 
 
 XXIII. The war prosecuted for conquest, 
 
 XXIV. Extent of territory required from Mexico, 
 
 Paob 
 9 
 
 16 
 
 19 
 
 31 
 
 36 
 53 
 58 
 64 
 66 
 
 79 
 
 87 
 96 
 99 
 101 
 107 
 111 
 121 
 130 
 144 
 158 
 178 
 178 
 
8 CONTESTS. 
 
 Chap. Pagb 
 XXV. Motive for acquiring territory — the Wilmot 
 
 Proviso, 181 
 
 XXVI. Unworthy expedients for facilitating conquest, 196 
 
 XXVII. Conduct of American ofl&cers in Mexico, . 201 
 
 XXVIII. American army in Mexico, .... 213 
 
 XXIX. Sufferings inflicted on Mexico by the war, . 223 
 
 XXX. Cost of the war to the United States, . . 240 
 
 XXXI. Political evils of the war 246 
 
 XXXII. Moral evils of the war, ... .256 
 
 XXXIII. Acquisition of territory, .... 267 
 
 XXXIV. Glory, 272 
 
 XXXV. Patriotism, 278 
 
 XXXVI. John Quincy Adams, 290 
 
 XXXVII. War, and the means of prevention* . . 821 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 ^ CHAPTERI. 
 
 EARLY EFFORTS TO WREST TEXAS FROM MEXICO. 
 
 Louisiana was ceded by France to Spain in 1762, and 
 restored to the foiTner power in 1800. Three years after, 
 it was ceded by France to the United States. In none 
 of thesfe cessions, was there any specification of bounda- 
 ries. The territory was a vast undefined region west of 
 the Mississippi ; and with rare exceptions, untenanted by 
 civilized inhabitants. It, of course, adjoined the Spanish 
 dominions in Mexico, but the separating line could not 
 easily be ascertained. As the American settlements in 
 Louisiana extended, the question of boundary necessarily 
 became a matter of discussion, between the governments 
 of Spain and the United States. This question was finally 
 settled in 1819, by a treaty with Spain, in which the con- 
 tracting powers severally ceded to each other all claims 
 to territory beyond their respective sides of a defined 
 line. 
 
 In 1820, the State of Missouri, formed out of the Lou- 
 isiana territory, was admitted into the Union as a slave 
 State. To facilitate its admission, and to overcome the 
 formidable opposition of the Northern States, to the 
 incorporation into the confederacy of another slaveholding 
 State, the slaveholders proposed and eflfected the celebra- 
 
10 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR, 
 
 ted Missouri compromise, a law declaring- that in future 
 slavery should be prohibited north of 30^ -30" north lati- 
 tude. 
 
 It was not long however, before it was (Ji.^cuvereJ thai 
 this Missouri compromise, together with the soutliern 
 boundary of the United States, as defined in the Spanish 
 treaty of 1819, had reduced within comparatively narrow 
 limits, the area from Avhich slave States might hereafter 
 be formed ; with the exception of Florida, the territory 
 south of the Missouri compromise line, was not probably 
 sufficient for more than two States. 
 
 The State of Louisiana was separated from the Spanish 
 province of Texas by the Sabine river, and the soil, cli- 
 mate, and position of that province, rendered it a desira- 
 ble acquisition to the slaveholding interest. Various 
 expedients were from time to time devised, to obtain pos- 
 session of this coveted territory — forcible seizure — colo- 
 nization — purchase — independence, and annexation. The 
 first was attempted soon after the Spanish treaty had 
 extinguished all claims of the United States to Texas, as 
 included within the territory of Louisiana. 
 
 A man named James Long, with' about seventy-five 
 lawless adventurers, left Natchez on the lYth June, 1819, 
 and proceeded to Nacogdoches, about forty miles within 
 the limits of Texas. On the 23d of the same month, he 
 there issued a proclamation which may be regarded as the 
 first step in that career of fraud, falsehood, and violence, 
 which ultimately led to the annexation of Texas, and the 
 war against Mexico. In this document, which was pro- 
 bably prepared in the State of Mssissippi, Long, styhng 
 himself President of the Supreme Council of Texas, 
 declared '* that the citizens of Texas have long indulged 
 the hope that in the adjustment of the boundaries of the 
 Spanish possessions in America, and of the territories of 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 11 
 
 the United States, they should be included within the 
 hmits of the latter." As this hope had been dissipated 
 by the recent treaty, the proclamation proceeds to 
 announce the independence of the Republic of Texas. 
 This paper, was of course, intended as an invitation to 
 American citizens to repair to Long's standard, and parti- 
 cipate with him in the intended plunder ; and it was 
 consequently published in the Louisiana Herald, printed 
 in New Orleans. 
 
 In a little while, the whole party were dispersed, some 
 being killed, and the others taken prisoners by the 
 Spaniards.* 
 
 The plan of colonization was next adopted. Moses 
 Austin of Missouri, in 1821, obtained leave from the 
 Spanish authorities, to introduce three hundred families 
 into Texas, on certain conditions. The permission was 
 granted, as is said, on the representation df Austin, that 
 Catholics Avere oppressed in the United States, and it was 
 agreed that all the settlers to be introduced by him, 
 should be of the oppressed religion. Austin dying, the 
 grant was in 1823, renewed to his son, who commenced a 
 colony on the Brazos, with emigrants from Tennessee, 
 Mississippi, and Louisiana. By the renewed grant, the 
 settlers, it is asserted, were to be' exclusively Catholics; 
 but whatever was their creed in other respects, they were 
 behevers in the right of man to hold property in man, 
 and accordingly carried their slaves with them. 
 
 In 1826, a body of emigrants from the United States, 
 settled about Nacogdoches, again raised the standard of 
 insurrection under a man of the name of Edwards, and 
 published a declaration of independence. They were, 
 however, soon crushed by the Mexican forces. 
 
 At the date of the boundary treaty, Mexico was a 
 * Speech of Mr. Severance in H. of R., Feb. 4, 1847. 
 
1.2 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR 
 
 slaveholding country, and its near propinquity to our own 
 settlements, was on that account viewed with less jealousy 
 by southern statesmen. 
 
 The planters, as we have seen, might cross the line 
 with their slaves, and pursue the cultivation of sugar and 
 cotton ; nor was any difficulty apprehended with regard 
 to the recovery of fugitives slaves from the States. 
 
 These border relations were, however, changed by a 
 decree of the Mexican Congress of 13th July, 1824, 
 prohibiting the introduction of slaves from foreign coun- 
 tries. The Mexican Constitution, adopted the same year, 
 declared that no person should hereafter be horn a slave ; 
 thus providing for the gradual but total abolition of 
 slavery throughout the Republic. 
 
 The United Provinces of Coahuila and Texas, formed 
 one State, and its Constitution adopted in 1827, contained 
 an article giving freedom to all who should be hereafter 
 born, and prohibiting the introduction of slaves. The 
 work of emancipation was completed by a decree of the 
 Mexican Congress of 15th September, 1829, manumitting 
 every slave in Mexico. 
 
 These successive measures not only frustrated the views 
 of the colonists, and discouraged further emigration from 
 the slave States, but greatly irritated and alarmed the 
 whole slavehoiding interest. The future area of slavery 
 had been greatly contracted by the boundary treaty, and 
 the Missouri compromise ; and now that area was to be 
 bounded on the south and east, as well as on the north, 
 by an unlimited area of freedom. Under such circum- 
 stances, American slavery was doomed. The influence 
 of the free States would soon predominate in the general 
 government, and the growing spirit of abolition would not 
 only extend into the south itself, but would in various 
 ways, endanger the security and permanency of slave 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 13 
 
 property. The colonists in Texas were at present too 
 feeble to break the yoke of freedom imposed on them by 
 the Mexican Government. Against that Government, the 
 United States had no pretext for war"; and the treaty of 
 boundary was too recent and too explicit to permit any 
 claim being made to the territory of Texas. But one 
 resource was. left, and that was purchase. 
 
 The government as early as the 15th March, 1827, 
 instructed Mr. Poinsett, our Minister in Mexico, that we 
 wished to change the existing boundary, making it begin 
 at the mouth of the Rio del Norte (Rio Grande), thence 
 lip the river to the Rio Puereo, and then with the last 
 river to its source ; thence' North to the Arkansas, and 
 with this to the 42 ^ North Lat. ; and that for this change 
 of boundary we would give one million of dollars. This 
 modest proposal included almost the whole of Texas as 
 at present claimed. 
 
 The idea of purchase now took strong hold of the south- 
 em mind ; and great efforts were made to enlighten pub- 
 lic opinion on the importance of Texas, and the necessity 
 of its acquisition. In 1829 a series of newspaper essays 
 on the subject appeared from the pen of Mr. Benton, a 
 distinguished Senator from Missouri. Of the character 
 of these essays some opinion may be formed from the fol- 
 lowing notices of them in the journals of the day. 
 
 The Edgefield Carolinian, speaking of Texas, remarked, 
 " Some imposing Essays, originally published in the St. 
 Louis Beacon, with the signature of * Americanus,' and 
 attributed to Col. Benton of the Senate, explaining the 
 circumstances of the treaty of 1819, and displaying the 
 advantages of the retrocession, have operated on the pub- 
 lic mind in the West with electrical force and rapidity. 
 The writer produces strong circumstantial proof that the 
 6un*ender of Texas resulted from the subserviency of our 
 2 
 
14 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 negotiator to Spain in her contest with Mexico, together 
 with the powerful subsidiary motive of hostihty to the 
 southern and western sections of our country. Ameri- 
 canus exposes the evils to the United States of this sur- 
 render under twelve distinct heads. Two of them of 
 particular interest to this section of the country, that it 
 brings a non-slaveholding empire in juxta- position ivith the 
 slaveholding South-west, and diminishes the outlet for the 
 Indians inhabiting the States of Georgia, Alabama, Mis- 
 sissippi, and Tennessee." 
 
 A Baltimore paper, speaking of the essays of " Ame- 
 ricanus," says, " One of the reasons that he assigns for 
 the purchase of Texas is, that Jive oV six more slaveholding 
 States may thus be added to the Union. Indeed, he 
 goes farther than this in one of his calculations, and esti- 
 mates, that ' Nine more States as large as Kentucky,^ 
 may be formed within the limits of that province." 
 
 A Charleston paper treating of the same subject, ob- 
 served, " It is not imposssible that he (President Jack- 
 son) is now examining the propriety and practicability of 
 a retrocession of the vast territory of Texas ; an enter- 
 prize which could not fail to exercise an important and 
 favorable influence upon the future destinies of the South, 
 hy increasing the votes of the slaveholding States in the 
 United States Senate.'' 
 
 Judge Upsher, of Virginia, afterwards Secretary of 
 State under President Tyler, remarked, the same year, in 
 the Virginia Convention, " If Texas should be obtained, 
 which he strongly desired, it Avould raise the price of 
 slaves, and be a great advantage to the slaveholders of 
 that State." Mr. Doddridge, in the same debate, asserted, 
 " The acquisition of Texas will greatly enhance the value 
 of the property in question." Debates, p. 89. Mr. 
 Gholston, of the Virginia Legislature in 1832, said, " He 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 15 
 
 believed the acquisition of Texas would raise the price of 
 slaves fifty per cent, at least." Virginia being a breeding 
 State, these gentlemen were anxious to obtain Texas as a 
 new and extensive market for their staple commodity. 
 To stimulate the action of the Government, rumors were 
 set afloat of the intentions of Great Britain to possess her- 
 self of Texas ; an artifice practised without intermission 
 from 1829 to the day of annexation. The following from 
 the New Orleans Creole, of 1829, is a specimen: "A 
 rumor reached us by the last packet from Mexico, that a 
 company of British merchants had offered to advance 
 $5,000,000 to the Mexican Government on the condition 
 that the Province of Texas should be iilaced under the pro- 
 tection of Great Britaii}" 
 
 President Jackson entered fully into the views of the 
 slaveholders, and on the 2oth August, 1829, Mr. Poin- 
 sett was instructed to offer five miUions for Texas. Al- 
 though this bid so greatly exceeded the former, it was 
 promptly rejected. The offer Avas, according to a Mexi- 
 can journal, followed by another : " When he (Poinsett) 
 found his offer objectionable, he further insulted the 
 nation by proposing a loan of ten millions (as a pawn- 
 broker would) upon the pawning of Texas until repaid, 
 which insidious proposal was meant to fill the country of 
 Texas with Anglo-Americans and slaves, and to hold it 
 after in any event." 
 
 The failure of Mr. Poinsett to obtain from Mexico a 
 stipulation to surrender fugitive slaves, gave a new stimu- 
 lus to the eflforts of the slaveholders to possess themsel\^es 
 of Texas 
 
16 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 INDEPENDENCE OF TEXAS. 
 
 The insurrectionary efforts under Long and Edwards 
 having failed, the Colony under Austin having yielded as 
 yet no aid to the slaveholding interest in the United 
 States, all hopes of acquiring Texas by purchase being 
 now abandoned, and no pretext for war with Mexico ex- 
 isting, the slaveholders, as a last,, resort, determined to 
 effect the separation of the Province from the Mexican 
 Republic, as a necessary preliminary to annexation. Com- 
 ing events were thus shadowed forth in an article pub- 
 hshed in 1830, in the Arkansas Gazette: " No hopes 
 need be entertained of our acquiring Texas (by purchase) 
 until some party more friendly to the United States than 
 the present, shall predominate in Mexico ; and perhaps not 
 until the Peojile of Texas shall throw off allegiance to that 
 government, which they will no doubt do, so soon as they 
 have a reasonable pretext for doing so. At present they 
 are probably subject to as few exactions and impositions 
 as any people under the sun." It will be observed that 
 the writer takes for granted that we shall acquire Texas, 
 as soon as the American settlers shall have a pretext for 
 revolting from Mexico. At a Congressional election held 
 about this time in the State of Mississippi, the following 
 interrogatories were addressed to certain of the candi- 
 dates — "Your opinion of the acquisition of Texas, and 
 how — whether by force or treaty ; and whether the law* 
 
 • Passed by Mexico in 1830, and repealed in 1833 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 17 
 
 preventing the emigration of Americans is not evidence of 
 apprehension that that province wishes to secede from 
 the Mexican Government, and whether, if requested, we 
 ought to give the seceders military assistance ; and what 
 would be the effect of the acquisition of Texas upon the 
 planting interest T' 
 
 " The South," said the Mobile Advertiser at this time, 
 "wish to have Texas admitted into the Union for two 
 reasons ; first, to equalize the South with the North ; and 
 secondly, as a convenient and safe place calculated from 
 its peculiarly good soil and salubrious climate, for a slave 
 population'^ The same year, Mr. Samuel Houston of 
 Tennessee, disclosed to a friend (Robert Mayo, M.D.), 
 who communicated the intelligence to the President, that 
 he was organizing an expedition with recruits from the 
 United States, for the purpose of wresting Texas from 
 Mexico ; and soon after it was announced in a Louisiana 
 paper, that Houston had gone to Texas, the editor adding, 
 " we may expect shortly to hear of his raising his flag." 
 
 One mode of effecting a revolution was to enlist the pe- 
 cuniary interests of as many American citizens as possible 
 in the independence of Texas. Vast grants of land had 
 been made by the State Legislature to a few individuals. 
 These grants were of course worthless till sold out in par- 
 cels. Many of the patentees resided in the United States, 
 and joint-stock companies were formed for the sale of 
 these lands. Three of the most notorious of these com- 
 panies, viz. : *' The Galveston Bay and Texas Company," 
 "The Arkansas and Texas Company," and "The Rio 
 Grande Company," were estabhshed in New York. Care 
 was taken to enlist prominent politicians in these compa- 
 nies ; and great efforts were made to distribute the scrip ^ 
 or certificates of partial purchases, as widely as possible. 
 This scrip was of little value while Texas continued under 
 2* 
 
16 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 the government of Mexico, but in case of independence 
 followed by annexation might prove a fortune to the 
 holder. In this manner, a powerful pecuniary interest 
 was excited in the free States in behalf of Texas.* 
 
 The plans of the conspirators in Texas were aided in 
 1832, by the withdrawal of the Mexican troops, in conse- 
 quence of one of those political revolutions with which the 
 Repubhc had been frequently afflicted since its independ- 
 ence. In this state of things, fresh emigrants found no 
 difficulty in entering the territory with their slaves. The 
 colonists, however, experienced an obstacle to then- views 
 in their union with Coahuila, in as much as their repre- 
 sentatives were in a minority in the joint Legislature. 
 The first step, therefore, to independence, was the disso- 
 lution of the connection between the two provinces. For 
 this purpose, the colonists in 1833 organized themselves 
 into a distinct and separate State. This organization was 
 in direct and palpable violation of existing laws. The 
 Mexican Congress refused to recognize the separate State 
 of Texas. A small body of troops was sent into the in- 
 surgent territority, anS driven out. The standard of re- 
 bellion was raised. Texan agents traversed the United 
 States, addressing public meetings, enlisting troops, and 
 despatching military supplies to the revolted province. 
 On the 2d March, 1836, the insurgents issued their de- 
 claration of independence,! and fifteen days after adopted 
 a Constitution establishing perpetual slavery. 
 
 * After the Texan revolution, an alderman of the New York 
 Corporation introduced a resolution, overflowing with patriot- 
 ism, and calling upon Congress to acknowledge the independ- 
 ence of Texas. The surprise occasioned by this extraordinary 
 attempt in a civic body to influence the foreign relations of the 
 national government, was dissipated by th# discovery, that the 
 mover of the resolution was secretary to one of the Texan land 
 companies 
 
 t Of the fifty -Sevan signers to this declaration, fifty were emi- 
 grants from the slave Stales, and only three Mexicans by birth, 
 and these, it is said, largely interested "in Texan land specu- 
 lations. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 19 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PROFESSIONS AND CONDUCT OF THE FEDERAL GOVERN- 
 MENT IN REFERENCE TO THE WAR BETWEEN MEXICO 
 AND TEXAS. 
 
 The Government of the United States has at all times 
 been hberal in its professions of neutrahty in regard to 
 belligerents, and has on various occasions endeavored to 
 prevent its citizens from engaging in hostilities against 
 friendly powers. In 1793, President Washington issued 
 his proclamation warning American citizens against " com- 
 mitting, aiding or abetting hostilities against any of the 
 Powers at war," and threatening with prosecution all 
 who should " violate the laws of nations," with respect to 
 the belligerents. Washington's subsequent acts abun- 
 dantly evinced the sincerity of his proclamation. 
 
 In 1806, President Jefferson issued a proclamation de- 
 claring, that " sundry persons, citizens of the United 
 States, are conspiring and confederating together to be- 
 gin and set on foot a mihtary expedition against the do- 
 minions of Spain ; fitting out and arming vessels in the 
 western waters of the United States ; collecting arms, 
 military stores and other means ;" and he commaritls all 
 such persons to cease all further proceedings as they will 
 "incur prosecutions with all the rigor of the law." He 
 moreover enjoined it upon all mihtary officers of the army 
 and navy of the United States, " to be vigilant in bring- 
 ing to condign punishment persons engaged in those un- 
 lawful enterprizes." 
 
20 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 In 1815 a similar proclamation was issued by President 
 Madison against persons chiefly in Louisiana, who were 
 preparing to invade the Spanish provinces. 
 
 In 1838, President Van Buren by proclamation inform- 
 ed the citizens of the northern frontier who were aiding 
 the Canadian rebels, that, by compromitting the neu- 
 trality of the Government, they would render themselves 
 liable to arrest and punishment, " under the laws of the 
 United States, which will be rigidly enforced." 
 
 IL thus appears that from 1Y93 to 1838, our Govern- 
 ment had acknowledged the duty, and professed the abi- 
 lity, to punish its citizens fot violating the neutral obliga- 
 tions of the nation. 
 
 In 1835 and 1836, Texas was at open w^ar with Mexico, 
 part of the time as an insurgent province, and part of the 
 time as a separate Republic. The first ofl&cial act of the 
 government manifesting its sympathy for the insurgents, 
 was the appointment in 1835 oi four consuls to reside 
 among them. The appointment was of itself insulting to 
 the Mexican government, and was undoubtedly made for 
 the purpose of stationing in Texas confidential agents who 
 might facilitate the progress of revolt, independence, and 
 annexation. 
 
 The embarrassment and perplexity into which Mexico 
 was thrown by the revolt of Texas, and the aid openly 
 furnished the insurgents from the United States, encour- 
 aged the Cabinet at Washington once more to press their 
 proposal for purchase, and Mr. Butler, the minister in 
 Mexico, was instructed (16th August, 1835), to nego- 
 ciate for a cession of the territory bounded by the Rio 
 Grande from its source to the 37th degree north latitude, 
 and thence to the Pacific including the whole of Texas, 
 Santa Fe, and a large portion of California !* 
 * Ex. Doc. 1st Sess., 25th Congress 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 21 
 
 It may readily be supposed that the Federal adrainis- 
 tration was not very zealous in prohibiting succor to the 
 Texans, who were laboring to secure to the United States 
 a very large portion of this coveted territory. 
 
 On the 29th October, 1836, the Mexican Minister in- 
 fonned the Secretary of State that no less than twelve 
 vessels were about to sail from New York and New Or- 
 leans with military stores, and that on the 10th of the 
 month an armed schooner had sailed from New Orleans 
 for Texas, without papers from the Mexican Consul, and 
 he demanded the interposition of the Government to pre- 
 vent such breaches of neutrality. In consequence of this 
 apphcation, the Secretary (Mr. Forsyth) addressed a cir- 
 cular to various United States' Attorneys, directing them 
 to " prosecute all violations of those laws of the United 
 States which have been enacted for the purpose of pre- 
 serving peace and of fulfilling the obligations of treaties 
 with foreign nations." The cold generality of this cir- 
 cular indicated the temper and wishes of its author, which 
 were no doubt perfectly understood by the prosecuting 
 officers to whom the order was addressed. Notwith- 
 standing the publicity and notoriety of the " violations," 
 not an individual was ever punished for participating in 
 them, nor was an officer of the Government ever dismissed 
 or censured for treating the circular as a mere matter of 
 form. A few months after the date of the circular, Mr. 
 N. C. Read, United States' District Attorney in Ohio, 
 addressed a public meeting in that State, called in aid of 
 the Texans, and proposed the following resolution, which 
 was adopted : — " Resolved, that no law, human or divine, 
 except such as are framed by tyrants, and for their bene- 
 fit, forbids our assisting the Texans ; and such law, if any 
 exists, we do not as Americans choose to obey." At the 
 same meeting, a Committee was openly appointed " to 
 
22 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 assist Captain Lawrence in raising recruits and funds for 
 the cause of Texas." We have no evidence that the ex- 
 traordinary conduct of the Ohio prosecuting officer im- 
 paired the confidence the Government had placed in him. 
 Nevertheless, Mr. Forsyth assured the Mexican Minister 
 that " all measures enjoined and warranted by law have 
 been and ivill continue to be tajcen to enforce respect by 
 the citizens of the United States within their jurisdiction 
 to the neutrality of this Government." 
 
 The declaration of Mr. Van Buren, the personal fiiend 
 of General Jacks.on, and his successor in office, is a 
 singular commentary on this official and solemn pledge. 
 ** Nothing is either more true or more extensively known, 
 than that Texas was wrested from Mexico, and her in- 
 dependence established through the instrumentality of 
 citizens of the Unitad States." * 
 
 To a second remonstrance from the Mexican Minister 
 against the aid so openly and scandalously afforded by 
 American citizens to the Texans, Mr. Forsyth returned, 
 29th January, 1836, the following most extraordinaiy 
 reply : " No sooner was it apparent that the dispute 
 between Texas and the doininant partij m the other Mexi- 
 can States would be carried to extremities, and indications 
 observed of a design in some of the citizens of the United 
 States to take a part in tlie struggle, all the measures in 
 his 2)ower were adopted by the President to prevent any 
 interference that could by possibility involve the United 
 States in the dispute, or give just occasion for suspicions 
 of an unfriendly design on the part of the Government to 
 intermeddle in the domestic quarrel of a neighboring 
 . State." 
 
 Six days before these solemn and official assurances 
 were given, a course of measures had been commenced 
 
 * Printed Letter to Mr. Hammet, 20th April, 1844. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 23 
 
 by the President which exhibits the veiy peculiar view he 
 was pleased to take of neutral obligations. 
 
 On the 23rd Januar}^ General Gaines was directed to 
 take a position near the western frontier of the State of 
 Louisiana, to prevent the contending parties from enter- 
 ing into the United States' territory ! He was reminded 
 that, by treaty with Mexico, each power is required to 
 prevent by force " all hostilities and incursions on the 
 part of Indian nations within their respective boundaries." 
 Supposing this order to have been given in good faith, its 
 sole object could have been to protect the Texans from 
 assaults by American Indians. There was no reason 
 whatever to apprehend that the Texans, Americans them- 
 selves, and daily receiving supplies from their country- 
 men, would make hostile incursions into the American 
 territory. The Mexicans had neitlj^r the disposition nor 
 the abihty to invade the United States. There was, more- 
 over, no proof that the American Indians intended any 
 aggressions upon the Texans. The army was stationed 
 on the frontier of Texas for objects very different from 
 those which were avowed. Commanded by a General 
 devoted to the cause of annexation, it gave countenance 
 and support to the Texans in their struggle ; and, should 
 more efficient aid be needed, no small portion of its men, 
 arms, and ammunition, would readily find their way into 
 the Texan camp. It is to be observed, moreover, that 
 Gaines was not directed to prevent American citizens 
 from compromitting the neutrahty of the Government. 
 Regiments raised in the Southern States might freely pass 
 his tent on their way to wage war against a friendly 
 power. In deference to our treaty stipulations, Indians 
 were to be restrained from entering Mexico ; but foes far 
 more dangerous to the Mexicans than savages were to 
 have free admittance. General Gaines was a willing in- 
 
24 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 stniment ; and, in acknowledging the receipt of the orders 
 sent to him, showed that lie thoroughly understood the 
 purposes for which they were issued. "Should I (said 
 he in his letter to the Secretary of War of 29 th March, 
 1836,*) find any disposition on the part of the Mexicans 
 or thp-ir red brethren to menace our frontier, I cannot but 
 deem it my duty, not only to hold the troops of my com- 
 mand in readiness for action in defence of our slender 
 frontier, but to anticipate their lawless movements by 
 crossing our supposed or imaginary national boundary, 
 and meeting the savage marauders wherever they may be 
 found in their approach towards our frontier." In other 
 words, he would march to the rescue of Texas, should the 
 Mexican forces advance into the revolted province. A 
 few days after the date of this letter, the General, in his 
 hot zeal, made a requisition on the Governors of Louis- 
 iana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee, each for a 
 battalion of volunteers to protect the frontiers ! The Ge- 
 neral and the Cabinet acted in perfect unison. The for- 
 mer had hinted his readiness to cross the imaginary 
 boundary, for the purpose of anticipating the approach of 
 the Mexicans. The latter, on the 25th April, informed 
 him there was reason to believe the Indians would be in- 
 duced to join the Mexicans, and in that case, should the 
 contending parties approach the frontier, he may advance 
 as far as Nacogdoches. On the 4th May, he is informed 
 *' that the Secretary of War had written to the Governors 
 of Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ala- 
 bama, requi)-ing them to furnish him with such militia 
 force as he may require to protect the Western frontier of 
 the United States from hostile incursions." The General 
 had, on his own responsibility, called for four battalions 
 from four States. The President, still more provident, 
 * Ex. Doc, 1st Sess. 24tli Cono;. Vol. G. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 25 
 
 gives him power to call for an unlimited number of Militia 
 from no less than jive States. And why were these vast 
 powers confided to Gaines ? — and what and where was 
 the enemy against whom this unnumbered Militia was to 
 be poured forth by all these States ? Not an Indian, not 
 a Texan, not a Mexican, had invaded our territory. The 
 country was at peace ; nor were there even rumors of ap- 
 proaching war. To understand the management of Gaines 
 and his employers, it must be recollected that adventurers 
 were now flockingr to Texas, and that Texan ao;ents were 
 organizing in the Southern Stiites military expeditions to 
 rescue the province from the dominion of Mexico. A let- 
 ter from one of these men, Felix Houston, dated Natchez, 
 Mississippi, 4t,h March, 1836, and pubhshed in the jour- 
 nals of the day, will suffice to show the character of these 
 expeditions. " I contemplate starting for Texas about 1st 
 May next, and expect to take with me about five hundred 
 emigrants. I am making preparations for arms, ammuni- 
 tion, uniforms, (fee, &c , at an expense of ^40,000. I shall 
 have a rendezvous, and begin to send on supphes by the 
 1st May." Of course, such expeditions were a drain 
 upon the pockets of slaveholders, as well as upon the 
 treasury of Texas. The device of the Cabinet, in per- 
 mitting General Gaines to collect volunteers on the fron- 
 tier of Texas, from no less tlian five States, at the public 
 expense, obviated the only serious difficulty experienced in 
 raising within the United States a military force for wrest- 
 ing Texas from Mexico. Recruits for Texas might now, 
 under the requisitions of the President, and the plenipo- 
 tentiary discretion of the General, be equipped and trans- 
 ported from the neighboring States to Nacogdoches, in 
 Texas, at the cost of the United States. When once in 
 Texas, they might fight the Mexicans if they pleased, but 
 they were sent there to "protect the frontier ;^' and, in 
 3 
 
26 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 sending them for such a purpose, the President of course, 
 violated none of the obligations of neutrality, and afforded 
 the Mexicans no cause for complaint ! General Gaines 
 had been authorized to advance as far as Nacogdoches ; 
 but circumstances might occur to render it expedient for 
 him to go still farther, and the administration boldly re- 
 served to themselves the privilege of sending him and his 
 army Avherever they pleased. The Mexican Minister very 
 naturally remonstrated against the invasion of Mexican 
 territory by the American army. Mr. Forsyth very coolly 
 replied (May 10th), "that to iwotect Mexico from Ame- 
 rican Indians, and to protect our frontiers from Mexican 
 Indians, our troops might, if necessary, be sent mto the 
 heart of Mexico ^ 
 
 It would seem that neither General McCorab, the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the army, nor the Governor of Louis- 
 iana, had been admitted into the secrets of the Cabinet, 
 On the 26th of April, the former addressed a letter to 
 the Secretary of War, fi-om New Orleans, informing him 
 that the Governor insists that it is unnecessary " to send 
 to the frontiers of the State any troops, as the country 
 was not invaded, nor likely in his opinion to be invaded ; 
 and further, he was impressed with the belief, that it was 
 a scheme of those interested in the Texan speculations, 
 who had been instrumental in making General Gaines 
 believe that the Mexican authorities were tampering with 
 the Indians within our boundaries ; and at the same time 
 exciting, by false representations here, the sympathies of 
 the people in favor of the Texans, with a view of inducing 
 the authorities of the United States to lend their aid in 
 raising in this city a force composed of interested persons, 
 who should move to the Texan frontier under the call of 
 General Gaines, and afterwardSy under false pretensions, 
 uctually march into Texas^ and take part in the war now 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 27 
 
 waging between the Texans and the Government of Mexico ; 
 and all this at the expeyise of the United States, and con- 
 sequently with the implied sanction of the Government.''^ 
 
 This letter affords an amusing instance of the simplicity 
 of the commanding General, who supposed he was giving 
 information to the Government when detailing the natu- 
 ral and intended consequences of its own measures. The 
 General did not know what is proved by official docu- 
 ments, that the device of placing an army on the frontiers 
 of Texas originated with the Cabinet, and not with Gaines. 
 
 The troops, in obedience to orders from .Washington, 
 marched into Texas, and took a position at Nacogdoches. 
 Immediately, Houston, the Texan President, issued his 
 proclamationrpretending that the Indians were about to 
 attack Nacogdoches, and calling on the militia " to sus- 
 tain the United States troops at this place," and to rejoort 
 themselves to the United States Commander. The object 
 of the proclamation was two-fold, first, to impress both 
 Texans and Mexicans with the military aid to be granted 
 the former by the United States, — and secondly, to array, 
 as soon as possible, the Texan militia under the Ameri- 
 can General. 
 
 An American officer at Nacogdoches, indignant at the 
 perfidious conduct of the Government, thus gave vent to 
 his indignation in a letter published at the time in the 
 Army and Navy Chronicle. Speaking of the object of 
 taking their present position, he remarked, " It fs to cre- 
 ate the impression in Texas and Mexico, that the Govern- 
 ment of the United States takes a part in the controversy. 
 It is in fact lending to the cause of Texas all the aid which 
 it can derive from the countenance and apparent support 
 of the United States, besides placing our troops in a situ- 
 ation to take an active part in aid of the Texans, in case a 
 reverse of their aflfairs should render aid necessary." 
 
28 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAP. 
 
 One of the practical results of sending troops into 
 Texas is given in the following extract from the Pensacola 
 Gazette : — " About the middle of last month, General 
 Gaines sent an officer of the United States army into 
 Texas, to reclaim some deserters. He found them already- 
 enlisted in the Texan service, to the number of two hun- 
 dred. They still w^ore the uniform of our army, but re- 
 fused, of course, to return. This is a new vievj of our 
 Texan relations.'' 
 
 When our troops were no longer needed in Texas, they 
 were withdrawn, and sent to fight the Seminoles in Flo- 
 rida. General Gaines now issued a proclamation, offering 
 a full pardon to those w^ho had " absented themselves 
 from their regiments," provided they returned by a cer- 
 tain day. As these absentees, commonly called deserters, 
 had been serving the cause of slavery in Texas, the mercy 
 of the General was cordially extended to them. 
 
 When the Government thus evinced its sympathy for 
 Texas, and sent its army among the insurgents to counte- 
 nance, and, if necessary, protect them, it could not be 
 expected that the partisans of Texas in the United States, 
 would be veiy regardful of the laws of neutrality. A few 
 extracts from the journals of that day will show the pub- 
 licity with which the people of the United States made 
 war upon a friendly power : — 
 
 " Who will go to Texas ? Major J. W. Harvey of 
 Lincolnton, has been authorized by me, with the consent 
 of Major- General Hunt, an agent in the western counties 
 of North Carolina, to receive and enrol volunteer emi- 
 grants to Texas, and will conduct such as may w^ish to 
 emigrate to that Republic, about the 1st October next, at 
 the expense of the Republic of Texas. 
 
 " J. P. Henderson, 
 " Brig.-Gen. of the Texan Army." 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 29 
 
 " Three hundred Men for Texas. General Dunlap 
 of Tennessee is about to proceed to Texas with the above 
 number of men. Every man is co7n2'>let€ly armed, the 
 corps having been originally raised for the Florida 
 War." 
 
 '^This morning more than 200 men, commanded by 
 Colonel Wilson, and on their way to Texas, passed this 
 place in the Tuskina, with drums beating and fifes play- 
 ing. They will be followed by 300 men more, all from 
 old Kentucky." _ 
 
 In vain did the Mexican Minister, from time to time, 
 call the attention of the Government to these violations of 
 neutralit3^ Notwithsfanding the solemn and repeated 
 assurances given by the Secretary of State, not a serious 
 eflfort was made to arrest the tide of war which was roll- 
 ing from the United States upon the Mexican territory. 
 No proclamation was issued, warning our citizens of their 
 duties and responsibilities ; no instructions were given, as 
 in former instances, to military officers, to arrest the vio- 
 lators of our neutrality. Jefferson had succeeded in 
 bringing a man, lately one of the highest functionaries in 
 the country, to trial, for secretly planning an invasion of 
 the Spanish dominions. Jackson, one of the most ener- 
 getic Presidents that ever occupied the executive chair, 
 never enforced the penalties of the law on one individual 
 of the many thousands who openly perpetrated the crime 
 which Burr had only designed. 
 
 When commanding in the southern department. General 
 Jackson thought proper to put to death two foreigners, 
 named Arbuthnot and Ambiister, accused of aiding the 
 Indians in their hostilities, and thus expressed himself in 
 his order for their execution : — " It is an established prin- 
 ciple of the law of nations, that any individual, of any 
 nation, making war against the citizens of another nation, 
 
30 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 tkey being at peace, forfeits his allegiance, and becomes 
 an outlaw and a pirate." 
 
 The " established principle of the law of nations," an- 
 nounced by the General, was not recognized by the Pre- 
 sident when his G<Vn personal and pohtical friends were 
 the outlaws and pirates, and were struggling to effect an 
 object most dear to his own heart. On tlie 10th May, 
 1836, General Gaines transmitted to the President the 
 news of the victory of the Texans at San Jacinto, over 
 Santa Anna, and indulged the anticipation that in conse- 
 quence of the Ndctory, " this magnificent acquisition to 
 OUR union " would grace his administration. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 31 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 EFFORTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION TO EXCITE A WAR WITH 
 MEXICO. 
 
 The distracted and exhausted state of Mexico, the energy 
 and rapidily increasing numbers of the Texans, the vast 
 supplies they were daily receiving from the United States, 
 together with the presence of a friendly array, ready, 
 when necessary, to interpose between them and the 
 enemy, all combined to render the issue of tlie struggle 
 certain. Texas, it was seen, would become independent 
 of Mexico. But her independence would not necessarily 
 add to tlie pohtical power of the slave-holding interest in 
 the United States, For this purpose annexation was in- 
 dispensable. But annexation could not be effected at 
 present, without drawing after it a war with Mexico, and 
 this obvious consequence strengthened the objections en- 
 tertained to the measure at the North. It was well 
 as^'crtaincd that no treaty of annexation, especially at the 
 price of a Mexican war, would at present receive the 
 sanction of ConGfress. But, if Mexico could be induced to 
 commence hostilities against the United States, or should 
 her conduct justify a declaration of war against her, then 
 one powerful obstacle to annexation would be removed, 
 and Texas would become ours, by right of conquest, and 
 ■with the unanimous consent of her inhabitants. Every 
 attempt to purchase Texas had f;;iled, and r.ll hope of ac- 
 quiring it by tliis means, was abandoned on the termina- 
 tion of Mr. Butler's fruitless mission. From this time, the 
 
32 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 policy of the administration was to force Mexico into a 
 war. The commencement of this new policy was the ad- 
 vance of American troops into Texas, on the pretence of 
 protecting the frontier against Indians. 
 
 On the 5th of August, 1836, the President, in a letter 
 to the Governor of Tennessee, counteriranded a requisi- 
 sition by Gaines for troops, assigning this remarkable rea- 
 son : " There is no information to justify the apprehension 
 of hostilities to any serious extent from the Western In- 
 dians.*^ 
 
 The victory of San Jacinto had now been won, and the 
 President probably thought that General Gaines's zeal in 
 behalf of Texas was putting the country to unnecessary 
 expense. Why the order countermanding the General's 
 requisition was not given through the Secretary of War 
 does not appear. Possibly it was deemed most prudent 
 not to put the important admission we have quoted, on 
 record in the War Office, and it is to some accident or 
 carelessness that we are indebted for this letter, among 
 the official documents published by Congress. Let its 
 date be kept in mind, oth August, 1836. 
 
 On the 10th of the succeeding September, the Mexican 
 Minister at Washington wrote to the Secretary of State, 
 and, referring to some newspaper statements that the 
 United States troops had invaded the Mexican territoiy, 
 averred that, if this invasion was sanctioned by the Gov- 
 ernment, his mission must terminate. And what reply 
 was returned ? Did the Government apologize fbr the 
 invasion as having been induced by false reports ? Did it 
 acknowledge, that there was now " no information to 
 justify the apprehension of hostihties to any serious ex- 
 tent from our Western Indians," and that therefore the 
 troops should be immediately recalled ? Far different was 
 the response returned. The Secretary of State admitted 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 33 
 
 that American troops were then stationed at Nagadoches, 
 and further, that on the 4,th of that month the Piesident had 
 instructed General Gaines to enter the Mexican territory, 
 if he shall be satisfied, " that any body of Indians who 
 disturb the peace of the frontier of the United States, 
 receive assistance or shelter within the Mexican terri- 
 tory." 
 
 The Minister denied that Mexico had any wish to ex- 
 cite the Indians against the United States, and he formally 
 demanded the withdrawal of the troops from the Mexican 
 territory (Texas). This demand was, on the 13th Octo- 
 ber, met by a flat refusal — a refusal coupled with insult. 
 The Minister was informed by our Secretary of State, that 
 by treaty each party was bound to restrain its own Indi- 
 ans from making hostile incursions upon the territories of 
 the other ; and, as Mexico had not the abiUty to fulfil her 
 engagement, the United States had the right in self- 
 defence to occupy her territory. Not a particle of evi- 
 dence was adduced to showMhat the frontiers of the 
 United States were menaced by Mexican Indians — not an 
 argument advanced to prove the necessity of our army 
 advancing into Texas in self-defence, and the whole pre- 
 text is stamped with the brand of impudent falsehood, by 
 the confession made to the Govei-nor of Tennessee by the 
 President in the letter we have quoted. 
 
 Two days after this insult to Mexico, her Minister de- 
 manded his passports.* This was a great point gained 
 by the administration. Diplomatic intercourse with Mex- 
 ico was so far interrupted ; and the rupture, if properly 
 managed, might result in war, and ^consequently in annex- 
 ation. While in the very act of inflicting the grossest 
 outrages upon Mexico, and amid professions of neutrahty 
 as ardent as they were false, the administration thought it 
 ♦ r.e Ex. Doc, 2d Sess., 21tli Cong. Vol I. 
 
34 ^ REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 expedient to raise a note of Availing for the injuries com- 
 mitted by Mexico upon American citizens, accompanied 
 with the most obsti-eperous clamors for compensation. 
 
 The public have heard much, but understood little, 
 about " Our claims upon Mexico." It is not probable that 
 one in a thousand of those wlio declaim about Mexican 
 outrages, as justifying the war against that Republic, 
 know whereof they affirm. Before entering upon an ex- 
 amination of our claims upon Mexico, it may be well to 
 state two of the general principles which, by the laws and 
 usages of nations, limit the interference of a government 
 in behalf of the demands of its citizens upon foreign pow- 
 ers for the redress of alleged grievances. 
 
 Complaints growing out of contracts entered into by 
 citizens of one country with the Government of another, 
 are not properly subjects for international discussion. 
 Our Government would not tolerate for a moment, a re- 
 monstrance from the British Cabinet in behalf of an Eng- 
 lishman employed in our arsenals or ship -yards, who 
 complained that he had not been paid his stipulated 
 wages. 
 
 Where by treaty a foreigner is entitled to seek redress 
 in the courts of the country in which his alleged injury 
 has been received, his Government is not permitted to 
 convert his wrong, whether real or imaginary, into a 
 national grievance. Should an English subject be as- 
 saulted in our streets, defrauded by his debtor, or falsely 
 imprisoned by a police officer, his (government could not 
 demand of ours redress for his sufferings. Were these 
 two principles to be disregarded, and were Governments 
 to insist on sitting in judgment on the contracts their sub- 
 jects might form with foreign powers, or on the quarrels 
 in which they might be involved abroad, it is very evident 
 that the peace of the world would be perpetually dis- 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 35 
 
 turbed. Yet these principles, as we shall see hereafter, 
 have been set at naught in many of the claims preferred 
 by the American Government on that of Mexico. 
 
 But the subject of these claims is so important in itself, 
 and so indicative of the determination of the Cabinet at 
 Washington to provoke a war with Mexico, as to demand 
 a separate chapter. 
 
36 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CLAIMS ON MEXICO, AND AVAR RECOMMENDED BY THE PRESI- 
 DENT TO ENFORCE THEM. 
 
 On the 20th July, 1836, shortly after the victoiy of San 
 Jacinto, and the captivity of the President of Mexico, the 
 Secretary of State sent to Mr. ElHs, our Minister, a list of 
 fifteen complaints against the Repubhc, accompanied with 
 the strange acknowledgment that " the Department is 
 not in possession of proof of all the circumstances of the 
 wrong done in the above cases, as represented by the 
 aggrieved parties." The Cabinet deemed it expedient to 
 prefer the complaints without loss of time, and to seek 
 afterwards for proof to establish them. 
 
 But the most extraordinary part of this procedure, and 
 which reveals the anxiety of the Government to bring on 
 a rupture with Mexico, is the course prescribed to ElHs. 
 He is ordered to demand such reparation " as these accu- 
 mulated wrongs may be found to require." If no satis- 
 factory answer shall be given in three iveehs, he was to 
 announce, that, unless redress shall be aflforded without 
 unnecessary delay, his further residence would be useless. 
 If this threat proved unavailing, he was to notify the 
 Government that, unless a satisfactory answer was re- 
 turned in two vjeeks, he should ask for his passport, and 
 at the expiration of the fortnight, he is to return home, if 
 no satisfactory answer is received. The Mexican Minister 
 had already, for the reasons we have stated, left Wash- 
 ington ; and here we see a contrivance for withdrawing our 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 37 
 
 Minister from Mexico in a manner liigb^'' irritating and 
 iiisulting. All diplomatic relations between the tAvo coun- 
 tries being thus interrupted, and for the alleged reason 
 that Mexico had refused to pay our just demands, the way- 
 would be open for reprhaU, and consequently %oar would 
 follow. 
 
 It will be observed, too, that the responsibility of tak- 
 ing the momentous step which was almost necessarily to 
 lead to hostilities, was adroitly thi'own upon the discretion 
 of a Mississippi slaveholder, eager to enlarge the slave 
 territory by the annexation of Texas. Mr. Ellis was to 
 judge whether the reparation offered was such as our" 
 " accumulated wrongs" required ; he was to decide what 
 was unnecessary delay, and he alone to determine whether 
 the answers he received Avere or Avere not satisfactory. 
 
 We Avill noAV notice the fifteen gricA^ances, the redress 
 -of which in a manner Avhich Mr. PoAvhatten Ellis might 
 deem sufficiently satisfactory and prompt, was to.be the 
 sine qua non of peace or war. We entreat the reader's 
 patience Avhile Ave enumerate these gricA'ances, and the 
 replies to them, because as he Avill see hereafter, it was for 
 these that our diplomatic intercoui'se with Mexico was 
 broken off, and that the President recommended to Con- 
 gress, a measure equivalent to a declaration of Avar, The 
 claims afterioards urged, can of course afford no justifica- 
 tion or apology for the conduct of the administration, 
 founded exclusively on the fifteen transmitted to Mr. 
 Ellis. They Avere in substance as folloAvs : 
 
 1. An American, of the name of BaldAvin, had in 1832, 
 unjust judgments given against him in the Mexican courts, 
 and on one occasion, on account of an altercation between 
 him and a magistrate, he AA^as sentenced to the stocks. 
 He resisted, and attempted to escape, and fell and injured 
 4 
 
38 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 his leg. He was thereupon seized, put into the stocks, 
 and afterwards ifnprisoned. 
 
 2. The American vessel Topaz, was chartered by the 
 Mexican Government in 1832, to convey troops. The 
 master and mate were murdered by the soldiers, the crew 
 imprisoned, and the vessel seized and used in the Mexican 
 service. 
 
 ^. The American vessel Brazoria, was seized in 1832, and 
 
 employed in a military expedition, without compensation. 
 
 4. Two American steamboats were taken possession of 
 
 by Mexican officers, and used without compensation, 
 
 in 1832. 
 
 3. Capt. McKeige was imprisoned at Tabasco, in 1834, 
 and an enormous fine imposed upon him, " without cause.'' 
 
 6. The American vessel Paragon, was causelessly fired 
 into by a Mexican schooner, in 1834. 
 
 7. The American brig Ophir, was seized and con- 
 demned in 1835, at Campeachy, because by some mistake, 
 the proper papers were not shown at the Custom-house. 
 
 8. The American vessel Martha, was seized at Galves- 
 ton, in 1835, for alleged violation of the revenue laws, 
 and the passengers, accused of an intention to use tire 
 arms against a guard placed on board, were put in irons. 
 
 9. The American vessel Hannah Elizabeth, stranded in 
 1835, on the coast, was boarded by soldiers, and the crew 
 
 'imprisoned, and pillaged of their clothes. The crew were 
 afterwards released. 
 
 10. Two American citizens were arrested in Metamoras, 
 in 1836, by a party of soldiers, who struck one of them 
 in the face with a sword. They were temporarily confined 
 on suspicion of an intention to proceed to Texas. Sen- 
 tinels were placed at the Consul's door, under false pre- 
 tences. Soldiers broke into his gate, searched his house, 
 and took from his yard a mare and two mules. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 39 
 
 11. Mr. Slocum, bearer of despatches, was in 1836, 
 detained and fined, for carrying ofHcial letters. 
 
 12. The American schooner Eclipse, was in 1836, 
 detained at Tabasco, and her master and crew, mal-treated 
 by the authorities. 
 
 13. The American schooner Compeer, and other vessels, 
 were in 1836, forcibly detained at Metamoras. 
 
 14. The United States revenue-cutter Jeflferson, in 
 1836, arrived oif the harbor of Tampico, and was forbidden 
 to enter. An officer and boat's crew, on landing, were 
 temporarily arrested. 
 
 15. The American vessel Northampton, was wTecked 
 in 1836, near Tabasco, and taken possession of by Cus- 
 tom-house officers and soldiers. The crew remonstrated, 
 and the captain was wounded. More than half of the 
 goods saved from the wreck were pillaged, and lost, by the 
 revenue officers and soldiers. The Consul complained, 
 but obtained no redress. 
 
 Such are the fifteen " accumulated wrongs," complained 
 of by the American Government, and ordered to be for- 
 mally presented by Mr. Ellis. It will be observed, that 
 cot one of them is alleged to have been committed by the 
 Mexican Government. No law, no act of the Goveiiiinenty 
 is complained of. Custom-house officers may act illegally, 
 and soldiers may commit outrages, police officers afid 
 magistrates may be guilty of oppression, and yet the 
 Government be wholly ignorant of the offences committed. 
 Milhons and miUions of American property have been 
 seized, liy \*irtue of orders issued directly by the Govern- 
 ments of England and France ; yet in no instance, did 
 the American Cabinet venture to hazard the peace of the 
 country, by demanding reparation within a specified 
 number of days. On the contrary, the settlement of our 
 claims upon other nations, was preceded by protracted 
 
49 . REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 negotiations. Our claims for the value of slaves carried 
 away by the British forces, in 1815, were not settled and 
 paid, till 1826. Indemnity for French spoliations on our 
 commerce, from 1806 to 1813, v/as not received till 1834. 
 In these cases, our claims were not a pretext for war, and 
 consequently their payment was not hazarded by an 
 insulting demand for a satisfactory reply in two weeks. 
 
 Several of the fifteen complaints we have enumerated, 
 if well founded, did not justify national interference, 
 being injuries for v/liich the sufferers were entitled to seek 
 redress in the Mexican courts ; others were proper sub- 
 jects for inquiry and remonstrance ; not one afforded a 
 legitimate cause for war, for not one had been ordered, or 
 as yet justified by the Mexican Government. 
 
 The extreme haste with which Mexico was required to 
 redress these complaints, is the more extraordinary when 
 we recollect, that the alleged grievances were mostly of 
 recent date. The complaint of Baldwin, was the oldest, 
 viz. : five years standing ; three others occurred four years 
 before, two in 1834, three in 1835, and the other nine 
 within less than twelve months of the instructions to 
 'M.y. Ellis. 
 
 It so happened, that before Mr. Forsyth's despatch 
 ref^phed the minister, two of the fifteen wrongs, the 
 eleventh and fourteenth, had been settled to the satisfac- 
 tion of the latter. Through the ignorance of a Post-master, 
 Mr. Slocum had been fined $6, for a supposed violation of 
 the law in carrying letters. The government, on Igarning 
 the affair, censured the Post-master, and remitted the fine. 
 The revenue cutter Jefferson was refused admittance 
 into the harbor of Tampico, only because the port was 
 closed against all foreign vessels, without exception ; and 
 the commander of Tampico, had been removed for his 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 41 
 
 harshness in temporarily confining the American officer 
 and crew who liad landed. 
 
 On the 26th September, Ellis laid before the Mexican 
 Minister in writing, the thirteen remaining grievances, and 
 was promptly assured that they would be investigated. 
 As most of these complaints related to acts recently com- 
 mitted by Custom-house officers and other officials, it was 
 probable that the letter of the 2Gth September, was the 
 first notice of them, that the Government had ever re- 
 ceived ; yet on the 20th October following, less than/o?/r 
 weeks from the date of the first letter, Ellis announced to 
 the Government, that unless the Avrongs complained of, 
 are redressed without unnecessary delay, " his farther resi- 
 dence in Mexico would be useless." 
 
 To this insulting missive, a calm, dignified reply was 
 returned the next day. Ellis is reminded that a delay in 
 answering a note is not a sufficient cause for breaking off 
 a negotiation ; and that, to decide on the grievances pre- 
 sented, documents were to be collected from various offices 
 in diffiirent parts of the Republic. He was informed, that 
 measures had already been taken to procure the requisite 
 documents, and promised that, when these were received, 
 the decision of the government would be communicated 
 to him. Well did John Quincy Adams remark in a note 
 to his printed speech in Congress in 1838, " From the 
 day of the battle of San Jacinto, every movement of the 
 administration of this Union appears to have been made 
 for the express purpose of breaking off negotiations, and 
 precipitating a war, or of frightening Mexico iyito the ces- 
 sion of not only Texas, hut the whole course of the Rio del 
 Norte, and five degrees of latitude across their continent to 
 the South Sea. The instructions of the 20th July, 1836, 
 from the Secretary of State to Mr. Ellis almost imme- 
 diately after the battle, were evidently premeditated to 
 4* 
 
42 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 produce rupture, and were but too faithfully carried into 
 execution. Hisj^Ellis's) letter of the 20th October, 1836, 
 to Mr. Monasterio was the premonitory symptom, and no 
 true-hearted citizen of this union can read it, and the 
 answer to it on the next day by Mr. Monasterio, without 
 blushinrr for his country." But neither Ellis nor his em- 
 ployers were in the habit of blushing ; and on the 4th 
 November the Minister, in pursuance of his instructions, 
 gave formal notice that, unless his complaints were satis- 
 factorily answered in two weeks, he should demand his 
 passports ! 
 
 It was only to a feeble nation, and one whose hostility 
 was courted for ulterior designs, that the administration 
 would have hazarded such insolence. Mexico, sensible 
 of her feebleness, did not resent the insult, and Mr. ElHs 
 received an answer within the number of days he had as- 
 signed. The Mexican Secretary remarked that, by the 
 existing treaty, citizens of either country were entitled to 
 bring their grievances before the tribunals of the other, and 
 hence it was unnecessary for their respective governments 
 to interfere to procure that justice for them which the courts 
 of law were ready to afford f- and that complaints against 
 
 * The 14tli Art. of tlie treaty between the United States and 
 Mexico guaranteed protection to the persons and property of 
 the citizens of each, " leaving open and free to them tlie tribu- 
 nals of justice for their judicial recourse, on the same terms 
 which are visual and customary with the natives or citizens of 
 the country in which they may be." Mr. Forsj'th availed him- 
 self of this article of the treaty in his reply (.January 29th, 
 183C), to a demand from the Mexican Government for the pun- 
 ishment of the Captain of an American armed ship, for an al- 
 leged outrage committed by him on a Mexican vessel. The Sec- 
 retary remarked, '■'■That the courts of the United States are. freely 
 open, to all persons in their jurisdiction, who may consider themselves 
 to have been aggrieved in contravention 'of our laivs and treaties." 
 This application of the treaty to Mexican complaints was ex- 
 ceedingly convenient; but its application to Amcriran complaints 
 was indignantly refused by Sir. Ellis in his reply of the 15th 
 November of the same year. He declared that " the ojsinion ex- 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 43 
 
 officers of the customs should not be made subjects of ne- 
 gociation, for the reason tliat Americans have the same 
 means of redress in the tribunals of the country as the 
 Mexicans themselves. Nevertheless, the government will 
 not decline to examine the complaints preferred by Mr. 
 Elhs. These, it will be recollected, had been reduced to 
 thirteen, and they were thus answered : 
 
 1. As to Mr. Baldwin, whatever may hafe been his 
 wrongs, he ought to have sought redress in Mexican 
 courts. It was probable his behavior had been improper, 
 as six criminal prosecutions were pending against him. 
 The government had no power to interfere between liti- 
 gant parties in courts of justice ; but it had signified to 
 the authorities the wish that justice might be awarded to 
 Baldwin with promptitude and impartiality. 
 
 2. The government understands that the Topaz which 
 was chartered to convey troops, was wrecked ; that, after 
 she was stranded, and while the soldiers were in the hold, 
 the American crew shut the hatches upon them, and mur- 
 dered three Mexican officers who were upon deck. That 
 the object of the crew was to carry ^ff the money on 
 board ; that the soldiers forced the hatches, attacked the 
 crew, killed one, and secured the others for trial. 
 
 3. The Brazoria was pressed into the service of the 
 Texan colonists by Austin, and had been abandoned by 
 her owner with protest for loss and damages. The Minis- 
 ter of War had ordered her to be sold, and the proceeds 
 paid into the treasury. On proof of ownership, the 
 Government was read}^ to pay an equitable indemnity. 
 
 4. As to the steam-boats detained, the government had 
 
 pressed by the lion. Mr. Monasterio which limits the citizens 
 of the United States having certain claims against the Govern- 
 ment, to resort to the judicial tribunals of Mexico for indem 
 nity, is wholly indefensible." 
 Ex Documents, 24th Congress, 2 Sesg., Vol. 3., Doc. 139. 
 
44 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 a contract with the owner, who is now in debt to the 
 Government. Nothing is due to him ; but if he thinks 
 otherwise, let him establish his claims before the tri- 
 bunals. 
 
 5. The case of Captain Keige has been investigated, 
 and the Government has ordered the offending officer ;o 
 be prosecuted, and will indemnify Captain Keige. 
 
 6. Orders have been given for the trial of the officer 
 who fired into the Paragon ; but the result of the trial is 
 not yet known. 
 
 7. In the case of the Ophir no wrong was done. The 
 vessel was properly condemned for want of the necessary 
 papers. An appeal was taken to a higher court, before 
 wliich the missing papers were produced, and the vessel 
 discharged. 
 
 8. The Government is wholly ignorant of the case of 
 the Martha, and has called for, but not yet received, in- 
 formation upon the subject. 
 
 9. In regard to the case of the Hannah Elizabeth, the 
 government had called for, but not yet received, a state- 
 ment of the transaction. 
 
 10. The Government is ignorant of the proceedings at 
 Metamoras, and has called for information. 
 
 This information was soon after received, and Mr. ElHs 
 was informed that, on the arrival at Metamoras of the 
 commander of that city , he understood that two stran- 
 gers had just departed, who were supposed to be Texan 
 spies. He sent four dragoons after them, who saw them 
 enter a house in the outskirts of the city. Finding a mare 
 and two mules in the y^d, the soldiers removed the ani- 
 mals to prevent the escape of the strangers. The soldiers 
 then entered the house, and arrested the two men, who 
 on examination were found to have passports, and were 
 allowed to proceed on their journey, and the animals-wero 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 45 
 
 returned. It was not till after the affair that the com- 
 mandant learned that the house was occupied by the 
 American Consul. 
 
 11. The Government was uninformed of the affair of 
 the Eclipse, but would make the proper inquiries. 
 
 12. The Compeer and other vessels were detained a 
 few days at Metamoras, in consequence of a general em- 
 bargo on all vessels without distinction, imposed by the 
 Commander of that department, without the knowledge 
 of the Government, which disapproved of and revoked it. 
 
 13. The Goveinment knows nothing of the case of the 
 Northampton, but has called for information. 
 
 Such were " the accumulated wrongs " for which the 
 Cabinet determined to break off all intercourse with 
 Mexico. It is rare, indeed, that diplomatic history exhi- 
 bits a series of national complaints so tri\'ial in themselves, 
 urged with so much spleen and arrogance on the one 
 side, or met with so much fairness and good temper on 
 the other. To the thirteen grievances forwarded from 
 Washington, Mr. Ellis had thought proper to add five 
 more without instructions, and we therefore continue the 
 cataloo^ue of e^rievances, viz. : 
 
 CO ' 
 
 14. The American Consul at Tampico had. May 26th, 
 1836, been summoned by the authorities to authenticate 
 certain papers, and on his refusal had been threatened 
 with imprisonment. — To this it was replied, that the Go- 
 vernment was icrnorant of the circumstances, but would 
 investigate the matter. 
 
 15.- The American vessel, Peter D. Vroom, being 
 wrecked on the coast, June, 1836, the American Consul 
 had the cargo brought to Vera Cruz, where the consignee 
 abandoned it to the imderwriters. Whereupon the Mexi- 
 can Com't appointed an agent for the underwriters, who 
 sold the cargo, and the demand of the American Consul 
 
46 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 to receive the proceeds was refused. — To this the Mexi- 
 can Secretary repHed, that as the underwriters had ap- 
 pointed no agent, the Court did right to appoint one for 
 them, and that the Consul had no official authority in the 
 premises. 
 
 16. Ellis complained that copies of certain judicial pro- 
 ceedings in the case of the brig Aurora had been refused 
 to the American Consul. — He was informed that the 
 copies were offered to him, but that he refused to pay the 
 legal fees charged for making the copies. 
 
 17. The American vessel Bethlehem was seized by a 
 Mexican armed vessel on the 2nd September, 1836, and 
 the crew detained twenty days, and then landed, the ves- 
 sel confiscated, and the captain refused a copy of the 
 proceedings. — The Government knew nothing of the affair, 
 but would make inquiries. 
 
 18. The American vessel Fourth of July had been 
 taken possession of by Mexican soldiers. — It turned out 
 that the vessel had been built for the Mexican Govern- 
 ment. The agent had contracted before a notary for the 
 sale ; but a party of soldiers had been sent on board pre- 
 vious to the delivery of the bill of sale. • The owner had 
 been paid for his vessel, and made no complaint.* 
 
 We have now the sum-total of all the complaints against 
 Mexico, which the joint efforts of Messrs. Forsyth and 
 Ellis could collect. We can readily imagine the storm of 
 indignation and resentment which such a budget presented 
 by the British Government to that at Washington, with a 
 demand for a satisfactory answer in fourteen days, would 
 raise throughout the length and breadth of the Federal 
 
 * Mr. Forsyth having heard of this case, wrote to Ellis, De- 
 cember 9th, 1836, as " the owners of the brig Fourth of July 
 arc content," he is not to insist on the restoration of the vessel, 
 but onl}'- to demand satisfaction for the insult offered to the 
 American Flag ! ! 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 47 
 
 Republic. The tone assumed by Mr. Ellis was not less 
 offensive than the pretended grievances themselves. Of 
 that tone, we may form some opinion from the dignified 
 conclusion of the Mexican answer : 
 
 "Yonr Excellency, after specifying all the subjects 
 which have been thus replied to, goes on to say, that the 
 Mexican armed vessels have fired upon and insulted the 
 fla<x of the United States, that her consuls have been mal- 
 treated and insulted by the authorities, private citizens 
 assassinated, arrested, and scourged, like malefactors, their 
 property condemned and confiscated, &c., &c. But as 
 these charges are made in terms so general, the Supreme 
 Go^■ernment of the Republic desires that they may be 
 specified, before taking them into consideration." 
 
 Let us now see the character of the eighteen specified 
 grievances, as explained by the Mexican Government. 
 The cases of the Topaz (No. 2), Brazoria (No. 3), Captain 
 Kiege (No. 5), the Paragon (No. 6), the Ophir (No. 7), 
 the affair at Metamoras (No. 10), the case of the Com- 
 peer (No. 12), the Peter D. Vroom (No. 15), the Au- 
 rora (No. 16), and the Fourth of July (No. 18), are ut- 
 terly divested of all wrong and injustice on the part of 
 the Mexican Government. 
 
 There remain only eight of the whole budget which 
 afford the least room for complaint ; and of these the 
 Government professed entire ignorance in the case of the 
 Martha (No. 8), the Hannah EHzabeth (No. 9), the 
 Eclipse (No. 11), the Northampton (No. 13), the treat- 
 ment of the Consul at Tampico (No. 14), and the Beth- 
 lehem (No. 1*7). It was not pretended that the injuries 
 complained of in these six cases had been inflicted by 
 orders from the Government; and it might readily be 
 believed that the Government was not acquainted with 
 every abuse of power by its officials. But in each of these 
 
48 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 cases, an inquiry was promised ; and it is difficult to con- 
 ceive what more could have been reasonably demanded. 
 We have now left only two cases within the knowledge of 
 the Government, at all open to the suspicion of injustice 
 and oppression — the case of Bald^vin (No. 1), and of the 
 detained steamboats (No. 4). xipparently neither Avas a 
 fit subject of negotiation ; for the complaints in the first 
 case were made against judicial decisions, which can never 
 be properly brought into question by a foreign govern- 
 ment, except when founded on some great i-)rinciple con- 
 tradicted by treaty or national law, and not on mere 
 issues of fact. The complaint in the second instance ap- 
 pears to have grown out of a contract over which our own 
 Government had no lesfitimate cosfnizance. 
 
 The Cabinet had rehcved themselves from breaking off 
 the negotiations by throwing tlie responsibility of it upon 
 Mr. Elhs. Their confidence in this gentleman was not 
 misplaced. After receiving from the Mexican Secretary 
 of State the explanations and assurances already men- 
 tioned, he demanded CZth December) his passports ! 
 The Mexican Government begged to know /or lohat cause 
 he took a step so calculated to affect the relations of the 
 two countries. It would not do to give the true reason : 
 it was difficult to frame a plausible one ; and Mr. Ellis 
 remained silent. 
 
 The Mexican Minister had left Washington on account 
 of the march of American troops into Texas, and the 
 claim advanced by the Government of the right to send 
 an American army into the heart of Mexico, if necessary, 
 to guard against Indian hostUitics. Mr. Elhs had termin- 
 ated his mission in Mexico in the exercise of the discretion 
 allowed him, adjudging the answers made to the eighteen 
 complaints unsatisfactory. Negotiations being at an end, 
 satisfaction for the eighteen grievances, and as many more 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 49 
 
 as we could find, could of course be obtained only by 
 force, which would necessarily lead to war, and that as 
 necessarily to the immediate annexation of Texas. Ac- 
 cordingly, on the 6th Februarj^ 1837, the President hav- 
 ing received Mr. Ellis's report, sent a Message to Con- 
 gress on the subject of our claims upon Mexico. In this 
 document, complaining of the conduct of the sister Re- 
 public, he observed : " The length of time since some of 
 the injuries have been committed, the repeated and un- 
 avaihng applications for redress, the wanton character of 
 some of the outrages upon the property and persons of 
 our citizens, upon the ofiicers and flag of the United 
 States, indei^endent of recent insults to this Government 
 and people by the late extraordinary Mexican Minister, 
 would justify in the eyes of a|l nations immediate War. 
 That remedy, however, should not be used by just and 
 generous nations, confiding in their strength, for injuries 
 committed, if it can be honorably avoided ; and it has 
 occurred to me that, considering the present embarrassed 
 condition of that country, we should act both with wisdom 
 and moderation, by giving to Mexico one more oppor- 
 tunity to atone for the past, before we take redress into 
 our hands." 
 
 " To avoid all misconception on the part of Mexico, as 
 well as to protect our national character from reproach, 
 this opportunity should be given with the avowed design 
 and full preparation to take immediate satisfaction, if it 
 should not be obtained on a repetition of the demand for 
 it. To this end, I recommend that an act be passed, 
 authorizing reprisals and the use of the naval force of the 
 United States, by the Executive, against Mexico, to en- 
 force them, in the event of a refusal by the Mexican 
 government, to come to an amicable adjustment of the 
 matters in controversy between us, upon another demand 
 
50 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 thereof, made on hoard one of our vessels of war, on the 
 coast of Mexico.'" 
 
 The cruelty of this attempt to involve the two countries 
 in war, was aggravated by the very character of the re- 
 commendation. Ko specification is made of the injuries 
 we have received, no notice is taken of the ansv/ers re- 
 turned to the eighteen complaints, no mention made of 
 the amount of money claimed. The President is to be 
 armed with power to take immediate satisfaction, and for 
 this purpose the navy is to be placed at his disposal. But 
 to what amount the navy is to plunder the commerce and 
 sea-ports of Mexico, is not stated. However, before a 
 system of robbery is commenced, a demand for satis- 
 faction (but how much no one knows,) is to be sent to 
 the Government of Mexico, from a ship of war off Vera 
 Cruz, and " a satisfactory answer " to be retnrned, of 
 course, in a certain number of days. No one can fail to 
 see that the President intended war, and that a compli- 
 ance with his recommendation by Congress would have 
 been equivalent to its declaration. The country was not 
 yet prepared to commence a system of human butchery, 
 for the purpose of facilitating the acquisition of Texas ; and 
 General Jackson's belligerent proposition found but little 
 favor with either house of Congress. 
 
 But the reader is as yet only partially acquainted with 
 the extreme wickedness of this proposal. He is yet to 
 learn that only six months before the date of this message, 
 the President had himself acknowledged that Mexico was 
 guiltless of the conduct he now imputed to her. We must 
 again advert to the letter of the 5th August, 1836, 
 already quoted in the preceding chapter. Tliis was a sort 
 of semi-official, semi-confidential epistle, written, not at 
 Washington, but at the President's residence in Tennessee, 
 and addressed to the Governor of that State. Governor 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 51 
 
 Cannon was, doubtless, no less anxious than his friend, for 
 the annexation of Texas, even at the cost, if necessary, of 
 a war with Mexico. General Jackson seems to have 
 written the letter, to excuse himself for countermanding 
 Gaines's order for troops, and for not facilitating annex- 
 ation, by making war on Mexico. On the first point he 
 tells the Governor " there is no information to justify the 
 apprehension of hostihties to any serious extent, from the 
 western Indians." But was not the frontier endangered by 
 the Mexicans ? Was not Mexico virtually Avaging war 
 upon us ? Listen to the solemn assertions made by the 
 President's ambassador Ellis, in his letter to the Mexican 
 Secretary of State, on the 2Gth September, only a few 
 weeks after the communication made to Governor Can- 
 non : — " The flag of the United States has been repeatedly 
 insulted, and fired upon by the public armed vessels of this 
 Government ; her consuls, in almost every port of the Re- 
 public, have been maltreated and insulted by the public au- 
 thorities ; her citizens, while in the pursuit of a lawful trade, 
 have been murdered on the high seas, by a licentious and 
 unrestrained soldiery. Others have been arrested and 
 scourged in the streets by the military^ like malefactors — 
 they have been seized and imprisoned under the most 
 frivolous pretexts — their property has been condemned 
 and confiscated in violation of existmg treaties, and the 
 acknowledged laws of nations, and large sums of monev 
 have been exacted of thera, contrary to all law." Noav, in 
 such a state of things, how did General Jackson excuse 
 himself to his friend, foi* not vindicating the rights of his 
 country ? Very easily. All the grievances we could 
 muster were but eighteen, and Ellis's vituperation was in- 
 tended for the purpose of insult and exasperation. The 
 President well knew, as the result proved, that Congress 
 could not be prevailed on to declare war against Mexico 
 
52 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 at present, and hence he tells Governor Cannon : *' Should 
 Mexico insult our national flag, invade our territory, or 
 interrupt bur citizens in the lawful pursuits which are 
 guaranteed to them by treaty, then the Government will 
 promptly repel the insult, and take speedy reparation for 
 the injury. But it does not seem that offences of 
 
 THIS character HAVE BEEN COMMITTED BY MeXICO."* Let 
 
 it not be forgotten, that this confession was made about 
 two weeks aftei' the date of the instructions to Ellis 
 already mentioned, and which were obviously intended to 
 produce a rupture of the diplomatic intercourse between 
 the two countries, as preparatory to war. 
 
 * See this remarkable letter in Ex. Doc. 2 Sess. 24 Cong. Vol. 
 1 , No. 2. It was probably intended as a private letter, but 
 almost immediately found its way into the newspapers, most 
 likely through the indiscretion of Governor Cannon. Being 
 thus made public, Mr. Forsyth made use of it, the?>\st of the same 
 month, in his correspondence with the Mexican Minister, send- 
 ing him a newspaper copy of the letter, as evidence of the Presi- 
 dent's friendly disposition towards Mexico ! 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 53 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF TEXAS. 
 
 The coJonists of Texas being American citizens, at no 
 time wislied to remain a separate and independant nation. 
 Their highest aspiration was to see their lone star admitted 
 into the American constellation. The slave-holders also 
 were adverse to the rise of a small independent State on 
 their southern borders — a State that in time might form 
 a barrier to the progress of slavery. It was the policy of 
 the Texans to stimulate the desire of the slave-holders for 
 annexation, and hence within fifteen days after the decla- 
 ration of independence, they adopted a constitution 
 giving the rights of citizenship to all white emigrants, after 
 a residence of six months, authorizing emigrants to bring 
 their slaves with them, and renderino^ human bondagfe 
 perpetual, by depriving the legislature of the power to 
 abolish it. A boon was held out to the breeding States, 
 by granting them the monopoly of the Texan market, the 
 importation of slaves being prohibited, except from the 
 United States. Free negroes and mulattoes, it is well 
 known, are regarded by the slave-holders as a dangerous 
 population. In Texas, no colonization society was needed 
 to remove such nuisances from the country. By the Con- 
 stitution, every negro and every mulatto, now or in future, 
 remaining on the soil of Texas, was doomed to bondage. 
 There was still one more lure held out to the South. INIr. 
 Benton had calculated that nine slave States might be 
 carved out of Texas ; but his %ision of the future was con- 
 fined to the Mexican province of that name. The Ameri- 
 5* 
 
54 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 can instirgents, however, resolved to offer to the slave- 
 holdmg interest, not a single province only, but parts of 
 Coahuila, Tamaulipas, and New Mexico ; and accordingly 
 voted themselves, on the 19th December, 1836, the vast 
 territory included between the United States and the Rio 
 Grande, from its source to its mouth. To proclaim, more- 
 over, their eaoferness to transfer themselves and their im- 
 mense domain, now consecrated to slavery, to the Federal 
 Union, a poll was held in 1836, at which the electors 
 were required to express their wish for annexation, or for 
 a separate government. The result was, 3279 votes for 
 annexation, and 91 against it. This vote is also im- 
 portant, as showing the diminutive population of the 
 insurgent State. These various manifestations were not 
 made to unwilling or unobservant spectators. 
 
 The President, while full of complaints against the ag- 
 gressions of Mexico, sent an official agent (Henry M. 
 Morfit,) into Texas, whose report of the good land, it was 
 hoped, would excite the American people to go up and 
 take possession. On the 2 2d December, 1886, the Pre- 
 sident laid before Congress a communication from his 
 agent, on the " Political, military, and civil condition of 
 Texas." Tliis document reveals the following important 
 facts : — " The boundaries claimed by Texas will extend 
 fiom the mouth of the Rio Grande, on the east side, up 
 to its head waters, thence on a line due north, until it in- 
 tersects that of the United States, and with that line to the 
 Red River, on the northern boundary of the United States, 
 then to the Sabine, and along that river to its paouth, and 
 from that point westwardly with the Gulf of Mexico to 
 the Rio Grande. It was- the intention of the Government, 
 immediately after the battle of San Jacinto, to have claim- 
 ed from the liio Grande along the river to 30 degrees of 
 latitude, and then west to the Pacific. It was, however, 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 55 
 
 found that this would not strike a convenient point on the 
 California, tliat it would be difficult to control a wander- 
 ing population so distant, and that the territory now de- 
 termined upon would be sufficient for a young Republic. 
 The political limits of Texas iiropcr, -previous to the last 
 re vol fit ion, were the Nueces river on the ivest, along the Red 
 River on the north, the Sabine on the east, and the Gulf 
 of Mexico on the south.'" * 
 
 Tlie report of his agent in Texas was accompanied by 
 the Piesideiit with certain remarks highly characteiistic 
 of the pohcy pursued from the first b}'^ the Federal Go- 
 vernment towards that province. " It is known," said 
 the President, "that the people of Texas have instituted 
 the same form of government with our own ; and have, 
 since the close of your last session, openly resolved, on 
 the acknovvledgment by you of their independence, to seek 
 admission into the Union as one of the Federal States. 
 The title of Texas to the territory she claims is identified 
 with her independence. She asks us to acknowledge that 
 title to the territory -vvath an avowed design immediately to 
 transfer it to the United States." Thus we have a direct 
 appeal to the avarice of the American people in behalf of 
 annexation. The extravagant claims of Texas to Mexican 
 territory are spread before Congress, and that body is 
 reminded that the title to these vast domains is identified 
 with the independence of Texas. Let us acknowledge 
 that independence, and v/e thereby acknowledge the good- 
 ness of her claims ; and, as soon as the acknowledgment 
 is made, all Texas, and part of Coahuila, Tamaulipas, and 
 most of New Mexico, will be ours. The influence of the 
 tempter was in no degree lessened by a little common- 
 place cant about the duty of avoiding all suspicion of act- 
 ing from interested motives. It was now obvious that, as 
 
 * Ex. Documents Vol. 2. 24 Concr. 2 Sess. 
 
56 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 Texas could not be purchased, and as Mexico would pro- 
 bably not be provoked into war, the acknowledgment of 
 Texan independence was a necessary preliminary to an- 
 nexation. But there was a powerful and vigilant hostihty 
 at the North against every measure leading to the acqui- 
 sition of more slave territory. Pains were, therefore, 
 taken first to weaken this opposition by consideratipns of 
 personal and party interest, and, secondly, to lull its ap- 
 prehensions by false and deceptive suggestions and assur- 
 runces. Thus President Jackson, in the Message already 
 quoted, after showing how exceedingly profitable to the 
 United States the acknowledgment of Texan independ- 
 ence would certainly prove, proceeded to allay the alarm 
 of the North which his own representation awakened, by 
 pretending that such acknowledgment must be indefinitely 
 postponed. " Prudence," said he, " seems to dictate 
 that we should still stand aloof, and maintain our present 
 attitude, if not till Mexico or one of the great foreign 
 powers shall recognize the independence of the new Go- 
 vernment, at least imtil the lapse of time, or the course of 
 events, shall have proved, beyond all cavil or dispute, the 
 ability of that country to maintain their separate sove- 
 reignty, and to uphold the Government constituted by 
 them." 
 
 This declaration, so frank and explicit, and made at the 
 beginning of the Session of Congress, tended to pre- 
 vent all demonstration of popular opinion against the ac- 
 knowledgment, and all pledges on the subject from the 
 Representatives to their constituents. 
 
 On the 1st of March, two days before the close of the 
 Session, and in the absence of six members, a resolution 
 passed the Senate acknowledging the Independence of 
 Texas. Allusion was made in debate to the objections 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 57 
 
 made by the President on the 2 2d of the preceding De- 
 cember to such a measure. To the astonisliment of the 
 public, the mover of the resokition, Mr. Walker, from 
 Mississippi, declared in his place that he " had it from the 
 President's own lips that, if he w^ere a Senator, he w^ould 
 vote for this resolution." Thus the lapse of time and 
 course of events, contemplated by the President in his 
 Message, were ascertained to be eight weeks, and a ma- 
 jority in Congress. The resolution w^as adopted by the 
 lower House, and the American Colonists in Texas were 
 thus received into the family of nations as forming an Inde- 
 pendent Republic. 
 
58 RF.VIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 NEW CLAIMS ADVANCED AGAINST MEXICO. 
 
 It will be recollected that President Jackson, in his Mes- 
 sage of the 6th Februar}'-, ISSV, proposed that he should 
 be authorized to make reprisals against Mexico, and for 
 that purpose to employ the naval force of the nation, pro- 
 vided Mexico did not come " to an amicable adjustment 
 of the matters in controversy between us, upon another 
 demand thereof made on board one of our vessels of 
 War." 
 
 Now, " the matters in controversy between us" were, 
 in fact, no other than the eighteen grievances already spe- 
 cified. It was stipulated by the existing treaty with 
 JVIexico, that neither party shall " order or authorize any 
 act of reprisal, nor declare war against the other on com- 
 plaints of grievances or damages, until the said party 
 considering itself offended shall first have presented to the 
 other a statement of such injuries or damages, verified by 
 competent proof, and demand justice and satisfaction, and 
 the same shall have been either refused or unreasonably 
 delayed." Whatever claims and grievances we might 
 have against Mexico, they were not " matters in contro- 
 versy'' until after they had been presented, and by the 
 express terms of the treaty could not warrant either re- 
 prisals or war, until they had been verified, and the Mexi- 
 can Government had either refused or unreasonably de- 
 layed justice. 
 
 Notwithstanding this treaty stipulation, the President 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 59 
 
 laid before Congress a schedule of grievances amounting 
 in number to forty-six.* Of the original eighteen claims, 
 only one dated as far back as 1831, in the new schedule 
 thirty-two are founded on acts alleged to have been com- 
 mitted j^Wor to 1832. Having given the reader a specifi- 
 fication of each of the original claims, we will not now 
 trespass on his patience by noticing in detail the addi- 
 tional ones which the administration now found it con- 
 venient to disinter from the oblivion of past years, and 
 wliich had been in fact buried by the treaty ratified 5th 
 April, 1832, which proclaimed the friendship existing 
 between the two Republics. It may be well, however, to 
 give a few samples of these claims to show the deter- 
 mined efforts of the American Government to quarrel 
 with Mexico. 
 
 "Mexican Company, Baltimore, 1816; amount of 
 claim not stated. This was an association of individuals 
 that furnished General Mina with the means of undertak- 
 ing his invasion of Mexico, which amount they aver has 
 never been repaid to the;ji." 
 
 " Mrs. Young, 1817 ; amount of claim not stated. The 
 claimant is the widow of Col. Guilford Young, who was 
 a partner of Mina, and was killed while fighting in 1817. 
 The claim is understood to be for arrears of pay.'' 
 
 These claims it will be observed, are for insmTectionary 
 services against the Spanish Government, seven or eight 
 years before that Government was succeeded by the 
 Mexican RepubHc. 
 
 "John B. Marie, 1824; amourft of claim not stated. 
 Goods seized upon pretext of having been introduced con- 
 trary to a Mexican law. The claimant says he was igno- 
 rant of the law." 
 
 *'T. E. Dudley, and J. C. Wilson, 1824; amount 
 
 * Ex. Doc, 24th Cong., 2d Sess., vol. 3. 
 
60 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 claimed not stated. The claimants robbed of a part of 
 their property by the Camanche Indians, on their return 
 from a trading e^tpedition to Mexico." 
 
 The proposition to employ the naval force of the Union 
 in making reprisals to enforce such claims was deemed too 
 hazardous to be wise. It would necessarily bring on a 
 war ; and a war waged on pretexts so scandalous, might 
 destroy the popularity of the party, and augment the 
 anti-slavery feeling of the North. It was e^■ident the 
 nation was not yet prepared to incur the calamities of war 
 for the sole purpose of hastening the annexation of Texas ; 
 and moreover, such a Avar, to receive the concurrence of 
 the North, must at least be commenced by Mexico. A 
 aourse was therefore adopted, more sagacious than that 
 urged by the fiery impatience of the President. Com- 
 mittees of the two Houses of Congress, made reports well 
 calculated, by exaggerating the misconduct of Mexico, to 
 exasperate the ili-feehng already existing, but recom- 
 mending that one more demand should be made for re- 
 paration. 
 
 On the last day of the Session, an appropriation was 
 made for the salary of a Minister to Mexico, " whenever 
 in the opinion of the President circumstances will permit 
 a renewal of diplomatic intercourse honorably with that 
 Power." It was only in the preceding December that the 
 Diplomatic intercourse had been broken off by instructions 
 from the President, on the ground that it could not honor- 
 ably be continued ; and yet, on tlie 30th of March, with- 
 out any circumstance having occurred in the interval to 
 invite a renewal of that intercourse, except the refusal of 
 Congress to go to war, the President nominated a Minister 
 to Mexico ! " And who,'' to use the language of J. Q. 
 Adams, " was this Minister of peace, to be sent Avith the 
 last drooping twig of olive to be replanted and revivified 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN VvAR. 61 
 
 in the genial soil of Mexico ? It was no other than Pow- 
 hattan Ellis, of Mississippi, famishing for Texas, and just 
 returned in anger and resentment from an abortive and 
 abruptly terminated mission to the same Government. 
 His very name must have tasted like wormwood to the 
 Mexican palate ; and his name seems alone to have been 
 used for the purpose of giving a relish to these last re- 
 sources of pacific and conciliatory councils. But though 
 appointed, he was not permitted to proceed upon his em- 
 bassy. He was kept at home, and in his stead was des- 
 patched a courier of the Department of State, with a 
 budget of grievances good and bad, new and old, stuffed 
 with wrongs as full as Falstaff's buck basket with foul 
 hnen, to be turned over under the nose of the Mexican 
 Secretary of State, witli an allowance of one week* to 
 examine, search out, and answer concerning them all.'' 
 
 In politics as in commerce, the supply is regulated by 
 the demand. The Cabinet were in urgent want of claims 
 upon Mexico, and, as it was, possible money might be 
 extorted on these claims, there was, of course, no lack of 
 claimants. 
 
 On the 20th July, 1886, the "accumulated wrongs" 
 for v»'hich ]Mr. Forsyth instructed Ellis to demand satisfac- 
 tion, and, if not received in a limited time, to ask for his 
 passports, amounted, as we have seen, to fifteen in number, 
 but as two had been already settled, in fact only to thir- 
 teen. These, by the zeal and industry of Ellis, were 
 increased to eighteen. On the 6 th February, 183 7, the 
 accumulation was swelled to forty-six, and on the 20th 
 July, 1837, the anniversary of Mr, Forsyth's celebrated 
 despatch to Ellis, the " courier of the departnaent of 
 
 * " The messenger bearing the budget was instructed to remain 
 in the city of Mexico one week.'''' Rep. of Cong., 1st Sess., 29th 
 Cong., Vol. 4. 
 
 0^ 
 
62 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 State," appeared in the city of Mexico, bending beneath 
 a load of fifty-seven wrongs, for which, in the name of 
 the American Government, he demanded "justice and 
 satisfaction." 
 
 Of these complaints, it may readily be imagined, many 
 were in the highest degree most insolent and ridiculous. 
 Let one suffice: — In 1829, Mexico was invaded by a 
 Spanish force, and a printing press in Tampico, said to 
 have been American property, was destroyed by the 
 invaders. Eight years after the occurrence, Mexico is 
 for the first time informed that she is held responsible by 
 the Federal Government, for an act committed by her 
 enemies in time of war. We can judge of the effect of 
 such a claim upon the Mexicans, by supposing a demand 
 of the French king upon the American Government, for 
 payment of injuries received by one of his subjects, from 
 the British troops while in possession of the city of 
 "Washington. 
 
 The temporary detention of two citizens at Metamoras, 
 and the pretended abduction of two mules and a mare, 
 although so abundantly and satisfactorily explained, again 
 figure among the national grievances for which the " cou- 
 rier" demanded satisfaction. 
 
 That our Government had no desire whatever, to bring 
 their dispute with Mexico to an amicable termination, is 
 perfectly obvious from the extraordinary course it pursued 
 on this occasion. Congress decided not to go to war, but 
 to renew negotiations, and furnished money for the salary 
 of a minister. A minister is appointed personally odious 
 to the Mexicans, but detained at home, while a messenger is 
 sent with a fist of fifty-seven grievances, of which not 
 more than eighteen at most had ever before been brought 
 to the notice of the Mexican Government. This messenger 
 was forbidden to remain for more than one week. No 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 63 
 
 opportunity Avas afforded to Mexico to make explanations, 
 or even to ascertain what reparation would be satisfactory. 
 She had no minister in the United States. The American 
 Minister, appointed in obedience to the wishes of Congress, 
 was not dispatched ; and hence, admitting our claims to 
 have been just, and admitting Mexico to be willing to 
 allow them, the very measures adopted by the Cabinet 
 precluded all adjustment of the points in controversy. 
 Our demands were in truth intended only to irritate, and 
 to furnish stronger pretexts than had yet been found for 
 rej^risals and ivar. 
 
 Before this " buck basket," with its fifty-seven griev- 
 ances reached Mexico, that Government — which knew of 
 no other than the eighteen causes of complaint against it 
 specified by Mr. Ellis, and on account of which he had 
 terminated his mission — had passed an Act offering to 
 submit to the award of a friendly power, the claims of 
 the United States.* 
 
 * Ex. Doc, 25 th Cong., 2 Sess. Vol. 8. 
 
64 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TREATY OF ANNEXATION PROPOSED AND REJECTED. 
 
 JosT twelve months after the declaration of Texan inde- 
 pendence, that independence was acknowledged by the 
 United States. A minister representing the Federal 
 Government, was immediately despatched to the insurg- 
 ents, and one in retm'n was received from them. Mr. 
 Hunt, recently an American citizen, and now " Envoy 
 Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Re- 
 public of Texas," appeared among his old friends at 
 Washington, and in August, 1837, proposed, in behalf of 
 the yearling Republic," a treaty of annexation. Mr. Van 
 Buren had, the preceding 4th of March, assumed the 
 reins of Government. This gentleman had, on various 
 occasions, shown so much anxiety to conciliate the South, 
 as to be stigmatized by his opponents as " the Northern 
 man v/ith Southern principles." Mr. Hunt was therefore 
 warranted in believing, that he would have no personal 
 objection to extending the slave region by the addition of 
 Texas. But very sufficient obstacles existed to the pro- 
 posed treaty. Such a treaty would necessarily involve a 
 war with Mexico, and in such a war the country was not 
 yet prepared to engage. The treaty moreover, could not 
 be ratified, because it was well ascertained, that more than 
 one-third of the Senators would withhold their assent. A 
 fruitless attempt to negotiate such a treaty would be a 
 political blunder which Mr. Van Buren was too sagacious to 
 commit — a blunder which would inevitably destroy the 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. bt) 
 
 popularity of the administration, and have a most disastrous 
 influence on the ensuing election. The Texan proposition 
 was therefore politely declined on the ground that annex- 
 ation at the present time must result in a war with Mexico. 
 This was a reason which could give no offence to the 
 South, especially as there weie good grounds for hoping 
 that the dextrous management of our claims would ere 
 long remove the only alleged obstacle to annexation. The 
 pear was not yet quite ripe, and Mr. Van Buren was at 
 the time ignorant of the Mexican offer, which was des- 
 tined to postpone its maturity. 
 
66 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TREATY OF ARBITRATION ACTION OF THE SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 Mexico, anxious to preserve peace with the United States, 
 not only proposed to refer the claims of the latter to arbi- 
 tration, but once mcire sent a Minister to Washington. 
 This gentleman arrived in October, and, as is said, from a 
 misapprehension that the Mexican proposition had already- 
 been communicated to the American Government, did 
 not officially announce it till the 22d December, 1837. 
 The proposition itself was a sore disappointment to the 
 partisans of annexation. It tended to avert, or at least to 
 postpone war. It was a proposition so fair and honor- 
 able, so pacific, and so directly appeahng to the moral 
 sense of the community, that it could not be rejected, 
 without bringing great odium upon^the administration; 
 and the party of which it was the representative, had but 
 httle popularity to spare. Still it was received in sullen 
 silence, and no other notice taken of it at the time, than a 
 formal acknowledgment of its receipt.''^ No less than 
 three times after this acknowledgment, did Mr. Forsyth 
 (Secretary of State), press upon the Mexican Minister 
 new claims, and new demands without deigning even a 
 passing allusion to the very important proposal he had 
 received. Four months elapsed, and this Government 
 had yet given no intimation of its willingness to adopt an 
 equitable and pacific mode of obtaining redress for "the 
 accimiulated wrongs" under which it professed to be suf- 
 
 * Sec Ex. Doc. 25th Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 12. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 67 
 
 fering. In the meantime, the Mexican offer had become 
 pubhc, and petitions had been presented to Congress 
 praying its acceptance ;* and at least forty thousand citi- 
 zens had laid before that body their remonstrances against 
 annexation. At length on the 21st April, 1838, Mr. For- 
 syth informed the Mexican Minister, that the President 
 " is too anxious to avoid proceeding to extremities," not 
 to accept the offer ! Negotiations were now commenced 
 at Washington, which resulted, on the 10th of September, 
 1838, in a convention between the two Governments, by 
 which it was agreed, that all the claims against Mexico 
 should be referred to a board of four Commissioners, two 
 to be appointed by each party. The board to meet in 
 Washington three months after the exchange of ratifica- 
 tions, and to sit not more than eighteen months. The 
 award of the Commissioners to be final, but the cases on 
 which they could not agree were to be decided by an 
 umpire to be named by the Eng of Prussia. Should the 
 Mexican Government not find it convenient to pay the 
 amount awarded in cash, the payment was to be made in 
 so much government stock as would, at the market price 
 in London, be equal to the award. The Mexican ratifica- 
 tion of this Convention not having been exchanged within 
 the time limited, it was renewed with slight modifications 
 in 1840; the most important of which was, that the sum 
 awarded was to be paid, one half in cash, and the other 
 in Treasury notes bearing eight per cent, interest, and re- 
 ceiveable for Mexican duties. 
 
 The determination of the Executive to refer the Mexi- 
 can claims to arbitration, and the delay necessarily caused 
 by such a reference, seemed to excite the slaveholders to 
 increased energy in forwarding their favorite object. Mis- 
 sissippi had already, by its Legislature, demanded the an- 
 
 * See Ex. Doc. 25tli Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 12. 
 
68 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 nexation of Texas, avowedly for the benefit of the slave- 
 holdino; interest. The State of Alabama now did the 
 same. The Legislature of Tennessee joined in the de- 
 mand, but refi-ained from the indecency of resting it on 
 the extension of human bondage. Three days after the 
 acceptance of the Mexican offer, Mr. Preston, a senator 
 from South Carolina, introduced a resolution, declaring 
 the expediency of annexing Texas to the Union. On the 
 14th June, 1838, Mr. Thompson of the same State pro- 
 posed a joint resolution in the Lower House, directing the 
 President to take proper steps for the annexation of Texas, 
 " as soon as it can be done consistently with the treaty 
 stipulations of this Government." 
 
 At the South there was little or no difference between 
 the two political parties on the question of annexation. 
 As a specimen of the recklessness and profligacy with 
 which the measure was then urged, we may quote tlie 
 following language held by a prominent whig journal, 
 "We have heretofore asserted, and we repeat it again, 
 that Texas should be made a component part of our 
 country at all hazards, peaceably if she was wilhng, and 
 forcibly, if she was reluctant."* 
 
 The North, however, was not silent. The whig party 
 were nearly united in their opposition to Texas, and they 
 Avere in many instances joined by portions of their political 
 opponents. The States of Vermont, Maine, Massachu- 
 setts, Connecticut. Rhode Island, Isew York, and Penn- 
 sylvania, all protested, through their Legislatures, against 
 annexation. It is not, therefore, surprising that Mr. Van 
 Buren departed from the poUcy of General Jackson in re- 
 ferrinsr the claims of Mexico to arbitration instead of the 
 Bword. 
 
 * Frankfort (Ky.) CommomocaUh, May 2d, 1838. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 69 
 
 CHAPTEJEl X. 
 
 RESULTS OF THE TREATY OF ARBITRATION. 
 
 It is not to be inferred, from what has been heretofore 
 said of the claims upon Mexico, that none of them were 
 founded in justice. Unquestionably some of the most le- 
 gitimate were nevertheless of a character which, according 
 to the laws and usages of nations, were not fit subjects of 
 national controversy, such for instance as were founded 
 on contracts or on torts within the cognizance of the ordi- 
 nary tribunals of the country. Nor is it surprising that, 
 during the many military revolutions by which Mexico 
 had for years been convulsed, subordinate officers should 
 occasionally have exceeded their powers, and for miUtary 
 purposes have trespassed on the neutral rights of Ameri- 
 can residents. The admiralty courts of Mexico, had con- 
 demned American vessels, taken with arms and munitions 
 of war intended for Texas. These articles of contraband 
 were by treaty liable to forfeiture ; but the vessels them- 
 selves, together with such parts of the cargo as were not 
 contraband, were by treaty exempted from condemnation. 
 Had the intentions of the American Government been 
 equitable, and their measures temperate, there is no rea- 
 son to beheve that any serious difficulty would have been 
 experienced in recovering compensation where it was 
 justly due. 
 
 The Board of Commissioners appointed under the 
 Treaty commenced their session in Washington, iTth 
 August, 1840 ; and by 26th May, the next year, a period 
 
70 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 of about nine months, they had passed upon every claim 
 that had been presented to them, accompanied with the 
 necessary vouchers, a fact deriving great importance from 
 subsequent events. In February, 1842, the Commission 
 was dissolved by the hmitation prescribed in the Treaty, 
 havdng sat eighteen months. The King of Prussia had 
 named his Minister at Washington, Baron Roenne, as 
 umpire. 
 
 Total amount of Claims presented, - - - $11,850,578 
 Of these submitted too late to be examined, 3,336,837 
 
 8,513,741 
 
 Referred to Umpire, and undecided by him 
 
 for want of time, ----..- 928,627 
 
 Amount of Claims adjudicated, - - - - 7,595,114 
 Rejected by Commissioners and Umpire, - 5,668,975 
 
 Allowed do. do. - - $2,026,236 
 
 This statement in\'ites various remarks. The Federal 
 Government had been for years espousing the cause of 
 the Mexican claimants. Session after session had the 
 Executive Messages brought before Congress, not the 
 particulars but the subject of Mexican outrages. Com- 
 mittees had reiterated the lamentations of the President 
 over our accumulated wrongs. A minister had been with- 
 drawn from Mexico, because redress had been withheld ; 
 and war had virtually been recommended by General 
 Jackson to obtain, by force of arms, that justice for our 
 citizens which Mexico denied them. Finally, a solemn 
 Treaty proposed to afford the long-desired but denied re- 
 paration. A Court, composed of two American and two 
 Mexican citizens, were to sit in judgment on these claims ; 
 and, where the Court could not agree, an impartial um- 
 pire was to award the amount justly due. The Court 
 commenced its session about ttvo years after its iSrst ap- 
 pointment. Surely the claimants had abundant notice td 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 7 J 
 
 prepare and present their claims ; and they had also 
 timely notice that the term of the Court was limited to 
 eighteen months. For the convenience of the claimants, 
 the Court assembled in Washington, contrary to the 
 wishes and remonstrances of the Mexican Government. 
 Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that, after 
 the Court had been in session nine months, only one-half 
 of the time to which it was limited, it had disposed of 
 evert/ case that had been presented with proper vouchers. 
 But at the termination of the next nine months, we find 
 claims to the amount of $3,336,837, that were presented 
 too late to be even examined ! The magnitude of these 
 claims, and the astonishing delay in presenting them, after 
 the unwearied solicitude of the Government to swell the 
 demand against Mexico, clearly indicate their fraudulent 
 and speculative character. We find, moreover, that of 
 those claims which were passed upon, about three- 
 
 POURTHS OF THE AMOUNT CLAIMED WAS REJECTED as UOt 
 
 due. Unquestionably the strongest claims were first 
 brought forward ; and if these were three-fourths spuri- 
 ous, we may judge of the character of those introduced 
 at the close of the session. We have seen the eagerness 
 with which the Government welcomed and pressed every 
 claim, however stale and absurd. It is obvious that the 
 Court of Claims, if we may so name it, was a lottery in 
 which magnificent prizes might be drawn, and in which 
 the tickets cost nothing. Every man who had been in 
 Mexico for the last twenty years, and could manufacture 
 a wi'ong, was virtually invited to come forward and try 
 his luck. There is also strong reason to beheve, that, 
 when at the end of the first nine months, all the cases 
 ready had been heard, it was found that the result would 
 be so insignificant as to cast contempt and ridicule upon 
 the Cabinet ; and that, therefore, great efforts were made 
 
72 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 to induce reckless speculators and adventurers to come 
 forward with claims which would at least swell the un- 
 liquidated demand, andiurnish ground for continued and 
 irritating complaint. But supposing the unsettled claims 
 to have been not less worthless than those which were 
 adjudicated, then one million more would have been add- 
 ed to the award, making a debt due by Mexico of three 
 instead of the eleven milhons claimed. 
 
 Congress lately passed a bill for paying to American 
 claimants five millions, due from the French Government, 
 but which ours did not choose to go to war to collect. It 
 was only of feeble Mexico, with her unprotected territor}-, 
 that the Federal Cabinet was ready to collect delfts at the 
 mouth of the cannon. 
 
 It may not be amiss to give some specimens of the 
 shameless profligacy of many of these claims, which poH- 
 ticians, for selfish purposes, have found it convenient to 
 magnify into grievous wrongs. 
 
 A. O. de Santangelo was a schoolmaster and printer in 
 Mexico. In one of the revolutionary struggles, he was 
 obhged to flee, abandoning his school and press. He 
 came to New Orleans, and thence to New York, where 
 he became a naturalized citizen of the United States, 
 and in that capacity brought in a bill of $398,690 against 
 the Mexican Government for damages ! The Mexican 
 Commissioners denied that anything was due ; the Ame- 
 rican Commissioners allowed him $83,440 — which the 
 Umpire cut down to $50,000, one-eighth of the demand. 
 On what principle this eighth was allowed, it is difficult 
 to imagine. 
 
 Rhoda McCrae claimed $6,094.04 for a pension for 
 her son killed in the Mexican service. The American 
 Commissioners to their shame allowed the claim, and the 
 Umpire to his credit rejected it. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 73 
 
 Sophia M. Robinson claimed, for services rendered by 
 her husband in Me.xico — then a province of Spain — in 
 1817, (!) $16,000, and as much more for interest. The 
 American Commissioners allowed her $32,000 ! The 
 Umpire most righteously refused her a cent. 
 
 John Baldwin claimed for a trunk of wearing apimrel^ 
 seized by a Mexican custom-house officer, $1170. Inter- 
 est $311.50 : $1481.50. All allowed by American Com- 
 missioners. Undecided by Umpire.* 
 
 Mr. Pendleton, of Virginia, in a very able speech in 
 Congress, 22nd February, 1847, on these claims, thus 
 comments on one of them : " There is one particular item 
 — a beauty of its kind — which I will mention. The item 
 is for fifty-six dozen bottles of porter. I believe the best 
 London porter can be purchased in any part of the world 
 for something like three dollars a-dozen ; and I estimate 
 this porter, therefore, very hberally, when I put it down at 
 two hundred dollars. What do you suppose is charged 
 for it in this account ? Why, sixteen hundred and ninety 
 dollars ! But that is reasonable, compared with the in- 
 terest charged upon the price. That is for less than six 
 years set down at $6,570 ; making for fifty-six dozen 
 bottles of portei'the nice little sum of $8,260 ! I do not 
 say that all these accounts are of that sort ; but this I 
 will say, that many of them are more unreasonable." f 
 One of the claims left undecided was preferred by a 
 Texan land company for the comfortable sum of $2,154, 
 604 ; and one individual claims $690,000 for erroneous 
 decisions against him in Mexican courts ! It is creditable 
 to the justice and moderation of Mexico, that, when such 
 imscrupulous audacity was countenanced by our Govern- 
 ment, the demands manufactured against her reached to 
 no more than eleven millions of dollars. 
 
 * Ex. Doc, 27th Cong., 2nd Sess. No. 21. 
 t App. Cong. Globe. 
 
T4 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 NEW TREATIES WITH MEXICO ABOUT CLAIMS. 
 
 The Treaty of Arbitration had deprived the Adminisira 
 tion for some time of all pretexts of complaint against 
 Mexico, and probably postponed the annexation of Texas. 
 Fortunately for the designs of the Cabinet, the accumula- 
 tion of claims towards the close of the Commission had, 
 as we have seen, left a large nominal amount undecided. 
 Of this surplus, the Administration eagerly availed itself 
 to renew a harassing negotiation. No Minister had been 
 sent to Mexico since Mr. Ellis thought it expedient to de- 
 mand his passports, and to decline specifying the reasons 
 of so ungracious a measure. The Commission under the 
 Treaty terminated, as we have seen, in February, 1842; 
 and the next March, Mr. Tyler, who as Vice-President 
 had succeeded to the -Executive Chair on the death of 
 President Harrison, appointed Mr. Waddy Thompson, of 
 South Carolina, Minister to Mexico. In selecting this 
 gentleman, he was no doubt influenced by the same mo- 
 tives which had led to the appointment of Messrs. Poin- 
 sett, Butler, and Elhs. He was a slaveholder, devoted to 
 the cause of Texas. He had, moreover, on the floor of 
 Congress, introduced a resolution directing the President 
 to take measures for the annexation of Texas, as soon as 
 it could be done, consistently with the Treaty stipulations 
 of the Government — an act which necessarily rendered 
 him personally off'ensive to the Mexican Government. 
 
 It will be recollected that by the treaty of arbitration 
 the award was to be paid half in cash, and half in treas- 
 
/ 
 
 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 75 
 
 ury notes at par, bearing eight per cent, interest, and 
 receivable for duties. Mr. Thompson found the Mexican 
 credit very low, and treasury notes at a discount of about 
 seventy per cent. His diplomatic correspondence has 
 been published only in part, and we are thei-efore ignorant 
 by what means he succeeded in negotiating, 30th January, 
 1843, a neiu convention or treaty by which Mexico agreed 
 to pay on the 30th April of the same year, all the interest 
 then due, and the award itself in five 3'^ears, in equal 
 quarterly instalments. This arrangement has been repre- 
 sented as a boon granted to Mexico,* and therefore aggra- 
 vating her ingratitude. The assertion, like most others 
 made in vindication or apology of the Mexican war, is 
 untrue. Says Mr. Calhoun, Secretary of State, writing 
 to Mr. Shannon, minister in Mexico, June 20th, 1844 — 
 "The convention (of 1839), provided that the claims 
 which should be allowed, might be discharged by payment 
 of Mexican treasury notes, but as these were much de- 
 preciated in value, it became a matter of impo7'tance to effect 
 some other arrangement by which sjyecle should be substi- 
 tuted in their stead. To this end your predecessor 
 (Thompson), was empowered and instructed to enter into 
 a negotiation with the Government of Mexico, and a 
 convention was concluded, 30th January, 1843," Mr. 
 Thompson, in his *' Recollections of Mexico," speaking 
 of this convention, says, p. 223, " the market value of the 
 treasury notes was about thirty cents on a dollar, and, if 
 this additional two millions had been thrown upon the 
 market, they would have been depreciated still more. 
 The owners of these claims knew this, and were anxious 
 CO make some other arrangement." Hence the " boon" 
 
 * Report of C J. Ingersol, Chairman of Com. of Foreign 
 A.ffairs, June 24th, 1846. 
 
76 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 was extorted from Mexico, and probably through the 
 menaces of the negotiator. 
 
 But the new convention did more than regulate the 
 payment of the award. It stipulated for the negotiation 
 of another arbitration treaty, and one more comprehensive 
 than the last, for it was to provide for the settlement of 
 all claims made by the Government of Mexico against the 
 United States, as well as the claims of the Government 
 and citizens of the United States against the Ilepubhc of 
 Mexico. Here was at least the ajjpearance of fairness. 
 The United States consented by this treaty, which was 
 duly ratified, that the wrongs the Government and it citi- 
 zens had done to Mexico should be submitted to a court 
 of referees. What claims the citizens of Mexico had 
 against the United States do not appear ; but the claims 
 of the Government were numerous and important. 
 
 Vessels captured by Mexican ships of war for being en- 
 gaged in contraband trade, had been forcibly seized and 
 carried off by American armed vessels, and a Mexican na- 
 tional vessel had been audaciously captured and brought 
 to the United States by one of the vessels of our navy ; and 
 frequent had been the insults which American functionaries 
 had offered to the Mexican authorities. It must, therefore, 
 have been a grateful reflection to the Mexicans, that the 
 wrongs they had themselves suffered, were to be examined 
 and redressed by a tribunal more impartial than the Cabi- 
 net at Washington. Whether it was through inadvertence, 
 or with a view of inducing Mexico to provide for the settle- 
 ment of the vast amount of claims left undecided that the 
 American Government accorded this unusual justiee to the 
 sister Republic, is uncertain. The treaty stipulated for by 
 the convention of 80th January, 1843, was concluded in 
 Mexico on the 20th November of the same year. The 
 respective claims of the citizens and Governments of the 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. "7 
 
 two countries were to be referred to a joint commission to 
 sit in Mexico ; and where the commissioners should not 
 agree, the award of an umpire, to be named by the king 
 of Belgium, was to be final. This treaty was sent to 
 Washington, accompanied by a letter from Thompson to 
 the Secretary of State, in which he tells him " the place 
 of meeting of the board, you will see, is in Mexico, and 
 not in Washington. The Mexican plenipotentiaries said 
 that the last commission met in Washington, and that it 
 was their right to insist that this one should meet in 
 Mexico. The only reply that I could make was, that the 
 claims presented to that commission were all against 
 Mexico, and that nearlj^ all the claimants resided in the 
 United States ; to which they replied that this commission 
 will also be charged with the claims of the Government 
 and citizens of Mexico against the United States, and that 
 they eould not concede this point. I thought there was 
 much reason in their demand ; and, as it was matter 
 of punctilio, and as with a Spaniard punctilio is everything, 
 I was well satisfied it would be a sine qua non, and there- 
 fore yielded it, in consideration of their allowing me to 
 name the arbiter — a much more important consideration." 
 The mere details of this treaty were of course matters 
 of discretion to which the Government at Washington had 
 the strict right of objecting. But the United wStates 
 had, by a' solemn convention duly ratified, agreed that 
 the complaints of the Government and citizens of Mexico 
 should be referred by treaty to a tribunal for settlement ; 
 to refuse therefore to consent to such a reference, was a 
 breach of faith plighted by treaty. Yet of such a breach 
 was the Senate of the United States guilty. The treaty 
 was conditionally ratified by the Senate, first striking out 
 of it the right of each Government to prefer before the 
 commission claims against the other ; and secondly, alter- 
 
78 ■" REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 ing the place of meeting to Wasliington.* There was nc 
 dispute about the treaty of 30th January, 1843. Mr. 
 Upshur, Secretary of State, in his correspondence with 
 Tliompson, acknowledged and regretted the obhgation it 
 imposed, of referring to a tribunal wholly judicial in its 
 character a subject " strictly diplomatic." Yet, in defi- 
 ance of a plain treaty stipulation, the Senate refused to 
 refer the claims of the Mexican Government to the 
 decision of the commissioners and umpire. The place of 
 meeting was changed by the Senate to Washington, 
 although the Government had been warned by its own 
 agent, that the sitting of the commission in Mexico was a 
 sine qua non, and a point of national pride. The treaty 
 thus mutilated, and conditionally ratified, was sent back to 
 Mexico, where no farther notice of it was taken. Hence 
 arose the cry from the partisans of Texas, that Mexico 
 refused to settle the claims advanced by the citizens of the 
 United States. President Polk in his labored vindication 
 of the war against Mexico, contained in his message 
 of December, 1846, had the temerity to charge Mexico 
 with " violating the faith of treaties, by failing or refusing 
 to carry into effect the sixth article of the convention of 
 January, 1843" ! ! 
 
 * Report of Com. on Foreign Affairs, June 24th, 1846. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 79 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE SEIZURE AND SURRENDER OF MONTEREY, IN CALIFOR- 
 NIA, BY COMMODORE JONES. 
 
 On Mr. Thompson's appointment, an attempt was made 
 in the House of Representatives, to defeat his mission by a 
 motion to strike out from the supply bill the appropriation 
 for a salary to the Minister to Mexico. In opposing this 
 motion, Mr. Wise, of Virginia, the administration leader 
 in the House delivered, 14th April, 1842, a characteristic 
 speech, of which the following is an extract : 
 
 " Texas had but a sparse population, and neither men 
 nor money of her own to raise and equip an army for her 
 own defence ; but let her once raise the flag of foreign 
 conquest — let her once proclaim a crusade against the 
 rich states to the South of her, and in a moment volun- 
 teers would flock to her standard in crowds from all the 
 States in the great valley of the Mississippi — men of en- 
 terprise and hardy valor before whom no Mexican troops 
 could stand an hour. They would leave their own towns, 
 arm themselves and travel at their own cost, and would 
 come up in thousands to plant the lone star of the Texan 
 banner on the Mexican capital. They would drive Santa 
 Anna to the South, and the boundless wealth of cap- 
 tured towns, and rifled churches, and a lazy, vicious, and 
 luxurious priesthood, would soon enable Texas to p'ay her 
 soldiers, and redeem her State debt, and push her victo- 
 rious arms to the very shores of the Pacific, 
 
 "And would not all this extend slavery? Yes, the 
 
80 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 result would be, that, before another quarter of a century, 
 the extension of slavery would not stop short of the 
 Western Ocean. 
 
 " To talk of restraining the people of the great valley 
 from emigrating to join her armies, was all in vain. They 
 had gone once already. It was they that conquered Santa 
 Anna at San Jacinto ; and three-fourths of them after 
 winning that glorious field, had peaceably returned to their 
 homes. But once set before them the conquest of the 
 rich Mexican provinces, and you might as well attempt to 
 stop the wind. Let the work once begin, and he (Mr. 
 Wise) did not know that this House woidd hold him very 
 long. 
 
 *' Give me five millions of dollars, and I would under- 
 take to do it myself. Although I don't know how to set a 
 single squadron in the field, I could find men to do it ; and, 
 with five millions of dollars to begin with, I would under- 
 take to pay every American claimant the full amount of 
 his demand with interest, yea, fourfold. / would place 
 Culifornia where all the powers of Great Britain, would 
 never be able to reach it. Slavery should pour itself 
 
 ABROAD WITHOUT RESTRAINT, AND FIND NO LIMIT BUT THE 
 
 Southern Ocean. The Camanches should no longer hold 
 the richest mines of Mexico ; but every golden image which 
 had received the profanation of a false worship should soon 
 be melted down, not into Spanish milled dollars indeed, but 
 into good American eagles. Yes, there should more hard 
 money flow into the United States than any exchequer 
 or sub-treasury could ever circulate. I would cause as 
 much gold to cross the Rio del Norte as the mules of 
 Mexico could carry ; aye, and make a better use of it 
 than any lazy, bigoted priesthood under Heaven, I am 
 not quarrelling with the particular religion of these priests ; 
 but I say, that any priesthood that has accumulated and 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 81 
 
 sequestered such immense stores of wealth, ought to dis- 
 gorge, and, it is a benefit to mankind, to scatter their 
 wealth abroad where it can do good. Texas had pro- 
 claimed a blockade against all the coast of Mexico ; and 
 though she had no fleet to enforce it, she would be able 
 to make it good by hewing her way to the Mexican 
 capital. Nor could all the vaunted power of England 
 stop the chivalry of the West, till they had planted the 
 Texan star on the walls of the city of Montezuma. No- 
 thing could keep these booted loafers from rushing on till 
 they kicked the Spanish priests out of the temples they 
 profaned. War was a curse ; but it had its blessings too. 
 He would vote for this mission as the means of preserving 
 peace ; but, if it must lead to war, he would vote it the 
 wore willingly." 
 
 The author of such a speech was, of course, admirably 
 fitted for the Mexican mission ; but, as that was already 
 filled, the President (Tyler) expressed his obligation to 
 the Orator, by appointing him Minister to France. A 
 Whig Senate recoiled at the idea of sending Mr. Wise to 
 represent American morality and refinement in Europe, 
 but consented that he should discharge that function in 
 Brazil. Amid the vulgarity and profligacy of this speech, 
 there is much that merits attention as indicative of the 
 views and anticipations of the slaveholders. We see 
 what visions of plunder the idea of a war with Mexico 
 raised before their excited imaginations; we see what 
 boundless regions were in their hopes to be consecrated to 
 human bondage, and with how little cost and danger, the 
 chivalry expected to gather a golden harvest from both 
 mines and churches. Mr. Wise was chairman of the na- 
 val committee, and high in the confidence of the adminis- 
 tration ; and hence his reference to California was pecu- 
 liarly significant, and shadowed forth coming events. The 
 
82 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 annexation of Texas was tlie immediate object of the 
 slaveholders ; but California was looming in the distance, 
 and many wistful eyes were gazing upon it, as the means 
 of carrying slavery to the " Western Ocean." 
 
 Mr. Upshur, the Virginian who in 1829 wanted Texas 
 to raise the price of slaves, and now Secretary of the 
 Navy, in his report of December 4th, 1841, announced to 
 Congress, that " In Upper California there were already 
 considerable settlements of Americans, and others are 
 daily resorting to ihsit fertile ami delightful countiy. Such, 
 however, is the unsettled condition of that whole country, 
 that they cannot be safe either in tlieir persons or property, 
 exc€2:)t under the 2:)rotcctimi of our naval power.'' He also 
 declared^ that, " It is highly desirable that the Gulf of 
 California should be fully explored, and that this duty 
 alone will give employment a long time to one or two 
 vessels of the smaller class." Here was a beautiful device 
 for forcing Mexico into a war and wresting California 
 from her. Our ships of war were to be continually hover- 
 ing on the coast, and their officers surveying the harbors 
 and interfedng in every controversy between the Mexican 
 authorities and American squatters and adventurers. 
 
 A few days after this report. Commodore Jones, also a 
 Virginian, was dispatched with a squadron to the Pacific. 
 He was specially instructed to keep one or more vessels 
 occasionally or constantly cruising upon the coast, and 
 within the Gulf of California, and the officers were " to 
 pay particular attention to the examination of the bays 
 and harbors they may vdsit, and to lay down their positions 
 correctly." The subsequent conquest of Cahfornia bears 
 testimony to the foresight of Messrs, Tyler and Upshur. 
 It is not to be supposed that Commodore Jones was per- 
 mitted to depart without being acquainted with the wishes 
 and hopes of his employers. He undoubtedly well under- 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. S3 
 
 stood, although not formally instructed, that he was to 
 avail himself of any good opportunity of getting a foot- 
 hold in California. 
 
 In May, 1842, the Mexican Secretary of State sent a 
 circular to the diplomatic corps, declaring that the Mexi- 
 can Government protested against the aid afforded to the 
 Texans by citizens of the United States Avith the toleration 
 of their own Government. At the same time the Secre- 
 tary addressed a letter to Mr. Webster, American Secre ■ 
 tary of State, formally protesting against the allowancv. 
 by the Federal Government of the violation, on the par. 
 of its citizens, of the obligations of neutrality in the opei 
 aid afforded to the insurgents of Texas. These two let- 
 ters were published in a Mexican journal, and fell into the 
 hands of Commodore Jones at Callao, together with a 
 Boston newspaper, giving from a New Orleans paper one 
 of those common lies about English interference, which 
 had for years been plentifully manufactured by the parti- 
 sans of annexation. 
 
 The lie which now caught the eye of the Commodore 
 was, that Mexico had ceded California to Great Britain for 
 $7,000,000 ! It so happened that three British armed 
 vessels were at this time in the Pacific, and the watchful 
 Commodore did not know their business, nor where they 
 were going. The Mexican documents induced him to 
 guess, that war had been declared between the United 
 States and Mexico, and the rumor given from the New 
 Orleans paper, led him to guess, that Great Britain had 
 purchased California ; and as he had not been informed 
 where the three British vessels were going, he guessed 
 they had gone to take possession of the newh^ purchased 
 territory. He accordingly left Callao on the '7th Sep- 
 tember, 1842, "crowdinof all sail on the direct coast of 
 Mexico" (Cahfornia). The next day he summoned a 
 
84 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 council of his officers, submitted to them his documents, 
 at the same time expressing his behef that the British 
 squadron was there on its way to Panama, " where it will 
 be reinforced by troops, &c., from the West Indies (! !) 
 destined for the occupation of California." Under these 
 circumstances, he asked for the advice of his three cap- 
 tains, as to the " employment of the small naval force 
 (three vessels), at my disposal so as to best promote the 
 interests and honor of our country, thus suddenly jeo- 
 parded /" Tlie three marine statesmen assembled in the 
 cabin of the United States frigate, thus intrusted by the 
 Commodore with the weighty question of peace and war, 
 advised that the squadron, already " crowding all sail" for 
 California, should continue its course ; and moreover an? 
 nounced, as the result of their deliberation, that, *' in case 
 of war between the United States a"nd Mexico, it would 
 be their (the officers) bounden duty to take possession 
 of California," and that they " should consider the mili- 
 tary occupation of the Californias by any European power, 
 but more particularly by our great commercial rival Eng- 
 land, and especially at this particular juncture, as a mea- 
 sure so decidedly hostile to the true interests of the United 
 States as not only to warrant, but to make it our duty, to 
 forestall the designs of Admiral Thomas, if possible, by 
 supplanting the Mexican flag with that of the United 
 States at Monterey, San Francisco, and any other ten- 
 able points within the territory said to have been re- 
 cently ceded by secret treaty to Great Britain." 
 
 These naval expounders of the laws of nations would 
 have regarded the expression by any European power 
 of a doubt of the right of the United States to purchase 
 territory in either of the four quarters of the globe, as an 
 insult to the national sovereignty ; but they calmly deter- 
 mine, without consulting their own government, to rob 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 85 
 
 England of a territory they supposed she had acquired by 
 treaty, although they well knew that by such a robbery 
 they would, of course, involve their country in a war with 
 their great and powerful " commercial rival." 
 
 The three officers composing the Council, as well as 
 the Commodore, and the Secretary of the Navy under 
 whom they were acting, were all from the slave States. 
 
 On the 19th October, the Commodore entered the har- 
 bor of Monterey. The Mexican and not the British flag 
 met his sight, and of course he achieved an easy conquest. 
 He landed, and, without opposition, took possession of the 
 fort, and unfurled the stars and stripes. The provident 
 Commodore had brought ^vith, him for the edification of 
 the Cahfornians, whom he intended instantly to transform 
 into American citizens, printed proclamations in the Spa- 
 nish lanfjuacre, whicli were without loss of time distributed 
 among the inhabitants. " These stripes and stars," said 
 the proclamation, " infallible emblems of civil Uberty, of 
 liberty of conscience, with constitutional right and lawful 
 security to worship the great Deity vo. the way most con- 
 genial to each one's sense of duty to his Creator, now float 
 triumphantly before you, and hence and for ever will give 
 protection and security to you and ,your children, and to 
 countless unborn thousands." Amid all this fustian we 
 distinctly discover, that the immediate and permanent an- 
 nexation of California was the object of the expedition. 
 
 It does not appear where this magnificent proclamation 
 was prepared and printed. Printing presses are not, it is 
 believed, included in the ordinary equipments of ships of 
 Avar, and it is therefore a natural inference that the pro- 
 clamation was printed either in Washington, or at Callao, 
 the port from which the Commodore had departed- for 
 Monterey. In either case, it seems that the conquest of 
 California was deliberately resolved on before the Commo- 
 ns 
 
86 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 dore convened his officers to sanction by their advice the 
 enterprise he had ah-eady commenced. On the 13th Sep- 
 tember, six days after he had left Callao, and while on his 
 course to Monterey, he wrote to Mr. Upshur, " In all that 
 I may do (in reference to California), I shall confine my- 
 self strictly to what I may suppose would be yowr vieivs 
 and orders, had you the means of communicating them to 
 me." Mr. Upshm-'s well-known sentiments, and the cha- 
 racter of the ultra pro-slavery party to which he belonged, 
 leave no doubt that the Commodore perfectly compre- 
 hended his wishes. 
 
 The day after Jones had distributed his proclamation 
 with all its fine promises, he discovered that, instead of 
 robbing Great Britain of a territory she had purchased, 
 he had seized upon a possession of a neighboring Republic 
 still at peace with his own country. The " infallible em- 
 blems of civil liberty," &c., &c., were therefore lowered, 
 and a due apology was made to the Mexican commander ; 
 and the succeeding day, the Commodore, abandoning the 
 task of converting the Californians into American citizens, 
 returned to the more inglorious but more innocent occu- 
 pation of exploring the coast and bays of California, pre- 
 paratory to another and less transient conquest. 
 
 The Government at home was, of course, compelled to 
 disavow Jones's act ; but in vain was his punishment de- 
 manded by Mexico. She was informed that he " intended 
 no indignity to the government of Mexico, nor anything 
 unlawful to her citizens." 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 87 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 NEGOTIATION AXD REJECTION OF TREATY OF ANNEXATION 
 WITH TEXAS. 
 
 The treaty concluded with Great Britain in 1842, by re- 
 moving all apprehension of collision with that power re- 
 specting the north-eastern boundary, gave a fresh impe- 
 tus to the partisan? of annexation. It had been foreseen 
 that a war with England, by diverting the forces of the 
 United States, and by giving Mexico a powerful ally, 
 might enable the latter to repossess herself of Texas. 
 This danger being passed, Messrs. Tyler and Upshur de- 
 termined that annexation should no longer be delayed. 
 Texas, moreover, had been acknowledged by France and 
 England. With the latter she had entered into a treaty 
 for the suppression of the slave-trade, thus nominally 
 yielding what the United States had sternly refused. This 
 very treaty was alarming to the slaveholders, who became 
 apprehensive that, if Texas was left to herself, owing to 
 emigration from abroad, the time might come when sla- 
 very would be abolished within her borders, and this ap- 
 prehension seems to have been shared by some of the 
 Texan leaders themselves. -General Lamar, recently Pre- 
 sident of the Republic, about this time addressed a letter 
 to his friends in Georgia warning them that, unless an- 
 nexation shall be effected, " the anti-slavery party in Texas 
 will acquire the ascendancy, and may not only abohsh sla- 
 very by a constitutional vote, but may change the whole 
 character of the constitution itself. 
 
 " At present the ami- slavery party is in the minority ; 
 
88 " REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 but it would be dangerous, even now, to agitate the ques- 
 tion with much violence, for the majority of the people of 
 Texas are not owners of slaves. Texas, if left to stand 
 alone, there is every probability that slavery will be aban- 
 doned in that country. The negroes are yet but few in 
 number, and would be emancipated in the country with- 
 out the shsfhtest inconvenience, and indeed would continue 
 to be useful in the capacity of hirelings." He then goes 
 on to remark that, as to the southern States, annexation 
 " would give stabiHty and safety to their domestic institu- 
 tions, and thereby save them for ever from the unpara- 
 lelled calamities of abolition." 
 
 The very idea of freedom in Texas aroused the slave- 
 holders to new and more resolute efforts for immediate 
 annexation. So unequivocal had become the indications 
 of a determination on the part of the south, to brook no 
 longer delay, that at the close of the session of Congress 
 in March, 1843, J. Q. Adams, and twelve other repre- 
 sentatives pubhshed an address to the people of the 
 United States, warning them of the machinations of the 
 administration to secure the extension of slavery, by add- 
 ing Texas to the Union — pointing out the gross violation 
 of our neutral obligations towards Mexico, and calhng 
 upon the free States for renewed and increased activity to 
 avert the calamity with which the country was threat- 
 ened. Subsequent events speedily confirmed the fore- 
 sight of this address, with a single exception. The ad- 
 dress declared that the annexation of Texas would be a 
 measure in such violation of the Constitution, and for a 
 purpose so odious and profligate, as " not only inevitably 
 to result in a dissolution of the Union, but fully to justify 
 it." How far this prediction was uttered in the spirit of 
 prophecy, it is yet too soon to determine. 
 
 Mr. Upshur, whose sympathies for Texas were, as we 
 have seen, connected with the price of Virginia negroes, 
 
RRVIEW OF THE MTXICAN WAR. 89 
 
 was called by Mr. Tyler to the office of Secretary of State, 
 and, availing himself of the facilities afforded by his new 
 office, prosecuted with vigor the work of opening another 
 and most extensive slave market. 
 
 On the 13;h September, 1843, he informed Mr. 
 Thompson of the intention of the Government to remon- 
 strate, in a formal manner, with Mexico, unless she shall 
 make peace Avith Texas, or shall show a disposition and 
 ability to prosecute the war with respectable forces. 
 This was only another device to provoke a quarrel. The 
 idea of our being offiBnded with Mexico, because she was 
 dilatory in kiUing our friends and brethren in Texas, was 
 too ridiculous to be seriously pressed, even by Mr. Tyler's 
 administration. A letter Avritten b)' Upshur, a few days 
 before, to Murphy, our agent in Texas, reveals the true 
 reason why the Cabinet had indulged the thought of 
 bullying Mexico into a peace veith Texas. On the 8th 
 September, he tells Murphy, there, is a rumor of a plan 
 in England, to raise money for the Texan government, 
 wherewith to abohsh slavery, by indemnifying the masters, 
 and that the English capitalists were to take Texan land 
 in payment. " Such an attempt," said the Secretary, 
 ever anxious for the anticipated market for Virginia slaves, 
 " upon any neighboring nation, would necessarily be 
 viewed by this Government with very deep concern ; but 
 when it is made upon a nation whose territory joins the 
 slave-holding States of our Union, it awakens still more 
 solemn interest. It cannot be permitted to succeed with- 
 ous most strenuous efforts on our part to avert a calamity 
 so serious to every part of our country. Few calamities 
 could befal this country more to be deplored than the 
 establishment of a predominant British influence, and the 
 
 ABOLITION OF DOMESTIC SLAVERY IN TeXAS."* 
 
 * Ex. Doc, 1st Sess., 28th Cong. No. 271 
 
90 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 The correspondence between Upsliur and Murphy is 
 one of the most humiUating to a true-minded American, 
 of any that has ever disgraced the annals of his country. 
 " So far as this Government is concerned," writes Upshur, 
 September 22d, 1843, " we have every desire to come 
 to the aid of Texas in the most prompt and effectual man- 
 ner. How far we shall be supported by the people, I 
 reo-ret, is somewhat doubtful. There is no reason to fear 
 there will be any difference of opinion among the people 
 of the SLAVfj-HOLDiNG SfATEs." Murphy, in his reply, 
 September 24th, 1843, takes the liberty of giving the 
 Secretary of State some shrewd advice, — " Say nothing 
 about abolition ;" and again, in another letter, *' Do not 
 offend our fanatical brethren of the north. Talk about 
 civil and political and religious liberty. This will be 
 found the safest issue to go before the world with." In 
 other words, go before the world v/ith a lie in your mouth 
 about the rights and libei-ty of Texas, which is" already as 
 free as we are, and conceal from the people of the north, 
 that our only object is to extend and perpetuate negro 
 slavery. The advice was partially followed, and the cry 
 of " extend the area of freedom " was raised by the slave- 
 holders and their northern allies. But " out of the 
 fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh," and before long, 
 all disguise was set aside, and the true object boldly and 
 unblushingly avowed " before the world,'' both by the 
 Government and by southern legislatures and popular 
 meetings. The story of the contemplated pecuniary con- 
 tribution in England to advance the cause of human 
 liberty in Texas, was unfortunately without foundation ; 
 like a multitude of similar falsehoods in relation to the 
 anti-slavery interference of England, it was intended to 
 facilitate annexation. On the I7th October, Upshur pro- 
 posed to the Texan agent a treaty of annexation. The 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 91 
 
 Mexican Minister at Washington, aware of the intrigues of 
 the Cabinet, gave notice, that if Texas were received into 
 the Union, he must ask for his passports. Mr. Upshur 
 replied in an insulting tone, declining all explanation, and 
 treating Avith scorn the intimation of Mexican hostility. 
 In the mean time, the Texans havinjr shown less eajrer- 
 ness to enter into the proposed treaty than Upshur had 
 anticipated, he became alarmed, and thought proper to 
 menace even the free and independent Republic of Texas. 
 He wrote to Murphy (January IGth, 1844,) of course for 
 the information of the Texan leaders, that in case annex- 
 ation should be declined by the latter, " Instead of being, 
 as we ought to be, the closest friends, it is inevitable we 
 shall become the bitterest foes ;" and he warns them, that 
 without annexation, Texas " cannot maintain that institu- 
 tion (slavery) ten years — probably not half that time.'* 
 To remove all apprehension, that, if Texas should consent 
 to a treaty of annexation, she might be subjected to the 
 mortification of having the treaty rejected for want of the 
 constitutional majority of two-thirds of the Senate in its 
 favor, he hazarded, in his desperation, the following most 
 extraordinary assertion : — " Measures have been taken to 
 ascertain the opinions and views of Senators upon the sub- 
 ject, and it is asco'tained that a clear majority of tivo- 
 thirds are in favor of the measure ! ! " 11\\q fact that this 
 very Senate, whose votes Mr. Upshur professed to have 
 canvassed, rejected the treaty, by a majority of more than 
 two-thirds, throws a painful suspicion upon the personal 
 veracity of the American Secretary ; and the more so, as 
 no explanation was ever given to the public of the won- 
 derful discrepancy between his canvass and the actual 
 vote. 
 
 Great Britain thought proper to disavow the machina- 
 tions which it had been deemed expedient by the parti- 
 
92 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 sans of Texas to ascribe to her. Our Government was, on 
 the 8th April, officially informed, that it was indeed well 
 known to the whole world that Great Biitain desired the 
 abohtion of Slavery wherever it existed, but that she 
 would not unduly interfere to accomplish it — that she 
 aimed at no dominant influence in Texas, and that, in 
 striving for human liberty, the Government would not 
 " openly nor secretly resort to any measures which can 
 tend to disturb the tranquillity, or thereby affect the pros- 
 perity of the American Union." This avowal, so frank 
 and honorable, so becoming a free and a christian people, 
 perhaps hurried the conclusion of the treaty, as it re- 
 moved one of the pretended reasons alleged for its neces- 
 sity. Four days after the British document was received, 
 Mr. Calhoun, as Secretary of State, to which office he had 
 been appointed on the death of Mr. Upshur, had the 
 gratification of signing a treaty with Texas, by which that 
 State was annexed to the American Union. 
 
 In the proud elation of feeling caused by so signal a 
 triumph in the cause of human bondage, Mr. Calhoun re- 
 plied on the 8th April, 1844, to the communication from 
 the English Minister. He declared that the President 
 viewed with deep concern, the desire avowed by Great 
 Britain for the abolition of slaveiy ; that in his opinion, 
 Texas by herself, could not withstand a compliance with 
 this desire, and therefore "It is the imperative duty of 
 the Federal Government, the common representative and 
 protector of the States of the Union, to adopt, in self- 
 defence, the inost effectual means to resist it ;" and that, 
 in obedience to this obligation, a treaty of annexation had 
 been concluded. "And this step" (he asserted) " had been 
 taken as the most effectual^ if not the only means of 
 guarding against the threatened danger." The next day 
 he addressed a letter to the xYraeriqan Agent in Mexico, 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 93 
 
 anuoancing the conclusion of the treaty, a step, he says, 
 " wkick was forced on the Goveiiwient of the United States 
 in self-defence, in consequence of the policy adopted hy 
 Great Britain in reference to the abolition of slavery in 
 Texas" 
 
 The audacious mendacity of this declaration is the more 
 remarkable, as Mr. Calhoun's own language bears witness 
 to its falsity. The readers of these sheets have already 
 had abundant proof, that • the annexation of Texas was 
 prompted by other motives than " self-defence" against 
 the anti- slavery policy of Great Britain, as manifested in 
 that Republic. So early as the 2Yth May, 1836, imme- 
 diately after the rumor of the battle of San Jacinto, 
 and even before the official account of the victory had 
 reached Washington, and while Great Britain was wholly 
 ignorant of the existence of such a Republic as Texas, 
 Mr. Calhoun, in his place in the Senate, proposed the 
 recognition of the Independence of Texas, and her 
 immediate admission into the Union ! ! In his speech on 
 the occasion, he remarked, " There were powerful rea- 
 sons why Texas should be a part of this Union. The 
 southern States, owning a slave population, were deeply 
 interested in ^^n'venting that country from having the power 
 to annoy themy* A revolted province was in actual war 
 with the parent country, and, while the slain in the last 
 battle were still unbuiied, this champion of slavery pro- 
 poses the instant incorporation of this province into the 
 Union for the benefit of the slaveholders — utterly reckless 
 of the wickedness of the act, trampling under foot the 
 obligations of neutrality, and regardless of the calamities 
 of war which such a measure would inevitably inflict upon 
 ois country. 
 
 But it is not enough that Mr. Calhoun's statement 
 
 * Cong. Globe— 29th Cong., 2d Sess , p. 495 
 
94 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 should be falsified by himself. We summon a witness far 
 more competent, and quite as credible as himself. Gene- 
 ral Houston may well be called the father of the Texan 
 Repubhc, having commanded its army on the field of San 
 Jacinto, and afterwards presided over its councils as Pre- 
 sident. The treaty with England was negotiated under 
 his direction, and he was necessarily intimately acquainted 
 with all the foreign relations of Texas. He was, more- 
 over, chosen by the State of Texas to represent her in the 
 United States Senate. On the 19th February, 1847, he 
 declared in his place in the Senate, " England never pro- 
 posed the subject of slavery or of abolition to Texas ; 
 England never made a suggestion to Texas which, if she 
 had pursued or accepted, would have degraded her in the 
 eyes of the purest patriot that ever lived. Captain Elliot 
 (British Minister in Texas) required nothing but commer- 
 cial relations between England and Texas, and an inter- 
 change of her fabrics for the products of the South.''* So 
 much for the monstrous assertion that the treaty of annex- 
 ation " was forced upon the Government of the United 
 States in self-defence, in consequence of the policy adopted 
 by Great Britain in reference to the abolition of slavery in 
 Texas." 
 
 The treaty referred to was submitted to the Senate on 
 the 22d April, 1844, and was rejected by that body by 
 a vote of thirty-five to sixteen, Mr. Upshur's pledge to 
 the Texan Government, that two-thirds of the Senate 
 would approve of it, notwithstanding. 
 
 Under no circumstances could this treaty have received 
 the consent of two-thirds of the Senate, but the greatness 
 of the vote against it was owing to other causes than hos- 
 tihty to annexation. Mr. Tyler was the most unpopular 
 President that had ever occupied the Executive Chair. 
 
 * Cong. Globe— 29tli Cong. 2d Sess., p. 469. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 95 
 
 He was witliout personal or political influence, and liis 
 term of office was now so nearly expired, that he had but 
 httle patronage with which to secure Senatorial votes. It 
 was clearly ascertained that the treaty could not be rati- 
 fied even were all the friends of annexation to vote for it ; 
 and hence many of those friends consulted their own 
 political views and prejudices in swelling the majority 
 against it, and thus thwarting the aspirations of Mr. Cal- 
 hoim. A presidential election was approaching, and the 
 southern opponents of Mr. Calhoun were well content to 
 diminish by their votes the influence his zeal in the cause 
 of Texas was calculated to give him. Although eager 
 for Texas, they could not vote for a treaty so very objec- 
 tionable as that made by Mr. Calhoun ; whereas, had its 
 ratification depended on them, there is little doubt their 
 votes would have been different. 
 
96 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 MORE ATTEMPTS TO IRRITATE MEXICO. 
 
 The majority in the Senate against the Texan treaty had 
 taught Messrs. Tyler and Calhoun the necessity of pre- 
 venting, as far as possible, any new obstacle to a measure 
 so near to their hearts. One great argument for annexa- 
 tion was, that the war had virtually ceased between Texas 
 and Mexico, the latter having for years refrained from all 
 active hostihty. Suddenly the Cabinet was alarmed 
 by some threatening proclamations issued by the Mexican 
 authorities against Texas, couched in the usual inflated 
 style. Past experience had shown the inabihty of Mexico 
 to subdue her rebellious province, sheltered, as it was, 
 beneath the wing of the great republic. The threats of 
 the Mexicans were, indeed, idle words ; but Mr. Tyler knew 
 that, should the war be in fact renewed, its existence 
 would be an argument against annexation, as that measure 
 under such circumstances would necessarily make the 
 United States a party to the war. It was, therefore, 
 resolved either to induce Mexico to rehnquish her design 
 to renew hostilities, or else to goad her into war against 
 ourselves. Hence, on the 14th October, 1844, Mr. Shan- 
 non, who had succeeded Mr. Thompson at Mexico, in obe- 
 dience to instructions, presented to the Government an 
 insolent remonstrance against the farther prosecution of 
 the war, and the sanguinary spirit in which it was to be 
 waged. He declared that the war was to be renewed for 
 the purpose of defeating annexation, an object which 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 97 
 
 Mr. Tyler would not permit — dwelt upon the importance 
 of Texas to this country, and plainly intimated that we 
 could not permit her to be invaded, without espou- 
 sing her quarrel. We can readily conceive with what 
 intense indignation our own Government would re- 
 ceive a similaf letter from a British Minister, insult- 
 ing us for our barbarous mode of conducting the war 
 against Mexico, threatening us with vengeance unless 
 we made peace, and permitted the peaceful cession of 
 CaUfornia to the British crown. Mexico, feeble and 
 exhausted, could resent the insult only in words ; but 
 they were words full of dignity, truth, and common 
 sense. Mr. Rejon, the Mexican Secretary (October 20th, 
 1844), informed Shannon that he " has orders to repel 
 the protest now addressed to his Government, and to 
 dfeclare that the President of the United States is much 
 mistaken, if he supposes Mexico capable of yielding to 
 the menace which he, exceeding the powers given to him by 
 the fundamental law of his nation, has directed against 
 it." After commenting on the conduct of the United 
 States, he concluded, " while one power is seeking more 
 ground to stain by the slavery of an unfortunate branch 
 of the human family, the other is endeavoring, by pre- 
 serving what belongs to it, to diminish the surface which 
 the former wants for this detestable traffic. Let the world 
 now say, which of the two has justice and reason on 
 its side." 
 
 This letter was received in high dudgeon by Mr. Shan- 
 non, who haughtily demanded a retraction of the Secre- 
 tary's letter, on the penalty of suspending all farther 
 intercourse till he heard from Washington. To this 
 impertinence, Mr. Rejon replied that he was not surprised 
 by Mr. Shannon's reluctance to discuss the conduct of his 
 Government. *' In fact, to what else can be attributed 
 9 
 
98 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 this exclusive desire to claim for himself, his nation, and 
 his Government, that respect denied by him to the 
 Mexican Republic and its Government, to which he has 
 so often applied the term barbarous, in his note of 14th 
 October? Is the Government of the United States 
 superior in dignity, or has its legislature any 'right to be 
 thus wanting in respect to a Government to which it has 
 refused the attentions due by courtesy to mere individu- 
 als ? Instead of withdrawing his letter, he is ordered to 
 reiterate his former statements." 
 
 The manly, honest rebuke administered by Rejon to 
 President Tyler, naturally gave great offence to that gen- 
 tleman; and on the 19th December, 1844, he laid the 
 correspondence before Congress with very indignant 
 comments on " the extraordinary and highly offensive 
 language which the Mexican Government has thought 
 proper to employ." But although he thought the con- 
 duct of Mexico "might well justify the United States in 
 a resort to any measure to vindicate their national honor," 
 he abstained, through a sincere desire to preserve peace, 
 from recommending a resort to " measures of redress," 
 and contented himself with urging " prompt and imme- 
 diate action on the subject of annexation." 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 99 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 ELECTION OF MR. POLK. 
 
 A SUCCESSOR to Mr. Tyler was to be chosen at the close 
 of 1844 ; but, when the treaty was rejected in June of 
 that year, no political sagacity could predict upon whom 
 the choice would fall. Mr. Tyler's wayward coui'se, 
 together with other causes, had greatly curtailed the 
 power of the Avhigs ; but there was no proof that they 
 had lost their ascendency. 
 
 In many instances the slaveholders had boldly declared, 
 that no candidate opposed to annexation, should receive 
 their vote. This sentiment was uttered in the formal 
 resolves of their popular meetings, and reiterated by the 
 slave press. Mr. Clay was the whig candidate ; and to 
 his influence at the South was added the cordial and 
 unanimous support of the whigs at the North ; under his 
 auspices the party anticipated a decided victory. The 
 democratic party presented a much less imposing front 
 than its rival. Its prominent candidate was Mr. Van 
 Buren who, as well as Mr. Clay, had expressed a cautious 
 qualified opinion adverse to annexation at the pi-esent time, 
 and under existing circumstances ; but neither had 
 ventured to hint an objection to the extension of slavery. 
 The democratic nominating convention met at Baltimore late 
 in May, and gave Mr. Van Buren a majoiity of its votes, as 
 the democratic candidate for the Presidency. But the 
 Southern members insisted and finally succeeded, that a 
 majority of two- thirds should be necessary to a nomination. 
 
100 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. ' 
 
 The two-tliird rule of course made those members masters 
 of the Convention ; and it was soon found that no candi- 
 date could be selected except the nominee of the slave- 
 holders. Mr. Van Buren was rejected ; and the northern 
 democracy were compelled to accept Mr. Polk in his room. 
 The qualifications which procured for this gentleman the 
 honor of a nomination, were doubtless his devotion to the 
 cause of slavery, his vituperation of the abolitionists and 
 a recent printed letter in which he advocated the imme- 
 diate ANNEXATION OF TeXAS. 
 
 The Convention liaving thus been compelled to nomi- 
 nate Mr. Polk, the triumph of the democratic pai'ty, and 
 its possession of power and office, of course depended on 
 his election. To secure that election, the party were ne- 
 cessarily compelled to adopt as their own the policy 
 avowed by their candidate. Hence it became expedient 
 for the Convention, as the representatives of the whole 
 democratic party, to insist upon the immediate annexation 
 of Texas, and to enter the contest with these ominous 
 words inscribed on their banners. Many of the party 
 presses at the North liad been loud in their denunciations 
 of the Texan plot; and in the northern legislatures, demo- 
 crats had vied with the whigs in passing resolutions con- 
 demning annexation. But the council of Baltimore was 
 deemed infallible in matters of faith ; and forthwith the 
 democracy of the North united with the slaveholders 
 of the South in their eftbrts to extend the curse of human 
 bondage, Mr. Polk received a majority of the electoral 
 votes, but not of the popular suffrage by which the Elec- 
 tors had been chosen. 
 
 il 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 101 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ANNEXATION BY JOINT RESOLUTION. 
 
 Until the refusal of the Senate to ratify Mr. Tyler's 
 treaty, no other mode of annexation than by treaty had 
 been imagined. Texas claimed to be an independent na- 
 tion, and had been acknowledged as such by the United 
 States, France, and Great Britain. But contracts between 
 independent nations are treaties, and the constitution in- 
 trusts the power of making treaties to the President and 
 two-thirds of the Senate. Of all contracts between two 
 nations, none can be more important and solemn than that 
 which surrenders the sovereignty and domains of the one 
 to the other. All the territory which had been added to 
 the United States, had been acquired by treaty. Hence, 
 when Texas contemplated annexation, she proposed doing 
 it by treaty ; and Messrs. Tyler, Upshur, and Calhoun, all 
 concurred at a later date in inviting Texas to enter the 
 confederacy by the operation of a treaty. But the slave- 
 holders were reminded by the recent occurrences, that it 
 required a majority of two-thirds of the Senate to annex 
 a foreign territory in accordance with the provisions of the 
 Constitution ; and that, as half of the Senators repre- 
 sented free States, such a majority Avas at present unat- 
 tainable. Necessity is the mother of invention ; and the 
 truth of the aphorism now received a remarkable illustra- 
 tion. It was suddenly discovered, that what could not be 
 effected by treaty, could as well be performed by a joint 
 
102 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 resolution of the two houses of Congress. Such a reso- 
 lution required only a bare majority in each branch. In 
 this way treaties for the future, might be dispensed with 
 whenever the Senate was found uncomplying ; and the 
 foreign intercourse of the nation might be regulated, dis 
 puted boundaries settled, and even the conditions of peace 
 determined, by joint resolution. To whom is to be attri- 
 buted this ingenious device for setting aside the Constitu- 
 tion, smothering the oaths taken to support it, and usurp- 
 ing the treaty-making power, is not known ; but Mr. Tyler 
 has the credit of first announcing the discovery to the 
 public. Mortified and irritated by the rejection of his 
 treat}'', he immediately appealed to the House of Repre- 
 tatives, laying the dishonored document before them, and 
 hinting that it was possible to effect annexation by other 
 means than a treaty. But Mr. Tyler had so utterly anni- 
 hilated the respect and confidence he had once enjoyed, 
 that his influence was nugatory for good or for evil. The 
 annexation of Texas was indeed efiected, but it was effected 
 by other influences than those wielded by himself or by 
 Mr. Calhoun. 
 
 The administration of Mr. Tyler was to close, and that 
 of Mr. Polk to commence, on the 4th March, 1845. The 
 vote againt the annexation treaty the preceding June, had 
 convinced the partisans of Texas, of the impossibility of 
 effecting their favorite object in a constitutional mode, and 
 the friends of human liberty congratulated themselves that 
 the danger was passed. The election, however, of Mr. 
 Polk, by identifying the democracy of the Xorth with the 
 policy of the South, revived the hopes, and invigorated 
 the efforts of the friends of Texas. The patronage of the 
 government had now for the next four years been placed 
 at the disposal of an avowed and zealous advocate of 
 annexation. Under these circumstances, it was deter- 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 103 
 
 mined to make a new effort to secure Texas, regardless 
 of the Constitution. Nor was the expectation very un- 
 reasonable, tliat a majorit}^ of the very Senate that had 
 treated Tyler witli contumely, as he was sinking below 
 the horizon, might do homage to the rising sun. 
 
 Mr. Polk was to be sworn into office on the 4th March ; 
 and this circumstance afforded an excuse for the arrival at 
 the Capitol some weeks earlier, of the dispenser of the na- 
 tion's patronage. His presence is well understood to have 
 exerted a powerful influence on the votes subsequently 
 given. On the 1st March, 1845, the famous joint resolu- 
 tions, for the annexation of Texas as one of the States of 
 the Federal Union, were finally passed after a severe and 
 ioubtful struo-o'le. 
 
 One of the most extraordinary incidents of this most 
 extraordinary and calamitous legislation, was the very pe- 
 cuhar tenderness of conscience evinced by certain southern 
 Senators. Tlie Lower House had passed a simple resolu- 
 tion of annexation by a majority of twenty-two. But some 
 of the Senators, although rabid for Texas, were troubled 
 by the oath they had taken to support the Constitution, 
 and they did not well know how to reconcile that oath 
 with the tiickery by which it Avas intended to nullify the 
 treaty-making power. They were happily relieved by the 
 addition of another resolution virtually giving to the Pre- 
 sident the option of effecting annexation by resolution or 
 hy treaty. This ingenious device of authorizing the Presi- 
 dent to respect or contemn at pleasure the requirements 
 of the Constitution, and throwing upon him the responsi- 
 bihty of the choice, relieved the scruples of these conscien- 
 tious gentlemen, and enabled them almost at the very last 
 hour, by the change of their votes, to carry the question 
 of annexation, in the Senate, by a majority of tioo. Should 
 this strange expedient for satisfying constitutional scruples 
 
104 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 seem insufficient for the momentous effects ascribed to it, 
 possibly a more satisfactory cause may be found in a de- 
 claration made in a southern paper during the debate, 
 " We rejoice that those deserting democy'ats who oppose 
 this vital measure which Mr. Polk so anxiously desires to 
 be settled at this session, will have nothing to expect 
 FROM his administration." As Mr. Polk was at this 
 time at Washington, it is not unreasonable to believe that 
 the editor of the Richmond Enquirer, was not the sole 
 confidant of his intention to Avithhold office from every 
 member who voted against annexation. 
 
 One of the gentlemen whose scruples threatened to de- 
 feat annexation — but who, on his conscience becoming en- 
 lightened, voted for the measure, and thus ensured it a 
 majority in the Senate — was subsequently appointed by 
 Mr. Polk to a foreign mission. 
 
 No time was lost by Mr. Tyler in making the choice 
 offered to him by the joint resolutions. On the 3rd 
 March, a few hours before his term of office expired, 
 he despatched a messenger to the American agent in 
 Texas, with a letter from Mr, Calhoun, instructing him to 
 propose the resolution of annexation to the acceptance of 
 the Texan Government, very sensibly objecting to annex- 
 ation by treaty, because a treaty " must be submitted to 
 the Senate for its ratification, and run the hazard of re- 
 ceiving the votes of two- thirds of the members present, 
 which could hardly be expected if we are to judge from 
 recent ex2)erience.'''^ On the 4th July, Texas consented to 
 
 * The late Chancellor Kent, of New York, was at this time 
 unquestionably the most eminent Jurist in America. He thus 
 wrote to a member of Congress : — " I acknowledge your speech 
 t)f January last on the Annexation of Texas. I have perused it 
 with much satisfaction ; and I deem it perfectly conclusive, that 
 the Annexation of Texas, by concurrent, resolution of Congress, 
 was unwarrantable, and a usurpation of the treaty-vialdng pojver ; 
 in every view, violent, unjust, unconstitutional, and most per- 
 R'cions and unprincipled, and will lead to the ruin of the Union." 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 105 
 
 be annexed, and the 22nd of the ensuing December, she 
 was formally received as a State into the Federal Union. 
 
 Independent of the violence done to the cause of mor- 
 ality in the mode by which annexation was effected, and 
 in the motive by which it Tvas prompted, the measure it- 
 self was a gross and palpable violation of the neutral ob- 
 ligations of the United States. It is freely admitted that 
 Texas was at the time an independent State, and as such 
 bad a right to forhi a union with the Federal Republic. 
 But Texas was at war with Mexico ; and we have seen 
 that Mr. Tyler not merely acknowledged the existence of 
 the war, but, after his Treaty of Annexation had been 
 rejected, officially remonstrated with Mexico on the bar- 
 barous manner in which that power intended to prosecute 
 hostilities. It is impossible to deny that a neutral nation, 
 forming an alliance offensive and defensive with another at 
 the time engaged in war, by that very act becomes herself 
 a belligerent. But annexation was an alliance, in the strong- 
 est sense, both offensive and defensive. So sensible was 
 the Administration of this fact, that, as we shall see here- 
 after, a land and naval force was prepared to defend Texas 
 against the meditated assault of Mexico. If after the 
 commencement of hostilities between Mexico and the 
 United States, England or France had accepted a cession 
 of California from Mexico, the acceptance itself would 
 have been tantamount to a declaration of war against this 
 country. Had a fleet and army been sent from Europe 
 to protect Mexico from our invasion, would the fact that 
 Mexico was an independent nation have satisfied us that 
 we had no cause for complaint at such an interference ? 
 By the laws of nations, annexation was an act of war 
 against Mexico. 
 
 Eight years before this event, the Rev. Dr. Channing, 
 of Boston, in a publication against the scheme which he 
 
106 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 well knew was entertained by the Administration — of add- 
 ing Texas to the Union — uttered the following fearful 
 prediction, which has now for the most part become his- 
 tory : — " By this act (annexation) our country will enter on 
 a career of encroachment and crime, and will merit the pun- 
 ishment and woe of acfOTavated wroni^-doinor. The seizure 
 of Texas will not stand alone. It will be linked, by an 
 iron necessity, to long-continued deeds of rapine and 
 BLOOD. Ages may not see the catastrophy of the tragedy 
 the first scene of which we are so ready to enact. Texas 
 is a country conquered by our citizens, and the annexation 
 of it to our Union will be but the beginning of conquests, 
 which, unless arrested and beaten back by Providence, 
 wiU stop only at the Isthmus of Darien. Henceforth we 
 must cease to cry — Peace, peace. Our Eagle will whet, 
 not gorge, his appetite on his first \dctim, and will snuflf 
 a more tempting quarry, more alluring blood, in every 
 new region which opens southivard.'* 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR 107 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 ANNEXATION OF CALIFORNIA DESIGNED BY MR. POLK. 
 
 Immediately after the final A'ote on the annexation of 
 Texas had been taken in the Senate, a senator from Flo- 
 rida arose in his place, and introduced a resolution de- 
 claring it expedient for the President to open negotiations 
 for the cession of the Island of Cuba to the United States. 
 No action was called for ; the sole object of the resolution 
 being to familiarize the public mind with devices for the 
 acquirement of slave territory. The addition of Texas 
 operated but as blood to the famished wolf ; and the ap- 
 petite for Mexican pro^ances, instead of being satiated, 
 was stimulated to a ravenous ferocity. Texas had been 
 gained N'irtually under Mr. Tyler's administration, and 
 there is reason to believe that Mr. Polk Avas resolved that 
 his should be signalized by the annexation of California. 
 This province had long excited the cupidity of the slave- 
 holders, and great efforts were now made to stimulate 
 public opinion into unison with the designs of the Presid- 
 ent. The newspapers teemed with articles on the fertility 
 of Cahfornia, its vast importance to the United States, 
 and, as a matter of course, the secret designs of Great 
 Britain to appropriate it to herself, either by force or by 
 treaty. The reader will recollect the prematui'e seizure 
 and annexation for ever of Cahfornia by Commodore Jones : 
 he will also call to mind that, at an earlier period, fruit- 
 less efforts had been made to purchase the province, 
 whole or in part. Already many of our restless wander- 
 
108 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 ing adventurers had penetrated into that distant territory ; 
 and the opinion had been extensively propagated, that it 
 was a region too rich and too convenient to be left in pos- 
 session of the Mexicans. The Mexican Government, 
 taught wisdom by the result of Texan colonization, made 
 an order expelling American citizens from California. 
 Our Minister protested ; and the ordinance was so modi- 
 fied as to include all foreigners deemed dangerous to the 
 public peace. But against this Mr. Calhoun, then Secre- 
 tary of State, ordered a new protest. 
 
 Let us now attend to the confessions of our Minister, 
 Mr. Thompson: "Near the end of December, 1843, I 
 received information that the Government of Mexico had 
 issued an order expelling all natives of the United States 
 from the department of California and the adjoining de- 
 partments. No attempt, however, had been made up to 
 that time to execute the order. A similar order had been 
 issued a few years before, including not only citizens of 
 the United States, but British subjects also ; and this 
 order had been actually executed to the great damage 
 and, in some instances, ruin of the persons removed. All 
 the efforts of the English and American Ministers to 
 procure a recision of this order were ineffectual for six 
 months. I had the good fortune, however, after a some- 
 what angry correspondence, to have the order rescinded, 
 not, however, until I resorted to the ultima ratio of diplo- 
 macy, AND DEMANDED MY PASSPORTS — a measure which a 
 minister is rarely justified in resorting to without the orders 
 of his government. I confess I was very much afraid 
 that the passports would have been sent ; but I thought 
 that the step was justified by the circumstances, and that 
 it would cut short a long discussion. The result showed 
 that in this calculation I was right. The order was re- 
 scinded, and expresses sent to all the departments, the 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 109 
 
 distance of some of wliich was two thousand miles. I 
 confess that in taking the high ground I did, upon the 
 order expelHng our people from California, I felt some 
 compunctious visitings ; for I had been informed that a 
 plot had been arranged, and was about being developed hy 
 the Americans and other foreigners in that dejMrtment, to 
 re-enact the scenes of Texas.'" * 
 
 Mr. Thompson, in describing Cahfornia, says : " Sugar, 
 rice, and cotton, find there their own congenial clime " — 
 p. 234. Of course the same motives which led to the 
 "scenes in Texas," would prompt their re-enactment in 
 California. We shall see hereafter that Mr. Thompson 
 was not misinformed. 
 
 There were two modes of acquiring California — by 
 negotiation and by war. The first was the most econo- 
 mical, the latter would probably be the most expeditious, 
 but, unless commenced by Mexico, would be extremely 
 hazardous to the popularity and stability of the Admini- 
 stration, 
 
 By blustering about our claims, swelling them to the 
 greatest possible point of inflation, and then kindly offer- 
 ing to waive them all in consideration of a cession of Cali- 
 fornia, and throwing in a douceur of a few millions, per- 
 haps it might be possible to worry Mexico into a surren- 
 der of the province. But the result was doubtful. Mexico 
 had been very tenacious of her soil, and had refused every 
 bribe to part with it. War was the alternative. Mexico 
 was just now extremely sensitive on the subject of Texas. 
 Her Minister at Washington had demanded his passports 
 on the passage of the joint resolutions. Mr. Shannon, 
 after irritating the Government by his insulting demeanor, 
 had left Mexico, and all diplomatic intercourse between 
 the two countries was now suspended. Under such cir- 
 
 * Recollections of Mexico, p. 227-232. 
 10 
 
110 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 cumstances, it would not be difficult to excite a war, and 
 a war would give us California. But then a war, to be 
 popular or even to be endured by the North, which would 
 share its burdens but not its spoils, must be " a war by 
 the act of Mexico." 
 
 It was obviously most expedient to tiy negotiation in 
 the first instance, and, if that failed, then to bring on a 
 war by inducing Mexico to strike the first blow. Such a 
 war could be v/aged as one of defence, not of aggression ; 
 Mexico would of course be immediately humbled, and we 
 might dictate the terms of peace, one of which would be 
 the surrender of the coveted province. Subsequent events 
 have manifested that the policy we have explained was 
 early adopted by Mr. Polk, and maintained with un- 
 wavering pertinacity. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR 111 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 - MISSION OF MR. SLIDELL TO MEXICO. 
 
 Before an attempt could be made to acquire California 
 by negotiation, it was necessary to restore the diplomatic 
 intercourse between the two countries. For this purpose, 
 the American Consul in Mexico, in compliance with in- 
 structions, addressed a letter, 13th October, 1845, to the 
 Mexican Secretary of State, inquiring whether the Mexi- 
 can Government " would receive an Envoy from the 
 United States, entrusted with full powers to adjust all 
 questions in dispute hetiveen the two Governments ^ Two 
 days afterwards, the Secretary personally delivered to the 
 Consul a reply, stating, "that although the Mexican na- 
 tion is deeply injured by the United States through the 
 acts committed by them in the Department of Texas, 
 which belongs to this nation, my Government is disposed 
 to receive the Commissioner of the United States who may 
 come to this country with full powers to settle the present 
 dispute in a peaceful, reasonable, and honorable manner, 
 thus giving a new proof that even in the midst of its inju- 
 ries and of its firm decision to exact adequate reparation 
 for them, it does not repell with contumely the measures 
 of reason and peace to which it is invited by its adver- 
 sary." This, it will be observed, was an indirect reply to 
 the question put by the Consul. Instead of consenting to 
 receive an Envoy with full powers to adjust all questions 
 in dispute, the Secretary refers expressly to the dispute 
 
112 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN Vv'AR. 
 
 about Texas, and, with a show of condescension, says 
 that his Government Avill receive the Commissioner who 
 may come to settle the present dispute. The language 
 irresistibly refers to a Commissioner who is to offer, not 
 to demand, reparation for a certain injury, alleged to 
 have been committed in " the department of Texas." 
 
 Such is the fair, and indeed, the only inference to be 
 drawn from the answer returned to the Consul. The 
 answer was not improbably dictated by that species of 
 cunning which politicians are so apt to mistake for wis- 
 dom. It may have been the design of the Mexican Gov- 
 ernment to use language which w^ould hereafter permit it 
 to reject an American Minister, or to refuse entering with 
 him into negotiations on other topics than Texas, should 
 circumstances render such a course expedient. A similar 
 cunning was evinced by the Cabinet at Washington in its 
 prompt acceptance of the equivocal reply of the Mexican 
 Secretary, as a full and explicit answer to the question 
 proposed by the Consul. Should the Envoy be received, 
 the affair of Texas would of course be set aside as res adju- - 
 dicata, while the alternative of California or payment of 
 claims would be pressed upon the feeble, distracted Gov- 
 ernment of Mexico. If, however, the Envoy should be 
 rejected on the ground, that the Government had con- 
 sented to receive only a Commissioner to treat about 
 Texas, then loud complaints of breach of faith, and of 
 insult offered to the national honor, would prove conven- 
 ient incentives to war. Mr. Polk avoiding all explanations, 
 hurried off Mr. Slidell, of Louisiana, as Minister to Mexico, 
 within three weeks of the meeting of Congress, and of 
 course without waiting for the confirmation of his nomina- 
 tion by the Senate. The Mexican Secretary, mindful of 
 the rudeness with which his Government had been hitherto 
 treated by American functionaries, expressed the hope, 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 113 
 
 that the person now to he sent would be one " whose 
 dignity and prudence, and moderation, and the discreet- 
 ness and reasonableness of his proposals, will tend to 
 calm, as much as possible, the just irritation of the Mexi- 
 cans." How far the gentleman selected by Mr. Polk 
 endeavored to exercise a calming influence, will be seen in 
 the sequel. 
 
 On the 3d of December, it was reported in Mexico, that 
 the new Envoy had landed at Vera Cruz. On this, the 
 Mexican Secretary sought an interview with our Consul, 
 and begged him to induce Mr. Slidell to postpone, for the 
 present, his appearance in the Capital, as he had not been 
 expected before January, by which time the Government, 
 having collected the opinion and consent of the departments, 
 " it would be able to proceed in the affair with more security." 
 The existing administration were charged by the party in 
 opposition with being too friendly to the United States. 
 " You know," remarked the Secretary to the Consul, *' the 
 opposition are calHng us traitors for entering into this ar- 
 rangement with you ;" and he declared that the Govern- 
 ment were afraid that the appearance of the Envoy at 
 this time would produce a revolution against it, which 
 would tenninate in its destruction.^ The Consul imme- 
 diately advanced to meet Mr. Slidell, and at Puebla ac- 
 quainted him with the wishes of the Government. Far 
 from consulting those wishes, he pushed on to the Capital, 
 where he arrived on Saturday, the 6th of December, and 
 the ensuing Monday officially announced his arrival, and 
 asked for an audience for the purpose of presenting his 
 credentials as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Pleni- 
 potentiary of the United States. This letter was the same 
 day dehvered by the Consul to the Mexican Secretary of 
 State, who assured him that " he himself was well dis- 
 
 * 29th Cong., 1st Sess., Senate Documents, No. 337, p. 18. 
 10* 
 
114 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 posed to have everytldng amicahly arranged, but that tlie 
 opposition was strong, and opposed the Government with 
 great violence in this measure, and that the Government 
 had to proceed with great caution ; that nothing positive 
 could be done until the new Congress met in January." 
 On Wednesday, the 10th December, Slidell was informed 
 that his letter must be submitted to the Council of Gov- 
 ernment before a reply could be returned. But this gen- 
 tleman would not brook delay, and on Saturday sent the 
 Consul to inquire when an answer would be given. The 
 Consul was told the letter had been submitted to a Com- 
 mittee of the Council, and that as soon as the Committee 
 had reported, an answer would be sent ; that Mr. Shdell 
 came as a resident Minister, and not a Commissioner to 
 treat of Texas, as was expected. The Secretary appealed 
 to the Consul, that he himself knew " the critical situa- 
 tion of the Mexican Government, and that it had to pro- 
 ceed with great caution and circumspection in this affair ; 
 that the Government itself loas well dis2)0sed to arrange all 
 difficulties.''^ 
 
 These assurances of the friendly dispositions of the Gov- 
 ernment, and their earnest solicitation foi* a little delay, till 
 those dispositions could be sanctioned and supported by the 
 Congress about to assemble, seemed to have confirmed Mr. 
 Shdell in his resolution to /orce matters to extremities ; and 
 accordingly, without waiting for the report of the Commit- 
 tee, he dispatched another letter on the ensuing Monday to 
 the Secretary", requiring to know when he might expect an 
 answer to his first, and declaring, what was absolutely 
 false, that '' he is necessarily ignorant of the reasons Avhich 
 have caused so long a delay." The "long delay" was 
 precisely seven days, and within that time he had been 
 twice officially informed through the Consul of " the rea- 
 sons" of the delay. To this letter an answer was returned, 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 115 
 
 stating that the delay complained of, had arisen from cer- 
 tain difficulties arising from the nature of his commission, 
 compared with the character of a negotiator to treat on 
 the subject of Texas, whom the United States had pro- 
 posed to send to Mexico ; that tlie subject had been sub- 
 mitted to the Council of Goverament, and that the result 
 would be communicated to him without loss of time. The 
 next day, 1 7th December, Mr. Slidell wrote to the Gov- 
 ernment at Washington, detailing the progress of the nego- 
 tiation thus far. It will be observed, that up to this date 
 he had neither been received, nor refused, and in this very- 
 letter he remarks that " the impression hero among the 
 best informed persons is, that the President and his Cabi- 
 net are really desirous to enter frankly upon a negotiation 
 which would terminate all their difficulties with the United 
 States." The day after this letter was received at Wash- 
 ington, peremptory orders were sent to General Taylor to 
 march to the Rio Grande ; and this order, necessarily cal- 
 culated and obviously intended to bring on a war, has 
 been vindicated on the ground, that the Mexican Govern- 
 ment had refused to treat with Mr. Slidell ! 
 
 It was obvious, from what had passed, that the Mexican 
 administration, although pacific in its feelings, was not 
 strong in the confidence of the pubhc, and it was naturally 
 inferred, that it would not have the power, even should 
 it have the disposition, to conclude a treaty for the dis- 
 memberment of the Republic by the cession of Cahfornia. 
 Hence the determination of Mr. Polk to secure by the sword 
 what he now saw could not likely be acquired by the 
 pen. This determination was moreover strengthened by 
 the following information communicated in the same letter 
 from Mr. Slidell. " The country^ torn by conflicting fac- 
 tions, is in a state of perfect anarchy, its finances in a 
 condition utterly desperate. I do not see where means 
 
116 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 can possibly be -found to cany on the government. The 
 annual expense of the army alone exceeds twenty-one 
 millions of dollars, while the net revenue is not more than 
 l^n or twelve. While there is a prospect of -war with the 
 United States, no capitalist will loan money, at any rate, 
 however onerous. Every branch of the revenue is already 
 pledged in advance. The troops must be paid, or they 
 will revolt." Of course from such a government, it would 
 be easy to wrest California, and as much more as we 
 might w^ant. 
 
 Mr. Shdell, having, as we have seen, refused to permit 
 the Mexican Cabinet to postpone their decision respecting 
 his reception, till the meeting of Congress in January, 
 that decision was communicated, to him on the 20th 
 December. He w^ould be received as a Commissioner to 
 treat of the questions relating to Texas ; but until that 
 question was arranged, he could not be received as Minis- 
 ter plenipotentiary. 
 
 Mr. Slidell was of course very insulting in his reply. 
 " The annals of no cimlized nation present, in so short a 
 time, so many ivanton attacTcs upon the rights of person and 
 property as have been endured by the citizens of the United 
 States from the Mexican authorities.''^ It is to be appre- 
 hended that this gentleman is either very imperfectly ac- 
 quainted with the annals of civilized nations, or very unscru- 
 pulous in drawing inferences from them. In the excitement 
 of the moment, and for the sole purpose of irritation, he 
 paraded before the Mexican Secretary, the millions de- 
 manded by the American government as compensation 
 for " the accumulated wrongs" of its " much-injured citi- 
 zens." The indebtedness of Mexico, according to Mr. 
 Slidell was as follows, viz. : 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 117 
 
 The award under tlie treaty of 1830, !fr2,026,139 
 Claims theu left unsettled, 4,265,464 
 
 Claims subsequently presented, 2,200,000 
 
 8,491,603 
 Credit by payments made on the award,* 303,919 
 
 Balance, $8,187,684 
 
 We have heretofore seen that the total amount of claims 
 
 presented to the board of arbitrators, was |1 1,850, 5*78 
 
 The claims afterwards fabricated were, it seems, 2,200,000 
 
 Total claim from Mexico, $14,050,578 
 
 It may here be edifying to the reader, to interrupt our 
 narrative for a moment, to advise him of the fate of these 
 modest demands, under the especial guardianship of the 
 Cabinet of Washington. The Commissioners and umpire 
 appointed by treaty, after a judicial investigation, rejected 
 as spnrious, or fraudulent, claims to the amount of 
 85,568,975. The unliquidated claims, after deducting the 
 award made under the treaty, amounted to $6,455,464. 
 Of these, by the treaty of peace, the American Govern- 
 ment assumes and promises to pay such as may be found 
 vahd by its own Commissioners, not exceeding, hoioeveXy 
 in amount $3,250,000. This sum deducted from the 
 balance above, leaves no less than $3,205,464, absolutely 
 and irrevocably abandoned and repudiated by the Federal 
 Government, while the Government of Mexico is by treaty 
 
 • * It will be recollected that a convention concluded by Mr. 
 Thompson, the interest on the whole award was to be paid on 
 the 30th April, 1843, and the principal in twenty instalments, 
 one every three months. The Interest was punctually paid, as 
 were the three first instalments. The money for these payments 
 was raised by forced loans, so anxious was the Mexican govern- 
 ment to meet" its engagements, notwithstanding its financial 
 embarrassments. The measures adopted by our own govern- 
 ment in reference to the annexation of Texas, together with the 
 state of the Mexican treasury, delayed, and finally prevented the 
 other payments. 
 
118 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 stipulation released from all obligation to pay them ! The 
 sura thus abandoned, added to the sura rejected by the 
 arbitrators and umpire, makes the very respectable amount 
 of $8,774, 439. But this amount is yet to be greatly en- 
 larged. The unliquidated claims are those preferred at 
 the eleventh hour, when the government was striving to ex- 
 aggerate the sufferings of our citizens, for the purpose of 
 bullying Mexico out of ten-ifcory, and when it was hoped that 
 the greater the amount of claims, the more ready would 
 the nation be for war. The best clairas were undoubtedly 
 those first presented. We here find that of those which 
 were investigated fice-sevenths were found spurious. On 
 the very unreasonable supposition that the remaining 
 claims are not more worthless than the frrst, less than two 
 milhons will remain to be paid for by the government. In 
 all human probability, one million will be more than suffi- 
 cient to meet every equitable demand ; and thus of the 
 14 millions of claims about 11 will have proved in the> 
 end to be fictitious. Of this base currency Mr. Slidell, as 
 we have seen, took 6 milhons with him to Mexico. The use 
 he was to make of it, is thus specified in his instructions : 
 " Fortunately the joint resolution of Congress for an- 
 nexing Texas to the United States, presents the means of 
 satisfying these claims, in perfect consistency with the in- 
 terests as well as the honor of both repubhcs. It has 
 reserved to this government the adjustment of all ques- 
 tions of boundary that may arise with other governments. 
 This question of boundary may therefore be adjusted in 
 such a manner between the two republics as to cast the 
 burden of debt due to American claimants .on their own 
 Government, while it will do no injury to Mexico."* 
 
 * The instructions to Mr. Slidell were called for by the Hoxise 
 of Representatives ; but the President refused to communicate 
 them. A copy, however, was surreptitiously obtained, and was 
 published in the newspapers : its authenticity has never been 
 questioned. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR, 119 
 
 In other words, Mr. Slidell is to buy territory, and 
 these fraudulent claims are to form part of the considera- 
 tion. He is authorized to offer the claims and $5,000,000 
 for New Mexico, and the claims and $25,000,000 for both 
 New Mexico and Cahfornia. Thus we see the envoy was 
 sent on a land-jobbiiag mission, amaed with claims to the 
 amount of eight millions to bully, and with twenty-five mil- 
 lions of dollars to bribe, the Mexicans to dismember their 
 republic. 
 
 Mr. Polk was determined to have Mexican territory, 
 peaceably if he could — forcibly if he must. If he could 
 not buy, he intended to conquer. Hence, the moment the 
 Cabinet learned from Slidell's letter, that he had not been 
 immediately received, although the question of reception 
 was still undecided, the army was ordered to the Rio 
 Grande. A few days after the decision was made known 
 to Slidell, the Mexican administration was changed, and 
 Paredes, the head of the belligerent party assumed the 
 reins of government. On this change becoming known at 
 Washington, Slidell was ordered to present his credentials 
 to the new Cabinet, and demand his recognition ; and this 
 very order was avowedly given to facilitate war. " On 
 your retmTi to the United States, energetic measures 
 against Mexico would at once be recommended by the 
 President, and these might fail to obtain the support of 
 Congress, if it could be asserted that the existing Govern- 
 ment had not refused to receive our Minister."* The 
 demand was accordingly made, and, as was foreseen, re- 
 fused, and Mr. Shdell came home. 
 
 It was, it seems, the intention of Mr. Polk, on this last 
 refusal, to invoke Congress to declare war (take " ener- 
 getic measures ") on the ground that Mexico by refusing 
 
 * For the Slidell Correspondence, see Senate Documents, 29tli 
 Cong., 1 Sess. 
 
120 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 to receive his Minister Plenipotentiary, compelled us to 
 seek payment of our claims by the sword. On further re- 
 flection, this design was abandoned. A recommendation to 
 commence the work of human butchery /or such a cause, 
 " might fail to obtain the support of Congress." It 
 was thought more expedient first to provoke hostilities, 
 and then to call on Congress to raise armies to defend 
 the country. Hence, although Congress was in Session 
 when the President received intelligence of Mr. Slidell's 
 final rejection, he did not " recommend energetic mea- 
 sures against Mexico," as Mr. Buchanan said he would. 
 A course had been taken which left but little to the dis- 
 cretion of the Legislature. Before we proceed to describe 
 that course, it will be necessary to examine the claim on 
 which it was founded, viz., that the Rio Grande was the 
 western boundary of the United States. 
 
REVIEW Oi THE MEXICAN WAR. 121 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WESTERN BOUNDARY OF TEXAS. 
 
 Whatever may have been the original limits of the 
 .region which ancient discoverers and geographers named 
 Texas, the boundaries of the revolted Mexican province of 
 that name, are no more necessarily identical with those 
 hmits, than are the boundaries of the State of Louisiana 
 with the hmits once assigned to the vast territory bearing 
 the same name. The State of Texas was carved by 
 Mexico out of her domains, and, in union with Coahuila, 
 was entitled to a common legislature, and a representation 
 in the Mexican Congress. In 1833, Texas, as already 
 mentioned, dissolved her union with Coahuila, but laid no 
 claim whatever to any portion of the territory of her late 
 associate. The limits of the State of Texas were well 
 known, and defined on maps. Its boundary commenced 
 at the mouth of the river Xueces, in Corpus Christi bay ; 
 and followed that river to its source, thence to the hne of 
 New Mexico, near the Gaudaloupe mountains, thence 
 easterly to the southern branch of the Colorado, and along 
 that branch to the main stream, and with that to and 
 along the boundary hne of the United States to the Gulf 
 of Mexico. The country between the Nueces and Rio 
 Grande was embraced in Coahuila and the Northern dis- 
 trict of Tamaulipas. A map of Texas, published in 1831, 
 gives the Nueces as its southern hmit ; and in a descrip- 
 tion of Texas, published in the same year, by a visitant, it 
 11 
 
122 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 is said that the province is bounded by " the Nueces, 
 T/hich divides it from Tamaulipas and Coahuila." 
 
 In 1833, Benjamin Lundy travelled extensively in Texas 
 and Mexico ; and bis diary, published since his death,* con- 
 tains entries which show most conclusively what was then 
 considered by the Texans as the southern or south- 
 western boundary: — "1833, October 11th. We pro- 
 ceeded this morning over some delightful plains, on a good 
 level road. At half-past nine, tve reached and crossed 
 the river Nueces, which is the western limit of what is 
 called Texas. Of course we are now in Coahuila " 
 
 "February 1, 1833. Laredo is a poor-looking place. 
 It contains about 2200 inhabitants. The people look 
 like mulattoes. They are friendly and clever, but not one 
 of them can speak English. Laredo is the first settlement 
 that I have seen in Tamaulipas." Life of Benjamin 
 Lundy, pp. 57, 95. 
 
 In 1836, as we have seen, President Jackson laid before 
 Congress the report of his special agent, Mr. Moffit, who 
 was sent to Texas to acquire information for the Govern- 
 ment. The agent reported that " the pohtical limits of 
 Texas proper (that is, the Mexican State of Texas), 
 before the last revolution, were the Nueces river on the 
 West;' &c. 
 
 In 1837, Avas pubhshed a map of Texas, " compiled by 
 Stephen F. Austin, from surveys by General Teran of the 
 Mexican Army ;" and here again we have the Nueces 
 for its western boundary. So late as June 28th, 1845, Mr. 
 Donaldson, American Charge d' Affaires to Texas, declared, 
 in an official letter, that Corpus Christi "is the most western 
 point now occupied by Texas." The Mexican Government 
 always insisted, that the territory on the Rio Grande, had 
 never belonged to Texas. The Mexican commissioners ap- 
 pointed to treat of peace, were, by instructions, authoiised 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR 123 
 
 to acknowledge the independence of Texas ; but, to avoid 
 mistake, it was added, " by Texas is understood the territory 
 known by that name after the treaties of 1819, when it 
 formed part of the State of Coahuila and Texas, and not by 
 any means the territory between the Nueces and the Bravo, 
 which the Congress of the pretended Texans claimed to 
 belong to it." On the 18th March, 1846, Gen. Mejia, the 
 commandant at Metamoras, in a proclamation announcing 
 Taylor's invasion, to prove that the Americans intended to 
 seize territory not included in Texas, remarked, " the 
 limits of Texas are certain and recognised ; 7iever have 
 they extended beyond the river Nueces." 
 
 It is, therefore, beyond all doubt, that no point of the 
 Mexican State of Texas came in contact with the Rio 
 Grande. In what manner, -^len, had the Repuhlie 
 of Texas acquired the immense extent of territory 
 she claimed ? As it came neither by purchase, nor by 
 treaty ; the title, if any, must have been conferred 
 by the sword. On the 2d March, 1836, the ^Niexican 
 State of Texas, bounded, as we have seen, by the Nueces, 
 declared its independence. This declaration, while it 
 changed the political relations of Texas, had no effect on 
 its territory. On the 21st April of the same year, the 
 victory of San Jacinto secured the separation of Texas 
 from Mexico ; but it was a victory obtained over Mexican 
 troops in the heart of Texas, not a conquest of Mexican 
 territory. It was a victory, however, which emboldened 
 the Texans to claim for the purpose of occupying at 
 pleasure, whatever land they thought might be convenient. 
 We find from the official report of General Jackson's 
 agent, laid before Congress by the President, that almost 
 on the battle-field, " immediately after the battle of San 
 Jacinto," it was the intention of the Texan Goveraraent 
 " to have claimed from the Rio Grande, along the river to 
 
124 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 the 30th degree of latitude, and then West to the 
 Pacific" ! ! It was, however, on reflection, thought this 
 was more than was necessary; and so, on the 16th De- 
 ceraher of the same year, the Texan Legiskiture voted 
 themselves parts of New Mexico, Coahuila, and Tamau- 
 lipas, about equal in extent lo the whole of Texas itself. 
 This additional territory is bounded by the Rio Grande, 
 and hence, and in virtue of this act of the 16tli Decem- 
 ber, 1836, when the Texan Government did not own or 
 possess jurisdiction over one inch of land on the Rio 
 Grande, Mr. Polk ordered General Taylor, 15th June, 
 1845, to hold himself in readiness to march his troops into 
 Texas, where " you will select and occupy, on or near the 
 Rio Grande del Norte, such a site as will consist with the 
 health of the troops, and^vill be best adapted to repel 
 invasion, and to protect what, in the event of annexation, 
 
 will be OUR WESTERN FRONTIER." 
 
 The act of the Texan Legislature, of course, no more 
 depiived Mexico of her right to Santa Fe, than it could 
 have depi'ived us of our right to Oregon. Mr. Polk, in 
 claiming thus early tlie Rio Grande as the western boun- 
 dary of the United States, and ordering a miUtary force 
 to take possession of it, acted in his capacity of chief 
 magistrate, and either with or without authority. As the 
 claim he advanced to this boundary, and his measures to 
 enforce that claim, led to hostilities, it is important 
 to inquire how far this gentleman was authorised by the 
 laws of his country, to involve it in the calamity of war. 
 
 It was only in the event of annexation, that Mr. Polk 
 claimed the Rio Grande as the western boundary of the 
 United States. Hence it becomes important to ascertain, 
 if the act of annexation did indeed transfer to the United 
 States the territories voted to itself by the Republic of 
 Texas. The Tyler treaty of annexation was silent as to 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 125 
 
 boundaries ; and wLy ? Let Mr. Calhoun, who negotiated 
 it, answer. No sooner was the treaty signed, than the 
 Secretary officially informed the Mexican Government, 
 that the United States had " taken every precaution to 
 make the terms of the treaty as little objectionable to 
 Mexico as possible ; and, among others, has left the boun- 
 dary of Texas without specification, so that what the line 
 of boundary should be might be an ojjen question, to be 
 fairly and fully discussed and nettled according to the 
 ■ricfhts of each." 
 
 Notwithstanding this letter, it was objected to the 
 treaty in the Senate, that the very absence of all specifi- 
 ' cation of boundary might be regarded as an implied sanc- 
 tion of the ridiculous pretensions of Texas. Mr. Benton 
 who, as we have seen, was on^of the earliest advocates 
 of annexation, indignantly rejected the idea, that Texas 
 could confer upon the United States title to territory she 
 never owned. In his speech against the ratification of 
 the treaty, he used the following language : " I wash my 
 hands of all attempts to dismember the Mexican Repub- 
 lic by seizing her dominions in New ^lexico, Chihuahua, 
 Coahuila, and Tamaulipas. The treaty, in all that relates 
 to the boundary of the Rio Grande, is an act of unpa- 
 ralleled outi-age on Mexico. It is the seizure of two thou- 
 sand miles of her territory, without a word of explanation 
 with her, by virtue of a treaty with Texas to which she 
 is no party. By this declaration, the thirty thousand 
 Mexicans in the left half of the valley of the Rio del 
 Norte are our citizens, and standing, in the language of 
 the President's Messao-e, in a hostile attitude towards us, 
 and subject to be repelled as invaders. Taos, the seat of 
 the Custom-house, where our caravans enter their goods, 
 is ours ; Santa Fe the capital of New Mexico is ours — 
 Governor Armijo is our Governor, and subject to be tried 
 11" 
 
126 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 for treason, if he does not submit to us ; twenty Mexican 
 towns and villages,'^ are ours, and their peaceful inhabi- 
 tants cultivating their fields and tending their flocks, are 
 suddenly converted by a stroke of the President's pen 
 into American citizens or American rebels. 
 
 " I therefore propose, as an additional resolution, ap- 
 plicable to the Rio del Norte boundary only, the one 
 which I will read, and send to the Secretary's table, and 
 one on which I shall at the proper time ask tlie vote of 
 the Senate. This is the resolution : 
 
 " Resolved, that the incorporation of the left bank of 
 the Rio del Norte into the American Union, by virtue of 
 a treaty with Texas, comprehending, as the said incorpor-* 
 ation would do, a part of the Mexican departments of 
 New Mexico, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas, would 
 be an act of aggression on Mexico, for all the consequences 
 of which the United States would stand responsible." 
 
 There can be no doubt the resolution would have passed, 
 had not the rejection of the treaty prev^ented a vote 
 being taken. Mr. Silas Wright, a distinguished democratic 
 Senator from New York, afterwards vindicating his vote 
 against the treaty, asserted, " I believed that the treaty, 
 from the boundaries that must he implied from it, if 
 Mexico would not treat with us, embraced a country to 
 which Texas had no claim, over which she had never as- 
 serted jurisdiction, and which she had no right to cede." 
 
 * The follo-vfing are some of the Mexican towns and settle- 
 ments along the east border of the Rio Grande, which according 
 to Mr. Polk, are on our side " the boundary line of the United 
 States," but in which, at the time of the invasion, Avas not to be 
 found one single magistrate holding a commission either from 
 the Federal Government, or the State of Texas — viz Taos, 
 Peuris, Grampa, Embudo, Namba, San Juan, Vitior, San Domin- 
 go, San Branilla, San Aux, San Dios, Albuquerque, San Fer- 
 nanda, Valencia, Fonclara, Las Nutrias, Alamillo, San Pasqual, 
 Christobal, Las Pepuallas, Presidio, Dolores, Loredo, and Point 
 Isabel. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 127 
 
 It thus appears that, in 1844, Messrs. Tyler and Calhoim 
 admitted the boundary of the Rio Grande to be an open 
 question ; while Messrs. Wright and Benton, and probably 
 a great majority of the Senate, disclaimed and repudiated 
 all right whatever to what Mr. Polk terms " our western 
 frontier." 
 
 On the 3rd March, 1845, Congress passed an act al- 
 lowing drawback on goods exported to "Santa Fe in 
 Mexicoy But according to the Texan Act of 16th De- 
 cember, 1836, Santa Fe was in the Repubhc of Texas. 
 Here, then, we have, on the part of the Congress of the 
 United States, a distinct repudiation of the paper bound- 
 aries set up by the victors at San Jacinto. We had, 
 moreover, a Consul at Santa Fe, recognized not by the 
 Texan but the Mexican Government. Yet it was after 
 this act was passed, and before we had acquired a title to 
 a foot of Texan land, that Mr. Polk took measures to 
 seize by force of arms the territory on the Rio Grande, in 
 case of annexation. 
 
 Falsehood is ever inconsistent with itself. Mr. Polk, in 
 his Message, 8th December, 1846, speaking of the actual 
 separation of Texas from Mexico previous to annexation, 
 uses the expression, " No hostile foot finding rest within 
 her territory for six or seven years." Yet all this time, 
 Mexican villages east of the Rio Grande were governed 
 by Mexican laws and magistrates, and the Secretary-at- 
 War, in ordering General Taylor to advance to that river, 
 warns him of the Mexican military establishments on this 
 side of it. If no hostile foot had found rest in Texan ter- 
 ritory for six or seven years, then most certainly the Rio 
 Grande territory was not in Texas. ^Ir. Polk, moreover, 
 tells Congress that, in December, 1836, a Texan law de- 
 clared " the Rio Grande from its mouth to its source to 
 be their boundary, and by the said act they extended 
 
128 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 tlieir civil and political jurisdiction over the country up t-^ 
 that boundary ;" and yet in this very same Message he 
 announces to Congress that, "by rapid movements the 
 province of New Mexico, with Santa Fe, its capital, has 
 been captured without bloodshed." But Santa Fe was on 
 the East of the Rio Grande, and far below its source, and 
 therefore, according to the President, included within the 
 Territory of Texas. And why was it captured if no hos- 
 tile foot rested in it ? 
 
 Let us now inquire with what boundaries we received 
 Texas. The terms of the joint resolutions were, " Con- 
 gress doth consent that the territory properly included 
 within and rightfully helonging to the Republic of Texa^ 
 may be erected into a new State to be called the State of 
 Texas, &c. ; " said State to be formed, subject to the ad- 
 justment hy this Government of all questions of boundaries 
 that may arise with other governments.'''' Here is no sanc- 
 tion of the act of 16th December, 1836, no claim of title 
 founded on it, but an indirect admission that Texas has 
 made unfounded claims, and we mean to take not what 
 she claims, but what she rightfully owns ; and this we 
 will settle with Mexico of course by treaty, the President 
 and Senate being " this Government " mentioned in the 
 resolution. The resolutions embracing this language were 
 officially approved of by Mr. Polk, immediately on his 
 accession to the Presidency ; and yet, notwithstanding 
 they thus rejected all title to territory founded ^on Texan 
 claims, reserving to the President and Senate the decision 
 of what should be '* our Western frontiei-," Mr. Polk re- 
 solved not merely to decide that question of his own will 
 and pleasure, but to maintain his decision at the point of 
 the bayonet, without any consultation with the Senate, 
 and without waiting to discuss it with Mexico. For many 
 years a question existed between Great Biitain and the 
 
REVIEW OF rilE MEXICAN WAR. 129 
 
 United States, respecting the North-eastern boundary of^ 
 the latter. No President assumed the responsibility of 
 plunging the coimtry into war by taking military posses- 
 sion of the disputed territory, and the question was finally 
 settled by treaty. ]\Ir. Polk, on his accession to the 
 Presidency, found another and most iniportant question of 
 boundary pending between the same parties respecting 
 the territory of Oregon. He expressed, in his inaugural 
 address, the opinion, that the title of the United States to 
 the whole of that vast region up to 54° 40' of North 
 latitude, was clear and unquestionable ; and he refused 
 all oftcrs of compromise, and all reference of the question 
 ^to arbitration. Yet he sent no army to defend what he 
 declared to be our Northern frontier. On the contrary, 
 he entered into negotiation with Great Britain, and sur- 
 rendered five degrees and forty minutes of territory, which 
 he, had himself asserted belonged to us " by irrefragable 
 fects and arguments," by a treaty which General Cass 
 declared in the Senate was " prepared by the Biitish 
 Government," and which was ratified by the Senate with- 
 out " the crossing of a t, or the dotting of r^in i, untouched 
 and unchanged." Great' Britain was a powerful nation, 
 and Mexico a feeble one ; the territory surrendered was 
 in the North, and would for ever be free — that which was 
 seized was in the South, and was intended to be for ever 
 a slave region. 
 
130 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF WAR AGAINST MEXICO BY GENERAL 
 TAYLOR. 
 
 Mr. Polk, having decided on war, in case California could 
 not be had by negotiation, commenced his preparations for 
 waging it, even before the annexation with Texas was con- 
 summated. On the 8th July, 1845, the Secretary of War 
 wrote to Taylor, '•' This department is informed, that 
 Mexico has soYne miUtary establishments on the east side 
 of the Rio Grande, which are, and for some time past 
 have been, in the actual occupation of her troops. In 
 carrying out the instructions heretofore received, you will 
 be careful to avoid any acts of aggression, unless a state 
 of war should exist. The Mexican forces at the posts in 
 their possession, and Avhich have been so, will not be dis- 
 turbed so long as the relations of peace between the Uni- 
 ted States and Mexico continue." An invading army is 
 sent into a territory in military possession of Mexico ; ter- 
 ritory which had never been out of her possession since its 
 conquest from the aborigines. But no attack is to be 
 made on the Mexican forts ; let the first blow be struck 
 by the Mexicans, and then the war will be one of defence, 
 and therefore more popular. On the 6 th August, Taylor 
 is informed that the seventh regiment of infantry and three 
 companies of dragoons have been ordered to Texas, and 
 10,000 muskets, and 1,000 rifles. A few days after he is 
 told, he will have " a force of four thousand men of the 
 regular array." In addition to these regulars, requisitions 
 were made upon the Governors of Alabama, Mississippi, 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 131 
 
 Louisiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky, to furnish Taylor 
 with as many vohmteers as he might require. The Sec- 
 retary of War, in thus caHing for an indefinite number of 
 troops, makes the following candid and extraordinary con- 
 fession : " It is proper to observe, tliat the emergency ren- 
 dering such assistance from the militia of your State neces- 
 sary, does not appear to have been foreseen hj Congress, 
 and consequently no appropriation Avas made for paying 
 them." Truly indeed C(jngress had not foreseen that Mr. 
 Polk meant to invade Mexico, and had made no provision 
 for the intended war. 
 
 The President having thus made, on his own responsi- 
 bihty, ample provision for the commencement of the war, in- 
 structed Taylor how he might bring it on in case Mexico re- 
 mained passive. On the 30th August, he was told, " The 
 assembling a large Mexican army on the borders of Texas, 
 and crossing the Rio Grande with a considerable foi'ce, will 
 be regarded by the Executive as an invasion of the United 
 States {/) and the commencement of hostilities. An at- 
 tempt to cross the river with such a force will also be con- 
 sidered in the sama light. In case of war, either declared 
 or made manifest hy hostile acts, your main object will be 
 the protection of Texas ; but the pursuit of this object will 
 not necessaril}'^ confine your action within the territory of 
 Texas. Mexico having thus commenced hostilities, you 
 may in your discretion cross the Rio Grande, disperse or 
 capture the forces assembled to invade Texas, defeat the 
 junction of troops uniting for that purpose, drive them 
 from their positions on either side of the river, and, if 
 deemed practicable and expedient, take and hold posses- 
 sion of Metamoras and other places in the country." 
 
 Thus we find the President in time of peace, and without 
 the knowledge or expectation of Congress, ordering the 
 invasion of a territory in the actual and exclusive posses- 
 
132 - REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 sion of Mexico, a territoiy having Mexican villages under 
 the authority of Mexican magistrates, a port of entry, 
 a custom-house, and various " military establishments." 
 Should the Mexicans, prompted by the natural dictates 
 of patriotism and self-defence, assemble a body of troops 
 which in General Taylor's discretion might be deemed 
 "large," and attempt to cross the river to reinforce their 
 miHtaiy establishments, to protect their villages, to secure 
 the collection of their customs, to watch the motions of 'the 
 invading army, then. General Taylor is to regard their 
 conduct as an invasion of the United States, and is 
 to begin a war of defence, although not a Mexican shot 
 has been fired, and is to capture the city of Metamoras, 
 and to carry the war into the interior of Mexico.* 
 
 So confident was Mr. Polk of the success of his plan, 
 that, as we have seen, the Governors of no less than five 
 States were ordei'ed to supply Taylor with an unlimited 
 number of troops to commence the intended campaign 
 with eclat. 
 
 The pretended apology for this most unwarrantable as- 
 sumption of power in thus plunging the country into an 
 imexpected, unprovoked, and unnecessary war, was that 
 Texas was in danger. None were more sensible than the 
 adriiinistration of the utter inability of Mexico to wage an 
 offensive war against the United States. Since the com- 
 mencement of the Texan rebellion, the Mexican Govern- 
 ment had been uttering inflated threats against its revolted 
 province, yet no hostile force had entered it since the di- 
 
 * The following from the Union of the llth Sept., 1845, the 
 official paper of the Administration, shows how well the editor 
 understood the designs of his emploj^ers, " If Arista (the Mexican 
 General at Metamoras), dares to carry out his braggart threats, 
 if he ventures to cross the Rio Grande with reinforcevients to any 
 little armed posts, which the Mexicans may occupy on the east 
 side of the river, General Taylor will attempt to prevent him — 
 blood must flow — war wii.l ejvsite." 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 133 
 
 sastrous conflict at San Jacinto. A vast desert extended 
 between the Nueces and the Rio Grande ; and in the dis- 
 trict along the east of that river not one Texan dwelhng 
 -was to be found. The population of the country invaded 
 by Taylor, was exclusively Mexican. There was no hu- 
 man probability that Mexico, feeble, disorganized, and 
 distracted as she was, would dare to invade Texas, now 
 protected by the whole power of the American con- 
 federacy, when nine years before a handful of adventurers 
 had destroyed her army, and taken captive her President. 
 The pretence was no less absurd than false ; and, had 
 danger been indeed apprehended, there was no necessity 
 to send an army 200 miles in advance of the Texan set- 
 tlements, when no Jiostile movements of the ^Mexicans in- 
 dicated an intention to cross the intervening desert, and 
 enter Texas. The falsity of the pretence is evinced by a 
 remarkable confession made by the government so late as 
 16th Oct., 1845. The Secretary of War, writing to Tay- 
 lor, says, " The information we hav^e, renders it probable 
 that no serious attempts will at present be made by 
 Mexico to invade Texas, although she continues to 
 threaten incursions."* General Taylor, instead of pro- 
 ceeding immediately to the Rio Grande agreeably to his 
 instructions, stopped at Corpus Christi at the mouth of t^e 
 Nueces, the extreme point of Texas proper, and Oct. 4th, 
 1845, wrote to the Secretary, "Mexico having as yet 
 made no positive declaration of war, or committed any 
 overt act of hostilities, I do not feel at hberty under my 
 instructions, particularly those of July 8th, to make a for- 
 ward movement to the Rio Grande without authority from 
 the war department." He alluded to his instructions to 
 take a position on the Rio Grande to repel invasion, but 
 
 * For correspondence, &c., with Taylor, see Senate Doc, 
 29th Cong., 1st Sess. 
 
 12 
 
134 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 to avoid acts of aggression unless an actual state of war 
 existed. As there was no invasion to repel, and as his 
 march into the Mexican territory in time of peace would 
 be an act of aggression, he prudently waited for further 
 orders. 
 
 Under these circumstances, and considering that all was 
 now ready for commencing hostilities, the administration 
 deemed it on the whole most prudent to wait the result 
 of the proposed negotiation to be opened at Mexico, mea- 
 sures for that purpose having already been taken. If our 
 claims could be bartered for California, it would not be 
 necessary to compel Taylor to march to the Rio Grande. 
 We have seen that the order to Taylor to invade the terii- 
 tory of the Rio Grande, the requisitions upon five States 
 for troops, and the instructions to Taylor how and on what 
 pretences to commence the war, and to capture Metamo- 
 ras, &c., were all previous to the appointment of Slidell ; 
 and therefore, that the actual march to the Rio Grande 
 and the war that ensued, were only the resumption of a 
 pohcy that had merely been suspended to allow lime to 
 ascertain whether Cahfornia could possibly be obtained by 
 negotiation. The suspension, however, was brief. We 
 have already noticed the avowal of Mr. Buchanan, Secre- 
 tary of State, that in case of the refusal of Mexico to re- 
 ceive Mr. Slidell, " nothing can remain but to take the 
 redress of the injufies of our citizens, and the insults to 
 our Government, into our own hands," in other words, 
 to go to war. On the 12th January, 1846, the first 
 dispatch was received from Slidell, from which it ap- 
 peared probable that, although the Government had not 
 yet refused to receive him, it would enter into no negoti- 
 ation with him, except in reference to Texas. Of course 
 there was no hope of a cession of California ; and the very 
 next day peremptory orders were sent to Taylor to ad- 
 
b.:\'ie;x of the Mexican war. 135 
 
 vance to the Rio Grande ; an order unquestionably dic- 
 tated by the avowed determination we have mentioned. 
 
 It seems, therefore, that the Government resolved on 
 war 7;?-o/es5e(% for two causes ; 1st, The injuries to our 
 citizens, all of which were estimated in dollars and cents. 
 To collect a few millions of alleged debts, it acknowledges 
 it wilhngness to commence the work of human slaughter, 
 and that, too, at the very moment when no less than six 
 States of the Union were indebted in the prodigious 
 amount of 852,000,000, of which they paid neither prin- 
 cipal nor interest. " The very idea of collecting two or three 
 millions of dollars by spending a hundred or more in mur- 
 dering the debtors, is so utterly absurd and diiibolical, 
 that we must be excused from believing Mr. Jiuchanan 
 when he pretends that such was the intention of the Cabi- 
 net. The second cause assigned is little less credible. 
 The insults to our Government which, were to be revenged 
 by killing Mexicans, are the imputations of bad faith cast 
 by their rulers upon the Government at Washington for 
 its conduct towards Texas ; imputations which, however 
 disagreeable, were unhappily supported by facts, and 
 which had already been most abundantly repaid with in- 
 sult and injury. The acquisition of California, and the^ 
 extension of slavery, afforded motives for war which the 
 pretended causes assigned by Mr. Buchanan failed to 
 supply. 
 
 It was not sufficient that Taylor should march to the 
 Rio Grande ; the Secretary tells him, " points opposite 
 Metamoras and Mier, and the vicinity of Laredo, are sug- 
 gested for your conisideration." The object was to pro- 
 voke a colhsion, and, if possible, induce the Mexicans to 
 attack our forces ; and hence the American standard was 
 to be insultingly displayed in the immediate vicinity and 
 in full view of these Mexican towns. It would be hard 
 
136 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 indeed if our troops, stationed in the suburbs of these 
 three places, did not bring on a quarrel, and thus enable 
 Mr. Polk to announce to Congress that " War existed by 
 the act of Mexico." 
 
 General Taylor, in pursuance of orders, commenced his 
 march into the Mexican territory. Not an American, not 
 a Texan was to be found South of Corpus Christi. After 
 proceeding through the desert about one hundred miles, 
 he met " small armed parties of Mexicans who seemed 
 disposed to avoid us." 
 
 On approaching Point Isabel, a Mexican settlement, and 
 the site of a Mexican Custom House, he found the build- 
 ings in flames. At the same time he received a protest 
 from the " Prefect of the Northern District of Tamaulipas'' 
 against his invasion of a territory " which had never be- 
 longed to the Colony seized uijon'' (Texas), an invasion of 
 which no notice had been given to the Government of 
 Mexico, and for which no reason had been assigned. The 
 protest concluded with assuring Taylor that, so long as 
 his army " shall remain in the terrritory of Tamaulipas, 
 the inhabitants must, whatever professions of peace you 
 may employ, regard you as openly committing hostilities, 
 and for the melancholy consequences of these they who 
 have been the invaders must be answerable in the view 
 of the whole world." The inhabitants of Point Isabel 
 fled before the invaders, and sought refuge in Metamoras. 
 Taylor announced to his Governm.ent, that he considered 
 the conflagration of Point Isabel " as a decided evidence of 
 hostilitij.'" To understand the purport of this declaration 
 of opinion, it must be recollected that in his orders of the 
 13th January, 18.46, he was instructed that, should Mexi- 
 co assume the character of an enemy " by a declaration 
 of war, or any open act of hostility towards us, you will 
 not act merely on the defensive" 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 137 
 
 On the 28th March, Taylor, without having met with 
 the shghtest opposition, planted his standard on the bank 
 of the Rio Grande. On the Gth April he wrote home 
 that the guns of his battery " hear directly upon the pub- 
 lic square of Metamoras, and tvithin good range for demo- 
 lishing the toivn ; their object cannot be mistaken by the 
 enemy i" and he tells the Secretary of War, "the Mexi- 
 cans still retain a hostile attitude, and have thrown up 
 some works to prevent us from crossing the river."* No 
 declaration of war had been issued on either side, and the 
 
 * Duviug the progress of this invasion, and while the army 
 was before Metamoras, various letters from the officers found 
 their Avay into tlie public journals. A few extracts from these 
 will be found instructive. " West of the Nueces the people are 
 all Spaniards. The country is uninhabitable excepting the 
 valley of the Rio Grande, and that contains a pretty dense popu- 
 lation, and in no part of the country are the people more loyal 
 to the Mexican Government." 
 
 " Camip opposite Mekuiioras, Apnl \9th, 1846. Our situation here 
 is an extraordinary one. Right in the enemy's country, and actu- 
 ally occupying theii* corii and cotton fields, the people of the 
 soil leaving their homes, and we with a small handful of men 
 marching, with colors flying, and drumrf beating, right under 
 the very guns of one of their principal cities, displaying the star- 
 spangled banner as if in defiance under their very nose, and 
 they with an army twice our size at least, sit quietly down, and 
 make not the least resistance, not the least effort to drive the 
 invaders olf. There is no parallel to it." Ciipt. Henry', the 
 writer of this letter, seems not to have been aware that he was 
 in the United States, and that the people of the soil were his fel- 
 low-citizens. 
 
 Another officer writes, 21st April, " Our flag waves over the 
 waters of the Rio Grande, and we have a battery of eighteen- 
 poun.ders that can spot anything in Metamoras." To under- 
 stand this last operation, it must be recollected, that the city 
 was on one bank, and the American fort on the other. Cap- 
 tain Henry, of the U. S. Army, in his "Campaign Sketches of 
 the War in Mexico," says, that on the evening of the day the 
 army reached the river opposite to Metamoras, " I walked down 
 to the bank, and found it lined with citizens (on the other side), 
 attracted, no doubt, by the arrival of so many strangers. Strol- 
 ling along, and seeing some genteel-looking young ladies upon the 
 bank, I took off my hat, and saluted them with ' Buena Senoritas.' 
 The river at this point was so narrow, that I could have throicn a 
 stone across it." — p. C8. 
 
 12* 
 
13S REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 Mexicans, although they saw their country invaded, and a 
 battery planted within good range for demohshing the 
 principal city in that part of their Republic, had not fired 
 a musket, yet General Taylor chooses to style them " the 
 enemy,"" and asserts that they retain a hostile attitude. 
 
 Tive days after our arms had thus threatened and in- 
 sulted Metamoras, General Ampudia reached the city 
 with reinforcements, and immediately addressed a letter 
 to the American General, complaining that his advance to 
 the Rio Grande had " not only insulted but exasperated 
 the Mexican nation," and requiring him within twenty- 
 four hours to remove his camp, and retire beyond the 
 Nueces ; adding, " If you insist on remaining upon the 
 soil of the department of Taraauhpas, it will clearly result 
 that arms, and arms alone, must decide the question." 
 As Taylor had been sent to Tamaulipas expressly to pro- 
 duce this very result, he took occasion of this letter to 
 hasten the desired crisis. The Mexicans had shown a for- 
 bearance amounting almost to pusillanimity. Should this 
 forbeai-ance continue, and the enemy remain on the other 
 side of the river, how could the war be commenced ? He 
 must wait for some pretext for crossing the river to attack 
 them. The fact that the inhabitants of Point Isabel had 
 fired their own houses, would hardly justify him in bom- 
 barding Metamoras. He chose therefore to consider Am- 
 pudia's notice to quit as an hostile act, but not one to be 
 resented, with powder and shot. He therefore resorted 
 to an expedient which would compel Ampudia to fire 
 the first shot, and thus, according to the wishes of the 
 Cabinet, to make the intended war, one of defence, "a 
 war by the act of Mexico." There were two American 
 armed vessels at Brazos Santiago, and these he ordered to 
 blockade the mouth of the Rio Grande, thus cuttino^ off all 
 commuication with Metamoras by sea. Soon after a ves- 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 139 
 
 sel with a cargo of grain for the city, was prevented by 
 the squadron from entering the river, and in consequence 
 of the alarm excited by the blockade, Hour rose, as stated 
 in the papers, to forty dollars a barrel. Taylor, with a 
 frankness bordering on indiscretion, thus avows his reason 
 for ordering the blockade : " It will at any rate compel 
 the Mexicans to withdraw their army from Metamoras 
 where it cannot b§ sustained, or to assume the offensive on 
 this side of the river '"^ 
 
 Yet in this very letter he reports that since his last 
 of the loth, "the relations between me and the Mexicans 
 liave not changed," that is, the Mexicans had not com- 
 menced hostilities. Notwithstanding the blockade, the 
 Mexicans did not attack Taylor; whereupon he deter- 
 mined, it seems, not to remain any longer idle. Accord- 
 ingly, the very day on which he informs the Secretary 
 that the relations between hicaself and the Mexicans re- 
 mained the same, and when not a single shot had been 
 fired by the latter, he reports, " with a view to check the 
 depredations of small parties of the enemy on this side of 
 the river, Lieutenants Dobbins of the 3d Infantry, and 
 Porter, 4th Infantry, were authorized by me a feio days 
 since to scour the country for some miles with a select 
 party of men, and capture and destroy any such parties 
 that they might meet. It appears they separated, and 
 that Lieutenant Porter at the head of his own detachment 
 surprised a Mexican camp, drove away the men, and took 
 possession of their horses.'^ In this affair, Porter and one 
 man were killed — whether any, or how many Mexican 
 lives were sacrificed, does not appear. 
 
 Thus it seems, that notwithstanding all the contri- 
 vances of the administration to compel the Mexicans to 
 strike the Jirst blow, it was in fact given by ourselves. 
 
 * Letter to Secretary of War, April 23, 1846. 
 
140 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 The idea of small parties committing depredations, is a 
 paltry apology for commencing a war. There were no 
 Americans, no Tcxans, except the American army in the 
 comitry, upon whom these small parties could commit 
 depredations. What were the depredations complained 
 of, and who were the sufferers, the General did not think 
 proper to specify. But, moreover, the detachments were 
 not authorized to arrest the depredators, but to captv.re 
 and destroy any small parties they might meet, guilty or 
 innocent. The General was instructed not to molest " the 
 military establishments" on this side of the ri\'er ; yet he 
 resolves that any small parties from these establishments 
 who might leave their barracks, were to be captured and 
 destroyed. His next letter, 26th April, reports, "that a 
 party of dragoons sent, out by me on the 24th insteint to 
 watch the course of the river above on this bank, became 
 engaged with a very large force of the enemy, and, after 
 a short affair in which some sixteen were killed and 
 wounded, appear to have been surrounded and compelled 
 to surrender." The very peculiar phraseology used to 
 express this battle, " became engaged," was not perhaps 
 accidental. Did the party of dragoons gallantly attack 
 the very large force of the enemy, and were they in conse- 
 quence of their rashness taken piisoners "^fter losing six- 
 teen in killed and wounded ? Or did the large party 
 commence hostilities by attacTcing the dragoons ? To 
 these very natural inquiries no response is found 'in the 
 ^ General's despatch. The particulars of the case were, 
 however, disclosed in letters from tlie army,'and published 
 in the newspapers. It appears that Thornton the com- 
 mander of the party, discovering a small body of Mexi- 
 cans on the summit of a rising ground, " immediately 
 charged upon them ;" but the main body who were on the 
 other side of the hill, and therefore unseen, coming up, 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 141 
 
 captured the assailants.* Another letter, published in the 
 Philadelphia Inqidrer, says, " Captain Thornton, when 
 about twenty-five miles above the army, discovered some 
 Mexicans on a hill, 2ohen he immediately charged uj^on them. 
 When he got to the top of the hill, he found himself in a 
 trap. The Mexicans were on the opposite side of the hill 
 in a field."t 
 
 General Taylor, after mentioning the affair in the words 
 we have given, announces to the Cabinet the attainment 
 of the long desired result. "Hostilities may now be 
 coxsiDERED AS COMMENCED." Upou the strength of this 
 despatch, the President announced to Congress and the 
 world, " Mexico has passed the boundary of the 
 United States, has invaded our territory and shed' 
 American blood upon the American soil. She has 
 proclaimed that hostilities have commenced, and that the 
 two nations are now at war'' How far the unquahfied 
 assertions contained in the first sentence of the passage 
 quoted, are in accordance with truth, those who have 
 read the preceding pages are qualified to judge for them- 
 selves. The following facts may tend to test the veracity 
 of the last averment. 
 
 General Arista arrived at Metamoras on the 24th April, 
 and finding the supplies intended for the army cut off by 
 the blockade of the river, the great square of the city 
 commanded by Taylor's cannon, American parties scour- 
 ing the country, breaking up Mexican camps, and seizing 
 their horses, he gave notice that he considered, as well he 
 might, hostihties commenced, and that he should prose - 
 
 * See New Orleans Picayune, May 2d, 1846. 
 . t Nearly a year after the commencement of the war, Thorn- 
 ton's of&cial report of this affair was made public. It differs 
 in some particulars from the newspaper accounts, hut the fact 
 of the charge is admitted, though under the plea of self-defence. 
 The charge was made before the Mexicans had fired a shot. 
 
142 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 cute tliem. He thus plainly disavowed commencing the 
 war. How far Arista's declaration, that he considered 
 hostilities commenced by the Americans, justifies Mr. 
 Polk's solemn asseveration that Mexico had " proclaimed 
 that hostilities had commenced, and that the two nations 
 are now at war," the reader will decide. Should the no- 
 tice of the 24th April, fail to estabhsh the veracity of Mr. 
 Polk's announcement to Congress, the friends of that gen- 
 tleman call to his defence an order issued by the Presi- 
 dent of Mexico on the 18th April, more than a month 
 after Taylor had left Corpus Christi, and commenced his 
 invasion of the Mexican territory ; " From this day," says 
 the order, " begins our defensive war, and every point of 
 'our territory attacked or invaded- shall be defended.''* As 
 the invasion continued, a proclamation was issued by the 
 Mexican President on the 24th April in which he says, 
 *' The flag of the stars waves on the left bank of the Rio 
 Bravo del Norte, opposite to the city of Metamoras, after 
 taking possession of the river with their ships of war. 
 The town of Laredo was surprised by a party of their 
 troops, and a picket of ours on the watch was disarmed. 
 Hostilities then have been commenced by the United States 
 of America, in making new conquests upon our territories 
 within the boundaries of Tamaulipas and New Leon. / 
 have not the right to declare ivar. It is for the august 
 Congress of the nation, as soon as they assemble, to take 
 into consideration all the consequences of the conflict in 
 which we are involved. But if, during this interval the 
 United States should without notice, attack our sea coasts 
 on the Texan frontier, then it will become necessary to 
 repel force by force, and a beginning once made by the 
 invaders, to make fall upon them the immense responsi- 
 bility of disturbing the peace of the world." 
 
 It will be observed that in no instanpe is the annexation 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 143 
 
 of Texas cited as an e\idence of the existence of hos- 
 tilities ; but solely the invasion of the Rio Grande, and the 
 acts of General Taylor connected with the invasion. 
 
 General Taylor lost no time in prosecuting the war with 
 his utmost energy without waiting for further orders. On 
 the lYth of May, only four days after Congress had de- 
 clared, " that war existed by the act of Mexico," and of 
 course before he had received advices that the war he had 
 commenced had been recognized by either government, 
 General Arista sent a flag of truce to him requesting an 
 armistice for six weeks, giving as a reason, his wish to 
 communicate with his own government. But General 
 Taylor was too Avell acquainted with the designs of his 
 own government to accept a proposition so much in ac- 
 cordance with the dictates of humanity, and which possi^ 
 bly might have led to the restoration of peace. Tlie 
 armistice was rejected ; and the next day he crossed the 
 river and took possession of the city of Metamoras.* 
 
 In the fierce strife of contending factions, the awful 
 guilt of commencing an offensive and unnecessary war, 
 will be imputed to different parties ; but the punishment 
 due to guilt so enormous will be awarded by a tribunal 
 before which all hearts will be open, and from which no 
 secrets will be hid. 
 
 * General Taylor, informing the War Department of his re- 
 jection of this proposal, states, that he replied to Arista, " I was 
 receiving large reinforcements and could ^ot now suspend ope- 
 rations which 7 had not initiated nor provoked — that the possession 
 of Metamoras was a s^ine qua non." It is to be supposed that the 
 General reconciled this extraordinary declaration to his con- 
 science, on the principle of qui facit per alium, facit per se, and 
 that, being a mere instrument, the war was initiated and pro- 
 voked, not by himself, but the President. # 
 
144 REVIEW 01^ THE MEXICAN WAR 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 SEIZURE OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Before proceeding to detail the part taken by Mr. Polk 
 and Congress, on the receipt of Taylor's announcement 
 that hostilities had conimenced, ^ye will call the attention 
 of the reader to the early and provident measures devised 
 to secure, as speedily as possible, the object of these hos- 
 tihties, the acquisition of California. On the 24th 
 June, 1845, by order of Mr. Polk, "secret and confiden- 
 tial" instructions vv^ere given to Commodore Sloat, com- 
 manding the United States naval forces in the Pacific. " If 
 you ascertain with certainty tliat Mexico has declared war 
 against the United States, you will at once possess youi*^ 
 self of the port of Saint Francisco, and blockade and oc- 
 cupy such other ports as your force may permit."* This 
 naval force consisted of five vessels, and for months it was 
 kept on the California coast, ready to make the coveted 
 prize at a moment's warning, and without waiting for ad- 
 vices from home. The Commodore with his own and 
 another vessel were waiting at Mazatlan, at the entrance 
 of the Gulf of California, two more were stationed off 
 Monterey, and the fifth was at St. Francisco. So admira- 
 bly had all been arranged for an immediate conquest. On 
 the 7th June, and of course. within less than four weeks 
 after the declaration of war by Congress, the Commodore 
 
 * See documents submitted by the President, in obedience to a 
 call from the House of Representatives, for instructions to ojBficers 
 in California and the Pacific, communicated Dec 22d, 1846 
 App. to Cong. Globe, 2 Sess. 29 Cong , page 45 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 145 
 
 heard of Taylor's conflicts on the Rio Grande. The long 
 expected moment had arrived, and the next day he weighed 
 anchor and sailed for Monterey. On the 'Zth July, that 
 place was once more, without resistance, seized by our 
 forces, and Sloat, like his predecessor, Jones, forthwith 
 distributed his proclamations in English and Spanish. 
 Where or when they were prepared, and whether they 
 were in manuscript or print, does not appear. Two days 
 after, St. Francisco was Ukewise in our possession. Sloat's 
 proclamation reflected the determination of his employers 
 — ''Henceforward California will be a portion of the 
 United States.'' 
 
 On landing at Monterey, the Commodore addressed a 
 general order to his men in which he told them, " It is 
 not only our duty to take Cahfornia, but to preserve it 
 afterwards as a part of the United States, at all hazards.* 
 It is the duty of commanders to make conquests, but not 
 to anticipate the terms of a treaty of peace. Yet here 
 we find a naval captain solemnly proclaiming that the con- 
 quest he has made is never to be restored. He foresees 
 and proclaims the annexation of California, without appa- 
 rently knowing the wishes and intentions of his own gov- 
 ernment, or without speculating on the fortunes of war. 
 On the 13th August, Pueblos des los Angelos, the capital 
 of the province was taken, and on the 1 7th August, Com- 
 modore Stockton, who had succeeded Sloat, and who 
 styled himself " Commander-in-Chief and Governor of 
 the Territory of Ccdifornia" announced in a proclamation, 
 " The flag of the United States is now flying from every 
 commanding position in the Territory, and California is 
 entirely free from Mexican dominion. The territory of 
 California now belongs to the United States." On the 
 
 * For the documents here quoted, see Ex. Doc. 20 Cong, 2 
 Sess. House of Rep , No. 4. 
 
146 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 28th of the same month, he wrote home, " this rich and 
 beautiful country belongs to the United States, and is for 
 EVER free from Mexican dominion." All this, it must be 
 admitted, was quick work. On the 'Zth July, Monterey 
 was taken, and in six weeks the object of the war was 
 accomplished, '' the rich and beautiful country belonged 
 to the United States." Not a life appears to have been 
 lost in the conquest. The Mexican government had made 
 no declaration of war, and its whole attention was en- 
 grossed by the defence of its territory on the Rio Grande. 
 The inhabitants of Cahfornia were utterly unprepared for 
 war, and were as ignorant as Commodore Sloat himself of 
 the action of Congress. 
 
 The rapidity with which the conquest of Cahfornia was 
 effected, was hot however, entirely owing to the adroit 
 measure of stationing armed vessels on different points of 
 the coast, ready to make their descent the moment Taylor 
 had succeeded in provoking hostilities on the Rio Grande. 
 It will be recollected that the Mexican Government had 
 been alarmed some years. before at the ingress of Ameri- 
 cans into that province, and had passed an order requiring 
 their departure. Nor will it be forgotten that, intimidated 
 by the bullymg demeanor of Mr. Thompson, and his 
 threat to demand his passports, the order had been 
 revoked. The reader will call to mind that gentleman's 
 confession of his " compunctious visidngs" on the occa- 
 sion, well-knowing that these foreigners were intending to 
 re-enact the Texan game. The alarm of Mexico was 
 well founded. The conquest of the province was prepared 
 and facilitated by the treasonable course of the American 
 settlers previous to their knowledge of the existence of 
 the war. The history of the rebellion in Cahfornia is but 
 imperfectly known. The only information respecting it, 
 disclosed by the Cabinet at Washington, is contained in 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 14? 
 
 the report of the Secretary of War, made oth December, 
 1846, and from this document we gather the following 
 narrative. In May, 1845, shortly before " the secret and 
 confidential" instructions were given to Commodore Sloat, 
 Captain Fremont, of the United States Army, was des- 
 patched by Government on a tour of scientific explora- 
 tion beyond the Rocky Mountains. He had sixty-two 
 men under him; but the Secretary declares that the 
 expedition was not of a military character, and that the 
 attendants did not belong to the army. On reaching the 
 frontier of California, the Captain proceeded alone to 
 Monterey to solicit permission from the Commandant, 
 General Castro, for himself and party, to pass through a 
 portion of the province. The desired permission was 
 gi-anted, but after the party had entered California, Fre- 
 mont received information from Americans, that Castro 
 was preparing to attack him with " a comparatively large 
 force of artillery, cavalry and infantry, upon the pretext 
 that, under the cover of a scientific mission, he was excit- 
 ing the American settlers to revolt." This was indeed mar- 
 veUous intelligence, and most marvellous means did the 
 scientific Captain take to remove the groundless suspicions 
 of the Californian General. Instead of making his way 
 out of the province as fast as he could, and proceeding 
 upon the business entrusted to him by his Government, 
 *' he took a position on a mountain overlooking Monterey 
 at a distance of about thirty miles, entrenched it, raised 
 the flag of the United States, and with his OAvn men 
 sixty-two in number, awaited the approach of the Com- 
 mandant-General." But the Captain, however valiant, did 
 not depend solely on his sixty-two men to resist the artil- 
 lery, cavalry, and infantry of Castro ; for the Secretary 
 tells us, " the American settlers were ready to join him at 
 all hazards, if he had been attacked ;" and hence we 
 
148 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 discover his motive for taking a military position at a con- 
 venient distance from Monterey. This was in March, 
 1 846. After waiting some time for the anticipated attack, 
 but nothing occurring to furnish a pretext for commenc- 
 ing hostilities, he proceeded, without the slightest molesta- 
 tion from the Government, on his route to Oregon. 
 
 In Oregon, he Avas annoyed by hostile Indians, who, as 
 the Secretary informs us, but without condescending to 
 furnish a particle of proof, " had been excited against him 
 by General Castro." Again the Captain received alarm- 
 ing intelligence, but from what source does not appear, 
 " that General Castro, in addition to his Indian allies, was 
 advancing against him with artillery and cavalry at the 
 head of four or five hundred men !" He also heard 
 that " the American settlers in the valley of Sacra- 
 mento were comprehended in the scheme of destruction, 
 meditated against his own party." — " Under these cir- 
 cumstances (continues the Secretaiy), he determined to 
 turn upon his Mexican pursuers, and seek safety both for 
 his own party and the American settlers, not merely in 
 the defeat of Castro, but in the total overthrow of 
 THE Mexican Government in California, and the 
 
 ESTABLISHMENT OF AN INDEPENDENT GOVERNMENT IN THAT 
 EXTENSIVE DEPARTMENT." 
 
 Here let us pause a moment, to reflect on the utter 
 atrocity and profligacy of a design which the Secretary 
 of War ostentatiously parades before the woi-ld. Admit- 
 ting the truth of the ridiculous rumors said to have 
 reached Fremont, it is very evident, that he was perfectly 
 confident that the combined strength of his own party 
 and that of the American settlers, was abundantly suffi- 
 cient for their own protection, since he relied on it to 
 overturn the Mexican authority and to establish an inde- 
 pendent Government. He, a commissioned officer of the 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 149 
 
 United States, without any known authority from his own 
 Government abandons the object of his mission, and 
 returns from Oregon into CaUfornia, for the express 
 purpose of organizing a rebellion and wresting from 
 Mexico with whom we were at peace, an " extensive 
 department." It is certainly a remarkable coincidence, 
 that while we had a squadron off the ports of California 
 with orders to seize them at a moment's warning, Captain 
 Fremont was opportunely exciting rebellion and a civil 
 war in the interior. The Secretary himself foolishly puts 
 the stamp of iniquity upon this adventure by declaring, 
 *' it was on the 6th of June, and before the commencement 
 of the war between the United States and Mexico could 
 have been hiown^ that this resolution was taken, and by 
 the 5th July it was carried into effect by a series of rapid 
 attacks by a small body of adventurous men under the 
 conduct of an intrepid leader." We are told that on the 
 11th June, a convoy of two hundred horses for Castro's 
 camp with an officer and fourteen men, were surprised 
 and captured by twelve of Fremont's party. On the loth, 
 the miUtary post of Sanoma was also surprised and 
 taken, with nine brass cannon, two hundred and fifty 
 stand of muskets, and several officers and some men, 
 with munitions of war. ''Leaving a small garrison in 
 Sanoma, Colonel Fremont went to the Sacramento to 
 rouse the American settlers ; but, scarcely had he arrived 
 when an express reached him that Castro's whole force 
 was crossing the bay to attack that place. On the morn- 
 ing of" the 25th, he arrived with ninety riflemen from the 
 American settlers in that valley. Tlie enemy had not yet 
 appeared — scouts w^ere sent out to reconnoitre, and a 
 party of twenty fell in with a squadron of seventy dra- 
 goons, attacked and defeated it. The country north of 
 the Bay of San Francisco being cleared of the enemy^ 
 13* 
 
150 REVIEW 0-F THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 Colonel Fremont returned to Sanoma on the evening of 
 the 4th July, and on the morning of the 5th called the 
 people together, explained to them the condition of 
 things in the province, and recommended an immediate 
 declaration of independence. The declaration was made, 
 and he was selected to take the chief dii-ection of affairs." 
 The new-born Republic of California existed but for the 
 brief period of four days, being then strangled by its 
 parent, on -receiving, as the Secretary tells us, "the 
 gratifying intelligence " of the war with Mexico. Fremont 
 and his followers, together with the Ameiican settlers, 
 iamiediately co-operated with the naval forces, and, en the 
 departure of Commodore Stockton, the captain of the 
 scientific exploring party beyond the Rocky Mountains, 
 became Governor of the American territory of Cali- 
 fornia. 
 
 Such is the account the American Goi-ernment thought 
 proper to give of the Calif ornian rebellion, throwing the 
 whole responsibihty of this atrocious affair on Fremont. 
 Fortunately for the character of that officer, transactions 
 which the Secretary did not deem it expedient to report 
 have since come to light. On his return to the United 
 States, Colonel Fremont presented certain pecuniary 
 claims growing out of the conquest of California. The 
 subject was investigated by a committee of the Senate, 
 and their report dissipates much of the mystery which 
 had hitherto rested on Fremont's extraordinary conduct.* 
 
 It seems that, on the 3rd Nov., 1845, after Taylor had 
 been ordered to the Rio Grande, and while he was wait- 
 ing with the army at Corpus Christi, five States having 
 been required to furnish him with whatever troops he 
 might need, a messenger was despatched by the Cabinet 
 to Fremont. This messenger was Lieutenant Gillespie of 
 
 * See Report, Senate Doc , No. 76. 30th Cong., 1st Sess. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 151 
 
 the navy. He was sent to Vera Cruz, and thence travel- 
 led through Mexico to Mazatlan, in Califoi'nia, in the dis- 
 guise of a merchant. After an interview with Commodore 
 Sloat at Mazatlan, he proceeded to Monterey, having 
 been intrusted at Washington with a letter of mstructions 
 to the American Consul. The contents of this letter have 
 been withheld from the public, and no doubt for sufficient 
 cause, since we find from Gillespie's own confession that, 
 before landing in Mexico, he destroyed the letter, having 
 fii'st committed it to memory. This letter to the Consul 
 he was instructed to communicate to Fremont also. 
 Hence we find that Gillespie was charged with instruc- 
 tions of such a character, that he deemed it imprudent to 
 carry the paper about his person, and that these instnic- 
 tions, although addressed to the Consul in Monterey, were 
 equally intended for Fremont. After reciting to the Con- 
 sul the commands from Washington, the agent penetrated 
 into Oregon in pursuit of Fremont, and found him a little 
 beyond the California frontier. He delivered to him a 
 note from the Secretary of State, composed in perfect 
 keeping with the fictitious character assumed by the 
 bearer. It consisted of a few lines, addressed to J. C. 
 Fremont, Esquire, and telling him that Mr. Archibald H. 
 Gillespie, about visiting the JVorih-west coast of America 
 on business, had requested a letter of introduction to him ; 
 a request with which the Secretary complies, because the 
 bearer was a gentleman of worth and respectabihty, and 
 worthy of Mr. Fremont's regard. This, it must be con- 
 fessed, was a novel mode of introducing an officer of the 
 navy to another of the army. But as one party was for 
 the time being a travelling merchant, and the other a 
 man of science, it was proper the introduction should be 
 adapted to the parts they were playing. Of course, the 
 note was to accredit Gillespie as a confidential agent of 
 
152 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 the Government, and to intimate to Fremont that he was 
 to obey the instructions orally communicated to him. 
 Gillespie, in his examination before the Committee, re- 
 marked, " I was directed by Mr. Buchanan to confer 
 with Colonel Fremont, and make known my instructions, 
 which, as I have previously stated, were to watch over 
 the interests of the United States, and counteract the in- 
 fluence of any foreign agents who might be in the coun - 
 try with objects prejudicial to the United States. I was 
 also directed to show Colonel Fremont the duplicate of 
 the despatch to Mr. Larkin, Consul at Monterey, and tell- 
 ing him it was the wish of the Government to concihate 
 the feehngs of the people of California, and encourage a 
 friendship towards the United States." 
 
 The Government, of course, knew as well as Mr. 
 Thompson that the Califomian settlers were anxious to 
 re-enact the Texan game. It is not to be supposed that 
 so much secrecy and pains were taken to have agents on 
 the spot to watch over our interests, and encourage friend- 
 ship toAvards us, without intimating the means to be used 
 in effecting their object. An independent republic in 
 Califoraia, composed of American citizens, would, should 
 peace continue with Mexico, inevitably result in annexa- 
 tion : should war ensue, it would greatly facilitate tht 
 conquest of the territory. 
 
 The messenger from Washington reached Fremont on 
 the 9th May. Immediately all his scientific pursuits were 
 abandoned, and he and his party, together with Gillespie, 
 hastened to the American settlements in California. 
 These were reached on the Sacramento River in thirteen 
 days. And now opened another scene in the plot. The 
 gentleman " about visiting the North-west coast of Ame- 
 rica on business " proceeded down the river to Saint 
 Francisco, off which port a United Stntcr.' ship-of-wai 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 153 
 
 was lying, ready to seize upon the place at a moment's 
 warning. The American commander, Gillespie tells us, 
 " with great kindness, promptness, and ener<jy, furnished 
 me with all the suppKes he could spare from his vessel, 
 as also having supplied Captain Fremont with a small 
 sum of money." What these supplies were we are not 
 told, but may readily imagine, especially as they were 
 sent in the ship's barge, under the command of a heuten- 
 ant. Gillespie accompanied the supplies up the river, 
 and on the 13th rejoined Fremont. He found that the 
 insurrection had already commenced, the settlers rising, 
 as he says, " to save themselves and their crops from de- 
 struction." 
 
 On the 16th, Captain Merritt, one of the settlers, "ar- 
 rived with a small escort, bringing with him General Yal- 
 lejo, Colonel Salvador Vallejo, and Colonel Prudon, pri- 
 soners ; a party of forty of the settlers having surprised 
 and taken Sonoma, the first military garrison in that part 
 of the country." Thus we see a war against the Califor- 
 nians was commenced after the arriival of Fremont, and 
 without one single act of hostility having been committed 
 against them. Of course, we have assertions in abundance 
 of the intentions of General Castro, the commanding offi- 
 cer, while the result proved his utter inability even to 
 defend himself. Fremont and his party zealously coope- 
 rated in the war, and were presently masters of that part 
 of the country. The force at his disposal was a battalion 
 of 224 men, and on the 5th July he raised the standard 
 of the Republic of California. 
 
 On a calm review of the facts before us, it is impossible 
 to resist the conviction, that Fremont was given to under- 
 stand, but in a way not to compromit the Government, 
 that the abandonment of his exploration in Oregon for the 
 purpose of exciting and aiding an insurrection in California, 
 
154 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 would not expose liim to censure. On no other supposi- 
 tion would it be possible for him to escape the personal 
 application of the principle hiid down by General elackson, 
 that " any individual of any nation making war against the 
 citizens of another nation, they being at peace, forfeits his 
 allegiance, and becomes an outlaw and a pirate." If he 
 acted, as there is little reason to doubt, as the agent of the 
 President, and in accordance with his wishes, upon that 
 officer rests the perfidy and turpitude of secretly instigat- 
 ing this rebelhon and eivil v»'ar, while professing friendly 
 intentions towards Mexico, and soliciting a renewal of 
 diplomatic intercourse with her. Had Mexico paid all our 
 claims ao the last cent, had she yielded the Valley of the 
 Rio Grande without a murmur, and had there conse- 
 quently been no war, still, Fremont's " Republic of Cali- 
 fornia,'' like Houston's " Republic of Texas," would have 
 become ours by "joint resolutions" of annexation, and 
 Mr. Polk, or some other President in his words would 
 have congratulated Congress that " This accession to our 
 territory," like that of Texas, " has been a bloodless achieve- 
 ment. 1^0 armed force has been raised to produce the 
 result. The sioord has had no loart in the victory T 
 
 It is curious to observe with what wonderfid clairvoy- 
 ance the naval officers in California understood and exe- 
 cuted their instructions, long before they were received. 
 It appears officially* that the despatch of the 13 th May, 
 1846, announcing the declaration of war, did not reach 
 the Squadron till about the 28fch of August ; and of course 
 up to that time these officers had been acting on their own 
 discretion. Let us now see what instructions were sent to 
 them after the war, and how exactly they had been anti- 
 cipated before their receipt, 
 
 * Report of Secretary of Navy, 19th Dec, 1846 Appendix to 
 Cong. Globe for 29th Cong , 2d Sess., p. 45. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR, 155 
 
 On the loth May, two days after war was declared, 
 Commodore Sloat was directed to " consider the most im- 
 portant object to be, to take and hold possession of San 
 Francisco." On the 19th July, San Francisco was taken, 
 and the inhabitants were informed by proclamation, that 
 " henceforth California will be a 2'^ortion of the United 
 States." 
 
 The next despatch, Jime 8th, instructs Sloat to " take 
 such measures as will best promote the attachment of 
 the people of Cahfornia to the United States," Sloat, 
 in his proclamation, dated 7th July,, assures the Cali- 
 fornians that " peaceable inhabitants will enjoy the same 
 lights and privileges as the citizens of any other por- 
 tion of that territory (the United States), with all the 
 rights and privileges they now enjoy, together with the 
 privileges of choosing their own magistrates and other 
 officers for the administration of justice among themselves, 
 and the same protection will be extended to them as to 
 an7/ other State in the Union." Thus the proclamation 
 had already annexed them to the United States. 
 
 On the 12th July, Sloat is told, "The object of the 
 United States is, under its rights as a belligerent nation, to 
 possess itself eniivelj of Upper California," and if* at the 
 
 * That this hypothetical statement was mere affectation, is evident 
 from the indiscreet disclosures of the intentions of Mr. Polk, 
 contained in the instructions to Stockton, of 11th January, 
 1847 : " At present it is needless, and might be injurious to the 
 public interests, to agitate the question in California, how long 
 those persons who have been elected for a prescribed time, will 
 have oiScial authority. If our right of possession shall become 
 absolute, such an inquirj^ is needless. And if by treaty or 
 otherwise, we lose the possession, those who follow us will govern 
 the country. The President, however, anticipates no such re- 
 sult. On the contrary, he foresees no contingency in which 
 the United States will ever surrender w relinquish the possession of 
 California." Of course Mr. Polk had thus early, and without 
 consulting the Senate, determined at all hazards to make the 
 cession of California the sine qua non of a treaty of peace. 
 
156 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAli. 
 
 conclusion of peace, " the basis of the uti possidetis shall 
 be established, the Government expects through your 
 forces to be found in actual possession of Upper Califor- 
 nia. This will bring with it the necessity "of a civil ad- 
 ministration — Such a Government should be established 
 under your protection.'' Sloat had retired on account of 
 ill health, and been succeeded by Commodore Stockton 
 who, long before the receipt of "this despatch, issued a 
 proclamation making " Known to all men," that the terri- 
 tory known as Upper and Lower California, is a territory 
 of the United States, under the name of the territory of 
 California. ''I do, by these presents," continues the pro- 
 clamation, " further order and decree, that the Govern- 
 ment of the said temtory of California shall be, until 
 altered by the proper authority of the United States, con- 
 stituted in manner and form as follows ;" and then follows 
 a form of Government consisting of a Governor, Secre- 
 tary, Legislative Council, &c. 
 
 On the 17 th August, Commodore Shubrick was sent to 
 relieve Sloat, from whom not a word had yet been receiv- 
 ed. He was ordered to take immediate possession of 
 Upper California, especially of the three ports of San 
 Francisco, Monterey, and San Diego, if not already cap- 
 tured, — and also, " to take possession, by an inland expe- 
 dition, of Pueblos de los Angelos." All four places were 
 captured before a line was received from Washington, and 
 Pueblos de los Angelos was taken by an inland expedi- 
 tion four days before the date of the instructions. Shu- 
 brick was farther directed that " all United States vessels 
 and merchandize must be allowed by the local authorities 
 of the ports of which you take possession, to come and go 
 free of duty ; but on foreign vessels and goods reasonable 
 duties may be imposed." But Commodore Stockton had 
 already anticipated this instruction two days before it was 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 167 
 
 written. On the loth August, he had imposed a duty 
 of fifteen per cent, ad valorem on all goods imported from 
 foreign ports, and a tonnage duty on foreign vessels of 
 fifty cents per ton, but no duties were imposed on Ameri- 
 can vessels and merchandize. 
 
 On finding these various instructions so exactly antici- 
 pated, so minutely fulfilled by officers who had not re- 
 ceived one line of intelligence from their government sub- 
 sequent to the commencement of the war, it is impossible 
 to resist the conviction, that the seizure of California had 
 long before been deliberately planned, and that the inten- 
 tions and wishes of the Government had been fully made 
 known to the officers, the plan of proceeding agreed on, 
 and the squadron stationed off the Californian ports, await- 
 ing news from the Rio Grande as a signal for instantly 
 seizing and seeming the prize for which the war was to be 
 commenced on the Rio Grande. 
 
 <^* 
 
168 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 DECLARATION OF AVAR AGAINST MEXICO. 
 
 The receipt of Taylor's letter of the 26th April, relating 
 to the capture of Thornton's party which had, as we have 
 seen, " become engaged " with the Mexicans by attacking 
 them, gave the administration its first intelligence that the 
 march to the Rio Grande had led to its intended result. 
 The letter reached Washington on Saturday the 9th May. 
 Its contents were speedily made known, and on Sunday 
 evening a meeting of members of Congress, partisans of 
 the President, was held, and war was decided on."* On 
 Monday morning, the President sent a war message to 
 Congress, which from its lengthf must either have been 
 written on the day devoted by the Creator to holy rest, 
 or else prepared some time before in anticip9,tion of the 
 success of Taylor's mission. In this message, after ad- 
 verting in the usual style to the grievous wrongs perpe- 
 trated by Mexico upon our citizens throughout a long pe- 
 riod of years, he closed the mournful catalogue by an- 
 nouncing to the representatives of the nation, " Mexico 
 
 HAS PASSED THE BOUNDARY OF THE UnITED StATES, HAS 
 INVADED OUR TERRITORY, AND SHED AMERICAN BLOOD UPON 
 
 THE American soil. She has proclaimed that hos- 
 tilities HAVE commenced, AND THAT THE TWO NATIONS 
 
 * Speech of C. J. Ingersoll. App. to Cong. Globe, 29th Cong., 
 2Sess.,p. 125. 
 
 t Occupying six pages in print. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 159 
 
 ARE AT WAR." " I invoke," said Mr. Polk, " the prompt 
 action of Congress to recognize the existence of the war, 
 and to place at the disposition of the Executive the means 
 of prosecuting the war with vigor, and thus hastening the 
 restoration of ^;mce (.^)" Thus emulous was this gentle- 
 man of the blessing ^promised to the peace-maker. 
 
 Let us now see how this invocation to make peace by 
 commencing with vigor the work of human slaughter, was 
 received by the American Congress. This body was the 
 grand inquest of the nation. The President appeared be- 
 fore them as a prosecuting officer, accusing the Govern- 
 ment of Mexico of high crimes and misdemeanors, and 
 demanding from his auditors a judgment which would be 
 equivalent to a sentence of death against thousands and 
 tens of thousands of human beings, including multitudes 
 of their own countrymen. We might suppose that Con- 
 gress, impressed with the awful responsibility thus im- 
 posed upon them, would apply themselves with calm, 
 patient, and prayerful consideration to the duty before 
 them ; that they would rigidly scrutinize the evidence 
 submitted to them, and most earnestly seek for expe- 
 dients to rescue their own and a neighboring country from 
 the tremendous calamities impending over them. They 
 were informed by the President, that a party of Ameri- 
 cans and Mexicans had " become engaged,"" and sixteen of 
 the former had been killed and wounded. Thus a coUi- 
 sioa had occurred. But such a colUsion does not amount 
 to war. A British frigate had some years since assaulted 
 an American national ship, killed a portion of her crew, 
 and forcibly impressed another portion. No war ensued ; 
 but explanations were given, and redress made. Still 
 later an American steamboat was seized in our own waters 
 by a British force, and destroyed, and one of the crew 
 
160 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 killed. Still no war ensued. An examination of the tes- 
 timony submitted by Mr. Polk might possibly show, that 
 the recent collision was accidental, or provoked on our 
 part, or unauthorized by Mexico. Explanations, if de- 
 manded, might lead to a pacific result, and the effusion 
 of blood be prevent^id. Of all crimes, the commence- 
 ment of an unnecessary war is the most atrocious, the 
 most deserving the wrath of God, and the execration of 
 mankind. 
 
 Melancholy and humiUating is the fact, that the American 
 Congress passed a decree which they knew would occa- 
 sion wide-spread wailing and lamentation, and woe and 
 death, with a recklessness, a precipitation, and a disregard 
 of evidence, which no court of judicature in our land 
 would dare to manifest in consigning to the penitentiary a 
 man charged with petit larceny. Shocking as is such an 
 assertion, its truth is still more so. The Message of the 
 President was accompanied with manuscript copies of the 
 correspondence between the Government and Mr. Slidell 
 and General Taylor ; and this correspondence contained 
 the evidence on which he rested his momentous charges 
 a^inst Mexico ; the testimony on which alone Congress 
 could pronounce on the truth or falsehood of the charges. 
 We will let one of the members relate the proceedings of 
 the House of Representatives on Monday the 11th May, 
 1846, on the receipt of the message. "It was proposed 
 by a whig member (Mr. Winthrop), that the documents 
 accompanying the Message be read. By a strict party 
 vote this MOTION was rejected. The House went im- 
 mediately into a committee of the whole. The Commit- 
 tee rose in a very short time, and reported a bill accord- 
 ing to the President's wishes. The previous question 
 (preventing all debate), was called and carried, and the 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. IGl 
 
 House brought to a vote, without one word of explana- 
 tion, proof, or arg-ument on the amendment which asserts 
 the existence of war by the * act of Mexico.' On this 
 question the vote stood — ayes 123, to 67 noes. The 
 amendments having been gone through, and the bill en- 
 grossed, the question came, on its final passage. Again 
 the previous question was moved and seconded ; and, 
 after some ineffectual efforts on the part of vai-ious mem- 
 bers to enter their protest against this very preamble, the 
 vote was forced under the gag, and the bill carried by 
 ayes 174, nays 14. The whole proceeding from begin- 
 ning to end occupied but a small portion of a single day. 
 The previous question was applied at every step and all 
 debate, explanation, and every attempt to get informa- 
 tion, was put down by party votes of the dominant 
 party. "^- In the Senate, the Message was referred to a 
 Committee, which the next day, instead of reporting /acf^, 
 contented themselves with reporting the bill from the 
 House, and this was passed by a vote of 50 to 2. " We 
 had not," said Mr. Calhoun, alluding to this precipitate 
 action, " a particle of evidence that the Republic of Mexico 
 had made war against the United States. "f This bill 
 declaring that war exists by the act of Mexico, placed 
 the army and navy at the disposal of the President, pro- 
 vided for the employment of fifty thousand volunteers, 
 and appropriated ten millions of dollars for the prosecu- 
 tion of the war. Thus was a system of human butchery ' 
 commenced without argument, without examination, with- 
 
 * Speech of Mr. Pendleton of Virginia, 22d Feb. 1847. See 
 App. to Cong. Globe, 20th Cong., 2 Sess., p 112. 
 
 t See speech, 24th Feb., 1847. Cong. Globe, 27th Feb. 1847. 
 The preamble of an act of the Mexican Congress raising sup- 
 plies, thus repudiates the idea that the war was commenced 
 by the Republic f " The Mexican nation finds itself in a state of 
 war with the United States of America." 
 
 r 14* 
 
^162 Rr:\iEw of the Mexican war. 
 
 out listening to one word of the evidence offered, and 
 without even the pretence of a desire to avoid or delay 
 the awful calamity. 
 
 V/hatever opinion may be entertained of the lawfulness 
 of defensive war, the moral sense of mankind, irrespec- 
 tive of religious creeds, condemns as most iniquitous an 
 offensive and ao-orressive one. Such a war differs from 
 murder and robbery onl}^ in the stupendous enormity and 
 extent of the ciirae. The vast military power and 
 resources confided to the President, were to be employed 
 not in enforcing rights, not in obtaining redress for inju- 
 ries. Congress disclaimed, by their acts and the preamble 
 of their bill, all idea of commencing hostilities. A motion 
 to declare war was rejected by an overwhelming majority. 
 It was deemed expedient to declare, that it already existed 
 hy the act of Mexico, thus representing to the nation and 
 the world, that the war was on our side purely a defen- 
 sive one, undertaken to repel an invading enemy. 
 
 And what was the power that had dared to invade the 
 United States, and by its assault had thrown this great 
 confederacy into such imminent danger, that Congress 
 found it necessary to provide fifty thousand troops in 
 addition to the regular army, in such haste as not to 
 allow them time ecen to read the despatch announcing the 
 invasion ? 
 
 The Republic of Mexico had long been the prey of 
 military chieftains, who, in their struggles for power and 
 the perpetual revolutions they had excited, had exhausted 
 the resources of the country. Without money, without 
 credit, without a single frigate, without commerce, with- 
 out union, and with a feeble population of seven or eight 
 millions, composed chiefly of Indians and mixed breeds, 
 scattered over immense regions, and for the most part 
 sunk in ignorance and sloth, Mexico was certainly not 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 163 
 
 a very formidable enemy to the United States.* It was 
 impossible for any Mexican force to reach us by sea ; and 
 to reach us by land, her armies would have been obliged 
 to cross an uninhabited desert nearly two hundred miles 
 in breadth, before they arrived at the Nueces, the boun 
 dary of Texas. The people of that revolted province had 
 for years maiatained their independence in spite of 
 Mexico, and no doubt can be entertained that their mih- 
 tia were amply able to drive back any army Mexico might 
 send into her territory. There was not a female in our 
 country whose slumbers were broken, through apprehen- 
 sion of the pretended invasion of the United States. Not 
 a Mexican soldier had trod on soil owned by an American 
 citizen — not a shot had been fii-ed within a hundred miles 
 of an American dwelUng. 
 
 The apparent panic, therefore, under which Congress 
 voted fifty thousand additional troops for defence, was not 
 real but feigned. The war, as we have seen, was not 
 commenced to recover the amount of our claims, and 
 procure redress of grievances, but avowedly for defence ; 
 a motive so palpably false and absurd, that, although 
 officially professed by the President, and in the preamble 
 of the Act of Congress, but one ^ single member of 
 Congress, it is believed, had the hardihood to urge 
 it in justification of his vote. The true object of the war 
 
 * The followiBg particulars are gathered from the work on 
 Mexico, by Brantz Mayer : 
 
 Population. 
 
 Indians, 4,000,000 
 
 Whites, 1,000,000 
 
 Negroes, - - - - - 6,000 
 
 All other casts, - - * - 2,009,509 
 
 7,015,509 
 Exports from Mexico in 1842, exclusive of 
 
 Gold and Silver, SI ,500,000 
 
 National debt, 85,000,000 
 
 — " Mexico as it was, and as it is.'* 
 
164 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 was thus frankly stated by Mr. C. J. Ingersoll, as Chair- 
 man of the Committee of Foreign Relations, in a rejiort 
 he presented February, 184*7 : " Complaints of the resort 
 to territorial conquests from Mexico are disarmed of 
 reproach by the undeniable facts, that Mexico, by war, 
 constrains the United States to take by conquest what, 
 ever since the Mexican independence, e¥ery American 
 administration has been striving to get by 'purchase ; and 
 that the executive orders, and military and naval execu- 
 tion of them for the achievement of conquest, have con- 
 formed not merely to the long established policy of our 
 Government but wise principles of self-preservation indis- 
 pensable to all provident Government." This official 
 language of the report was but a repetition of sentiments 
 advanced by the chairman, in a speech in the House, 19 th 
 January, 1847 : "War as often waged," said Mr. Inger- 
 soll, " is a theme of copious lamentation ; and so it should 
 be. But what the old. women of both sexes are given to 
 deplore as the calamities of war, where have they, been 
 yet felt in these hostilities with Mexico ? Never was the 
 country more prosperous, or so powerful as at present. I 
 mean to show unanswerably that all parties in the United 
 States, all administrations of this Government since 
 Mexico ceased to be a Spanish Province, have united in 
 the policy of getting from her by fair means jyrecisehj 
 those territories which, and only which, she has now .?on- 
 strained us to take by force, though even yet we are dis- 
 posed to pay for them, not by blood merely, but by 
 money too."* In other words, if Mexico will yet consent 
 to sell us these coveted temtories — at our own price, we 
 will cease to murder her citizens in order to acquire them. 
 This avowal explained the extreme and apparently ludi- 
 crous solicitude expressed by Mr. Polk for peace. The 
 * App. to Cong. Globe, 1847, p. 125. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 165 
 
 war being waged solely for territory, the more vigorously 
 it was prosecuted, the sooner would Mexico be compelled 
 to purchase peace bv making the desired cession. The 
 dismemberment of another, not the defence of its own 
 country, was the object of the American Government. 
 Why such dismemberment was desired, will be seen 
 in the sequel. 
 
 The object we have assigned for the war, does not 
 explain why of two hundred and forty members of Con- 
 gress, only sixteen were found who voted against a bill 
 containing in its preamble an assertion unsupported by 
 proof, and appropriating great suppHes ifor defence when 
 no danger threatened. 
 
 FoAv, if any, of the Northern members had a direct 
 interest in the conquest of California ; but all were inter- 
 ested in the ascendency of one or the other of the two 
 great political parties. Mr. Polk and his Cabinet were 
 the leaders and representatives of the democratic party, 
 and the dispensers of the vast patronage wuelded by the 
 Federal Government. To vote against the war would 
 have been, in the democratic members, an act of rebellion 
 against their own party, and an exclusion of themselves 
 for the futu)-e from all participation in the favors of the 
 administration. It would, moreover, alienate the South- 
 ern Democrats from their Northern brethren, and by the 
 division thus occasioned would most probably, at the next 
 elections, transfer the pohtical power of the nation,, with 
 all its emoluments, into the hands of the rival party. 
 Not a solitary democratic vote in either House was given 
 against the war. 
 
 The Whig party was placed under very different cir- 
 cumstances. They were in the minority, and were striv- 
 ing to gain the seats occupied by the present incumbents. 
 Hence it was their pohcy to cast the utmost odium upon 
 
166 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 the administration, and to represent its measures as un- 
 wise and dishonest, and injurious ahke to the interests 
 and the morals of the country. Hence no denunciations 
 of the course by which the administration had involved 
 the nation in the calamaties of war, were too violent or 
 too unmeasm'ed. The conduct of Mr. Polk, in particular, 
 was all that was false, base, and wicked. The war was 
 the President's loar ; and the assertion, that it was the act 
 of Mexico, a palpable falsehood. But the multitude are 
 ever fascinated with military glory, and ever ready to 
 enjoy the spoils of war. It was, therefore, deemed most 
 politic to make a distinction between the war and its au- 
 thors. The latter were, if possible, to be hurled from 
 office for commencing an iniquitous war ; but the patriot- 
 ism of the Whig party was to be manifested in their 
 vigorous prosecution of this same iniquitous war, for the 
 glory of the nation. Had the Whigs voted against sup- 
 plies after they were told that war existed, they might 
 have been charged at the polls with dereliction to the 
 cause of their country. It was, therefore, deemed more ex- 
 pedient to concur in sending fifty thousand men to rob 
 Mexico, and murder her citizens, than to hazard the loss 
 of votes at the approaching elections. The excuse gene- 
 rally made by the Wliigs for supporting the war bill was, 
 that General Taylor and his army were in danger of being 
 destroyed or captured by the Mexicans. The excuse 
 was not only false, but it was palpably ridiculous. The 
 very despatch in which Taylor announced that hostiU- 
 ties had commenced, demonstrated his entire security. 
 After stating the calls he had made on the governors of 
 Texas and Louisiana for troops, he adds, " This Avill con- 
 stitute an auxiliary force of nearly five thousand men, 
 which will be necessary to prosecute the war with energy, 
 and carry it, as it should be, into the enemy's country.''* 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 167 
 
 So that, at the very moment he Avrote, instead of being in 
 danger of captivity, he was making preparations for ad- 
 vancing into Mexico, and for this purpose, he deemed one- 
 tenth of the force so liberally allowed him by the Whigs, 
 amply sufficient. Seven days after the fifty thousand 
 men had been voted, Taylor, without even waiting for the 
 five thousand for which he had called, entered the city of 
 Metamoras, the Mexican army flying before him. 
 
 But had Taylor indeed been in danger, the Whigs well 
 knew that his fate would be decided long before a corpo- 
 ral's guard raised under the act could possibly reach him. 
 They were, moreover, told by the President himself, in 
 his Message, that Taylor was authorized to call for and 
 accept volunteers from no less than six of the nearest 
 States. The Administration, foreseeing and intending the 
 war, had already, without any authority from Congress, 
 most amply provided for Taylor's security. Well was it 
 said on the floor of Congress, in reply to this pitiful apolo- 
 gy, " Compare the provisions of the bill with the object 
 avowed of affording relief to General Taylor and his 
 army ; and what a picture does it present ? The bill 
 provides that the militia, army, and navy of the United 
 States, together with fifty thousand volunteers, shall be 
 placed at the disposal of the President for the pur2iose of 
 prosecuting the war to a speedy and successful termination. 
 Thus upon the face of the bill is its object clearly, dis- 
 tinctly, and explicitly set forth and declared." The asser- 
 tion, therefore, made by the Whigs, that their vote was 
 given for the protection of General Taylor, is of a similar 
 character with that Avhich they so bitterly denomiced in 
 the preamble of the bill, that war existed by the act of 
 Mexico. Their apology for voting for this assertion, which 
 they acknowledged to be a falsehood, was, that they had 
 first voted against it. However consistent such an apology 
 
168 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 may be with the morals of pohtics, it wiU certainly not be 
 deemed satisfactory by those who regard the Scriptm-es as 
 the standard of ethics. The vote of the Whig members 
 was probably the most extraordinary and humiliating ex- 
 hibition of rnoral cowardice ever witnessed in the national 
 Legislature ; nor did it escape exposure and castigation. 
 Sarcasms and reproaches, which it was impossible to elude 
 or to answer, were showered upon the Whig members 
 without stint by their opponents. The following is a 
 sample of the rebukes they received : Mr. Brocken- 
 borough of Florida thus exposed the false and unhappy 
 position in which the Whigs had placed themselves by 
 their unscrupulous calculations of expediency — "The 
 very term ' unjust war' involves rapine and bloodshed, 
 robbery and murder. Every step is infamous, a crime for 
 which the country should shroud itself in fnourning. But 
 you rejoice and gloiy in it. You send forth the poor 
 soldier, for whom you affect such sympathy, and tell him 
 to slay — but it is murder : to fall fighting valiantly — but 
 it is a felon's death. You bid the American mother send 
 forth her child at her country's call, to stain himself with 
 crime — to return a robber, red and reeking with innocent 
 blood. You call your soldiers heroes, and write on their 
 monuments 'rapine, murder,' You vote SAvords and 
 thanks, and medals and land, and money and pensions, 
 for what you say is crime ; and crime so black that indi- 
 viduals committing it, witJiout your sanction, receive only 
 ignominy, a prison, or a halter. 
 
 " We (democrats) believe, before God and the world, 
 that the war is just on our part. If we err, we err after 
 full deliberation and argument, with the best judgment 
 Heaven has vouchsafed to us, in the belief that we are 
 discharging a patriotic duty redounding to the honor and 
 character of our country. If there is any infamy — ^any 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 169 
 
 crime, it is not ours. Gentlemen claim it all. We have 
 no intention of wickedness. We act tlirougliout as we 
 profess. But i/oit declare war and denounce it as infamous, 
 but vote all supplies, and urge its vigorous prosecution. 
 You preach that it is murder, and boast how many Whigs 
 there are in it — hoAV many friends, how many constituents 
 you have in it, who volunteered to go. 
 
 " You charge that it is a crime, and complain that 
 more Democrats than Whigs have been appointed to 
 carry on the villainy, and speak of the chief man in the 
 gang (General Taylor) for the Presidency. You vote 
 monuments to the dead — trophies, thanks, emoluments, 
 bounties to the living — to entice people to imbrue their 
 hands in blood — in infamy, 
 
 '• If this war is unjust, gentlemen are not absolved by 
 the cry of ' Mr. Polk's war.' The?/ voted for it. Declama- 
 tion against Mr, Polk will not screen them from their own 
 denunciations of the horror, the sin, and crime, and mur- 
 der, of unjust war. If crime and infamy, the record 
 bears conviction of the acto?'s upon its face, and there it 
 will stand, indehble and imperishable, as the Republic itself 
 It will adhere, like the shirt of Nessus, to its authors. 
 Like the garment Media v,-ove for Jason, it will cleave and 
 burn into the flesh until they perish. Enhancing the 
 crime, they only invoke more fearful punishment upon 
 themselves." 
 
 Rarely, indeed, has any deliberative body listened to 
 sarcasm so withering, or invective so powerful and so just. 
 
 Still the leaders of the Whig party in Congress clung 
 with fearless tenacity to a policy which, although immoral, 
 they believed to be advantageous. They continued through 
 the whole existence of the war to denounce it as unjust, 
 wicked, and unconstitutional, but nevertheless evinced 
 their patriotism, by voting the supplies required by the 
 15 
 
170 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 President for ensuring a criminal triumph. It is, how- 
 ever, due to the party at large to acknowledge, that its 
 submission, especially at the North, to this policy of its 
 leaders, was partial and reluctant. The American Hgview, 
 a very able journal devoted to the interests of the party, 
 thus honorably confessed and condemned the motiv^es 
 which actuated the Whig members of Congress who voted 
 for the war : " The vote for fifty thousand volunteers and 
 ten millions of dollars was all but unanimous. The reso- 
 lution asking for these means were preceded by a lying 
 preamble, which imputed the war to the act of Mexico. 
 The resolution, preamble and all, was eagerly swallowed. 
 So much more solicitous seemed even the Whigs about 
 2:)ersonal 'popularity, which might be jeoparded by what 
 would be represented as an abandonment of the cause of 
 a gallant but beleaguered army, in refusing or delaying to 
 vote for this bill, than for the cause of truth and right." 
 
 The Whig Legislature of Massachusetts emphatically 
 rebuked the course pursued by some of the Whig repre- 
 sentatives from that State in Congress, by adopting a 
 resolution declaring : " That such a war of conquest, so 
 hateful in its objects, so wanton, unjust, and unconstitu- 
 tional in its origin and character, must be regarded as a 
 war against freedom, against humanity, against justice, 
 against the Union, and against the free States ; and that 
 a regard for the true interests and highest honor of the 
 country, not less than the impulses of Christian duty, 
 should arouse all good citizens to join in efforts to arrest 
 this war, and in every just way aiding the country to 
 retire from the position of aggression which it now occu- 
 pies towards a weak, distracted neighbor and sister Re- 
 public." 
 
 That only sixteen members out of two hundred and 
 forty should have voted against the war, while a very 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 171 
 
 large minority admitted its injustice, and the falsehood of 
 the assertion that it had been commenced by ^lexico, is a 
 melancholy proof that moral courage and independence 
 were not characteristics of the American Congress of 
 1846. And yet these quahties invariably attract confid- 
 ence, esteem, and influence, even from those against whom 
 they are exercised. " I admire," said one of the leaders 
 of the war party, " I admire the sincerity, I reverence 
 the consistency of the immortM fourteen (in the House 
 of Representatives) who voted against the declaration of 
 war. Their judgment was convinced that the war was 
 wrong, and they voted as their judgment dictated, Tliey 
 violated the laws neither of God nor of man. But he 
 who denounces the war as unjust, and yet votes for it, 
 violates God's holy law and every principle of ethics.'* 
 Let the names of these honest, consistent men, who feared 
 God more than man, and looked rather to the Day of 
 Judgment than to the day of election, be borne upon the 
 aflfectionate remembrance of the Christian community. 
 They were : 
 
 SENATE.* 
 
 Thomas Clayton, .... Delaware. 
 John Davis, Massachusetts. 
 
 • HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 John Quincy Adams, 
 George Ashmun, 
 Joseph Grinnell, 
 Charles Hudson, 
 Daniel P. King, 
 Henry Y. Cranston, 
 Erastus D. Culver, . 
 
 . V Massachusetts. 
 
 , Rhode Island. 
 . New York. 
 
 * It is due to justice to mention, that Mr. Corwin, a Senator 
 from Ohio, afterwards publicly condemned and regretted the 
 vote he had given for the war. 
 
172 
 
 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR 
 
 Luther Severance, .... JVfaine. 
 
 John Strahan, Pennsylvania. 
 
 Columbus Delano, . 
 Joseph M. Root, . . 
 
 Daniel R. Tilden, 
 Joseph Yance, .. . 
 Joshua R. Giddings, 
 
 Ohio. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 173 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE WAR PROSECUTED FOR CONQUEST. 
 
 In utter disregard of the multiplied proofs to the con- 
 trary, Mr. Polk thought it expedient, in his Message to 
 Congress of the 8th December, 1846, to hazard the ex- 
 traordinary assertion, " The war has not been waged 
 WITH A VIEW to conquest" ! He added, " But ha\ing 
 been commenced by Mexico, it has been carried into the 
 enemy's country, and will be there vigorously prosecuted, 
 with a view to obtain an honorable peace, and thereby 
 secure ample indemnity for the expenses of the war, as 
 well as to our much-injured citizens, who hold large 
 pecuniary demands against Mexico." We have seen Mr. 
 Polk's early and persevering efforts to secure Cahfornia, 
 and his official declaration, in the instructions to Stockton, 
 that he could foresee no contingency in which the United 
 States would ever surrender or relinquish that province. 
 What abuse of language can be greater than to fight for 
 territory with the declared intention of holding it for 
 ever, and yet to pretend that we fight not for conquest 
 but indemnity ? But, independent of this most wretched 
 quibbling about a word, let us pause for a moment to 
 consider the avowal made by the President of the United 
 States to a Christian people. It is no longer pretended 
 that the war is one of defence. We are, it seems, to con- 
 tinue fighting till we are paid for our trouble in slaugh- 
 tering. We killed Mexicans on the Rio Grande ; but, 
 receiving no pay, we bombarded Vera Cruz, and killed 
 ' 15* 
 
174 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 more. This swelled our demand for compensation. Not 
 receiving it, we marched hundreds of miles to the City of 
 Mexico, and killed some thousands more. This added 
 another and a hea\y item to our bill ; and thus we were 
 to proceed, spreading misery and death, till we were fully 
 indemnified for the money, and trouble, and blood, we 
 had expended in filling a sister Republic w^th wailing, 
 and lamentation, and woe. The idea of thus killing other 
 people, and sacrificing the lives of our own citizens, for 
 the purpose of getting pay for fighting, is original with 
 Mr, Polk ; at least, he finds no precedent for such pohcy 
 in the history of his own country. Our revolutionary 
 fathers rejoiced to lay down their arms the moment the 
 object for which they had been taken was accomplished. 
 Not a voice was heard recommending a continuance of 
 hostilities till Great Britain indemnified us for fighting her 
 the last seven years. In 1815, we again rejoiced in mak- 
 ing peace with Great Britain, without asking any indem- 
 nity for killing Englishmen, capturing British vessels, and 
 carrying the war into Canada. It is only poor, feeble, 
 exhausted Mexico, who must bleed on, till she pays us 
 for letting blood. 
 
 But we are to continue the work of slaughter, not only 
 till we are paid for our powder and shot, &c., but also 
 till Mexico discharges a debt of a few millions, which she 
 is.said to owe certain of our citizens. And thus, at a day 
 when it is deemed inhuman even to imprison an insolvent, 
 Mr. Polk recommends that Mexican bonds shall be steep- 
 ed in human gore, and that we shall proceed to collect 
 our debts by murdering the debtors. And all this to 
 indemnify our " much-injured citizens." But how will 
 Mr. Polk indemnify the vast multitude of women and 
 children whom his policy has made widows and orphans ? 
 What tariff will he establish for broken hearts and blasted 
 
REVIEW OF THE .MEXICAN WAR. 175 
 
 hopes? What indemnity would he claim from Mexico 
 for all the crimes and blasphemies, for all the horrors of 
 the hospital and the battle-field, for all the desolation and 
 misery in this life, and in that which is to come, engen- 
 dered by the war ? 
 
 In justice to Mr. Polk, we acquit him of the horrible 
 atrocity of wishing to continue the slaughter of the Mexi- 
 cans for compensation foi* the cost of killing them, and of 
 the consummate folly of expending a hundred millions of 
 dollars in collecting three or four of alleged debt. Poli- 
 ticians often think it wise to conceal their real motives by 
 assigning false ones. The war was to be continued, not 
 to obtain a reimbursement of its expenses, not to collect a 
 paltry debt, but solely for conquest. We have already 
 seen that it was the President's determination to annex 
 California to the Union. Let us now hsten to a few of 
 the frank avowals of the partisans of the war in Congress. 
 
 Mr. Staxtox, of Tennessee, declared that, "The an- 
 nexation of California to the United States, was the great 
 measure of the age."^' 
 
 Mr. Bedinger, of Virginia — " Was this to be a war of 
 conquest ? He answered, yes ; trusting in Heaven, and 
 on the valor of their arms, this should be a war of con- 
 quest."! 
 
 Mr. Sevier, of Arkansas, speaking of the territories to 
 be acquired from Mexico, observed, "He supposed no 
 Senator would think that they ought to be less than New 
 Mexico and Upper California. He did not suppose that 
 a treaty of peace with less than this would ever pass that 
 body."t 
 
 Mr. Giles, of Maryland — " I take it for granted, that 
 
 we shall gain territory, and must gain territory, before w^e 
 
 * Cong. Globe, 10th Dec, 1846, p. 23. 
 t Cong. Globe, 6th Jan., 1847, p. 126. 
 t Cong. Globe, 2d Feb.. 1847, p. 306. 
 
176 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 shut the gates of the temple of Janus, We must have it. 
 Every consideration of national policy calls upon us to se- 
 cure it. We must march right out from ocean to ocean. 
 We must fulfil what the American poet has said of us, 
 from one end of this confederacy to the other, 
 ' The broad Pacific chafes our strand. 
 We hear the wide Atlantic roar.' 
 
 We must march from Texas straight to the Pacific 
 ocean, and be bounded only by its roaring wave. We 
 must admit no other government to any partition of this 
 great territory. It is the destiny of the white race, it is 
 the destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race ; and, if they fail to 
 perform it, they will not come up to that high position 
 which Providence, in his mighty government has assigned 
 them."* 
 
 In January, 1847, a resolution was offered in the House 
 of Representatives, declaring that the war " is not waged 
 with a view to conquest ;" but the House was too candid 
 to endorse the words of the President, and rejected the 
 resolution. In the same Session, it also rejected, by a 
 vote of 126 to 76, the following amendment proposed to 
 the supply bill, viz. ; "Provided farther, that these appro- 
 priations are made with no view of sanctioning any prose- 
 cution of the existing war with Mexico for the acquisition 
 of territory to form new States to be added to the Union, 
 or for the dismemberment of Mexico." 
 
 These disclaimers of all intention of making conquests 
 came from the Whigs, who were unmeasured in their de- 
 nunciations of Mr. Polk's obvious policy. 
 
 In his next message of December, 1847, that gentleman 
 adroitly revenged himself upon his opponents, by remind- 
 ing Congress, that only sixteen members had voted against 
 the war ; and that C-ongress, including, of course, the Whig 
 members with the exception of the sixteen, " could not 
 * Cong Globe, llth Feb., 1847, p. 387. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 177 
 
 have meant, when in May, 1846, they appropriated ten 
 millions of dollars, and authorized the President to em- 
 ploy the military and naval forces of the United States, 
 and to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers 
 to enable him to prosecute the war ; and when at their 
 last Session, and after our army had invaded Mexico, 
 they made additional appropriations, and authorized the 
 raising of additional troops for the same purpose — that 
 no indemnity was to be obtained from Mexico at the con- 
 clusion of the war." It was impossible for the Whigs to 
 elude the • force of this sarcasm. If the war *' was not 
 waged with a view to conquest," with what view did they 
 vote for an army of fifty thousand men ? 
 
 Puerile as is the distinction made by Mr. Polk between 
 conquest and territorial indemnity, it appears from his own 
 showing, that it is a distinction without a difference ; a 
 mere quibble on words. The President, informing Con- 
 gress what teiTitories he had claimed of Mexico as condi- 
 tions of peace, remarks, " as the territory to be acquired 
 by the boundary proposed, might be estimated to be of 
 greater value than a fair equivalent for our just demands, 
 our Commissioner was authorized to stipulate for the pay- 
 ment of such additional jiecuniary consideration as was 
 deemed reasonable." Here we see that Mr. Polk meant 
 to take more territory, than he even pretends we are enti- 
 tled to for indemnification. And how did he mean to ac- 
 quire it ? By conquest ? Oh no, but by a forced sale, 
 negotiated by a Commissioner at the head of a victorious 
 army, ready to enter the city of Mexico ; and for this sur- 
 plus territory he would pay such a price as he deemed 
 reasonable, and, if the Mexicans refused to make the bar- 
 gain on his terms, they refused at the peril of their lives, 
 and the loss of their capital ; their blood was to flow, 
 till they accepted, for territory to which we had no just 
 claims, the price we might please to pay. ^ 
 
178 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 EXTENT OF TERRITORY REQUIRED FROM MEXICO. 
 
 We have already admitted that Mr. Polk's frequent and 
 earnest asseverations of his desire for peace were sincere, 
 because in his mind the term ^jrace included the acquisi- 
 tion of all the territory he wanted. The peace he desired, 
 was not a just, and therefore an honorable one, but a bold, 
 rapacious spoliation. If we use strong terms, it is because 
 they are warranted by strong facts. After we had obtain- 
 ed military occupation of the country on the Rio Grande 
 and all the sea-ports on the iVtlantic and Pacific ; after 
 the Mexican armies had been routed in three general en- 
 gagements ; after the efforts of the Mexicans had failed 
 to protect their capital, and General Scott was ready to 
 enter its gates, peace was again offered Mexico. In the 
 time, place, and terms of this offer, we can see no indica- 
 tion of generosity, no desire for justice, no feeling of 
 honor. .,.• Mexico, utterly prostrated, could obviously make 
 no successful resistance, and it was certainly within the 
 power of the United States to take military possession not 
 merely of the capital, but of every city and strong place 
 in the republic- Such, however, was not the desire or 
 the interest of tlbe Administration, or of the country. To 
 hold the entire of Mexico by force of arms, would occasion 
 an expenditure of treasure and an imposition of taxes 
 which would soon hurl Mr. Polk and his partisans from 
 office. Nor would a continuance of the war give us that 
 quit- claim to the coveted territories which was required, 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN V'AR. 179 
 
 to enable us to convert them with facility into slavehold- 
 ing States with a representation in Congress. The object 
 of the war could be most advantageously obtained by a 
 treaty of peace, giving us undisputed possession of New 
 Mexico and California.^' Hence the desire for peace ; and 
 the prostrate condition of Mexico induced the hope that 
 she would be compelled to make the cession we de- 
 manded. And what was that cession? Why, all the 
 territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande, toge- 
 ther -with the whole of New Mexico, and all California, 
 both Upper and Lower! An inspection of the map of 
 Mexico Avill show that these demands, exclusive of Texas 
 proper, are estimated at upwards of eight hundred thou- 
 simd square miles, while the whole area of the Repubhc 
 is supposed to contain one million six hundred thousand. 
 Thus did Mr. Polk seek for a "just and honorable peace" 
 in the seizure of one half of Mexico !* 
 
 Such was the territorial indemnity we attempted to 
 extort from a vanquished and almost unresisting enemy. 
 Napoleon, in the career of conquest, never indulged in 
 wilder rapacity. Mexico, humbled and disabled, offered 
 to cede all Texas proper, beyond the Nueces, and all of 
 New Mexico and.CaUfornia North of the S'Zth degree of 
 latitude ; an extent of territory equal to nine States of the 
 ijize of New York ! It is true, that in the Mexican projet ' 
 of a treaty containing this proposed cession, there was a 
 stipulation for compensation for injuries done by *he Ame- 
 rican troopSy a mere matter of discussion, but not repre- 
 sented as a sine qua non. The negotiation was broken 
 off not on account of that or other exceptionable proposals, 
 but because Mexico refused to cede the whole of New 
 
 * These estimates are taken from an official statement of the 
 areas of the different provinces, published by the Mexican 
 Government, and attached to Disturnell's map of Mexico. 
 
180 REVIEW OF THE MEXICO N -\vA ??.' 
 
 Mexico and California. Mr. Polk, in Ins Message to Con- 
 gress, declared, " the boundar}^ of the Rio Grande, and 
 the cession of the States of New Mexico and Upper Cali- 
 fornia constituted an ultimatum whicK our Commissioner 
 was under no circumstances to yield." It may seem 
 strange that Mr. Polk refused to accept the proffered ces- 
 sion. The solution is easy, and will be given in the sub- 
 sequent chapter. 
 
REVIEAV OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 181 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 MOTIVE FOR ACQUIRING TERRITORY. THE WILMOT PROVISO. 
 
 The possessions of the United States extended from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the 49th to the 30th 
 degree of latitude. Independent of the thirty States, 
 comprising the Federal Union, the national territories em- 
 braced 1,335,398 square miles — an area equal to about 
 half of all Europe. The American Republic, anterior to 
 the Mexican war, possessed one of the largest regions in 
 the world under one Government, and at the same time 
 one of the most thinly inhabited. It will not, therefore, 
 be pretended, that additional temtory was required for 
 the convenience of our population. It is said a port was 
 w^anted on the Pacific. The portion of California north 
 of the 37 th degree of latitude, which Mexico offered to 
 cede, contains the harbor of St. Francisco, the best and 
 most capacious on the Pacific. Mr. Polk had officially 
 declared, that our title to the whole of Oregon was " clear 
 and unquestionable ;" yet, with the consent of southern 
 Senators, he suiTendered to Great Britain no less than 5° 
 40' o'f what he insisted was territory belonging to the 
 United States. Why give away northern temtory which 
 is ours, and la%Tish blood and treasure for the conquest of 
 southern territory to which we have no title ? It was 
 knowif, that from natural and other causes, slavery would 
 be for ever excluded from the territory yielded to Great 
 Britain, but would find in California and New Mexico a 
 genial soil and climate ; and that these States, when sub- 
 16 
 
182 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 divided and annexed, would give to the slaveholding inte- 
 rest a predominating and resistless influence in the Federal 
 Government. 
 
 Were other proofs wanting of the real object of the 
 war, it might be found in the avowals of the southern 
 press : " We trust," said the Charleston Patriot, "■ that 
 our southern representatives will remember that this is a 
 SOUTHERN WAR." Said the Charleston Courier : " Every 
 battle fought in Mexico, and every dollar spent there, but 
 insures the acquisition of territory which must ividenthe 
 field of southern enterprize arid power for the future. 
 And the final result will be to adjust the whole balance 
 of power in the Confederacy, so as to give us the control 
 over the operations of the Government in all time to 
 come." 
 
 The Federal Union, a Georgia paper in the interest of 
 the administration, remarked, " The Whigs of the North 
 oppose the war, because its legitimate effect is, as they 
 contend, the extension of southern territory, and of south- 
 ern slavery. It is true, this is a war in which the South 
 is more immediately interested. Its vast expenditures 
 must be made within her limits. During its continuance, 
 !N^ew York, the great emporium of commerce, must be 
 shorn in part of her greatness. Exchange, usually in her 
 favor, must now be reversed, and in favor of New Orleans, 
 where the supplies are furnished for the army. Let the 
 South now be true to herself, and the days of her vassal- 
 age are gone, and gone for ever." 
 
 Said the Mobile Herald : " The natural tendency of the 
 slaves under our humane pohcy is to increase. The effect 
 follows that, if we have no outlet for them, no soil to put 
 them on, they will be huddled within the extreme south- 
 era limits of the Union." After showing that insubordi- 
 nation, and loss of profit, would result from a too crowded 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 183 
 
 slave population, the editor proceeds, " These evils may 
 bfe avoided by taking new territory in the direction of 
 Mexico. The profitable existence of slavery is by no 
 means incompalible with a more temperate region, but it 
 is incompatible with a very dense population. We need 
 'plenty of soil to render it profitable ^ 
 
 As the war was waged only for territory, Mr, Polk was 
 anxious to secure its object as speedily as possible/ and, 
 thinking it probable that money judiciously distributed in 
 Mexico might hasten the cession of California, recom- 
 mended to Congress, August 8th, 1846, an appropriation 
 of two millions of dollars, to be placed at his disposal, for 
 the purpose of facilitating a peace. The very proposal 
 utterly destroyed the pretext upon which he first justified 
 the war, that it was one of defence. " Millions for de- 
 fence, not a cent for tribute," was once the proud rally- 
 ing cry of the Republic. Now he proposed two milhons 
 to buy a peace. Had it not been known that the money 
 was to be employed in gaining territory, the very proposi- 
 tion would have excited universal abhorrence and indigna- 
 tion. A bill granting the desired sum was introduced 
 into the Lower House, but to the extreme mortification 
 and alarm of the administration, and the pro-slavery party, 
 was passed with a proviso offered by Mr. Wilmot, exclud- 
 ing slavery from all territory that might be ceded by 
 Mexico. The bill was reported to the Senate on the last 
 day of the Session, and, for want of time, no question was 
 taken upon it. At the ensuing Session, Mr. Polk asked 
 for three millions for the same purpose, and a law was 
 passed appropriating this sum " to enable the President 
 to conclude a treaty of peace, limits and boundaries, with 
 the Repubhc of Mexico, to be used by him in the event 
 that said treaty, when signed by the authorized agents of 
 the two Governments, and duly ratified by Mexico, shall 
 
184 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN V7AR. 
 
 call for the same, or any part thereof." It will be ob- 
 served that the law contemplated not merely a treaty (5f 
 peace, but of limits and boundaries, in other words, a 
 treaty ceding California and New Mexico. The condition 
 of the appropriation is unexampled in the history of diplo- 
 macy. The mone}^ is to be paid not when the treaty is 
 consummated, but as soon as Mexico consents to the terms 
 Mr. Polk may demand. Mr. Tyler found that a contract 
 entered into by the authorized agents of two Governments, 
 did not constitute a treaty without the ratification of the 
 Senate ; but, in this most extraordinary law, such a ratifi- 
 cation is wholly disregarded. As soon as Mexico binds 
 herself to cede territory, the money is to be paid, never to 
 be returned, whether the Senate reject or confirm the bar- 
 gain. Never before, probably, did a civihzed nation stipu- 
 late to perform in advance, a condition required by an 
 unratified and therefore unobligatory treaty. Viewing 
 the appropriation in the least offensive light, it is an offer 
 to pay the consideration money of a purchase in advance, 
 whether the title-deed may prove vahd or not, with per- 
 mission to retain the money, although the deed should be 
 refused. There must have been some weighty reason for 
 this procedure. The credit of the United States was not 
 so low, that it was necessary to pay in advance. Louisi- 
 ana and Florida had been purchased by treaty ; but the 
 consideration money in neither case had been paid before 
 the treaties were ratified. The departure in the present 
 case from the ordinary course of negotiation was caused 
 by the burning desire to acquire additional slave terri- 
 tory. 
 
 The war was expensive, and might prove hazardous to 
 the popularity of the administration. Mr. Polk had no 
 wish to kill Mexicans, provided they would surrender their 
 lands. It was hoped our invasion, and the fearful aiTay 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 185 
 
 of fifty thousand men, would have instantly frightened the 
 enemy into the desii-ed cession of her territories ; but, in 
 the language of the administration presses, Mexico was 
 " mulish," was " obstinate." It was thought a large sum 
 of money, judiciously distributed, might be more success- 
 ful than intimidation had proved. The Mexican leaders 
 were supposed to be mercenary ; the army was known to 
 be necessitous. Three millions distributed among the 
 officers and soldiers, either secretly as bribes, or openly 
 under color of an instalment in advance for the purchase 
 of territory, might induce the Mexican Congress through 
 military coercion, to consent to the dismemberment of 
 the Republic. This payment in advance of so la-ge 
 a sum, might be useful, also, in compelling the American 
 Senate to ratify the treaty. If they dechned, the mc^ney 
 paid would be lost, and the responsibility of sacrificing the 
 people's money would rest upon the Senators, who should 
 dare to vote against the treaty. The attempt to re-annex 
 the Wilmot proviso to this bill, and the long debate it 
 occasioned; rent asunder the transparent veil with which 
 the pro-slavery party had attempted to conceal the true 
 object of the war, and provoked the southern members 
 into unusual frankness. 
 
 The northern Democrats had long justified the character 
 given to them, of being " the natural allies" of the slave- 
 holders. Anti-slavery sentiments had recently made rapid 
 progress at the north, and the tone of the elections in 
 various States, warned them that their devotion to slavery, 
 was undermining their own power. The grant of three 
 milUons, afforded them an opportunity of strengthening 
 their waning popularity at home, without, as they con- 
 tended, dissolving an alliance, from which they had 
 derived so many pecuniary and political advantages. As 
 Democrats, they were bound to support the war, and 
 16* 
 
186- REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 to give the President the appropriation lie had asked for. 
 But to this appropriation, tliey attached the Wilmot pro- 
 viso. This now- famous proviso was in these terms : " Pro- 
 vided always, that there shall be neither slavery nor invo- 
 luntary servitude, in any territory, on the continent of 
 America, which shall hereafter be acquired by or annexed 
 to the United States by virtue of this appropriation, or in 
 any other manner whatsoever, except for crimes whereof 
 the party shall have been duly convicted." To this was 
 added a provision for the return of fugitive slaves found 
 in such territory. In this attempt to prevent the exten- 
 sion of slavery, the northern Democrats endeavored to 
 shelter themselves from the reproaches of their southern 
 friends by calHng their proposal " the Thomas Jefferson 
 proviso,"^" its language being copied from the ordinance 
 for the Government of the North-Western territory, orig- 
 inally drafted by Mr. Jefferson, in I784.t The northern 
 Whigs gave the proviso their cordial support. It may, how- 
 ever, be asked with what propriety they could vote for an 
 appropriation even with the proviso, which they themselves 
 contended, was to be used for the purposes of bribery and 
 corruption. To this question they gave a far more satisfac- 
 tory answer, than they ever returned to the question why 
 they voted for a war which they denounced as iniquitous. 
 IMr. Stewart of Pennsylvania, thus ably vindicated the poHcy 
 and duty of voting for the appropriation with the 'proviso : 
 *' As a friend of peace, present and prospective, I am in 
 favor of this proviso. The object of this war being the 
 acquisition of southei'n territory, as long as there is a hope 
 of accomphshing this object, there will be no peace. Put 
 an end to this hope ; and you at once put an end to the 
 war, by defeating its object. The moment the President 
 finds this proviso accompanying this grant of money, he 
 
 * Speech of Mr. Brinkerhoff, Feb. 10, 1847. Cong. Globe. 
 t See Journal df Congress, April 19, 1784. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 187 
 
 will be for making peace, and so will all the South, They 
 want no restricted territory. If the restriction is imposed, 
 and the territory acquired is to be free, from that moment 
 the President would pay Mexico to keep her territory, 
 rather than bring it in on such conditions. I am for the 
 proviso, therefore, because it will bring us peace. Im- 
 pose this restriction, and Mr. Polk will say he wants no 
 territory, the South will say they want none ; we say, 
 agreed, we want none. Then, if Mexico is to lose no 
 territory, she will be for peace ; and, if we are to acquire 
 none, what are we fighting for ? Then impose this 
 restriction, and the war will be promptly ended to the 
 great benefit and joy of both Republics." 
 
 The avowals of southern members, the messages of 
 southern Governors, the action of southern Legislatures, 
 and the language held by slaveholders assembled in 
 popular meetings, all bear witness to the wisdom, foresight, 
 and truth, of Mr. Stewart's remarks. 
 
 The alarm and irritation of the south caused by the 
 introduction of the proviso, was greatly augmented by 
 the cu'cumstance of its orig-inatinor with the northern 
 
 O CD 
 
 democracy ; with that party which had heretofore cheer- 
 fully sacrificed the right of petition, and the freedom of 
 debate, and had consented to the annexation, of Texas, 
 through subserviency to southern interests. The slave- 
 holders felt that they were now in their utmost need 
 deserted by the friends, who had hitherto professed devo- 
 tion to their cause.* In their exasperation they, for the 
 
 * In 1843, Mr. Buchanan, Senator from Pennsylvania, opposed 
 the ral:ification of the treaty with Great Britain settling the 
 North-East boundary, because it did not provide compensation 
 for certain slaves liberated in the West Indies. He remarked : 
 " All Christendom is leagued against the South, upon the ques- 
 tion of domestic slavery. They have no other allies to sustain 
 their constitutional rights, except the democracy of the 
 NORTH. In my own State, we inscribe upon our party banners 
 hostility to abolition. It is there one of the cardinal principles 
 of the democratic party." * 
 
188 REVIEW or THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 first time, avowed the real object of the war to be, the 
 conquest of territory for the extension of slavery. 
 
 Mr. Seddon, of Virginia, declared the proviso a " gross 
 and offensive proposition, outraging the whole scope and 
 spirit of the Constitution. The South never would, never 
 could prosecute conquests which were to be made the in- 
 struments of direct attack upon her institutions. She 
 never would acquiesce in the acquisition of territory from 
 which her sons, with their ^:>?'q29er^y, were to be wholly 
 excluded. In contrast with the effects of that law (the 
 proviso), the question of the prosecution of the war, of the 
 acquisition of the most extensive territories, shrinks into 
 insignificance. It is to involve the momentous issue of the 
 Union of these States." 
 
 Mr. Dargan, of Alabama, was exceedingly frank : 
 " Say to the South that they are only fighting to make 
 FREE TERRITORY, that it is Only for this that the brave 
 men of Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, are perihng their 
 lives ; and they will demand the settlement of this ques- 
 tion noiu, preliminary to any further prosecution of the war," 
 
 Said Mr. Leake, of Virginia : " If the present attempt 
 to impose limitation with respect to the extension of 
 SLAVERY should be persisted in, and should prevail, the 
 South must stand in self-defence ; for they could not and 
 would not submit to it." 
 
 Mr. Tibbatts, of Kentucky, was equally frank with Mr. 
 Dargan : " If the people of the South are to be told that 
 in acquiring territory, f6r which their blood is to be spilled 
 and their treasures expended, they are realizing benefits 
 for others in Avhich they are to have no share, and that 
 they are, in effect, to be excluded from territoiy which 
 their own blood and ti-easure have helped to win, then I 
 am against keeping one foot of Mexican territory — I am 
 opposed to carrying on this war on such terms" 
 
REVIEW OF THE r.IEXlCA?; WAR. 189 
 
 Mr. Calhoun, in great excitement, exclaimed : " I am 
 a Southern man and a slaveliolder, a kind and merciful 
 one I trust, and none the worse for being a slaveholder. 
 I say for one I would rather meet any extremity upon 
 earth than give up one inch of our equality — one inch of 
 what belongs to us as members of this great RepubHc. 
 What ! acknowledge our inferiority ! The surrender of 
 life is nothing to sinking down into acknowledged infer- 
 iority." / 
 
 Yet this kind and merciful slaveholder had devoted the 
 energies of his life to keeping in acknowledged inferiority, 
 ignorance, and degradation, millions of his fellow-men and 
 fellow-countrymen, and was at this very moment opposing 
 an effort to prevent immense regions being peopled with 
 beasts of burden iniiuman form. 
 
 Mr. Bagby, of Alabama, averred, " If the time should 
 come when this principle was to be acted upon, that no 
 more territory was to be acquired lest Southern institu- 
 tions should exist in such territory, he would say. Away 
 WITH THE Union." This gentleman, the more effectually 
 to secure the object of the war, introduced into the Senate 
 x resolution declaring that, " If territory is hereafter ac- 
 quired by the United States, either by treaty or conquest, 
 it shall not be competent for the treaty-making power or 
 Congress to exclude slavery from such territory, either 
 by treaty, stipulation, or by act of Congress." 
 
 Mr. Butler, of South Carohna, "Would, before God, 
 warn gentlemen, if the South was to be regarded and 
 treated with inequality, they would tear up the instru- 
 ment (the Constitution) to which they had subscribed in 
 good faith." 
 
 Mr. KauffxMAn, of Texas, declared " Should the pro- 
 posed amendment be adopted, all hopes of acquiring ter- 
 ritory in that quarter are gone for ever. The South would 
 
190 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 never consent, under sucli a state of things, to add any 
 territory to what we now possess." 
 
 Mr. Thompson, of Mississippi, denouncing the proviso, 
 affirmed that its passage would be the dissolution of 
 THE Union. 
 
 Mr. Mangu?!, of North Carohna : " There are now 
 three millions of slaves penned up in the slave States, and 
 they are an increasing population, increasing faster than 
 the whites. And are the slaves to be always confined to 
 their prison States V 
 
 Thus we find from their own avowals that the acquisi- 
 tion of SLAVE TERRITORY was the Sine qua non on which 
 the slaveholders would continue the war ; and that for 
 such acquisition they were ready, if necessary, to dissolve 
 the Union. Hence, the honor of the nation, the griev- 
 ances of the claimants, the shedding of American blood 
 upon American soil, were hollow, and false pretexts for the 
 war, its true and sole object being the extension of human 
 bondage. 
 
 To the confessions of the slaveholders may be added 
 the following decisive testimony of General Cass, then a 
 member of the Senate, given in a private letter of 19th 
 February, 1847, but Avhich found its way into the news- 
 papers : " The Wilmot Proviso will not pass the Senate. 
 It would be death to the war — death to all hopes of get- 
 ting an acre of territory — death to the Administration, 
 and death to the Democratic party." 
 
 The reference made by the slaveholders to the Missouri 
 compromise, and their alleged willingness to apply that 
 compromise to the conquered territories, utterly stultified 
 their argument against the constitutionality of the Proviso. 
 If Congress had a right to exclude Slavery from territory 
 purchased of France, and conquered from Mexico, north 
 of 36° 30, they had surely an equal right to exclude it 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 191 
 
 from every part of New Mexico and California. By the 
 Constitution, Congress is constituted the Legislature of 
 the territories, and of course possesses the same power 
 over slavery in them, that a State legislature does within 
 its own jurisdiction. 
 
 The bill appropriating three milhons of dollars was, 
 after a severe struggle, carried in the House of Represent- 
 atives, with the Proviso, by 115 to 106. In the Senate, 
 the Proviso was stricken out 31 to 21. The whole in- 
 fluence of the Government, and all the appliances of party 
 discipline, were now put in requisition to induce the House 
 to concur with the Senate, and the Proviso was finally 
 rejected, 102 to 9*7, It will be observed that the total 
 vote on the adoption of the Proviso was 221, and on its 
 rejection 199. Of course no less than 22 members found 
 it convenient to be absent at this important crisis, and 
 SIX who had supported the Proviso found motives for 
 changing their votes. 
 
 The Proviso had indeed been rejected for the present, 
 but it might be renewed at the next session ; and, even 
 should it fail in the Senate, yet a treaty, ceding an im- 
 mense territory to be consecrated to slavery, might not 
 command in that body the vote of two-thirds necessary 
 to its ratification. The very possibility of thus losing the 
 piize for which the war was commenced, exasperated and 
 alarmed the South, and vigorous efforts were made to 
 induce the North to abandon the position it had taken in 
 behalf of human liberty, by the usual threats of dissolv- 
 ing the Union, and by appeals to the interests of selfish 
 pohticians. Many of the governors of the slaveholding 
 States brought the subject before their respective Legis- 
 latures. The Governor of Virginia, in his Message, re- 
 marked that it was " unquestionably ti*ue that, if our 
 slaves were restricted to our present limits, they would 
 
192 REVIIi'vV OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 greatly diminish in value, and thus seriously impair the 
 fortunes of their owners. The South never can consent 
 to be confined to prescribed limits. She wants and must 
 have sjmce, if consistent with honor and propriety." 
 
 The Govei-nor of South Carolina objected to the re- 
 striction as tending to diminish the pohtical influence of 
 the South, in the Federal Government, and insisted on 
 strenuous resistance. The Legislature of Virginia, setting 
 at defiance the power of Congress, " Resolved unani- 
 mously, that under no circumstances will this body 
 recognize, as binding, any enactment of the Federal Gov- 
 ernment which has for its object the prohibition of slavery, 
 in any territory, to be acquired either by conquest or 
 treaty." The Legislature of Georgia resolved, " That any 
 territory acquired by the arms of the United States, or 
 by treaty wdth a foreign power, becomes the common 
 prop;prty of the several States composing this confede- 
 racy ; and wliilst it so continues, it is the right of each 
 citizen of each and every State, to reside w4th his pro- 
 perty of every description, within such territory." 
 
 The Legislature of Alabama "Resolved, That under 
 no circumstances will this body recognize as binding, any 
 enactm.ent of the Federal Government which has for its 
 object the prohibition of slavery in any territory, to be 
 acquired either by conquest or treaty, south of the line of 
 the Missouri compromised 
 
 A pubhc meeting in Richmond, Virginia, declared not 
 only the right of slaveholders to carry their slaves into 
 all territories hereafter to be acquired south of 36° 30', 
 " but also that we will, by all peaceable means, and 
 this failing, by arms, if necessary, sustain such of our 
 fellow- citizens as may elect to settle within such ter- 
 ritory hereafter acquired, in the maintenance of their 
 rights thus to settle, and take with them their slaves." 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 193 
 
 A meeting in Charleston, S. C, declared it would be dis- 
 honorable and debasing to submit to the prohibition of 
 slaver}'', " beyond what is already yielded by the Missouri- 
 compromise.^' 
 
 But it was not enough to threaten the North with a 
 dissolution of the union, and with civil war. These are 
 evils which, when they occur, will not fall exclusively 
 upon the people 'of the free States. It was thought ad- 
 ^^sable to threaten the politicians of the North with the 
 loss of political power and emolument — a menace far more 
 influential than any other. A Presidential election was 
 approaching, and northern aspirants were warned that no 
 opponent to the extension of slavery should receive the 
 votes of the South. A similar warning had secured the 
 annexation -of Texas, and the election of Mr. Polk. 
 
 The Legislature of Georgia " Resolved, that the people 
 of Georgia, at the ensuing Presidential election, should 
 not and will not support any man for the Presidency or 
 Vice-Presidency, toho favors the principle of the Wihnot 
 proviso.''^ The determination thus officially announced, 
 was reiterated by various meetings and on various occa- 
 sions, and had a sensible and immediate effect in coohng 
 the zeal of northern politicians in behalf of the proviso. 
 General Taylor was a cotton planter, and the owner of 
 numerous slaves ; and the popularity he had acquired by 
 his victories, pointed him out as a most available southern 
 candidate. He was accordingly early nominated, and his 
 interests were so thoroughly identified with slavery, that 
 it was deemed unnecessary to demand from him any 
 pledge of opposition to the Wilmot proviso. Said the 
 Richmond Whig : — " Why ask pledges of him on the 
 subject of slavery, when the fact that his whole estate 
 of land and negroes, and that when they go, he 
 17 
 
194 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 must be a beggar, is the very strongest pledge he could 
 possibly give ?" 
 
 The frankness and determination of the southern Whigs 
 left to their northern brethera the alternative of uniting 
 with them in raising General Taylor to the Presidency, 
 or of resigning to their political opponents the favors of 
 official patronage. They adopted the former, and Gene- 
 ral Taylor received the nomination of the party. 
 
 The northern Democrats claimed a candidate selected 
 from among themselves. The claim was allowed by their 
 southern brethren, on condition of a satisfactory pledge 
 against the Wilmot proviso. Four prominent northern 
 Democrats entered the lists, to bid against each other for 
 the votes of the slaveholders. General Cass's bid was 
 accepted, and he was duly nominated, having declared 
 the proviso unconstitutional. 
 
 Notwithstanding the hostility of the South to the pro- 
 viso, they anticipated the possibility of being compelled 
 to yield to the North, so far as to renew the Missouri 
 compromise, and to consent to the exclusion of slavery 
 north of 36° 30' — and here we find a solution of Mr. 
 Polk's rejection of the cession proposed by Mexico. 
 Great and valuable as Avas that cession, it was chiefly 
 north of the compromise line, leaving sp'ace for scarcely 
 more than two slave States. The territory offered was 
 not far enough south to secure the object of the war, and 
 hostiUties were to be continued for conquests, below the 
 Missouri line. 
 
 In August, 1847, negotiations were opened for peace, 
 and Mr. Trist was appointed by the President to conduct 
 them on the part of the United States. The Mexican 
 Commissioners were instructed to procure a stipulation, 
 by which " The United States shall engage not to permit 
 slavery in that part of the tenitory which they may ac- 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 103 
 
 quire by treaty." It is to be presumed that Mr. Trist 
 was well acquainted with the views of the Cabinet at 
 Washington, on this subject. In an official despatch to 
 the Secretary of State, of 4th September, 1847, he thus 
 describes his conference with tlie Mexican Commissioners, 
 on this point of their instructions : — " In the course of 
 their remarks on this subject (exckision of slaveiy), I 
 was told that, if it were proposed to the people of the 
 United States to part with a portion of their territory, in 
 order tliat the inquisition should be therein established, 
 the proposal could not excite stronger feelings of abhor- 
 rence than those awakened in IMexico, by the prospect of 
 the introduction of slavery in any territory parted witli by 
 her. 
 
 ** I concluded by assuring them that the hare mention of 
 the subject in any treaty to which the United States was 
 a party, was an absolute impossibility : that no President 
 of the United States would dare to present any such 
 treaty to the, Senate ; and that, if it were in their power to 
 offer me the whole territory described in our project, in- 
 creased ten-fold in value, and in addition to that, covered 
 afoot thick all over luith 2>ure gold, iqmn the single con- 
 
 DITIOX THAT SLAVERY SHOULD BE EXCLUDED thcrcfrom, I 
 
 could not entertain the offer for a moment, nor think even 
 of communicating it to Washington." 
 
196 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 UNWORTHY EXPEDIENTS FOR FACILITATING CONQUESTS. 
 
 General Santa Anna had been one of tlie ablest and 
 most popular of the Mexican chieftains. A political 
 revolution had deprived him of power, and driven him 
 into exile — and he had taken refuge in Havana. Shortly 
 before the commencement of hostihties, an officer of the 
 United States navy was despatched to that city. The 
 object of his mission has not been officially disclosed ; but 
 it was asserted in the newspapers, and generally beheved, 
 that it was to confer with the Mexican General. An 
 American squadron, in antici2Mtion of the war, had for 
 some time been stationed off Vera Cruz, and the very day 
 war tvas declared, " private and confidential"* orders were 
 sent to the commander not to obstruct the return of 
 Santa Anna to Mexico. The distinguished exile, it was 
 well-known, had wrongs to resent ; and it was no doubt 
 taken for granted, and perhaps expressly stipulated, that, 
 being indebted to Mr. Polk for the opportunity of wreak- 
 ing his vengeance, he would foment an insurrection, kindle 
 the flames of civil war, recover his former power, and 
 exercise it in concluding a peace with the United States, 
 
 * " United States Navy Department, 
 Maij 13th, 1846. 
 " Commodore. — If Santa Anna endeavors to enter the Mexican 
 ports, you will allow him to pass freely. 
 
 " Respectfully yours, 
 
 " GEORGE BANCROFT." 
 *• Commodore David Conner, 
 Commanding Home Squadron." 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 197 
 
 by the cession of California. He did return through 
 favor of Mr. Polk's order,* and, as was expected, effected 
 a revolution, and assumed the reins of Government ; and, 
 by his wonderful energy and perseverance in behalf of 
 his country, rebuked the artifice of the American Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 To aid in fomenting the civil dissensions which, it was 
 hoped, would result from Santa Anna's sudden appear- 
 ance in Mexico, General Taylor was required to distribute 
 a proclamation prepared for him at Washingtoii. In this 
 strange document, the General is made to tell the 
 Mexicans, " Your Goveniment is in the hands of tyrants 
 and usurpers. They have abolished your State Govern- 
 ments ; they have overthrown your Federal Constitution ; 
 they have deprived you of the right of suffi'age, destroyed 
 the liberty of the press, despoiled you of your arms, and 
 reduced you to a state of absolute dependence upon the 
 power of a military dictator. We come to obtain indem- 
 nity for the past, and security for the future. We come to 
 overthroiv the tyrants ivho have destroyed your liberties, but 
 we come to make no 2var iqjon the peo2')le of Mexico, nor 
 upon any form of free Government they may choose for 
 themselves. It is our wish to see you liberated from 
 despots, to drive back the savage Camanches, to prevent 
 the renewal of their assaults, and to compel them to restore 
 to you from captivity your long-lost wices and children .^" 
 Not satisfied with forcing General Taylor to distribute this 
 mendacious proclamation as his own act, he was expressly 
 instructed (9th July, 1846), to pursue a course of deceit 
 and fraud. He was directed by the Secretary of Wai', 
 "to take occasions to send officers to the head -quarters of 
 the enemy for the military purposes real or ostcjisible 
 
 * Commodore Conner announcing to the Secretary of the 
 Navy the arrival of Santa Anna at Vera Cruz, added: "I 
 hare allowed him to enter Y\'ithout molestation." 
 17' 
 
198 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 which are of ordinary occurrence between armies, and in 
 which opportunity may be taken to speak of the war 
 itself as only carried on to obtain justice, and that we had 
 much rather procure that by negotiation than by fight- 
 ing." Here, we may observe, is an awkward admission, 
 that the war is not a defensive but an aggressive one. 
 Again : '' A discreet officer who understands Spanish, and 
 who can be employed in the intercourse so usual between 
 armies, can be your confidential agent on such occasions, 
 and can mask his real' under his ostensible object of 
 a military intei'view. You will readily comprehend 
 that in a country so divided into races, classes, and 
 parties as Mexico is, and with so many local divisions 
 among individuals, there must be great room for operating 
 on the minds and feelings of large portions of the inhabit- 
 ants, and inducing them to wish success to our invasion, 
 which has no desire to injure their country, and which, in 
 overthrowing their oppressors, may benefit themselves. 
 Between the Spaniards, who monopolize the wealth and 
 power of the country, and the mixed Indian race who 
 bear its burdens, there must be jealousy and animosity. 
 The same feelings must exist between the the lower and 
 higher orders of the clergij, the latter of whom have the 
 dignities and revenues, while the former have poverty and 
 labor. In all this field of division, in all these elements 
 of social, pohtical, personal and local discord, there must 
 be openings to reach the interests, passions, or principles, 
 of some of the parties, and thereby conciliate their good 
 will, and make them co-operators with us in bringing about 
 an honorable and a speedy peace. The management of 
 these delicate movements, are confided to your discretion." 
 
 There is no evidence that General Taylor ever engaged 
 in these " delicate movements." He bravely fought the 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 1^9 
 
 Mexicans ; but there is no reason to believe that he ever 
 condescended to corrupt them. 
 
 It v/as very true that Mr. Polk would rather acquire 
 territory by negotiation than by fighting; and hence 
 it was his aim to disqualify the Mexicans from fighting, by 
 promoting treason and rebellion ; and hence Taylor was 
 instructed to encourage the departments to declare them- 
 selves independent of the central Government. Hence 
 also Comm<^lore Sloat was instructed (June 8th, 1846), 
 " to encourage the people of that region (California), to 
 enter into relations of amity with our country." Hence, 
 General Kearney, four days after entering Santa Fe, 
 informed the inhabitants by proclamation (2 2d August, 
 1846), that it was the "wish and intention of the United 
 States, to provide for New Mexico a free Government, 
 with the least possible delay, similar to those in the United 
 States." He moreover required those who had in loyalty 
 to their country " left their homes, and taken arms 
 against the troops of the United States, to return forth- 
 with to them, or else they will be considered as enemies 
 and TRAITORS, subjecting their persons to punishment, and 
 their property to seizure and confiscation." But these 
 Mexicans who were to be punished as traitors for resisting 
 the invaders of their soil, owed the same allegiance to 
 their Go^'ernment, as the General did to his. To remove 
 this difficulty, the Brigadier assumed the prerogative once 
 exercised by the Papal See. " The undersigned," con- 
 tinued the proclamation, "hereby absolves all persons 
 residing within the boundary of New Mexico, from all 
 further allegiance to the Republic of Mexico, and hereby 
 claims them as citizens of the United States." 
 
 The absolution and the claim were of equal validity. 
 The General had been instructed to establish a tempe- 
 ra r}'- civil Government, " therein abolishing all arhitrmy re- 
 
200 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 strictions" and well knowing the ultimate purpose for which 
 his conquest was made, he ordained that the right of 
 suffrage in New Mexico, should be exercised by " every 
 free male,'' thus preparing the inhabitants for the arbitra- 
 ry restrictions of the peculiar institution to be hereafter 
 introduced. From Santa Fe, this gentleman proceeded 
 to California, and there again assumed the powers of the 
 Roman Pontiff and the American Congress. Addressing 
 the Californians in a proclamation of 1st Mafch, 1847, he 
 declares : " The undersigned, by these presents, absolves 
 all the inhabitants of California, of any further allegiance 
 to the Republic of Mexico, and regards them as citizens 
 OF THE United States." Not content with wielding the 
 attributes of ecclesiastical and civil sovereignty, he 
 assumes those of a prophet : " The stars and stripes now 
 float over Cahfornia ; and, as long as the sun shall shed 
 his light, they will continue to wave over her, and over 
 the natives of the country, and over those who shall seek 
 a domicile in her bosom ; and under the protection of this 
 flag, agriculture, must advance, and the arts and sciences 
 will flourish hke seed in a fertile soil. Americans and 
 Californians, form henceforth one people." 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 201 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 CONDirCT OF AMERICAN OFFICERS IN MEXICO. 
 
 War, being, always waged for the immediate purpose of 
 inflicting misery and death, necessarily calls into action 
 the malignant passions of our nature. It is impossible 
 that those who are contriving the ruin and death of their 
 enemies, should exercise towards them that love, and kind- 
 ness, and forgiveness enjoined by Christianity. Hence the 
 profession of arms has a strong tendency to blunt the sen- 
 sibiHties of the soldier, and to render him callous to the 
 sufferings of his victim. Military glory, which is the prize 
 that stimulates the ambition of the soldier, founded, as it 
 is upon his bravery, skill, and success in destroying his 
 enemy, and totally disconnected from all reference to the 
 justice of the cause in which his victories are achieved — 
 has necessarily an unhappy influence in perverting the 
 moral sense. In those qualities which twine the lam*el 
 around the brows of the warrior, there is no one element 
 of moral goodness ; nothing which has not been often ex- 
 hibited by the most depraved of mankind. It has been 
 well said, that when the soldier has vigorously assaulted 
 the enemy, when though repulsed he returns to the con- 
 flict, when being wounded he continues to brandish his 
 sword till his grasp relaxes in death, and he falls on the 
 field " covered with glory," he has attained to the moral 
 rank of a bull- dog. Hence the thirst for military fame, 
 by diverting the mind from the contemplation and pursuit 
 of objects really virtuous, renders the soldier peculiarly 
 
202 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 exposed to the allurements of vice. His ordinary life, 
 moreover, is on various accounts unfavorable to the culti- 
 vation of those benevolent and virtuous affections which 
 adorn and bless society. Banished from the softening 
 and humanizino: influences of domestic associations, exiled 
 from wife and children, Avithout otiier occupations than 
 the monotonous routine of the camp or the barrack, and 
 with no companions but such as are subjected to similar 
 privations, both his mind and his heart are left without 
 wholesome aliment. It is true that the army has had its 
 saints ; some good men have passed through its furnace 
 without the smell of fire on their garments, but the at- 
 tention excited by their wonderful deliverance attests the 
 greatness of the peril they escaped. 
 
 The officers of an army are, with few exceptions, far su- 
 perior in education and refinement to the privates, and are 
 therefore rarely guilty of that vulgar motiveless ferocity 
 which too often marks the conduct of the common sol- 
 dier. Nevertheless, it would be unreasonable to expect, 
 that their education and refinement should generally shield 
 their hearts from the indurating influence of their pro- 
 fession. 
 
 The foregoing remarks are, it is believed, foimded on 
 the acknowledged principles of human nature ; they are 
 most abundantly verified by all military history ; and the 
 conduct to which we will now call the attention of the 
 leader, proves that they are applicable to American, as 
 well as to other armies. 
 
 During the horrible bombardment of Vera Cruz, and 
 after a day of indiscriminate slaughter of men, women, 
 and children, the French, Spanish, and English Consuls in 
 the city, addressed on the evening of the 24th March, 
 184Y, ajoint note to General Scott asking a suspension 
 of hostilities for a time " sufficient to enable their respec- 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 203 
 
 tive compatriots to leave the place Avith their women and 
 children, as well as the Mexican women and children." 
 IIow far the emergency of the case justified this applica- 
 tion, may be learned from the report of the chief of the 
 artillery, made the same evening to the General — " We 
 have been restrained from the want of shells from throw- 
 ing more than one every Jive minutes during the day ;" he 
 adds that a full supply would be sent to the batteries that 
 night for the ensuing day. The next day the 25th, Gene- 
 ral Scott sent to the consuls a peremptory refusal of 
 their request — the neutrals might have left the place 
 previous to the bombardment ; and as to the Mexican 
 women and children, his summons to the city had been 
 disregarded, and now no truce would be allowed apart 
 from surrender. Some excuse for this stern denial of 
 mercy to foreigners, and to innocent women and children, 
 might have been found if the capture of the city would 
 have been hazarded by the intermission for a few^ hours of 
 the fiery deluge which was overwhelming it. But Scott 
 well knew that he had it in his power to reduce the whole 
 city to one mass of ruins. So also, had a reinforcement 
 of Mexicans been approaching, a motive would have exist- 
 ed for compeUing a surrender before their arrival ; but 
 the beleaguered city had no hopes of relief, and the posi- 
 tion and force of the American army precluded the possi- 
 bihty of succor. Scott's army, moreover, were so safely 
 ensconced in their entrenchments, that he had no reason 
 to fear, that the boon that was asked would prove inju- 
 rious to the assailants ; since in his operations against the 
 castle and city, his total loss, out of 10,000 men, did not 
 exceed sixty-five killed and wounded. Before replying 
 to the Consuls, he wrote to the Secretary of War the same 
 
 day, " ALL THE BATTERIES ARE IN AWFUL ACTIVITY this 
 
 morning. Tlie effect is no doubt very great, and I think 
 
204 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 tlie city cannot hold out beyond to-day.'" Hence, by his 
 own confession, and by the fact that the city did surren- 
 der on the 26th, the slaughter of women and children oc- 
 casioned by the awful activity of his batteries during the 
 whole of the 25th, there being then a "full supply" of 
 shells, was utterly unnecessary. To the horrors of this 
 bombardment we may advert hereafter, and at present 
 only offer the following as a commentarj^ on General 
 Scott's refusal : "I heard a great many heart-rending 
 tales which were told by the survivors with breaking 
 hearts ; but I have neither the inclination nor the tim« 
 to repeat them. One, however, I will name. A French 
 family were quietly seated in their parlor the evening 
 (night of the 25th), previous to the hoisting the white flag, 
 when a shell from one of our mortars penetrated the 
 building, and exploded in the room, kilhng the mother 
 AND FOUR CHILDREN, and womidiug the residue."* 
 
 Truly, indeed, said Sir Harry Smith, in a speech at a 
 late military dinner in London, "It must be confessed, 
 gentlemen, that ours is a damnable profession." 
 
 The refusal of General Taylor to accede to the request 
 of the Mexican General for an armistice, before he knew 
 that either Government had recognized the war he had 
 commenced, has been already mentioned. During the 
 attack on Montere}^ the Governor sent a flag of truce to 
 the General, stating that "thousands of victims who, from 
 indigence and want, find themselves nov/ in the theatre of 
 war, and who would be uselessly sacrificed, claim the rights 
 which, in all times and in all countries, humanity extends.'* 
 He asked that orders might be given that families might 
 be respected, or else that a_ reasonable time might be 
 granted them to leave the city. The General refused to 
 permit any to leave the city ; and, hoAvever much we may 
 
 * Letter published in the Alton Telegraph. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 205 
 
 lament his decision, it must be acknowledged, tliat owing 
 to the circumstances in which he was placed, his refusal is 
 not open to the same animadvei'sions as that of Scott. 
 
 It is an impulse of our nature to regard scenes of suf- 
 fering and of cruelty "with aversion ; but war, by the im- 
 portance it attaches to victory, renders such scenes sources 
 of pleasure, when their subjects are enemies. General 
 Lane, in his despatch (22d October, 1847), thus describes 
 his night attack upon AlUxco : " I ordered the artillery 
 to be posted on a hill near the town, and overlooking it, 
 and open its fire. Now ensued one of the most beautiful 
 sights conceivable. Every gun was served with the utmost 
 rapidity, and the crash of the walls and the roofs of the 
 houses when struck by our shot and shells, was mingled 
 with the roar of our artillery. The bright light of the 
 moon enabled us to direct our shots to the most thickly 
 populated part of the town." 
 
 This beautiful scene, so gratifying to the taste of Gene- 
 ral Lane, was most horrible to the inhabitants of this little 
 town. The morning sun beheld, amid the ruined dwel- 
 lings and encumbered streets, two hundred and nineteen 
 mangled corpses, while three hundred of its men, women, 
 and children, were suffering from wounds. " After 
 searching the next morning," says the General, with won- 
 derful coolness, " for arms and ammunition, and disposing 
 of what was found, I commenced my return." As he 
 makes no other allusion to the result of his search, we in- 
 fer he had no reason to be proud of the trophies acquired 
 by this beautiful moonlight massacre. 
 
 Several of the general orders, issued by American offi- 
 cers in Mexico, are palpably unjust, and exhibit a painful 
 disregard for human life. Of this nature is the following 
 given by Colonel Gates at Tampico, Nov. 29, 1847 : "As 
 the guerilleros or armed enemies are employed by orders 
 18 
 
206 REVIEW OF THE ilEXiCAN WAR. 
 
 to rob all persons who may be engaged in the lawful pur- 
 pose of trading with the inhabitants of this town, instruc- 
 tions have been given to all officers of the United States 
 army or navy within this department, to take or kill every 
 person of that character found so employed against the 
 peace of the community." Tampico ^vas occupied by a 
 detachment of the invading army. For Mexicans to sup- 
 ply the place, while so occupied, with provisions and 
 the necessaries of life, would indeed be doing what Mr. 
 Polk charged upon the Whigs, " giving aid and comfort to 
 the enemy." The guerillas, or armed militia, had there- 
 fore a perfect right by the law^s of war to seize and con- 
 fiscate all supplies on their way to the enemy. It was 
 doing no more than was constantly done by the Ameri- 
 cans in the Revolution, when their cities were occupied by 
 the invader. These " armed enemies" might indeed be 
 killed in battle ; but Colonel Gates's order has no refer- 
 ence to Jightmg. In the plenitude of his powder, he gives 
 every naval and mihtary officer the option of capturing or 
 slaying any armed Mexican who may be found attempting 
 to intercept supplies for Tampico. 
 
 Unhappily the conduct of Colonel Gates was sanctioned 
 by high authority. The Commander-in-Chief, seated in 
 the conquered Capital of .the Repubhc, issued an order on 
 the 12th December, 1847, wliich adds no honor to his 
 character as a man or a soldier. The baggage trains of 
 the army had often been attacked by guerillas, in the long- 
 route between Vera Cruz and the city of Mexico, and 
 the General now attempted to keep open his communica- 
 tion with Yera Cruz, from wliich place alone he could 
 receive ammunition, &c., by a system of severity towards 
 those who had scarcely any other method left of annoying 
 the invaders. The preamble to his order betrays not only 
 his object, but his consciousness that some apology was 
 
REVIEW OF THE iMEXICAN WAR. 207 
 
 needed for his sanguinaiy decree. " The highways used, 
 or about to be used by the American troops, being still 
 infested in many parts by those atrocious bands called 
 guerillas and rancheros who, under instructions from the 
 late Mexltan authorities, continue to violate every rule of 
 warfare observed by civilized nations, it has become neces- 
 sary to announce to all, the view^s and instructions of 
 General Head Quarters on the subject." We are then 
 informed, " No quarter will be given to known murderers 
 or robbers, Avheilier guerillas or rancheros, and whether 
 serving under Mexican commissions or not." Offenders of 
 this character " accidentally falling into the hands of Ame- 
 rican troops, will be momentarily held as prisoners, that 
 is, not put to death without due solemnity." This due 
 solemnit}^ is to be the sentence of three or more officers 
 who are to sentence to death or lashes, on proof that the 
 prisoner belonged to any gang of murderers or robbers, 
 or had mui'dered or robbed any one belonging to or fol- 
 lowing the American army. By murder, is here obviously 
 meant, killing any of the guard accompanying a baggage 
 train, and by robbery, carrying away any property belong- 
 to the enemies of Mexico. 
 
 The vigor displayed in these orders by " General Head 
 Quarters" was far surpassed hy one of his subalterns. 
 Colonel Hughes, civil and military Governor of Jalapa, on 
 the 10th December, 1847, issued the following order, viz: 
 ■' All persons Avho may in any loay atternidt to prevent 
 . supphes from reaching this port, will be sent to a military 
 Commission for trial, and if convicted of that offence, will 
 be SHOT." Here we find a capital offence which is not 
 alleged to be either robbery or murder. Any Mexican, 
 priest or layman, who by persuasion or force, or in any 
 other way, attempts to prevent his countrymen from com- 
 mitting the Clime of furnishing supphes to the enemy, is to 
 
208 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 be SHOT — to be put to death in cool blood by American 
 soldiers, at tlie command of an American officer ! We 
 greatly doubt whether the history of modern warfare re- 
 cords an order so utterly at variance with the plainest dic- 
 tates of patriotism, justice, and humanity. 
 
 We now turn to another melancholy but forcible illus- 
 tration of the remarks in the commencement of this chap- 
 ter. A laro^e number of Irish emifyrants to the United 
 States bore arms in the invading army. These men were, 
 of course, mere mercenaiies. They fought, as others of 
 their countrymen have labored on our canals and rail- 
 roads, for money. They knew and cared nothing about 
 the claims of " our much-injured citizens," nor did they 
 trouble themselves about " our western boundary." On 
 reaching I^Iexico, they discovered that they had been hired 
 by heretics to slaughter brethren of their own church. 
 The Mexicans, moreover, published appeals addressed 
 directly to their consciences, in which was set forth, in 
 strong language, the sin they were committing in fighting 
 against men who had never injured them, and who were 
 united with them in a common faith ; and liberal offers 
 were made of land and money, if they vrould abandon the 
 American standard. A portion of the emigrants accepted 
 the invitation ; and it is* reasonable to suppose that they 
 ivere influenced both by religious and by pecuniary mo- 
 tives. Upwards of fifty of these men were taken prisoners 
 m battle. They had unquestionably committed a crime in 
 violating their pledged fiiith, and by the ordinary rules of 
 war, were justly liable to punishment. A few of these 
 men escaped death on account of some technical objec- 
 tions, and a few others on account of some unspecified 
 mitigating circumstances ; but a general order of the 22d 
 of September, 184*7, contained the appalling announce- 
 ment : " After every effort of the General-in-Chief to save, 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 209 
 
 by judicious discrimination, as many of these miserable con- 
 victs as possible, fifty of them have paid for their trea- 
 chery by an ignominious death upon the gallows." 
 
 We have here a most extraordinary confession. The 
 Commander of a victorious army acknowledges his inabihty 
 to rescue from death one of these fifty men. Insiimces 
 have occurred of whole regiments going over to the enemy 
 on the field of battle. In such a case would General Scott 
 feel himself constrained to hano- a thousand men, if acrain in 
 his power ? Was he ignorant, that where large numbers 
 had rendered themselves amenable to punishment, where 
 policy demanded an example, and where humanity forbade 
 a general slaughter, others had resorted to decimation and 
 the lot ? The death of five or ten of these men, and the 
 corporal punishment of the rest, would have answered the 
 sternest demands of military policy. It seems that the 
 execution of thirty out of the fifty was intrusted to a 
 Colonel Harney. According to the newspapers, he had 
 them brought out with halters around their necks, and 
 arrancred them under one common o-ibbet in sig^ht of 
 the Mexican fortress of Chepultepec, which the American 
 troops were about to storm. He then told them that they 
 should five till they saw the American flag raised upon 
 the battlements. The fortress was carried, the flag at 
 last appeared, and the doomed men expired. Tliis act of 
 Harney's has been characterized by a foreign writer, as ** a 
 refinement of cruelty, and a fiendish prolongation at once 
 of the ecstacies of revenge and the agonies of despair." 
 
 Desertion is a crime wliich, in military ethics, it is law- 
 ful for each pai-ty to encourage and reward in the other, 
 but to denounce as atrocious, and to punish with death, 
 when committed against itself. General Scott, in his 
 orders, spoke of the Irish deserters as " deluded wretches 
 — miserable convicts," Says the corresj}ondent of thC; 
 18* 
 
210 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 Neiu Orleans- Picayune, "The clergy of San Angei 
 .pleaded hard to save the lives of these men, but in vain. 
 General Twiggs told them that to x\mpudia, xYrista,__and 
 Santa Anna did these men owe their deaths, for they 
 stooped to the low business of soliciting desertion from 
 our ranks, and had succeeded in seducing from duty and 
 allegiance the poor wretches who had to pay so dearly 
 for tlieir crimes." This was in September. On the 13th 
 of the 7iext month, we have an official despatch to General 
 Scott, from Colonel Childs, dated at Puebhi, in which he 
 says, " T should be unjust to myself, and the Spy Com- 
 pany under Captain Pedro Aria, if I did not call the 
 attention of the General-in-Chief to their invaluable ser- 
 vices. From them I received the most accurate informa- 
 tion of the movements of the enemy, and the designs of 
 the citizens ; through them I was enabled to apprehend 
 several officers and citizens in their nightly meetings, to 
 consummate their plans for raising the populace. The 
 Spy Com^M\j fought gallantly, and are now so compro- 
 mised, that they must leave tlie country when our army 
 retires." Says the Neio Orleans Picayune, " The Mexi- 
 can Spy Company is described as a rough-looking set of 
 men. They fight with ropes about their necks, as the 
 saying is, and therefore they fight gallantly. We under- 
 stand that we have altogether about 450 of this descrip- 
 tion of men in our pay." Thus it appears, we had in our 
 army a corps of Mexican scoundrels — and, as the news- 
 papers state, organized and taken into pay by order of 
 General Scott himself. These men joined the invaders of 
 their native land — -betrayed their fellow-citizens into the 
 hands of a foreign enemy — went with that enemy into the 
 battle, and gallantly aided them in slaughtering their 
 neighbors and countrymen, and all this for pay ! " They 
 fight with ropes about their necks." Should any of them 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR, 211 
 
 be hereafter suspended by these ropes, may they not 
 be told that they o-n^e their death to the General, who 
 " stooped to the low business of seducing them from duty 
 and allegiance?" Fifty Irish deserters are hanged as 
 miserable convicts ; but a gang of 450 Mexican spies, 
 traitors, and murderers, are recommended by an American 
 Colonel to the attention of the Commander-in-Chief, for 
 their "invaluable services." Such are the honor and mo- 
 rality of war. 
 
 In May, 1848, during the armistice, and while negoti- 
 ations for peace were pending, a party of American 
 officers and soldiers, ten in number, were arrested for 
 the crime of burglaiy and murder, committed in the city 
 of Mexico. It was probably owing to the peculiarly dis- 
 graceful character of the outrage, and its perpetration 
 during a suspension of hostihties, that it was deemed ex- 
 pedient to institute a judicial inquiry. Four lieutenants, 
 two corporals, and one private were tried and convicted 
 by a court-martial, and sentenced to be hung. A fifth 
 officer " belonging to one of the old infantry regiments," 
 is said to have been implicated in the affair, but he eluded 
 arrest. On the conclusion of the peace, all the culprits 
 were pardoned by the commanding officer, and set at 
 hberty. It is not surprising that so large an assembly of 
 men as an army, should include some thieves and murder- 
 ers. This case is important only because, with multitudes 
 of others, it tends to dispel the popular illusion, that there 
 is some mysterious undefined connection between gallantry 
 and honor, and that a brave soldier must be both honest 
 and merciful. One of these four officers was, it seems, a 
 graduate of the West Point military academy ; and of 
 another, a newspaper says, " It is a fact worthy of notice, 
 that Lieutenant Hare was one of the most valiant spirits 
 of the army, during ' the battles of the valley,' and that 
 
212 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 on account of his unconquerable courage, he was selected 
 by the commanding officer to command one of the * forlorn 
 hopes,' at the storming of the Castle of Chapultepec. 
 He was allowed to select fifteen men to accompany him. 
 and out of these fifteen, onl,^^ five escaped the deadly fire 
 of the enemy ; and the Lieutenant conducted himself 
 throughout with the utmost coolness and high-toned 
 courage," And yet his brother-officers who composed the 
 court-martial, adjudged him to be a thief and a mur- 
 derer. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR 213 
 
 CHAPTER XX VII I. 
 
 THE AMERICAN ARMY IN MEXICO. 
 
 The remarks already made respecting the general im- 
 moral tendency of the .military profession, are of course 
 more peculiarly applicable to the rank and file of an 
 arm3^ A prudent, intelligent, industrious, pious recruit 
 is a prodigy. The great mass of all armies, it is well 
 known, is collected from the ignorant, reckless, and 
 vicious. When such men are brought into close contact 
 with each otlier, and at the same time removed from the 
 restraining influences of domestic life and social observa- 
 tion, their vicious propensities are of course strengthened 
 by mutual example and countenance. Discipline may 
 prevent the commission of some gross crimes, but can in 
 no degree improve, or even guard the moral character. 
 
 If it be, indeed, true, that the profession of a soldier is 
 peculiarly hazardous to his well-being, exposing him and 
 those within his influence, to crime in this world, and to 
 misery in the next, we discover a new item of the awful 
 responsibility which rests upon those who involve their 
 country in war. In our contest with Mexico, 80,000 or 
 more Americans, and probably three times as many Mexi- 
 cans, have been exposed to the moral and physical inju- 
 ries of military service. Could we follow the survivors 
 on their return to their homes, what a mass of wretched- 
 ness should we discover, caused by the habits they had 
 acquired, and the moral contamination of their example. 
 All experience bears witness to the fidelity of the picture 
 drawn long since, of the discharged recruit, who 
 
214 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 " His three years of lierosliip expired, 
 
 Returns indignant to the slighted plough. 
 He hates the field in which no fife or drum 
 Attends him ; — drives his cattle to a march. 
 And sighs for the smart comrades he has left. 
 'Twere well, if his external change were all ; 
 But with his clumsy port, the wretch has lost 
 His ignorance and harmless manners too. 
 To swear, to game, to drink, to show at home 
 By lewdness, idleness, and Sabbath-breach, 
 The great proficiency he has made abroad : 
 To astonish and to grieve his gazing friends ; 
 Td break some maiden's and his mother's heart-^ 
 To be a pest, where he was useful once. 
 Are his sole aim, and all his glory now." 
 
 There is little reason for believing that Ameiican 
 soldiers are more or less addicted than others to vice 
 and outrage. The conduct of the soldier is governed 
 more by discipline than by national character. A large 
 portion of the American force in Mexico consisted of a 
 class improperly called volunteers, since, where there is no 
 conscription, every enlistment is voluntary. These volun- 
 teers, being enlisted for a short period, and being permit- 
 ted to choose their officers, their discipline was probably 
 less perfect than that of the regular army ; and hence it 
 is, that the journals of the day have teemed with accounts 
 of their atrocities. 
 
 Of the 50,000 volunteers called into service, none per- 
 haps have afforded a more instructive commentary on 
 military patriotism and morality than the Massachusetts 
 Regiment. These men belonged to a State surpassed by 
 none for the intelligence, industiy, and orderly deport- 
 ment of its citizens. They had, moreover, responded to 
 the official assurance of the Governor of the State, that it 
 was the dictate of patriotism and humanity to save blood 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 215 
 
 and money by voUmteeriiig to slioot Mexicans.^' Passing 
 by, therefore, the conduct of volunteers from other States, 
 we shall confine our notice to these reputed descendants 
 of tlie Puritans. j" Although nothing has been heard of 
 their martial achievements, a few extracts from the jour- 
 nals of the day will prove that they have attracted a 
 large share of the public attention. 
 
 " For some days past, a strife has existed between a 
 portion of the officers of the Massachusetts Regiment 
 on the one side, and nearly all the privates on the other. 
 That eternal disturber of order, John Barleycorn, * stirred 
 up the muss.' Tlie officers alleged that the privates 
 drank to intoxication, became disorderly and unfit for 
 duty ; and to put a stop to the evil, they advised closing 
 the coflPee-houses. The privates, on the other hand, say 
 they drank to no greater excess than did the officers in 
 question. The war thus commenced raged fiercely with 
 various success. At one time, we thought the men de- 
 feated, from the number of prisoners we saw marched 
 off ; but they managed to escape, and in turn swung up 
 the leader of their enemies as high as Haman — i. e., his 
 effigy. The guards were dismissed from the postern, the 
 defences put up to keep out the Mexicans, levelled to the 
 earth, and the deuce played generally." — Metamoras Flag. 
 
 ** Major Abbott, by sundry acts, has made himself 
 
 • *' Whatever," says the Proclamation calling for volunteers, 
 " may be the difference of opinion as to the origin or necessity 
 of the war, the constitutional authorities of the country have 
 declared that war witli a foreign country does exist. It is alike 
 the dictate of patriotism and humanity, that every means 
 honorable to ourselves and just to our enemy should be emplo}'- 
 ed to bring said war to a speedy and successful termination, 
 and tlius ahhreviate its calamities and save the sacrifice of human life 
 and the wasting of public treasures. " The best comment we 
 can make on the logic and morality of this gubernatorial dictum 
 is to exhibit the character of the men who obeyed the dictates of 
 patriotism and humanity, as officially explained 
 
 t The author deems it just to say, that he has heard it assert- 
 ed that many of these volunteers were foreigners. 
 
216 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN V.'AR 
 
 odious among the Americans in this place. They hoot 
 him Avhenever he passes them, and last night they went 
 so far as to hang him in effigy. He had three privates 
 whipped last mghC -^-Letter from Aletamor as, iV. 0. Bee. 
 
 " Escaped. — The Massachusetts Volunteer, who 
 some week or two since stabbed to death with a bayonet 
 the partner of Mr, Sinclair of our city, because he refused 
 to give hini what he had not — a glass of intoxicating fluid 
 — escaped from the guard-house a few nights since. It 
 is thouglit the sentinels on duty permitted him to escape." 
 — Metamoras Flag. 
 
 Another paper mentions that three Massachusetts 
 Volunteers had deserted, and a fourth had been march- 
 ed through the streets of Metamoras encased in a whisky 
 cask with the word " drunkard" written on it. 
 
 The New Orleans Delta announces the arrival at that 
 city of " a select lot of murderers, thieves, and Villains of 
 every dye," sent home by order of General Taylor, includ- 
 ing " three Massachusetts Volunteers." 
 
 "Another Manly Act. — On Wednesday evening last, 
 after nightfall, several Massachusetts Volunteers enter- 
 ed the dwelling of a Mexican near the Upper Plaza, and 
 demanded whisky. A female who officiated remarked 
 that she kept nothing but beer. After some remonstrance, 
 one of the gentlemen drew a ba3'onet, Avhich he wore in 
 his belt, and stabbed the woman to the heart." — Meta- 
 moras Flag. ., 
 
 It appears from the report of the Secretary of War,* 
 that the deserters from this regiment, up to 3 1st Dec, 
 184'7, numbered 105. 
 
 " Head Quarters, Vera Cruz, 15th October, 1846. 
 
 " The following named men {sixty -Jive in number) of 
 1st Regiment Massachusetts Infantr}^ being incorrigibly 
 
 * Ex. Doc, 1st Sess., oOtli Cong., No. 62, p. 72. 
 
REVIEW OF I'HE MEXICAN WAR. 21 Y 
 
 mutinous and insubordinate, will of course prove cowards 
 in the hour of danger, and they cannot of course be per- 
 mitted to march with the column«.of the army. They are 
 disarmed and detached from the Regiment, and will re- 
 port to Brevet Major Bachus, for such duty in the Castle 
 of San Juan De Ulloa, as may be performed by soldiers 
 who are found unworthy to carry arms, and are a dis- 
 grace and a nuisance to the army. 
 
 " By order of Brig. Gen. Gushing." 
 
 The follo^\ing notices of these men, on their return, are 
 caken from the periodicals of the day. A Boston paper 
 says : " More than one-third of these, though never in a 
 battle, were dead or missing before their return." The 
 Editor of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, through 
 which city they passed, says : " We spent some hours in 
 conversatioi! with these poor fellows, endeavoring to un- 
 derstand the meaning of such overwhelming squalor, 
 want, and misery ; for we do not exaggerate when we 
 say, that we never beheld its parallel except at the Irish 
 emigrant sheds in Canada last summer. The condition of 
 these poor creatures was outrageously offensive to every 
 human sense, as well physical as moral.'" Another editor, 
 after their arrival in Boston, remarked : " A more pitiable 
 set of human beings we scarcely ever saw — with unshaven 
 beards, unshorn hair, ragged and dirty clothes of all 
 shapes, fashions, colors, and conditions, pale and sunken 
 faces, and a careless, unambitious saunter. They were 
 truly objects of pity." A Boston editor, after visiting 
 their quarters, exclaims: '-We must confess that the 
 condition of the men struck us with astonishment ; it was 
 wretched beyond conception. Rags and dut were to be 
 seen in abundance. Scarcely a man had a whole pair of 
 pantaloons on, and none a second shirt. Without any 
 19 
 
218 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 offence to the soldiers, we must candidly confess, they are 
 not fit to be seen in the streets of Boston." 
 
 To form a comprehensive view of the evils of war, and 
 of the tremendous responsibility of those who commence 
 it, we must consider its various and complicated assaults 
 upon human happiness and virtue. The miseries we have 
 inflicted upon ^lexico will form the subject of a future 
 chapter. We will now advert to the retributive justice 
 thus far meted out to the immediate agents by whom 
 those miseries have been inflicted. 
 
 The groans of the conquerors themselves are usually 
 drowned in the shouts of victory, and the glare of the 
 illumination fails to reveal the horrors of the battle-field, 
 or the more prolonged agonies of the hospital. Eighty 
 thousand American soldiers, abandoning tlie comforts of 
 home and the pursuits of ordinary life, have been sub- 
 jected to all the privations, suff"erings, and evil influences 
 of military service in a foreign land. When we recollect 
 their long marches, some of them of a thousand miles 
 Tinder a burmng sun, and not unfrequently exposed to the 
 deadly vomito, we may readily believe that many lives 
 have been lost through disease and casualties as well as 
 in battle. Owing to the imbecility and ignorance of the 
 Mexicans, the American loss in the field has been aston- 
 ishingly small, not exceeding 5000 in killed and wounded 
 in twenty-eight battles, as appears from official reports. 
 But who can count the number who have died in military 
 hospitals, and of others who. worn down by disease and 
 vice, have found a premature grave in their own country ? 
 From very partial reports from some of our military hos- 
 pitals in Mexico, it appears that the deaths exceed those 
 that occurred on the field of battle. 
 
 A iSIew Orleans paper, noticing the return of the Ten- 
 Regiment to that city, remarks : " Just one year 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 219 
 
 ago there passed through our streets as noble and splen- 
 did a body of men as ever went forth to battle. They 
 were about nine hundred strong. On Friday last, the 
 whole of this gallant regiment arrived in our city. It 
 numbers just three hundred and fifty — about one -third 
 the force with which it left ; and this loss it has sustained 
 in a twelve months' campaign ! It has lost on an average 
 fifty men a-month." 
 
 Of the Second Regiment of Mississippi Rifles, one hun- 
 dred and sixty-seven died of disease. Said Mr. Hudson 
 in Congress : " Our late associate. Colonel Baker, declared 
 in his speech on this floor, that of his regiment about one 
 hundred had left their bones in the Valley of the Rio 
 Grande, and that about two hundred more, worn down 
 by hardships, and emaciated by disease, had been dis- 
 missed to perish by the way, or to find their graves with 
 their friends at home ; that all this mortality had taken 
 place in about six months, and that this regiment had 
 never seen the foe. He also infoi'med us, that what was 
 true of his regiment was generally true of other regiments 
 of volunteers. We are informed by the answer of the 
 Adjutant- General to a resolution of this House, that in a 
 period of from sixty to ninety days after the volunteers 
 had joined the array in the field, their numbers Were re- 
 duced by disease six hundred and thirty-seven, and by 
 discharges, in consequence of sickness and disability, be- 
 tween two and three thousand. This estimate does not 
 include the sick which remain with the army.'' * 
 
 " I call the attention of this body and of the country to 
 the immense sacrifice of human life now making to carry 
 on this war. The official' documents before us show that 
 twenty-three thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight 
 
 • Speech. Feb. 13, 1847. App. to Cong. Globe, p. 869. 
 
220 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 officers and men entered the service during the first 
 eight months of this war ; that fifteen thousand four hun- 
 dred and eighty-six remained in service at the close of 
 that time; that three hundred and thirty-one had de- 
 serted ; that two thousand two hundred and two had 
 been discharged, leaving five thousand nine hundred 
 AND nineteen unaccouuted for,"* 
 
 The Rev. Mr. McCarty,.a chaplain in the army, wrote 
 from the city of Mexico: "I have now in the regular 
 army eleven hospitals to visit, with one in the Quarter- 
 master's department, which requires a great deal of my 
 time. The number on the sick report in this city exceeds 
 three thousand men !" " We all know,"' said Mr. R. John- 
 son in the Senate, '' that at the commencement of the last 
 Session of Congress, there were actually buried on the 
 banks of the Rio Grande, of those who had died of 
 disease, twenty-five hundred men."f Col. Childs, in his 
 official report, 13th Oct., 1847, states that on taking com- 
 mand of Puebla, the hospitals were "filled v/ith 1,800 
 sick." A New Orleans paper, noticing the return of the 
 3d and 4th Tennessee regiments, says that they lost 360 
 by death, although neither regiment had been in action. 
 The same paper declares, that of 419 men composing the 
 Georgia battahon, 220 died in Mexico. 
 
 We could fill sheets v/ith extracts from the public jour- 
 nals, giving mournful details of the ravages of disease in 
 our Mexican army. Let the following from a southern 
 paper, and an advocate for the war, suffice. " At Perote 
 there were 2,G00 American graves, all victims of disease, 
 and at the city of Mexico the deaths were most of the 
 time 1,000 a- month. The first regiment that went out 
 from Mississippi buried 155 men on the banks of the Rio 
 
 * Speech of Mr. Giddings, Feb. 3, 1847. Cong. Globe, p. 405 
 t Cong. Globe, Dec. 80, 1847. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 221 
 
 Grande before it went into battle, and finally brought back 
 less than half of its number. Two regiments from Penn- 
 sylvania went out 1,800 strong, and came home with 
 about 600. Two regiments from Tennessee without be- 
 ing in any battle, lost 300 men. Capt. Naylor, of Penn- 
 sylvania, took down a company of 104 men, and brought 
 back 17. He went into the battle of Contreras with 33, 
 and came out of it with 19. But the most frightful in- 
 ' stance of mortality was in the Georgia battalion. It went 
 to Mexico 419 strong ; about 230 actually died ; a large 
 number were discharged with ruined constitutions, many 
 of them doubtless gone long since to their graves, and 
 thus the battalion was reduced to 34 men fit for duty ! 
 On one parade when a certain company, once mustering 
 more than 100 men, was called, the call vras answered by 
 a single private, its only living representative. From offi- 
 cers of many other regiments we have received details 
 very similar to the above, which may be taken as a pretty 
 fair average of the losses in the volunteer remments — the 
 
 o o 
 
 regulars did not sufi'er to the same extent." 
 
 Mr. Clay in a public speech, estimated the loss of our 
 countrymen in the first eighteen months of the war as 
 equal to one half the whole loss sustained in our seven 
 years' revolutionary struggle ! 
 
 Mr. Calhoun declared on the floor of Congress that 
 the mortality of our troops could not be less than twenty 
 per cent. 
 
 If then we estimate the total mortality of our troops 
 including those slain and such as afterwards died of their 
 wounds, and those who have expired in Mexico and at 
 home of diseases contracted in camp, at twenty thol'- 
 sand, we shall be in httle danger of exaggerating the 
 amount. If we next turn our regards to the wives and 
 children and relatives of these twenty thousand, we find 
 19* 
 
233 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 a still expanding multitude upon wliom the war has 
 brought lamentation and woe. 
 
 Once more follow in imagination the survivors, on their 
 return home. Mark the germinating seeds of moral and 
 physical disease implanted by war in their constitutions, 
 and about to b^ar bitter and deadly fruits. 
 
 In that approaching day when the Judge of quick and 
 dead shall make inquisition for blood, those who have kin- 
 dled the flames of war, will be called to justify the num- 
 berless and immeasurable evils both spiritual and tempo- 
 ral they have inflicted upon their fellow-men, upon their 
 enemies as well as upon their own countrymen. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 223 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 SUFFERINGS INFLICTED ON MEXICO BY THE WAR. 
 
 The extreme feebleness of Mexico, arising from the io^no- 
 ranee and superstition of her inhabitants, was aggravated 
 by the vast extent of her territories. This great extent, 
 by rendering it difficult to collect a formidable force at 
 any extreme point, rendered her whole frontier accessible 
 to the invader. In about four months after the com- 
 mencement of hostihties northern Mexico, from Tampico 
 on the Atlantic to St. Diego on the Pacific, was a con- 
 quered country. 
 
 The smallness of the forces by which the various con- 
 quests were effected, attests the helplessness of the Mexi- 
 cans, and the vigor of their enemies. In a little more 
 than twelve months, the American standard waved over 
 the famous castle of Vera Cruz, and the capital of the 
 Repubhc was garrisoned by American troops. From 
 that capital a corps of one thousand men could probably 
 have traversed the Republic in every direction, through a 
 hostile, but almost unresisting population. After the cap- 
 ture of Thornton's party, which General Taylor announced 
 as the commencement of hostihties, not a battle, not a 
 skirmish occurred in ^hich the Mexicans were not de- 
 feated, no matter how vast their superiority in numbers. 
 The ancient promise, " ten shall chase a thousand," seem- 
 ed to be verified in the marvellous success of the Ameri- 
 can arms.* In ordinary cases, an invading army is neces- 
 
 * In the battle of Brazito, the American force under Col. 
 Doniphan was less than five hundred ; that of the enemy, 1200 
 
224 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 sarily confined to a narrow track, and is restrained by fear' 
 of the enemy from dividing itself into detachments. But 
 the unhappy Mexicans found the invaders spreading them- 
 selves over the country in every direction, and small par- 
 ties taking possession of populous towns. We may easily 
 imagine the innumerable and horrible insults and excesses 
 endured by the Mexicans, from a victorious and scornful 
 enemy, conscious alike of his power and his impunity, and 
 far removed from the restraint, however feeble, of pubHc 
 opinion. 
 
 Unaware of the vast superiority of their enemy in all 
 the dread machinery of war, the Mexicans unhappily ha- 
 zarded the bombardment of Vera Cruz. Three thousand 
 shells, each weighing ninety pounds were, it is said, thrown 
 into that devoted city, besides about the same number of 
 round shot. For more than three days did this horrible 
 tenfipest beat upon Vera Cruz. " The darkness of the 
 night was illuminated with the blazing shells circling 
 through the air. The roar of artillery, and the heavy fall 
 of descending shot, were heard through the streets of the 
 
 The Americans lost not a single man, and had but seven slightly 
 wounded ; the Mexicans were utterly routed, with a loss of 193 
 killed and wounded. 
 
 The result of the battle of Sacramento is thus described in an 
 of&cial report : " The first shadows cast by the moon, found the 
 American army camped upon the battle-field, after having in a 
 contest of four hours annihilated a force six times their number, 
 und driven the enemy from four positions of great natural 
 strength, fortified by thirty-six forts and redoubts, having 
 taken four times their strength in artillery, the Avhole trans- 
 portation, food, and ammunition of the^Iexicans, and performed 
 a march of- twenty miles without water." Col. Doniphan tells 
 us, " The field was literally covered with the dead and wounded 
 from our artillery, and the u.nerring fire of our riflemen. Night 
 put a stop to the carnage." The Mexicans had nineteen pieces 
 of cannon, and were sheltered by forts and redoubts, while tlie 
 Americans advanced to the attack on an open plain. The vic- 
 tors, in a fight of four hours, had one man killed, and eight 
 wounded. Triumphs over such enemies, afford little cause for 
 military pride. 
 
REVIEW OF THE 2,I£XICAN WAK. 225 
 
 besieged city. The roofs of buildings were on fire, the 
 domes of churches reverbeiated Avith fearful explo- 
 sions." 
 
 This splendid scene, and the consequences accompany- 
 ing it, must have been viewed with high satisfaction, by 
 
 " The foe to all happiness human." 
 
 An ofl&cer of the navy, in an account written a few days 
 after, says : " The bombardment lasted three days and a 
 half. The city was greatly injured, the shells and round 
 shot striking all over the town. One part near a small 
 battery was utterly destroyed ; and from the stench in the 
 neighborhood, at is to be feared that the bodies of very 
 many poor women and children, are buried in the ruins. 
 I was in the Governor's palace, a very fine building, 
 occupying one side of the Plaza, and was looking into a 
 very handsome room where it was evident a sliell had 
 struck, when a Mexican gentleman came up and offered to 
 show me over the house. I followed him, and directly we 
 came to what had evidently been a superb room, but then 
 almost entirely torn to pieces. He pointed to a place 
 beside the door which was blown out — " there," said he, 
 " sat a lady and her two children, they were killed by the 
 shell which has wrought the injury you see." 
 
 Another officer says, that during the bombardment, 
 " many of our officers at night crawled up close to the 
 walls to hear, and represented the screeching, crying, and 
 lament of the women and children, and wounded, as 
 being dreadful." 
 
 A visitor, immediately after the surrender, tells us : "A 
 shell struck the Charity Hospital where the sick inmates 
 were lying, and killed twenty-three." Says Mr. Kendall, 
 an eye-witness : " The city, or at. least the northern part 
 of it, has been torn all to pieces — the destruction is 
 
226 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 dreadful. It is impossible to get at the loss of the Mexi- 
 cans by the bombardment ; yet it is certain that loomen, 
 children, and non-combatants, have suffered the most. 
 The National Palace on the Plaza, had five shells burst 
 within it ; one of which, killed a woman and two children 
 lying asleep in the kitchen." 
 
 " I rode to the town," says another writer, " to see 
 what efiect our shells had on it. I was prepared to see 
 much destruction, but was perfectly amazed. The town 
 is oh its south-westerly side almost destroyed. The 
 citizens of Vera Cruz say, the bombs did the most 
 injury. They would fall on the houses, their weight 
 carrying them fi'om roof to cellar, and then burst, opening 
 the houses from top to bottom, and kilhng all within." 
 
 Mr. Hine, thus describes his visit, the dSj of the sur- 
 render. " Scarcely a house did I pass, that did not show 
 some great rent made by the bursting of our bomb-shells. 
 During my peregrinations, I came to a lofty and noble 
 mansion in which a terrible bomb had exploded, and laid 
 the whole front of the house in ruins. While I was exam- 
 ining the awful havoc created, a beautiful girl of some 
 seventeen came to tlie door, and invited me into the 
 house. She pointed to the furniture of the mansion torn 
 into fragments, and the piles of rubbish lying around, and 
 informed me, while her beautiful eyes filled with tears, 
 that the bomb had destroyed her father, mother, brother, 
 and two little sisters, and that she was now left in the 
 world alone ! 
 
 " During the afternoon, I visited the hdspital. Here 
 lay upon truckle-beds, the mangled creatures who had 
 been wounded during the bombardment. In one corner 
 was a poor decrepid, bed-ridden woman, her head white 
 with the sorrows of seventy years. One of her withered 
 arms had been blown off by a fragment of a shell. In 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 227 
 
 another place might be seen mangled creatures of both 
 sexes, bruised and disfigured by the falling of the houses, 
 and the bursting of shells. On the stone floor lay a little 
 child in a complete state of nudity, with one of its poor 
 legs cut off just above the knee ! Not even this abode of 
 wretchedness had been exempted from the accursed 
 scouro-e of war. A bomb had descended throuofh the 
 roof, and, after landing on the floor, exploded, sending 
 some twenty already mangled wretches, to the *' ' sleep ihbi 
 knows no waking.' " 
 
 The following is an extract from a Mexican account, 
 written amid the ruins of the city. " The enemv, in 
 accordance with his character, selected a barbarous mode 
 of assassinating the unoffending and defenceless citizens, 
 by a bombaiWment of the city in the most horrible man- 
 ner, thr'owing into it four thousand one hundred bombs, 
 and an innumerable number of balls of the largest size ; 
 directing his shots to the powder magazine, to the quarter 
 of hospitals of charity, to the hospitals for the wounded, 
 and to the points he set on fire, where it -was believed the 
 public authorities would assemble with persons to put it 
 out ; to the baker's houses designated by their chimneys, 
 and during the night raining over the entire city, bombs, 
 whose height v/as perfectly graduated with the time of 
 explosion, that they might ignite in falling, and thus cause 
 the maximum of destruction. His first victims were 
 women and children, followed by whole famihes, perishing 
 from the eff'ects of the explosions, or under the ruiiis of 
 their dwellings. 
 
 " At the second day of the bombardment, we were 
 without bread or meat, reduced to a ration of beans, eaten 
 at midnight beneath a shower of fire. By this time, all 
 the buildings from La Mercede to the Paeraguia, were 
 reduced to ashes, and the impassable streets filled with 
 
228 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 ruins and projectiles. The third day the enemy alternately 
 scattered their shot, and now every spot was a place of 
 danger. The principal bake-houses no longer existed — 
 no provisions were to be had." 
 
 The details we have given of this bombardment, afford 
 us some intimations of the sufferings occasioned by the 
 assaults upon the cities of Monterey and Mexico.'*^ We 
 enter into no particulars of the battles fought in Mexico. 
 Every battle-field is necessarily one of horrors ; but, as 
 the sufferers are those who came, there to inflict upon 
 others the very fate of which they are themselves the 
 victims, they claim and excite less of our sympathy than 
 the mothers and their mangled infants of Vera Cruz, 
 whose shrieks of agony swelled the triumphal shout 
 which greeted the American General. ^ 
 
 In all our conflicts in Mexico, the slaughter of the 
 enemy has been tremendously aggravated, by their natural 
 and mihtary imbecility. Mr. Thompson, our former 
 Minister, in his work on Mexico, remarks : "I do not 
 think that the Mexican men have much more strength 
 than our women. They are generally of diminutive 
 "stature, and wholly unaccustomed to labor or exercise of 
 any sort. What must be the murderous inequality be- 
 tween a corps of American cavalry, and an equal number 
 of Mexicans ?" He regards the superiority of Americans 
 to Mexicans as " five to one at least in individual combats, 
 and more than twice that in battle." Hence it is, that 
 the Mexican loss in battle has been prodigious. It is 
 
 * A letter from a Mexican published in the newspapers, says : 
 " In some cases whole blocks were destroyed, and a great number 
 of mQXi, women, and child reii,'k\\idd. and wounded. The picture 
 was awful. One deafening roar filled our ears — one cloud of 
 smoke met our eyes, now and then filled with flame ; and amid 
 it all, we could hear the shrieks of the wounded and dying. 
 Altogether, we cannot count our killed, wounded, and missing, 
 at less than four thousand, among whom are many women and 
 children." 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 229 
 
 impossible to ascertain the amount of that loss with any 
 precision, but there is little hazard in asserting that the 
 action of Congress in May, 1846, has consigned fifty 
 thousand Mexicans to a i^remature grave, and ten times 
 that number to poverty and wretchedness. 
 
 In the vast number of falsehoods of which this war has 
 been so prohfic, may be included the general unqualified 
 eulogiums passed by its advocates upon the humanity of 
 the American soldiery. We are not aware of any peculiar 
 trait in our national character, that would rendei* our sol- 
 diers remarkable for meekness and forbearance, or that 
 would necessarily counteract that arrogance and selfishness 
 which are the natural fruits of a bloody trade, and of mili- 
 tary superiority. But national vanity is ever ready to 
 beheve a flattering lie, and demagogues equally ready to 
 offer incense to every popular delusion. It is our object 
 to tell the truth, and by so doing, to exhibit the odious and 
 execrable character of war. American soldiers are hke 
 other soldiers, just what war, and disciphne or the want 
 of it, may make them. Human nature is the same in 
 every land, and its evil propensities are equally developed 
 under similar circumstances. It would have been an 
 anomaly in the history of mankind, if soldiers, flushed 
 with victory and scattered over a conquered country, and 
 holding the vanquished in utter contempt, had not been 
 guilty of great atrocities. It would be but cumbering 
 our pages to detail the various instances of cruelty and 
 oppression perpetrated by our troops, which have found 
 their way into the pubhc prints. A few specimens, selected 
 from journals supporting the war, and therefore not dis- 
 posed to throw unjust odium on the American army, will 
 suffice to prove that our assertions on this point are not 
 unsupported by facts : 
 
 " Buena Vista, August 20. — A ranger is missed, search 
 20 
 
230 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 is made for him by his comrades, His body is perhaps 
 found, perhaps not. The nearest Mexicans to the vicinity 
 of his disappearance are required to account for hina. 
 They will not, or cannot. The bowie knife is called for, 
 and dehberately every male Mexican in that rancho is 
 speedily done for, guilty or not guilty. But this is not 
 enough to make an offset for the life of a Texan. Another 
 rancho receives the fearful visit, and again blood flows." 
 
 " Camargo, January 8, 1847. — Assassinations, riots, 
 robberies, &c., are so frequent that they do not excite 
 touch attention. Nine-tenths of the Americans here think 
 it a meritorious act to kill or rob a Mexican." 
 
 In Canvp, Walnut Springs [near Monterey), April 25, 
 1847. — " You have pubhshed accounts of the disgraceful 
 outrage perpetrated before the battle of Buefta Vista, and 
 will be no less shocked to learn that an equally sickening 
 scene of outrageous barbarity has been perpetrated in 
 this region by persons calling themselves Americans. It 
 appears that near a little town called Guadaloupe, an 
 American was shot two or thi-ee weeks ago ; and his com- 
 panions and friends determined to revenge his death. Ac- 
 cordingly a party of a dozen or tAventy men visited the 
 place and deliberately murdered twenty-four Mexicans.'* 
 
 The correspondent of the Louisville Republican writ- 
 ing from Aqua Nueva, after mentioning that the body of 
 a murdered Arkansas volunteer had been found, says^ 
 "The Arkansas men vowed vengeance deep and sure. 
 Yesterday morning a number of them, some thirty persons, 
 went to the foot of the mountain two miles off, to an arrego 
 which is washed in the sides of the mountain, to which the 
 * pisanos' of Aqua Nueva had fled upon our approach, and 
 soon commenced an indiscriminate and bloody massacre of 
 the poor creatures who had thus fled to the mountains and 
 fastnesses for secunty. A number of our regiment being 
 
REA'IEW or THE MEXICAN VvAR. 231 
 
 out ot camp, I proposed to Colonel Bissell to mount our 
 horses and ride to the scene of carnage, where I knew 
 from the dark intimations pf the night before, that blood 
 was running freely. W,e had turned out as rapidly as 
 possible, but owing to the thick chapperels, the work of 
 death was over before we reached the horrible scene, and 
 the perpetrators were returning to the camp glutted with 
 reveno-e. God knows how many of the unarmed peasantry 
 have been sacrificed to atone for the blood of poor Col- 
 quit. The Arkansas regiment say not less than thirty 
 have been killed." 
 
 This anonymous account of the massacre is sustained by 
 the following order of General Taylor : — " The Command- 
 ing General regrets most deeply that circumstances again 
 impose upon him the duty of issuing orders upon the 
 subject of marauding and maltreating the Mexicans. Such 
 deeds as have recently been perpetrated by a portion of 
 the Arkansas cavalry cast indelible disgrace upon our 
 arms, and the reputation of our country. The General 
 had hoped that he might be able, in a short tim.e, to re- 
 sume offensive operations ; but if orders, discipline, and 
 all the dictates of humanity are set at defiance, it is vain 
 to expect anything but disaster and defeat. The men 
 who cowardly put to death uno fending Mexicans are not 
 those who will sustain the honor of our arms in the day 
 of trial." 
 
 If the General meant to intimate that cruelty and 
 bravery are incompatible, he is contradicted by the unani- 
 mous testimony of all military history. 
 
 The correspondent of the Charleston Mercury, writing 
 from Monterey after its capture, says, " As at Metamoras, 
 murder, robbery, and rape, were committed in the broad 
 light of day ; and, as if desirous to signalize themselves at 
 Monterey by some new act of atrocity they burned many 
 
232 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 of the thatched huts of the poor peasants. It is thought 
 that more than one hundred of the inhabitants were mur- 
 dered in cold blood." 
 
 It is not to be supposed that where human life is thus 
 atrociously sacrificed with in^punity, the decencies of so- 
 ciety and the rights of property will be respected. A 
 correspondent of the New Orleans Picayune writes from 
 Ceralvo : "On arriving at Mier, we learned that the 
 second regiment of Indiana Troops had committed, the 
 day before, outrages against the citizens of the most dis- 
 graceful character, stealing, or rather robbing, insulting 
 the women, breaking into houses, and other feats of similar 
 character. Recently the people here have received treat- 
 ment from men stationed here, that negroes in a state of 
 insurrection would hardly be guilty of. The women have 
 been repeatedly violated (almost an every day affair), 
 houses broken open, and insults of every kind have been 
 offered to those whom we were bound to protect." 
 
 The correspondent of the St. Louis Republican, writing 
 from Santa Fe, Aug. 12, 1846, says, "I regret to say, 
 nearly the whole territory has been subject to violence, 
 outrage, and oppression, by the volunteer soldiery against 
 all alike without distinction." 
 
 When we reflect how extensively Mexico has been 
 traversed by our troops, we cannot doubt that a prodigious 
 amount of property has been most wantonly destroyed. 
 We are told by one of the letters describing a Mexican 
 defeat, " Captain Morier followed up his advantage with 
 decision, pursued the enemy, and devastated the valley of 
 the Moro, burning everything in his path. The people, 
 terrified, fled to the mountains where death in the shape 
 of starvation awaits them." " Between Metamoras and 
 Monterey," says another, " nearly all the ranches and 
 towns are destroved," 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR 233 
 
 General Scott, when about marching from Jalapa, 
 upon Mexico, issued an order which is a singular illus- 
 tration of military morality. He tells his army that it 
 can no longer receive supplies from Vera Cruz, but must 
 trust for them to the resources of tho country — that the 
 people must be paid for provisions, or " they will with- 
 hold, conceal, ox destroy them. The people moreover 
 must be conciliated, soothed and well-treated by every 
 officer and man of this army, and by its follovv^ers." This 
 preamble is succeeded by a declaration almost avowedly 
 prompted by the fact, that supplies could no longer be 
 brought from Vera Cruz : " Whoever maltreats unoffend- 
 ing Mexicans, takes without pay, or wantonly destroys 
 their property, of any kind whatsoever, will prolong this 
 war, waste the means present and future of subsisting our 
 men and animals, as they successively advance into the 
 interior, or return to our water depot (Vera Cruz); and 
 uo army can possibly drag after it to any considerable 
 distance, no matter what the season of the year, the 
 heavy articles of breadstuff, meat, and forage. Those, 
 therefore, who rob, plunder, or destroy the bouses, fences, 
 cattle, poultiy, grain, fields, gardens or property of any 
 kind along the line of our operations, are plainly the ene- 
 mies of this array. The General-in-Chief would infinitely 
 prefer that the few who commit such outrages would de- 
 sert at once and fight against us. Then it would be easy 
 to shoot them down, or capture and hang them." 
 
 Mihtar}^ discipline confines to the commanding officer 
 the prerogative of plundering the enemy, and he would 
 no doubt wish to protect it from encroachment at all times. 
 On the present occasion the General thought proper to 
 dissuade the army from indulging their larcenous propen- 
 sities, not from motives of justice and humanity, but the 
 difficulty of procuring supplies ! 
 
234 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 This same General, in an order issued at Yera Cruz, 1st 
 April, 1847, declared that " many undoubted atrocities 
 have been committed in this neighborhood by a few worth- 
 less soldiers, both regulars and volunteers." The army 
 was about marching into the interior, and to conciliate the 
 inhabitants, and remove the unfavorable impressions made 
 by these " atrocities," he issued a proclamation promising 
 protection to the Mexicans, and teUing them, that for out- 
 rages committed upon them, several Americans had already 
 been punished by fine and imprisonment, and one " has- 
 been hung by the neck." " Is not this," said he, " a 
 proof of good faith and energetic discipline ?" The Gene- 
 ral did not tell the Mexicans how very cheap a sacrifice 
 he had offered to propitiate them. The one " hung by 
 the neck," was a negro, and hence no military popularity 
 was lost by his execution, and being a free negro, no 'pro- 
 perty was destroyed. We have no evidence that during 
 the whole war, a single soldier was punished with death 
 for any outrage committed on ^lexicans, however atro- 
 cious. 
 
 General Taylor, in a despatch to the War Department, 
 16th June, 1847, remarks, "I deeply regret to report 
 that many of the twelve months' volunteers, in their route 
 hence to the lower Rio Grande, have committed extensive 
 depredations and outrages upon the peaceable inhabitants. 
 There is scarcely a form of crime that has not been reported 
 to me as committed hy them."" 
 
 A great number of Mexican towns were captured and 
 held by our forcep. We may judge, from a single exam- 
 ple, what kind of municipal government has most probably 
 been exercised by our officers. Twelve months after the 
 capture of Monterey, its social condition v/as thus describ- 
 ed by Colonel Tibbats, in an official proclamation : " The 
 undersigned, by virtue of an order of the commanding 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR 235 
 
 General, lias assumed the office of military and civil Gov- 
 ernor of Monterey. Finding the command assigned to 
 him, virtually without law or order, and infested with rob- 
 bers, murderers, gamblers, vagi-ants, and other evil dis- 
 posed persons, the worst of criminals going free, unscathed 
 of justice, and rapine and even murder stalking abroad in 
 open day without fear of punishment, insomuch that the 
 peaceable inhabitants thereof have no protection either of 
 person or property," &c. 
 
 The following: official declaration is of a character that 
 forbids us to doubt, that the oppression of the Mexicans 
 has been most aggravated. General Kearney, writing to 
 the War Department, 15th March, 1847, in reference to 
 some insurrectionary movements, says : " The Californi- 
 ans are now quiet, and I shall endeavor to keep them so 
 by mild and gentle treatment. Had they received such 
 treatment from the time our flag was hoisted in July last, 
 I believe there would have been but httle or no resistance 
 on their part. They have been most cruelly and shame- 
 fully abused by our own people, by volunteers (Ameri- 
 can emigrants) residii:|g in this part of the country, and 
 on the Sacramento. Had they not resisted, they would 
 have been unworthy of the name of men y* 
 
 To the individual sufferings arising from military vio- 
 lence, has been added that general suffering in which 
 the whole Mexican population has participated, necessarily 
 
 * We do not know the particulars here referred to ; but the fol- 
 lowing item from the news of the day gives us some intimation of 
 the spirit manifested by the conquerors. " Lieuts. Beal, Tal- 
 bot and others, left San Diego February 2oth, bringing impor- 
 tant intelligence. At Taos, the Court had condemned a large 
 number of the insurgents. Eleven had been hung, and many 
 whipped. Six were hung the day Lieut. Talbot passed through 
 Taos. These executions created great excitement among tlie 
 Mexicans, and efforts were making to stimulate insurrection, 
 and raise volunteers for a rebellion." 
 
236 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 resulting from tlie annihilation of their commerce. Every 
 seaport of the Republic, whether on the Atlantic or Pa- 
 cific, has been occupied by American forces. Hence, the 
 Mexicans have been denied the privilege of exchanging 
 their surplus productions for the necessaries and conveni- 
 ences they had been accustomed to receive from foreign 
 countries. Not a Mexican" vessel floated on the ocean ; of 
 course, all imports and exports were in the hands of for- 
 eigners, and subjected to such duties as the invaders 
 thought proper to impose. Those duties, moreover, in- 
 stead of being appropriated as heretofore to the common 
 good, were seized by the conqueror for his own use. Nor 
 was his rapacity to be thus satiated. The ordinary muni- 
 cipal taxes became his spoil. Thus, for example, a Cai> 
 tain commanding in the city of Metamoras, issued his 
 rescript requiring " the owners of all stores, groceries, bil- 
 liard-tables, hotels, eating-houses, brick-yards, gambling- 
 houses, cock-pits, and manufactories of liquors," to pay at 
 his office, each month the taxes on their respective esta- 
 blishments. The Commander-in-Chief thought proper 
 personally to direct and control the squeezing process. 
 On the 15th December, 1847, General Scott issued an 
 order beginning with the portentous announcement : 
 ** This army is about to spread itself over and occupy the 
 Republic of Mexico, until the latter shall sue for peace 
 in terms acceptable to the Government of the United States.'* 
 He then proceeds to decree that, " On the occupation of 
 the principal point or points in any State, the payment to 
 the Federal Government of this Republic of all taxes or 
 dues of whatever name or kind, heretofore, say in the 
 year 1844, payable or collected by that Government, is 
 absolutely prohibited, as all such taxes or dues will be 
 demanded of the proper civil authorities for the support 
 of the army of occupation." Thus were duties on import^ 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 23Y 
 
 • 
 
 and exports, municipal, and all other taxes authorized by 
 Mexico in time of peace and prosperity, to be extorted by 
 a foreign army from the miserable impoverished people. 
 One would have supposed that such exactions might have 
 satisfied the Americans. But no — Mr. Polk had, from the 
 moment he commenced the war, been sighing for peace. 
 General Scott had, indeed, conquered Mexico, but he had 
 not conquered a peace ; and an organized system of plun- 
 der was to effect what his troops and bombs had failed to 
 accomplish. Hence, a second order was issued on the 
 31st December, 1847, from Head Quarters, imposing on 
 several of the Mexican States a contribution amounting 
 to A MILLION OF DOLLARS. The foUowiug is an extract 
 from this order : " On the failure of any State to pay its 
 assessment, its functionaries, as above, will be seized and 
 imprisoned, and their property seized, registered, reported, 
 and converted to the use of the occupation, in strict accord- 
 ance to the general regulations of this army. No resigna- 
 tion or abdication of office, by any of the said Mexican 
 functionaries, shall excuse any of them from the above 
 penalties. If the foregoing measures should fail to en- 
 force the regular payment as above from any State, the 
 commanding officer of the United States forces within the 
 same, will immediately proceed to collect in money or 
 kind from the wealthier inhabitants (other than neutral 
 friends) ivithin his reach, the amount of the assessment 
 due from the State."* 
 
 This was the same General who, in his proclamation 
 addressed " to the Mexican nation," from Jalapa, May 
 11th, 1847, assured them, that " The army of the United 
 States respects, and will always respect, private pro- 
 
 * It is but justice to General Scott to mention, that he acted 
 in accordance with instructions from Mr. Polk, who, without 
 any authority from Congress, assumed the power of imposing 
 taxes and collecting duties in Mexico. 
 
238 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 perty." He who directed officers of the United States 
 forces, when assessments on Mexican States are not paid, 
 to proceed to collect them from the ivealthier inhabitants, 
 is the same Commander-in-Chief who, in his order of the 
 jjreceding April, Avished that such of his soldiers as stole 
 poultry, grain, &c., from the Mexicans, would desert at 
 once, as then it would be easy to shoot them down, or to 
 capture and hang them. Among other devices for ex- 
 torting money, in connexion with the promised regene- 
 ration of the Mexicans, was the official allowance of three 
 GAMING-HOUSES in the Capital, in consideration of the 
 annual sura of eighteen thousand dollars, payable in 
 monthly instalments.'* 
 
 "We can understand why Mr. Polk and his southern par- 
 tisans deemed it expedient, to acquire Mexican territory at 
 any cost of blood, treasure, and happiness ; but surely 
 we may ask of northern Democrats and northern Whigs, 
 why have you brought pillage, desolation, and death 
 upon the people of Mexico ? What offence had they 
 copimitted which, in the sight of God, can justify such 
 horrible retribution at your hands ? Why have you, who 
 have no interest m the extension of human bondage, 
 fought the battles, not of .freedom, tut of slavery? 
 When summoned, as you will shortly will be, before that 
 dread tribunal, which, in another world, takes cogniz- 
 ance of every act committed in this, on what plea do you 
 expect to vindicate that stupendous mass of human misery 
 and human wickedness which your agency has helped to 
 accumulate ? 
 
 * It appears from the Keport of the Secretary of the Treasury 
 (Dec, 1848), that the sum of $3,844,000 was in these various 
 ■ways extorted from the Mexicans. The value of property de- 
 stroyed in the city of Mexico, has been estimated at four mil- 
 lions. The total annihilation of Mexican property, caused by 
 the invasion, no arithmetic can compute. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 239 
 
 Mr. Root, of Ohio, oue of the ''immortal fourteen," in 
 a speech delivered after the triumph of our arms, and the 
 acquisition of the " indemnity " demanded by Mr. Polk, 
 thus expressed himself on the floor of Congress : — " But 
 where shall the widow look for indemnity ? Where shall 
 the mother, made childless by this war, look for her in- 
 demnity ? Where shall the orphan children, whose fa- 
 thers have fallen in battle, or by disease in that distant 
 land, look for their indemnity ? Can any of these new 
 acquisitions, under this treaty, indemnify them ? It does 
 seem to me, sir, that in all this bloody business, the men 
 who have been most active in it, have regarded this war 
 only in relation to the effect it is likely to have on future 
 elections, and they have not once thought how it will be 
 regarded by the Judge of all. And when I think of 
 these things, I thank my God, humbly thank him, that 
 He gave me the nerve and the ^I'niness to stand up here 
 in my place, and say '' no " first, and " no " last, and " no" 
 at all times, on every measure designed for the prosecu- 
 tion of this accursed war. And, sir, I rejoice that, when 
 I approach the last agony of earth, whatever other guilt 
 may press me, none of the victims of this war can meet 
 me and say, — 
 
 * Let my fate sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow.* *' 
 
240 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 COST OF THE WAR TO THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 One of the professed objects of the war, after the pre- 
 t-ence of repelhng invasion had been abandoned, was the 
 indemnification of " our much-injured citizens," tliat is, 
 the collection of a few millions of alleged debt. Our fleet 
 and army were employed to collect this debt, and accord- 
 ino; to Mr. Polk, the costs of collection were to be added 
 to the sura due. We not only gave judgment in our own 
 cause, but taxed our owiycosts. Those costs, as nearly as 
 can be ascertained, will, when finally settled, exceed one 
 HUNDRED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. In civil life, the Very 
 attempt to compel a debtor to pay a bill of costs twenty 
 times the amount of the debt claimed,, would be deemed 
 scandalous extortion. How far the determination of a 
 powerful government, to extort such a bill from a feeble, 
 exhausted State by slaughter and devastation, is divested 
 of criminality on account of its national character, is a 
 question embarrassing only to those who have persuaded 
 themselves that statesmen and politicians are under the 
 jurisdiction of a peculiar and relaxed morality. The idea 
 th^ reparation is due to Mexico for a ruthless invasion, 
 tke devastation of her cities, the plunder of her provinces, 
 the slaughter of thousands and tens of thousands of her 
 people, has been advanced, only to be denounced as un- 
 patriotic, if not treasonable. •^ 
 
 We have levied upon Mexican territory, for the hundred 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 241 
 
 millions we have spent in attempting to collect a paltry 
 debt, which, after all, we have remitted by the treaty of 
 peace. Mr. Polk declared his determination to prosecute 
 the war till " full indemnity" had been obtained ; but he 
 failed to tell us by what moral arithmetic he ascertained 
 what number of square miles of slave territory will afford 
 a " full indemnity " for the misery, falsehood, and crime 
 engendered by his war. 
 
 Many-a successful plaintiff has found, to his mortifi- 
 cation, that he has impoverished his adversary without 
 enriching himself, and that the fruits of his victory have 
 been pocketed by the agents he employed. A similar 
 discovery may be in reserve for the American people. 
 The question what tkei/ have gained by the war, will in 
 time force itself upon their attention. To this inquiry, no 
 other answer can be returned than glory and territory. 
 
 Before we proceed to investigate the true value of these 
 spoils of victory, let us dwell a moment on their pecuniary 
 costs. 
 
 The direct expenditures in waging this war, from 
 
 the departure of Taylor from Corpus Cliristi, to 
 
 the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty of 
 
 ■ peace, cannot, at the most moderate estimate, 
 
 be less than $;100,000,000 
 
 The money to be paid Mexico, for ceding the re- 
 quired territories, and thus saving us the cost 
 ofprotracted hostilities, is ... - 15,000,000 
 
 The cost of the army from the conclusion of the 
 war, to its disbandment, including its trans- 
 portation home, say 2,000,000 
 
 The extl-a pa,y for three months to all soldiers 
 who had been engaged in the war, allowed by 
 act of Congress, estimated at - - - - 3,000,000 
 
 Every soldier, or his heir, is entitled to 160 acres 
 
 of land, or in Iteu thereof, at his option, flOO. 
 
 Supposing only 75,000 claims to be presented, 
 
 and to be paid in land, the value of the 
 
 21 ^ 
 
242 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 land, at the price fixed by Congress would be 
 !$15,000,000. But to avoid the semblance of 
 exaggeration, we will suppose these claims com- 
 muted at $100 each, making - - - 7,500,000 
 The award under the treaty of 1839, due by Mex- 
 ico, and assumed by treaty of peace, with ^ 
 
 interest, 2,000,000 
 
 The Government has also assumed, by treaty, the 
 payment of such unliquidated claims against 
 Mexico as may be found valid, not exceeding 
 p,250,000, out of $6,455,462 demanded. Should 
 none but valid claims be allowed, the sum to be 
 ] paid may amount to 500,000 
 
 Making the total cost, in money, of new terri- 
 tory, - - - - - ' - - $130,000,000 
 
 The above estimate, it is believed, is very moderate, 
 and much below the estimates usually made. But let it 
 be recollected, that it is an estimate only of the direct 
 expenditures of the Federal Government, for the acqui- 
 sition of the coveted territories. 
 
 For nearly two years, at least 140,000 men, as soldiers, 
 teamsters, artificers, (fee, have been diverted from pro- 
 ductive industry, and engaged in occupations, adding 
 nothing to the real wealth of the country, or the comfort, 
 happiness, and morality of its citizens. The time and 
 labor of these men have therefore been literally wasted, 
 and consequently what they would have added to the 
 common stock in time of peace, is to be included in the 
 cost of the war. Many of these individuals have, more- 
 over, been brought to an untimely grave, and probably a 
 still greater number disquahfied for future iisefulness by 
 vice and disease. The operations of commerce have, 
 moreover, been deranged, and enterprize paralyzed by a 
 monetary pressure, occasioned by a drain of specie from 
 our great cities, to be expended in Mexico — and wide- 
 
 I 
 
KEVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 243 
 
 spread bankruptcy only prevented, by an unusual and 
 accidental demand for our bread-stuffs in Europe. 
 When all these facts are taken into consideration, 'and 
 when we recollect that interest is to be paid during many 
 future years, on the money borrowed, and that large 
 drafts are yet to be made on -the treasury for pensions 
 and for indemnities for private losses and injuries, it will 
 not be thought extravagant to assume, that the indirect 
 ^ cost of the war will be little, if any less than the sum 
 actually expended for its prosecution. 
 
 Dr. Franklin, long since remarked, that nothing was 
 ever acquired by war that might not have been obtained 
 at a less cost by purchase. For the territory of Louisi- 
 ana, even more extensive and greatly more valuable than 
 that we have wrested from Mexico, we paid $15,000,000. 
 For Texas v/e offered $5,000,000, and at a previous day 
 we had offered only $1,000,000 for Texas, wi|h a portion 
 of California. 
 
 Mr. Polk would have shrunk from offering fifty millions 
 for the very land which he has now bougl\t at such a vast 
 amount of blood and treasure. It is impossible to resist 
 the conviction that, by honest negotiation, we might have 
 become the masters of these territories without crime, 
 without human butchery, and at a far less cost in money 
 than the sum we have paid. 
 
 The mighty sum we have exchanged for glory and ter- 
 ritory, has added not one cent, to the productive capital 
 of the country, nor brought one new comfort or conveni- 
 ence within reach of its population. 
 
 For all useful practical purposes, this amount of the 
 nation's capital has been annihilated. But it is easy to 
 imagine how such a sum might have been expended in 
 modes resulting in a prodigious augmentation of the re- 
 sources of the nation, and the virtue and enjoyments of 
 
i44 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 the people. Such a sum might have spread a net-work 
 of railroads and telegraphic wires over the country, unit- 
 ing in bonds of interest and intercourse the remotest in- 
 habitants of our vast empire. It would have opened 
 through Oregon a channel by which the commerce of 
 India and China would in a few days have reached every 
 portion of our Confederacy. Or it might have given 
 security and facility to our magnificent inland na^^gation, 
 and formed safe and capacious harbors on our mediter- 
 ranean seas. Or it might have carried science and useful 
 knowledge to the inmates of every dwelling in our Re- 
 pubhc ; and in various ways have been made conducive 
 to the diffusion of virtue and religion. The mere interest 
 of this sum is vastly greater than is annually contributed 
 by Christendom to evangehze the Avorld. The disposal 
 of this treasure was a talent which, in the providence of 
 God, was entrusted to our rulers : whether the use they 
 have made of it proves them to have been good and faith- 
 ful servants vrill be declared on that day in which they 
 shall give an account of their stewardship. 
 
 We should, however, take a most erroneous and limited 
 view of the cost of this war ta the United States, were 
 we to confine our estimates to the millions which have 
 been expended in its prosecution, or to the personal suf- 
 ferings it has occasioned. Before we can sum up the 
 total cost, we must add to the blood, the groans, the* 
 treasure, we Have bartered for victory and conquest, the 
 pohtical and moral evils the war has bequeathed to the 
 nation — e^dls as extensive as the bounds of the Repubhc, 
 and whose effects upon the happiness of mdividuals will 
 continue to be felt when time shall be no more. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 245 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 POLITICAL EVILS OF THE WAR. 
 
 All war is necessarily unfavorable in its tendencies to tlie 
 liberties and prospeiity of a State, even when waged for 
 the defence or recovei^ of freedom. TbxC burthens it 
 imposes, the arbitrary authority it confers, and the dis- 
 positions it fosters, are all adverse to popular rights. 
 These tendencies are, of course, controlled and modified 
 by circumstances. The late Avar, having been earned on 
 wholly without the limits of our own country, did not 
 inflict upon our citizens those violations of right and those 
 oppressive exactions which are ever experienced on the 
 theatre of hostilities. It has nevertheless shown itself a 
 dangerous foe to constitutional liberty. 
 
 We have seen in the preceding pnges that most pro- 
 vident and ample preparations were made for the com- 
 mencement of the war on the Rio Grande, and for the 
 seizure of California, not only without the sanction, but 
 even without the knowledge of Congress. It is utterly 
 imjiossible that Congress would have issued, or the peo- 
 ple have tolerated, a declaration of war against Mexico, 
 either to compel her to pay our alleged claims, or to 
 withdraw her troops and magistrates from her villages on 
 the Rio Grande. Hence, it was deemed necessaiy first to 
 provoke a colHsion, and then to appeal to Congress to 
 defend the country from invasion ! The war, therefore, 
 although recognized and prosecuted by Congress after its 
 commenceriient, was in fact and in truth begun in conse- 
 12* 
 
246 REVIEW OF the' MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 qiience of orders issued by the President on liis own re- 
 sponsibility, and not in pursuance of any constitutional or 
 legal authority. He had, indeed, ^s Commander in- Chief, 
 a right to direct the movements of the troops, but not in 
 such a manner as necessarily and designedly to involve 
 the country in war. Most truly, therefore, did the House 
 of Representatives declare that the war had been uncon- 
 stitutionally begun by the President. 
 
 Yet has this usurpation of power, leading to the sacri- 
 fice of thousands of lives and millions of treasure, been 
 unvisited with punishment. Thef offence has found an 
 apology in the triumphs to which it has led ; and thus a 
 sanction has been given to a precedent, that invests the 
 President of the Republic with the royal prerogative of 
 bringing upon the nation the calamities of war. 
 
 Nor is this the only instance, in which the President in 
 his own person has exercised powers belonging only to the 
 legislative branch of the Government. Although not per- 
 mitted by the Constitution to appoint of his own will and 
 pleasure, a single officer, or to take from the treasury a 
 single cent, he established a system of tariffs and internal 
 taxation in Mexico, appointing a horde of collectors, and 
 accumulating at his own disposal, all the revenue that 
 could be extorted at the point of the bayonet, from the 
 miserable and impoverished Mexicans ; and all this with- 
 out the slightest warrant from Congress.* 
 
 * *' I am under a deep conviction, that the President has no 
 right whatever, to impose taxes internal and external on the 
 people of Mexico. It is an act without the authority of the 
 Constitution or laws, and eminently dangerous to the country. 
 If the President can exercise, in Mexico, a power expressly given 
 to Congress, which he cannot exercise in the United States, I 
 would ask where is the limit to his power in IMexico ? Has he 
 also the power of making appropriations of money collected in 
 Mexico, without the sanction of Congress ^ This he has already 
 done. Has he the power to apply the money to whatever pur- 
 poses he may think proper, and, among others, to raise a mili 
 tarv force in Mexico, without the sanction of Congress ? This. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR, 247 
 
 He has also, by his sovereign will and pleasure, estab- 
 lished civil Governments in New Mexico and California, 
 appointed Governors, organized courts of justice, commis- 
 sioned macristrates, &c., without even consultingr Conofress, 
 and witli no law whatever authorizing the exercise of these 
 high prerogatives, or providing for the salaries of the nu- 
 merous civil ofHcers he has seen fit to appoint. It ap- 
 pears from the Report of the Secretary of War, Dec. 4, 
 1847, that the duties collected in Cahfornia, "have been 
 apphed towards the support of the civil Government." 
 Thus has the President, of his own will and pleasure, not 
 only appointed officers, but paid them salaries at his dis- 
 cretion. Thus have a people, jealous of their hberties per- 
 mitted, in the dehrium of victory and conquest, their chief 
 magistrate to assume over vast regions the most unhmited 
 and despotic authority, grasping at once the sword and 
 the purse. Henceforth it is to be part of our theory of 
 Government, that during war, the President of the United 
 States is released from all constitutional restrictions, so far 
 as he acts without the limits of the country, and that he is 
 wholly beyond the control of Congress. The immense 
 power and patronage thus conferred on the Pi-esident by 
 a state of war, may hereafter prove a strong inducement 
 with that officer to plunge his country into hostilities, and 
 to postpone the return of peace. 
 
 The course pursued by Congress has apparently been 
 directed by the principle, that when the country has once 
 
 also he has already done " — Speech of M>- Calhoun m Senate^ March 
 1848. 
 
 " Is the establisliment of a code of customs in Mexico, an act 
 of wai% or derived from war, or an act of legislation? Why, 
 clearly it is the latter I want to know how the President of 
 the United States can overturn the revenue law of Mexico, and 
 establish a new one in its stead, any more than he can overturn 
 the law of the descent of property, the law of inheritance, the 
 criminal code, or any other portion of Mexican law ?" — Mr. 
 Webster^ s Speech in Senate^ March, 1848. 
 
248 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 been involved in war, no matter by what meana, or foi 
 what objects, it is the duty of the representatives of the 
 people to afford to, the President every facility he de- 
 mands for its prose,cution, however wicked or injurious, 
 it may be. 
 
 IsTot only has the public mind become accustomed to 
 executive usurpation, but it has lost, in its admiration of 
 mihtary success, that jealousy of military power, which is 
 a most powerful safeguard of republican liberty. We 
 have been utterly heedless of the melancholy example ex- 
 hibited by Mexico herself, of the disastrous influence of a 
 thirst for martial renown. The astonishing facihty with 
 which that country was overrun and prostrated by our 
 troops, cannot be accounted for solely by the paralyzing 
 effect of the Mexican church on the progress of science 
 and civilization." Ever since her independence, Mexico 
 has fostered a military spirit ; but it was a spirit that con- 
 sumed her very vitals. The resources of the State were 
 squandered on tlie army, and the army through its gene- 
 rals governed the State. The blessings of peace were 
 despised, and the citizens, instead of combining for the 
 common welfare, were divided into partisans of rival Gen- 
 ei-als. Revolution succeeded revolution in rapid succes- 
 sion, one chieftain supplanting another, A civiUan was 
 scarcely ever placed at the head of the State, the reins of 
 government being almost invariably committed to hands 
 that grasped the sword. The history of the Republic of 
 Mexico has been a history of military insurrections and 
 usurpations. Even when invaded by a foreign enemy, 
 military factions and rival chiefs paralyzed the strength 
 of the nation, and rendered her an easy prey. All the 
 records of the past bear witness to tlie fact, 'that popular 
 Generals have been the chief destroyers of Republics. 
 Yet the American people, deaf to the warnings of his- 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 249 
 
 tory, have apparently become infatuated with mihtary 
 glory, and have recently given, various indications of their 
 preference for men who have served their country in the 
 field, over such as have merely labored to advance her 
 prosperity and happiness, by cultivating the arts of peace. 
 The arbitrary spirit engendered by war, and the idea 
 which it fosters, that all rights and interests must yield to 
 the public safety, are both necessarily hostile in their ten- 
 dency, to the free expression of opinion adverse to its 
 prosecution. It is not surprisng that the authors of the 
 Mexican war — a war so open to animadversion, and waged 
 for purposes so sectional and odious — should wish to dis- 
 courage all investigation into its true character ; and all 
 efforts to thwart the accomphshment of its object. No 
 law could silence the press, nor arrest debate in Congress, 
 nor discussion among the people. Bat the hope seems to 
 have been indulged, that piwlic opinion might be so di- 
 rected, as to produce what legislation could not effect. 
 On the popularity of the war might depend not merely 
 its successful prosecution, and' the consequent acquisition 
 of the coveted territories, but the predominance of the 
 democratic party, and the continujed possession of power 
 and emoluments by the present incumbents of office. 
 Hence Mr. Polk, in his first Message after the commence- 
 ment of hostilities, attempted to intimidate his opponents 
 by insinuating that they were treacherous to the cause of 
 their country. " The war," said he, " has been repre- 
 sented as unjust and unnecessary, and as one of aggres- 
 sion on our part upon a weak and injured enemy. Such 
 erroneous views, though entertained by hut few, have 
 been "vndely and extensively circulated, not only at home, 
 but have been spread throughout Mexico, and the whole 
 world. A more effectual means could not have been de- 
 vised to encourage the enemy, and protract the war, than 
 
250 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 / 
 
 to advocate and adhere to their cause,, and thus give them 
 ' aid and comfort.'' It is a source of national pride and 
 exultation, that the great body of the people have thrown 
 no such obstacles in the way of tlie Government in prose- 
 cuting the war successfully, but have liave shown them- 
 selves, to be eminently patriotic, and ready to vindicate 
 their country's honor and interests at any sacrifice." 
 
 Here we have a most arrogant impeachment, by the 
 first magistrate of the Union, of the patriotism of such of 
 his fellow-citizens, including no small portion of the very 
 Congress he was addressing, who in the exercise of the 
 very rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution of 
 their country, ventured to express the opinion, that the 
 war in which he had involved the nation, was unjust, un- 
 necessary, and aggressive. Mr. Polk did not deem it pru- 
 dent to denounce in plain terms, the opponents to his 
 measures as traitors to their country, and meriting an 
 ignominious death, but preferred doing it by implication ; 
 and hence applied to all such as pronounced his war un- 
 just, unnecessary, and aggressive, the technical terms, 
 "giving aid and comfort" to enemies, used by the Con- 
 stitution of the United States (Art, III. Sect. 1), in de- 
 fining the crime of treason. If this gentleman did indeed 
 believe, that a conscientious opposition to an existing war, 
 is inconsistent with patriotism., and equivalent to the crime 
 of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, he is ignorant not 
 merely of the first principles of ethics, but of the course 
 pursued by some of the most illustrious statesmen and 
 patriots who have adorned the pages of modern history. 
 
 What said Lord Chatham, the celebrated Prime Minis- 
 ter of England, who had led his nation to victory and 
 power, and whose memory is embalmed in the grateful 
 remembrance of his countrymen ? This great man during 
 the American war, declared in Parliament, " If I were an 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 251 
 
 American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop 
 was landed in my country, I Avould never lay down my 
 arms — never — never — never." Fox even refused to con- 
 cur in a vote of thanks to officers for the victories they 
 had achieved, in what he believed, to be an unjust war. 
 Numerous distinguished members of the British Parlia- 
 ment were active and persevering in their opposition 
 to the war. So again, the war waged >by Great Britain 
 against the French Pvepublic, was freely denounced as 
 unjust and unnecessary, by statesmen high in the confidence 
 of the nation. The recent war against China, frequently 
 called the Opium War, was sternly denounced by a large 
 portion of the British public as most iniquitous. At a 
 public meeting in London, at which a British peer, the 
 Earl of Stanhope, presided, it was resolved : " That this 
 meeting deeply laments that the moral and religious 
 feehngs of the country should be outraged, the character 
 of Christianity disgraced in the eyes of the world, and this 
 kingdom involved in vvar with upwards of three hundred 
 and fifty millions of people, in consequence of British 
 subjects introducing opium into China, in ' direct and 
 known violation of the laws of that Empire." The 
 meeting concurred in a petition to Parliament, for an 
 immediate peace, and ordei'ed that their proceedings 
 should be translated into the Chinese language, and for- 
 warded to the Emperor of China. Yet no Minister of the 
 Crown, no member of Parliament, ventured to denounce 
 this Constitutional expression of opinion as treasonable; 
 In our OAvn country we have seen men of the purest 
 character, the most unquestionable patriotism, opposing 
 the war of 1812 with Great Britain, as unnecessary, 
 impolitic, and unjust. No Constitutional monarch in 
 Europe would venture to impeach the patriotism and 
 loyalty of those, who, in a mode sanctioned by the funda- 
 
252 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 mental laws of the Empire, opposed the measures of his 
 Government. 
 
 The system of denunciation commenced in the Message, 
 was zealously and rudely pursued by the official journal. 
 The following- article appeared in the Washington Union, 
 soon after the date of the Message. 
 
 " A War-register. Timely Proposition. — It has been 
 suggested, that the cause of the country may be promoted 
 by the opening of a war-register in every city, town, and 
 village, for the purpose of preserving an authentic record 
 of 'the Toryism which may be displayed by individuals, 
 daring the continuance of the present war. In this 
 register, it is proposed to record the names of such per- 
 sons as make themselves zealous in pleading the cause of 
 the enemy, and oppose the war into which the people and 
 the Government of the United States have been forced by 
 Mexican aggression, insult, and robbery. besides the 
 names of the individuals who pronounce against the justice 
 of our cause, such sentiments as are particularly odious, 
 should be placed on the register. Where an indindual 
 expresses sympathy for the enemy, or wishes the death 
 of the President, or the downfall of the National Admin- 
 istration as a punishment for having engaged in the war, 
 the sentiments of the Tory should be registered in his 
 own language as nearly as possible. All statements 
 intended for entry on the record, should be verified by the 
 name of the witness or contributor." 
 
 The wickedness of this article, is not concealed by the 
 absurdity of its pretended proposition. Its evident 
 design was to intimidate the opponents of the war, by 
 exciting against them demonstrations of popular violence. 
 It is a call from the Government organ upon the dema- 
 gogues of the day, to stifle by brute force, all open 
 denunciation of the war. Confiding in the countenance 
 
REVIEW OF TIJE MEXICAN WAR. 253 
 
 and patronage of the executive and liis partisans, the 
 editor of this paper assumed a dictatorship over the pro- 
 ceedings of Congress, rebuking either House with vulgar 
 insolence whenever it declined an immediate comphance 
 with the wishes of the President. Such members as 
 voted against gi-anting further supplies, were stigmatized 
 as Mexican Whigs. At last, a vote of the Senate dis- 
 pleasing to the Administration, was announced as 
 " ANOTHER Mexican victory." Happily the purpose 
 intended was not effected. Indignation, and not intimida- 
 tion, was the result ; and the President's editor was, by a 
 formal resolution, "for having uttered a public libel on 
 the Senate," excluded from the pri\alege of, admission to 
 the floor of the Senat^, a courtesy that had hitherto been 
 shown him. The course pursued by this journal merits 
 attention only from its being the acknowledged organ of 
 the executive, and from its obvious accordance with the 
 spirit and design of Mr. Polk's official denunciation of the 
 opponents to the war. jNIany of the officers of the army, 
 following the hints given by the President and his organ, 
 professed to be exceedingly scandalized by the objections 
 made to the war. General Twig^gs, in particular, was so 
 regardless of decency as to give, at a public dinner in 
 Mexico, the toast, " Honor to the citizen-soldier who steps 
 forward to battle for his country. Shame to the knaves 
 at home, who give aid and comfort to our enemies." A 
 Colonel Wy«ikoop, wrote from Mexico : " We here can see 
 no difference between the men, who, in 1*776, succored the 
 British, and those, who, in 1847 give arguments and sym- 
 pathy to the Mexicans," Another Colonel of the name 
 of Morgan, declared in a public speech : " All who will 
 advocate the withholding of supplies, or withdrawing our 
 armies, disguise their sentiments however they may, under 
 22 
 
254 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR- 
 
 whatever artful plea they choose, are traitors at 
 
 HEART."'* 
 
 These various attempts to suppress the freedom of 
 debate and discussion, only reiterate the lesson univer- 
 sally taught by history, tliat war, in its spirit is hostile to 
 civil liberty. Had the war been a popular one, had the 
 masses been maddened by defeat, had they been thirsting 
 for th§ blood of their enemies , the efforts of the Presi- 
 dent and his partisans to direct their fury upon a feeble 
 minority whom they were taught to regard as traitors, 
 would not have been fruitless, and the American, like the 
 French RepuWic, would have had her annals disgraced by 
 a Reign of Terror. 
 
 But happily the iisscrtion of the President, that the 
 war was i-egarded as unjust and unnecessary, and as one 
 of aggression " by hut few,^' was of equal veracity with 
 ' many other of his declarations. This assertion was made 
 in his Message of December, 1846, at which time his 
 party had a very large majority in the Hbuse of Repre- 
 sentatives. The, next December, a new House of Repre- 
 sentatives, elected in the interim, assembled ; and this 
 new House, " fresh from the people," Resolved : " that 
 the war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun 
 by the President of the United States." 
 
 But although we have successfully maintained the 
 liberty of speech and of the press, the sanction given by 
 the war to executive usurpations , and the thirst for con- 
 quest and glory, which it has stimulated, are destined to 
 exert a durable and disastrous influence on the Republic. 
 There are also other politicaf evils resulting from the war, 
 which merit consideration. The nation, which at the 
 commencement of hostilities was free from debt, is now 
 burthened with a load of pecuniary obligations. To 
 
 * We quote these military ebullitions, from the Newspapers 
 of the day. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 255 
 
 relieve ourselves of this load, it will be_ necessary for 
 many years, to impose heavy duties upon imports ; and 
 these duties are in fact, taxes upon the necessaries and 
 comforts of life ; not the less real for being indirect and 
 unperceived by the consumers. Our national vanity is 
 flattered by the fact, that the certificates of our debt are 
 now selling in Europe. It seems not to be recollected 
 that our debt is thus transferred to foreigners, who, instead 
 of our own citizens, are hereafter to receive from the 
 national treasury, both principle and interest. Great 
 Britain could not support, for a single year, the payment 
 even of the, interest of her debt, did it not find its way 
 into the pockets of her own subjects, whence it is again 
 returned in taxes to the Government. Just in proportion 
 as our debt is due abroad, the more onerous is it to 
 ourselves. 
 
 When we reflect on the vast extent given to our 
 Empire by the recent conquests — the peculiar character 
 of the conquered people who are to be invested with the 
 privileges of American citizens — the bitter sectional feel- 
 ings already engendered by the question respecting the 
 extension of slavery over these regions — the diversity of 
 interests that Avill exist between the xVtlantic and Pacific 
 States, and the perpetual sti-uggle for mastery which must 
 prevail between a powerful yeomaniy, depending on their 
 own industry, and a landed aristocracy supported by some 
 millions of serfs, surely we have cause to apprehend 
 much irritation, civil dissensions, and the ultimate disruption 
 of the Union. ^ 
 
 We presume not to lift the veil that conceals the future ; 
 but if the declaration, that " Wherewithal a man sinneth, 
 by the same also shall he be punished," be applicable to 
 nations as well as to individuals, we cannot doubt that the 
 conquests which now swell our national piide wjll prove 
 scourges to humble it. 
 
256 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 MORAL EVILS OF THE WAR. 
 
 The malig-nant as well as tlie benevolent affections of our 
 nature are strengthened by exercise. A volunteer, de- 
 scribing in a letter his sensations on first going into battle, 
 mentions that on discharging his musket, he was harassed 
 with the fear that he might possibly kill somebody ; but 
 that after a while he became as eager as others in the 
 work of death. 
 
 From the commencement of hostihties, the public was 
 almost daily served by the newspapers with details of 
 battles, and bombardments, and mangled corpses, and all 
 the varieties of human suffering caused by war : 
 
 *' Boys and girls, 
 And women, that would groan to see a child 
 Pull off an insect's leg, all read of war — 
 The best amusement of our morning meal : 
 And all are learned, fluent, absolute, 
 And technical, in victories and defeats. 
 And all the dainty terms for fratricide ; 
 Terms which we trundle smoothly o'er our tongues, 
 Like mere abstractions — empty sounds, to which 
 We give no feeling and attach no form. 
 As if the soldier died without a wound — 
 As if the fibres of this godlike frame 
 Were gored without a pang — as if the wretch 
 ^ Who fell in battle, doing bloody deeds, 
 
 Pass'd off to Heaven, translated, and not killed— 
 As though he had no wife to pine for him, 
 No God to judge." 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 257 
 
 This constant familiarity with human suffering, instead of 
 awakening sympathy, has roused into action the vilest 
 passions of our nature. We have been taught to ring our 
 bells, and illuminate our windows, and let off fireworks, as 
 manifestations of our joy, when we have heard of great 
 ruin, "and devastation, and misery, and death, inflicted by 
 our troops upon a people who never injured us, who 
 never fired a shot on our soil, and who were, utterly in- 
 capable of acting on the offensive against us.'^ Nor was 
 our exultation at the flow of Mexican blood repressed by 
 the recollection that American blood flowed Avith it. Our 
 neighbors, and friends, and countrymen, by thousands, 
 fell in battle, or wasted in the noisome hospital — but their 
 sufferings excited almost as little thought and compassion 
 as those of the Mexicans. The nation had gained glory, 
 
 * Says an able writer : " American gentlemen, husbands and 
 fathers, send an army to collect a debt from some Mexican chief- 
 tains by bombarding Vera Cruz. By day and by night the 
 awful storm of bomb-shells is rained down upon the devoted 
 city. Christian gentlemen guide these guns, and kindle these 
 fires of hell. Mothers and daughters fly shrieking tlirough the 
 streets, an'd their mangled limbs are buried beneath the ruins 
 of their dwellings. , These shells explode in infant nurseries, 
 by the bedside of languishing ^lisease, in parlors of refinement 
 and piety. Ladies have limb torn from limb by the balls which 
 American gentlemen fire. A large party of ladies, in the terror 
 of that awful bombardment, fly to the cellar of one of the most 
 costly stone mansions, hoping there to find refuge from these 
 engines of destruction which have demolished many of their 
 dwellings, and by a bloody death bereaved them of many of their 
 dearest friends. The thunders of the bombardment, the crash 
 of the explosions of bomb-shtlls, the shrieks of the dying, pierce 
 the darkness of the cellar, and excite to a frenzy of terror the 
 trembling females there. A shell falls upon the roof of the 
 house, descends into the cellar, and explodes ; and the limbs of 
 these mothers and maidens, mangled and gory, are driven into 
 the walls. And this is honorable warfare — this is Christian war- 
 fare — and the result of such scenes is the subject for civic re- 
 joicing, bonfires, and illuminations! And respectable men, hu- 
 mane men, men who sit at the table of Jesus Christ as his dis- 
 ciples, who publish papers to guide the world to Christian feel- 
 ings and practices, consider this a very suitable way of collect- 
 ing debts." 
 
 22* 
 
.258 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 and would gain land ; and politicians seemed anxious to 
 gain popularity by rivalling each other in exulting shouts. 
 Alas, in very many instances those shouts proceeded 
 from the same lips which denounced the war as uncon- 
 stitutional, unjust, and a national crime ! 
 
 The struixa'les between the convictions of conscience 
 and the aspirations for popular favor, led others besides 
 the Whigs into strange and almost ludicrous contradic- 
 tions. 
 
 We have heard much of late years, from a certain class 
 of philanthropists, of the inviolability of human life ; and 
 societies have been organized for the abolition of capital 
 punishment. Life was a boon granted by the Deity, 
 which could rightfully be taken only by the Giver. All 
 this was very well, as applied to American felons ; but to 
 extend it to Mexican men, women, and children, guiltless 
 of crime, was, of course, to give " aid and comfort " to 
 the enemy. Hence was seen, in one of our largest cities, 
 the singular spectacle of a president of an anti-capital- 
 punishmeiit society presiding over a large and ferocious 
 war meeting. The president of another similar societ}'-, a 
 prominent politician, accepted and discharged the very 
 consistent duty of presenting a compUmentary sword to a 
 popular general. 
 
 That portion of the public press whicn supported the 
 war has, in many instances, been instrumental in diffusing 
 througi.out the, community most impious and ferocious 
 sentiments. It was, of course, the policy of the dominant 
 party to excite the passions of the people against Mexico, 
 to encourage admiration for military prowess, and to re- 
 press all compassion for those we were slaughtering and 
 plundering. Hence, many of the war journals apparently 
 labored to pervert the moral sense of the community, and 
 to insult and ridicule those religious feelings which were 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 259 
 
 naturally shocked by the character and events of the 
 war. 
 
 A few quotations will illustrate these remarks. Mr. 
 Polk, as we have seen, while devastating Mexico, was at 
 all times sighing for peace. His presses teemed with the 
 most brutal plans for " conquering peace." 
 
 " We must now," said one of them, " destroy the city 
 of Mexico, level it with the earth on which it stands, serve 
 Puebla, Perote, Jalapa, Saltillo, and Monterey in the 
 same way, and then increase our demands till we insist on 
 the perpetual possession of the Castle of Juan d'Ulua, as 
 a ke}^ to the commerce of the Gulf of Mexico. This 
 course would save hundreds of lives. Occupy all the 
 seaports on the Gulf and the Pacific for revenue for the 
 payment of the expenses of the war. Such a course 
 would compel the Mexicans to sue for peace." 
 
 Said another : " Unless we distress the Mexicans, carry 
 destruction and loss of life to every fireside, and make 
 them feel a rod of iron, they will not respect us." Mr. 
 Polk's own organ, the official Union, declared : " Our 
 work of subjugation and conquest must go on rapidly 
 and with augmented force, and, as far as possible, at the 
 expense of Mexico herself. Henceforth, we must seek 
 PEACE, and compel it by inflicting on our enemies all the 
 evils of war." 
 
 These barbarous sentiments, which were rife through 
 the land, were aggravated in atrocity by the lying pretext 
 on which they were urged. We, an invading foe, were 
 to murder by wholesale, and level cities to the earth, to 
 procure a peace that was ours the moment we ceased to 
 assail the Mexicans. Did we choose to recal our armies, 
 we well knew our enemy had no means of revenging the 
 wrong we had done her. Mexico was fighting solely in 
 self-defence, and the only peace we desired, the only 
 
260 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 peace we were ready to conquer, was the cession of tliv 
 territory for which we had commenced the war. 
 
 Not only were the general precepts of justice and 
 humanity thus set at defiance, but pains seemed to be 
 taken to attract public admiration for such acts of ferocity 
 and impiety as were calculated to nourish the war spirit. 
 A silly child of eleven years was said to have written a 
 letter to one of the Generals, asking to be employed 
 against the Mexicans, and boasting that he had money 
 enough to buy a imir oj pistols and a dagger ; and the 
 epistle of this little boy was paraded in the papers, headed 
 " THE RIGHT KI^*D OF SPIRIT." Auecdotcs of officers, 
 Avhich, if true, could not fail to disgust all who reverence 
 the awful realities of Christianity, have been loudly 
 trumpeted as instances of American "patriotism and hero- 
 ism. Thus we have had an account of a captain mortally 
 wounded, and just expiring. " The whole of his lower 
 jaw, with a part of his tongue and palate, is shot away by 
 a grape shot ; he communicated his thoughts by writing 
 on a slate. H6 does not desire to live. He colicluded 
 an answer to some inquiries concerning the battle of the 
 9th, by writing ' ive gave the Mexicans hell f ' ^* These 
 words so peculiarly horrible, as uttered by a dying man, 
 became with a certain class a slang phrase, and to give 
 the Mexicans hell, seemed to be the glorious privilege, as 
 well as duty, of American Christians. A Mississippi 
 paper adopted it, with a blasphemous addition : — " By 
 some mistake a piece of poetry headed 'Song of the 
 Sword,'^ appears on our first, page. It seems that in our 
 absence, when, it may be, the boys were out of copy, this 
 song was selected to fill up a place. We never saw it 
 till it was too late to make the correction. It does not 
 
 * An English poem on war, liaviiig no allusion to tins 
 countrv. 
 
REVIEW OF THE JNIEXICAN WAR. 261 
 
 express our sentiments. It is Whiggish, and very bad 
 poetry withal. We go for giving the Mexicans hell, 
 whether Christ be our guide or not." 
 
 Under the caption, " noble exploit," we are told of a 
 soldier mortally wounded, remonstrating against being 
 carried off the field, exclaiming, " he was a dead man, and 
 damned if he did not want to kill some of them." 
 
 Some comment having been excited by certain profane 
 expressions, untruly we hope^ alleged to have escaped 
 from General Taylor, in the heat of battle, a New Or- 
 leans paper replied : " It is a paltry affectation in any one 
 who knows the General, to pretend to be shocked at 
 what was related of him at Buena Vista. It is a mere 
 sham for the benefit of puritanical souls, who do their 
 damning after a more economical formulary, than is 
 generally used in the field. The words came out of 
 General Taylor's mouth, and were no doubt as acceptable 
 to heaven as the roaring of the cannon which belched 
 forth death, and strewed the earth with slaughter." 
 
 The few instances Ave have cited (and they might be 
 multiphed indefinitely), indicate the baneful influences to 
 which public opinion has been exposed, through the 
 efl"orts to create and maintain a war spirit in the com- 
 munity. 
 
 The Church has, in some few cases, united in this un- 
 holy work of corrupting public opinion. The pulpit has 
 occasionally uttered its benedictions on the Mexican in- 
 vasion ; and ministers of Christ, by joining in miUtary 
 funeral pageants, have given the sanction of the religion 
 they professed, to the cause in which the deceased perish- 
 ed. On some of these occasions sermons have been de- 
 livered, breathing Uttle of the spirit of the Prince of Peace. 
 Men who had lost their Uves in the act of voluntarily 
 carrying fire and sword into a foreign coimtry, have been 
 
262 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 held forth to the admiration of their countrymen, as 
 having fallen in the discharge of duty. But these reve- 
 rend patriots omitted to instruct their audience, that the 
 Mexicans who fell in the act of defending their wives and 
 children, were no less obedient to the commands of duty 
 than the American volunteer ; nor did they avail them- 
 selves of the opportunity to draw the obvious inference 
 that, as both Americans and Mexicans were but discharg- 
 ing their duty in killing o&ch other ; mutual slaughter is 
 an acceptable sacrifice to the common Father of all, and 
 in accordance with the precepts of the Divine Redeemer, 
 Some of the clergy very consistently reduced to practice 
 the doctrines they taught. Thus we had the announce- 
 ment in a St. Louis paper, of "a baptist preacher 
 e;illed in battle," with an eulogy on his patriotism. The 
 New Orleans Picayune thus noticed another officer of the 
 Church militant : — " A company of about ninety men 
 arrived here yesterday from the parishes, under the com- 
 mand of the Rev. Richard A. Stewart, as captain. Cap- 
 tain Stewart is a worthy clergyman, of the Methodist 
 persuasion, who allows nothing to prevent his discharge 
 of that duty every citizen owes his countiy in the hour of 
 peril ! " The Reverend Captain, it seems, so exerted 
 himself in the hour of his country's peril, as to acquire at 
 least that honor which cometh from man ; for on his 
 return from the wars, we again find him noticed in the 
 Picayune of February, 1848. In an account of a Taylor 
 meeting in New Orleans, it is said, " Mr. Stewart, of Iber- 
 ville submitted a resolution, nominating General Zachary 
 Taylor as a candidate for the Presidency of the United 
 States. A member of the Convention rose to second the 
 resolution, and said, ' that as the mover might not be 
 known to aU the Convention, he would announce him to 
 
REVIEW OF THE .MEXICAN WAR. 263 
 
 / 
 
 them as the Reverend Colonel Stewart, of Iberville, the 
 fighting clergyman F (immense applause.) " 
 
 It is however due to justice'^ to acknowledge, and to ac- 
 knowledge with gratitude, that the sacred office has rarely- 
 been desecrated by a vindication of the Mexican war ; and 
 that in numerous instances ecclesiastical bodies and indi- 
 vidual pastors have, with Christian boldness and fidelity, 
 exposed and denounced its wickedness. Nor was oppo- 
 sition to the war confined to the» clerical profession. The 
 whole religious community, especially at the North, were, 
 with few exceptions, unanimous in reprobating it ; and 
 indeed, had it not been for the acts and efforts of poU- 
 ticians, of men striving to keep the offices they had, and 
 othei-s striving to gain the offices they wanted, the great 
 mass of the people would have regarded the war with 
 abhorrence. 
 
 The moral sense of the nation was, moreover, impaired 
 by the sentiment industriously cultivated by the politicians 
 of both parties — " ftur country, right or wrong." This 
 sentiment was of com'se intended to vindicate each party, 
 for the support it gave to the war, by insinuating that 
 devotion to country is more imperative than moral obli- 
 gation. 
 
 The war has also had a most unhappy influence in 
 familiarizmg the public ear to falsehood, and under cir- 
 cumstances tending to divest the sin of much of its vile- 
 ness. Falsehood was dignified, both by the magnitude 
 and importance of the objects it was intended to promote, 
 and by the elevated position of those who condescended 
 to use it as an instrument. 
 
 It was one of the lamentations of the Prophet, that 
 ** truth has fallen in the streets ;" and in our days, the 
 Mexican war has caused her to be trampled in the dust, 
 not only in the streets of Washington, but in every high- 
 
264 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 way throughout the repubhc. The Message of Mr. Polk 
 (Dec. 1846), in vmdication of the war, has been termed 
 *'a pyramid of mendacity". It would occupy too much 
 space to examine in detail the various materials of this 
 vast structure, we will merely give a few specimens which 
 the attentive reader of the preceding pages will be quah- 
 fied to analyze for himself. 
 
 '' The existing war with Mexico was neither desired nor 
 provoked by the United States ; on the contrary, all hon- 
 orable means were resorted to to avert it. After years of 
 endurance of aggi-avated wrongs on our part, Mexico, in 
 violation of solemn treaty stipulations commenced hostili- 
 ties, and thus by her own act forced the war upon us. Long 
 before the advance of our army to the left bank of the 
 Rio Grande, we had ample cause of war against Mexico ; 
 and, had tlie United States resorted to this extremity, we 
 might have appealed to the whole civilized world for the 
 justice of our camse." " The wrongs which we have suf- 
 fered from Mexico almost ever since she became an indepen- 
 dent power, and the patient endurance with which we have 
 borne them, are without a 2)arallel in the histor?j of modern 
 civilized nations." " The annexation of Texas to the 
 United States constituted no just cause of offence to 
 Mexico." "Whilst occupying his (General Taylor's) 
 position on the east bank of the Rio Grande within the 
 limits of Texas, then recently admitted as one of the States 
 of our Union, the Commanding-General of the Mexican 
 forces, who, in pursuance of the orders of his Government, 
 had collected a large army on the opposite shore of the 
 Rio Grande, crossed the riv.er, invaded our territory, and 
 commenced hostilities by attackmg our forces^ " Every 
 honorable effort has been used by me to avoid the war 
 that followed ; but all have proved vain. All our attempts 
 to preserve peace have been met by insult and resistance 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 265 
 
 on the part of Mexico." " This war has not been waged 
 with a view to conquest," &c., &c. 
 
 With a reckless consistency rarely paralleled, he an- 
 nounced to Congress on the 6th of July, 1848, that " the 
 war ih which our country was -reluctantly involved in 
 the NECESSARY vindication of the national rights and honor, 
 has been terminated." 
 
 The fictions of Mr. Polk were reiterated by his party 
 with all the gravity of sincere belief. The Whigs in Con- 
 gress, with a few honorable exceptions, pursued a different 
 policy. They fearlessly confessed that the war for 
 which they voted was unnecessary and unjust, a war of 
 aofsfression and not of defence : and that the assertion in 
 behalf of which they enrolled their names in an enduring 
 record, that the war existed " by the act of Mexico" was 
 FALSE. To excuse their conduct, they also had their fiction. 
 They voted to raise fifty thousand men, for the purpose of 
 rescuing General Taylor and his little army from capture 
 by the Mexicans ! ■ 
 
 The falsehoods respecting the Mexican war, coined in 
 Washington, became a circulating medium throughout the 
 country. They were found in almost every official de- 
 spatch ; they were uttered through the press ; they were 
 passed as genuine by Governors in their messages, and by 
 Legislatures in their resolves. Who shall estimate the 
 injury done to the morahty of the nation by this wide- 
 spread contempt for truth ? The example of men con- 
 spicuous for talents, influence, and station, must be ope- 
 rative for good or for evil. " Wheft the righteous are in 
 authority the people rejoice ; but when the wicked bear 
 rule, the people mourn." It has been well said that truth 
 and the confidence it inspires, is the basis of human society, 
 and that error is the source of every iniquity. How de- 
 plorable, then, that the love of tmth and abhorrence of 
 23 
 
266 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 falsehood should be weakened by the authority and exam- 
 ple of those in high places ! But with this subject are 
 connected considerations more momentous than any that 
 belong to this transitory scene ; — we are all soon to enter 
 upon an endless existence in a world in which sorrow and 
 falsehood are alike unknown, or in a place from which joy 
 and truth are for ever banished. 
 
 Surely, among the awful responsibilities resting upon 
 the authors and supporters of the Mexican war, will be 
 included the corruption of public opinioa and the depra- 
 vation of public morals to which it has given birth. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 267 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY. 
 
 Having taken a retrospect of the pecuniary, political, 
 and moral sacrifices made by the American people, in the 
 war they have waged against Mexico, let us next inquire 
 what equivalents they have received. It is difficult to ima- 
 gine any which are not included in the Territory and the 
 Glory they have acquired. The value of these acquisi- 
 tions, we proceed to examine. 
 
 It appears from a document laid before Congress from 
 the War Department and Land Office, that the alleged 
 limits of Texas embrace 325,520 square miles ; and 
 those of New Mexico^ and California, as ceded by treaty, 
 626,078 more, making a grand total of 851,590 square 
 miles. It is only by comparison that we can form an 
 adequate idea of the extent of this prodigious area. The 
 state of New York contains less than 50,000 square 
 miles ; of course the addition made to our possessions is 
 equal to seventeen times the extent of the Empire State. 
 It is four times the size of France, and five times that of 
 Spain. ^ 
 
 Texas, it is true, was acquired by other means than open 
 war. But no less than 125,520 square miles, included with- 
 in her assumed boundaries, rightfully belonged to Mexico, 
 and our title to them is founded, not on her claim, but on 
 conquest, confirmed by the treaty of peace. Adding this 
 territory to that of New Mexico and California, we have 
 
 * See American Almanac for 1842, p. 270 
 
268 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 651,591 square miles, about one half of all that was left 
 to Mexico, after the revolt of Texas, as the spoils of war. 
 Such was " the magnanimous forbearance exhibited to- 
 wards Mexico," of which Mr. Polk thought proper to 
 boast in his Message to the Senate communicating the 
 treaty which ceded to us this vast plunder. 
 
 How far this forbearance was magnanimous depends, 
 of course, on the motives which prompted it. We have 
 already seen that the insurgents of Texas, after some hesi- 
 tation, forbore to include California withki its boundaries. 
 The reason assigned for this forbearance had no reference 
 to right and justice ; it was simply, that they had already 
 taken as much as they wanted, and that more at present 
 would be inconvenient. It is difficult to see wherein our 
 forbearance was more magnanimous than that of our 
 Texan brethren. We have taken precisely what we went 
 to war to acquire ; and a territory from which thirteen 
 large slave States could be carved, was sufficient to give 
 the slave power an entire control of the Federal Govern- 
 ment. Mexico, moreover, is so enfeebled and despoiled, 
 that all that is left may be absorbed by the mighty Re- 
 pubhc, at any moment it may be deemed expedient to 
 take possession. 
 
 But as Mexico was prostrated, and we might have an- 
 nexed the whole Republic to our territory, was it not 
 magnanimous to pay her for what we did take ? It is 
 true Mexico was prostrate, but she was not submissive. 
 She could not resist our arms, but she could not be occu- 
 pied and governed as Ameiican territory except by mih- 
 tary force. The war was becoming unpopular, and the Ad- 
 miiiistration v/as tottering, the popular branch of the 
 National Legislature having declared against it. It was 
 doubtful whether Congress would furnish suppUes for 
 new conquests. But, in any event, nothing more could be 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 269 
 
 noped from the farther prosecution of the war than what 
 /lad been already effected — the military occupation of 
 Mexico. Such an occupation for a single year would cost 
 double or treble the sum we paid the Mexicans. It was 
 obviously wiser and cheaper to pay a moderate sum for a 
 quit-claim to the land we wanted, than to continue an 
 expensive and dangerous litigation. In the prosecution 
 of this Htigation, we had already expended 20,000 Hves, 
 and more than a hundred miUions of dollars. Hence, the 
 means of acquiring peaceable possession of the land we 
 had taken was a matter of political and pecuniary calcu- 
 lation, and the result affords but Httle proof of magnani- 
 mity. 
 
 The question, whether this territory is not worth all it 
 has cost us, will be variously answered. By those who 
 regard slavery as the comer-stone of our poHtical Uberties, 
 who behold in it a divine institution illustrative of the 
 wisdom and benevolence of the Deity, and an instrument 
 by which those who possess it will be enabled to goveru 
 the whole Repubhc, and mould its policy for their own 
 interest, the acquisition of territoiy which it was expected 
 would give to slavery an indefinite extension, an assured 
 perpetuity, and an overwhelming political preponderance, 
 would of course be regarded as of priceless value. On 
 the other hand, the addition of this territory, should it be 
 used for the purpose for which it was acquired, cannot 
 but be regarded as a direful curse by all who believe 
 slavery to be hostile alike to the will of God and the 
 happiness of man. We have had, in the preceding pages, 
 most abundant proof that this territory would not have 
 been acquired except with a view to the extension of 
 slavery ; and it is therefore just and fair, in estimating its 
 value compared with its cost, to keep in mind for what 
 object that cost was incurred. 
 23* 
 
2t0 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 The future is hidden from our view, but there is little 
 reason for doubting, that not only Texas, but all New 
 Mexico, will for a long period be doomed to the ignor- 
 ance, degradation, and misery, which are inseparable 
 from human bondage. Events unexpected and utterly 
 unforeseen, even at the conclusion of the war, have since 
 occurred, which will probably exempt at least a portion 
 of California from the curse of slavery. That portion, 
 however, it is to be feared, will find another and a sore 
 curse in its recently-discovered gold. The mineral wealth 
 in which it is said to abound vrill be shared by a promis- 
 cuous crowd from foreign lands a^ well as our own citi- 
 zens. The eager search for gold in the mines in which it 
 is buried has ever been found hostile to regular industry, 
 and to habits of virtue and frugahty. We have cause to 
 apprehend that the population which will be attracted to 
 this region will not be of a character to strengthen our 
 republican institutions, or in any respect to elevate our 
 national character. 
 
 But whatever may be the riches of these mines, and 
 whatever may be the consequences resulting from them, 
 it should be remembered that they formed no part of the 
 motives which prompted the war — no part of the estim- 
 ated value of the territories we have seized. The true 
 question to be solved nn this discussion is, did we pay, in 
 blood, and treasure, and in the moral and pohtical evils 
 resulting from the war, a higher price than the territories 
 were at the time supposed to be worth to us ? 
 
 We had temtory enough, as has already been shown, 
 for unborn generations ; and, Avith the exception of the 
 extension of slavery, no plausible motive could be urged 
 for the acquisition. No president would have dared to 
 negotiate a treaty of cession at the price of one hundred 
 milHons, nor would any Senate have had the hardihood to 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 271 
 
 ratify so preposterous a treaty, had it been made. Nor 
 is it conceivable that Mexico would have refused so mag- 
 nificent and prodigal an offer, had it been made. We 
 have seen that Mr. Polk offered through Slidell $25,000,- 
 000 for the very territory for which the country has paid 
 at least five times that amount in money, in addition to 
 blood, misery, and crime. 
 
 The Port of Saint Francisco was the only portion of 
 the acquired territory which we needed, as being conven- 
 ient to our commerce in the Pacific ; and that might 
 doubtless have been acquired by friendly negotiation at a 
 moderate price ; or a right of deposit secured by treaty, 
 without cost. 
 
272 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 GLORY. 
 
 He whose wisdom and benevolence are alike infinite, has 
 taught us not to seek that glory which cometh from man, 
 and has assured us, that " that which is highly esteemed 
 among men, is an abomination in the sight of God." If 
 we believe the record which God has given of himself, 
 we must be constrained to^admit that, of all the objects 
 of human ambition and of human admiration, none can be 
 more abominable in his sight than military glory. Such 
 glory is founded on bravery, skill, and success, in causing 
 the misery and death of our fellow-men. It is wholly 
 independent of the moral character of the cause in wliich 
 it is acquired. The soldier is by general consent absolved 
 from all responsibility for the cruelty, injustice, and wick- 
 edness of his employers. Whether he fights for liberty 
 or slavery — to defend his own country or to plunder an- 
 other — his glory rests upon his bravery, skill, and suc- 
 cess, in subduing and slaughtering his enemies. 
 
 Bravery is an animal quaUty, very common among all 
 nations, and its possession has never been confined to the 
 wise and good. Were honor to be awarded to the bravest, 
 the most atrocious villains would not unfrequently bear 
 the palm. Indeed, few military exploits can, in a scornful 
 recklessness of Hfe, compare with the assassination of 
 Henry the Fourth. What General has, like Ravilliac, 
 coolly and dispassionately welcomed an inevitable, horri- 
 ble and shameful death. Mere bravery is no more en- 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 273 
 
 titled to praise than an}'- other animal quality, and its 
 exercise is often indicative of the vilest passions, and a 
 sottish indifference to a future state. The bravery of the 
 soldier amid the excitement of the battle field, stimulated 
 ])y fear of shame, and the hope of reward, is pale and 
 lustreless compared with that devotion to duty which tri- 
 umphs over pain, and danger, and life itself. " I go 
 bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem," said the Apostle, 
 " not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save 
 that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that 
 bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things 
 move me, neither count I my hfe dear to myself." 
 
 Military skill, of course, arises from experience and in- 
 struction combined with natural talent, and, even when 
 carried to the highest possible perfection, affords no gua- 
 rantee for the presence of a single virtue. Bravery and 
 military skill, as well as infamy, are associated with the 
 memory of Benedict Arnold. But success is essential to 
 military glory. The warrior is crowned only by the hand 
 of victory. Yet her gifts are often dispensed without 
 regard to the bravery and skill of the recipient, and we 
 have seen her permitting one of the most distinguished of 
 her favorites, after leading half a million of veterans to 
 Russia, secure his personal safety by a sudden flight in 
 the night season, and under cover of a borrowed name ; 
 and we have seen this same favorite, after wielding the 
 most potent sceptre ever grasped by man, wearing out 
 his days in an Island-prison. 
 
 The American army, furnished with all the appliances 
 of war which science, and art, and wealth could supply, 
 gained a series of unmterrupted victories over a nation 
 with a small, feeble, and sparse population, but little re- 
 moved from semi-barbarism, without commerce, without 
 arts, without money, and without credit. Now, the his- 
 
274 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 torical fact, that these victories liave been achieved by 
 the bravery and skill of the American forces, constitutes 
 the GLORY which is regarded by some, as an ample com- 
 pensation for all the misery and wickedness resulting from 
 the war ! This glory gives no food to the hungry, no 
 raiment to the naked, and adds nothing to the wisdom, 
 virtue and comfort of the American people. We are 
 assured, however, that it will give us peace and security 
 by deterring aggression. All history bears testimony to 
 the utter futility of such an expectation. Military glory 
 ever renders its possessor arrogant and intolerant, and 
 others jealous and vindictive. Powerful martial nations 
 are those which enjoy the least peace ; assailing others, 
 if not assailed themselves. 
 
 Let us listen to the peans of triumph as chanted on the 
 floor of the United States Senate by General Cass: " Our 
 flao' has become a victorious standard, borne bv marchincr 
 columns over the hills and valleys, and through the cities 
 and towns and fields of a powerful (!) nation, in a career 
 of success of which few examples can he found in ancient 
 or modern warfare.''^ After giving the dates of twenty- 
 eight victories, he exclaims, " If we recorded our hifetory 
 upon stone, as was done in the primitive ages of the 
 world, we should engrave this series of glorious deeds 
 upon tables of marble. But we shall do better ; we shall 
 engrave it upon our hearts, and we shall commit it to the 
 custody of the press, whose monuments, frail and feeble 
 as they appear, are more enduring than brass or marble, 
 than statues or pyramids, or the proudest monuments 
 erected by human hands. Let modern philanthropists talk 
 as they please, the instincts of nature are truer than the 
 doctrines they preach. MiHtary renown is one of the 
 great elements of national strength, as it is one of the 
 proudest sources of gratification to every man who loves 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 275 
 
 his coiintiy, and desires to see her occupy a distinguished 
 position among the nations of the earth,"'" 
 
 It seems unfortunate for the honor and glory of our 
 country that our mihtary operations are conducted on a 
 Lilliputian scale, and our military renown is so very cheaply 
 acquired. The trophies gained in our Mexican war, even 
 if engraven on marble, would look exceedingly diminutive 
 compared to some, which, however the General may sup- 
 pose to the contrary, are really recorded in the history of 
 modern warfare. Had it been the General's good fortune 
 to belong to " the Grand Army," his patriotic heart would 
 have swelled with still prouder gratification, while listen- 
 ing at Austerlitz, to the glowing applause of his Emperor : 
 *' Soldiers! lam content with you; you have covered 
 your eagles with immortal glory. ' An army of one hun- 
 dred thousand men, commanded by the Emperors of Rus- 
 sia and Austria, have been, in less than four hours, cut to 
 pieces and dispersed — forty stand of colors — the stand- 
 ards of the imperial guard of Russia — one hundred and 
 twenty pieces of cannon, twenty Generals, and more than 
 thirty thousand prisoners, are the results of this day, for 
 ever celebrated. Henceforth you have no longer any 
 rivals to fear." With what delight would he have drank 
 in the glorious story, related to the aiTny on entering 
 Berlin : " Soldiers — the forests, the defiles of Franconia, 
 the Saale and the Elbe, which your fathers had not tra- 
 versed in seven years, you have traversed in seven days, 
 and in this interval you have fought four fights, and one 
 pitched battle. You have sent the renown of your vic- 
 tories before you to Potsdam and to Berhn. You have 
 made sixty thousand prisoners, taken sixty -five standards, 
 six hundred pieces of cannon, three fortresses, and more 
 than twenty Generals. And yet nearly one half of you regret 
 
 * Cong. Globe, January 5th, 1848. 
 
276 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 not having fired a shot. All the provinces of the Prussian 
 monarchy, as far as the banks of the Oder, will be in your 
 power." At Friedland, his soul would have been " satis- 
 fied as with fat things," as the address of the hero fell upon 
 his ears. *• Soldiers — in ten days you have taken one 
 hundred and twenty piecee of cannon, seven standards, 
 killed, wounded, or captured, sixty thousand Russian pri- 
 soners ; taken from the enemy all its hospitals, all its 
 magazines, all its ambulances, the fortress of Konigsburg, 
 the three hundred vessels that were in the port laden with 
 every species of munitions, and one hundred and sixty 
 thousand muskets that England had sent to arm our 
 enemies." 
 
 The vast amount of glory and misery detailed in these 
 addresses, affords a significant comment on " the instincts 
 of nature," and the pacific doctrines of " modem philan- 
 thropists." 
 
 Military renown, the Senator tells us, is one of the 
 greatest elements of national strength, and the proudest 
 source of gratification to every man who loves his coun- 
 try, and desires to see her occupy a distinguished position 
 among the nations of the earth. The first assertion is 
 conti-adicted by history, and the latter by the declarations 
 of thousands and tens of thousands of men, whose virtue 
 and benevolence are unquestioned. If military renown 
 ever belonged to any people, the precious boon was en- 
 joyed by the French under Buonaparte. Yet France was, 
 at that very time, bleeding and agonizing at every pore, — 
 her commerc-e destroyed, — hev manufactures languishing, 
 her liberties crushed, her young men dragged by the con- 
 scription from the paternal hearth, and offered a bloody 
 sacrifice on the altar of personal ambition ; and finally 
 this same great element of national strength consigned 
 the nation to the custody of a foreign army, and its mighty 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 277 
 
 emperor, U: a lonely rock. It was on that rock, and 
 while brooding over his fallen greatness, that this scourge 
 of Europe uttered the memorable words, " The love of 
 glory is like the bridge which Satan threw over chaos, to 
 pass from Hell to Paradise ^ Like that fabled struc- 
 ture, it has indeed furnished to " woes unnumbered," a 
 ready entrance into our unhappy world. In losing her 
 hero, and her glory, France parted with her sorest 
 plagues ; and humbled in her pride, and despoiled of her 
 conquests, she enjoyed for a series of years, a degree of 
 peace, comfort, and prosperity to which she had been a 
 stranger from the foundation of her monarchy. 
 
378 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 PATRIOTISM. 
 
 Immediately after the expulsion of the Persians from 
 Greece, the fleets of the States in alliance with Athens, 
 were collected in a neighboring port. Theraistocles ap- 
 peared in the Athenian Assembly, and announced that he 
 had a plan for securing the power and glory of Athens ; 
 but, that secrecy being essential to its success, he could 
 not make it public, and asked for instructions. He was 
 authorized to communicate it to Aristides, and, with his 
 approbation, to put it in execution. The latter, on learn- 
 ing the plan, reported, that nothing could possibly con- 
 duce more to the grandeur and prosperity of Athens, but 
 nothing could possibly be more unjust. The Assembly, 
 without inquiring into particulars, ordered that the plan, 
 whatever it was, should be abandoned. Which party 
 displayed the purest patriotism — the Assembly, which re- 
 fused to augment the power of the RepubUc by an act of 
 injustice, or the illustrious scoundrel who proposed ren- 
 dering his country the mistress of Greece by firing the 
 assembled fleets of her allies ? Should the question be 
 decided by the sentiment so generally adopted by a 
 christian people, " our country right or wrong," the de- 
 cision would be adverse to the pagan Athenians. But 
 perhaps it will be said, that the sentiment is intended to 
 apply only in a state of war, and that it is only after a 
 declaration of hostilities that* we are bound to support 
 and vindicate the acts and pretensions of the Government, 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 279 
 
 however villainous. It is not easy to understand, how 
 the act of a King or a Congress can dissolve those obli- 
 gations of truth, justice, and mercy which the Creator 
 has imposed upon all his creatures. Yet the violation 
 and contempt of those obligations, for the supposed in- 
 terests of the public, seem by many to be regarded as 
 the test of patriotism. 
 
 Few virtues are more universally professed, few are 
 more imperfectly apprehended, and few are more rarely 
 practised, than patriotism. From the time of Absalom 
 to the last electioneering meeting, patriotic professions 
 have been the ch^ap materials from which demagogues 
 have attempted to construct their fortunes. 
 
 Counterfeits imply an original. There is such a virtue 
 as patriotism, acknowledged and inculcated by both natu- 
 ral and revealed religion ; and it is but a development of 
 that benevolence which springs from moral goodness. To 
 do good unto all men as we have opportunity, is an in- 
 junction invested with divine authority. Generallj'- our 
 ability to do good is confined to our families, neighbors, . 
 and countrymen ; and the natural promptings of our 
 hearts lead us to select these in preference to more dis- 
 tant objects, for the subjects of our kind offices. Our 
 benevolence, when directed to our countrymen at large, 
 constitutes patriotism ; and its exercise is as much con- 
 trolled by the laws of moraUty, as when confined to our 
 neighbors or our families. ^ voice from Heaven has for- 
 bidden us, '' to do evil that good may come." The sen- 
 timent, " our country right or wrong," is as profligate and 
 impious as would be the sentiment, " our church, or our 
 party, right or wrong." If it be rebellion against God to 
 violate his laws for the benefit of one individual, however 
 dear to us, not less sinful must it be to commit a similar act 
 for the benefit of any number of individuals. If we may 
 
280 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 not, in kindness to the highwayman, assist him in robbing 
 and murdering the traveller, what divine law permits us 
 to aid any number of our own countrymen in robbing and 
 murdering other people ? He who engages in a defen- 
 sive war, with a full conviction of its necessity and justice, 
 may be impelled by patriotism, by a benevolent desire to 
 save the lives, and property, and rights of his country- 
 men. But, if he believes the war to be one of invasion 
 and conquest, and utterly unjust, by taking part in it, he 
 assumes its guilt, and becomes responsible for its crimes. 
 But soldiers, it is said, are bound to obey orders, with- 
 out inquiring into their morality. Where enlistments are 
 voluntary, this obligation is assumed, not imposed, and it 
 may well be questioned, whether any man is at liberty to 
 promise unqualified obedience to others. But the obliga- 
 tion of the soldier, does not affect the duties of the citi- 
 zen. The latter is free from the promises of the former. 
 The Government has declared a war of invasion and 
 conquest, one which the citizen believes to be most 
 iniquitous — is he required by duty, that is, by the com- 
 mands of God, voluntarily to aid the Government in 
 prosecuting such a war, by the offer of his money and 
 services ? If he is, then all people are under a divine 
 obligation to aid their respective Governments in all their 
 wars, however piratical, and waged for any purpose, 
 however detestable. Such indeed, is the sentiment ad- 
 vanced in the following lines, 
 
 " Stand thou by thy country's quarrel. 
 Be that quarrel what it may ; 
 He shall wear the greenest laurel, 
 Who shall greatest zeal display " 
 
 Here we have an American poet, who would exult in the 
 massacre of Glencoe, sing peans to the Duke of Alva, 
 and crown with the greenest laurels the butchers of the 
 Albigenses. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 281 
 
 " Our country right or wrong," is rebellion against 
 the moral Government of Jehovah, and treason to the 
 cause of civil and rehgious liberty, of justice and 
 humanity. 
 
 Actions springing from mere selfishness, rarely com- 
 mand the respect of mankind, and the patriotism that is 
 self-denying and costly, is more likely to be genuine than 
 that which is lucrative. Tried by this test, there is com- 
 paratively but little patriotism in the world. The dema- 
 gogue, who echoes the clamor of the mob, and thus 
 opens to himself an avenue to wealth and power, gives a 
 very inconclusive proof of his patriotism ; while he who, 
 in promoting what he belie'^es to be the pubhc weal, 
 exposes himself to obloquy and loss, may reasonably be 
 regarded as governed by disinterested motives. 
 
 One of the most universal of popular delusions, is that 
 which awards patriotism to the soldier. But soldiers 
 frequently engage in wars in which their country has no 
 interest whatever ; and, although military skill, and valor 
 of a high order, have often been displayed by mercenary 
 troops, they are surely not entitled to the meed of patri- 
 otism. 
 
 It is well-known, that/ multitudes adopt the military 
 profession as a livelihood, with the expectation of pay, 
 promotion, and distinction. It is not obvious that in 
 selecting this profession, they are more influenced by a 
 desire to do good to their country, than the lawyer, phy- 
 sician, divine, or mechanic. No class of men have in the 
 history of the world, been more ready instruments of 
 oppression, cruelty, and tjranj, than soldiers ; and 
 scarcely ever have the liberties of a people been de- 
 stroyed, but through their agency. Rarely, indeed, have 
 the representatives of a people convened in Senates or 
 Parliaments, surrendered their rights to an usurper, except 
 
282 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 when overawed and compelled by military force. That 
 soldiers have been governed by a high sense of patriotism 
 it would be folly to deny, but still greater folly to affirm 
 that such is generally the case. 
 
 We are fond of dwelhug on the patriotism of the sol- 
 diers of the Revolution ; and yet we have high authority 
 to prove that, in many instances, their claim to this virtue 
 was exceedingly equivocal. Washington, in a long letter to 
 Congress, 24th September, 1776, gives a melancholy 
 picture of the demoralization of the army : " Thirty or 
 forty soldiers will desert at a time, and of late a practice 
 prevails of a most alarming nature, and which will, if it 
 cannot be checked, prove fatal both to the country and 
 the army. I mean the infamous practice of plundering ; 
 for under the idea of Tory property, or property that may 
 fall into the hands of the enemy, no man is secure in his 
 effects, and scarcely in his person. In order to get at them, 
 we have several instances of people being frightened out 
 of their houses, under pretence of their houses being 
 ordered to be burned, and this is done with a view of 
 seizing the goods ; nay, in order that the villainy may be 
 more effectually concealed, some houses have already been 
 burned to cover tlie theft. I have used my utmost 
 endeavors to stop this horrid practice; but under the 
 present lust after plunder, and want of laws to punish 
 offenders, I might almost as well attempt to move Mount 
 Atlas.'' He then goes on to detail the difficulty he had, 
 in getting a court-martial to convict an officer for stealing. 
 Again, on the 3d May, 1777, he writes to Congress : " The 
 desertions from our army of \aie\i2iYe\)eQnvery considerable'^ 
 The same year. Adjutant- General Reed, writes to 
 Congress : " When the hurry of retreat or action made 
 it difficult to go through the forms of trial, all restraints 
 seemed to be broken through. A spirit of desertion. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 283 
 
 cowardice, plunder, and shrinking from duty, when attend- 
 ed with fatigue or danger, prevailed but too generally 
 through the whole army."* 
 
 It is true, a soldier perils his life ; but other men do 
 the same for money, without any reference to the good of 
 their country. Says Washington, writing to Congress, 
 February 9th, 1776: "Three things prompt men to a 
 regular discharge of their duty in time of action — natural 
 bravery, hope of reward, and fear of punishment. The 
 two first are common to the lininstructed and the disci- 
 plined soldier ; but the latter most obviously distinguishes 
 the one from the other. A coward, when taught to 
 believe that, if he breaks his ranks and abandons his 
 colors, he will be punished with death by his own party, 
 will take his chance against the eneftiy." Washington wa& 
 too well acquainted with human nature, and too much 
 devoted to truth, to attribute martial valor to patriotism. 
 The patriotism of our soldiers in Mexico, is a never-faihng 
 topic of eulogy with our political aspirants ; but from a 
 report of the Secretary of War, made 8th April, 1848, it 
 appears that the desertions in Mexico, up to the 31st 
 December, 1847, so far as they could be ascertained from 
 confessedly very imperfect returns, amounted very nearly 
 to five thousand, about one-sixteenth of the whole number 
 of troops employed. The newspapers represent the de- 
 sertions, in the early part of 1848, as very numerous. 
 
 The records of history, as well as daily observation, 
 teach us, that patriotism is as rarely the virtue of politi- 
 cians as it is of soldiers. " To the victors belong the 
 spoils," now the avowed maxim of American parties, 
 reveals the true object of multitudes who are vociferous 
 in their professions of devotion to the public interest. 
 An active poHtician, who is not the possessor or the 
 * Life of Reed, I. 240. 
 
284 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 expectant of oflQce, is a personage rarely to be found in 
 our Republic. To pursue measures supposed to be 
 popular, affords a ver}' uncertain indication of virtuous 
 motives. 
 
 It seems impossible that any candid person acquainted 
 with the origin and causes of the Mexican war, should in- 
 sist that its necessity and justice were so palpable as to 
 exclude all doubt : or that the assertion that the Mexicans 
 commenced the war by invading the United States, and 
 sheddino- American blood upon American soil, is sup- 
 ported by such irrefragable testimony, that no well-in- 
 formed man can honestly deny its truth. Many of the 
 democratic members of Congress, in their reproaches of 
 the Vv'higs for voting for a war which they denounced as 
 unjust, declared such a war to be the greatest of crimes, 
 and those who prosecuted it, guilty of murderJ Even 
 Mr. Polk's orffan thus abused the Whiors for votingr thanks 
 to victorious Generals : — " None but the Whigs would 
 think of rewarding men volunteering to fight in a war un- 
 constitutionally commenced by one man, and prosecuted 
 in contempt of national honor." Yet this same ready 
 tool had been lavish of his charo^es of treason aorainst all 
 who opposed the war, whatever might be then* conscien- 
 tious opinion of its character. But if an unjust war be 
 indeed a crime, involving its authors and abettors in the 
 guilt of murder, it is most remarkable that not one Demo- 
 crat in two successive Congresses, found his conscience 
 burthened with the momentous question, whether the 
 Mexican war was or was not unjust ! Probably not two 
 of these gentlemen entertained precisely the same opinion 
 on the great truths of scripture, yet not a solitary indivi- 
 dual of the party saw aught but verities in Mr. Polk's 
 messages ! When we remember the diversities of the 
 human mind, and the complicated and contradictory tes- 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 285 
 
 timony in relation to the origin of the war, and the wide 
 difference of opinion respecting it, throughout the nation, 
 the unanimous, unfaltering faith of these gentlemen is a 
 moral phenomenon. Their faith, however, was counted 
 to them, if not for righteousness, at least for obedience, 
 and opened to many of them a vista to future office and 
 power. Under such circumstances, their support of the war 
 cannot be taken as irresistible proof of their patriotism. 
 Nor is the evidence of the patriotism of their opponents af- 
 forded by their vote for an acknowledged falsehood, and 
 their grant of men and money to wage a war admitted to be 
 iniquitous, of a more conclusive character. The Demo- 
 crats, according to the orthodox rule, showed their faith 
 by their works, while the unbelieving Whigs rested 
 their justification on their works alone. Denying the 
 necessity, expediency, and justice of the war, as well 
 as the wisdom and integrity of Mr. Polk, they surren- 
 dered to him the army and navy, with an additional force 
 of 50,000 men, and ail the money he desired, to carry 
 fire and sword into Mexico, and to dismember that Re- 
 public. To have done all this with a single desire to 
 benefit their own countjy, would have been at least a 
 very questionable benevolence, and a very ambiguous 
 patriotism. 
 
 Mr. Clay, the distinguished and beloved leader of the 
 Whig party, in a pubhc speech delivered in Kentucky, 
 declared that the preamble to the war bill, " falsely 
 attributed the commencement of the war to the act of 
 Mexico." He then added — " I have no doubt of the pa- 
 triotic motives of those who, after struoro-lino; to divest the 
 bill of that flagrant error, found themselves constrained 
 to vote for it ; but I must s-a.j, that no earthly considera- 
 tion would have ever tempted Tne to vote for a bill with a 
 PALPABLg FALSEHOOD Stamped on its face. Almost idol- 
 
286 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 izing truth, as I do, I never, never could have voted for 
 the bill." Of course, Mr. Clay's patriotism so far differs 
 from that of the gentlemen alluded to, that it cannot lead 
 hhn to sacrifice truth for the cause of his country. He 
 then goes on to remark, that the war of 1812, against 
 Great Britain, was of a widely different character from 
 the present, being ajicst war, and so admitted by its op- 
 ponents, who, from motives of policy, refused to support 
 it, and that in consequence, "they lost, and justly lost 
 the public confidence," that is, they lost their pohtical 
 ascendency. He then asks the following very significant 
 question : " Has not the apprehension of a similar fate, 
 in a case widely different, repressed a fearless expression 
 of their real sentiments in som.e of our public men V This 
 interrogatory has all the force of an assertion. To what 
 public men does he refer ? Surely not to Mr. Polk and 
 his party. His remarks irresistibly confine his question 
 to the " some " Whigs in Congress, who, from fear of 
 losing their popularity, as the Fed^*alists had before done, 
 voted for the " palpable falsehood," the war and the sup- 
 plies. If he intended to intimate, and on no other suppo- 
 sition is his language intelligible, that these Whigs voted 
 as they did from selfish considerations, it is ^eeply to be 
 lamented that a ^an almost idolizing trutli, should have 
 hazarded the declaration, that he had no doubt of their 
 patriotic motives. We have' already noticed the frank 
 admission of the American Review, a Whig organ, that on 
 this occasidn the Whig members seemed more sohcitous 
 about "■ personal popularity ^^ than for the cause of " truth 
 
 AND RIGHT." 
 
 Subsequent developments have abundantly confirmed 
 the intimations of Mr. Clay and of the Review. It has 
 been shown by the declarations of certain Whig members 
 of Congress, published in the newspapers, tlmt on the 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 287 
 
 day war was ^declared, they were urged to vote for the 
 bill, on the ground that " it would be had ^^olicy to op- 
 pose the bill," and that this opinion was supported by a 
 reference to the political fate of those who had opposed 
 the war of 1812 against Great Britain. In a deliberate 
 consent to sacrifice the peace of the country, to squander 
 its treasures and its blood, and to trample under foot both 
 truth and justice, from considerations of party policy, and 
 for the purpose of acquiring personal popularity, and with 
 it, office and its emoluments, it is not easy to detect those 
 "patriotic motives'' which Mr. Clay very courteously and 
 undoubtingly attributes to the Whig members who voted 
 for the war. 
 
 On the 13th May, 1846, Congress voted that " By the 
 act of the Bejmblic of Mexico, war existed between that 
 RepubUc and the United States." On the 31st January, 
 1848, a new House of Representatives voted, that this 
 same war was " unconstitutionally and unnecessarily be- 
 gun by the President of the United States." In the 
 affirmative of this latter vote, we find recorded the names 
 of fifteen. Whig Members who had belonged to the late 
 house, and whose names are also recorded in the {affirma- 
 tive of the former vote. The last declaration, however 
 truthful, was no doubt considered equally good policy 
 with the first, inasmuch as a presidential election was 
 approaching, and it was expedient to throw odium on the 
 rival party, and on Mr. Polk its acknowledged head. 
 
 One of the gentlemen who voted for hoth declarations 
 thus expressed his opinion of this self-same war : " En- 
 tertaining these views upon the origin and purposes of 
 the war, I can consider it in no other fight than as a 
 NATIONAL CRIME ; but, independent of this, it is an of- 
 fence against the moral spirit of our time, a retrograde 
 step in the movement of humanity, a violent wresting of 
 
288 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 our national energy and national resources, to unnatural 
 and mischievous uses. I l*ave no desire that a single 
 Mexican wife should be made a widow, a single Mexican 
 child an orphan ; and I would rather that my country 
 should sit down in Ronest shame, than purchase, at the 
 price of rapine, and tears, and blood, the ' unjust glory ' 
 of waving her flag over all the wide continent that 
 stretches between the stormy Atlantic and the shores of 
 the tranquil sea : 
 
 ' One murder makes a villain, thousands a hero.' "* 
 
 A Httle timely reflection might have warned this gen- 
 tleman that the fifty thousand troops he voted to place 
 under the orders of Mr. Polk to prosecute " a n{:itional 
 crime," might perad venture cause many Mexican widows 
 and orphans, acquire by conquest "unjust glory," and 
 make more than one " hero." 
 
 He alone who governs himself by the laws of God will 
 act consistently ; while he who follows the ever-varying 
 monitions of party policy will often be found wandmng 
 in tortuous paths. 
 
 History and daily observation compel the conviction, 
 that patriotism is more frequently professed than prac- 
 tised, and that much which assumes the name, and passes 
 current with the world, is utterly spurious. Yet it is also 
 true, that the patriotism which seeks the public good, in 
 obedience to the Divine will, and in accordance with the 
 precepts of the Gospel, far from being an imaginary, is a 
 real and active virtue. It is, indeed, to be found in camps 
 and senates, but these are not its exclusive nor its favorite 
 haunts. This patriotism inspires many a prayer for the 
 peace, virtue, and happiness of the nation, and prompts 
 innumerable efforts and costly sacrifices of time and money 
 for the temporal and spiritual welfare of our fellow-coun- 
 
 * Speech of Mr. Marsh, Feb. 18, 1848.— Con. Globe. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 289 
 
 trymen. Were we permitted to trace effects to their 
 causes, in the moral government of the world, we should 
 doubtless find that much of our prosperity as a people 
 flows from the labors of faithful pastors, self-denying 
 Sunday-school teachers, and sincere," zealous, but humble 
 Christian men and women. It is chiefly by such patriot- 
 ism, gentle and noiseless as the dew of Heaven, that our 
 land is clothed with moral verdure and beauty, and that 
 those who sit under their own vine, with none to make 
 them afraid, are indebted for the peace and security they 
 enjoy. 
 
 Patriotism springing from obedience to God, guided by 
 His laws, and exercised in official station for the national 
 welfare, at the certain and willing loss of popular favor 
 and personal advantage, is perhaps the highest perfection 
 to which this virtue can attain. Our own recent history 
 affords an illustrious instance of such patriotism. We 
 proceed to trace the course of John Quincy Adams, bo- 
 cause we find in it a sanction for almost every moral and 
 poHtical sentiment maintained in these pages; and also 
 because his example is well calculated to quicken and t-o 
 purify the love of country, and to convey to all lessons of 
 virtue and true wisdom. 
 25 
 
290 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 Custom has sanctioned certain funeral honors on the de- 
 cease of a man who has been President of the Republic, 
 which, like the salute given to a military officer, affords 
 no evidence of respect for his personal character. The 
 honors paid to the memory of Adams were the outpour- 
 ings of the heart of a great nation. The strife of faction 
 was stilled, the voice of party was dumb, and the whole 
 American people acknowledged and deplored the depart- 
 ure of a PATRIOT. It is interesting, and may be useful, to 
 inquire into the cause of this wonderful and universal at- 
 testation, in the midst of high poUtical excitement, to the 
 merits of a public man. 
 
 Mr. Adams had long been in public life ; but his career, 
 for the most part, had not been calculated to win the 
 affections of the people. It was commenced in the Fede- 
 ral party. He incurred the deep hostility of that party 
 by abandoning it at a critical and important juncture, and 
 exposed his motives to suspicion by accepting office from 
 his late opponents. The democratic party, which had 
 welcomed him into its bosom, and had abundantly re- 
 warded what was deemed his apostacy, he abandoned in 
 turn, and, as a Whig, became its active and zealous foe. 
 Much of his life was passed at foreign courts ; an'd, a] - 
 though always able, he gathered no unusual laurels in tht 
 field of diplomacy. Having never borne arms, no mili- 
 tary halo encircled his brow. In 1824, at a period of 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 291 
 
 singular party disorganization, he was one of four candi- 
 dates for the Presidency. He received -fewer votes than 
 one of his competitors, but, as neither had a majority of 
 the whole number, the election devolved on the House of 
 Representatives. By that body he was chosen President 
 by the smallest possible majority, and the vote of one of 
 the largest States was decided in his favor by a single 
 ballot. Instantly the whole country resounded with 
 charges against him of base corruption. His administra- 
 tion, although pure, did not give general satisfaction. He 
 was a candidate for the succeeding term, and was de- 
 feated by a large majority ; and he retired to private life, 
 one of the most unpopular of all the prominent poHticians 
 of the country. 
 
 In 1831, to the surprise of all, and to the mortification 
 of many of his friends, he accepted a seat in the House of 
 Representatives. He came there avowedly, to use his 
 own words, " bound in allegiance to no party, whether 
 sectional or pohtical." He was thus deprived of that 
 countenance and support which parties give both to their 
 leaders and their tools. He was, it is true, confessedly a 
 Whig ; but so independent was his course, that he w^as 
 continually ridiculed as "running off the track," and re- 
 garded as a man not to be depended on. He exerted 
 but little influence in the House, and attracted but little 
 attention till about the year 1836. 
 
 At this time the agitation of the anti-slavery question 
 roused the holders of slaves to great exasperation, and 
 alarmed the 4,wo political parties at the North, lest their 
 supposed sympathy with the cause of human freedom 
 might weaken the friendship of their southern allies, and 
 deprive them of their cooperation in the pursuit of office. 
 Hence Whigs and Democrats contended which should 
 show the most devotion to slavery, the most zeal iu sup- 
 
292 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 pressing the liberty of the press, and the freedom of dis- 
 cussion. Both whig and democratic Governors assailed 
 the Abolitionists in their official Messages, threatening 
 them with the penalties of the law. Mobs were raised in 
 the large cities, by the efforts of rival newspapers and 
 pohticians. Printing presses were destroyed, individuals 
 assaulted, churches sacked, and the freedom of the Post- 
 Office shamefully invadtsd with the connivance of a demo- 
 cratic President and cabinet, postmasters being permit- 
 ted to abstract from the mails whatever they deemed 
 offensive to the slaveholders. But vain would it be to 
 suppress anti-slavery tracts and newspapers, if a few in- 
 dependent members were permitted to make anti-slavery 
 speeches on the floor of Congress, and which the press 
 would spread on the wings of the Avind as a portion of 
 the ordinary debates. Such speeches had been made, 
 and they were called forth by anti-slavery petitions. 
 Hence, it was resolved to abolish the right of petition, and 
 the freedom of discussion in Congress, on all subjects re- 
 lating to slavery. It was on the 26th May, 1836, that 
 the House of Representatives passed, without debate, the 
 celebrated rule, known from the name of its author, as the 
 Pinkney Gag. From this moment, ntterl}^ discarding all 
 considerations of political influence, Mr. Adams devoted 
 himself to the defence of constitutional liberty, assailed by 
 the southern slaveholders, and their northern allies.'^ On 
 the question of the gag-rule, prostrating alike the right of 
 petition, and the freedom of discussion on the floor of the 
 House, Mr. Adams, being precluded by the previous ques- 
 tion from offering any remark, refused to vote, exclaiming, 
 when his name was called, " I consider this resolution as 
 a direct violation of the mles of this House, of the Con- 
 
 * Of seventy-nine northern Democrats, sixty-two- voted with 
 the slaveholders, and only one of forty-four northern Whigs. 
 
i?i:vi[:w OF thf: Mexican war. 293 
 
 stitution of the United States, and of tlie rights of my 
 constituents." He then demanded that his refusal to 
 vote, and the reason assigned, should be entered upon the 
 minutes. The boldness and independence which he exhi- 
 bited on this occasion, so novel and unexpected, so ut- 
 terly at variance with the usual deferential submission of 
 northern politicians to southern dictation, instantly riveted 
 upon him the gaze of his countrymen, nor was that gaze 
 intermitted, till twelve years afterwards, it beheld his 
 honored and revered remains deposited in the tomb of 
 his ancestors. He declared, in the presence of its authors 
 and supporters, that the gag-rule was " an infamous reso- 
 lution." He fearlessly imputed it to corrupt motives, and 
 waged against it, a most vigorous and unceasing warfare, 
 in speeches, in public addresses, in letters through the 
 press to his own constituents, and to the people of the 
 United States, till in December, 1845, he had the glory 
 of carrying a resolution for its abolition. 
 
 Of all abominations in the sight of southern members 
 of Congress, the alleged right of slaves to offer petitions 
 to the national legislature, was the most atrocious, striking, 
 in their opinion, a fatal blow at the authority of the mas- 
 ters. Mr. Adams, however, told the House, " If slaves 
 were laboring under grievances and afflictions not incident 
 to their condition as slaves, but to their natures as human 
 beings, born to trouble as the sparks fly upward, and it 
 were in the power and competency of the House to afford 
 them relief, and if the House would permit me, I most 
 assuredly Avould present their petition ; and, if that avowal 
 deserves the censure of the House, I am ready to receive 
 it. I would not deny the right of petition to slaves. I 
 would not deny it to a horse or a dog, if they could arti- 
 culate their sufferings, and I could relieve them." 
 
 When threatened with an indictment for his anti-slavery 
 25* 
 
294 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 course by a southern Member, he rephed, " Did the gen- 
 tleman think to frighten me from my purpose by his 
 threat of a grand jury ? He mistook his rnan. I am not 
 to be frightened from the discharge of a duty by the in- 
 dignation of the gentleman, nor by all the grand juries in 
 the Universe." 
 
 As slavery demanded for its protection, the suppres- 
 sion of the right of petition and the hberty of speech, he 
 freely canvassed its claims to such sacrifices, on the part 
 of the free states. He spoke of it as " The God-defying 
 institution," Mr. Clay had contended that that was pro- 
 perty which the laws made so. " The soul of man," said 
 Mr. Adams, " cannot by human laws, be made the pro- 
 perty of another. The owner of a slave is the owner of a 
 living corpse ; but he is not the owner of a man." He de- 
 clared, " unyielding hostility against slavery is interwoven 
 with every pulsation of my heart. Resistance against it, 
 feeble and inefficient as the last accents of a failing voice 
 may be, shall still be heard, while the power of utterance 
 shall remain." In the presence of the slaveholding mem- 
 bers he avowed, that in his prayers to Almighty God he 
 daily invoked Him for the aboHtion of slave^^^ The in- 
 ternal traffic did not escape his anathema : " If," said he, 
 *'the African slave trade was piracy, the American slave 
 trade could not be innocent, nor could its aggravated tur- 
 pitude be denied." From the admitted wickedness of the 
 African slave trade, he very logically deduced the wicked- 
 ness of slavery itself. " If," said he, " the African slave 
 trade be piracy, human reason cannot resist, nor can hu- 
 man sophistry refute, the conclusion, that the essence of 
 the cnme consists not in the trade, but in slavery. Trade 
 has nothing in itself criminal by the law of nature." 
 
 At a time when politicians and pretended patriots were 
 endeavoring to suppress the discussion of slavery, as fata) 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 295 
 
 to the preservation of the Union, he delivered a Fourth of 
 July address, in which he declared, that the "free and 
 unrestrained discussion of the rights and wrongs of sla- 
 very, far from endangering the union of these States, is 
 the only condition upon which the Union can be preserved 
 and perpetuated. Are you to bless the earth beneath 
 your feet because it spurns the footstep of a slave, and 
 then to choke the utterance of your voice lest the sound 
 of hberty should be re-echoed from the Palmetto groves, 
 with the discordant notes of disunion ? No ! No !" 
 
 In a letter to his constituents, he thus described the 
 state of the country : " What see we now ? Commu- 
 nities of slaveholding braggarts of freedom, setting at 
 defiance the laws of nature and of nature's God, restoring 
 slavery where it had been extinguished (Texas), and vainly 
 dreaming to make it eternal. Forming in the sacred name 
 of hberty, constitutions of government, and interdicting to 
 the legislative authority, the most blessed of all human 
 powers, the power of giving Hberty to the slave ! Gov- 
 ernors of States urging upon their legislatures, to make 
 the exercise of the freedom of speech to propagate the 
 rights of the slave to freedom, felony without benefit of 
 clergy. Ministers of the Gospel, like the priest in the 
 parable, coming and looking at the bleeding victim of 
 the highway robber, and passing on the other side ! or 
 baser still, perverting the pages of the sacred volume, to 
 turn into a code of slavery the very Word of God ! In- 
 furiated mobs murdering the peaceful minister of Christ, 
 for the purpose of extinguishing the light of a printing 
 press, and burning with unhallowed fire, the hall of free- 
 dom, the orphan school, and the Church devoted to the 
 worship of God ! and last of all, both Houses of Con- 
 gress turning a deaf ear to hundreds of thousands of pe- 
 titioners, and quibbling away their duty to read and listen 
 
296 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 and consider in doubtful disputations whetlier they shall 
 receivf-, or, receiving, refuse to read or hear the complaints 
 of their fellow-citizens and fellow-men !" In a letter to 
 the people of the United States, he avowed his humiliation 
 in beholding " the ignominious transformation of the peo- 
 ple who had commenced their career by the Declaration of 
 Independence, into a nation of slaveholders, and slave- 
 breeders." 
 
 Addressing the slaveholders on the floor of Congress, 
 he said, " I know well that the doctrine of the Declaration 
 of Independence, that ' all men are born free and equal,' 
 is held at the South as incendiary doctrine, and deserves 
 lynching — that the Declaration itself is a farago of abstrac- 
 tions. I know all this perfectly, and that is the very reason 
 I want to put my foot upon such doctrine, that I want to 
 drive it back to its fountain — its corrupt fountain — and pur- 
 sue it, until it is made to disappear from this land, and from 
 the world. Sir, this philosophy of the South, has done 
 more to blacken the character of this country in Europe, 
 than all other causes put together. They point to us as a 
 nation of liars and hypocrites, who publish to the world 
 that all men are born free and equal, and then hold a large 
 portion of our own population in bondage." Again, "As 
 its (slavery) basis rests exclusively upon physical force, to 
 physical force will it resort, not only to sustain its own 
 institutions, but to encroach upon the institutions of free- 
 dom elsewhere. This disposition is already manifested in 
 many ways, in the brutal treatment experienced by citizens 
 of the free States, if but suspected of favoring abolition 
 in the slaveholding jurisdictions, in the insolent demands 
 upon the free States to deliver up their citizens for alleged 
 offences against the slave laws — in the conspiring of Ame- 
 rican slaveholders in a foreign land against the life of one 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 29Y 
 
 of the great champions of human hberty* — in the ruffian 
 threats of assassination addressed to members of Congress 
 for daring to present your petitions — in the surrender of 
 the post-office to lynching law— in the murder of Lovejoy 
 — in the burning of Pennsylvania Hall — in Southern com- 
 mercial conventions to force the National channels of trade 
 from North to South — in Southern railways and banking 
 companies combined to Hnk the mammon of the Wes<- to 
 to the Moloch of the South — and in the strains of com- 
 mendation upon all land-robbing practices of the Anglo- 
 Saxons, and their \irtuous abhorrence of Custom-Houses, 
 embellished by their blackleg revenue and punctuality for 
 their debts of honor ^ 
 
 Utterly discarding the base sentiment, " Our country, 
 right or wrong," he denounced the foreign policy of the 
 administration, in resisting the claim made by Great Britain 
 to visit vessels bearing the national flag, and suspected 
 of being engaged in the African slave trade, to ascertain 
 whether the flag was not fraudulently assumed. He as- 
 serted that measures were systematically pursued or pro- 
 jected to force the country into a war with England, for 
 the protection of the slave trade. " Under the pretext of 
 resisting the right of search, the most false principles 
 have been advanced as the law of nations. Great Britain 
 has never claimed the right to search American vessels. 
 No such thing — on the contrary, she has explicitly dis- 
 claimed any such pretension, and that to the whole extent 
 we can possibly demand. We deny to her the right to 
 board pirates who hoist the American flag — yes, to search 
 British vessels, too, that have been declared pirates by 
 the law of nations — pirates by the law of Great Britain — 
 pirates by the laws of the United States — that is the de- 
 
 * In reference of the attempt of Mr. Stevenson, from Virginia, 
 and Hamilton, of South Carolina, made in London to force Daniel 
 O'Connell into a duel. 
 
298 REVIEW OF THE xMEXICAN WAR. 
 
 mand of our late Minister to London. Now, bohind all 
 this exceeding zeal against the right of search is the ques- 
 tion not brought to view, and that is, the support and per- 
 petuation of the African* slave trade. That is the real 
 question between the ministers of America and Great 
 Britain — whether slave-trading pirates, by merely hoisting 
 the American flag, shall be saved from capture. I must 
 say, that if it be true that the interference of our Minister 
 in France (General Cass) was the occasion of the refusal 
 by France to ratify the Quintuple treaty (for the suppres- 
 sion of the African slave trade), I do not hold that pro- 
 cedure in much admu-ation; it comes too near success in 
 doing wrong." 
 
 Now it should be recollected, that this denial of the right 
 of visitation, and the interference of General Cass, were 
 both sustained by the Whig party, through Mr. Webster 
 then Secretary of State. 
 
 Mr. Adams astounded the southern members, by in- 
 sisting, in a formal argument, that in case of war, or insur- 
 rection, the General Government had a discretionary 
 power to manumit the slaves, and also by his audacity in 
 asking leave to propose the following amendment to the 
 Constitution, to be submitted by Congress to the several 
 States, viz. : " From and after the 4th day of July, 1842, 
 there shall be, throughout the United Slates, no hereditary 
 slavery, but on and after that day ev^ry child born in the 
 United States shall he free.'" 
 
 A bill having been brought in, giving the right of suf- 
 frage " to all free white males," of the age of twenty- 
 one years, and who had resided a certain time within the 
 limits of Alexandria, he moved to strike out the word 
 white, and supported his motion in an able and sarcastic 
 speech. He asked " If this principle of universal suffrage 
 was to be adopted, admitting paupers, idiots, lunatics, and 
 
REVIEW OF TUE MEXICAN WAR. 299 
 
 the refuse of the prisons, why a man Avhose skin is not 
 white, but who performs all the duties of a good citizen, 
 a good husband, a good father, and a kind neighbor, 
 should not be entitled to vote as well as a white man ? 
 I ask what is a ichite man ? Is it the color of the skin 
 that constitutes a white man ? Then there a]^3 twenty 
 members of this House who are not white men by tBat 
 criterion. I pledge myself to bring forward a hundred 
 respectable colored men of this city with complexions 
 whiter than those of twenty members of this House. 
 Would you then say, would the courts say, that this 
 should be settled by going into the genealogy of the per- 
 son ? In this country it is a strnnge idea to look into a 
 man's genealogy to ascertain whether he has a right to 
 vole. Tell me why you insist on giving this pri\ilege to 
 the worst of your own color, while you refuse it to the 
 best of those who have a portion of the blood of anothei 
 race?" 
 
 The southern members rejected with scorn all recogni- 
 tion of the Republic oi Hayti, on account of the complex- 
 ion of its citizens ; and Mr. Adams incurred their indigna-. 
 tion by zealously maintaining the duty and policy of 
 forming diplomatic relations with it. 
 
 In 1839, between thirty and forty Africans, recently 
 imported into Havana, on their way from that port to the 
 plantations of their two purchasers, took possession of the 
 vessel, and arrived with their captive masters in our 
 waters. The whole sympathy of the Government and 
 of the slaveholders was immediately enlisted in behalf of 
 the two men, who, in defiance of law and treaties, had ob- 
 tained possession of these Africans, as legally entitled to 
 freedom as themselves, and who had attempted to avoid 
 capture by British cruizers by means of false and fraudu- 
 lent Custom House passports. The case was brought 
 
300 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 into the Supreme Court of the United States, and Mr. 
 Adams vokmteered his services as their counsel. He em- 
 braced the opportunity of exposing the inhuman subserv- 
 iency of the Government to the slaveholding interest, and 
 obtained a judgment in behalf of the freedom of the un- 
 fortunate Africans. 
 
 The reader need "iiot be reminded of the scorn and 
 detestation in which abohtionists at this time were held at 
 the North as well as at the South, nor how patriotic were 
 all attempts then deemed to silence them by insult and 
 violence. One of the most, despised portions of these 
 despised people, the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, 
 at a season of high public excitement, invited Mr. Adams 
 to attend one of their celebrations. He replied, " It would 
 give me great pleasure to comply with the invitation," and 
 after excusing himself on account of want of health and 
 leisure, added, " I rejoice that the defence of human free- 
 dom is falling into younger and more vigorous hands. 
 The youthful champions of the rights of human nature 
 have buckled, and are buckling on their armor, and the 
 scourging overseer, and the lynching lawyer, and the 
 servile sophist, and the faithless scribe, and the priestly 
 parasite, will vanish before them like Satan touched with 
 the spear of Ithuriel. You have a glorious and arduous 
 career before you ; and it is among the consolations of my 
 last days, that I am able to cheer you in the pursuit, and 
 exhort you to be stedfast and immoveable." 
 
 But the crowning crime of the abolitionists, was their 
 union with English abolitionists in anti-slavery conven- 
 tions held in London. 
 
 A northern member of Congress, sent under his frank to 
 Mr. Polk, then Governor of Tennessee, certain proceed- 
 ings of the " World's Convention." The Governor re- 
 turned an insulting answer, concluding, " It is a matter 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 301 
 
 of sincere regret that any American citizen should be 
 guilty of such high treason to the first principles upon* 
 which tlie States became united." Mr. Polk published 
 his epistle, and it no doubt prepared the way for his ele- 
 vation to the Presidency. In May, 1843, as a delegate 
 to an Anti-Slavery Convention in London, was leaving 
 Boston, he received the following lines : 
 
 " My dear sir — I have only time to say G od bless you 
 and your enterprize, for which ^I have no other pra3''er to 
 make, than that its success may herald my nunc dlmittis. 
 
 "J.Q.Adams." 
 
 When Mr. Polk declared it to be high treason for any 
 American to countenance these foreign Anti-Slavery Con- 
 ventions, he Httle anticipated, that he should hereafter . 
 deem it expedient, officially to pronounce the writer of 
 such a note, " a great and patriotic citizen." 
 
 We have already noticed Mr. Adams's strenuous oppo- 
 sition to the annexation of Texas, and his stern denuncia- 
 tion of the policy long pursued towards Mexico, and we 
 have found his name associated with the little band who 
 dared to vote against the Mexican war, and who, in deri- 
 sive but prophetic language, were called " The immortal 
 fourteen." 
 
 But if to question the justice of the war, was giving 
 " aid and comfort " to the enemy, how deep the treason 
 while the war was waging, to refuse in aiding its prosecu- 
 tion ! Yet a few weeks before his death, Mr. Adams 
 voted for a resolution withdrawing our troops from 
 Mexico, relinquishing all claims for the expenses of the 
 war, and estabhshing the desert between the Nueces and 
 the Rio Grande the boundary between the two countries ; 
 and almost the last vote he ever gave, was for an amend- 
 ment to the bill raising a loan of sixteen millions, viz. : 
 
 '* Provided that no part of the money received under 
 26 
 
302 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 the authority of this act shall be applied to any expenses 
 that shall hereafter be incurred by the prosecution of the 
 war with Mexico." 
 
 If Mr. Adams shocked the slaveholders by the freedom 
 of his language, he was no less regardless of the sensi- 
 bihties of their alHes. Irritated by their subserviency, 
 and their constant endeavors to thwart him, he exclaimed 
 on the floor, " There is no end to the devices and inge- 
 nuity of the servile ^mrt of this house, for the purpose of 
 suppressing the right of petition. I do not mean by the 
 servile part of this house, the slaveholding part of it." 
 He asserted " Northern subserviency to southern dictation 
 is the price paid by a northern administration (Mr. Van 
 Buren's) for southern support. The people of the north 
 still support, by their suffrages, the men who have 
 truckled to southern domination. I believe it impossible 
 that this total subversion of every principle of liberty 
 should be much longer submitted to by the people of the 
 free States of this Union. If they choose to be repre- 
 sented by slaves, they will find servihty enough to repre- 
 sent and betray them." On another occasion, he pro- 
 nounced the northern~Democrats " The consistent Swiss 
 guards of southern slavery." Nor was his notice of the 
 northern Whigs much more flattering. They were thus 
 characterized by him : *' The languid, compromising non- 
 resistants of the north, afraid of answering a fool accord- 
 ing to his folly, and flinching from the attitude of defiance 
 flung in their faces by the bullying threat of readiness to 
 meet them ' here or elsewhere.' " 
 
 He was as fearless in his assaults upon individuals, as 
 upon classes. Congressional duelling excited his especial 
 abhorrence, both for its wickedness, and because, as he 
 contended, it was resorted to by southern members for 
 the purpose of intimidating northern representatives. In 
 
REVIEV7 OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 303 
 
 a debate, referring to the subject, be spoke of the death 
 of a northern man who had fallen in a duel, as " a de-' 
 liberate murder committed on a member of this house," 
 and alluded to a gentleman present who had acted as a 
 second in this duel, and was supposed to have instigated 
 it, as a man having come into that house " witjh his hands 
 and face dripping with the blood of murder, the blotches 
 of which were yet hanging upon him." 
 
 He as freely condemned what he thought wrong in the 
 character and conduct of his country, as he did in parties 
 and individuals. On the floor of Congress he declared, 
 " You make and break treaties with the Indian tribes, 
 whenever either to make or break treaties with them hap- 
 pens to suit the purposes of the President and a majority 
 of both houses of Congress." Again — " In the treatment 
 of the African and native American races, we have sub- 
 verted the maxims and degenerated from the virtues of 
 our fathers." In a pubhshed letter, respecting a celebra- 
 tion of West India emancipation, he avowed he had not 
 taken part in it, " from shame for the honor and good 
 name of mv country, whose government has been now, for 
 a series of years, pursuing and maturing a counteraction of 
 the purpose of universal emancipation, and organizing an 
 opposite system for the maintenance and perpetuation 
 of slavery throughout the earth." After referring to va- 
 rious disgraceful features in the conduct of the Govern- 
 ment and people, he added, " my friends, I have no 
 heart to join in the festivity on the 1st of August, the 
 British anniversary of disenthralled humanity. While all 
 this, and mfinitely more than I could tell, but that I would 
 spare the blushes of my country, weigh down my spirits 
 with the uncertainty, sinking into my grave, as I am, 
 whether she is doomed to be numbered with the first 
 
304 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 liberators or the last oppressors of the race of immortal 
 man." 
 
 It would have been an anomaly in the history of hu- 
 man nature, if a public man, thus outraging almost every 
 popular prejudice, pouring contempt upon pohtical mean- 
 ness and corruption, spurning the commonly received 
 tests of patriotism, and hurling defiance at all the dema- 
 gogues of the day, had not excited against himself deep 
 and wide-spread hostility. Truth, justice, virtue, and 
 patriotism all forbid, as base and criminal, the suppression 
 of the historical fact that, for years, John Quincy Adams 
 was the most hated man in the American Republic. 
 To the Whig party he was an encumbrance, perpetually 
 interrupting the desired harmony between its northern 
 and southern sections, by introducing the topic of slavery, 
 and raising questions on which " policy " required the 
 party to vote against him. Scorning the control of party 
 disciphne and caucus dictation, he pursued his own 
 course, without asking or receiving permission from the 
 leaders. At the organization of the last house of Repre- 
 sentatives he ever attended, he dared to vote against 
 the Whig nominee for Clerk, and by so doing, nearly se- 
 cured the re-election of the late faithful and efficient, but 
 democratic incumbent. The Whig party of his own 
 State did not deem it expedient to assume the responsi- 
 bility of his " fanaticism," by returning him to the Senate 
 of the United States, as they had the power to do ; and 
 the Whig presses throughout the Union, with few excep- 
 tions, were nearly as strenuous in condemning his con- 
 gressional conduct, as were his political opponents. 
 
 It can readily be understood, that the slaveholders 
 looked upon him as an incendiary of the most odious as 
 well as dangerous description ; whOe the demagogues of 
 every name and party were zealous in manifesting their 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 305 
 
 patriotism, by pouiing obloquy upon a man at once so dis- 
 tinguished and so unpopular. The northern Democrats 
 especially, were careful to improve the opportunity of 
 testifying their devotion to the cause of human bondage, 
 by the most unmeasured hostility to its mighty opponent. 
 Said the Albany Argus (the recognized organ of the New 
 York serviles), " How discreditable is it to the country, 
 that the Massachusetts madman is permitted not only to 
 outrage all order and decorum in the House, but to 
 scatter incendiary evil and excitement throughout the 
 country." 
 
 The Richmond Inqwirer, then edited by the same per- 
 son whom Mr. Polk afterwards selected to take charge of 
 the official journal of the administration, announced that 
 Mr. Adams was considered " a general nuisance, whom 
 the voice of the House, if not of the people, must here- 
 after abate."" The abatement intended was expulsion 
 from Congress. A New York paper, alluding with appro- 
 bation to this hint of expulsion, extended it to the few 
 members who acted with Mr. Adams, and remarked — 
 " But we are apprehensive there is not enough firmness 
 or patriotism in Congress to adopt so stern and decisive a 
 mode of rebuking the audacity of the miscreant traitors." 
 
 The Charleston Mercury, the leading Journal in South 
 CaroUna, in reference to Mr. Adam's course in Congress, 
 declared (1837): " Pubhc opinion in the South, would 
 now we are sure justify an immediate resort to force by 
 the southern delegation, and even on the floor of Congress, 
 were they forthwith to seize and drag from the hall 
 any man who dared to insult them as that eccentric old 
 showman, John Quincy Adams, has dared to do." 
 
 The Washington Globe, the acknowledged organ of 
 the Democratic party at the seat of Government, spoke 
 of Mr. Adams, as " a vulgar old man, who has forfeited 
 26* 
 
306 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 all claim, by his incorrigible malevolence, to the respect 
 otherwise due tohis age and station," and declared " all 
 his zeal, all his sympathies are against his country." 
 
 At a public dinner in Virginia, the company drank as a 
 toast : " John Quincy Adams — once a man, twice a child, 
 and now a demon." At a fourth of July dinner in South 
 Carohna, the following toast was given : " May we never 
 want a hangman to prepare a halter for John Quincy 
 Adams." The company not only drank the toast, but 
 accompanied it with nine cheers. In 1842, the democracy 
 of Ohio, having the control of the Legislature, availed 
 itself of the opportunity of making an acceptable oJBfer- 
 ing at the shrine of slavery, by declaring in the name and 
 by the authority of the State in joint resolution, that, 
 " John Quincy Adams had subjected himself to the 
 merited censure and reprehension of his countrymen ;" 
 and " that the House of Representatives of the United 
 States owed it to themselves, to stamp his course and 
 conduct with the severest marks of its indignant disappro- 
 bation and censure." 
 
 But the hatred felt against Mr. Adams, was not mani- 
 fested only in indecent toasts, newspaper scurrility, and 
 democratic obsequiousness to the slaveholders. Mr. 
 Adams in a speech in the House (January 21st, 1839J, 
 observed : "I have received letters from various quarters 
 of the country, with post-marks showing that they have 
 been mailed at places very distant from each other, con- 
 taining many of them positive threats of assassination ; 
 others of them filled with friendly advice, assuring me, 
 that if I continued to present petitions similar to those I 
 have heretofore presented in this House, my days are 
 numbered, and I never shall survive the present session." 
 
 It was, however, on the floor of Congress, that the 
 malignity towards him was excited to its greatest inten- 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 307 
 
 sity. In a speech to bis constituents (1842), alluding to 
 the charge against him of using harsh language, he 
 remarked : " So far as any friend or impartial person rnay 
 have thought me blameable in that respect, I would ask 
 him to consider that the adversaries with whom I have 
 had to contend face to face, have pursued me with a vio- 
 lence and rancor unparalleled in the history of this 
 country. That twice in the space of five years, I have 
 for the single offence of persisting to assert the right of 
 the people to petition, and the freedom of speech and of 
 the press, been dragged before the House in which I was 
 you? Representative, as a culprit to be censured or 
 expelled ; and when, after ten days of the most unrelent- 
 ing persecution, I have been barely released from its 
 fury, I have been still denounced as the cause of the 
 waste of time consumed by my persecutors in their 
 struggle to accomplish my ruin. On both occasions, the 
 fury of the whole mass of Southern slavery was concen- 
 trated over my head, for the avowed purpose of breaking 
 down whatever of good name I had to leave as an inhe- 
 ritance to my children ; in order that my signal ruin might 
 strike terror to the heart of your every other Representa- 
 tive, and leave slavery the lord of the ascendant for all 
 future time throughout the North American Union." 
 
 For the purpose of insult, a petition professing to be 
 from slaves, asking for his expulsion, was sent to him by 
 mail for presentation. On the Cth February, 1837, he 
 informed the Speaker, that he had in his possession a pe- 
 tition purporting to come from slaves, and inquired 
 whether it came within the gag-rule, excluding Anti- 
 slavery petitions ? Immediately, cries of '' expel him," 
 " expel him," were heard throughout the hall, and Mr. 
 Thompson from South Carohna, moved : " That the Hon. 
 John Quincy Adams, by the attempt just made by him to 
 
308 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 introduce a petition purporting on its face to be from 
 slaves, has been guilty of a gross disrespect to the House, 
 and that he be instantly brought to the bar to receive the 
 severest censure of the Speaker." In his speech on the 
 occasion, he observed : " If the juries of this District 
 have, as I doubt not they have, proper inteUigence and 
 spirit, he may yet be made amenable to another tribunal, 
 and we may yet see an incendiary brought to condign jiun- 
 ishment.''^ 
 
 After three day's discussion, the attempt to degrade 
 Mr. Adams for asking a question, being found impracti- 
 cable, was abandoned. 
 
 In 1842, Mr. Adams was again insulted by a petition 
 from Georgia, forwarded to him through the mail, asking 
 for his removal as Chairman of the Committee of For- 
 eign Relations, on account of his monomania. He pre- 
 sented it to the House, and Mr. Hopkins of Virginia, im- 
 mediately moved its reference to the committee, with in- 
 structions to choose another Chairman. Mr. Adams 
 claimed to be heard in his defence, declaring that the 
 feelino- against him was " a slave-holdino-, slave-trading^, and 
 slave breeding feeling." He was not allowed to proceed 
 in his defence, and the motion of Mr. Hopkins was 
 dropped. The brief calm that ensued, was but the pre- 
 cursor of a tempest; for, three days after, Mr. Adams 
 presented a petition, praying Congress to take measures 
 for dissolving the Union ; and moved its reference to 
 a committee, with instructions to report reasons why the 
 prayer of the petition should not be granted. 
 
 The petition itself was brief, containing no allusion to 
 slavery, and was, in fact, an exact copy of one that had 
 some years before, been got up by certain of the South 
 Carolina nidhfiers.* The true paternity of the petition 
 
 * The reasons assigned in the petition were : " First, because 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 309 
 
 was at the time unknown to the House, and the Southern 
 members, regarding it only in the Hght of an abohtion 
 document, seized the occasion, to bring disgrace upon Mr. 
 Adams, under the pretext of their own extreme devotion 
 to the Union. Mr. Gilmer of Virginia, and lately Gover- 
 nor of the State, immediately offered a resolution declar- 
 ing " that in presenting to the consideration of the House, 
 a petition for the dissolution of the Union, the member 
 from Massachusetts, has justly incurred the censure of 
 this House." In his speech he avowed he was endeav- 
 oring to stop the music of him, who, 
 
 " In the space of one revolving moon 
 Was statesman, poet, fiddler, and bufifoon." 
 
 That evening between forty and fifty of the slaveholding 
 members met in council to consider how they should 
 proceed. Mr. Marshall, of Kentucky, made the meeting 
 acquainted with the course he proposed taking in the 
 morning, a course more decided than Mr. Gilmer's resolu- 
 tion. Accordingly the next morning he introduced a sub- 
 stitute for the resolution before the House, consisting of a 
 long preamble, setting forth the perjury and treason to 
 which Congress was in\ited by the Petition ; together 
 with a series of resolutions, concluding with, " Resolved, 
 That the aforesaid John Quincy Adams, for this insult, 
 the first of the kind ever oflfered to the Government, and 
 for the wound he has permitted to be aimed through his 
 instrumentality at the Constitution and existence of his 
 country, the peace, security and hberty of the people 
 of these States, might well be held to merit expulsion 
 
 no union can be agreeable or permanent, which does not present 
 prospects of reciprocal benefits. Second, because a vast pro- 
 portion of the resources of one section of the Union, is annually 
 drained to sustain the views and course of another section 
 Third, because, judging from the history of past nations, that 
 union, if persisted in, in the present course of things, will cer- 
 tainly overwhelm the whole nation in utter destruction." 
 
310 REVIEV/ OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 from the National Councils, and the House deem it an act 
 of grace and mercy when they only inflict upon him their 
 severest censures for conduct so utterly unworthy of his 
 own past relations to the State, and his present position : ^ 
 This they hereby do, for the maintenance of their own 
 purity and dignity ; for the rest, they turn him over to 
 his own conscience, and the indignation of all true Ameri- 
 can citizens^ On the reading of the resolutions, there was 
 a hurst of ajjj^lause from the Galleries and the House, so 
 much so, that the Speaker interfered to repress it. 
 
 The malignity of this assault Upon Mr. Adams was 
 equalled only by its absurdity and its impudence. In pre- 
 senting the petition he had expressly declared his disap- 
 probation of its object. Congress being authorized by the 
 Constitution to propose unlimited alterations in that instru- 
 ment, every citizen has a constitutional right to ask them 
 to propose any alteration he desires, although it may vir- 
 tually dissolve the Confederacy ; and it is, moreover, pre- 
 posterous to maintain that a union formed by consent of 
 the partners, cannot by the same consent be severed. -It 
 must also be recollected that the assault proceeded from 
 a sectional party, that for a long series of years, has been 
 threatening to dissolve the Union, if not permitted to 
 govern it. Instead of instantly spurning this ridiculous 
 and wicked persecution, the House, by a formal vote of 
 118 to Y5,* resolved to consider the charges against Mr. 
 Adams. He was thereupon put on trial, and Mr. Mar- 
 shall and Mr. Wise of Virginia, acted as the leading 
 Counsel of the prosecution. The latter acquitted the ac- 
 cused of insanity, and avowed his conviction that '* he was 
 more wicked than weak ;" but at the same time pro- 
 nounced him " pohtically dead — dead as Burr — dead as 
 Arnold. The people would look upon him with wonder, 
 
 * Only two northern Democrats voted in the negative ! 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 311 
 
 would shudder and retire." The dead culprit, however, 
 evinced most astonishing vitality. The accused became 
 the accuser ; his very persecution was proof of a conspi- 
 racy against the liberties of the North ; and, abaHdoning 
 the defence of himself, he arraigned the slave-holders at 
 the bar of the nation for endeavoring to destroy the right 
 of Habeas Corpus, the right of trial by jury, the freedom 
 of the Post Office, the liberty of speech, of the press, and 
 of petition, and in short, to destroy all the constitutional 
 rights of the North adverse to human bondage — and that 
 for the purpose of effecting these outrages, they had 
 formed a coalition with the northern Democrats — that 
 if the rights of the North could not be otherwise pro- 
 tected, the petitioners had acted properly, in asking for a 
 dissolution of the Union. 
 
 The pubhc watched with intense interest the progress 
 of this momentous trial, and it was quickly perceived on 
 which side \dctory was inclining. Mr. Gilmer, anxious to 
 arrest a process from which the slave interest was suflfer- 
 ing so severely, proposed a compromise — a nolle j^rosequi 
 should be entered, provided the defendant would with- 
 draw the petition he had presented. The proposition met 
 with a positive and indignant refusal. Mr. Adams de- 
 clared he would not, by withdrawing the petition, sanction 
 the suppression of the right of petition, which was the 
 real object of the prosecution ; he had done only his duty, 
 he defied the House, and spumed its proffered mercy. 
 The trial continued to the 7th day, when, on motion of a 
 southern member, all proceedings were discontinued.^' 
 
 * Twenty -five of the southern members, and all the northern 
 Whigs united in this vote; but the whole delegation of the 
 northern democracy, with the exception of six, refused to un- 
 bind the victim whom they were anxious to offer a sacrifice on 
 the altar of slavery, as an earnest and proof of their own fealty. 
 Messrs. Thompson, Wise, and Gilmer, who had distinguished 
 themselves by heaping obloquy upon Mr. Adams, were honored 
 
312 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 The next day a new insult was oflfered to Mr. Adams 
 All tlie southern members of the Committee of Foreign 
 Relations, four in number, including Messrs. Gilmer and 
 Hunter, of Virginia, and one northern " servile," resigned 
 their seats, avowing that they could not condescend any- 
 longer to be associated with their Chairman. The Speaker 
 appointed five southern gentlemen to fill the vacancies, 
 and, of these, three, including Mr. Holmes, of South Caro- 
 lina, refused the appointment — Mr. Holmes expressly de- 
 claring, in a letter to 'the Speaker, his repugnance to serve 
 with Mr. Adams. Thus no less than eight members of 
 the House professed to think it derogatory to their dignity 
 to sit in the same Committee with John Quincy Adams. 
 The object was to compel him to resign, or the House to 
 remove him. 
 
 But this was the last spasm of impotent malice. From 
 the commencement of liis trial his reputation rose in public 
 estimation, and it continued to rise, till at the time of his 
 death, it had reached an elevation never surpassed by that 
 of any man on the American Continent, with the single 
 exception of Washington. The astonishing popularity 
 of this lately defamed and persecuted man, is evinced by 
 the strange and extraordinary praises it extorted from 
 pohticians of every description. On the announcement 
 of his death, prominent men on the floor of Congress 
 seized the occasion to make speeches in his honor. Among | 
 the eulogists were numbered no less than three gentlemen 
 from the South. -The speeches were, by order of the 
 House, published in a pamphlet, and of this 20,000 copies, 
 adorned with a portrait of the deceased, and a copy of his 
 autograph, were distributed at pubhc expense. 
 
 A panegyric on Napoleon, from which all allusion to 
 
 with important appointments, by and with the advice and con- 
 sent of a Whig Senate, the two former to foreign missions, ajid 
 the latter to the post of Secretary of the Navy 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 313 
 
 his military achievements should be excluded, would be 
 regarded as a unique performance, yet it would find its 
 counterpart in these Congressional oraisons funebres. In 
 these the reader is told, in general terms, of the talents, 
 virtue, and patriotism of the deceased ; but not a hint is 
 given of that course of conduct which in fact secured for 
 him these very eulogies. This CongressiSnal monument 
 raised to the honor of Adams, gives no intimation that he 
 was the champion of constitutional liberty, the restorer of 
 the right of petition, the indomitabte foe of human bond- 
 age. No allusion is made to his terrible conflicts and his 
 glorious triumphs. Not a word discloses, that a slave 
 ever breathed on "the soil of America : that a siaveholdinor 
 Republic had been added to the " area of freedom," or 
 that a war was then raging, which Adams had denounced 
 as waged for the extension of slavery, and from which he 
 had voted to withhold supplies. Some of the speakers 
 were minutely accurate in specifying the dates of Mr. 
 Adams's appointments in former times, but all were mar- 
 vellously oblivious of his recent services. One gentleman, 
 preferring fiction to truth, favored the House with a beau- 
 tiful and touching romance. Said Mr. McDowell, of Vir- 
 ginia — " No human being ever entered this Hall, without 
 turning habitually and with heartfelt deference first to Am, 
 and few ever left it, without pausing as they went, to pour 
 out blessings upon that spirit of- consecration to the coun- 
 try, which brought and kept him there." Had Messrs. 
 Gilmer, Hopkins, Hunter, and Wise been in their seats, 
 they might possibly have dissented from the accuracy of 
 the picture drawn by their colleague, and disclaimed for 
 themselves the feelings and the acts so eloquently ascribed 
 to all. But judging from the Lethean spirit in which the 
 faculties of the speakers were apparently drowned, it is 
 more probable, that these gentlemen, far from contradict- 
 27 
 
314 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 ing Mr. McDowell, would have testified to the truth of his 
 statement. Mr. Holmes, of South Carolina, was another 
 of the eulogists. He lamented that death had taken from 
 among them " the gravest, wisest, most revered head" — 
 one " adorned with virtue, learning, and truth ;" and he 
 called him " the Patriot Father, and the Patriot Sage." 
 It did not, perhaps, occur to this gentleman, that as a few 
 years before he disdainfully refused to be associated with 
 this " Patriot Father, and Patriot Sage," in the Commit- 
 tee of Foreign Relations, it might be interesting to the 
 public to know, how recently, and by what means he had 
 discovered, that his was " the gravest, wisest, and most 
 revered head" in Congress. This same gentleman (Mr. 
 Isaac E. Holmes), as representing the veneration felt by 
 South Carolina for the great champion of human rights, 
 and her grief for his death, followed his remains from the 
 city of Washington to their final resting-place in Massa- 
 chusetts ! Having eulogized the great Abolitionist, and 
 paid the last honor to his memory, Mr. Holmes returned 
 to Congress where, while laboring to extend slavery to 
 the Pacific, he pronounced the emphatic words, " I hold 
 it (slavery) to be the greatest blessing that God ever 
 conferred upon man.'* 
 
 To no member of Congress did the charge of giving 
 " aid and comfort" to the enemy apply with more force 
 than to Mr. Adams ; yet Mr. Polk, in an official order, de- 
 clared him to be " a great and patriotic citizen ;" and the 
 official journal, robed in mourning, eulogized, as the " illus- 
 ti'ious and venei-able patriot and statesman," the very man 
 who the editor had formerly affirmed was considered " a 
 general nuisance." 
 
 Of course the whole press, of all parties and shades of 
 party, was vocal in praise of the departed patriot ; and one 
 of the most profligate of the fraternity, who had ever 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 315 
 
 thrown contempt upon all the objects most dear to his 
 heart, thought it expedient to hold the following language : 
 ** Mr. Adams on all occasions we beheve, has been open, 
 pure, and uncontaminated, as single-hearted as a child, or 
 an angel." 
 
 American citizens, in Great Britain, were publicly in- 
 vited by the American Minister, lately engaged in con- 
 ducting the Mexican war as one of Mr. Polk's cabinet, to 
 pay honors to the memory of John Quincy Adams : "A 
 patriot, always loving his country above all lands of the 
 earth," and this notwithstanding he was " a Mexican 
 Whig." Pubhc honors were paid to him even by the 
 army in Mexico, although, if the assertions of some of its 
 officers were true, he was a " knave" and a " traitor at 
 heart." 
 
 A committee from the House of Representatives, of one 
 from each State, attended the corpse from the capitol in 
 Washington to the tomb in Quincy. The funeral cortege 
 in its progress, was everywhere met by large concourses 
 of citizens, municipal officers, and detachments of militia. 
 The whole American people, as with one voice, acknow- 
 ledged and deplored the departure of a great and virtuous 
 patriot. 
 
 When it is recollected that Mr. Adams had changed no 
 one of the many opinions that had exposed him to* odium, 
 that in no degree had he departed from that straight-for- 
 ward course, which had so frequently brought him into 
 violent collision with the Democrats of the North and the 
 slaveholders of the South — and that in his last days he had 
 outraged popular patriotism by opposing an existing war, 
 and attempting to cut off supphes from our victorious 
 armies — surely the revulsion of public opinion in his favor 
 is marvellous and unparalleled. 
 
 Whence came it that the same unchanged, inflexible, and 
 
316 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 dauntless man, scorning and defying public opinion, and 
 scorning and defying it to his last breath — and who but 
 lately was the object of such general hatred, that the 
 representatives of the people spent a week in laboring to 
 consiorn him "to the indig-nation of all true American 
 citizens" — acquired such wonderful popularity, that rival 
 politicians hurried to strew flowers upon his grave, and to 
 let all the world know how very much they loved and 
 admired him. The cause is to be found, first, in the entire 
 confidence of the People in his integrity, and their admi- 
 ration of his talents and moral courage ; and secondly, in 
 the deference paid by pohticians to public opinion " right 
 or wrong." 
 
 The magnificent spectacle he exhibited when alone, un- 
 aided, and with but little sympathy he received and 
 gloriously repelled the combined assault of the Northern 
 Democracy and the slave interest, won for him the hearts 
 of the common people.* They looked upon him as a 
 moral phenomenon — a pubhc man who never flattered 
 but often censured them — a politician who consulted duty 
 and not " policy" — who feared God and not man — who 
 talked as he voted, and voted as he talked — who went 
 with his country and party when right, and against them 
 when wrong — who was bold enough to be honest, and 
 honest enough to be bold. This feeling in the community 
 soon displayed itself. The year after his trial, he tra^'elled 
 from Boston to Cincinnati, and his journey was a trium- 
 phal progress. Even in the slave states, the tide had 
 turned, and being expected " at Wheeling, a crowd assem- 
 
 * The following extract from a Pittsburgh paper. of 1843, 
 affords a striking illustration of this remark: _" As a token of 
 respect for Mr. Adams, all the works in the city were closed 
 yesterday, that the working men might have a chance to bid him 
 welcome. The silence of the engines, the machinery, and the 
 workman's tools was a mightier tribute to Mr. Adams, than the 
 roar of cannon, the strains of music, or the eloquent address.** 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 317 
 
 bled, not to insub, but to do him honor. The brave, 
 frank, honest opponent was regarded with a respect never 
 felt by the slaveholder for the fawning mercenary of the 
 North. Mr. Adams had become the man of the people, 
 and was revered and beloved by them as their champion, 
 the advocate of their rights. His great and acknowledged 
 popularity, at length secured for him respectful treatment 
 on the floor of Congress ; and when the whole nation de- 
 plored his death, politicians of every name, and from 
 every section of the country, deemed it advisable to unite 
 in building his tomb. 
 
 The facts which have now been stated respecting Mr. 
 Adams, however interesting in themselves, would have 
 found no place in these pages, did they not illustrate some 
 great truths, having a direct and important bearing on 
 many of the sentiments advanced in the present work. 
 They reiterate the lesson long since taught, of the utter 
 worthlessness of public opinion 'as a standard of right and 
 wrong. The demoniac cries, " Crucify him, crucify him !" 
 were preceded by " Hosannas to the Son of David ;" and 
 the revulsion of feeling we have been considering shows 
 that human nature is the same now as in the first century. 
 Multitudes who, in 1848, did reverence to the "Patriot 
 Father and the Patriot Sage," would have rejoiced ten 
 years before to have caught him in the slave region. 
 
 We are taught in a most impressive manner, how ex- 
 ceedingly destitute are many of our public men of inde- 
 pendent feelings and opinions. Whether Adams was a 
 " miscreant traitor,'' or " a great and patriotic citizen^'' was 
 a question to be determined, not by bringing his conduct 
 to the test of any moral standard, but by the present 
 feelings of the multitude. When he was supposed to be 
 unpopular, no vituperation was too coarse — when known 
 27* 
 
318 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 to be very popular, no praise was too gross, although 
 ridiculously false. 
 
 The American people have by acclamation adjudged 
 John Quincy Adams a Patriot, a judgment from which 
 not one politician of any name has dared to appeal. This 
 judgment sets aside, condemns, and repudiates almost 
 every test of patriotism prescribed by the demagogues of 
 the day. It has now been decided by a tribunal which 
 these men admit to be infallible, that a man may be a pat- 
 riot, nay, an " illustrious patriot" according to the official 
 gazette, who openly repudiates the sentiment, " our coun- 
 try, right or wrong"* — who on a question of international 
 law, sides with a foreign government against his own — who 
 gives " aid and comfort" to the enemy by denouncing as 
 unjust the war waged against him, and by striving to with- 
 hold supplies from the array sent to fight him — who 
 mourns over the degeneracy of his country and doubts 
 whether she is to be numbered " among the first liberators, 
 or the last oppressors of the race of immortal man" — who, 
 notwithstanding all " the compromises of the Constitution,'* 
 denounces human bondage as a crime against God, and 
 proposes so to change the Constitution as to effect the im- 
 mediate abolition of hereditary slavery throughout the 
 American Confederacy, and pouring contempt upon the 
 lying Democracy of the day, claims for the black man 
 the same rights of suffrage that are accorded to his white 
 fellow- citizen. 
 
 Such is the character of a patriot, as established by 
 the latest decision of the American public ; a decision in 
 which every member of the vast tribunal, from Mr. Polk 
 
 * In some verses written by jyir. Adams, shortly before his 
 death, and entitled " Congress, slavery, and an unjust war," are 
 these lines — 
 
 " And say not thou, ' My country, right or wrong,' 
 Nor shed thy blood for an unhallowed cause." 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 319 
 
 down to the humblest caterer for war and glory, has con- 
 curred. It is, indeed, a decision which in its application to 
 others, will be over-ruled, whenever " policy " or passion 
 may require its abrogation ; but it is nevertheless of vast 
 importance. It has reversed many corrupt judgments 
 previously given ; it will cheer and encourage many weak- 
 hearted patriots, and it may hint to some politicians, that 
 it is possible to acquire popularity by adhering to duty, 
 as well as by listening to the suggestions of " pohcy." 
 
 We have seen Mr. Adams, although constantly occu- 
 pied in public life, bursting at pleasure the bonds of 
 party, outraging public opinion, and apparently courting 
 defeat and odium — 
 
 " Among innumerable false, unmoved — 
 Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified. 
 His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal — 
 Nor number, nor example with him -wrought 
 To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind." 
 
 Surely there must have been some potent principle of 
 action which impelled him to pursue a path so diverg- 
 ent from those usually selected by political aspirants, 
 one to all appearance leading him far from popular ap- 
 plause, and yet in the end conducting him to the very 
 pinnacle of fame. There was such a principle, and it 
 is shadowed forth in the moral with which Mr. M'Dowell 
 " adorned his tale." " His life," said the Virginia eulo- 
 gist, " has been a continuous and beautiful illustration of 
 the great truth, that while the fear of man is the con- 
 summation of all folly, the fear of God is the beginning 
 of wisdom." Unhappy is it for our country, that the re- 
 verse of this truth forms the maxim, by which so many 
 of our public men apparently govern their coflduct. But 
 what was the secret of the great strength of this moral 
 
320 REVIEW OP THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 Sampson? Since his death, certain letters to his son 
 have been given to the press, and in these we find an 
 answer to the inquiry. It appears, that while at the 
 court of St. Petersburg, in 1811, he commenced a series 
 of letters to his absent child, on the study of the Bible — 
 "the Divine revelation," as he called it. In these he 
 remarks, " I have myself, for many years, made it a prac- 
 tice to read through the Bible once every year. I have 
 always endeavored to read it with the same spirit and 
 temper of mind which I now recommend to you ; that is, 
 with the intention and desire that it may contribute to 
 my advancement in wisdom and virtue. My custom is, to 
 read four or five chapters every morning, immediately 
 after rising from my bed. It employs about half an>hour 
 of my time, and seems to me the most suitable manner of 
 beginning the day." The followmg advice to his son 
 seems both indicative of his own future course, and pro- 
 phetic of its glorious termination : — " j^ever give way to 
 the pushes of impudence, wrong-headiness, or intracta- 
 bility, which would lead or draw you aside from the dic- 
 tates of your own conscience and your own sense of right. 
 Till you die, let not your integrity depait from you. 
 Build your house upon the rock, and then let the rains 
 descend, and the flood come, and the winds blow, and 
 beat upon that house, it shall not fall. So promises your 
 blessed Lord and Master." In a most wonderful manner 
 was this promise fulfilled '.ii his own case, even in the 
 present world. But there is a day approaching, when 
 the secrets of all hearts shall be laid open, and when every 
 man shall come to judgment. Then will those who have 
 in this life pursued expediency in preference to duty, 
 learn, when too late, that " the wisdom of this world is 
 fooUshness with God." 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 321 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 WAR, AND THE MEANS OF PREVENTION, 
 
 We liave endeavored to give the reader some idea of the 
 vast amount of crime and misery resulting from our hos- 
 tilities with Mexico ; yet those hostilities present but a 
 faint image of war. All the American troops sent into 
 Mexico, will not number as many as have often been killed 
 and wounded in a single engagement. Had all the bat- 
 tles of the late war occurred at the same time, and on the 
 same field, they would scarcely have equalled a skirmish 
 between the outposts of two European armies. The total 
 number of our troops officially reported to have been killed 
 in battle, is less than two thousand ! If we would know the 
 horrors of war, not as waged in ancient times, when whole 
 nations contended in arms, with heathen barbarity, but as 
 waged within our own recollection, and by enlightened, 
 civilized, and christian people, let us contemplate the de- 
 tails of only three of a multitude of modern battles.* 
 
 Jena — engaged, 200,000 men ; killed and wounded, 34,000 
 Eylaxj «' 160,000 " " 50,000 
 
 Borodino " 265,000; 1,230 cannon in the field, 
 
 25,000 killed, 68,000 wounded— 93,000 
 
 Napoleon invaded Russia with 450,000 troops, of which 
 number about 400,000 are supposed to have perished, 
 only about 50,000 having returned to their native land. 
 We shudder to reflect on the awful accumulated misery 
 and crime necessarily resulting from such vast slaughter. 
 
 * See Alison. 
 
322 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 Let it be also recollected that the horrors of the battle 
 field, form but one item, and that comparatively a small 
 one, in the long caialogue of Avoes, inflicted by war upon 
 the human race. The limits of the present chapter for- 
 bid us to dwell on the anguish experienced by the friends 
 and relatives of the killed and wounded — on the vast 
 amount extorted from the avails of labor to defray the 
 expense of war — on the ruin and desolation which mark 
 the track of hostile armies, and the depravation of morals 
 engendered by the Hcense and temptations connected with 
 the military profession. Nor have we space to exhibit 
 the inefficiency and uncertainty of war, as a means of 
 defence against injury, or as an instrument for enforcing 
 justice. But we ask the attention of the reader to a topic 
 seldom investigated, and yet possessing momentous inte- 
 rest — the folly and the cost of military preparation. 
 
 Of all the false and hoary maxims by which mankind 
 have been deluded, perhaps' none has ever exerted such 
 baneful influence on human happiness as that scrap of 
 counterfeit wisdom, '' In peace, prepare for war." 
 The proposed object of the counsel, is to preserve 2^eace by 
 being prepared to repel, and thereby to prevent aggres- 
 sion. The reasoning is contradicted by the testimony of 
 history and by the character of human nature. No na- 
 tion was ever better prepared for war than France under 
 Napoleon, and no nation was ever more fiercely and vio- 
 lently attacked ; and seldom has any nation been more 
 humbled, compelled not only to receive a sovereign from 
 the hands of her enemies, but to pay the expenses of a 
 foreign army to whose custody she was consigned. Great 
 mihtary strength has no tendency to foster pacific dispo- 
 sitions in its possessor. While the character of man re- 
 mains unchanged, his cupidity, oppression, and injustice 
 will ordinarily be proportioned to his means of indulging 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 323 
 
 them. Hence, in all ages those nations which have been 
 the best prepared for war, have drank most deeply of its 
 bloody cup. If we examine the history of Europe from 
 IVOO, to the general peace in 1815, we shall lind that 
 during the 115 years, 
 
 Great Britain was engaged in war . . 69 years. 
 
 Russia, 68 
 
 France, ... . . 63 
 
 Holland, . . ... 43 
 
 Portugal, 40 
 
 Denmark, ...... 28 
 
 Pride, arrogance, and the lust of conquest, are the 
 natural and bitter fruits of military preparation — fruits 
 fatal to national peace and happiness. 
 
 Strange as may seem the assertion, it is, we believe, 
 nevertheless true, that both Europe and America have 
 expende3. more money in preparing for war, than in actual 
 hostilities. 
 
 In the old world, every important city was anciently 
 walled and fortified, and even in our own days, we 
 have seen the French people already burthened with 
 debt, lavishing millions in erecting a wall thirty miles in 
 circumference around their Capital.* 
 
 When we examine the expenditures made in time of 
 peace for military preparation, we are astounded by the 
 stupendous results, and can scarcely credit the testimony 
 of official statements. 
 
 * This work of prodigal folly has been falsely ascribed to the 
 late King ; it was demanded by the liberal or popular party, 
 under the leadership of Mr. Thiers. The Republic, instead of 
 lessening the burdens of the people, have actually, although un- 
 menaced by a single State in Europe, increased their military 
 preparations. On the 1st December, 1848, the eflFective force of 
 the French army amounted to 502,196 men, and 100,432 horses; 
 and to this was added a large navy, with between twenty and 
 thirty thousand seamen. 
 
324 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 The following facts are gleaned from a late English 
 statistical work : * 
 
 For the six years ending with 1836, the average 
 expenditures of the British Government, exclu- 
 sive of payments for interest on the national 
 debt, was £17,101,508 
 
 Of this sum, there was paid on an average, for the 
 
 army, navy, and ordinance, f .... 12,714,289 
 
 Leaving an average annual amount expenditure 
 
 for civil purposes, of only . , . . . 4,387,219 
 
 It thus appears that the annual payments for military 
 preparations during this period, were no less than seventy- 
 four per cent, of the current expenses of the Government, 
 exclusive of £28,574,829, the yearly interest on the war 
 debt ! ! 
 
 The Budget, for 1848, contained the following esti- 
 mates, viz: 
 
 Army, .... £7,540,405 
 
 Navy, 8,018,873 
 
 Ordinance, . . . 2,947,869 
 
 Total, . . . £18,507,147 
 
 One would have thought that this enormous sum was 
 quite enough to extort from the people of England in a 
 single year for preparation for future and unseen hostili- 
 ties. But no. The Duke of Wellington, in his specula- 
 tions on steam navigation, suddenly conceived the idea, 
 that a French army might, in an unexpected moment, be 
 landed upon the British shores from a fleet of steamboa.ts. 
 A panic seized the venerable chief, and he trembled for 
 
 * Porter's Progress of the Nation, Vol. ii. 
 
 f The average for these six years, from some cause, was unusu- 
 ally small. Tlie total outlay on army, navy, and ordiuance, 
 since the peace of 1815, to the year ending 5th January, 1848, 
 is £484,231,985, being an annual average of £15,444,749. The 
 actual payments for military preparation, during the year 1847, 
 amounted to £18,503,146 ! See tract published by the " Edin- 
 burg Financial Reform Association." . 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 325 
 
 the permanency of the Empire. The coasts of England 
 ought immediately to be fortified, and a large home army 
 ought to be forthwith organized and maintained, to fight 
 the French whenever and wherever they might land from 
 their steamers. The construction of the forts would of 
 Gourse furnish fat jobs for innumerable contractors, and the 
 home army would supply younger sons with commissions, 
 rank, and emolument. No wonder that multitudes of 
 patriotic Englishmen were found to favor the insane pro- 
 ject. The ministers, it is beheved, were deteiTed from 
 recommending the Duke's plan to Parhament, only by the 
 sturdy opposition of the friends of peace. 
 
 A few years since, it was computed that the cost of the 
 military peace establishments of the following Powers, was 
 in the ratio named to the whole expenditure of the seve- 
 ral Governments, exclusive of payments on account of 
 debt, viz. : 
 
 Austria, as 33 per cent. 
 
 France, ,, 38 per cent. 
 
 Prussia, ,, 44 per cent. 
 
 Great Britain, ,, 74 per cent. 
 We are fond of comparing our own republican frugality 
 with monarchical prodigality. National vanity, like 
 charity, covers not only a multitude of sins, but also a 
 multitude of follies. The average expenditure of the 
 Federal Government, for the six years, ending with 1840, 
 exclusive of payments on account of debt, \fiis $26,474,892. 
 During the same years, the average payments for 
 military and naval purposes, were $21,328,903. Being 
 EIGHTY PER CENT, of the whole amouut ! A greater 
 ratia than is expended by any monarchy in Europe, in 
 preparing for war.* 
 
 * It is true, that during a portion of these six years, we were 
 fighting a few Seminole Indians in Florida. If, then, we take the 
 six years, ending with 1836, a time of profound peace, the ratio 
 
326 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 It is with difficulty we can give our assent to the accu- 
 racy of such amazing disclosures ; and yet our scepticism 
 will vanish when we consider that fortifications, barracks, 
 store-houses, arms, ammunition, and ships of war are all 
 mostly constructed in time of peace. But this is not all. 
 Men are also to be trained and instructed in the art of 
 human slaughter, and kept ready to put in practice at a 
 moment's warning, the lessons they have received. 
 
 In 1828, a time of general peace, the standing armies 
 of Europe were estimated at 2,265,500 men.* If to the 
 pay of these men, we add the cost of their food, clothes, 
 lodging, and of the arms, ammunition, barracks, &c., with 
 which they were furnished, and the value of their labor 
 which is lost to the community, v/e shall not exaggerate 
 their expense to the State when we estimate it at $500 a 
 man, making the sum total of $1,132,750,000, an amount 
 the mind cannot realize. But before we give vent to oui* 
 indignation against Kings and Emperors for thus squan- 
 dering the earnings of their subjects, let us once more 
 look at home. Our. young Republic, from the moment of 
 her birth, has scarcely had a hostile neighbor. For about 
 two years, Canada on the north, and for the same timjc, 
 Mexico on the south, have been in a belligerent position 
 towards us. Bounded for the most part by the ocean, 
 and by interminable forests, we have had little to fear 
 from invasion ; and never, except in the war of 1812, 
 has a hostile foot, other than that of a savage, pressed 
 our soil. Yet with all our professions of economy, we 
 have pursued the system of military preparation, after a 
 royal fashion. Since the commencement of the Federal 
 Government to the beginning of 1848, independent of 
 
 is seventy-seven per cent., still greater than that of Great Britain. 
 See American Almanac for 1845, page 143. 
 * ISalayice PolitiqiM du Globe, by M. Adrien Balbi. 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR, 327 
 
 the prodigious cost of arming and training the militia, 
 there have been paid from the national treasury — 
 
 For the Army and Fortifications, - - $-360,713,209 
 For the Navy, and its operations, - - 200,994,428 
 
 $•576,707,687 
 
 Here we have half a billion of dollars taken from the 
 people, with their own consent, for the purpose of being 
 ready for war ! To this immense sum may be added 
 $61,109,834, expended in military pensions. 
 
 Were the money lavished in military preparation 
 annihilated, all the mines in the world could not sup- 
 ply the requisite treasure. It is not annihilated, but 
 it is wasted — that is, it is given for what yields no return 
 of comfort and happiness to the nation at large. Let us 
 suppose that the - two milUons of soldiers maintained in 
 Europe, in 1828, had been employed at ordinary wages 
 in building pyramids. Surely, none would deny that 
 the money expended in raising structures so utterly 
 worthless, was profligately wasted ; and none will question 
 that the people would have had good cause to rise in re- 
 bellion against rulers who robbed them of the fruits of 
 their labor, for purposes so vain and ridiculous. Yet the 
 treasures lavished on such piles, would have been far 
 less in amount, and expended in a manner far less in- 
 jurious to the public morals and happiness, than the 
 money squandered on the armies. 
 
 M. Bouvet, in a recent speech in the French Assembly, 
 remarking on the appropriation of 583 milhons for the 
 army and navy, about one-third of the whole estimate, 
 well observed : " I cannot convey to you my sense of the 
 irrational distribution of our resources, when I observe 
 how comparatively unimportant we deem the elements of 
 intelligence and public prosperity which is indicated by 
 
328 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 our budgets of instruction, commerce, and agriculture, 
 amounting altogether to hardly thirty-six millions ! What 
 should you think of the father of a family, who possessing 
 an income of 15,000 francs, should expend 5,000 in arms 
 and horses, while he only appropriated 360 francs to the 
 instruction of his children and the improvement of his 
 estate ? War, founded on force and restraint, is contrary 
 to liberty. War, enabling the strong to triumph over the 
 weak, is contrary to equality. War, shattering the law of 
 love, which unites individuals and communities, is con- 
 trary to fraternity. Thus the Republic, to be consistent 
 with its own constitution, ought henceforth to endeavor to 
 suppress the mihtary system, and to substitute for it an 
 international jurisdiction. Such an object is so honest, so 
 generous, so important to the public welfare, that France 
 need not blush to make it the principal aim of its political 
 existence." 
 
 The desire expressed by M. Bouvet, that international 
 jurisdiction may be substituted for the military system, 
 will find a cordial response in the breast of every true 
 patriot, of every faithful disciple of the Prince of Peace. 
 But what would be a practicable and safe and proper inter- 
 national jurisdiction ? A " congress of nations," con- 
 sisting of deputies from various States, and forming a 
 court for the settlement of controversies arising between 
 their several governments, has been proposed. However 
 excellent such a tribunal may be in theory, and however 
 useful it may hereafter be in practice, it cannot be dis- 
 guised, that formidable difficulties oppose its speedy 
 organization. Pacific sentiments must ex Lensively prevail, 
 before governments will be disposed to enter into such an 
 arrangement ; and the erection of such a tribunal must 
 necessarily be preceded by tedious negotiations respect- 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 329 
 
 ing the relative representation in the Congress, and the 
 powers with which it should be entrusted. In the mean 
 time, the military system would be continued, and its 
 very continuance would render more difficult and distant 
 the estabhshment of the Congress. 
 
 Happily there is a mode of " international jurisdiction," 
 more simple, speedy, and practicable, and of which any 
 two nations may at any time avail themselves, without 
 waiting for the co-operation of others. This mode is 
 faintly shadowed forth in our late treaty with Mexico, but 
 in terms — 
 
 " Which keep the word of promise to the ear, 
 And break it to the hope." 
 
 The 21st Article is as follows : " If unhappily any dis- 
 agreement should hereafter arise between the Govern- 
 ments of the two Republics, whether with respect to the 
 interpretation of any stipulation in this treaty, or with 
 respect to any other particular concerning the political or 
 commercial relations of the two nations, the said Govern- 
 ments, in the name of those nations, do jjromise to each 
 other, that they will endeavor in the most sincere and 
 earnest manner, to settle the differences so arising, and to 
 preserve the state of peace and friendship, in which the 
 two countries are now placing themselves, using for this 
 end mutual representations and pacific negotiations ; and 
 if by these means they should not be enabled to come to 
 an agreement, a resort shall not on this account be had to 
 reprisals, aggressions, or hostihties of any kind, by the 
 one Republic against the other, until the Government of 
 that which deems itself aggrieved, shall have maturely 
 considered, in the spirit of peace and good neighborship, 
 whether it would not be better that such difference should 
 be settled by the arbitration of commissioners appointed 
 on each side, or by that of a friendly nation ; and should 
 28* 
 
330 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 such course be proposed by either party, it shall he 
 acceded to by the other, unless deemed by it altogether 
 incompatible with the nature of the difference, or the cir- 
 cumstances of the case." 
 
 This stipulation, it is obvious, amounts to nothing more 
 than an acknowledgment that there is an equitable mode 
 of preventing future hostilities, and a promise to adopt it, 
 unless either party shall think it more advantageous to 
 trust to the arbitrament of the sword. * 
 
 Had the reference to arbitration been made imperative 
 instead of discretionary, the treaty of peace would have 
 done much to atone for the iniquity of the war, It would 
 have secured Mexico from future spoliation, and by guar- 
 anteeing our own rights, would have removed all pretext 
 for military preparation on our Mexican frontier ; and it 
 would, moreover, have set a glorious example of a victori- 
 ous people debarring themselves from future conquests, 
 and have taught the world how its swords might be 
 beaten into ploughshares, and its spears into pruning- 
 hooks. 
 
 Let us suppose that instead of this quibbling, shuffling, 
 non-committal Article, the following had been substituted 
 for it. 
 
 " It is agreed between the contracting parties, that, if 
 unhappily any controversy shall arise between them, in 
 respect to the true intent of any stipulation is this treaty, 
 or in respect to any other matter, which controversy can- 
 not be satisfactorily adjusted by negotiation, neither party 
 shall resort to hostilities against the other, but the matter 
 in dispute shall, by a special convention, be submitted to 
 the arbitrament of some friendly power ; and the parties 
 do hereby agree to abide by the award which may be 
 given in pursuance of such submission." 
 
 To such an Article, what valid objection can be offered ? 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAE. 331 
 
 The reference would be made only after negotiation had 
 failed, of course it would be the alternative of war. 
 Now whatever might be the award, each party would be 
 the gainer, for each would be saved the expenditure of 
 blood and treasure. The successful party would estabhsh 
 his claims without cost ; and to the losing party, the 
 remark of Fiankhn would be strictly applicable : " What- 
 ever advantage one nation would obtain of another, it 
 would be cheaper to purchase such advantage with ready 
 money, than to pay the expense of acquiring it by war." 
 
 But it may be doubted by some, whether the award 
 would be in accordance with justice. Why such a doubt ? 
 Would an impartial disinterested umpire, selected or agreed 
 to by ourselves, and with the gaze of the world fixed upon 
 him, be less able, or less inchned, to understand and deter- 
 mine the merits of the question submitted to him, than 
 the Government of Mexico, or of our own country smarting 
 under the irritation of real or imaginary wrong, seeking 
 popularity by a show of patriotism and sensibility to 
 national honor, and goaded on by politicians seeking for 
 office, and by needy adventurers eager for the commis- 
 sions, contracts, and spoils of war ? The people at large 
 have no interest in war ; on the contrary, it is upon them 
 its burdens press and its calamities fall. 
 
 We have seen how crushing is the weight of war-taxes 
 upon the multitude ; and yet they seem, for the most part, 
 utterly ignorant of the true cause of their poverty and 
 wretchedness. Deluded by demagogues, they ascribe 
 their sufferings to kings, and nobles, and priests, but 
 render a willing homage to soldiers, who are in fact 
 their real oppressors. The French people restless under 
 the burthen of taxation, drove their monarch into exile, 
 and seizing irf their own hands the reins of Government, 
 immediately enlarged their army, and have thus swelled 
 
332 REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. — 
 
 their taxes beyond what they were under the monarchy. 
 The suflFering masses of England cry aloud against the 
 political institutions of their country, and seek relief in 
 annual parhaments, vote by ballot, &c., apparently uncon- 
 scious that they are pressed to the earth by ivar and mili- 
 tary preparation. Let them rid themselves of these 
 plagues, a;nd their taxes for the support of the Govern- 
 ment, including all the appropriations for the maintenance 
 of royalty in all its splendor, would be so trivial as to be 
 scarcely perceptible. Does this statement excite the smile 
 of increduUty ? We appeal to facts. 
 
 The average expenditure of the British Govern- 
 ment for the six years ending with 1836, in- 
 cluding interest on the National-Debt, "was £45,676,357 
 
 Now of this immense sum, there was paid for 
 
 the civil expenses of the Government, only 4,387,214 
 
 Leaving, for military preparation and interest 
 
 on the war-debt £41,289,143 
 
 Here we have disclosed the secret agent of those 
 mighty upheavings which are causing the political world 
 to reel to and fro hke a drunken man. Men are wasting 
 their hves and energies in toil, yet eat not the fruit of 
 their labor, for it is wrested from them and offered on the 
 altar of Moloch. Yet they perceive not the' hand that 
 robs them ; and vainly attribute their poverty to defective 
 political institutions. Hence, revolution follows revolution 
 in rapid succession, like the waves of a troubled sea, but 
 no relief is found. Agriculture is interrupted, commerce 
 droops, industry is paralyzed, and soldiers and taxes are 
 multiplied. Mexico, our own country, and France, bear 
 witness that monarchs and nobles are not the exclusive 
 devotees of war. Under all forms of Government have 
 the wealth, the morals and the happiness of the people 
 been sacrificed with their- own consent, to their own insane 
 
REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 333 
 
 admiration of glory, and their own foolish idea of the 
 necessity of military preparation. 
 
 Let, then, the friends of human progress and of public 
 peace, of happiness, and virtue, the patriot and the Christ- 
 ian, all unite in one loud and unceasing demand for trea- 
 ties of arbitration. In this blessed reform any nation may 
 take the lead ; would that our own had seized the oppor- 
 tunity offered- by the recent negotiation ! Let Congress 
 by a joint resolution, express its desire that an arbitration 
 clause shall be inserted in all our future treaties, and the 
 grtat work will be commenced. Such a resolution would 
 be jike the first beams of light breaking upon the darkness 
 of night, and shining more and more unto the perfect 
 day, gradually dispelling the baneful mists of miUtary 
 glory and ambition, and diffusing life, and joy, and abun- 
 dance, among the suffering milhons of our distracted 
 world. 
 
Notices of this Work- 
 
 A well printed 12mo. volume. Its author is a writer of well known 
 power ; and this volume is one eminently characteristic of his peculiar 
 turn of mind. It is a very able and poiverful exposf; of the imguities aiid 
 wrongs of the Mexican tear, and of the cost of all tears. — Boston Atlas. 
 
 Mr. Jay has performed a good service to the cause of political morality 
 by the vividness and power with which he sets forth the principles of 
 Eternal Justice. He shows up without disgiiise, but without exagger- 
 ation, the miseries that are inseparable from Slaverv and War. He 
 writes- not al a partisan, nor as a politician.. The collocation of facts 
 exhibiting the whole Texas conspiracy from its outset, is very interest- 
 ing. We earnestly commend Judge Jay's book to those who would 
 comprehend the origin, obiects, and true nature of the Texas iniquity. 
 — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 _ The fearful preponderance of the slave interest in our national coun- 
 cils, and its bold and subtle schemes for extending and consolidating its 
 own power, are exposed calmly and clearly, with a weight of evidence 
 which cannot be resisted. — Independent, N. Y. 
 
 The work contains much curious information in relation to the history 
 of the war, which has never before been collected in one document. It 
 is an exceedingly interesting book. — Boston Mercantile Journal. 
 
 It is a powerful work, a masterly performance ; and every American 
 citizen, every person that has heard of the Mexican war, would do well 
 to peruse this fearless, impartial, most thorough exposure of its wicked- 
 ness, as the crowning act of a cunningly devised and long pursued 
 soiieme to extend slavery over countries previously free, xnd thus per- 
 petuate its control over our own national government. Here is the 
 upshot of the work ; and in support of his positions, the author has 
 accumulated a mass of facts and documentary proofs that will surprise 
 even the best informed among us. It evinces a vast amount of labor and 
 research. It. is a great storehouse ot.reUahle information respecting 
 the origin, objects, and results of the war. He seizes the great hinges 
 of the whole subject, and probes every .thing to the bottom. He is also 
 strictly impartial ; so much so, that ncx-mnn cpuld tell, from any thing 
 in this Review, whether he is a whig or a democrat. — xidvocate of Peace, 
 
 The Friend^^ Review (Phila.) speaks of it as "a powerful exposition 
 of the folly and iniquity of war," and thinks it '* very" desirable that^t 
 should be extensively read by the people of the UniteaStates." 
 
 The National Era, (Washington,) styling Judge Jay " one of the best 
 writers of the age," deems this work " the best production of his pen," 
 and says " it ought to be circulated everywhere." 
 
 Zion's Herald {Boston) wishes "a God-speed to its most rapid circu- 
 lation." 
 
 The Ilerkimer Freeman says, as many others have said, " There is one 
 chapter (on J. Q. Adams) well worth the price of the volume." Even 
 an officer in the Mexican %var, from a slave State, (Missouri,) said, after I 
 perusing this work, that it was ' a juster view of the war than he ever } 
 expected from any fallible man,' and expressed a strong desire to see it 
 ' in the hands of every reader in the nation.' — ^V. Y. Tribune, Aug. 1849. i 
 
 ^^ GRATUITOUS CIRCULATION.— Will not friends n- , 
 the object devise means to spread this work widely in every toicn ? As 
 funds have been given for the purpose,^ it will be furnished, though only 
 by wholesale for gratuitous circulation, at rates much cli^aper than eve _ 
 unbound tracts, viz: Six copies for ^1, or 100 for $\5, and on powerl 
 paper, for ^13. Apply to W. C. Brown, 21 Cornhill, Boston. WiL- j 
 LTAM Harned, 61 John Street, New York. Joseph Scattergood, i 
 84 Arch Street, Philadelphia. — PRICE, Single, 75 cents in cloth, and | 
 50 in paper covers. Large discount at wliolesale, especially to agents. 
 
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