Speech Of Mr. Corwin, Of Ohio, In Senate, Feb. 11, 1847

The Sonate having under consideratlon the bill making a special appropriation of three millions of dollars to bring the war with Mexico to a spcedy conclusión, and the pending anjendments proposed by Messrs. Berrien and Cass - Mr. CORVVIN rose and addres-sed the body as follows : Mr. President - I am not now about to perform the ueles8 task of surveying the whle field of debate occupiedin tliis discussion. It h.s bren carefuüy reoped, and by vigilant and strong hands ; and yet, Mr. President, tliero is a part of that üed which promises to rewnrd a careful gleaner with a valunble sheaf or two, which deserveto be boiind up befre the whole harvest is githered. And still tiiis so tempting prospect could not have aliured me into this debate, hud that motive not been strengthoned by anuther, somewJiat personal to myself, and still more intcresting to those I represent. Anxious ns I know all are to act, rather thrtn debato, I am compelled, for the reasons I "havo assigned, to solicit the attention of the Senate. 1 do this chiefly that I may ■discharge the humble duty of givirig to the Señale, and through this medium 10 my constituents, the motives and reusons which have impoüed me to occupy n. position, always undesimble, but in times like the present painfully emb'irrassiug. I have been compelled, from conviclionsof duty which I could not disregard, to difler, not merely with those on the othcr side of tho chamber, with whom I seldora ngree, but nlso to separate, on onc or two important questions, from a majority of my friends on this side - those who compose here that Whig party of which 1 6uppo3C 1 may yet cali myself a membervDiversHy of opinión on most subjeets aíTecting human nffairs is to be axpected. Unassibt-d mind, in lts he estáte, has not yet attaincd to uniformity, much le-s to absolute certainty, in maUersbelonging to tho dominion of spcculativo treason. - This is peculiarlyrnd emphatically true, where we endoavor to deducf. from the present, result?, the accom)!ishiiient of which reach far into the future, and wil] only clearly develop themelvos in the progresa of time. From the present state of the human mind this is a law of intel lect quite as strong ns neoessity. And yelafter every reasonable ullowance for the radical difiercnco in nteilectunl structure, culture, habite of thugh?, and the application ofthought to tliings, t'ie singulnrly opposite avowals mode by the two Souatorson theoiher side of the chamber, (1 mean to the Senator from South Carolina, Mr. Calhoun, and the Senator from Michigan, Mr. CassJ must have struclt all who heard thein as a curiojs and monrnful example of the truth of which I have spoken. The Senator from Michigan, Mr. Cass,) in contemplating the present .aspeets end probable future course of our public afiairs, declared that he smv noihÜng to alarm the fe.irs or depress the hopes of the patriot. To his serene, and, as I fear, too apathetic mind, all is calm ; the sentinel might sleep securely on his watchtower. The ship of State secms to him fo expand her sails under a clear sky. Ai)d move on, with prosparous gales, u )- on a smooth sei. He adnionishes nl) not q anticípate ovil to come, but to fld therr hands und close their eyes in quietude, ever mindful of the consuhtory text, ♦'sufficient unto the day is ihe evil thereof." But the Senutor from South Carolina, (Mr. Calhoun,) summoning from the depths of his thoughful and powerful mind all its ener g es, and look ing abroad pn the present condition of the Republic, is pained with fearful apprehension, doubt, distrust, and dismay. To bis visión, mode strong by a long lifo of careful ob8ervation, made keen by a comprehenive view of past history, the sky secms overcast with impending storms. and he dark future is shrouded in impenetrable gloom. When two such minds difler, Ihoae less familiar with great subjEct3fecting the happiness of nations mny we pause befare they rush to a conclusión on üiia, a subject tvluch, in all its hearings, immediate and remóte, aflbets ceriainly the present prosperity, und probably the liberty of twu Republics, enibracing togelherrenrly thirty milions of pcople. Mr. President, it is a fearful responsibility we have nsumed ; engaged n flagrant, desolating war with a neighboring Republic, tousthirly millions of God'screatures look up fpr that modérale wisdom wbich, if possible, may stay the march of misery, and restore to them, if it may be so, mutual feelings of good will, with all the best Uessings of peru-e. I sinceroly wih it were in my power o cherish ttiose placid conviction ofsecuriiy which. have sellled upon the mind of the Senator from Michigan. So far from this, I have been, in common with he Sena!ir from South Carolina, oppresspd with tñelañcholy. forebodings of evils o come, and not unfrpquently by aviction that each step we take in this unjiist war may be the last in our cnreer ; thnt each chnptcr we write in Mexican blood may close the volume of our history as a Tree people. Sir, I am the less inclined lo listen to the airen song the Senator from Michigan sings to his own soul, beca use I haveheard ts notes befare. - I know the counlry is at this moment suffering from the fatal apa'.hy into which it whs lulled a few years ngo. Everv onc must recall to his mind, with pleasing regret, the happy condition of the cuntry in 1843, wlien that oli:cr qur.stion, ihe prelude lo this, annexntion of Texas, was ngitated here. We remember how it attracted the aitention of the whole Union ; we remembpr that the two great leaders of ihe two great partie?, grefing in scnrcely any other opinión, were ngreed in that. Tliey both predicted ihat,if Texaswere anne.ve.I, war with Mexico would be the probable result. We were told then l.y others, as now by the Senator from Michigan, then all was we!!, all was cnlm ; that Mexico would not fight or il' she would, shc was too wcak to wage war with nny effect npon ua. The ientincl was then told to sleep upon his watchtower. SuiTicient imto ihe day is the evil thereof,'1 was sung to us t!en, in notes os soft nnd sw-et os now. Mr. President, " the day " has come, and with it has come war, ilie most direlul curse wh-srewith it hns plea'-ed God to oíHict a sinfui world. Such have been the f;ital fiíKrcís of lulling into apathy the public mind on a subject which agitnted it, as well it might, to iis profbnndeát depth's. 1 ropea?, sir, the day has comp, ns was then prcltcted, nnd thecvil nredicfed has come with it. We are here, sir, now, not as then, at pe.ice wilh all the" world ; not now, as then, with laws that bróüghf into y our Trensury every tiiing adequate to its wants ; not now, ns then, free from deb', and the appreliension -f debt and tnxation. ts nerefsary consequence But we are here with a Treasury tivit is beggared - thnt lift-; up its mploring hands to the monopolists of the country - that sends out its notes and " promises to pay " into every rrvarket in the world, begging for a pittance fnml everj' hnnd to help to swell thè am-unt now necessary to extrica'C us from a war, inevlt.ible, as it novseems it yas, from that very net which was adopted under suoh fin; tering promi.ses two years ago. Mr. Piesident it is no purpose of mine to arraigo the con duet of' the United States upon that occasion. It is no purposö of miue to treat this youngind ncwlyadopted sister, the State of TeXas, as on alien or stranger in this f.imily of RepubÜcs. I alinde to this only to show how little reliance is to be placed upon those fuvornble -anticipations in which gentlemen indulge with regard to cousequences which may flow from measuresto which they are strongly wodded, either by feelingor party attachment. Is there nothing else in our history of even the past year to juslify the Sonator from South Carolina in the pregnant declararon that in the whole period of his public life, comprehending the most eventful in the hisWty of our rëpuBlic, therc has never been a time when so much dnger was threatencd to the interests, happiness, and liberties of the people ? - Sir, if any one CÖÜld sit down, freo from the e'icitpmenls and biases which bclong to public afFairs - could such un onebeinkfi himseïf to those sequestered solitudes wherc though'ful men extract the philosophy oí history from its facts, 1 am quite sure no song of " all's well " wouli be heard from his retired cell. N, sir, looking nt the events of the last twelvemonths, and forming his judgment oí' these by the suggestions which history teaches, nnd which she nlone can tench, ho would record another of tho-e sad lessons, which, though often taught, ai e, I inr,forever fo bc disrogrardcd. He would speak of a republic boasting th'it iis rights wer secured, and the restricted powersof its funciionaries bound up in lbo clmins of a wriíten constituí ion ; he would record on hia pagc, nlso, that such a peopie, in the wontonness of strength or he !anced sccurity of tho moment, had lom that written constitution to pieces, scattered iis fragments lo the winds, and surrenderod them&elves to the usurped authority of one man. Hg would fiíid writlen in thnt constitution, Congress hall have power to declare wor ; he would find evc-y where in that oíd charter, proofs clear and strong that they who f.-nmed it, intended that Congress, composed of two House, the representatives of the Siates and the Peuple, sliould ('ü' any were nre-eminenl) be the controlling power. He would find there a President designated, whose general and a! most exclusive duty is lo execute,uoi tornakelhe law. Turning from this to the history of the last ten months, he would find that the President alone, without the ndvice or consent of Congress, had, by a bold usurpation, made war on a rcighboring Republic ; and, what is quite as much to be deplored, that Congres., whose high powers were thus se' at naught and defied, had, with ready and ame submission yielded to the usurper the wpulih and power of the nation to execute the will, as if to swell his iniquitous triumph over the vory constitution whioh he and they had alike sworn to support. if nny one should inquire for the cause of the warinthis country, where should he resort for an answer ? Surely to the journals of buth Houses of Congress, sir.ce Congress alone has power to declare war; yet, although we have been engaged in war for the last ten monihs - a war which nas tasked all the resources of the country lo carr it forward - you shallaearch the records and the archives of both Hou-es of Congress in vain for any detail of ts ciuses, any resol ve of Congress that var shafl be wnged. Ho tv is it, then. 'nat a peaccTul and pfcace-l'jving peopip, inppy beyond the cummon lot of man, busy in every laudable pursuit of life, have been forcfd to turn suddenly from these, and plunge into tho misery, the vice, and crime which ever have bopn, nnd ever shall be the aitndant scourges of war ? The answer can only Ip, it was by tho net and will of the President alone, and not by the act or will of Congress, the war-making department of the Government.Mr. Presirient,was itnot áce to ourselves. to the lofty character for peace as well as protrty which ve profcss to be ours, ind whioh lili recently we might juMly claim - was il not due to the civilization of the age, th-tt we, the Rfidresentatives of theStutes and the Ppople, should have set forih the ontisfts which might impel is to invoke the fatal arbitramem of war, befora wa maily rush upon it 1 Even the Senator from South Carolina, nttached as he hos been by party ties to the President, and thercfure, as we may supose, aqu:iintcd with hs war willf Mexico, was compelled to say, the other dar, in débale, that, up to thnt hour, the cauces of this war was left (o conjecture. - The reasnn of this singular'y anomnly, -ir, is to bo f iund in the fact, tliat the President, and not Congriss, deolnred andcommonced the war. How is tbis, Mr. Piesident? How is it that we have sn disappointed the intentions of otil' fathers, and the hopes of all the friends of writen constitution ? When the makers of that cdnstiiution assigned to Congres alone tha most delicate and important power - to declare war - a power more intimately nffecing the interests, immediate and remóte, of the pc.iple than any which a Govrnmf!iit is ever called Upon to exert- Whcn they withhold this great prerogative from the Executive, andconfided it to Congress alone, they but consulted in this, as in every other Work of their hands, the gathered wisdom of all preccuing times. Whether they lokei to the stern depotisms of the ancient Asiatic world, or the military yoke of im perial Rome, or the feudal institutions of the rniddle ages, or the more modern monuruhies of Europe, in each and all of these, where the power to wnge wnr was held by one or by a few, it had been used to SBcrifice, not to protect the many The caprice or nmbi'.ion of the tyrant had nlwnys been the cnnse of bloody and wasting war. while tho subject millions had been treated by iheir remorsels masfrs nnly ns " tols in the hnnds of hirfr who knew how to use them." They thereibre declared that this fearful power should be confided to those who represent the penple, nnd those who here in "he Señale, represent ihesovercign Stntes of the Republic. Aftcr s'curing the power to Congress, they thought it safe to give the command of the armies, in peaco and war to the President. We shall seo herenfter, how, by nr. abu-'e of his powor ascommander-in-chief, the President haa drawn lo himself that ofing war, or commencing hostiliiics vfrith a people with whom we were on terms of peace, wiiicli U substantially the samr. The men of furmer times took very good care that your standing army should be exceedingly small, nnd they who hnd the most lively apprehensionsof investing in one man the power lo command the army, always inculcated upon the ininds of the people the necesity of keeping that army uithin limits just as small as the neoesiity of the external relations of tho country would possib'y admit. Il lias happened, Mr. President, that when a linie di.sturbance on yourlndian frontier took place, Congress was invokcd fur an increase of our military force. Genlemen carne here who had seen parlial service in the armies of the United Staies. They tellyou that the militia of the country is not to bo relied upon - ihat it is only in the army nf ihe Uniied Stntes tht you are to find men competent to fight the battle of the country, and frott time to time, when that necessity has seemed to arise, forgeUing the old doctrine that c large standing army in time of pence was always dangerous to human iberty, we have increased that nrmy from six thousand up to about sixteen thousandmen. Mr, President the olher day we gave ten regimenis more : and for not giving it within the quick time demandad by our master, the ewnmander in chief, sotne minion - 1 know not who, lor I hnvenot looked at this matter until this morning- fepdingupon the fly-blown remnants tbat fall from the executivé shambles and lie putrifying there, has denounccd us as Mexicans, and cnlled Ihe Americon republic to take notice that thpre was in the Senate a body of men charguble with incivism - Mp.xicans in lieart - traitors to tiie United States. I trust, Mr. President, that our mnster will be appeased by the facili'y with which, immediately after the rebuke of lis mínion, the Senate acted upon the bil!, and gave him the army he required. [ trust that he will now forget that law which, as commnnder-in-chief of tlie army of the United States and President of thisgreat North American Republic for the time being, he promulgated to us in 'he message, and thnse commnnds which lie was pleaed to deliver at the opening of this session to his faithful and humbl?sorvitors in both branches of the American Cougre&s, admonishing us tbat we would bc considered ns giving " aid nnd comfort to his enemy " - nol ours - is i f one word should be said un favorable to the motives which have brought the royal wil) to the conclusión ihat he would prccipitate ihis repuhlic in!oa wnr with Mexico ! I trust his Majes tv, in conideration of onr fiilhful services in nugmenting the forcea of the republic, agreeably tn the comminds which we have received Trom the throne, will be induced to relax i little when he comes to execute that !aw of trenson upon one at least so humble as myself. Ido remember, Mr. Pres Ment - you will remember, Mr. President - yourrpcollection of historv will furnish you with a ense, which will, Ithink,ope rate in my favor in a question of thnt soit. Some time in th histor}' of t he royal Tudors in England, when a pnor Englishman, for difiering ' from hisjesty or her Majesty on some subject - ít may be religious faith - wascondemned to be hanged and quarleredj and embow elled, out of special grace, in a particular cae wheie peniteuce was expresse, the hnngman was admonished to give the eulprittime to choke before he began to chop up his limbs and tak e out his bow; els! Now Mr. President, I havo nlready stated that I do not ihíend to oceupy the Senate with a discwssion ofthose varieties oflopics which nnturally enforce t!.einsrIvcs upon my aitention in consideríng t his subject. It must have oceured to every body hovv impotent the Congress of the United States noio is for any purpose wha!evrrj but that of yielding to the President every demand which he makes for men and money, unless they assume that only position which is left - thnt which in the history of other countries, in tirres favorable to human líberty, has been so oflten resortod to as a check upon arbitrary power - witliholding mney,and refusing to grant the services of men whon demaníled for purposeá which are .not dcemeJ to be proper.When 1 review the doctrines of ihe majorily here, and considor iheir applieation to the existing war, I confess I am at a loss t determine whether tho world is to consider ourconduct as a ridiculous farce, or lo be Ust in amazement at such absurdiiy in a people ca'ling themselves free. Tlie President, without asking llie ciHsent of Congress, involves us in a war, nnd a mjority here, without reference totha justiceor necesáity of the wnr. calis upon us to grant men money at the at tho pleasure of the President, wbo,they soy; schargcd with the duty of carrying on the war and res,ionsibls for its resiilt. ]f we grant ihe tneans thus demanded, the President can carry forward this war Tor any'end, or from nny motive, without limit of time or place. With these doctrines for our gnide, 1 will thnnk any Senator to furnish me with any means of esenping from the proaecution of this or nny otlier war, furan hundred years to come, if t pleased the President who shall be to continue it so fong. Teil me, ye who conlend that, bcing in war, duty demands of Congress for its prosecution nll the tnoney and every nblebodied man in America to carry iton f need be - who also contend that it is the right of the President, without the :ontrol of Congress, to march your emiiodied hosts to Monterey, to Yucatán, to Mexico, to Panamn, to Chinn, and that unJer penalty of dcath to the officer who lisobeys him - teil me, I demnnd it of yoa, teil the American peoplo, teil the nations of Christendom, what is the difference between your American democracy and the most odious, most hateful Jespotism that a merciful God has ever Eillowed a nation to be afflicted with sincc government on earth began ? You may cali this free government, but it is such freedom,and no other, as of old was established at Babyion, nt Lusn, nt Bactriana,or Persepolis, lts parallel is scareely to be found, when thus falsely understood, ín any even the worst forms of civil polity in modern times. Sir, it ïs not so ; such is not our con.titution ; it is something other nnd betier than this. l havelookedat this. subject with the painful endeavor to come to ihe conclusión, if poasíblcj líiat it was my duty, ns a Senator of the Uniied States, finding the country in war, to "fight it out," as we sav in the common and popular phrase of the times.to a just and honorable peace! I then couid verv easily concede that to be my duty if [ found my country engaged n a just war - in a war necessary even to protect that fancied honor of which you talksomuch. I should then have same apology in the judgment of my country, in the determination of my conscience, and in that nppenl which yon, and 1, and nll of us mut soon be required to make before a tribunal where this vaunted honor of the Republic, I fear me, will gain butliitle credit as a defence to any act we may perform here in the Senate of the United Stntes.But when I nm asked to sny whether I will prosecrute a war, I cannot answer thntquestion yen or nny, until I have determined whether that was ac necssary war; and I cannot determine wliether it was necessary until I know liow it was that my country was involved in it. And il is to thnt particular point, Mr. President - without rcading document?, bul referring to a few facts which I undersland not to be denied on eithr side of this chamber - that I wish to direct ihe attention of the American SenntCj and, so far as mny be, thnt of ony of the noble and honest henrted constituenis vhm we represent here. I know, Mr. President, the responsibility which I assumo in undertuking to determino that the President f the United States has done u great wrong to the country, whose lionor and whose interest he was required to proicct. 1 know the denunciations which await every one who shall dare to put himself in opposition to that high power - that dol god- -which the people of this country have made to thcmselvcs and called a President.Bul it is my very humility which makes me boH. í know, sir, that he who was told in former time how to govcrn a turbulent people was lo cut oíf the tallest heads. Mine wil I escape ! Stil), holding a se:it h,ere, Mr. Preáident, nnd finding it wrif.en in the constitution of my country that l had the power to grant to the President at his bidding or not, as I pleased, men and money. I did conceive that it becnme my duiy toascertain wheiher the President's request vvas a reasonnble one-whether the President wantod these men and ihis money for a proper and laudable purpose, oi' nut ; and wiih these, oíd f'ishioned ideas - quite as un pnpulaf I fear ïth some on this side of the chamber as we find them to be on the other - 1 SGt myself to this pninful investigatitn. I found not quite enough to save the unrighteous city of old. Tliere were not five of us, but only three ! - And when these votes were callea, nnd I was Compelled to separate myself from all around wc, I could have cried, as did the maa of Uz in his afílicti'in of the eider time, ': VVhni limo my friends wax warm they vanish, when it is hot they arf consumed out of their pi ices! " I couJd not leave tho position inwhich it had pleased the State of Ohio to place me, and I returned agiin nnd ngain to the original and primary and important inquiry - how ia it thatmy country isvolved in this war ? I looked to the President's account of it, and he tflls me it was a war iur the defence of the territory of the United States. 1 found t written in that Message Mr. President, that th is war was not sought nor forced upon Mexico by (he peopleoi the United Sfnies. l sholl make no question of history or he truth of history with my mnster, the commander-in-chief. upon that particular proposition. On the controry, I could verify every word that he thus utiers. - Sir, I know that tlie people of the United States neilher sought, nor forced Mexico into this war, and ycí I know that the President of the United Siatesj with the cornmnnd of your standing nrmy, did seek that war, and that he forced war upon Mexico. I nm not aboul to afilictthe Senate with a detail of testimony on lhat noint I will simply st.ue faots wliich trust none will be found to deny. One of the fdcts, Mr. President, is his : - That in the year of grace 1636, he battle of Snn Jacinto was fought. - Does any body deny thnt ? Noone here will doubt that Tact. The result of that atile wns that a certain district of counry calling iiself Texas, declared itelf a free ond independent Republic. I hape the Senate will pardon me for uttering n thought or two which strike me just now while I see the Senotor from Texas, theleader of the men who nchieved tbat vic tory before me. 1 wlsh to say a Word or iwo about the great glory, the historical renown thnt is to come to the people of the United States, by the victories which we shall oblain over the arms and forces of :his Republicof Mexico. I suppose, Mr. President, ike nJl other boys, in my early youth, when I had nn opportuniryof looking at a bonk called history, tliose whíoh spoke of bloody battles and desolating wars we re most likely to attract my attenlion, and with very limitod means of a.-cerlaining that portion of llie bistory of tlie human race, it nevertlieless has impressed itself very vividly upon my mind, that there have been great wars, and, as the old maxim has it, u many brave men, before Agamemnon."oír, the wond s anual" show very many ferocious siegas, and b.-Uiles, oad onslaughis, beforc San Jacinto, Palo Alto, or Monierey. Generáis of bloody renown have irightened the nations before !he révolt of Texas, or our invasión of Mexico; and I suppose we Americans might properly claim some share jn ihis ma nial reputaííon, sínce it wos won by our own kindred, men clenrly descended from Nonh, the great " propositus " of our family, wïth whom we all claim a very cndearing relalionship. But I confets I have been sornewhat surprised of late, that men, read in the history of man, who knew thaf war hdd been his trnde for six thousand years, ('prompted, I inngine, by tliosfi " noble instincts '' spoken of by the Senator from JVIichiganJ who knew that the first man born of woman was a heroof the flrst mcgnitude that ho met his shephord b rot her in deadlv conflict, and most heroically beat out his brains wilh a club - I say,sir, lamsomewhat puzzled u-hen 1 hear those w!io knew nIJ these things wel!, nevertheless shouting pagans of glory to tlie Americnn nnme, for ihe few deeds of death which our noble little afmy in Mexico have os yet been able to acliïeve.Bu', sir, IcU me recuragnin to ihe batt'e of San Jacinto. The Sen:itor from Texns, ('Mr. Houston,) nw n his sent, commanded there. His rtrmy consisted of about seven hundred and fifty men. - These were collectcd from all parts of the United Stoles, and from ihtí popUlation ol Texns, thcn numbering about ten thou nnd souls. With this arríly. imdisciplined, br.dly rtrmec!, and indifiernntly furnished n all rcspöcts, the Senntor from Texns conquered a Mexican anny o about 8,500 ment took tbeír Commdnder Santa Anna, then President of Mexico prisorier, with the whole of his forces. - Texas dclared Iipt inriependenrej au( alono müintaíned itagrtinst tho power o: Mexico Tor seven yrars, nnd sinco tha tine hns bepn n Stale undnr the shield o our prolcction. It is ngrtirlst th:s same Mexico that tweniy milüons of Anglo Snxon Amcricans send fi.nh Iheir armies. The great North American Republic buckleson her armor, and her miglity bosom heaves wilh the u g'iudin certaminis," as she marchas under hef engle banners to enrounter n fue, rt'ho, ten yeirs ego, was whippol by an army of seVen hundred and fifty undisciplined miiilio, and bcreftof a tértitoí'y largerthan the empire of France, which her conqueror held in her despitsfor seven years, and the quiotly transferred her territory to y ou. Sir, if the joint armies of the United Stitèa and Texas are to acquire renown by vanqnishing Mexiüo, vlml honors are too great to be denie.l Texas, for her vTctory óver this Mexico ton veurs ogo.Ifby vanquisbing such n foe, youareto win renown in wnr, what la u reis should ou not wreath nround the brows of thoso who fought at Snn Jacinto, espcciaily when Hisiory tel ís of the killed and wounded in tho latier fighi - she records that just three we re killed in mortn] combnt whilst two diedoftheir wounds "wherj the battïe was done!" Oh,Mr. President, does it indeed become this Republic to cheri-h the heroic wish, to measure arms wi:h the long since conqured, distracted, anarchie, and miserable Mexico? Mr. President, I trust we shall abandon the idea, the hathen, barbarían notion, that our true nntional glory is to be won or reiair.ed by military prowess,ori.kil in the an of destroying life. And whilst I cannot but lament, for the permanent and lasting renown of my country, that she should command ihe services of her childrên in whai I mu-t consioer wanton, unprovoked, itnnecessanj, and therpfore unust war, I can yield to the brnve soldier, whóse trade is war, and whose dulyobcdi ence, ihe highest meed of praise for his cournge, his enterprisc, and perpetua] endurance of the fatigues and horrors of w.nr. [ do not believe we are less ca pable in he art of destruclion than others, or less willing, on the slighest pretext, to un sheathe the sword, and consider ;revenge a vinue." I could wish also that your brave soldiers, whilst they bleed and d.'ö on the battle-fiold, migh: have, f,what in this war 3 iinpossibl) the consolation to ffcl and know that their blood flowrd in defence of a great right, that their lives werea meet sacrifice to an exalted principie.But,sr, I return lo our relations with Mexico. Texas, I have shown, having won her independente, and torn from Mexico about one fourth part of her territory, comes to the ünired States, sinks ïer nationl character into the less e!evuled but more secure position of one of he United States of America. The re volt of Texa.o, her successful war with Mexico, nnd ihe consequent loss of a val unble province, all nured to ihe ultímate jenefitof our govrmment and our country. Whüe Mexico was weakencd and ïumbled, we in the same proportion wei o strengihened and elevated. All this was done against the wish Ihe interest, and the earnest reraonstrance of Mexico. Every one canferl, ifhe will eximind himseh' lor a moment, what must havo been the miogJed omotions ofpride, humiliation and bilter indignation which raged in the bosoms of the Max can peopie vh?n ifey saw one of thcir f.iircst provinces torn from thëm by a revolu moved by a foreign peópl?, ond that )rovince, by our act and consefit, aunexed to the nlready ehormous eSptmsa of our territoiy. h s iole, Mr. President, tosupposetliat the Mexican people would not feel as deeply for the dismemberment and disgrace of their country as you would for tbc dimeinbeimeiit of this Union of ours. Slr, there is not a rnce, nor tribe, nor a people on the earih, who have an organized, social or polltical existenc, wij.) have clur.g with moro obstínate affoction to every iuehofsoil they could cnll iheir oun, than this very Spanish, this Me.tican, this Indian raco in thal country. So strong and deep is this sentiment in the heart of tiiat half ravage, half-civilizrd r;c, tiiat it lias become not merely an opinión, a piincijilc but with them an unreasoning faiíntiqioj. So radically deep and strong has this idea rooteditsilf into the Mexican mnu, Uiat I learn recentiy it has been made a part of the new fundamental Imv tint not nn inch of Mexican soil shall ever be nl:ena ted to foreign power- that her terrltory sh.-tll remnin onlire as long as her rpj)ublic endures; ihat if one of her limbs bö forcibly severed from her, death shall ensue{ unlesst'nat limb shall he reunired to the párent trunlc. VViih stich a pcople,not like you, ns you fondjy, and I fear' vainly boast yoursrlves- a highly civil; ized, re:isoning, and phUos0phicaj race but a people who, n pon the. fierceism of the olJ oge have engrnfif d tlrë holy sentiments of pniriot:m of a latei1 birlh ; wiih just such á people, ihtí pride of inept ndence and the love of cotiniry combine' to inflame ond sublime pat-riotic nttadhment into n feeüng dertrer than life, stfonger ihan tfeöth; Whnt wero the sentiir.ènls of such n. people towards us when thñy lrnrnëd that, at ihe bnttie of San Jncinto there were only sevetity five men of iheír own country out of the seven hündred and fifiy whoconquoreii Ihem on that day,and that evefy öther ifnn of that conquering army who f uight thal battle nnd disrnémbeied their RepubÜc of one-foijrih pait of hé territory had büt recently gona there from ihis country, was fed hy ur poople, nnd armed and equipjied in the Uniied States to do ihat very deed. I do not gay thnt .Vexico ha3 a rígbt to