D. A. BUEHLER, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
VOL.,
FOR THE HOLLIDAYS.
~ \
x A Large assortment of
s.m
• \ .:‘ \ Annuals & Gift
'' T, Books,
, statubio l'or Presents at
the eppreaching llolidays, has just been
receised at the Book and Stationery Store
e fs. It tkEttum, in Chambersburg street,
INCLUDING
oriship's Offering, The Opal, The
Hyacinth, The Noss Rose, Christian
A - :like, Religious Souvenier,
Rmns by Jlmclia, Do. by
" . Mrs. Sigourney,
Chile Harold, Hood's Points, §•c., 4-c.,
together with a large variety of (I I F T
800 KS, ike., for all ages—handeome•
ly . Naiad and embellished—all of which
besold' very low. 110= -Call. - and see
them. S. H. BUEHLER.
Gettysburg, Dec. 10, 1847.
ttli IFE4TtVIP q,: ..I,O_A, Ili
Annuals, Albums,
Gov Boons.
riIIRE custom which
..I:2prevaile in this
eduatry of presenting to onr friends Hnli;'
day and Birthday Gifts, is certainly a very
pleasing one. And nothing, it appears to
us is so suitable for this purpose as an ele
gant and utreful Book, which, by means of
its choice sentiments, has the power—not
possessed by any other gift--of• sweetly
reintindint one of the friend wh'ci gave it.
We therefore advise all to, repair to the
- (leap Bookstore of '
oppcieitetthe Bank, Oettysburg, where may
be found it tempting variety of Annuals, it
lustratecr.editions of the 'Poets. bOoks of
Piety and Devotion, Bibles, Prayer• and
Hymn Rooks of alt sizes, prices and bind.
ings, suited to old, young, Owe and gay,
and cheaper than they have ever been sold
in this market. A few of the m'are—
k.V44 4 1 , ..
LS'LS' ~ V z 4Xt:,.,
: ,-
aim of /he `Seition, SO Aires, Leafieti of
Aleatory, Christian lierinaike, Gift
of Friendship:. Pliendship'-: Of
mint, 41orat.Offering,
Lady) Scrap. Book; Poetry , of Flower
Moss Rose, Hyacinth, Mother's Present,
Christ Mae Blossoms, Poets of America H
MS-irate& Dietiwtrarrof Poetical quotations
gilt, Religious Souvenier, Christian Keep
sake. Also, a large and 'splendid assort
ment of other Hooka suitable for Holiday
Presents. Also, an extensive assortment
of JUVENILE BOOKS, at low prices,
and of the choicest charaCter. •
Tileabeve, with a general assortment of
Miveellatteriut Books, have just been re
ceived front the Eastern markets at the'
hiweas pecieet end 'shall be afforded toper
chasers at prised that eannOt (ail to please
all. pC7PThe Ladle's and Gentlemen of
Gettysburg and vicinity are invited to call
and examine the extensive assortment of
Books, &e.. for -sale by
KELLER KURTZ. I
Dee. 17, 1847.
VALUABLE MILL tROPERTY
FOR REA•i;
THE Subscriber, Executrix of Hamm
Myzitit, deceased, and testamentary
Guardian - of his-miner children,--offetai -for
RENT, frosts the Ist day of hyri/ next,
the valuable property,known
as the
LLI • t
"Virginia Mills. " .
They are situatetin Hantiltonban township.
Adams County, 11 1 miles from Fairfield,
and iu,one.of the leetVrOn'grO*ing sec"
tionicef the enmity. The Mills are newly
erected, and in complete remir ; they con.
slot of a Orist Mill. Saw Mill do.. all in
good order. There are about BOO' Acres
in the Ntrn, With Dwellinphonse, Ten
adi Howe. Haiti, arc., a large quantity , of
meadow, and arable lands; &c. .
11Z7* * rtie `lama will be made known by
the. tiubscribert residing on the premise&
Applications must be accompanied by pro.
per Yectinimendationa.
" MARY MYERS.
Virginia Mills, Oct. 20, 1847—tf
VALUABLE STOBE HOUSE
4 0 2P1121.6 allagi sa
NOW there is a tare chance for
rill Me
rchants to got one of the most valua
ble situations fur business in the State.—
The subscriber will expose to Public Sale,
on balutday the 8M of January, 1847.
at, 10 o'clock, A. M. on the premises, his
'"Valuable Property,
.0,- Which he now resides, situ- I s
ate in PETERSBURG, (Y. S.) : "
Mains county, Pa., 'on the corner of Main
and Harrisbur g streets. The Buildin g s are
first-rate. Call and see them, and jud g e
for yourselves. Terms made known on
the d'ay"of sale.
JOHN B. McCREARY
the above named property is
ocit'sold an or before the; Hill of January,
it will be FOR RENT.
llu would also inform the ptiblit
that he has a splendid assortment of
11.Valk GOODS,
which he will sell off et wholesale or re-
WI, at reduced prices and great bargains.
ITOTIOE.
AM going to Schuylkill county to coin
', meace the Coal NliMng business, (I
want inoticy„) and give notice to all per
somA indebted to nib to call immediately
and settle the same. If their accounts are
tint settled on or hr/ore the tat ((try of
,
nutry next. th ey w not blame me if t h ey
find them in the hands of all Officer,
JOI EN li. t,C It EA UV.
Petersburg, (I',. S.) Nov. 20, 1847.
01,1) PENS AND SILVER PEN
XX CHAS, (Hest quality) Card Cases,
Visiting and Printing Cards. Fancy Note
'Paper, Envelopes, Motto Wafers, Fancy
Sealing Wax, Linter Stmops. Ate., for sale
1IUE111,E1?.
De , Ttnber 10.
REVIEW OF TIIE MESSAGE.
PROM TOR NATIONAL. INTELLMENCER
The'N6r with Mexico,
When, on the 13th day of May oflast year,
the Otsego of the Act of Congress, recog
nizing the existence of War with Mexico,
was announced to the readers of the Na
tional Intelligencer, it was accompanied
by the expression of a belief that by the
largest portion of its readers the informa
tion would be received with alarm—alarm
justly excited by the wilfulness and reck
lessness with which the Nation had been
plunged into a foreign war, which, as the
People were in no particular prepared for,
they were in no way forwarned of. For
ourselves, we were not taken wholly by ,
surprise by the news. In the statesman- I
ship of the Executive, whatever conti-!
donee we were disposed to place had been
shaken by the almost daily denionstra-
tions by its official organ during the first
year of its existence. We had watched
I its successive developments, gradually dis
closing a settled purpose to make war up
on Mexico, in the event of not succeeding:
in intimidating her into a prompt submis
sion
to the demands which the President'
intended to make upon her. That organ
(the government paper) was hardly a week j
oldbeliiie its readers were transported, in
imagination, to the "Halls of Montezuma,"
which were to be occupied by the United
States as a crowning act of "a second con
quest of Mexico." The tocsinbeing soun
ded, • volunteers were• to flock from the
West to the scene of action,and to carry
every thing before them. The govern
ment paper taught us, also, how the war
was to be effected. It foresaw; by many
months . , the march of our army from,Gor
reChristi (where, as every one knows,
_ . .
xico,,never intended to disturb it) to the
Rio Grande ;, foresaw that the Meitie*Ml,
might 'cross the Rio Grande, and -that, if
they did, "blood would' be shed," and “war
must ensure." -When;therefore; the pre
diction was realizeilithert the eauistro
phi arrived, faiiverer Shrieked, it can
scarcely be Said to haie unprised us. Of
the facility and precipitancy with which
the pnrposes.of the Executive:tame tote
iostained
,by, the Legislative authority, We'
'cannot ; say the same. We were both
surprise&and alarmed to find how easily,
on the imptilse of, the moment, blindfold
. and gagged. Congreee . could be iiriven
lend its countenance to those, purposes,—'
Blindfold, and gaggith_w_e_ repeat,. Norio'
the expression too strong.; for, bgfate_dia
news of the dangerous position of our ar
my was communicated by the Executive
to Congress, committees • of both llouties
had been got together (on the Sabbath) and
measures prepared ilt concert • with the
Executive,. which, the next day, on receiv
ing. die President's . &leafage iu form, with
out waiting to have the papers accompany.
ing it read over, for the information• of the
Members.,. were forced throngh.the_nouse
of Representatives. Nor.. even to a body
excited' as the House was by the stirring
news from . the Rio Grande, did the ruling
party in the. Rouse venture to propose the
false and obutixio,us Preamble of ; OM Bill
until afterall deliberation and debate had
been precluded on a question; as monien
toes certainly as ever Came before Con
great,. Had there been nothing else alarm-,
Mg in this Dec Wedeln of War with Mexi
co, (46 despotism, thus exercisotr over thq
iniMirity of, the Teprerieutative .bOdy,.
peated on the followtog day in the Senate
rial,botly,;(therethfore exempt from such
shat practices,) was of itself sufficient to
appal the hearteof those!, accustomed, as
we yayg heep i .io . regard, the rights of nii-,
nerdy AS not leap fAtreil 'bah those of ma
' jerky, and, artiong ( then l / 4 the right of pro
petting, amendments to or remonstrating
against any proposition coming before
them.,, The.mjiittrity in, each noose was
thus etibieetid by a most arbitrary and ma
lignanteaarciee of party power without
being allotied a moment for deliberation,
to . the alternative olvoting for a bill with
apreamble, the falsehood of which they
saw and detested, or of refusing to vote for
eenotmeuts.(auppies of men,and money)
to ,which,, #ll lavish, as they were, there
would, perhaps, but for the Preamble, not
have been a dissentient voice.
Whatever alarm. we and our readers felt
at tbbt beginning, has certainly been fully
justifiedby the progress of events. Even
that precipitation in the action of Congress
—that preamble, affirming two distinct
falshoods—that tyranny by which a vote
was extorted from the two houses, butte
'been continually appealed to by the Exec
utive organs as evidence of a unanimity of
the national will in approbation of the war.
In the messsage before us, that appeal is
repeated, accompanied with a statement,
in terms, that the declaration that "the
war existed by the act of Mexico" was
passed "with great unanimity" in Con
gress ; though it must be known to the
I Executive that but a small majority in eith
' er House of Congress approved that de
claration, many members declaring their
repugnance to it, some their abhorrence of
it. Votes taken in both Houses of Con
gress at the second session of the same
Congress plainly established this fact, had
there before been any reason to doubt it.
The popular elections which have interve
ned certainly leave no excuse for a doubt
upon any man's mind that a majority of
the people of the United Slates are against
this war, and its authors.
Instead of relinquishing, in deference to
the popular will, thus clearly expressed,
any part of his original scheme of conquer
ing and annexing a considerable portion of
the territory of Mexico, the President
conies to Congress and demands its con
curronce in a plan for colonizing and an
nexing almost one-hulf , Of Mexico, with a
recommendation to continue the war until
he, the Conqotiror, conquers all the residue
of that unhappy Republic, in the event of
her not willingly severing front her body
her most valuable provinces. Instead of
advising a , Peace, which this Glovernment
might have at any day on terms of honor.
he iut - orms Congress, in a sanguinary strain,
and almost in the dialect of the shambles,
that he is pursuaded "that the best means'
of rindiraiing fhe national honor and in-
Wrem, nod of bringing the war to an honor-
GETTYSBURG, PA. FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 24, 1847.
able close, will be to prosecute it with in
creased energy and power IN THE VITAL
PARTS of the enemy's country!" Ile
knows that he and his war stand condemn
ded by his own countrymen. lle cannot,
if he Would, mistake the sentiment of the
People ; and yet he craves more conquest,
more butchery.: lie demands a deeper pene
tration into the vitals of our adversary, and
yet further waste of the blood and treasure
of his own country.
Before he take captive our senses by the
seductive incitements, in which his Mes
sage abounds, to a yet wider course of rash
ambition and suicidal aggrandizement, let
us stop for a moment to consider upon
what grounds he places and justifies the
career of cruelty and conquest in which
he has already' embarked our country.—
We 'are glad the President has, in his Mes
sage, prefaced his recommendations as to
the future with a summary statement of the
causes of complaint heretofore alleged by
him as being of prior date to the war, to
gether with his understanding of how the
war begun. A single paragraph includes
the whole story ; and, as we propose to
examine it with some particularity, we
here republish it :
"It is sufficient on the present occasion to say,
that the wanton violation of the rights of person
and property of our citizens committed by Mexico,
her repeated acts of bad faith through a long se
ries of years, and her disregard of solemn treaties
stipulating for indemnity to our injured citizens,
not only constituted ample cause of war on our
part, but wefts of such an aggravated character as
would have justified us before the whole world in
resorting to this extreme remedy. With an anx
ious desire to avoid a rupture between the two
countries, we forbore for years to assert our rights
by knee,' and continued to seek redress for the
wrongs. we had suffered by amicable negotiation,
in the hope that Mexico might yield to pacific
minutia and the demands ofjustice. In this hope
we were disappointed. Our minister of peace sent
to Mexico Was insultingly rejected. The Mexican
Government refused even to hear the terms of ad•
justruent which he was authorised to propose ; and
Snally.ntider wholly unjustillablepretexts, involv
ed the two countries in war, by invading the terri
tory of the State of Texan, striking the first blow,
end shedding the blood of our citizens ou our own
In.undertaking agitew to review these a
averments by the Elecutive, now that they
are again offered in • his justification, and
in supportof the war ad fitterneeiettern a
gainst Wilco which he"heompienda to
POpgreskie are well aware that noforce can
be added to the 'reasoning, nor anyetrength:
to the' cottcluswine of 'that adinirable tract
Win the pen of the venerable, paftiotik Ind
learned ALARRT GALiATIN, in relation to
the-Mexican-War, whiCh •we have lately
bad the satisfaction of spreading before our
readers. To his authority-upon any ques
titm of, public law or national obligation, we,
at least,who have known him front thedays,
of his great public services in the Public
Councils,' first as a leader of the Republi
can party in Congress t next as a Member,
of the Cabinet of President lemma* tin,,
ring all of his Administration, and of that
of Mr. MADISON until he was called tore
present his country abroad asthe associate
of ADAMS, CLAY, and BAYARD 'in thereat
Negotiation which. ended in -the Peace of
Ghent—we, whose first essays in our pre
sent vocation may be said to have been
been.guidad by Ids, hand and by thatof his.
ever honored friend, to l ,official superior,
Mr. MADISON, are bqund by, every
. 4enti,
thent ofrespect and gratitude to pay a def.
ferenee so. profound that it-would • ki the
grade-et-disusest ofwar;own judgement sse
shouliteetertain atty_opinitin on public
question materially different from :his.=
'hippy and proud are we to hied, that, on
ills subject of the causes and character of
this war, his views are ie fidlaCeord with .
those whkhwe have found horn' duty from
dMo to-time-to present to our readers.—
' Most fortunate for our country do we con
sider it, that he has been willing and able
to come forward in the relent emergency,
to instruct and counsel his fell Ow-citizens.
However earnestly and honestly the Press
may have done its duty; however ably
and fearlessly distinguished Statesmen of
the present day may have exposed and de
nounced the new career upon which our
country has entered as the sole disturber
of the peace of the world; however bright
and high the statesmanship which the great
Patriot of the West has so recently brought
to bear upon this great question, the Ad
dress of Mr. GALLATIN has shown it was
yet passible for a wise and able Man to add
to the force of even our own convictions,
however decided on the subject. Most
fortunate, we repeat, do we consider this
opportune contribution to the common
stock of knowledge of one standing in the
foremost rank of intellectual greatness, and
yet apart from the passions of the day and
above them one who, after a most distin
guished career of public service, left popu
larity and reputation unexhausted, and
quitted high trusts whilst yet they courted
his acceptance : one of the foremost men,
in a word, of that illustrious era of our
statesmanship which has now hardly a
survivor; one, therefore, almost in the last
extremity of age, and yet so fortunate as to
have preserved, equally undimmed, its 'a
bilities and its honors. To the authority
of such a name as that of AcileßT GALLA
TIN, his recent Address adds a strength of
reasoning which nothing in the present
day can meet, and that luminous command
of all the great principles of Public and
of National Law, in which he had scarce
ly an equal in his own times, and has now
no superior. The trusted coadjutor—and
it may even, in Finance and Diplomacy - ,
be said to have been—the instructor
of JEFFERSON, of MnotsoN and of MoN
not:, we have here, as of one rising from
the dead, a voice, passionless as it is wise
and solemn, the judgement of an antique
and genuine sage of Republicanism—yea,
of Democracy—upon the entire question
of this Presidential War.
Armed and fortified with such a docu
ment, it is with unwonted confidence that
we proceed once more to expose those
hollow pretences and insincere professions
of the authors and apologists for the War
with Mexico, which have been controvert
ed heretofore with no other apparent effect
than to induce a more pertinacious repeti
tion of them.
Referring to his last annual communica
tion to Congress for particulars of his bill
arraignincliu the President again recites
:Medi : Ted wronv by Mexico, through -a
~ F EARLESS AND FREE."
long series of years," &c. as being such
as not only to constitute ample cause of
war, but as would have justified the Uni
ted States before the whole world in re
sorting to this extreme remedy. This ev
every one, at all acquainted with history.,
knows to be gross exaggeration. The long
existence of claims for wrongs now alleged
to have been so enormous, is of itself proof
of the fact that they were not at any time
deemed by Congress to constitute a so&
cient cause of war. Most of them had be
sides been actually adjusted by a
was
between the two countries, which was in
the course of faithful execution by Mexico
when the hostile demonstrations of our
Administration suspended the payment of
stipulated indemnities. As to what re
!Dallied of unadjusted claims, there was
nothing, until the occurrence of this war,
to prevent their peaceable and even satis
factory adjustment. As to the refusal to
receive our Minister being, as the Presi
dent intimates, a sufficient cause of war, it
is a sufficient answer to the President that
the army was ordered to march to the Rio
Grande (where, according to the programm
of the Government paper, the war was Lobe
, gin) two months before our Minister was
finally refused to be received by the Gov
, ernment of Mexico.
But let it be admitted, for the sake of ar
gument, and for that sake only, that, ac
cording to the customs and laws of nations
in less civilized, less moral, and less en
lightened ages than the present, we really
had cause of war with Mexico, so far as
war between two Christian Nations is ev
er just or necessary ; yet war with Mexi
co, distracted, weakened, and impoverish
ed as she had long been and then was, with
intestine divisions and factions, was neith
er necessary, magnanimous, nor honora
ble on our part. Such a war, even for just
objects, being unnecessary—the only inev
itable effect indeed upon the claims for
which it would be waged being to fasten
them upon our own 'treasury instead of
the Mexican—could never redound to the
glory of the country, and much less com
pensate for the rivers of blood and heaps of
treasure which have already been wasted
in this war.
But, to' pass all this by, whether the ex
isting war be just or unjust, necessary or
unnecessary, is not the question iSow at
issue between the President and the Peo
ple: Was this War the act of the Sove
reign .People of_the States, declared in
their name, in the only manner known or
acknowledged by the Constitution—by the
Senate and House of. Representatives in
Congress, to whom it alone belongs to de
termine whether %r, . at any time or un
der any circumstances, be just or necessa
ry ivatit, whether a crime or amis.
take, the unauthorized tint of the President,
to whom the Constitution has denied all
power liver the question of ' War!'
id Matron question; nor'ean ill the Wire
drawn sophistry and special 'Pleading of
the President's Message of last year, re=
forced to in that' Which is now before nit,
deceive a single individual, be he. .Whigor
be he Locofoeo, of oomnion sensuor , oo6l?
mon information, against the well , knowe
and well authenticated : facts, its the
Need . we.add, that..whoever,ine resident
he; Si ho, tram ling amen the ba rrier, Wbick
the POnetituueliMs ere* , , for the pro
teetion of the'genertit welfare, atid i for the
seenrity of life, liberty, and property of the
eitizem of his melt mere lain tend pleasure
plunges the country into a War, with or
without eausethat man is a Despot !
The Nation , that quietly folds its arms and
permitsthis to be done with impunity, may
delude itself with the fancy that it lives un
der a written Law and Constitution, but it
is an idle dream. That Nation is a nation
of slaves, and lives under a Despotism.
To proceed, however to the main point,
upon the re-assertion of which alone the
President relies to justify himself before
his own fellow-citizens for his agency in
this War, viz.: that the Mexican Govern
ment, "finally, under wholly unjustifiable
pretexts, involved the two countries in war,
by invading the territory of Texas, striking
the first blow, and shedding the blood of
our citizens on American soil." Not one
word of this is true. We regret the ne
cessity, but the President imposes upon us
the obligation of renewing the demonstra
tion of the utter falsity of the whole of it.
Mexico did not involve the two countries
in War : Mexico did not invade the territo
ry of Texas : Mexico did not strike the
first blow : Mexico did not shed the blood
of our citizens on our own soil.
This whole question, it will he seen, re
solves itself into one of territorial boundary.
Did, at the breaking out of this war, the
territory between the Neuces and the Rio
Grande (Del Norte) belong to Mexico or
the U. States ?
It did nut belong to the U. States. The
Republic of Texas had no title to it. She
had not even a respectable claim to it.—
She pretended to no such title when she
called a Convention to form her Constitu
tion ; for not a member was called to that
Convention from any portion of the terri
tory bounding on the Rio Grande. Nor
when, in her Constitution, she apportioned
the Representation in her Legislature a
mong the several districts of her territory,
did she enumerate any districts lying upon
the Rio Grande as minded to representa
tion in the Texan General Assembly.—
The whole country of the Rio Grande,
and indeed the whole country west of the
Nueces. except the small settlement of San
Patricia, was exclusively in possession of
the Mexicans, until the army of the U.
States marched into it, driving before it the
Mexican civil officers and the peaceful in
habitants. Texas having no title to the
territory, die annexation of Texas to this
Union could confer none upon the United
States. Were a peace to he made to-mor
row, on the basis of leaving things as they
were before the war, the territory between
the Nueces and the Rio Grande would
still constitute a part of the Mexican States
of Tamaulipas, &e.
This state of the fact is none of our first
discovering, much less of our imagining.
We derive nearly all cur information on
the subject from the highest Democratic
authority. When the Treaty with Texas,
by which she undertooc to convey to the
U. States 'J western beAlll.lary to the Hi('
Grande, was depending in the Senate, Mr.
Senator BENTON (high authority on the
subject) indignantly denounced it as an at
tempted fraud and outrage :
"I wash my hands," said he, "of all at
tempts to dismember the Mexican Repub
lic, by seizing her dominions in New Mex
ico, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Tamauli
pas. The treaty, in all that relates to the
boundary of the Rio Grande, is an act of
'UNPARALLELED OIITRACE ON MEXICO. It is
the seizure of two thousand miles of her
ritory, without a word of explanation with
her, and by virtue of a treaty with Texas,
to which she is no party."
Mr. BrtiToN further declared that the
claim set up by Texas by the Treaty, if
maintained, would cut off "the capital and
forty towns and villages of New Mexico,
now and always as fully under the domin
ion of Mexico as Quebec and all the towns
of Canada are under the dominion of Great
Britain."
Mr. B. closed his speech by offering the
following resolution :
Resolved, That the incorperation albs left bank
of the Rio del Norte into the American Union, by
virtue of a treaty with Texas, comprehending-, as
the said incorporation would do, a portion of the
Mexican departments of New Mexico, Chihuahua,
Coahuila, and Tamaulipas, would be ox ACT or
DIRECT ♦GORESSION EMS MEXICO, for oil the eom
septum of which the U. Stoics could nand icipon
sihto.
To the same effect that great Deinocra
tic leader, the Hon. SILAS WRIGHT, (whose
Tate death has been so justly lamented by
men of all parties.) who was present du-
I ring the whole debate upon the Texas
treaty, and gave his vote against its ratifi
cation, declared to his constituents, in a
speech delivered at Watertown, as follows:
"I felt it my duty to vote against the rat
ification of the treaty for the annexation.
I believed that the treaty, front the boon
dories that must be implied from it, em
braced a country to which 'texas had no
claim, over mhich she had never asserted
jurisdiction, and which snE lino NO ItIOIIT
TO CEDE."
But, many years before the date of this
debate, the records of the U. States had
borne testimony to the true boundary of
Texas. In 1836 an Agent was dispatched
by the President of the 11. States (Gen.l
JACKSON) to examine and report upon the
condition of Texas, which had then estab
lished an independent Government; and
in his report, dated in August of that year.
he reported that "the political limits of
Texas proper, previous to the last revoln-I
Lion, were the Nueees ricer on the ;vest ;
along the Rod River on the north ; the
Sabine on the east; and the Gulf of Mexi
co on the south."
At the time of the consummation of the
*et of annexation, Mr. DosEr.soN being the
Chafge d'Affaires of the U. States to that
young Republic, communicated freely with
his Government as to the position of things
in Texas. From his letters we extract the I
following passages, showing what was the I
fattaLto the limits of the territory actual-!
ly.ooeupied by Texas, even at that time :
"Coipui Giinisti is said to be no healthy us Pen
4cola, a convenient place for supplies, and the
nuts" apathy's paint now occupied by Tr rar."—Let
'Use tO Siteretary of Kate, June :10, 1815.
"rIC occupation of the country between the
lgiltices and the Me Grande, you arc aware, is a
dirpistld corestion. Texas holds Corpus Christi—
Maximo O6cos TOE Basses DE SA Nil A. o."—Lct
tee to Gen. Taylor, Juno 28, 1815.
"The joint resolution of our Congress left the!
ritwsliort an open our, and the preliminary propesi
-tion made by Texas, under the a uspiiTs of
the British and French Governments, as the ba
sis of a definite treaty Nvith Mexico, leaves the
question in the sow state. ' And a Moms li the
Governmeit of Texas has since indicateda point
),
on the Ilio Irunde for the occupation of our troops,
I
I did not c lender this circumstance us varying
the question, since the President of Texas but a
few weeks before issued a proclamation suspending
hostilities betnieen Texas and Mexico, the prick-
I cal effect of which wino to have the question pre
iciscly as it 1.4001 when our join/ reA'aut i on passed--
1 Mexico in possession of one portion of the territo- ,
ry, and Texuo of another. 'lle proclamation of a i
truce between the two nations, intruded on propo- '
sitions mutually acceptable to them, (caring the'
lyuestion of boundary 71.,t only 0,1 open ow, but itle.r•
fro IN rOSs Ess 10N or Tin; vlsi BANK 01' Til E Rio
UNA NOE, See Med to 110 inconsistent with the ex
pectation that in defence of the claim of TeNll9 our
troops should he marched immediately to that riv
er. What the Executive of Texas lead determin
ed not to fight for, but to settle by negoti ,lion--to
soy the least of it, could as well have born left to
the U. States on the same conditions. The ques•
Ilion was whether, under the circumstances, wo
should take a position to make war / 7 ,' this claim, in
! the face of on a,knoirledginent by the Torun Goo.
i frownl that it I mild be settled by negotiation. Tat
I once decided that we should take no such position,
but should record only as Ipithin the limits of our
protection that portion of territory Acre ALLT POH
-BESSED or TEXAN, and 11011 A she do/ sot rousider
I ns subject to uegoriation."—Letter to Mr. Buchan
' an, July 11, 1845.
"Your purpose will be the defence of Texas, if
she is invaded by Mexico, mud you will be in posi
tion at Corpus Christi, 5.1,1 Antonin, Asti °Tarn
POINTS 110 TOE. N eve so, ready to act according to
ciretimotances."—To Gem'Eaylor, July 7, I 845.
These extracts taken together establish,
upon the evidence of our Government it
self, through its Diplomatic Representative
in Texas, that Mexico nos in possession
of the Territory west of the Nueces (ex
cept the county of Patricio) and Texas of
the territory east of the Nueces. with the
addition of Patric in ; that Mexico Was ad
mitted by our own Envoy to be in posses
sion of the east bank of the Rio Granite,
and that Corpus Christi was the most wes
tern point then occupied by Texas. These
admissions from a source so well-inform
ed, so free from biaS in favor of any inter
est but that of the IT. States, (including
'lexas.) are fatal to every pretension of
territorial right on the part of Texas be
tween the Rio Grande and the Nueces, the
small county of Patricio perhaps excepted.
All that 'remains, therefore, to sustain
the pretension of the Administration that
the boundary of Texas extended to the Rio
Craude,and that by her annexation the Rio
Grande became the boundary of the U.
States, is in the act of the Legislature of
'Texas declaring its boundary to extend to
the Rio Grande. If that act could be con
sidered of any effect whatever, it would at
most leave ground for controversy and ne
gotiation, as was assumed by Mr. Bonet
son. But that act itself was a mere nulli
ty. To that effect we have the opinion of
Senator Woonanav, (now an Associate
Judge of the Supreme Court of the United
Stales.) in his speech in favor of ratifying
the 'rreatv of Annexation :
"Texas, by a mere /a to,rettid he, "could was still ping on when the army . of Oen
acquire no title hut what she conquered oral TANton. was, as if for the purpose of
from Mexico and actually governed.— precipitating events, marched front Cor-
Hence, thonch her lan• includes more than pus Uhristi to the Rio Grande. About
the ancient Texas, she could hold and con-, the Caine time, as we know from the Pres-
voi only that—or, at the uttermost, only
what she exercised clearjurisdietionover)'
Texas never had exercised jurisdiction
of any sort over any territory on the Rio
Grande, and could not therefore by possi
bility convey to the U. States any title to it.
To the same effect we have the authority
of Mr. GALLATIN, which saves us and our
readers the trouble of searching further on
the subject;
"The Republic of Texas did, by act of
December, 1836, declare the Rio del Norte
to be its boundary. It will not be serious
ly contended that a nation has a right, by
a law of its own, to determine what is or
shall be the boundary between it ;Ind anoth
er country. The act was nothing more
than the expression of the wishes or pre
tensions of the Government. :Is regards
right, the act qf Texas is a pofect
LITV, "
It is thus Cont`llisively demonstrated that
the territory between the Nueces and the
Rio Grande never had passed out of the
possession or right of Mexico, and was in
no sense "American soil," or territory of
the U. States. The Colt is, moreover, too
notorious to need to be here dwelt upon,
that the army of the U. States, when it
neared the Rio Grande, chased the Mexi
can custom-otlicers out of their houses,
and, when it encamped on the bank of the
river, found itself in the midst of a Mexi
can population, and occupying the corn
and cotton . -tields which they had tied front
in dismay. The ilag of the U. States was
planted by our army, as in defiance, under
the guns of a Mexican fort, and at the saute
time the Vessels of our Navy bloc k aded
the mouth of the Rio Gratide—a river run
ning, from its source to ocean, altogeth
er between Mexican banks, without a Te.x
an settlement of any sort within a hondred
mites of it. Nay, (len. T.sVLott himself,
after literally obeying the Executive orders
by occupying a position opposite Matamo
ros, tints reported to the War Department
(under date ol• April 1816) his proceed
ings :
"On Our side a battery for four eighteen
pounders will be completed, and the guns
placed in battery t;-day. These gurns
bear upon the public square of
Alatanwros, and within gam, range for
demolishing Ow town. Turlit olurcT
cAsseT nr. P,II,EAKEN 111: ENEmy."
The Enemy? 1/lie! ? Does
not this language prove that the brave old
General widerstood very well what he was
sent there for? War did not exist until he
had planted a battery of guns bearing di
rectly upon the public square of Matamo
ros, the object of which, he very truly re-
ports to Mr. M Auer, could nut be mistaken !
And by this invasion Of Mexican terri
tory, tinder peremptory 'orders from Wash
ington to the Commanding General, was
the war begun by the Pre.sident of the
United Stales, without the knowledge of
Congress, though then in session. Nor
then nor since has there been a drop of
American (roiled States) blood shed by
MVXIeO un American soil : nor then nor
since has a Mexican soldier or armed man
set his hunt upon American soil, (Texas
proper included.)
The finindation of the President's first,
second, and last War Ahnifestoes against
Mexico being thus withdrawn from under
them, what is there left to sustain any part
of the recommendations, in the Message
before us, of a further and inure vindictive
prosecution of the war I
But to proceed : The ground upon which
the President placed the IVar, when, haring
gut into it, he was obliged to call 1113011
Collgre:iS to SOSlaill 111111 ill It, 11,1 WC !MVO
shown, so far flour being solid or line,
is directly the reverse. So far from
Mexico ha rinir invaded the United States,
our President :tirade(' Mexico ; and, so far
Irmo the war haring "existed" by the act
of ;Mexico, it existed—so far as it is possi
ble for the United States to beat war with-
out the consent or the war making power
—by. the net of Mr. l'omi alone. Nor, in
our opinion, did it exist without premedi
tation. It had liven contemplated as pos
sible, at least, from the moment of his emu-
ing to the Presidency. The government
paper, as we hare already remarked, had
not been in existence more than a week be-
lore, in that mirror or the Presidential son-
titnent, the invasion, and even the conquest
of Mexico, were foreshado‘ved—we may
say predieted—in the event of .11exitm ven
turing- to exereise any authority on the
east bank of the Rio Grande. As early as
June, lAls—(mark the dlte)—the Com
mander of the Naval litree of the United
States in the Pacific was directed to look
out for a war with Mexico, and, on the re
ceipt of dm news of it, to possess' himself
of the port of San Francisco, on the coast
of California, and sneli other ports as his
force would permit. Ile had been so in
structed even earlier than this : for the
letter to him begins : "Your attention is
still particularly directed," &v. to the con-I
tingency or war. C ongres s wa s t o mee td
in the December following. Early in No- I
vember, the MeSS:We of the President tot
Congress being in a state of preparation,
already contained, as we had every reason
to believe, a recommendation of hostilities
gainst Mexico, in some form or other, on
the ground of unsatisfied claims of our cit
izens, of unpaid indemnity money, and
other alleged grievances. Do the Otli of
November, however, just three weeks be
fore the session began, inforinotioa having
been received from tmr Consul at Mexico
that the Mexican Government was willing.
to receive a (.lonmossioner to negotiate con
cerning the Texas boundary, the , Message
was perforce changed. The body of the
indictment against that Government was
indeed retained, as die reader will perceive
if he will take the trouble to refer to the
Message itself; the recommendation of re
prisals, or of war in some form, being
only omitted. A Minister Plenipetentinry
was sent instead of' a Commissioner—our
Government refusing to treat on the boun
dary' question without mixing it up with
matters with which it kid no sort of con
nexion—and the correspondence between
our Mini-ter and the M e xic a n authorities
UOI.I.AItN`PER ANSititit
ANEW SERIES-NO. 31.
ident's Message last year, he was himself
in secret negotiations with the exiled Mili
tary Chieftain, SANIA ANNA, for what pre
cise purpose can only be inferred from the
fact, that the day after the war was de-•
dared to exist, directions were given to.
our vessels of war to allow him to pa:o in
to Mexico. All these concurring circum
stances show that war was preMeditated
by the President.
That the war might have been theta
veiled by Mexico's agreeing to surrender
to the United States California and abotia-'
dare' on the Rio Grande. we do not doubt;
nor do we doubt that the Presidentand his
Cabinet have been willing ever since the
war began, to end it whenever Mexico
would agree to surrender to their * demand
all of her territory that they have set thew
hearts on : and that this is what the Presi
dent means when he speaks of "conquering•
a peace." But we have still less doubt
that the original object of this war, and the
sole true cause and motive of it, was Ous
t/xi:sr, or, in other words, the coercion of
Mexico to surrender territory which Mr.
Pour umbitioned the erlat ut "annexing to
the United Sta LOS. Mi.. Secretary DAN
cnorr, in a letter of instructions to Coot
inodore StoAT, (then commanding in the
Par ifil!,) on the 12th of July, 1848—two
months after the war was legalized by
Congress—very frankly disclosed this fact.
"The- OBJEcT if the United Stales," said
he, "is, under its eights as a belligerent
nation, To PosSEsS ITSELF ENTIRELY of Up
pe• California." And, tardier, said me.
BANCROFT, "The object of the United
States has reference to ultimate peace with
Mexico ; (triti))tate, observe ; possession
of her coveted territory being the.penulti
mate object;)—and, if at the peace, - the
basis of the Ira posideii,s shall he estab.
fished, the Government expects, through
your forces, to be FoeNn IN ACTUAL POS
SESSION If C:pper Cal fiuvtiu."
The President declared to Congress. it
is true, in his ;Message of last year w that
this war with Mexico had not been waged
in n spirit of conquest, IVould any one
suppose, with these instrnctioll9 to our
Naval Commander, and corresponding in
structions to our Military Commanders,
that he understood the, import of this dis-.
claimer? No (Me can at kaell misundur
stand the purport of his present Message,
breathing, as it does, nothing but war, a
Conqueror's peace, or the alternative of the
annihilation of Mexico.
Nor does the President seem to unddr
stand.hiniself in another respect any hatter
than he did whim he disclaimed any pur
pose of cOnquest iu dill prileettliull of the
war with .Mexieo.
In setting forth, for instance, in the be
ginning of this message, his Own love of
Peace and strenuous efforts to preserve fur
us its blessings, wo mast look on hiin as
exhibiting - a very signal example of self-de
lusion. No titan's pacific merits could
well he less. llis iiourse, thus far, in his
high or - licit, on the vontrarY, realized to the
lid!, in almost every instance, what Ice
said of it a year ago; namely, that, having
seen that wars were popular in this coun
try and felt that he himself was not too
popular, he had thtmght to himself, "I will
be a War. President, and that will make me
popular'and render :ill my opp o nents and
competitors' odious." Accordingly, his
very Inaugural had a ftill-hlown quarrel
with England in it ; his first Annual Mes
sage announced that he had done nearly all
he could to bring that quarrel to a focus ;
meantime he had secretly taken steps tor
another with Mexico, by way of makiniz
sure 01 a war somewhere. ;•_1 that, now
sooner had the interposition of the Senate
roiled hint in his original war-plan, than,
by a diligent improvement of his time, he
had auother.light ready to substitute for
that which hal Been refused him. Grown
inure wary this trine. lie look care liut tU
he foiled by any body's diseretion; and.
though Congress was silting live months be-
lore he had brought every thing, to bear, con
trived to have a war completely in a blaze,
and our suecorloss army placed in what
(their prowess unknown) seemed all 141-
mu:it hopeless predicament, below) the
country or Uongress knew one word of
what he was about.
Such are the general and the larger laet.s,
as to that merit of loving peace which the
President appropriates to himself, if we
look closer and Wan the particulars of
things, we must not only say that Presi
dent Poi to is not possessed of that virtue of
ruler which he claims, and—we regret
that tve must V it—has shown. and ev
ery where in this inessa.e shows himself.
indifferent to the carnage and ealatuities uC
war.
Of little less than wane, indeed. must
his heart he, who can look, without tlio
strongest connuisseration, upon the speeta
.le of a nation reduced to the extremity of
distress in which Mexico. known froth the
first to he incapable of resisting us, now
stliods. Not one spark of compassion cult
his brest ever have known, slier to
dieting upon a wretched people. destitute of
any resource , against us but their herediti,
Ty obstinacy, all the slaughter and humili
ation which we have every, where indict
ed upon Mexico, can coolly resolve in his
heart that this is no/ enough; not blood
enough, n o t tears enough ; not sufficient
ravage, not satisfactory disaster, not nation
al wo and degradation duly deep; fur that
the vietith-people, though covered laid'
blood and prostrate in the dust. 80, with
desperate though feeble 11:5110,
though vainly. for its hearths and 41Lars—
! that therefore, as Mexico dots not yield,
t we mint now begin to strike her "in live
vital parts;" and, besides setziug, for our.).
perpetually, territories the iniumt tle,t
veil Rapaeity has dared tivow for our null,
most pacifically and peacefully uxhorts
to go On ravaging the rest of Mexico until
the imhon yields or is destroyed'.
Vt'hy, the very savage of the court-yard,
in other thites—that most brutal of 11131t
kind, the holly of the baili‘Ock,,,v(hP l •kvv"
ed lip an ear or nose, or Setippr# , Out *lth
thumb it lirastrife voisSry
humane, le aSg - reininiins, in Comparison wiftt
thin ; ter he, u hen he forglo, 00; Cr rtaVit