Ht\TI)GDO) JOURNAL. BY JAMES CLARK :1 VOL. XII, NO, 21 , POETICAL, ' , JEAN. DT CALEB LION, OF LIONVILLE, Buena Vista— -Buena Vista— Who can sing thy deeds aright? • When thy mountains loudly echoed With the thunder of the fight. When a m imson sea enshrouded Human forms in battle blaze, t Who shall tell thy deed heroic I Who the song of glory raise! See the Mexicans advancing, As a line against the sky— Clouds of dust are rolling o'er them, And the trumpet pealeth nigh— Now the cannon's voice awaketh Echo from the distant lea, Where the heaven-born flag is waving, Peerless banner of the free. Now a thousand lances gleaming Like chain of lightning in the fray And our guns are fiercely reaping rumen from the light of day. Onward—onward wildly rushes Frightened steeds 'mid leaden rain, While beleaguered hosts are struggling, Their lost fast hold to regain. In the smoke the Aztec eagle Waves amid the conflict's din, As they charge in solid phalanx, With high hopes the field to win; Like the waves when wildly raging 'Galilee a high and rocky shore, They arc met and back recoiling, Like the waves, their strength is o'er. Reeling, wounded, groaning, dying— Words they murmur, faint and few; O'er theta other hosts are trampling, Crushing hearts, the warm and true. Again they rally—re-united, Who can stay this human tide; On his snowy steed appesreth, One the battle born to guide. See Resoca's gallant hero Now amid the foremost fray— Charge," hocries, " in steady column We must win the fight to•day." Charge they did—a notion's honor Lives unsullied by that shock; "rwas as when the fiery lightning Cleaves the adamantine rock. Mine is language weak and feeble, Yet 'tie glorious to tell— How the noble eagle-hearted For their country proudly fell. Alleghenia's sons outnumbered, By their prowess as of yore Kept their stand amid the conflict, With their lifo blood streaming o'er. SKETCH OF THE REMARKS OF THE HON, DANIEL WEBSTER, AT A COMPLIMENTARY DINNER IN RICHMOND, APRIL 29, 1847. Mr. Wm. H. Macfarland, President on the occasion, having introduced Mr. Webstcr, to the meeting with the follow ing sentiment : "Honor to the statesman and jurst who • is an honor to his country," MR. WEBSTER rose and said: Before I proceed to make any remarks in an swer to the sentiment that has been given —you will allow me to say that I am for the first time hoping to make a visit among my fellow citizens of the South ern States. Owing to the circumstance that at the seasons suitable for such a visit, my duties have confined me else where, I have been no traveller in my own country. When I pass the James River I shall be beyond all my previous journeying and undertakings. lam de sirous to endeavor to see a portion of the country I have never yet seen ; to travel, to see the people in the most un ceremonious, freest manner, in which fellow citizens may meet and inter change civilities. It is not my purpose to make any tour for addressing multi tudes, or discussing political questions. There is but little of me ; that little is well known. I have no new lights, and don't belong to the school of new lights. I am pleased to meet so many persons in this growing and beautiful city, to see their faces and show mine, and exchange with them the sentiments and feelings that belong to men of the same genera tion and the same country. After the complimentary allusion of the President, allow me to say in the whole course of my public life, I ac knowledge with pride, and avow that I have looked to the institutions of this country, and to that first and chief of them all, the Constitution of the United States as the great production of the age' that preceded us. I honor as much as any man the military achievements of the men of the revolAtion. They trust ed to the hazard of fortune. They haz arded everything for the independence of the old thirteen colonies. But what at last are military achievements ? It is true they have fixed the fate of nations, turned the tide of human affairs. But, after all, what is their end but to establish free government and promote public pros perity 1 Beyond that, there is no ration al, no christian object in civil warfare.— Its only just object is to establish civil and religious liberty, to raise man to the standard of human rights. If these be not their objects then military achieve• ments are unworthy of human regard. From the constitution itself I have looked to the era of the constitution, the period when the country threw off its dependence, (which, it is true, it ac complished by military achievements.) We look to a narrow part of the theatre in which we are acting, if we think the constitution a matter of isolated inter est. Let us look back to the period of 1775. What was there then that exhib ited the practical utility of such a con stitution 1 Was it the existence of large, growing, confederated, free, republics 1 There was nowhere such a republic.— There was indeed the constitutional mon archy of England. There was the in corporation in it of certain important principles favorable to liberty, and great limitations of the prerogative of the federal sovereign. But one need not say —every body knows—that there was no government founded on the principle of representative liberty—no government of any extent, respectability, or impor tance. Whilst, therefore, I honor, as much as any man, the other works of our ances tors, I have always considered the es tablishment of the constitution in 1789, their greatest and noble achievement.— When I consider the time of its forma tion, its excellent fabric, and am con stantly more convinced that it is a wise constitution, I cannot avoid believing that it was founded in Providential ar rangement. With all the new lights of our age, give us one who can say that we could make such a constitution. I desire to thank Almighty Providence that it was not left to our day to make it. It evinces deep reflection, deep study of the nature of human govern ment. Let us take it as an inheritance come down to us from men at least us wise as ourselves, and acting under cir cumstances more favorable than ours. Two obvious views may be taken of this constitution. The first is its effects upon ourselves, upon the country. We are so prosperous, so happy, every in terest is so well preserved, we are apt to be regardless of that human cause to which these blessings are due. Had we gone on under the old confederation, what would Virginia and Massachusetts now be ? Who would have respected or cared for them 1 But when the Con stitution was adopted—when that "E Pluribus Unum" spread over them all, gave them a new character, a new des tiny. Who now asks whether a single man is from Virginia, New York, Ala bama or Texas 1 It is enough to say that he is a citizen of the United States of America. The constitution gave our country what the lawyers call a "stand ing in court," a right to be heard in the tribunals of the world. An American is not said to live on Massachusetts Bay, or James River, but he is a citizen of this great Republican government. What, then, has given this momentum to the prosperity of this country 1 We find no human cause but our united gov ernment. It is true, in party strifes, errors, may have been committed, and the national progress retarded ; but let us look to the aggregate result. Let us go back for sixty years or to the time of the revolution. Since that period in other parts of the world, thrones have trembled, tottered and fallen ; convul sions shaken nations ; blood flowed— but have not property and liberty in this country been securedl Has tyran ous power trampled on our rights 1— Property, life, liberty, have been as well secured as in the best governments of Europe. It may be said that we are the great untaxed among nations. Our gov ernment has not been an expensive gov ernment. A few thousands or hundred thousands, may have been improperly appropriated; but who can say that the government has oppressed the people by weight of taxation. Whilst taxation is not the great end of government, I think every govern ment is called on to collect taxes for the good of the nation. In all countries, and in this country, especially, there are certain objects which government may accomplish, and which cannot be accom plished otherwise. 1 look upon the gov ernment as the leader, the conducter, whose duty it is to lead on the country. Thus I have always thought the improve ment of Harbors, Rivers, &c., within the constitutional view of the Government ; and I think the Government is bound to take the lead in these matters of substan tial importance. The government ap pears to me to be like the conductor on a railroad, whose business it is to go forward and draw the train after him ; and if he neglect his duty, or go wrong in any way, it is no wonder if the train push forward and throw him off the track. [Much laughter and applause.] The most pressing purpose of the fra mers of the Constitution in this respect, was doubtless the regulation of com merce with foreign nations; but they dokkEcT PRINCIPLES—SUPPORTED BY TRUTH HUNTINGDON, PA., MAY 26, 1847. cut the cloth broad enough and wide enough to embrace these subjects also. 1 do not ascribe to Washington, Madi son, and their companions, the force of intellect to contemplate all the contin gencies which should arise in the coun try after them. They did not imagine that there would be 2 or 300 steam vessels on the lakes, or that the great Mississippi, from its mouth to its source, would be ours, constituting a sort of "inland sea:" [Laughter and applause.] But their work provides for it all. The constitu tion they left justifies, and present cir cumstances require, the execution of that policy which shall comprise the whole country as one country, both as to internal and external commerce.— They did not mean that the powers of the government should be determined by the taste of the water, whether fresh or salt, or by the circumstances of the position of some paltry port of entry.— In this branch the constitution is ample and large enough to accomplish these ends with the observance of a just eco nomy. I know of no true economy but the just proportion of expenditure to ob ject. Absolute saving is mere meanness. In a country of such extent as this, the object of government should he to give variety to labor, to bring out the active energies of the people, and develope its peculiar abundance. _ . In Massachusetts we cultivate a bar ren soil. My learned friend here (Dr. Hitchcock,) knows the whole of it. It is hard, sterile, granite. It has no Vir ginia beds of coals, no substratum of iron, no salt springs. It is without all the sources (if I may so speak) of sub terranean wealth. Nowhere are these advantages more bountifully conferred than upon the happy inhabitants of Vir ginia. Within fourteen miles of your city (as my learned friend tells me) there is a geological phenomenon, a bed of coal thirty feet thick, resting on gra nite rock. Our New England granite knows no such company. Now it al ways appeared to me that labor and enterprise needed not excessive protec tion from the government, in order to draw the sources of mineral wealth from the earth. I have, too, always been a man for canals and rail-roads to a just extent. When Louis XIV established his grandson on the throne of Spain, hi said " There are no longer Pyrenees.' But I trust that we may use the phrase in a more useful and proper sense, and then we shall proceed with our canals and railroads until we can say, " There are no longer Alleghenies." Under these general impressions of the constitution, I believe that our an cestors set us an example of great things. We have had no battles of liberty to engage in (whatever other battles it may have been the policy of our rulers to un dertake,) laughter,] nor were we born to the work of making a constitution.— The maintenance of justice and right, the observance of the precepts of law, religion and morality—these are the ob jects to which we have to look. Our government is designed less for achieve ment than perseverance in the mainte nance of public order, public good, the conservations of the public institutions. We may look with pride and exulta tion abroad, to see where this constitu tion has placed us in the eyes of the world. It is not egotistical to say, while we take no pre-eminence, that though we may conquer and subjugate nowhere, this great republic is the observed of all observers. We cannot say that it is our work or even the work of our great fore fathers. The great result has followed, because sentiments and principles, inhe rent in the people of the old thirteen States, fitted them to be free ; sentiments and principles acquired by long practice under the colonial governments. We should not deny our ancestry, or repu diate the principles of liberty, we deri ved from them. We should rather hold to those principles as an inheritance.— When I think of Hamden, and Sidney, Burke, and Cathham, I often imagine that it would be grateful to them, if, from Heaven above, they could look down, and see their principles illustrated in the United States of America. It was the introduction of these prin ciples, from the infusion of liberty into the English constitution, the sentiments of liberty, independence, and personal rights, transmitted here, and the prac tice and deep imbibing of thse senti ments by the colonists, which fitted them to estalish and carry on free government. The habeas corbus, the right of trial by jury, the right of petition; those contain the great elements of liberty, and were acknowledged here. It was this previ ous preparation, which fitted those peo ple for those great achievements, the Declaration of Independence and the establishment of the constitution. Let us contrast with this the intro duction of liberty elsewhere. If we ex amine the origin of our liberty, we will find that it came from England.. We have the dominion of law over the will of individuals. But how is it with oth ers who made the same experiment 1— Look at the neighboring government of Mexico ; a mere military anarchy ; with no security to life, person or property. The man who happens to be leader of the army is the head of the State, and the army rules the roast. To-the dis grace of liberty, Mexico is infinitely worse governed than it was under the viceroys of Spain. Has her public peace been secured 1 Her roads improved 1 The government of Mexico has collected three hundred millions of dollars from imposts. What has been done with it 1 It has been used to pay armies, to make and unmake pronunciamentos, to put up this man and put down that. Mexico has constantly kept it larger army to keep, or break the peace, than this great republic has raised to invade her soil. Does not all this reflect light on the House of Bugesses of Virginia and the General Court of Massachusetts, who understood the principles of liberty, and were therefore prepared to institute a free government. The success of our government brings us out in honorable contrast with Mexico and all other re publics. Who cares for these Spanish governments 1 Some of them may be respectable enough, may have the sense to keep the peace ; but they differ widely from the American nation. It is our character in-grained, in-wrought, to know and understand liberty. We ought therefore to unite in sus taing the constitution. We shall thus go far to show that it is practical for nations to govern themselves, that po pular government possesses enough of wisdom, prudence, forbearance, to get on without any power not conferred by itself. It has been my habit to give my time, which was not occupied in professional business, to public duties under the general government. I never held any State office, except for a fortnight, when I was a member of the Legislature of Massachusetts, (and 1 believe the only law, which in that capacity I aided in passing, was for the benefit of fisher men.) [Much laughter.] My studies have ever been connected with the con stitution, as the great and extraordinary product of the age. After a public life of thirty years, I can say with sincerity, that though sometimes my course has excited clamor, I feel conscious of al ways having , wished it well; and if nothing remain of me fit to be remem bered, but a general acknowledgement, recorded on my tombstone, which all my countrymen will admit to be true, that " llere lies one who wished well to the Constitution of his country"—the great object of my life will have been accom plished.—Richmond Times and Com. NAUTICAL BERDION.—When Whitefield preached before the seamen of New York, he had the following bold apos trophe in his sermon : " Well, my boys we have a clear sky, and are making fine headway over a smooth sea, before a light breeze, and shall soon lose sight of land. But what means this sudden lowering of the heav ens, and that dark cloud arising from beneath the western horizon ! Don't you see those flashes of lightening 1— There is a storm gathering. Every sea man to his duty ! How the waves rise and dash against the ship ! The air is dark ! The tempest rages ! Our masts are gone ! The ship is on her beam ends ! What next 1" It is said that the unsuspecting tars, reminded of former perils on the deep, as if by the power of magic, arose with united voices and minds, and exclaimed, "Take to the long boat ! ! SMILES.—We are among those who love a jovial and smiling face. If there be any thing of which we may be prod igal, nor be the loser, it is of smiles.— A lively, happy face is contagious and all around partake of its influence. So with the sober wrinkled face of care— it equally dispenses its effects on its companions. Zounds ! wear a happy face, at all hazards. Keep a conscious ness or just purpose, and an honest heart within, and a merry face without. COMING THE DICTIONAEY.-" Castigate the quadruped until he shall have accel erated his pace," said a dandy to a live ry-stable boy, who was driving him a short distance into the country. "Talk to me in English,' said the boy, "I don't understand Ingin!" A few Definitions. Love.—A little word within itself, in timately connected with shovel and tongs. Genteel Society.—A place where the rake is honored, and the moralist con demned. Poetry.—A. bottle of ink thrown at a sheet of foolscap. . . . Credit.—A w ise provision by which constables get a living. [Prom the Lutheran Obeerverd A BAD 142112013091101 its CAN IT BE TRUE I Two armies, comprising twenty thou sand on one side, and five thousand four hundred on the other,—in all 25,400 fighting men, lately met in a narrow bro ken valley in Mexico. They were for the most part perfect strangers, and had never before seen or done each other any harm. They had, personally, every rea son that strangers could have to be friends and treat each other kindly, and no cause—not the slightest to inflict in jury one on the other. But they met for the express purpose of mutual slaughter. A few so-called statestnen—poltticians who had their own selfish ends in view, and their own unholy purposes to serve —urged on by popularity and office seek ing men and time-serving newspaper editors, had brought about tiiis ominous array of antagonist forces, this dread meeting for deadly strife. The work commenced. Oh, what a work it was ; shooting with rifles, muskets, cannon, &c.,—cutting, hewing, slashing, bayon eting, shouting, shrieking, cursing, ri ding over dead and dying, where the mangled bodies lay piled one upon an other, stratum sub stratum. They fought, and killed, and butchered, until the men had lashed themselves in demon iac fury ; on they dashed, angry, venge ful, reckless as fiends. The air was rent with the screams of the wounded and the groans of the dying; and the whole surrounding atmosphere tainted with imprecations & blasphemies belch ed forth from the throats of the infuria ted adversaries. The blood poured forth from thousands of wounded and murder ed victims, until it flowed in torrents, like water in a gust of rain, rushing' down the declivities of the adjacent hills into the ravines below. Alas what a scene was exhibited I malign spirits of perdition might well stand aghast, and look with amazement ; for such a spec tacle was never enacted in their dark domains. No sooner were some thousands of poor affrighted spirits dislodged from their frail tenements, and sent howling into an awful eternity, than couriers were dispatched to carry the news. The. telegraph also was put into requisition ; and the swift winged lightning flashed the tidings over the earth. Something of an appalling nature was just then looked for with intense interest ; hearts pulsated with strong emotions; and— what was the result?—why weans of joy and shouts of triumph pierced the heavens. Glory, glory, glory, re-echoed over our mountains and through our val. lies I Why'! because thousands of our fellow mortals lay weltering in their blood on the battlefield, while their poor, guilt-laden souls had been precipitated unprepared into the awful presence of a sin-avenging God ! Eighteen centuries have now elapsed since the advent of the Prince of Peace, whose message breathes peace and good will among men. We profess to be wor shippers of that Prince of Peace, and admirers of that glorious message. The Mexicans profess the same. Both nations proclaim themselves as Republican— free, enlightened, liberal ; asking naught but justice, and prompt to yield to every well founded claim of equity. And yet, these are the governments that are thus embroiled in angry, deadly conflict! 0 what a scene for infernal spirits to gaze at! what inconsistency of conduct— what a mockery of profession we pre sent to their scornful derisions ! With what ineffable contempt the tyrants of Europe and Asia will point to the greedy, grasping dispositions of vaunted Repub• lies—and to the gross contradictions of professed Christian nations I—Republics have never been satisfied with their own territory, but in all ages have been un duly ambitious, and aimed at conquest and enlargement. This has been the prelude of their downfall and ruin. We are treading closely on the heels of our aspiring predecessors—and if we escape their fate, our deliverance must be pre ceded by repentance and reformation. Is it not a shame that we, by profes sion the most enlightened and liberal Republicans on earth, and the most ar dent admirers of the Prince of Peace— eighteen hundred years after the pro mulgation of his message of good will, should advocate the decisional differen ces by a savage appeal to the sword 1— If victory necessarily perched upon the banners of those who have right on their side, there might be found some apolo gy. But generally it is not on the side of right, but on that of might. The ablest men and the best enginery of death usually prevail. It is might that prevails ; and how very seldom physical might is identified with moral right, the history of the world abundantly proves. If right always triumphed, there would i be no such feverish anxiety to learn the ' result of the latest battle. " Five thousand of our fellow beings," [EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR WHO LE NO. 591. says a cotomporary s "have been swept into eternity. There is noW no distinti tion between the Mexican and the Amer ican. Their disembodied spirits have met. Do they still glow with hate?— If not, when did their feelings change 1 Are they now happy that they liberated each other from the body, to decide a boundary question, all for their conntry's good 2 We say nothing about the right or wrong of the contest according to human precedent or national laws ; but we do say it becomes every Christian to weep—not rejoice—not to praise, but to pray that our national sins may be for given, and that heathenish principles and heathenish practises may soon be driven from all the professed abodes of the gospel of peace. "As religious men, as ministers, as editors uttering the sense of religion and of God's church in this nation, are we not bound to say it, without, in so doing at all speaking evil of dignitaries, that the blame of this guilty war, and the tremendous responsibility which the At lantean shoulders of Satan himself are not able to bear, rests upon that or those rulers and statesmen, by the ekpress or der and consent of whom we have be come involved in this wall " How many long years of peace it must take to appease the deep rankling animosity that will be festering on against us in the hearts of the Mexicans, sure to be ever and anon out breaking in some fever sore. Who can measure the tears, or count the groans, or fathom the anguish, of which this fatal strife will be the source, in this country and in that into which we are carrying such desolationsl Who can estimate the in jury to the morals, the prosperity the reputation and growth of this country which this event will inflict, that now elicits the shouts of the mob, and glis , tens the eye with strange excitement 1 War is a terrible game for a nation to be playing at; and let us not imagine, in the thrill which the recital of noble and daring deeds of valor awaken, that Providence is asleep, or that its retribu tions ever fail to assert the vigilance as well as justice of that government to which nations no less than individuals are amenable. We profoundly feel that ' prayer is more becoming now than preans; and confession and repentance of our sin more called for, than exultation at the prowess of our soldiers, and the tri• umph of our arms." THE LADIES.—An Irish gentleman re. markable for his devotions to the fair sex, once remarked, "Never be critical on the ladies. Take it for granted that they are all handsome and good. A true gentleman will never look on the faults of a pretty woman without shutting his eyes . _ . WONDERFUL IF TRUE.—An Irish pro. vincial paper, the Downpatrick Recor der, states the astonishing fact, that, by means of the inhalation of ether, Pro fessor Sewell, had " effected the ampu tation of a leg of a deceased sheep, with perfect success, and without any appa rent pain. TIME TO PASS IT.—The facetious Dr. 8., of W-, having inadvertently preached one of his sermons for the third time, one of his parishioners hav ing noticed it, said to him after service, " Doctor, the sermon you preached us this morning, having had three several readings, 1 move that it now be passed." GOM-" Father," said a little boy to his Locofoco parent, " is Gen. Taylor a Whig I" " 'Yes, my son." " Were Clay, and Hardin, and Lincoln, Whigs 1" "Yes—why do you ask 1" "Because you call the Whigs Mexicans." "Pshawl you are too small to understand poli tics." " But did Polk give Santa Anna a pass to return to Mexicol" "Don't talk to me, my son, I'm in a hurry."— Ohio Repository. The N. 0. Delta says :—We saw a Democrat, who can lay no claim to the right to wear a temperance medal, re fuse to take a drink, because a Whig stood treat. He said it was a Whig measure, and he could not join it, "no how." A THOUGHT FOIL EVERY DAY.—We see not in life the end of human actions. The• influence never dies, In every winding circle it reaches beyond the grave.— Death removes us from this to an eter nal world—time determines what shall; be our condition in that world. Every morning when we ga forth, we lay the mouldering hand on our destiny, and every evening when we have done we have left a deathless impression upon our character. We touch not a wire but vibrates to eternity ;—not a voice but reports at the throne of God. Let youth especially think of these things, and let every one remember that, in this world where character is in its formation state, & it is a serious thing to think, to speak, to act.
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