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.