The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-30 00:00:00

ei3"olli3X_lJ. --,-',lt-it

_ .
LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 184 F.

In another portion of The Sun is published a
voluminous and remarkable document eulogistic o
the American Government. It is needless to say thatf
that document is the PRESIDENT'S Message to Con-
gress, dated December 8, 1846. Of all the extra-
ordinary compositions ever transmitted to a delibera-
tive assembly by the chief of the Legislature, this
Message of President JAMES K. PoLK is the most
extraordinary. Instead of being a comprehensive
survey of what has occurred since the preceding ex-
planation, instead of being a dispassionate digest of
what may be presumed to be the forthcoming delibe-
rations in Congress, instead of affording the world a
full cognizance of the principles by which the exist-
ing Administration is actuated, it is literally nothing
better than a superb piece of special pleading. The
PRESIDENT is conscious that he is virtually arraigned
before the bar of public opinion, that his policy has
invested his very name with odium, not merely in
England, but throughout the civilised world, that
there is every reasonable probability of that odium
being attached to him not during one generation
only, but of its being perpetual and damning
As the period of his Presidential reign ap-
proaches its conclusion, Mr. POLK is naturally ani-
mated with a desire to render his official career less
execrable for its selfishness, for its shufflings, and for
its utter disregard of solemn compacts and venerable
stipulations. But how has he endeavoured to ac-
complish this miracle ? How has he endeavoured to
conjure this jet into an opal ? How has he endea-
voured to cleanse this blackamoor celebrity ? By
some closing act of generosity and justice ? By ex-
piating his previous conduct by some unprecedented
exhibition of magnanimity ? By abating his official
cupidity, by yielding to the dictates of political mode-
ration, by the restoration of ill-gotten territories, and
the reparation of gratuitous injuries ? Has he per-
formed all these things—has he even performed one
of them ? No, not one. His Message is a magnifi-
ficent display of sophistry. It is an elaborate justi-
fication of deeds that nothing can justify; it is an
accumulation of excuses for proceedings that are
altogether inexcusable ; it is an attempted explana-
tion, upon honourable grounds, of a behaviour which
is inexplicable upon all other than those of cruelty,
of self-aggrandisement, of duplicity, of lawless and
odious spoliation.
As may be readily conjectured, the bulk of this
singular and enormous document is devoted to the
consideration of the Mexican warfare. Remaining
staunch to his original opinions upon this question,
the PRESIDENT abates not one jot of his covetous.
ness towards a country which, from its fertility and

ts gigantic dimensions, offers so many irresistible s
temptations to a forcible seizure. Its contiguity to
the flourishing and powerful territories of the United
States confirms that ava ice in the bosom of the
American statesman. Its debilitated population and
disorganized Government are only additional induce-
ments to this enormous act of national depredatic,n-
So intimately have the wishes of Mr. POLK with re-
gard to Mexico blended themselves with his ambition,
that any disseverance of the two is hopeless. He
looks upon legislation, upon international friendship,
upon honour, upon probity, through the medium of
his own servile adhesion to what he calls " the inte-
rests of his beloved country." He considers diplomatic
lying, official bluster, shameless pretension, wholesale
robbery, and unstinted bloodshed, as laudable and
meritorious, when calculated to promote those
interests. The interests of his beloved coun-
try require the annexation of Texas itt
Texas be annexed ! What is the sanctity of treaties,
what is the inalienable privilege of independence,
what is the glory of remaining honest in spite of
every allurement to dishonesty, when compared with
the interests of his beloved country ?—let Texas be
annexed by all means! The interests of his beloved
country require the extensive regions of Oregon—let
Oregon be incorporated with the United States, not the
half of Oregon, not a portion of it, but the whole ! A
straw for all the superior claims of Great Britain, a
snap of the fingers for the ridicule and disgust which
will be excited by fhe audacity of the demand! What
are any of these considerations when compared with
the interests of his beloved country P—let the whole
of Oregon be incorporated with the United States !
Those are the doctrinal points in the politica.l
creed of Mr. President POLK. The interests
of his country are, according to him, to be re-
garded as paramount to everything that is just
and noble in the conduct of a' Government.
Peace is to be rendered incapable of preserva-
tion—uprightness is to be regarded with derision—
oaths and engagements are to be laughed to scorn
wherever those interests are concerned. In other
words,: Patriotism, with Mr. President PoLx,
is only another term to express the abandonment of
all human and divine laws—the code of morality,
the code of Christian forbearance, and the mysterious
code by which the alliance of different countries has
been hitherto ensured—for the emolument and ad-
vancement of his native land. Was ever crime so
nobly garbled ? Was ever faithlessness, or rapine,
or theft, or homicide, tricked out in a more seduc-
tive guisl than this of Patriotism ?—the patriotism of
an American President!
It cannot be overlooked that in the earnestness of
the exposition of his policy towards Mexico, Mr.
Pout always speaks in the superlative degree. In one
column he asserts that the present condition of the
United States is " without example in the history of
nations !" In another he insists that the agressions of
the Mexicans are " without a parallel in the history
of modern civilised nations !" In another, speaking
of the battle of San Jacinto, he says, "history does
not record a more brilliant achievement !" In an-
other, alluding to the alleged insults offered to the
citizens of the United States, he persists that
" the history of no civilised nation in modern times
has presented within so brief a period so many !" In
another, referring to the dismissal of the American
plenipotentiaries by General PAREDES, he declares
that he is not aware " that modern history presents a
parallel case !" Was ever such tautological exaggera-
tion ? 'Was ever man so manifestly striving to manu-
facture a strong exculpation ? In endeavouring,
however, to exonerate his Government from all
blame, in reference to the invasion of Mexico, Mr.
POLL has proceeded too far. He has drawn the bow
to its utmost tension—it is broken in his hands.

The PRESIDENT enters into a long examination of
the history of the Mexican republic, from its estab-
lishment downwards. He enlarges vaguely upon
the insolence evinced by that republic to its neigh-
bour, the United States; and upon this shadowy and
preposterous assumption he endeavours to justify all
the aggressive acts that have originated at Washing-
ton. He acknowledges the stipulation which Mexico
made with Texas, on their original separation, namely,
that the latter should never annex herself to any other
power ; but he, nevertheless, actually has the coolness
to express his amazement at the " Mexican Govern-
ment making serious threats of invading the Texan
-territory," upon the annexation of the latter to the
United States in 1845. To crown the whole
of this wonderful Message with a climax worthy of
Mr. President Fora, there towards its conclusion,
a quiet demand of a loan of just twenty-three mil-
lions of dollars, to continue the just, laudable, and
patriotic war waged upon Mexico by the United
States ! From the extrinsic importance of this
Presidential Message, as well as from its intrinsic
malversation of truth, we shall be induced to recur to
it to-morrow.

The Treasury minute, to which we alluded in The
Sun of the 21st instant, has been received with almost
universal approbation and gratitude in Ireland. The
eyes of the landowners have been opened to the full
extent of their duties and responsibilities. They now
perceive the onerous character of the burdens that
may be entailed upon them by continued neglect and
indifference. Those who have hitherto been ac-
customed to look exclusively to legislative interference
for a removal of the evils to which their country is
exposed, have been made aware that they must act fur
themselves, that all they can hope for or expect front
any government is to afford them a means and an op
portunity cf meeting their difficulties, of which, if due
advantage be taken, they may not only afford relief to
the distressed and destitute poor, without any
injury to themselves, but may ultimately reap the
greatest benefit for their properties ; the means by
which they may " out of the nettle, danger,
pluck the flower, safety." They have been taught
the necessity of affording to the able-bodied la-
bourer a means of supporting himself and family by
the exercise of his honest industry, and thus avoiding
the burden of supporting him in idleness and sloth.
They have learned that they must set their own
shoulders to the wheel, that they must not waste the
time that should be more profitably occupied in use-
less and unavailing complaints. An option is afforded
them, of which it is scarcely to be supposed that they
will not avail themselves to the fullest extent, by adopt-
ing that course by which alone that' can hope suc-
cessfully to meet the emergency of the case. Already
one of their body, the Earl of ARIAN, has acted on
the Treasury min ate. His Lordship states that on
the very day that he was made acquainted therewith
he filled the prescribed memorial soliciting the appli-
cation of the provisions of the Drainage Act to his
estate in the county of Donegal. And so promptly
were his wishes responded to by the official gentlemen
of the Board of Works, that
" The report of the surveying officer has been since
received and is printed, and that the prvliminaries are all
but completed for commencing the thorough drainage
and permanent improvement of that estate under his own
guidance, and the corresponding employment during a
course of years, and the great amelioration of the con-
dition of every human being connected with it."

Such expedition and dispatch affords the fairest
promise for the future activity of the board; and we
sincerely trust that every landowner will be stimulated
thereby to increased exertion. He is fully fore-
warned, and should he fail to embrace the golden op-
portunity, he will only have himself to blame for the
lamentable and disastrous results that must inevitably
follow to himself and to those connected with, or
dependent on him. We have already expressed our
approbation of the first principle announced by the
Government, viz., the execution by the board of all
such works as are necessary for deepening or remov-
ing obstructions in rivers, their tributary streams, or
the larger watercourses of the country. The reasons
stated, fully prove that no individual proprietor could
effectually conduct works of such magnitude passing
through so many different estates. Besides, were it
even practicable, it would occasion continual disputes
and altercations between the owners, both as to the
nature and particulars of the work to be executed and
the relative proportion of the expenditure to be
chargeable against each. All this will be avoided by
its being effected through the agency of the board,
who have the power of compelling all the dissenting,
as well as the willing proprietors, to participate in the
outlay, according to the benefits conferred on their
respective lands thereby. The decision, that each
proprietor shall be permitted to superintend and direct
the works exclusively affecting his own lands (the
draining in detail, laying down draining tiles or pipes,
or stone drains in each field, unless where particular