The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 184?-1851, 1845-01-29
REMARKs on VIZ. OWEN.

constitutional and natural right to annex Texas
to the Union, concludes his speech with the fol-
lowing eloquent appeal:
"Say that we remain inactive and neutral,
and suffer things to take their course. What.
happens? Just al this Mexico is en-
broiled at home. But her civil wars are ever of
short duration. And to Texas It matters little
which of the barbarians triumph. They have
both, like Hannibal at the Altar, sworn eternal
Ienmity to her. They vie with each other in
protestations Of zeal. Death and destruction TO
the Texians!-that, even now, is the theme Of
every despatch, the burden of every proclama-
ton. The victor, be he Paredes OF Santa Anna,
is pledged TO carry out, without delay, in all its
baTbarity, the menaced invasion. To sustain and
give b~rilliancy to newly-goiten power, he must
redeem his pledge. Imagine the sequel! The
RIO Bravo is crossed. Another league, and a
rulilan sold%iery--their swords yet wet with the
blood of their CONFERENCE.-The the doomed
land. Must | call up before you the scenes that
are 10 ensuo? Cruel, at best, and terrible, in
the trade of war. But a war of determination
A war, where the eye pities not! where the
sword spares not! where the command is, TO save
alive none that breathe! Conquerors, even in
the Hush Of victory, have wept over a field of
battle, where the strong man died, his weapon
IN his hand, the frown of defiance yet unfaded
from. his brow. But a field Of slaughter, indis-
crImlnable slaughter, slaughter Of The defence
less, the unres;sting!--a field, where mingIe, de-
filed in dust and gore, the white locks of venera-
bic age and the fair soft hair of unotfending
childhood! Think--think what it is--lhis car
mage Of a nation, without distinction Of age, of
condition--therc is yet more,-of SEX!---Do you
remember the words CT the Dramatisl?
The man who lays his hand upon a woman,
Save in the way of kindness, is a wretch,
Whom 'tweie base fattery 10 Gala coward!"
"And it is woman-it is that gentle being
whom the desert Ion himself is said TO pity and
to spare-it is the young mo'her--Ler infant
charge sheltered IN her arms--it is the wife and
mother, fleeing to rescue her person from The
pollution of a brutal banditti--to save. the child
of her bosom from their murderous s%teel--it is
even she, to adopt, in all their cold official afro,
city, the words Of the decree of blood, who, i'll
she be " rash enough to ily"--at the sight of
this approaching horde Of assassins-is TO be
q pursued until taken Or put to DEATH" And
what then? The report Of these deeds eff crime
and shame is to come to us access the Sabine.
The story Of each succeeding brutality is 10 sink
down, in all its damning details, into the hearts
of cur people. The South, with her fiery pulse
and her hot chiyalry, is TO hear il. The West,
with her fearless spirit and her quick sympathies,
is to hear it. The N~orth--yes, the North less
quickly reused, yet bearing, under her snow, Il
warm heart of pjty--is to hear it. And, when
the shadow Of these deeds OF darkness has set
I,lo1 ,1o,,,, liEo 81 null cv1r Tho or,f;ro Io,,J vel
lit vet again, what then? lit is no concern Of
ours. Let them perish! viii that be The Ian
'guage--that the spirit-of young America? |
T. but her adopted chiId-even dare, in this,
TO answer for her. No, no, a thousand times no!
We may turn over here the leaves of mustY vol
umes; we may quote black letter within these
walls, in proof, that it is our bounden duty TO
stand p~assively by, without an effort to save,
without a protest to avert, and see our brethren
of Texas, their wives and little ones, butchered
before our eyes. See if the people will not
make the case their own! We have not yet, in
this hemisphere, reached the age of placid in
difference. A nations early youth, like mans,
is full of warm and generous impulse. You
will see il! Mark what the decision of this na-
ton will be! That we have a right to interfere.
| tell you, no!-other than that will be her Ian
guage-that we have no right TO hold back !
There is q law more holy, far more imperative
than the law Of the statute book-the unwritten
law of the human heart-that Jaw, which taught
the Samaritan that he was the neighbor of him
who fell among thieves. And that law, speaking
from the hearts Of a young and noble people,
will declare to US, that if we pass by on The
other side and abandon our neighbors of Texas
10 their fate, ours is the crime, ours the scandal,
ours, before the world, the shame! And so it is!
When we sit tamely down under threats like
thesc-when mercy and courage are so quench-
ed within us, that we suffer, unprotected, out
rage thus infamous on the law Of nature and ma
tions-outrage, we are expressly told that is TO
spread its crimson stain even to lis very borders
then let our fair national escutcheon fall,
shame-staincd, in the dust; we are not worthy to
give its broad folds to the free and gentle breeze
of Heaven!.
speak warmly sir, I feel warmly. Who may
touch on subjects like that with a quiet pulse?
Yet do | place my confidence in an appeal to
sober judgment, not to hasty passion. | but ask
you, TO look into the future before you act. That
is the part OF wisdom. but ask you, TO exam.
inc, step by step, the issue of the policy which
the friends of peace at any time would have us
pursue. | ask you to reflect, whether, in taking
those steps, We shall be sustained by those who
sent us here. | put to you the question: will
our constituents be satisfied, in the present atti-
tude of Mexico, with a pathetic ~inaction, tame
Indifference, stoical neutrality? Each one must
answer that question for himself. | can but say,
that il is not my judgment of our people. II
have found them neither cold nor passionless.
And they must be both, if they demanded not
that now, even at the threshold Of these mena-
ced atrocities, while yet the assassin's sword i is
u%ndrawn, their government should interpose las
it has interposed) in the name of outraged hui
mainly, in the name of violated law, its solemn
protest against them. And should that protest