The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-04-04

which says 10 the advancing settlements Come no
farther But neither time nor England would stand
still Her government Is sagaciOus, alive 10 her In
terests, and ready to maintain them. She knows
the value OF Tho country well as we do, and APP
preciates Il perhaps higher No one can read the
speeches IN the House Of Commons on the 4ih Of
Apn last, without being sensible that the subject IN
all It's extent has occupied the attention Of the Brit
lsh government, and that the country itself will
eupy IT'S fostering care Think you that that gov
eminent would have continued 10 see band after
band Of our citizens leaving our frontier settlements
lost 10 human observation almost for months while
passing through the desert with its tolls lis prya.
tons and its dangers, and finally emerging into the
land OF promise, 10 seize Il and To hold it, and would
have looked calmly on, receding as we advanced
retreatng TO the bill as we descended into the valley
and finally yielding quiet possess Of this long
disputed territory He who does not believe all
this must believe that time would not have peace
fully adjusted this controversy for us But besides,
this process Of adjustment does assume that our
right 10 exclude the British from the country will be
increased by settlement. IL may add strength to
our power, but none TO title. IL does not pre-
suppose that war IL to he ayerted, hut only post
Pohsd. The rights Of England at the end Of any
given period will be precisely what they now are;
and unless she should voluntarily reinquIsh Them
conflict would be inevitable. Il seems 10 me very|
clear that it she would be disposed TO abandon
the country, she would do it now when the dispari-
W OF force there is not such 10 the reproach
OF tmldity upon her counsels, and when the number
of her subjects is not such to render difficult
satisfactory arrangement for them.
Mr. President the senator from South Carolina
has held up TO view a sombre picture Of the ca
iami'les which war with England would bring
upon the United States--too sombre SIR il am not
utterly ignorant Of the history and condition Of my
country and OF the energy and spirit Of my coun-
Ilrymen. shall not examine II feature by feature;
but there are certain portions desire TO present 10
! the Senate. -
! What probable circumstances could require this
country 70 keep up military and naval force of two
hundred thousand msn for ten years-the land por-
ton Oft divided into seven great armies confess
4 my utter inability TO conjecture. Why the honorat
6e senator fixes upon that period for the duration OF
the war, ! know not Ii is wholly coniectural
as TO elude the application Of any principle to il.
Long before It's expiration, il we are not utterly
unworthy OF our name and our brIhright, we should
sweep the British power from the continent of North
America, and the remainder Of the time must be oe-
eupied by predatory ineursions upon the coast and
by hostilites upon the ocean. The dangers OF dis
asters which this state Of thingS brings with i'll
would require but small portion Of the force con.
sIdered necessary by the senator. As tn Mexico, 4
| trust we shall bear much from her We owe thai
TO our own strength and to her weakness to our own
position, not less than to the situation Of her govern
ment and to the quasi civil war which seems 10 be
the curse of her condition But should we he driven
TO put forth our strength peace would ensue, and
speedllyi but IT would be peace dictated in her
capital, and placing her political destiny at our dis
position.
And besides, during the progress Of such a war,
to which the honorable gentleman aludes who can
Tell me sphere Of It's operations, and what nations
would become parties u III How soon would the
great maritime questions of our day present them.
selves for soutoni How long would il be before
England would revive and enforce those belhgerent
pretensions which drove us TO war when we were
neutral, and which would drive other nations to
war occupying the same positioni How long before
the violation Of her flag would arouse the public
feeling Of France and compel her government To
yindicRte its honor And who can tell what war Of
principles and opinions would come to add its ex-
cItement and passions TO the usual struggles of con-
tending natlons' The world is, indeed in compars-
tive repose but there are causes in operation which
It quckened into action by peculiar circumsts
might shake the institutions of Europe 10 their yery
foundations. | consider war between England
and the United States for ten years or for half OF
that time, utterly impossible without bringing into
collision the great questions Of day-the right TO
govern and the duty to subm-and into fierce action
the interests and passions which such struggle
would ercite-a struggle that must come, but which
such would accelerate. .. .r. '. I....--0
| In order that i may remove even the possibility
OF misnterpreting the sentiments of the senator /
will read an extract or two from his speech After
abiding to the material horrors Of war and doing
justice 10 the courage of his countrymen he adds
that a war between us and Great Britain, such as
has been described, "n which every nerve and mus.
Gle would be strained to the utmost and every dollar
put IN requlsition which could be commanded could
not fail under present circumstances to work mos,
disastrous, and fear ncurabe changes in the social
| condition of our people, and in their political ins,i
tuhons" he then adverts to the consequences of
such war, drawing after it Mexican war and an
Indian war He thinks should need two fleets,
SIX or seven armies, one hundred million of dollars
I annually, and proportionate system of taxsten
; aft OH III r
the State governments, and the consolidation of all
power IN the central authority, and that our very
success would engender spirit inconsistent with
The genius OF our government at would then be
straight and downward road which leads to where
80 many free states have terminated their Career
a military despotsm In the mean time we should
have to provide for three four successful generals
who would soon be competing for the presidencv
and before The generation which would have waged
me war would have passed away, they might posi-
bly, witness a contest between hostile generals far
that supreme otfice--a contest between him who
might conquer Mexico and him who migbt eonoper
Canada, terminated by the swordn
But permit me TO ask the senator from South
Carolina If all this So if his authorizations were
certain, instead of being purely gratuitous, ought
the assurance of such events to come from him
from such high authority, in so high a placer In
the Senate Of the United States, and from one who
has h'ed some of the most important positions in
our government, whose services, and talents, and
character give MN great consideration with his
countrymen, who possesses a European fame and
whose opinions are quoted at this moment in
London and Paris as Indications of our policy
and of the final result Of this controversy Isl well
thus to announce to the world our ncapacity to de-
| TEND ourselves For that is in fact the result A
government dissolved, or rather changed 10 a des
po'lsm, country ruined, and eventually its frag
ments prey to ambitious generals, as the empire Of
Alexander was partitioned among his lieutenan,s
| war, then becomes not measure of safety, bu,
slsnal OF destruction to the American people We
arc poweress to defend ourselves live are struck |
upon one cheek, we must turn the Others not in a I
spirit of Christian charity, but in the despair of help
Iessness. We are bound together by fair weather
government, incapable of riding out the storms of
foreign aggression Submission must be our REFUGE |
for beyond submission is destruction We shall
exhibit the extraordinary spectacle of great peo.
pie, great in all the elements Of power and prosper
ty, saying to the world in effect cannot contend
with England. We are at her mercy, for even sue
cess would ruin U.s.