The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-06-11

log the error from going abroad. As to seeking
pretext TO make speech against the Mexican war,
he could easily find it without taking up one Of the
speeches of the senator from Ohio.
Mr.. ALLEN. | do not wish to be Understood as
having used any unkind expression. did not say,
"pIetext"-l said "text."
/ Mr. CLAYTON did not understand the senator
as speaking unkndly-not at all. We'll, then, when
he (Mr. CO desired a text from which TO speak IN
reference To the Mexican war, he could easily md
il in many things besides the remarks which fell
from the senator from Ohio. An occasion for de-
nouneng that war would perhaps present itself be-
fore the end of this session. He had not been led
into 1t now by the remarks Of the senator. His
(Mr. Cs) object simply to correct the errors of
the senator who had thus seized upon text from
which To defend the Mexican war; and the
senator had INDUCED himself at full length.
The remarks on which he had anmadyerled
were two: first, he (Mr. c. thought that the
senator was in error when he denied that any
person on that floor, or that he himself had said
that II was desirable TO prepare the hearts Of the
| people for He did not mean TO press II upon
the gentleman, il he would deny 1t and retract IT,
He said he would not retract it, He defended H.
All he (Mr. c. would say was simply that It
would not be safe for the senator to refer to any
senator on that Aoor-on one side or the other-in
order TO seek testimony TO sustain him in the de-
NAL that he Mr.. ALLEN had repeatedly made the
declaration in question. He Mr.. ALIEN was at
liberty to select his own witness, and whoever that
had again and again made the declaration. But the
senator indeed persists in il, and AYERS now that
il desirable TO prepare the hearts Of his coun-
trymen for war. He justified il, because he said
that war had come upon them, whilst at the same
time he asserted that the had burst upon them
contrary TO all expectation, What prepare the
hearts Of his countrymen for war when nobody ex
pecied war; Were the people, then, to be kept in
continual agitation as If war actually existed when
there expectation in the mind OF any one that
". al. 80
ring the hearts ofthe people for to be thus kept
up unweariedly, although no one expected war
| Why surely
Mr. ALLEN want this thing put right
spoke Of the Mexican wa' as being not apprehended
| Il was when the Oregon question was up, and the
opposite side declared that il we did not give up
Oregon the British would light US, that the dsclara-
| tIOn was made
Mr.. J. M CLAYTON proceeded. He would
indulge the senator with great pleasure in all his
plantations But after all, he had not yet made the
case perfectly clear. The senator had said that
when he made the declaration he was speaking in
regard to a war with England for Oregon. Well,
he (Mr. c. cared not IN reference TO what subject
the declaration made. He believed that il was
not at all the proper duty Of members Of Congress
to prepare the hearts Of the people for IL was
the part OF the people TO prepare the hearts OF their
representatives for war But he (Mr. c. deprecated
the preparation Of the hearts Of the people for war
| by violent and declamatory trades and he very
glad to be able to add, that such TRADES were depre
Gated as sincerely by gentlemen on the opposite
| side CT the chamber-the political friends Of the
senator from Ohio himself. When came the
hearts of the people would be fully prepared. The
patriotic impulses Of the American heart did not
need to be famed into vitality by windy declama.
ton There was living fame in the hearts
of the American people from which when
| the hour of trial came, senatorial pa
trOtlSm might htly borrow. But the senator
from Ohio having seized upon his MIR. C's) re-
| mdrks-remarks made with the single object Of cor
| recting the errors OF the senaor-as a text from
| which to discuss the Mexican war, had made some
observations which demanded correction, rather,
| It was necessary to remind the senator of some
| things which he (Mr. c. had read from the docu-
ments, without commenting upon them, inasmuch |
| as their meaning and bearing appeared to be per-
'ecty obvious to every capacity. IL was conclu-
| svely shown by those documents, that 30 far back
as the month of January last the Executive Of the
| United States did anticipate The Secretary
Of State distinctly stated that in Of the reiec
ton Of the United States minister by Mexico, it
would be the duty of the country to avenge itself
| in other words, that war must come. And n the |
letter of the Goth of January, Mr.. Buchanan tells
MIR. Slidell--in anticipation Of the final refusal Of
i the Mexican government TO receive him-that he |
had ordered the army in Texas to move on to the |
Rio Grande II, after that evidence, the senator |
from Ohio still persisted in the assertion that the
government of the United States did not expect war;
| he (Mr. c. would hardly know what to say; but |
/ when he Mr.. ALLEN spoke, he must speak by the |
documents 1t was not by general defamation that
anything was to be established on side or the |
other. He (Mr. c. pointed to the testimony of |
The documents; and he said that it proved conclu-
svely that far back as the Goth Of January the
Executive of the United States did expect war and
from their our language must have considered it as
| almost inevitable, when they ordered Taylor to |
move to the Rio Grande and take up his position in
front of Matamoras, and at his discretion to pass to
the other side of the river, and carry the into
Mexico. The whole point of war or no war was |
| made to depend on the single circumstance of the |
reception or rejection Of the minister sent by the
United States. As he (Mr c. had said he would |
not go into the discussion Of the question now but
he would say that it did appear from the documents
themselves that the Mexican government de- |
slrous to receive commissioner dd hoe TO settle all
the boundaries between the United States and Mex
ca that they held out every nducement to believe
that if commissioner commissioners sent,
the question of boundaries between the two countries
could have been satisfactorily settled without war;
and that the United States government refused to
send the commissioner which Mexico desired, |
sending in the face of all the evidence Of the wishes
of Mexico, minister, upon the rejection of whom
the troops were ordered to march upon the Rio |
Grande, and take up their position within few
hundred yards of the Mexican town of Matamoras |
His (Mr. C.'s) object however, merely to
correct the errors Of the senator from Ohio. The
senator appeared to think that his remarks were of
no sort OF lWpOTtdUCe. ne gentleman was quite |
too modest. He entirely undervalued his own i'm
portance a senator of the United States not to
speak about his being chairman of the committee
Of Foreign Relation, He occupied semi-oficial
position with regard to the Executives; and when in |
that character he announced to the whole world that
the war with Mexico had burst upon them contrary |
to the wishes and expectations of all, he mr. c.
deemed it his duty to correct the senator, and to
place the matter in its true light.
A message received from the House of Rep
resentatives announcing that said House had con-
Cured in the report of the committee of conference
upon the bill making alterations in the pay depart
ment of the army. Also, that said House had
passed bill further to extend the time for locating
Virginia military land warrants, and returning the
surveys thereof to the General Land Office.
Mr.. ARCHER said that he would vote for the
amendment to the amendment, and would then vote
against the amendment amended, provided the
gentleman from New York, [Mr DIX, and his
friends, would vote IN favor Of the amendment sub