Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1846-03-26
SUCCESS or the reverse.

would ensure their utter destruction. IL is the
most certain wav TO sacrifice them. This
win never consent to do. They are American
cilIzcns-our brethren and kindred. We have
encouraged them to 20 there and will never
give q vote the result Of which must be their
utter and speedy destruction. Butt we make
a compromise on latitude ago, they will all be
safe, for, ii am rightly informed, there is not
man Of them 10 be found north Of tina, line
This viii carry all the points we have in view,
instead Of sacrificing them all.
] am against war, too, for reasons common
to the whole Union. | believe that the most
successful and triumphant war we could pos
slbly wage--eyen If in ten years we should get
I all the most extravagantad OF war has da-
red TO hope for-if we could take the Canadas,
and New Brunswick land Nova Scotia and eve
~ other British possession, and drive her flag
/ from the whole continent, and prosecute our
advantages till we had accomplished the down
( fall of the British throne, and she should yield
up spear and shield and trident al our feet, it
would be to us the most disastrous event that
could happen. do net now allude TO the ra-
wages and desolations ofwarfare; to the oceans
of blood that must flow, and the various mise
ries that ever accompany the contest of arms ;
because | have never observed that the state
ment Of these things had any effect on brave
people. No doubt the evils would be very
/ great, because there are no two nations in the
world who can DO each other SO much harm in
war, or SO much good in peace. as Great Bri-
I tain and the United States. The devastation
would be tremendous ON both sides. But all
this goes for nothing for all this may be re.
paired. The ndomltable industry, and enter
prise. and perseverance of our widely spread
and still spreadinga and multiplying population.
will soon find ways and means of repairing
whatever merely physical disasters war can
inhict. But war has far heavier infections for
free people; it works a social and political
change in themselves, and In the character of
their institutions A war such as this. will be
OF a vast extent; every nerve and muscle ON Ell
Their side will be strained 10 the utmost; every
communicable dollar will be putin requsition ;
not portion of our entire frontier but will be
come the scene OF contest twill be a Mexi-
can war on the one side, and an Indian war
upon the other. Its flames will be all around
us it will be a war on the Pacific and a war
ON the Atlantic; il will rage on every side and
fill the land. Suppose Oregon shall be aban-
doned. we must raise seven armies and two ma
vies we 1nustraise and equip an army against
the Mexeans and let no man sneer at the
mention OF such Power. Under the gui-
am vi tiiC MICA
lean population can be rendered a formidable
enemy See what Britain has made OF the fee
! bic Sepoys Of India. The Afexcans are bra
yer and harder people, and they will form the
cheapest Of all armies. With good training
and good pay, they may be rendered forni-
dable force. Then we must have another ar
nay to guard the Southern frontier, and anoth-
er to protect our Northern frontier, and another
to operate on our Northeastern boundary, and
still another TO cover our Indian frontier At
the least estimate, we shall require force of
not less than two hundred thousand men in the
! field In addition to that the venerable and in
telgent Albert Gallatin has calculated the cost
of such a war at sixty-fiye millions of dollars !;
! but that amount is two small. A hundred mil
| lions is not an over-estlmate; and of this sum
! fifty millions must be raised annually, by loans
or paper; SO that allowing the war to contin-
ne for ten years, we shall have an amount Of
five hundred millions of public debt Add to
! this the losses which must accrue on loans it
will be very difficult to get these loans negotia-
ted in Europe for, owing to the unfortunate
mannerin which this affair has been conducted,
| the feeling in Europe will be generally against
us. We cannot obtain the requisite sums UNI
der an interest of thirty or forty per cent Add
all these expenses, and our total debt will not
be less than seven hundred and fifty millions.
But this is not all. We shall be plunged into
the paper system as deeply as we Were in the
days Of the Revolution; and what win then
be our situation at the conclusion of the war
! We shah be left with a mortgage of seven
hundred and fifty millions Of dollars On the la
Dor of the American people; for it all falls on
the labor Of the country at last, while much of
the money will go into the pockets of those who
l. IL II
then have the task of restoring a circulating
medium Of a sounder character, and that from
the deepest degradation of the currency. This
is hard job, as all of us know who have gone
through with it. Besides, the influence Of the
war will naturally be TO obliterate the line of
distinction between the State and general Go
vernments. We shall hear no more about
State rights, but the Government will become
in effect a consolidated republic. BY our very
success, it will give military impulse TO the
national mind which can never be overcome.
! The ambition OF the nation will seek conquest
after conquest, and will soon become possessed
by spirit totally inconsistent with the forms
and genius of our Government; and this will
lead. by straight and easy road, TO that gulf
Of all republics--a military despotism Then
we shall have to provide for three or four sue
cessful generals, who will soon be competing
for the Presidency. Before the generation
which waged the war shall have passed away,
they will witness a contest between hostile
generals He who conquered Mexico, and
he who conquered Canada, will each insist
upon his rightto the seat ofpower, and they
will end their struggle by the sword. Freedom
thus lost, institutions thus undermined and
overturned, never can be recovered. The ma
tlonal ruin will be irretrievable.
lapel. then, to gentlemen near me--to my
friends, whose separation from us on this ques-
ton deeply regret-and say to them, is it for
you, who are Democrats par ercetteace--for
you, who are the enemies ofpaper money, and
the sworn destroyers Of all banks and all artii-
cal classes in society-is it for you to vote for
a measure of such very equivocal success
But have still higher reasons. | am OPP
posed to war as friend to human improve
ment, to human civilization, 10 human pro-
gress and advancement. Never in the history
of the world has there occurred period so re-
markable as the peace that followed the battle
of Waterloo for the greatadvances made in the
condition Of human society. and thatin various
forms. The chemical and mechanical powers
have been investigated and applied to advance
the comforts ofthe human life in a degree far
beyond all that was ever known or hoped be-
4 1. 4.