Herald of the times, and Rhode Islander. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1846-1849, 1846-12-31

Msrieo cjhs erpe.ses iseuvrsd mihs 'oar
aud IL the indemni,iss due to our citl
z~ns."
So we go. Tho intention of the Exc
cn'ive, then, is m hold on 10 hose vas'
domains. after the close Of IN war il
which he has needlessly invol we'd the
country, not by right ." cooqu est-Oi
M by M means !--but to guaranty the
payment by Mexico of the expense D.
which Mex,co will have put the UDted
States 10 carry on the war That Is the
plan In me way or other, therefore,
our .Ieadess will perceive. il is the inten-
ii"n of he President, if Congress will
let him; to "nnurx" New Mexico and
Caln"rnia, and God knows how many
other States Of the Mexican Nation, with
oul even the Jormnlity Conserved N the
aoprxniioo Of Trxas) Of obtaining the
assent Of the inhabitants. "The war has
MT bern waged with view IN conquest, "
says the Message Not nt all Ger
tnmiy not. Captain StocktoR was, tO be
SURF, sent round Cape HON hast Octo-
ber To California, 10 be IN the why OF
srizi0g its keys when he should hear Of
the movement to The Rio Grande of our
array, then enc a,nprd at Corpus Christi;
bni, though thc gallant Conmodore has
s.leinnly proclaimed To the world that il
"now briongs 10 the United States" il
il onlv 10 be held 10 deiray the expense
10 which the Unnrd States have been
pu.. whether by the act Of Mexico of Of
The President, IN consequence Of the
breaking om Of this war !
We mssoin~, then, THAT, under what
ever guise il may be made 10 wear, the
slnril of conquest, Of dominion, Of ag-
grnnd,zem-nt. ia at the bottom Of this
war, whether brought on by accident or
design I; for no one can, in the face Of
Notorious facts, deny that the object Of
the march Of troops to the Rio Grande
was Z" take military possession Of ter
ritory for the purchase Of which our own
Government had, little more than year
b~fore, offered to negotiate with Mexi-
co, which pegoi;aiion Congress had, by
the act of annex xaiion, directed TO be Ie-
sumed.
This brings Us To The point nt which
we had arrived Al the close ot our first
article upon the Message, of denounc-
ing the Abandonment, tov career of
fnv.swseping ronquesis, Of those methods
of peace and Justice which are the main
idea Of our institutions at home, and
therefore, Of necessity, the leading prin-
ciples Of our policy abroad. The taste
which the country has had Of the fruits
of tbi. wild system Of aggrandizement-
the experiment of the costs Of national
ambfion-have, we trust, brought the
public mind To state in which we may,
with SEINE hope Of being listened to,
speak Of the iilomened notions with
which unwise or inconsiderate men had
Of late, to a certain extent, fred the pop
ular imag inaiion amongst US. Those
notions were OF a something in our peo-
ple-an American genius, an Anglo
Saxon DEsriNy-that was to burst ir-
resistibly over this entire continent, al
most at once then, over leaping the
VAST and many-islanded Pacific, (such
no more, beneath our conquering arms,
hut sanyuine or incarnadine with. our
successes 10 reach, and to win as soon
a. reached, the: wide and ancient Fast
10 spread our dominion there, over eli
mates receiving an opposite sun and
thence, IL might be, through Tartary and
Scyihia, 10 overwhelm European king
do'ns, thst have SO often before yielded
10 covntless hordes fliaging themselves
npon them from the same direction. -
Something like this was the vision with
which the eyes Of many Of our people
were dazzled.
Absurd and atrocious as was the
dream, there was yet, in one aspect,
sense IN IL. C0uld our people be taught
10 dream il, il presaged sure and lasting
and firm dominion, not to them, but to
those who had kindIed up in them q
fantasy 80 bad aud vain. Certainly, the
UhSarlike auspices Of men like those in
power formed a very strange era for our
suddenly seizing on universal dominion:
the present were rather novel set of
Ahxanders and Caesars But no mat
ter When Swift paints the vast realm OF
the Brobdignags, their monarch is as
just, peaceable, and unambN bilious as he
is strong and sagacious: but when he
describes a poientate SIX inches high, he
very properly makes him as warlike as
he 's weak, as Unsuitable Of sway, and as
unscrvpulous OF the means Of obtaining
It,
i, is scarcely to be supposed that any
one was the dupe Of these delirious San.
cies OF empire TO be bounded only by
The earth. We are not in an unwarlike e
age the world is not sunk into that de-
generacy which wide aud settled con-
quests by single great people are sure
to bring about, as when the Persian
monarchy fell under its own weight, or
the Macedonian broke up, or the Roman,
deserted by the valor and policy which
had formed il, sank before the mere bar
barians whom il had so often before
tanned. Modern civilization has spread
no such deienceless weakness. Great,
active, and martial States exist sustain
ed by perpetual rivalry in the highest
condition OF armed preparation, of dis
cipIined strength, and Of such waichiul
policy as forbids all hope Of winning