The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-05-26
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR.

THE CAUSE OF THE WAR.
It seems at the present moment but an unpro6t-
,S. task To justify the war in which we are en-.
nged The country is thrilling with the "exulta-
aOu Of signal victory. The people are reused to
an heroic and strenuous effort to close the conflict
The administration is fully prepared to guide the
popular enthusiasm into the most efficient plans Of
acion. Opposition to the war is fast disappearing
before the consciousness Of its necessity and its JUS
dcs, and before the conviction that every effort at
al compatible with our national character and duty
has been made to preserve peace. THE intelligence
which we are compelled to postpone until
tomorrow Of the military movements now
going on in various sections Of the country,
shows completely that our people are united to sus.
tain our government Even the wing journals,
now becoming conscious of the great blunder into
which they fell in attempting to make a show Of
opposition, are awkwardIy and clumsiIy seeking to
their steps, and endeayoring all too late for
their own character and credit to place themselves
once more in the ranks Of the friends of the coun-
try
But the chances Of war are proverbial. No hu-
man energy or foresight can wholly control them
We may hear of reverses or disaster. And in such
an event. we know full we'll that these same journals
will again take up their sorry trade of defamation
against our government and will again proclaim
that the President, without justification or necessity,
h" plunged the country into the evils of war. We
seize the moment, therefore, of triumph and enthu-
asm to display once again. even though it be need
essy, the nature and the necessity of the conflict
which we are waging.
Reasonable and candid men need at this time no
new proof that this war is Of Mexican origin and
OfMexican seeking. 1t is war begun by Paroles,
almost professedy to keep himself in power He
came into power on the promise that he would be-
ginit, and this promise brought him into power,
solely through the fundamentally Of the body OF
troops which he himself commanded. This stri-
king fact in the case has not been, so far as we
know, and cannot be, disputed.
There is another fact equally important. This
war comes from the annexation of Texas as its oc
casion. Now, if there be one single point in the
case Of Texas which is admitted by all sane men
to be absolutely clear it is the fact that Mexico had
no right to complain Of the annexation. Yet this
annexation, and nothing else, is the prctext of Mex
leo in the war. The proclamation of Paroles does,
indeed, mention the advance of our army from the
Nucces to the Del Norts as special occasion of
ho'alilles But as we have already shown, that
document, in SO doing, contradics itself, for it al
ege' that when our army was upon the Nueces, it
even then occupied, with hostile purpose, portion
Of the Mexican soil. But this recent de-
caration Of Paroles respecting our advance
10 the Del Nortc, even if it were not thus
''fcontradc,ed, comes altogether too late. 1t is
wholly opposed to all the previous declarations of
Mexico which claim the whole of Texas up to the
Sabine, and nota part of it only up to the Nueces
No man doubts that this has been the uniform Ian
suage of the Mexican state papers down to the day
Oh the manifesto. The annexation of Texas, then,
|" the pretext for Mexican hostilites and the pro-
hga'e ambition Of the present military usurper in
Mexico is their real cause.
When, however, Paroles found that he must make
war to retain power, and when he remembered that
Oy making war he might avoid, for the time, the
payment OF the large and just claims of the United
states against Mexico, he sought so to shape his
peiext as to rally in his favor at least portion Of
one OF the political parties in our country. With
'n' purpose 1t was that he distinguished between
"' position Of our army on the Nueoes and its DO
''uon on the Del Norte. He hoped that a, least
some OF the wings would support and endorse his
statements In this he has not been altogether dis
appointed. A few wing newspapers have in fact
done their best to sustain him.
The whole opposition 10 the war has rallied
upon the ground that the Del .Norie Is not the real
boundary Of Ttrds On this assumption il has been
aneged that our army went too far, that the Pres-
uent sought the war, that our own act commenced
~ and that in its commencement the constitution
was violated. Now, it is admitted that the lcgis-
"'lon Of Texas, and our own legislation also, went
oolore our army to the banks Of the Del Norte.
Wehad established the authority of the federal gov
eminent up to the bank Of that river before We sent
soldiers there to defend it. We contend now. and
We always have commended, that this fact slon.
made il the imperative duty of the President to re-.
pei any Mexican attempt to cross that river in con-
siderable forces, and with hostile purposes. The
e'amor against the war as Presidents war fall. IN
the ground at once before the statute Of Congress
which extends our federal jurisdiction up to the
Del Norte.
we observe that the opposition journals rarely
'0Oeh upon this point They reserv. their hesvies,