The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-02-28

which was not her own. But her power was great
ly oyerraed. Great outlay was not always evidence
Of positive strength was profusc expenditure In
variable evidence OF wealth. True, she had armies
in every quarter Of the globe, and naval forces in
every sea- but IL was resources which gave strength
and not men or material In commission. She had
soldiers amid Arctic SHOWS and burning sands,
gatttag as well with the elements US with mani but
in her thirst for power and her efforts TO subugate the
world, she had possessions there 10 maintain and
her forces could not be Withdrawn She had m
creased her ornaments, but her demands had In
creased with the supply, She was mighty, too,
in l776 and in 1912, and yet exerted her pow
er over a ffeedom-loyng people IN yain.-
Should she tender the olve-brancb, Mr. ID. would
accept il. Should she arm, he would arm too, and
place the country IN state OF defence, and stand
firmly and fearlessy by il. She knows the
mercai interests Of the two countries. She knows
how sensitive that interest Ia. She knows, too, Its
influences and hence il is that she opens neg citation,
prepares for war, and then waits for panic and di.
plomscy to conquer. In thirty years, though often
threatened, she has not turned her guns against US
May il be longer period yet before the peace OF
the nations shall be disturbed But it. in the main
tenance Of our rights, war shall follow let it be re-
garded as the destiny Of freemen
But while we are contemplating the magnitude
Of this gigantic power let US turn for single mo-
ment to our own fair land, and see whether we
nave power 10 ueienu our own posoessiohs' looh
out, sir, upon the regions OF the great northern
lakes, and thence upon the RIO del Norte Cast your
eye upon the widespread prares Of the west thence
to the banks Of the 81. Johns, and see twenty mil
lions Of free and happy people. No hreing sol
diery wrench from the hand Of industry the bread
il has earned; no standing armies to eat out the
substance Of the people; but millions Of swords
ready TO leap from their scabbards-millions OF
men armed and equipped for the service, TO de-
fend their country, their hresides, and their affairs;
and millions Of mothers, sisters and daughters, as
in the days Of the revolution, with their own fair
hands, ready to feed, and cothe, and bind up the
lacerated bosom Of the soldier.
With a right 10 this territory clear and unques-
tonable-with such high motives 70 defend II, and
such elements Of strength, should It now be aban-
doned we should deserve the reproaches which fell
from the mother Of the Moorish chief, when he
mourned over the fall Of Granada, which he had
vigorously surrendered: "Well mayest thou weep
like woman over that which thou didst not defend
like man."
But, sir, this is not mere struggle for Oregon
for 500 900 miles Of distant territory; II is contest
between two great systems-between monarchy and
freedem-between the darkness Of the Old World
and the sunlight Of the New-between the mines
and manufactures Of Europe and the fertile fields OF
the distant West-another effort by tyrannic man to
lord 1t over his fellows, claiming Divine commission.
In this, most OF the wars which have scourged
mankind and desolated the world have originated -
the faggott has bszed the inqusiton been erected,
and human blood streamed around its polluted altar;
and it was the influences Of the same fell spirit
which sought to extend its dominons to the western
hemisphere.
But Mr.. ID. would preserve this heritage Of free
dom for the adventurous young, who were throng-
ing thither to achieve substance--for aged Penury
which might there find shelter and lia protection
for the hardy frontiesmen who had braved the dan
gers Of border life that institutions might spread
and
all that could minister to the happiness Of man.
But especially he would preserve it for the oppressed
Of the earth who might there throw off their chains,
and sit under their own vine and fig tree, with
none to modest or to make them afrad-for the
downtroddsn and opprsssed sons Of Ireland who
might flee to this refuge Of liberty, and Of England,
too, when, like the sea, she should give up her
living dead.
Mr.. d. would close in the language Of the distn-
guished senator from Michigan, Mr. CASH. that
sit better fight for the first foot than the last
for the door-sill than the hearthstone-ihe porch
than the altar" Wee"