The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-08-20
THE MEXICAN WAR.

We republish from the National Intelligencer its
leading editorial of last Friday, which we read more
in sorrow than in anger. II is Of evil omen for our
institutions that journal, in the guise
of an -imsrieIn newspaper, should be supported al
the seat of government always prompt from some
cause or other, to tspouse the cause of any and
every foreign nation against its own country; al
ways employed with zeal, not to say an unscru-
pulousness, absolutely forensic, in the effort to put
her in the wrong. Foreign influence, from the
facility and the IMMUNITY afforded by free forms Of
government to its workings, is proVerbislly the bane
Of republics. Faction, to be sure, is a sore evil
Always mischievous it is often dreadful in its con-
sequences. But, compared with foreign influence
operating under her mask, faction herself, in her
very worst and most terrible moods, is innocent as
the friskng lamb, harmless as the cooling dove.
The father Of his country most earnestly and snx.
iously warned us against this insidious foe; and
yet impressive the caution was we find here
within the very shadow of the Capitol. a journal
which, for a great number OF years, has been the
organ OF this influence, enjoying extensive circu-
lation in eur country, and this too, among readers
not wanting in the holy love OF their country-a
journal which, under the convenient pretext Of party
warfare and partisan zeal, is eternally engaged on
the side Of every foreign power which may have
controversy with the United Slates-a journal
which, in every instance OF such a controversy, is
busy in ascribing TO the foreign nation all the
Justice, all the moderation, all Of everything that is
honest and upright whilst, in regard to own
country, the mpossibility ofseeing in her course or
in her position, aught but what is reprehensibe,
scandaous, and shocking, is the subject Of pious
signs and eternal walngs The criminal author of
all the sorrow which finds vent in these eremiads,
is Of course not the innocent country Oh! no; the
lntelligencer knows too we'll how to play its game
for that. The country is to be pted rather; it is to
the wicked administration that all the blame belongs
But the man must be blinded indeed by party spirit
who fails to see at glance to the bottom Of such
a trick as this. What traitor could ever be con-
viced of his treason, if this distinction allowed
to avail HIM Who so purblind as not to see that
the advocate Of foreign governments against our
government, is an advocate enlisted against our
country Who is 1t that requires to be told that
wrongs imputed to our government, as regards for
eign governments, are but wrongs imputed to our
country; and that the only difference between the
direct and the indirect imputaon is that whilst the
former is bold and honest, the latter is willy and
treacherous' Where was the lntelligencer's ''na
tionaty" on the occasion Of General Jackson's
controversy with Franco Against its-or rath-
er our country. More truly and devotedly
French than it then was, (and more dexterously
withal, it could not possibly have approved ITSELF
had it been bought, out and out, as dependence
"appurtenance" to the Citizen Kings diplomatic es-
adjustment. Where was it on the Oregon ques
tom On the side of Great Britain. We pass over
the bitter taunts and reflections which have hitherto
been called forth on this subject. We had hoped
that he had lived long enough to be American in
heart and in sentiment. But where has that paper
ever been found throughout our past controversies
with Mexico' Then, as now, when the two coun.
tries are at open war; then, as now and always, on
the side of the enemy. On the present occasion, the
malignant zeal, SO long nurtured and exercised
against the government Of our country, has be-
come so ardent as even to blind it to the interests
of the foreign government whose advocate 1t
is. The end and aim of its datrbes is to infuse in
to its readers the venomous hate for government
thereby, fpossible to produce distraction in pub
lie councils, and discord at home; but whilst reck-
essly pursuing this deplorable object, it is giving
potent encouragement to the rulers Of Mexico to
persist in wagng war which, whether it be con-
sdered in its consequences to themselves or to their
country, is, in the eyes Of every sane man, down
right madness on their part.
What man, possessing candor enough to enable
him to be truly informed on any subject, but kno,os
that the present war engaged in by our country
for the reason that it was inevitable What honest
man can lay his hand on his heart and point to any
one thing (short, indeed, of the evacuation of Tex
as) which was feasible and which was left undone
by her constituted authorities, to avoid the conflict
And yet, forsooth no sooner is the conflict begun
although this conflict is brought on 10y an assault
upon our own troops, on our own territory, whilst
the soil of our country is yet warm with the blood
of her citizens,han this advocate general Of all the
foreign governments with which ours may come in
to collision sets in to upbraidng country with
wasing "war OF conquest" Mr. Crttenden-one
Of the ablest champions as he is one of the bodes
leaders, Of the party whose hammer the lntelgencer
mus 80 convenient ciohk 10 ts ptoCeeulOSs--hr
Ciuenden, we say, whilst vehementy opposing,
in the Senate, the preamble to the war bill, and in
sistng that our government should confne itself to
repeing inuasion expressly declared that he did not
by this mean that its military operations should be
confined to the line of the Rio Bravo the contra
ry, he was willing that the enemy should be not
merely driven back, but pursued. He was ready
to vote men and money to carry the war into Mexi-
CO, as far might be necessary for the purpose Of
clearing our frontier, and establishing its secu.
rity on a firm basis. Such was the declara-
ton made by one Of the most eminent men
of the wing party. And yet scarcely has the sound
of his voice died away, than the organ Of foreign
influence gives out the keynote for the outcry about
a "war of conquest" General Taylor has crossed
the river; and, therefore, country to be de-
nounced to the nations Of the earth a rapacious
invader, intent upon the robbery and plumber of a
defenceIess people. Thus does the nationality" of
the Inelligencer display itself at this stage of the