The daily union., 1846-08-27
THE MEXICAN WAR AND THE WING
POLICY

for facuous OppOsluon 10 deai "ith' Inc whlss
have found this out by sad experience in the o.
the Mexican war The federasts learned the sam,
hard lesson in the war Of 1912. When the Mex
ean war commenced, the leading. whig organs came
forth in opposition to it, The great counter
blast Of popular enthusiasm, rushing forth in de-
fence Of American rights and interests, soon taught
them their mistake. Awkwardly enough, they
backed out Of their position and boasted that, as a
party, they were not behind the democrats their
willingness to vote men and money to sustain the
administration in It's hostile operations.
But even in this new move, party rancor did not
s.eo. The whig journals no sooner made up their
minds thai they must sustain the war, than they
found themselves called upon to den0unes it as ag-
gressiye and unconstitutional. They would not refuse
men and money. Butin granting them, many ofthem
would insist that they were acting in a Of in
justice, shedding blood without excuse, assang the
rights of foreign country, and setting at naught
the spirit Of the constitution. SIT was Mr.. Folks
war;" they asserted, "a war got up for party pur-
poses, and without any sufficient cause" Yet, as
it happened that the country found the war to be
both just and necessary, they (he whigs) would not
assume the responsibility Of opposing il.
This point being settled, we were in the next place
entertained with the whig theory of the mode in
which the war should be conducted. After first de-
nouncing the conflict as a monstrous crime and a
monstrous blunder, and then voting the means to
put some twenty-five thousand men in the field to
fight il out-ater arranging these preliminary
principles Of their party position, the wings
following the lead Of Mr.. Webster, came,
in the third place, to the conclusion, that with our
army in the field, and all our war expenses con.
standy accruing a the rate, according TO the foolish
whig estimate, Of half million Of dollars day,) We
ought TO stop and negOtaisl II was not enough tina
the President professed himself again and again
ready to entertain and consider fayorably any Mex
lean proposition for peace. Nothing would satisfy
some Of the wings but an armistice, and another
mission to Mexieol
Here was series of party blunders ludicrou,
enough. But the climax was yet to come. In the
course Of few weeks, the administration saw some
cause to hope that peace with Mexico might be OBJ
tained, and thereupon addressed to the Mexican
government a formal letter, inviting negotiations,
and asked of Congress, in pursuance Of the prece-
dents in the cases Of the Louisiana and Florida ac,
QUESTIONS, an appropriation Of two millions Of dol
lars for the purpose Of bringing these negotiations,
which might be expected to involve important terri
torial questions, to a satisfactory termination. In
the hurry Of the last hours Of the session, the
House Of Representatives attached TO the bill max.
ing the appropriation proviso which was in that
stage Of the business, at least, unnecessary
and illtimed 1t was the opinion Of many
that this condition might be rescinded by both the
houses; but others feared that this proviso might
defeat the bill in the Senate. Yet the wings,
in their eagerness Of opposition, were unwil-
ling to trust to such chance. The measure
must pass in few hours, or fail. II was an admin
istration measure, and a whig senator was found
willing to stand up in the Senate Of the United
States, and consume the last moments Of a ses.
sion of Coz .ress ia a speech against time, to
defeat OF peace-and this, too, while
he himself had openly denounced the war, had re-
luctantly been forced to vote money to carry
1t on, and was constantly proclaiming himself q
member ofthe peace party, and an advocate Of the
whg policy of stopping to negotiatsi Hardly any
statesman in the country deliberately impaled
himself upon SO sharp selfcontradction as "hones
John Davis" when he deliberately spoke the two
million bill TO DEATH Some of the whig journals
the New York Tribune among them-are laboring
hard to him from the odium Of his act. 1t is
labor in vain. The thing was not done in corner
1t was done in the face of solemn expostulation
The whole Senate knew it. The country has taken
note of it, and will not forget it.
Now we put it to candid men of all parties, has
he uhip shaun
any consistency in its conduct in this busnesa' The
war is proclaimed, and the wings hesitate. Then
they resolve at to sustain the war by their votes
and to denounce 1t in their speeches. As soon as
they have put army in the field, some of them
would doom it to inaction by an armstice, for the
purpose of negotiation. And as soon as the admin
istration sees, believes that it Sees an opportunity
for negotiation, then of the wings, by gross
Of parliamentary privilege, withhold the
is the whig notion Of patriotism on question Of
war with foreign nation!
it is the honor of the administration, that its meas
ures of foreign policy do not receive the support Of
all the whig presses How indeed are the wings to be
pleased They hold the in abomination and they
call il all manner of hard names. They urge the
to make peace, and when the ad-
ministration sees fit to move in the direction of
peace, the wings plant themselves full in its path
The spirit of such course is manifest to all men,
1t is rsncorous party opposition, and cannot claim to
be anything else.
1t is impossible to see at present what will be the
result Of all this. The resolves Of the Mexican
Congress, and the movements Of the Mexican ad-
under Paredes, in some meas
ure appear to look to continuance of the
war. Another bloody battlefield may be need
ed to open the eyes of that misguided government.
1t is impossible to conjecture what effect will be
produced upon the Mexican policy by the arrival
of Santa Ana. His reinstatement in power seems
not improbable. He is a soldier by profession
Almonte seems to share his counsels, and he from
the first has fully committed himself on the question
of "war for Texas" Still, something may be
hoped, perhaps, from the ability and the judgment
of Santa Ana and from his oreat influenza with the