Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1847-03-20

sEyEsrHLY.-To compel Merieo 10 repay 10 as
the expenses 10 ,ehieh we hare pat ourselves N
carrying on me rar wifhia her borders.
"The War;" says the President, in his De-
cember Message 10 Congress, I" will be vigorously
prosecuted there in Mexico with view TO OBJ
tain an honorable peace, and thereby secure am
pie Indemnity for The expenses Of The ,oar."
These expenses should the war be brought to
an end even sooner than we see any reason
to hope will have already exceeded hundred
millions of dollars. The Government of Mexico
at this moment finds itself unable to raise one
million OF dollars for its immediate necessities !;
and there is no hope or expectation of her be-
ing able TO pay us in money for claims of any
sort. This fact is so well known TO the President
that he has prevailed upon Congress to grant him
three millions of dollars TO pay TO Mexico ABB
surd as all this is il all helps to prove that this
claim of indemnify" is only another of those
sounding phrases which your "conquerors en-
ploy to conceal their rapacity. indemnify means
Mexican territory. If il meant--what those pre-
tend who use it--any thing else, il would deserve
only derision and contempt.
Having gone through the generally auo,o-
ed causes and objects Of the War; and shown how
wholly fimsy and inadequate they are we come
now to that which, though always suspected to
have induced this war, has but recently come to be
confessed and openly avowed. The object for
which the war is now prosecuted, on our part is
EIoHTHLY-Isrritorin conquest.
The lust Of dominion, the greediness for acquisi-
tion--the vice of man and of governments-the pas
sion which animaes alike the speculator and the
highwayman, the gambler for empire and the gam
bier for gold-the lust of dominion is now the ami
mating motive of this war; if not its true source and
cause That it is its present object, we are spared
the labor of demonstrating. The mask is thrown
of. CONQUEST, present object of the war,
has been officially recognised admitted, and applaud
ed. Witness, all our geaders-witness all the Peo-
ple the following paragraph from the Report of the
Commiase of Foreign Relations I'll. r. in response
to va is called, in the Report itself, the Presi-
depgsWar Message" of the 18th of last month:
w. Complaints of the resort to territorial conquest
IRON Mexico are disarmed of reproach by the un-
deniabs facts that Mexico, by war, constrains the
United States TO TAKE CONQUEST WHAT, eUer
since Merican independence, every american I'D
ADMINISTRATION BEEN STRIVING TO GET BY PUR
military and naval execution Of them, FOR THE
ACHIEVEMENT OF CONQUEST, have conformed not
merely to long-established policy of our own Gov
ernment, but wise principles of self-preservation
indispensable to all provdent government"
We shall waste no words upon this confession,
or rather this parade, of governmental morality
and policy in our Foreign Relations, such as, being
practsed upon by any individual, would d. ,w
4 III
laws established by society for the punishment of
crimes against civilization and against humanity
itself. It's enough for us to place it, in its naked
deformity, fully in the public view, TO call down
upon it the just Reproduction of all honest men.
This is perhaps our last effort to impress upon
readers our own conceptions and convictions con-
corning the origin and character of the in which
we are engaged. We have raised our warning
voice in vain against its further prosecution for its
now avowed object. The consequences of dsre-
garding such warning show themselves in the re-
cent occurrences in the neighborhood of the CAPT.
tai of Santa Fe, and in the growing rage and
desperation of the population of Mexico generally.
But Congress, disregardng all appeals to it from
within and without the walls of the Capitol, has,
on adiourning left the President to manage this
at his mere will and pleasure, unlimited and I'M
controlled by any restraint whatever. Warning
and remonstrance are now alike unavailing. Unless,
therefore, selfdefence shall obge US to change
purpose, we shall henceforlh, for time at least,
confne ourselves in regard to this war; TO the hum
BILE Office Of faithfully chronicling its events.
We cannot now quit the subject, however, with
out saying that there is nothing in the character of
this war to lessen admiration of the gallanry and
general good conduct of those of our citizens, whe-
Their of the Army proper Of the Volunteer forces,
who have taken an active part it. The Army, in
executing the orders of its Commander-n-Ch the
Presidential the United States, has done than
its duty, but has done il with bravery, skill and
constancy which have won even from its enemies,
admiration and respect. The Volunteers, who,
mostly from patriotic impulse, upon the report
of and danger to be faced under their countrys
flag, rushed to the encounter, have shown what this
People would be capable Of should their county
ever be really endangered, and its rights theirs
placed in jeopardy by a foreign invasion. Many
among them, and the higher officers without excep-
ton, las far know, deserve to have their
inscribed on the roll of patriot warriors who have
sacrificed all personal considerations and boldly
faced all dangers under sense of duty to their
country, which will not fail to bring honor to