The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1847-12-28

Win meAlcO, so lar as war between two Chris
uan Nations Is ever just or necessary; vet war
with Mexico, distracted, weakened, and i'm
lpoverlshed as she had long been and then was
with lntestlnes factions and divisions, was nei
Their necessary, magnanimous, nor honorable
on our part. Such a war, even for Just OBJ
jects, being unnecessary-the only inevitable
effect indeed upon the claims for which it would
be waged being to fasten them upon our own
Treasury instead ofthe Mexican-could never
reduced to the glory of the country, and much
less compensate for the rivers of blood and
heaps Of treasure which have been already
wasted in this war
But, to pass all this by, whether the exis-
ting war be just or unjust, necessary or I'M
necessary, IS not the question now at issue be-
tween the President and the People. Was
this War the act OF the Sovereign People of
the United States, declared in their name, as
the only manner known or acknowledged by
the Constitution-by the Senate and House
Of Representatives in Congress, to whom alone
it belongs to determine, whether War, at any
time or under any circumstances, be lust and
necessary? Or was it, whether crime or a
mistake, the unauthorized act Of the President,
to whom the Constitution has denied all power
over the question of War? This is the true
question; nor can all the wire-drawn sophistry
and special pleading of the Presidents Mes
sage Of last year, referred to in that (which is
now before us, deceive single individual. be
he Wing or be he Democrat, of common sense
or common information, against the well au-
thenticated facts in the case. Need We add,
that, whoever the President be, who trampling
down the barriers which the Constitution has
erected for the protection of the general well
fare, and for the security of the life, liberty, &
property of the citizen, of his own mere will &
pleasure plunges the Country into War, with
or without cause-that man is Despotl The
Nation that quietly folds its arms and permits
this to be done with impunity, may delude it
self with the fancy that it lives under q writ
ten Law and Constitution, but it is an idle
dream. The Nation is n Nation of slaves, and
lives under Despotism
To, proceed, however, to the main point up-
on the reassertion ofwhich alone the President
relies to justify himself before his own fellow
citizens for his agency in the War, viz that
the Mexican Government finally, under Who'll
ly unjustifiable pretexts, involved the two
countries in war, by invading the territory Of
Texas, striking the first blow, and shedding
the blood of our citizens on American soil,
Not one irOri Of This is true. We regret the
necessity, but the President imposes upon us
the obligation of renewing the demonstration
of the utter falsity of the whole of it. Mexico
did not involve the two countries in war: Mex
leo did not invade the territory of Texas: Hex
leo did not strike the first blow: Mexico did
not shed the blood of our citizens on our own
| soil.
This whole question, it will be seen, resolves
itselfinto one Of territorial boundary.
Did, at the breaking out of this war, the
territory between the Nueces and the Rio
Grande del Norte) belong to Mexico or to
the United States?
1t did not belong to the United States. The
Rel ublic Of Texas had no right to il. She had
not even a respectable claim to it. She pre-
tended TO no such title when she called n Con-
vention to form her Constitution; for not a
member was called TO that Convention from
any portion of the territory bounding on the
Rio Grande. Nor when in her Constitution.
she appointed the Representation in her Leg
stature among the several districts other terri
tory, did she enumerate any districts lying up
on the Rio Grande as entitled to rep
resentation in the Texas General Assembly
| The whole country on the Rio Grande, and in
deed the whole country west of the Nueces,
except the small settlement of San PatriciO,
was exclusively in possession of the Mexicans,
until the army of the United States marched
into it. driving before IT the Mexican civil off
GERS and the peaceful inhabitants. Texas hav-
ing no title in the territory. the annexation Of
Texas to this Union could confer none upon
the United States. Were peace to be made
tomorrow, on the basis Of leaving things AS
| they were before the war, the territory be-
tween the Nueces and the Rio Grandc would
still constitute part Of the Mexican States OF
Tamaulipas, &c.
This state of the fact is none of our first dis
covering, much less of our imagining. We
derive nearly all our information on the sub
iect from the highest Democratic authority.
When the Treaty with Texas by which she
undertook to convey TO the United States
western boundary to the Rio Grande, was de-
pending in the Senate, MIR. Thomas Hart
Benton (hiah authority on the subject indig-
nantly denounced it as an attempted fraud and
outrage.
81 wash my hands," said he, 'of all attempts
TO dismember the Mexican Republic, by seiz-
ing her dominions in New Mexico, chihuahua
Coahuila, and Tamaulil a. The treaty, in all
that relates to the boundary Of the Rio Grande
is an act of unparalleled outrage on Mexico. 1t
IS a seizure of two thousand miles of her ter
ritory, without a word of exI lanatiOn with her
and bv virtue Of a treaty with Texas, to which
she is no party
Mr. Benton further declared that the claim
set up by Texas by the Treaty, if maintained,
would cut off ''the capital and forty eight town
and villages ofNew Mexico, nov and always
as fully under the dominion OfMe.ico as Que
bee and all the towns of Canada arc under the
dom;I ion o Great fr.tian."
Mr. Benton closed his speech by offering
the following resolution
Resolred, That the corporation of the left
bank of the Rio del Norte into the American
Union, by virtue of treaty with Texas, com
pretending as thesaid incorporation would do,
a portion Of the Mexican departments of New
Mexico. chihuahua, Coahuila, and Tamauli- !
pas, would be an act Of direct aggression upon
JEerico, for all the consequences Of achich the
United States scoud stand responsible.
To the same effect, the great Democratic
leader. the Hon. Silas Wright, (whose late
death has been 50 justly lamented by men of
all parties,) who was present during the whole
debate upon the Texas Treaty, and gave his