The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1847-02-26
TlIE MEXICAN WAR.
SPEECH OF MR.. SAWYER, OF OHIO.
Dsliuered in the House Of Representatives,
~

I d
Dslipered in the House Of Representatives.,
December 20, 1886, on the Resolutions to
refer the Presidents Massage to he afe
| propriate Standing Comminess. M. ,lri
aaf CONCLUDED. Nea
The Federal press of this country seem
determined NOT to be outstriPped by their
religious teachers Of old. The editor ofthc
New York Tribune, among the sharpest set
and keenest of his creed--who has kept him
self on short allowance and fed on bran bread
until his skeleton frame is fairly Whitfield
into the anatomy of Cabin Edson--thus
breaks forth upon the war: SIS Ns
What means this Wharf.-The House Of
Representatives has virtually declared war
against Mexico. Wha, is implied in thsti
1t means that, so far assour Goyernment
can effect it, the laws Of Heaven aressas-
pended, and those of hell established il their
stead. 1t means that the commandments
are TO be read and obeyed by our people
thus: Thou shalt kill Mexicans; thou shalt
steal from them, hate them, burn their houses,
ravage their fields, and FIRE red-hot cannon
balls into towns swarming with their wives
and children. II means that we are to stop
producing food, clothing, and comforts, and
turn to making swords, bullets, chain-shots,
shells, and all the devilish enginery Of human
carnage. lt-meaHs that we are to exhaust
our treasury, multiply taxes, incur public
debis, and mortgage the sweat and blood of
honest labor for untold years TO come. Ii
means security, quiet, and gladness, are to
l. ha 1riu nth nd ta.r
places usurped by butchery, rape, devasta-
tion, and horror. 1t means that improve.
ment is 10 be arrested, the blessed acts of
peace neglected, and the werld recede to-
ward the midnight Of barbarism."
| dom, know, sir, but in the face of this
precious morsel Of editorial patriotism,
"brother Gardiner" as well as "broihers
Osgood and Parsh," will have to give in. 1t
seems fairly TO oulstrip them all. Before
any rump Federal court that could be raked
together, it would beat the cleverest thing
they have eve said, aud give them twenty.
in the game. For this beautiful blossom Of
the Imagination, the Mayor of New York
should have him Immediately voted the
freedom Of the city. Due honors should
never be cruelty withheld from the truly
deserving. But ,he Tribune editor, with a
spirit of patriot 6re yet unquenched and un-
subdued, could scarcely permit this modest
expression of his feelings to stand alone -
He follows up his hand, and thus appeals 10
the whole people of this country:
"People of the United States, your rulers
are precipitating you into falhomeless abyss
Of crime and calamity! Why sleep you
thoughtless on its verge, as though this was
not your business, or murder could be hid
from the sight of God by few fimsy rags
called bannerss Awake and arrest the work
of butchery ere it shall be too late to pres
erve your souls from the guilt Of wholesale
slaughter! Hold meetings! Speak out!-
Ac,w H l1e
Following the lead of the Tribune ,though,
confess, in something of a modified tone
of bitterness,) the Ohio State Journal, the
leading Federal print in my own State.
adopts the following, in reference to the hor-
rors of this war:
"Mr. Polk and his advises, who have
brought this war upon us, begin 10 repent Of
the madness and folly that have character.
lied their proceedings. '
They are anxious to throw upon Mexico the
responsibility Of bringing about the war -
They would represent our Government as
kind and forbearing, under long continued
provocations and aggressions. They would
proclaim Mexico the aggressor, and charge
upon her the butchery Of American citizens
on American soil?"
The Wings were willing to man, 10
vete means TO defend our soil, and rescue
our gallant army, endangered by the weak
ness and wickedness Of the President, but
they were not willing to expose the country
TO all the horrors Of protracted war by de-
claring the war already commenced, when
they had received no official notice that the
war-making power Of Mexico had authorized
an assault. If the blsod of
gall ant men is 10 be spilled, if the treasury
is to be impoverished. our vessels plundered
and scuttled, and their crews butchered, il
our coast is TO be exposed and the nation
made 10 feel the horrors of war they wished
the country 10 remember who brought about
these things" .s,, s,
| And the editor of the Boston Atlas, faith
fully Ginning IN with the rude snathemas Of
l ssthose who had gone that way before him."
vehemently exclaims, " All the wrong Of the
war--all the evil Of it" all the sorrow il
may occasion, belongs TO Mr.. Polk" And
how promptly and we'll, teo, did one OF my
colleagues, at the last session, give vent TO
the like expressions of condemnation in this
Hall. Pitching his voice to the most indig..
nant and inAamma,ory tone, he proclaimed
to us here: Send your armies, in the pro.
secution Of this illegal, unrighteous, and
II lax,a,ablo xzras iS iha .roouniaina of MaYica.