Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1847-01-07

ureS OF redress, DC. III consequence of the pen
dency OF the mission of Mr. Slidel
Let 1t be admitted that the United States hav,
suffered much wrong from Mediterranean with
out swelling 1t by the elaborate exaggeration il
which the President INDUCES himself in his Mes
sage but who have been the immediate cause
and instrument OF these wrongsl Usurpers, mer
who have dlsregarded and trampled upon her Con
silutlor and forms Of law; who have put down al
order and legal accountability; and in their stead
have introduced universal confusion and mitar,
anarchy. SO far from having any regular and ac
countable Government, the social system of the
MeXlcans has for years exhibited a continued Sc
rles OF almost entire diSorganiZaton This sac
destiny has been brought upon them bv the delin.
quency, the violence, and the crimes of their ru.
lers. Admit that the injuries which we have re-
celved at the hands of Mexico have been sufficient
to excite desire lur redress or, YOU will even
for vengeance; yet, when we look at things as thev
exist In that unhappy country, and reflect that her
uoWh-trodden masses, upon whom chiefly the ca
lamltles of war fall, are innocent of our wrongs
and have not the power to right them, pity and lu-
manlty arrest the purpose that would intlct upon
them the direful scougsc of war Our arms might
carry desoation and mourning into all the novels
OF the miserable masses of Mexico, while the real
delnquenlS would be well-nigh as secure from
harm as the true author of this war, almost en-
throned as he Is in the palace in this Metropolis
| But had the President recommended war instead
OF declaring that he forebore to do so, Congress
might or might not have declared it. Probably
not as the President admitted that an existing
Government in Mexico was disposed to receive a
Ministry from US TO settle existing difficulties and
also that the country was on the verge of one of
its frequent revolutions If disposed 10 take a
remedy into our own hands, Congress might have
nd Mox ,
of war, which President Jackson had recommend
ed, and which was then and at all times amply
sufficient for redress, and for every purpose ex-
cept to deSpo! Mexico of portion of her territory
But, to return to the material question between
President POLK and the AMERICAN PEOPLE: Hosc
and Jy Whom sOas tbs ,rar beeun3 If by Mexico,
he stands absolved if by himself, he has far sur
passed all his predecessors in the bold abuse Of
power.
No threats on the part of Mexico amounted TO
War. in August, ei5, the American AInv, by
orders OF the President, took post at Corpus Chris
ii, on the west bank of the Nueces, and within
the line of the Texan settlements. 1t remained in
that position, unmolested by the Nexicans, until
March, 1916, when, under orders of the War De-
partment, it moved forward to occupy position
on the Rio Grande. In the execution of the Or
ders Of the President. the Commanding General
overtirew BY military force and expelled the Mex
icaa authorities from Santiago, took post OH the
Rio Grande, fortified his camp, mounted his can
non so to command the town of Matamoras, and
cut off ali communication with it by blockading
the mouth OF the river which it stands. Up to
that time Mexico had sent no forces across the
Rio Grande. The Texans had no settlements or
posts (nor ever have had any on the Rio Grande,
upon any of its tributaries, or within It's long val-
ley, from its sources 10 It's mouth. Texan officers,
4, 1
ed anywhere on the borders of the Rio Grande.
from the Green Mountains to the Gulf On the
contrary, the whole length of the country had been
discovered by the MexicaIs, and their uninterrup-
ted possession had continued up to that day. Be
ginning with the city of Taos, more than one
thousand miles up the Rio Grande, the Mexicans
had east of that river towns and cities, Santa Cruz,
Santa Fe (the capital of New Mexico,) San Miguel,
San Domingo, Albuquerque, Torreon, Totlllas,
Tajiqua, Nuireas, Iabira Falverde, Fra Cristo-
bal, Old Preside, Dolores, Laredo, and Point Is
abel stretching the whole length of the river, from
its sources to the Gulf. From the time that Mex
leo became Independent of old Spain, her iursdic-
ton, her laws, and her officers had swayed over
these cities and towns, and the entire rural popu.
lation of the country. Texas never had had
foothod in the country of the Rio Grande Such
the state of things urtil it was first interrupt
and all this was as well known to the President
as to any other man. Both Mexico and President
Polk have declared to the world that the u States
and Mexico were al peace, before Gen. Taylor
was ordered 10 march from the Nueces to the Rio
Grande. Certainly Mexico had not made war
upon the United States. No person will denv
that war-like act is war. Are not the marching
OF an army of one nation into territory that has
even been in the unbroken possession of another
with which il is at peace, and where the jursdic-
tion laws and authorities of the country thus as
sauited have been daily enforced, and the over
throw of these laws and authorities by the inva-
ding army, and the substitution of its military rule,
warlke acts! If these acts necessarily lead TO acar,
il is not competent for the President to authorize
Mem because the Constitution vests the whole
war power Of the Government in Congress. But
such acts are War, and in a most offensive form
Our armies have taken possession OF good part
OF New MEXICO and Chihuahua, without any actu-
al conflict OF arms; and who will not say that we
have not made war upon those Mexican States
No; the President has no more right or constitu-
tional power, of himself, to undertake such acts
than ne has TO appropriate money in the Treasu-
ry, or to decide causes in the Supreme Court. !
But the Message assumes boldly that the Rio
Grande, from its mouth to its source. is the ives
tern boundary of Texas. 1t predicates this con
clusion mainly upon the grounds that Texas had
always claimed to that boundary; that her Con.
gress by the act Of 1885, declared it to be so that
" in her treaty with Santa Anna, il Nay, 1895, he