Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1847-01-26
Debate on The war with Mexico.
SPEECH OF Mr.. KENNEDY.
Mr. KRNNEDv addressed the committee


as follows:
Mr.. CHAIRMAN: shall not stop. like
the gentleman who preceded me, to inform
the committee what my intentions have
been as TO addressing them or the House,
for the reason that suppose il is not ma.
terial or interesting. But if understood
the gentleman rightly, he has spoken for
the sole purpose of bringing himself under
the denunciations of the President, as ut
tered in his late message. Does the gen.
tleman mean to say that he speaks for the
purpose of giving said and comfort to the
enemy 2" Against such, only, are the
denunciations of the message hurled.
Mr.. GENTRY. Does the gentleman
attribute such a position to ric2
Mr.. KENNEDY. understood the gen.
tleman to express a desire to bring him.
self under the range OF the President s
denunciations.
MIR. GENTRY. Yes, for the purpose OF
showing that despised and scorned them.
Mr.. KENNEDY. ] am perfectly willing
to give the gentleman the benefit of all
desired explanations. For although he
has shown great zeal and earnestness in
advocating the cause of his country's enc
mics, yet certainly he has shown as great
a want of tact. The Mexican Govern
ment may have, on this floor, men OF
greater talent than they have in the field
at home yet, after all, they want the
tact. r.
Nj. GENTRY. The genlleman-
The CHAIRMAN. Does the gentleman
yield the floor
Mr.. KENNEDY. Oh, certainly, for ex-
PLANTATION.
Mr.. GENTRY. l suppose the gentle
man has right to arrive at his own con
ciusions; but when he assumes that am
giving ''aid and comfort to the enemy,
he jumps to conclusions which have no
foundation in fact. And
Mr.. KENNEDY. | assume nothing
The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from
Tennessee has the floor for explanation.
Mr.. GENTRY. lfhe means that giving
''aid and comfort to the enemy is to ex-
press The belief that in certain circuIn
stances our liberties are more endangered
by an usurping President than by one
thousand well-appointed invading armies,
| am giving said and comfort Iam up
holding the Constitution of nay country by
refusing 10 yield it zap to an usurper and
his servile adulators. If | assumed any
other position at this time, | should be
preparing the way to make my country as
degraded, low, and infamous, as is Mexi.
CO.
Mr.. KENNEDY. Without stopping at
this time to show the total absence ofany
grounds. for this philippe against the Pres
ldent fer usurping power in the prosecu-
ton Of the Mexican war, or TO show with
what contempt all intelligent men, at home
and abroad, look upon this silly effort at
hiding from the just indignation due 10
''moral treason" viii only say, that if
the gentleman means TO put himself in the
position which fir construction of his
language implies, then, indeed, has he
all the courage for which be gives him.
self credit.
The biting, whitening scorn, always
visited by virtuous people upon the very
memory of man guilty of moral trcasoc
against the country that gives him pro-
lection and position. is, indeed, fearful !;
and the man who could court it, should
think neither fears God nor man.
The gentleman commences his TRADE
by most vehement denunciation Of the
President and his friends. The language
which he uses is such as / scarcely know
how to reply to, without letting myself
down to the gutter in which such Ian
guage is found. He charges the Presi-
dent with being liar New, although
| feel myself above replying in terms to
such language, | will venture to suggest,
that the gentleman, in this assertion, has
invited the world to decide that he is gull
ty of the charge made against the Presi.
dent. The gentleman also throws him
selfinto attitudes, accompanied with grim.
aces, how dignifed, leave for those who
saw him to determine, in order to repre-
sent the servility, as he is pleased to call
it, with which the Democrats approach
the Executive of the nation. Feeling
myself totally incapable of approaching
any mortal man with servility, | viii not
charge on him a capacity for such servil-
ity, leading him TO suspect others Of its
practice; but | will say. that If the world
should judge him with halflhe rigor be has
judged US, the world would be authorized
to say that his present unpatriotic position
towards his own Government grows rath-
er out Of his servility to the views of a
certain great Senator, Gas lately express
ed in the Chinese Museum in Philadei-
phia, than from what be has learned
from his petriotic constituents ofthe noble
State of Tennessee. But he complains
that the President. in his message, has
warned the people against those who have
been SO farforgetfuI Of their duty to them
selves, TO their country, and their God. as
TO give aid and comfort 10 the enemy. by