Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1847-09-09
NUMBER g..

one o. her states or provinces, ilat she SUI
claimed II, and had continued 10 exercise
jurisdiction over It, till driven from It by our
army Of occupation that she invaded Il
with an armed force, il invasion il GIN be
called, not as territory belonging to ~, but
rs territory belonging TO her and tha, she
attacked our troops, not for The reason that
they were ours, but for the reatvs. a. she
he.d--and she had as good night TO be
Judge 10 her own case, as we had IN ours
that they were intfudeFs, tfespassg 4 on her
soil The motive Of her act 81 not war
against the United States, but q ~,eApnision
Of intruders from her Own tertiary No
sophistry can make her act war, --certainly
not without concedinQ that our acl Ia taking
military possession Of that territory was wur
also and If that was war, then the war, il
il existed at al, existed by our acs. and not
hers. for her act was consequent upon ours
The most that the President was II liberty
to say, without condenining his own gov
erumeut, was, that there had beer collis-
ion OF the forces OF the two republics on
territory claimed by each but th.s ssliision
he had no right 10 term war, for everybody
knows that il takes something more fhan a
collision OF their respective forces on dis
puted territory to constitute war between
two civilized nations. In no possible poiui
Of view was the announcement Of the Pres
dent that war existed between two repub.
lies, and existed by the act Of MsEjoo. cor
rect. II did not exist at all ; or IL il did. il
existed not by act Of Mexico, 5it by our
act In either case, the Official announce
ment was false. and cannot be defended.
at Is often hazardous in our pleadings to
plead what is not true, and in doing so in
the present case, the President has not only
offended morality, which he ray regard as
a small matter, but has even committed
b,under
"The course the President should have
pursued is plain and obvious On learning
the state OF things on the frontier, the crit
ical condition Of our army Of occupation.
be should have demanded Of Congress The
reinforcements aud supplies necessary 10 re-
lieve il and secure the purpose for which il
was ayowedly sent TO the Rio Grande; end
Il he believed il proper or necessary, TO
have in addition laid before Congress full
and truthful statement OF our relations with
Mexico, including all the unadjusted com
plants. past and present. we had against
her, accompanied BY the recommendation
OF declaration Of war He would then
have kept within the limits Of his duty, prov
ed himself plain constitutional Presidcn,
and left the responsibility Of war OF no war
90 Congress. the only war-making power
known 10 our laws. Congress, after mature
deliberations. might, or nigh, got, have de-
clared war--most likely not but whether
80 or not, the responsibility would have rest
ed with it. and no blame would have been
attached TO the President.
"Unhappily, this course did not occur 10
the President, or was too plain and simple
10 meet his appreciation. BY declaring that
the war already existed, aud ~ the act Of
Mexico herself, the President relieved Con-
gress Of all the responsibility Of the war, by
throwing il all on Mexico But since he
cannot fasten il on Mexico-for war did not
already exist, or If SO, by our act and not
hers--it necessarily recoils upon himself.
and he must bear the responsibility Of do.
ing what the Constitution forbids him 10 do
--of making war without the intervention
Of Congress. In effect. therefore. he has
irampled the Constitution under his feet. set
dangerous precedent, and. By the official
publication Of palpabe falsehood, sullied
the national honor. Il is with no pleasure
we speak thus Of the Chief Magistrate OF
the Union, for whose elevation to his high
and responsible Office we ourselves voted
But whatever may be our attachment to par
Vt. or the respect we hold 10 be due from
all good citizens to the civil magistrate, we
cannot see the Constitution violated, snd
The national honor sacrificed, whether BY
friend OF foe, from good motives or bad,
without entering. feeble though il be, our
stern snd indignant protest.
"But passing over this, we have yet 10 be
convinced, whatever were the Just causes Of
complaint we had against Mexico, that the
war was called for. We are willing TO adj
nit that we had suffered grevous wrongs
from Mexico, and that we have shown ex-
emplary forbearance, and treated her with
generosity but she had shown willing
ness 10 treat with US, and the greater pat,
If not all, Of the old offences we had had
10 complain Of she had acknowledged, and
they had been settled in convention Of the
two republics. True, she had not, in all
cases, fulfilled her engagements; but she
had manifested no unwillipgness to fulfil
them, and no one doubts that she would
have fulfilled them, had il not been for her
unsettled and distracted internal stale. The
more recent difficulties growing out Of the
affair Of Texas demanded great delicacy
and iorbearance on our part She felt her
self wronged and humblcd by the annexa.
ton OF Texas 10 the Onion, and, however
blameworIhy we may choose to regard her
conduct, we are sure, ifthe causes had been
reversed, we hould have behaved at least
no better than she did She protested, as
was her undoubied right, against the annex
alton Of Texas; but she committed no act
Of violence against US, 50 long as we con.
fired our army Of occupation to territory
over which Texas had actually exercised ia.
risdiction, We might well have forbor 3
10 press our claims further, and il would
have been no derogation 10 our national
dignity to have RETAINED from pushing our
claims ut once TO their farthest limits
against weak, humbed and distracted
neighbor- II would have been Just and wise
10 rive her time 10 cool -fime for har