Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1847-03-11

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Mr.. BENTON said:
Mr.. PREsIDENr: The senator from South Carolina
Mr.. CALHoUNl has boldly made the issue as to the
authorship Of this war, and boldly thrown the
bane Of 1t upon the present administration. On the
contrary. believe himself to be the author Of 1t,
and Will give part Of my for believing So
In saying this, | do not consider the march to the
Rio Grande to have been the cause of the war, any
more than consider the British march upon Concord
and Lexington to have been the cause Of the Amer-
can revolution, or the crossing of the Rubicon by
Cesar to have been the cause Of the civil war In
Rome. In all these cases, consider the causes Of
war as Pre-exising. and the marches as only the e
feet OF these causes | consider the march upon the
Rio Gande being unfortunate and certainly should
have advised against it if had been consulted, and
that without the least fear of diminishing my infu
ence IN the settlement of the Oregon question. My
opinion of Mr.. Polk-and experience in that very
Oregon case has confirmed it-did not authorize me
to conjecture that any would lose influence with
him by giving him honest opinions SO would have
advised against the march TO the Rio Grande If had
been consulted. Nor do / see how any opinion ad-
verse to the Presidents to have the effect of les
senng his influence In the settlement of the Oregon
question: That question settled by us, not by
the President. Half the Democratic senators went
contrary to the Presidents opinion, and none OF them
lost influence with him that account and so can
see no possible connection between the facts Of the
and the senator's for not interfering TO save
his country from the which, he says, he saw
His reason is to me unintelligbe, incomprehensble
uncomfortable with the facts of the case. But the
march on the Rio Grande was not the cause Of the
war; but the of this event. like the causes of
our own revolutionary war; were in progress long be-
ore hostIlltes broke out. The causes of this Next
can war were long anterior to this march and, in
fact, every circumstance of then existed, except
The actual collision of arms. Diplomatic intercourse
had ceased commerce destroyed fleets and
confronted parh rod In
be broken: the contingency had occurred in which
Mexico had denounced the existence Of the in
corporation OF Texas, with a Mexican war on her
hands, had produced, in legal contemplation, The std
fHs oeh between the two countries and all this had
occurred before the march upon the Rio Grande, and
before the commencement of this administration and
had produced state of things which it was mpossi-
bic to continue and which could only receive their
solution from arms negotiation. The march to the
Rio tIrande brought the collision of arms but.
far from being the of the war, it itself the
effect Of these causes. The senator from South Car
DINA IS the author of those causes and therefore the
author of the war; and this l propose to show, at
present, by evidence drawn from hlmsef-from his
public official acts-leaving all the evidence derived
from other sources, from private and unofficial acts
for future production, if deemed necessary.
The senator from South Carolina, in his effort to
throw the blame of the upon the President, goes
10 further back in his search for than TO this
march upon the Rio Grande: upon the principle,
IT he wrote history of the American revolution, he
would begin at the march upon Lexington and Con-
cord, leaving of view the years work Of Lord
North's administration. No, the march upon the Rio
Grande was not the cause Of the had II not
been for pre-exsting causes the arrival of the Ameri-
can army on the Mexican frontier would have been
salued with military courtesy, according to the usage
OF all civilized nations and with none so much as
with the SPaniards. Complimentary visits, dinners,
and fandangoes, balls-not cannon balls-wOud have
been the salutation- The causes of the long
anterior; and begin with the beginning, and show
the senator from South Carolina an actor from the
first. In doing this, am acting in defence Of the
country, for the President represents the country.
1be senator from South Carolina charges the war
upon the President the whole opposition follow him
the bill under discussion is forgotten elimination of
the President is the object; and, in that crimi-
nation the country is injured by being made to appear
the aggressor in the This is my justification
Tor defending the President, and showing the truth
that the Senator, IN his of acquiring Texas,
is the true cause OF the war.
The cesson of Texas to Spain in 1919 is the Begin
ming point in the chain Of causes which have led
this war for unless the country had been ceded away
there could have been no quarrel with any power III
getting it back. For long time the negotiator. Of
that treaty of cesson Mr.. j. O. ADAMs) bore all the
blame of the loss Of Texas and his motives for Civ
ing 1t away were set down to hostility to the soutl
and west, aud desire clip the wings of the slave
dictated ITSELF and has shown who was the true author
of that mischief to The south and west. Mr.. Adam:
has made public declaration, which cOntro
serts, that that eession made III conformity tC
the decision of MIR. Monroe's cabinet, majority oil
which was slavehOlding, and among them the present
senator from South Carolina, and the only survi-
vor OF that majority He does not contradict the
statement OF MIR. Adams: he, therefore, stands adj
mtted the cOauthor of that mischief to the south
west which the cession of Texas involved, and to
cape from which it became necessary in the opinion
of the Senator from South Carolina to get back Tex
as at the expense of with Mexico. This conduct
Of the senator in giving away Texas when we had
her, and then making war 10 get her back, Is an
enigma which he has never yet condescended to ex
plain, and which, until explained, leaves him in q
state OF sefc0ntradction, which, whether IT impairs
his confidence in himself or not must have the
effect OF destroying the confidence of others In him
and wholly dsqualifes him for the Office of champion
of the slayeholding States 1t the heaviest blow
they had received and put end. in conjunction
with the Missouri compromise, and the permanent To-
cation of the Indians west Of the Mississippi, to then
future growth extension slave States. The
compromise. which then in full progress, and es
ablshed at the next session of Congress, cut off the
slave States from all territory north and west of Mis-
souri, and south of 36a degrees of north latitude: The
treaty of 1919 ceded nearly all south Of that degree
compromising not only all Texas but large part o
the valley OF the Mississippi on the Red river ant
the Arkansas, to foreign power, and brought non
slavehoding empire to the confines of Louisiana ant
Arkansas: the permanent appropriation Of the res
of the territory for the abode of civilized Indian,
swept the little saveholdng territory of Arkan
sas, and lying between the compromise line ard ihs
eession line; and left the slave States without
inch Of ground for their future growth Nothing wa
left. Even the then territory of Arkansas en-
eroached upon. breadth Of forty miles wide, ant
three hundred long, was cut off from her, and given
he and elo