Weekly national intelligencer., 1847-12-18
THE PRESIDENTS MESSaGE.-No. III

The Administration, speaking through Its mouth
piece, (he Union,' affects to consider this jour
na in what it has had occasion to say Of that part
of the Message which relates to the War with
Mexico, as being the organ OF the Wing party in
Congress. We protest against this assumption.
We claim to speak only as journalists of some ex-
perience who, in the present critical state of public
affairs-to all the honor of which. no one, not
even the President himself will deny that the Exc
cutve is Justly entitledhave felt it to be an ndis-
pensable duty to communicate to their readers,
without reserve, what they know and what they
think of it. We do not believe that the word Wing
was mentioned in the whole course of our review.
We certainly were thinking Of the revolving char
acter of War and its consequences to the whole
country, and not of its effect upon this or that
party. Unlike the partisan of power, who gave
out, about year ago, that the war mast be pro-
longed at least until after the Presidential cleo
tion,' we were writing under deep and solemn
conviction that the interest and the true welfare
of twenty millions of souls, over whom this Gov
ernment extends, required this war to be brought
to an end as early as it could be, consistently with
National honor; and, as one of the arguments for
bringing it to an end, undertook to show that it
ought never to have been begun.
The Executive organ represents us, in doing this,
as having thrown the lie direct into the teeth Of
the National Executive Our readers will bear
us witness that we did not so far forget ourselves.
We should as soon have thought of accusing the
President of tredson-an offence with which, in his
Annual Message of last year, he did not scruple to
stigmatize all those who had the hardihood to dis
pute the necessity or expediency of His Mexican
War-as to have done what the government paper
mputes to u.s. We certainly differ very widely
from His Excellency with regard to the facts upon
which he relies for his defence for involving the
country in this war. We declare certain propo-
sitions, upon which, in his Message, he himself
places his justification to his fellow citizens for this
war, to be untrue We think that we have proved
them to be so. But we have not pretended to say
that the President himself beieues them to be un-
true: we are not the keepers Of the Presidents
conscience. But, if he do believe them to be true,
we may yet be allowed to lament the misfortune of
his country that he should, under that deluson,
have been the cause of throwing away so many
lives and SO large amount of the public treasure,
which might, both lives and treasure, have been SO
much more wisely and usefully employed.
plant against us that we have not said word TO
conrovert the statement of the Message that indem-
nifty cannot be obtained from Mexico sin any other
form than by cesson of territory" Let the Ad-
ministraton be appeassd upon this point Let il
be admitted that Mexico cannot pay sa money even
what she owes much less what she does not. Let
it be admitted, also, however, as conclusively put
by one of our contemporaries, that the argument
thus insisted upon is deadly fatal to that other sug-
gestion in the Message, that, by means Of forced
contributions levied upon Mexico through our mill
tary commanders, the future expenses Of the war
are to be betrayed. The two propositions cannot
stand together.
The government paper in like manner claims from
us acquiescence in sundry other positions OF the
Message, for that we have not controverted them.
In reply to which it is enough to say that we have
not done with the Message. But who on earth
would think of undertaking seriously to refute such
a proposition as that of the Message re-stated by
the Union as follows THAT the Congress OF
the United States is as fully committed by its past
: acts, as the President claims il to be in his Mes
sage, to the whole purpose and doctrine of prose
cutting the war to the acquisition of full terrific
= toral indemnity 7" The only answer that can be
made TO such proposition, which the Z" Union
expresses surprise that we have not said " one
word to contradict is, that il is impossible to find
even I" one word in any act or resolution of the
Congress of the United States to sustain it. Con-
gress is in no way whatever committed to the
schemes of conquest and dominion which are al
length aUo,oed by the Executive. If any thing OF
the sort can be found on the statute-bool--if the
assertion Of the Message in this respect be not
wholly groundess-it is in the power of the
Union" to give US chapter and verse for it.
There are other things in the reply of the organ
of the Administration 10 the National InelIisencer,
which, had we the necessary time at command,
might be considered worthy of special notice But
for the present we pass them blythe poor rbaldry
included, with which some graduate OF Billingsgate
has boen allowed to soil the columns Of journal
which ought to reflect to the extent of decency at
least, the manners well as the sentiments of fhe
gentlemen who control it-and proceed 10 offer to
our readers the following
FURTHER VIEWS OF THE MEXICAN WAR.
Amongst the allegations of the government pa
per, In its reply to this Journal is the following:
The nteieencer does not even pretend to make any at
he of fact