Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-06-18
Massachusetts Legislature.
REPORT or Mr.. KETES on THE
MEXICAN TT.2R.
(C5niinucd.)
Horrors # The War.

such Is the origin oil lhlS war, ana SucN are
its objects. But there are other points Of
view in which it has not yet been regarded.
In estimating lis character, we cannot be blind
to the suherings which it has caused, not on
Nv in Mexico but in our own country. No
hostile f%ootstep has pressed any portion Of our
soil no smoke Of our enemy camp has been
seen within our borders. But sorrow I'M
speaka6ie has visited many homes. Brave
olTicers have been cut down in the flower of
life the wounded and dead have been left
together on the battlefield. But climate has
been more fatal even than the bullet or sword.
Many who left their homes in all the pride Of
hope and wealth., now sleep the last sleep, in
the foreign soil which they had invaded, with
out having met a foe. Many, also, have
shrunk from the service. 1t appears, from a
communication of the adjutant general Of the
United States, that, of the 7O3 officers, and
1895 non-commissioncd officers and pri-
Yates, making an aggregate of volunteer for
ces under Gen. Taylor Of l6,695 men, there
had been discharged, up TO the It'll December,
5,O79.
1t is sad to know that decentralization of all
kinds has crept into the camp; though II
could not be expected that such considerable
bodies Of men, away from the restraints OF
civil society, aud stimulated by vicious COM
panionship, could escape this condition.
Murder, assassination and rapine, have occur
red among our own soldiers, who, like the
armed men that sprang from the Dragons
teeth, IN the classical fable, have more than
once striven in deadly quarrel, with each
other.
The warning elements have also mingled
with the bad passions of men, and shipwreck
has added to the losses and sufierings of our
people-relieved, however, by the precious
syInpathies which, in this time of peril, were
EXTENDED by strangers.
But who can measure the trials of the un-
fortunate Mexicans? Battle has ragged in
their corn-ields, on the banks of their rivers,
and in their streets. Not soldiers only-steel-
ed to tho hardships of war-but women and
children, have felt its aggravated HORRORS
Houses in whose shelter should live only the
domestic virtues, have been converted into
castles, and attacked and defended with fatal
f%erocity. American cannon have been point
ed at a bishops palace; shells, filled with
death, have been sprinkled among innocent
inhabitants of more than one Mexican city i;
while the brutal lus,s and unrestrained law
~Iessness of soldiers have added to the mise
yies Of battle and siege.
Cost Of tie Var.
Nor shoald we be Indifferent to the enor-
nous expenditures which have already been
lavished upon the war, and the accommodating
debt which will hold in mortgage the future
resources OF the country. 1t is impossible to
estimate the exact amount of these. At thi,
moment, the cost of the war cannot be less
than seventy millions. 1t may be a hundred
millions.
This sum is so vast as to be beyond easy
comprehension. 1t may be estimated, partly,
by reference to the cost of other objects OF in
IL. L IL f,.l- =.
common schools throughoutthe United States.
1t is ample for the endo Wment of three oil
more institutions, like Harvard College, in
every State. 1t would plant churches in all
the neglected valleys in the land. 1t would
bind and interlace every part Of the country
by new railroads. 1t would make our broad
and rude soil blossom like a garden. And
If, in an suspicious moment, 1t were diverted
from the work of destruction in Mexico tC
the noble charity of succoring distressed Ire
land it would carry certain comfort to a whole
people, now in the pangs of famine.
Unconstlutionahiy IF the Var.
The war should not fail, also, to be regard
ed in the light of the Constitution. And her
we must be brief. The stages by which tn
country has reached il, have been as uncon
stitutional as its objects. Eirst-Texas wa
hhllSACu ny JOllh iIoOluilpllo y NOlSlOoos 1
violation Of the Constitution. Second-Th
President, in undertaking to order Gen. Tay
lor, without the consent Of Congress, to marc
upon territory in the possession of Mexico
assumed a power which belongs to Congress
alone. To Congress had been committed tn
dread thunderbolt Of war. Congress sha
have power TO declare war; are the words
the Constitution. But the President ha
usurped the most terrible authority. His o
der to Gen. Taylor was an unauthorized az
of war. Third-As a war of conquest, an
for the extension of slavery, it is contrary
the principle of our Constitution, which, al
cording to the words Of the preamble, wa
formed to provide for the common dgenS
promote the general welfare, and secure II
blessings IF HbHrty to ourselves and our PoSie
iy.' Such a wal as that in which we al
now engaged, can find no sanction in tines
words; it is not for the common defense NJ
TO secuye the blessings # liberty. Fourth-A
a war to strengthen the 'Slave Power it
also unconstitutional. Thus it may be branC
ed as a fourfold inlraction Of the iundamenti
law of the land.
CriminaHiy Of tie War.
And it is also a violation of the fundameI
tai law of Heaven, of that great law Of Righ
which is written by Gods own finger on Il
heart of man. His EXcellency said nothin
beyond the Truth when, in his message, /
declared that an offensive and unnecessal
war was the highest crime which a man ca
commit against society,"
1t is so; for all the demons of Hate a
then let loose in mad and causeless eareef.r
Misrule usurps the place Of order, and on