The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1847-10-12

1t is no lust cause war and Just and pro
per- it is sudden emergency authorizing The Eree"t'e
TO plunge the government into and especially whei
Congress is in session. ready at moment to receive al
vices and upon them look upon it, therefore, thai
this ground is pretext."
The third and last "pretext of the war, alleged by
Mr. Webster the debts and claims due the citizens OF
the United States as forth in the following speclca
ton:
''Wer then comes another Mexico it is said, had de-
cned to pay the debts due United States citizens from
their citizens. believe that is true but II was not pun
forth the of in the message OF the President
on the lh of May 1896 it not in the act OF Congress OF
the 18th of May. 1t is not, therefore, the cause put upon
record for the of the government is an dfterhongm
And here again. the of debts and claims OF citizens
of the United States upon Mexico is matter of long stand
ing. The condition of Mexico as reprehensble SIX
months before, it that day but there was mani
tested disposition make it cause of war To say
therefore, that this founded upon the refusal OF
Mexico pay her debts, is preex and nothing but
preext."
Such, then, are the "pretexts" which, Mr.. Web
ster alleges the President seeks to Justify the The
irst-namey, the shedding of American blood upon
American SOIL being the original petext; and the remain
ing wohe refusal to receive minister and the refu-
sal to pay the debts and claims due our citzenst1ere
roughts" Well, being preterts," they were, OF
course, false, and were not, in point OF fact the true
grounds on which the waged. The charge
which Mr. Webster alleges against the President is that
he has set forth the three pretexts" above stated as
grounds in justification of the war; that they were not
the grounds; and that therefore, the President has
attempted juafye on these faseoods, deliberate
ly uttered for all of them 'pretexs" and two OF
them las Mr.. Webster says) psychologists"
These charges will be promptly met, and hurled back
upon the brazen caumnator of his government, and
shameless apoogst of his countrys enemy who has pre-
sumed to utter them But we must first follow him along
through the toruous wndngs of his speech so redoent
with Misrepresentation and the spirit of treason, and
what he alleges as the true cause of the
In the first place, he charges Mr.. Calhoun with saying
that 'if there had been annexation of Texas, there
would have been no war" But this deliberate attempt
to msrepresent and disgrace Mr. Calhoun by fastening
an axiom of New England federalism upon that eminent
gentleman, is thus repealed by the Charleston Is. CO.
Evening News
And upon this point think Mr.. Calhoun is again mis-
represented in the above paragraph particularly when taken
connexion with other parts of the speech Mr. Webster
clearly desires make appear that he has Mr. Calhouns
authority for his doctrinehat the annexation OF Tex
the of the Admitting that Mr. Calhoun
has said all that there laid to his door, part OF which we
doub he certainly intended to warrant the inference
drawn from it, On the contrary he has always main
tanned that the annexation of Tras Of itself peaceful
operation and that the not consequence tegt-
atey or necessarily focing from it, Even after hosties
had commenced did he stand up in his place and con-
lure senators pause in the declaration OF war; for that
there was even hope that that direul might be
avoided There greater sophsry than that
contained Mr. Websters expression no annerdt on-no
rar He might have just well charged the war to the
union between the States, and dramatically exclaimed,
No For it is Just as true that there would
have been between the United States and Mexico
without the unioR without the annexation Of Texas
But Mr. Webster gropes al ong little farther, and
L l. IL L.
berately, but vany attempted to pin to the skirts of
Mr. Calhoun, 1t is no less parsonage than the presi
dent of the convention, Mr.. Ashmun, member of Con-
gress from Massachusetts, and well known for his rant
ing aboltionism He has probably, got hold of the
real author Addressing Mr.. Ashmun, he says
.sS have alluded the declaration of Mr. Calhoun, that
there had been annexation of Texas there would have
been choose say, sir, that agree in your
sentiment, expressed in your own forcble way in your
place the House of Representatives that the direct
qences he act Of inqtty in the annexation Of Ieras,
the in chich zoe are notc engaged"
Thus it was the annexation Of Texas, according to
Mr. Ashmun and Mr.. Webster that was the real and
true cause of the war with Mexico, and not the "pre-
erts falsely set forth by the President according to
Mr. Webster, as the causes justification Thus does
Mr. Webster falsfy his own words-but more upon this
point anon.
NOW, aleT discovering tHdl the VI leSdS
was the real and true of the would it not be
remarkable for so stupendous man as Mr.. Webster
who in the estimation of his friends is "godlike,' and
therefore, should be pretty nearly omnscient and nfali
ble--is it not remarkable, we say, that Mr. Webster
should have discovered another and only of
the war-the "precse" cause And yet it is even so.
He says:
sThe precise object Of this is proved by facts and cir
c,Itfst ! sntis
The precise object of this mas to establish gou-
Marco, by the restoration of Santa Anna, which
should yield the question of Texan independence and give
us no trouble on that account
Them after all, the annexation OF Texas was not the
true cause of the war; but ii to establish govern
ment in Mer,co, by the restoration of Santa Anna" If
that had not been the precise object" and, of course
the cause, there would, necessary logical sequence
from Mr. Webster's proposition, have been
count of the annexation of Texas.
Having stated Mr.. Webser's positions in refer
to the war, and the precse of it, in his
language, will proceed to show that his allega-
tons touching the misrepresentation of the President are
all unfounded, unwarrantabe, and calumnious; dshon-
orable to him man, and dsgracefu to him states
man of the standing and emnence which his friends af
feet to claim for him. We will show
1st That all the matters set forth by the President in
various messages of complaint against Mexico
and which Mr. Webster falsely denounces as "preterts
,r.o