Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1848-08-24

been clouded up, IN regard the Treaty Of
Peace, and all matters touched upon in
them. a.. o.
During a great portion of my absence in
Mexico, ! have been entirely cut off from all
means of knowing what was going on at
home; and during the entire period my at
tentlon has been urgently pressed upon, and
constantly engrossed by subjects of the
greatest moment to our country. 1t was
consequently out of my power to make use
even OF such means as presented themselves,
when the channels for conveying them ceas-
cd to be closed On my arrival home, the
state of things among US was unknown to
me, except from the mere glimpses afforded
by an occasional and hasty glance at a
newspaper.
soon became aware of the justification
above referred to. As the only way in
which it could be dspelled, determined to
lay before the representatives of the people n
connected and detailed narrative of every
thing that has occurred to me, having the
slightest bearing upon matters which the
public interests demand that the country
should know the exact truth of This ex-
act and full knowledge, and thorough I'M
'derstanding, it is of the highest importance
to her that she should possess 1t is so, for
numherless reasons that most deeply con-
Germ her, and concern her in the boundIess
hereafter. The generations which are to
follow us, so long as our nation shall exist,
and after 1t shall have ceased to exist, are
deeply interested in this matter. Should the
American people fail to obtain this knowl-
edge now, the evil consequences to that peo-
n oil 81, Il
them to mankind, cannot fail to be such as
no human mind can calculate. We are
the vanguard in the movements" of this
age, and upon us chiefly depends the direc-
ton which that movement is to pursue.
Deeply impressed with this truth, this plain
and obvious fact, formed the determine
ton above stated. 1t remains, howe ,er, as
yet unfuIiied. The attention demanded
by my private affairs the necessity Of proyi-
ding home for my family, and a variety of
incidents have contributed to prevent its
iuiIIment. This, however, will take place
IV lee month or two longer. The ex-
ample recently set by Talleyrdnd will not be
followed by me. | shall not write anything
which is to be read only a century hence
The highest interests of our country, and of
mankind through her, dema d that she shall
know the truth; that she shall know it no,o.
She shall have it; she shall have it nC,c
Had Congress continued to sit Il month
or two longer, | should not at this moment
haze broken silence; | should have bided
until could lay before the country, through
her representatives, the nMratice to which
have referred, connected, unbroken, not a
single gap in it, detailed so far as necessary
to establish a clear connection. This is the
only way in which truth can be presented in
Il shape to- leave mo doubt as to its being
what 1t Is. Isolated prominent facts" will
not do. However true they may be, they
can always be denied and more or less plau-
sibIy controverted. The whohe truth is the
thing this the people shall have. 1t will
then be seen who, among those who seek
their confidence, viii be so bold as to pre-
tend that he does not believe it.
In one of the accompanying papers (''let-
ter to the Representatives of the American
people" under date " Mexico, February IL,
lS46,") my belief is expressed that Con-
gress aud the country had been deceived by
the individual holding the trust of Presi-
dent Of the United States" and that the OBJ
ject for which that deception had been prac-
tced, was the indefinite protraction Of the
war-this protracton of the war having for
It's END the conquest of Mexico and her ab-
sorptlon into our Union. This was my be-
liei then; 1t is my beliefnow. In that same
letter, and particularly in the notes recently
appended to it, my belief is expressed that !
corrupt use has been made of the power and |
the influence attached to the trust of Presi- /
dent of the United States, even to the ex-
tent Of subornatiOa ofpeJuy.
Upon both these points my belief is posi-
tive and firm, distinct and clear. Eq ually
firm aud clear in my mind is the farther be-
lief, that to make the former the belief of
Congress and ofihe country, nothing is nee
essary but that the representatives of the |
people should exercise the power Of inquiry
inherent in them as the grand inquest ofthe
nation-as the body Exclusively" ntrusted
by the Constitution with the power" and
consequently with the duty " Of impeach-
ment"
Ills but yesterday that the welkin was
made TO ring throughout our country with
the reclamation that burst forth from our
democratic bosoms, at the spectacle exhibit
ed by the people of France-and most
glorious spectacle it was Congratulations
aud fluctuations were drunk with noble 10y
we and our public servants We'd with one a.
mother in giving utterance to the enthus-
asm consisting in the fact that the French
People had liberated themselves from the
Government. They had risen in the maies- .
ty of men, and had upturned that Govern
ment; upturned the "Throne," as that /
Government was called This they had
done. 1t had been at the cost Of civil strife
of brothers blood, spilled by brothers hand
1t had been at the cost of ANARCHY. That
was the first result and no one could tell
how long it might last, or what it was to in
voye while it lasted, or in what it was to
end. And yet we reloiced. The object in
our estimation was worth all this cost,
all this risk of whatever else it might cost.
Even in the uncertainty as to its being Sc
cured, it was enough that this should have
been the object, to make us reckon as cheap,
to make us disregard us dust in the balance,
whatever might happen.
AT the head, or very near the head, Il
speak from indstiuct recollection,) of the
reasons which had mpelled the French peo-
pie so to act, which had created the neces-
Sitv Cor thar ,,Innoinu into that sea of car