Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1848-03-02
VOL. XIII, NO. 16.---WHOLE NO. 2159.
Eye that scorcheth all II glares upon -

vouchsafes the chaplet to none but the
minister of misery and death. have no
desire that a single Mexican wife should
be made widow, single Mexican child
an orphan and would rather that my
country should sit down in honest shame,
than purchase, at the price OF rapine and
tears and blood, the "unjust glory" of
waving her flag over all the wide conti-
nent that stretches between the stormy
Atlantic and the shores of the Tranquil
Sea.
zone murder makes villain, thousands hero"
But the cold-blooded politician, who, safe
in his cabinet, provokes hostilities for
the sake Of the patronage that war may
give him-the ambitious statesman, who
wages a war of conquest for the extern
sion of his country's territory, or the glo-
ny of his own Administration-the hot
headed ruler, who battles continent in
blood to avenge fancied insult, or a
breach of diplomatic etiquette-these
are wholesale mansayers, whom no car
mage can elevate to heroism. Napoleon,
that man of iron and of blood, repented,
trembled, wept, when he remembered
that he had needlessy anticipated the
the attack of an outpost, and thus shorten
ed by day the lives of few soldiers, 10
crafty the curiosity Of a woman with
the spectacle of battle. But what COM
Functions have visited our rulers, for the
: blood of those who fell in the ranks in
) the valley of the Rio Grande, at the
storming of Monterey, at Buena Vista,
at Cerro Gordo, and in those sanguinary
conflicts under the walls of Mexico for
the unoffending and unresisting women
and children, who were slaughtered in
: the bombardment of Vera Cruz, or who
have fallen victims to the infatuated pas
= sion of an undisciplined, marauding, SOL
diery for the thousands whom the pes
thence of the camp has silently swept
into the grave for the sorrow and desc
| lation of bereavement, whose tokens are
SO conspicuous even in the highways of
D this metropolis
!, But while discussing the moral con-
siderations connected with this question,
; it is fit that we should inquire into the
character of the original causa causarum
of the war, and all its attendant crimes
and miseries, the measure of which they
e are, as have already said legitimate, if
,, not necessary consequences, and of the
e means by which that great wrong was
!. effected.
e [ shall not take upon myself to main
: tain that the bare act Of annexation, con-
;, sidered apart from its motives and its
h means, was clearly just and sufficient
o ground for declaration of war against
d us by Mexico. The determination of
: this question would involve an inquiry
Z, into the relations between that republic
l. and her revolted province, which is not
r practicable, until the secret history Of
', the Texan revolution shall be better un-
h derstood than it is likely to be by this
= generation. Texas may be said to have
established an actual independence, and
is it is possible, though never yet proved,
l. that her revolt was justified by the mis-
y government of Mexico, or the inability
re of that unhappy State to afford pro-
); tective government at all. But whatev-
lr err may have been the right of the ques-
r ton between the metropolis and her col
&c ony, it is plain that our conduct must be
s. judged by the motives which guided us,
l. and the instrumentaities to which we
n resorted.
n The avowed motives of the annexa-
/ ton of Texas were to prevent the aboli-
/ ton of slavery in that country, and to
l. secure additional territory for the expan-
II sion and growth of the system. 1t was
h argued that the accomplishment ofthese
q objects was indispensable to the perma-
% nence and stability of the institution of
&c slavery that they were necessary for the
Of maintenance of local right, recognized
'e und guaranteed by the Constitution, and
l. that therefore the General Government
Of was in good faith bound TO aid in effect
i'll ing them. There were also some timid
E suggestions concerning the value of Tex
It as as a future market for northern pro-
J. duce and manufactures some puerile
l. apprehensions of the establishment of
< British domination in that republic some
n idle babble about the importance of that
d territory to the military defence Of the
h Union some phianthropic humbug in
st regard to the influence of annexation in
" tiC CAtihCtioh Vi oiuNCi1
IS but pass these over, because, although
re they might impose on those weak breth-
Is rem, who were simple enough to be de-
ly luded by the Kane letter into the belief
IS that Mr.. Polk was friendly to the pro-
tective policy and the tariff of 1912, yet
i'll it is quite notorious that none of them
j. influenced one vote in the American
a. Congress. The twenty-eighth Congress
IS was called upon TO decide the naked,
ly undisguised problem, whether annexa-
OF ton should be contaminated as ga South
Mt ern question, question Of slavery"
he whether the General Government, whose
IL authority to restrict slavery is denied,
70 should be invoked TO put forth its power
r TO maintain and defend it.
Of Up to this time it had been strenu-
e, ously insisted by the advocates of South
y. ern rights that the Federal Government
O. had absolutely no jurisdiction Of any mat