The Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1846-1852, 1848-01-21
Correspondence Of tke Baltimore Patriot.
WASHINGTON, January l2, 1s4S

w AShlNUIoN, y JdHudIy IL, lO4O.
}, wrote to you that Senator Clayton
would be great to-day. He was great
lie argued like patriot and Il statesman.
He opposed the ten regiment bill with
} an array of considerations that struck
conviction to the hearts of at least some
l of those who listened to him!
, If we in our hears believed that the
S war had been carried on long enough
r and far enough--that the enemy had
y been whipped as long as whipping would
do any good that the object of the
President in further prosecuting the war
: was not Praseworhy, but wrong-then,
t he said, we ought to withhold from him
: the means of further doing wrong! We
ought TO do nothing TO aid him in an an.
dertaking which we honestly believed
was not just. The honorable Chairman
of the Military Committee, he said, had
declared, the other day in some remarks
he made in the Senate, that the conduct
otthe President in regard to the war was
easily defended in every particular. BY
blowing a trumpet, one might sometimes
c find an antagonist when there was none
before. The Senator from Michigan
, (Mr. Cass) had thrown down the glove to
! the Wing side ofthe Senate, and he, o le
: Of the humbest of its members, would
t venture to take it up, and he would state
! point in the Presidents conduct, which
r he would like to hear the Chairman of
p. the Military Committee readily and east
y clear up and make satisfactory, ifhe
could do So Should that honorable Sen
J ator succeed, he said, he should hence
! forth be his (Mr. Clayton's) Magnus Apol-
10!
J Some twelve years ago, he said, there
+ was an individual in what is now the
e State of Texas, by the name of Don An.
3 tonic Lopez de Santa Anna, at the head
: of Mexican military force, who captur-
= ed in place called Guilad, l79 Amer.
G cans. and pleged his honor, as asoldier and
S a gentleman to them, that they should be
5 treated as prisoners of war; The next
= day, this Don Antonio Lopez de Santa
=, Anna ordered out the prisoners, and in
D cold blood murdered the whole Of them.
] This ruilian scoundre, said Mr.. Clay
5 ton, in cold blood murdered l79 of my
countrymen, whom he had pledged his
! honor to protect and treat as prisoners of
warl He afterwards butchered another
r portion Of my countrymen at the Alamo!
These acts ofcruoly, treachery and mur-
! der, he said, were still fresh in the recol-
i lection of every one who heard him.
1 And yet the President gave free pass
j through our blockade aud into Mexico,
$ to this very Don Antonio Lopez de San
y ia Anna, where he has raised and invigo-
rated the Mexican army to greater ex-
i tent than any other man could do, and
\ has fought our troops desperately at Bue'
o ma Vista, Cerro Gordo, ,Contreros, Cheru-
= busco, Molino del Rey, Chapultapec and
. in the city of Mexico, aud still holds such
. sway over tho Government and Congress
of Mexico that they do not dare to APP
S point Commissioners to treat with us fol
peace Now, how would the honorable
v Senator from Michigan easily defend and
). make iusifable this act of the President
@ He would like to see him undertake the
o taskl
g The democracy ofthe present day, he
'l said, was not the Jefferson democracy .
W other days. Aud he cited the PROPOSE
n ton Of Senator Ross, of Pittsburgh, il
) 1903, to seize the mouth oitho Mississip
ID pi and the adjacent territory and hold it
II without waiting for negotiation to Obtain
l. it. He made a speech in the Senate il
'S support of the measure, and urged it up
!" on the ground that it was convenient an,
N desirable. But Mr.. Jefferson and hi
D. friends would not countcnance the pro
ID Ject.
III Mr.. Clayton said he was not one o
e those who would not go for portion q
n the territory of Mexico under any cir
70 cumslances. If necessary to have til,
4 bay of San Francisco and strip of ter
1t ritory with it, why he would be willing
Is to go for it, but not by conquest. Ht
r. would not rob fort. He would buy i
T. and give Mexico fair equivalent.
t. After Mr., Clayton had concluded Mr.
@ Pearce, of Md, took the floor, and sal,
h he would like To speak on tho question
tomorrow, whereupon an adjournmen
Al was moved and carried.
IS He will make an able satislactor,
l. speech, | have no doubt.
'f In the House, to-day, large numbe
of private, and not few public bills were
C reported from the standing committees
l. Mr., Lincoln, of Illinois, made a strong
r. logical argument, in committee of tn,
N whole, against the doctrines laid dow
e in Mr., Polk's veto message. Mr. Lincol
D. is tall, slim, dark.complexiOned man
D. rather awkward IN personal appearance
" but courteous and amiable in his inter
~ course with every body. He is u valua
Of BILE member of Congress.
i, Mr.. billiard, from the Committe o
ar Foreign Relations, made report accom-
ot panied by u bill to regulate our who'll
y, Diplomatic System, The report take
&c up in general terms, tho history of tn
a Diplomatic Systems of tho whole civil
in zed world down to the Congress of Wen
nr ma, when three grades were established
n namely, Ambassadors, Ministers Pleni
ID potenliary and Extraordinary, and Resi-
10 dent Ministers. 1t also gives hislor
II. ofour three grades, namely, Minister
10 Plenipotentialy and Extraordinary, Res