Iowa capitol reporter. [volume] (Iowa City, Iowa) 1841-1855, 1848-03-22

ulated upon seeing or hearing. l have
heard much Of the democracy of New
York; Igknowa their zeaL their ardour
their devoted patriotism, and their fidelity
10, the principles Of liberty and the cons.i.
tutiop.' But now, see. and have Learned
Nat they are mighty people mighty,
mean 10 say, in the dignity and magnitude
sof those feelings which influence a sgfea1
Ipeople, and which make. the man ever
ready to yindicaie bis rights, and sustain
and support The constituted authorities. d
his country. Loud applause. What i.
the snbiect and object of. this meeting? I.
Fit, .s!Iow ciiizans, a meeting collesis t.
deliberate upon wassWe are about 10 &c
Into? No; but it is concerning a war il
which we are already engaged which, !
may say, we have already disposed Of "
/ the gallantry oiaoaf troops and The wisdom
of onr statesmen Ego saGEiir~a@ rs t'a
We should not be able to appreciate the
truth and justice Of our condition and o.
the present war, aud the position in which
I'VE were placed at its commencement, i:
relation to the civilized world. / grant
YOU, fellow citizens, it is true in referring
Ito hose speeches Of which we hear SC
much in respect to this war, that, in part,
it has grown up out Of the annexation o!
Texas. But in that annexation the best Of
the bargain was yours, and you ought to
be satisfied. ] say the best Of it was yours,
not so much in the material you gothic,
by the by, that was not badrbut in the
extent and richness Of the soil, in the va.
riety aud beauty CT climate, and in the
blessings Of those institutions We posses
sed. We had nothing to learn OF these ill.,
s.itu.ions and principles in this. annexa.
ton; we imbibed them all with our moth
ers' milk; we returned to you ichssteiied,
itis,true, in the school of experience, and
taught by the bitter lessons OF adversely.
The great wing politicians Of this city have
put themselves in opposition to this war;
and yet they were willing at its Commences
mentst to embark in it. They then said thai
it was the duty oflhe President 10 Fix ;he
boundary Of the newly acquired coun,
Try, and now they deny thai her boundary
was that which she ssessed before The
annexation. was made. That boundary,
however, fellow citizens, which they now
deny to Texas, was hers, and belonged to
her by right Of conquest. We gained it
not by rebeliious force or power. We
never rebelled against Mexico; tut she it
was who first violated our constitution,
.ubver.ed our laws, Subjected rs TO the
most cruel despotism, and drove us, by her
injustice, tyranny and oppression, to vim
aicate our rights, which were the common
right, of freemen' / he object OF Mexico
in her system Of despo'isn and oppression
exercised towards Us, was, il possible, To
sweep us from the, soil, TO annlhlla!c the
whole race of ,is, and not to suffer one OF
the Saxon blood to leave the impress ct
his foot upon the soil which we Inhabited.
What did we do? We resisted this op
preston; we asserted our lawful rights;
we established for ourseivesa provisional
government, and we continued on in the
hope that better state of things, better
government would be created in Mexico
that The other States would, like our
selves, asserttheir rights under the con-
stitution which had been so shamefu!ly
violated. We continued hoping that the
Mexicans themselves would rally to sup
port US, and redeem the country from des-
posism, violence and oppression. We
went on ia the enjoyment of our repubh.
can liberty-we endured till our hopes
became fainter and fainter. But notwith-
standing all this, it was not until 1886,
when Santa Anna marched against US
with his myrmidons, threatening eur des-
truc,ion and devastating our fields and.ou
counlry-it was not Until the day OF the
alamo, when brave and Spartan band
was sacrificed by his sanguinary hordes-
say, not until then, when, driven 10y des-
peration and oppression, did we; declare
the Declaration OF Texan Independence.
Then it was wemade that declaration; we
made it in the face OF Heaven. We then
pledged our lives, Our property, (tfiat, in
deed, was lttte,) and our sacred honor,
that we would vindicate our just ana nat
ural rights, against lae despol and oppres-
sol. We dad this; aud alter the lyrant
lay manacled at Cur feet, We ibefated the
captive. 1t was alter the declaration 81
Texan independenee-after that the despo'
was IN the military control Of the coun'
try, when victory had justified our csuse,
and triumph and success had crowned our
declaration Of indep eridence-it was then
that the tyrant directed the order, and sent
the mandate to his general { Filiso!a) .o
yacate the territory which vas now the
independent territory Of a nation which
had risen up and declared its indepeEd-
ence. That mandate went the next NOR
ming to F.Iisola, ordering him to retire
with his troops from the soil OF Texas;
and where did he retire? Where did he
stop? They did not stop at the Nueces.
That was not the boundary Of Texas. -
They did not stop at the Rio Gfande; that
was no, the boundary. But they march
| ed on, in pursuance oil the mandate to
| leave Texas, and they first stopped at
Monterey, leaving all Texas behind them,
and leaving it Tree. a.r ...
The government agreed with Santa An
ma after wards upon The Rio Grande as the
boundary Of Texas, and no question ever
arose as to tie Nueces being lis boundary
pending the negotiations for annexation
| but it IS only since this war began thai
AZ ,,;on b.s heen raised bv its enc