Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1848-01-21

We resume our task of reviewing the posi-
tons and principles of that part of the Presi-
dents Message which relates to the war with
Mexico: and. in doing So shall avoid the exam
pe set us by the organ of the Executive, OF sub
stjtu,ing mere vituperatOn for fair Argument AS
being equally unworthy of the gravity OF the
subject aud Of The dignity of government pa
per. We shall devote this number To some re-
marks, which appear to us pertinent TO the occa-
sion, on
CONQUEST, IT'S POSSIBILITIES, AND IT'S ADVANTAGES
10 THE CoNQUEGoG.
If the People of the United States desire To be
the wise Nation which they suppose themselves
10 be, it certainly behoovcs them maturely TO
consider wha they are to embrace, if they de-
eide on adopting those projects of compulsory
dominion which the President and his followers
are now urging upon them. And as. unques-
tionablv, the new career in which it is meant
they should embark impies-by its ambitious
ness its violence, it, aggrcssiveness towards the
weak, lis exchange OF the purpose of good 10 be
achieved at home for glory and power 10 be
erected abroad IA reversal of the main public
maxms upon which they became and have thus
far lived as that great moral being, Il nation. it
is most necessary that, in considering Whm Mcy
are Ia e.nJrace, they should also consider whai
then miH haze 10 dbpHiop, and wtai consent TO SET
AT ho.ard.
When a mere magistrate, assuming the au-
thority of king, partly by secret devices and
partly by open usurmtion, brings on war, and
then, by artrul appeals 10 those human intrmi-
lies which are common alike to the breasts of
all soyereigns, whether monarchs or multitude, }
ATTEMPTS TO kindlc up, i'll the plain citizens of "a
RepubHc those fatal passions-the love of arms
and ,riumphs, the lust Of extended empire, the
annette 10 M.c becaHSe yDH cdR-whch have 81
of,cn converted kings into scourges OF the eart
and of lLcir people, it becomes the Indispensable
Iutv of every man who loves the public safety
IN warn his lclluw-citizens Of their impending
d,nrer. for that the President Of the L. States
VIM in this day, when Liberty and every coun
RVS riuht to it are SO well understood, aims tC
hc the DESTROYER of another land ircedom-wht
would Law il waste III order TO seize ITS territories
ar oyerturn its independence, and, for such pur
noses breaks over all those fences OF the law
which have been set to limit his own Executive
powcrs-thcn such magistrate AS inns must Do
Ionlcd mon AS not more the friend Of the peopl,
whom me commands than of that which he at
tacks. and As. in Il word, hostile, in effect, t.
the wcll-bcinr aud to the constitutional or inhe
rent political privileges Of his own country, IL
well as OF that whose independence he inlades.
There can, it is clear, be no principle upon
which TO establish, in favor OF any one society
the right to govern itself--to choose its own pc
litcal iustitutions-to consult independently %
all other nations, lis own public wants and vii
which does not equally apply to all other sep
arate societies; and 1t is only out of the com
mon right of each nation thus to act for itself a,
10 the laws and authorities under which it shall
live within itself that any particular right O
that sort can inhcre in these United States II,
.,deavor then, under no matter what pretenc,
- Ia, v.h,t agency, to deprive another naonIa a