Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1848-03-21
VOLUME s, NUMBER Al. b


constitutional much less as a war Of
conquest, Of rapine, and robbery. We
have heard these denunciations within the
last few days poured forth from the lips Of
senators;with a solemnity that would seem
to carry conviction, at least TO the minds
of those who made them; that they were
well.merited; and what is more astonith-
ing, we have heard them from senators
who. by their votes, il not tEeir speeches.
have sustained every war measure which,
has passed since hostilities first commend.
ed by the act of Mexico. They now con-.
| tend, otonly that the war was ,inneces.
| sary and Unconstitutional, but that the
President of the United States is the sole
autber of the iniquity. Do gentlemen %
suppose that they can throw the responsi-!
bility Of their own acts upon the Presi.
dent of the United States? Do they i'm
agine that they can make the peopls be. /"
lieve that the Executive is alone Iespon.a !
sible for all the consequences that may
! flow from the faithful execution Of the
laws which they enact, and. under the =
constitution, compel him to execute !? If
il be a war of iniquity and injustice, YOU
are the transgressors iii beia war Of
robbery. you are the robbers I! If il be a"
war against and in violation of the con-
| stitution, yours is the treasoni You voted
for it under the solemnity of your oaths.
You voted the men and the money. You
voted to recognise the legal and cons titu- 70
| tional existence Of the war. You helped
to pass the law, and made it the sworn I
duty of the President to sea it faithfully ex. 2
| ecuted. II is your war as much as his z
and ours and you will not be permitted
to escape your share of its responsibility, q
while you participate in the credit which
you claim from having given it your sup
port. do not intend to cast any unkind
reflections upon any senator, but lido y
think that am fully justified by the rec!
ord in the observations which have just
made. Itwould seem that great dis.
covery has recently been made-that the
Congress of the United States has been
acting under an entire misapprehensi6n
in regard to the nature and character of
this war. We are now told that the
President has changed his ground, and
now assigns causes and reasons totally
different and inconsistent with those which
he gave at the last and preceding sessions
tina: the causes then were ''that A.
mericau blood has been shed upon Amer,
lean soil - the reasons now given for its
prosecution are, "indemnity for the past,
and security for the future" The SEMI
tor from Delaware has made these two
extracts from the Presidents messages
the subject of much mirth and wit. He,
has told US that ''indemnity for the past
means one half Of Mexico. and "security
for the future" the other half. Convinced
by this wonderful discovery, that his eff
cient support of1this wa, has been yielded
under a fatal delusion as to its true char
acter and objects. he feels constrained,
now that he has recovered his mental Wis. I
ion, TO make atonement for the past, by
Withholding supplies in future. cannot
conce6e that there has been any change
in the line Of policy originally announced
by the Executive, and supported by his
friends, on this subject. We stand where
we then stood. The causes and the OBJ !
jects of the war remain unchanged
| They were then. and are now, comprised
in the two briefe1rrscts which have been.i
so frequently quoted: american blood
has been shed upon American soil"---s
indemnity for the past, and security for0i
the future. @ Fe 44s ~ 'adi
Inthe President'smessage ofthe 18th
offMay. 1916, in pursuance of which the
original act recognizing the existence ofa
state OF war was passed. he referred toIi
''grievous wrongs perpetrated by Mexi.
cans upon our citizens throughout long
period of years, remaining unredressedp0
solemn treaties pledging her public
faith for this redress having been disre.,
garded" -"our commerce with Mexico
having been almost annihilated--our mer.sI
chants having been deferred from prose-
cutting it by the system of outrage and
extortion which the Mexican authorities
have pursued againt them, while their
appeals throughlheir own government for
indemnity have been made in vain y .di
These .outrages upon our flag and eiii-
zens had been SO enormous, that Gen.
jackson, during his presidential term. felt
himself constrained to eallthe attention of
Congress to them in a special message,
and to express his decided opinion that 9
they were sufficient at that time to Justify
immediate war. They continued with
rene wed insult and injury under Mr.. Van q
Buren's administration and he, too, ex;y,
pressed similar opinions to Congress upon
the snbject. The appropriatecommiitees
of both heuses'of Congress-, as near as |
now recollect, made reports in which they
fully lconcurred with the Executives in theii
opinions they had expressed as to the na.0
ture and extent of the outrages. and theIi
justice Of. the remedy suggested. Con-
gressg allowed their sympathy for ihed
la. e.