The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-02-28
VOL. X.


standing all our efforts to avoid it, exists by
the act of Mexico herself" And the humilia-
ton of the free States was almost complete,
when, out of 1873 Representatives present and
voting, only fourteen were found to oppose the
shocking atrocity of declaration of war,
MAY H. as wicked in respect to its bearing
on Freedom at home, as it cruel and out
rageous towards the foreign victim. It was
significant fact, that M Winthrop of Massa-
chusetts, presently TO be the Wing candidate
for the Speakers chair, voted with the major
ity. There had been some hinching on the
part of some of the supporters of the bill, from
the prodigious assertion in the preamble, that
"5y the act Of the Republic Of MericO, a state
of war exists between that Government and
the United States" but they had to make up
their minds to the gnat, as well as to the camel; ;
and when they failed to get rid of the pream-
BILE by an amendment, they were fain to gulp
down preamble and bill together. The act
placed ten millions of dollars at the Presidents
disposal. and authorized him to employ fifty
Thousand volunteers. Such a chance as had
been secured for vast ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of the
Slave Power deserved to be prosecuted on
magnificent scale.
The war proceeded with the success on our
own part which was to have been expected so
unequally matched were the parties, in numbers,
money, energy, and science. 1t was conduct
ed, as it had been begun, as a scheme of exten-
sive conquest. In four months, Northern Mex
leo, from Tampico, on the Atlantic ocean, to
San Diego, on the Pacific, was overrun by our
arms Vera Cruz, and then the city of Mex
leo, fell in little more than year. Nothing in
parliamentary history was ever more contempt
ible than the course pursued by the Opposition
in Congress. They aired their vocabulary, day
by day, about throwing the responsibility of
the war on the Administration" and then help
ed the Administration in voting without stint
the supplies for carrying it on, with single
illustrious exceptions, (of men, however, who
were excluded from the controlling counsels of
the party in opposition,) never, in all time,
had the race of politicians dwindled to a
smaller size. No wonder that, with such an
tagonists, Mr. Folks Slave Power Administra-
ton had everything its own way, and was little
troubled with scruples as to what its way should
be, provided only that it did not lack in &C.
tivity.
In the course Of affairs in Mexico, and in the
pitiahle pusillanimity of their ostensibe oppo-
nents, everything was going on as prosperously
as the Oligarchy could desire, when, all of a
sudden, there sprang up roaring lion in the
way. On the 9Th of August, the Committee OF
| Ways and Means having reported a bill grant
ing to the President the sum of two millions OF
dollars "for the purpose Of defraying any extra
ordinary expenses which may be incurred in
| the intercourse between the United States and
foreign nations Mr.. Wilmot, of Pennsylvania,
moved the following amendment, embracing
| the principles of the famous Ordinance of 1887:
"PrOUided, That, as an express and funda-
mental condition to the acquisition of any ter
ritory from the Republic of Mexico by the Uni
ted States, by virtue of any treaty which may
be negotiated between them, and to the use by
! the Executive Of the moneys herein appropria-
| ted, neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude
shall exist III any part Of said territory, ex-
cept for crime, whereof the party shall be duly
| convicted"
| The House had not vet been drilled into an
abandonment of all shame. The amendment
prevailed in that body by vote of SO to 81,
and was sent up to the Senate under circum-
stances surprisingly favorable to its adoption.
| Governor Cass and the Northern Democrats were
out of humor with The Administration, on &C
count of the REIMBURSEMENT, in as recent nego-
tiation with Great Britain, of its high claim in
respect to the boundary Of Oregon. According
to the Democrstic Mr.. Brinkerhoff, of Ohio,
| published letter of Sept. l6, 1916, there was
"a well-ascertained unanimous determination,
on the part of the Democratic Senators from
the free States, to stand by the Proviso; and
DelaHaTe anu haryidNu WOulu nave NOIcu VIII
them" Possibly, but not probably, Mr.. Brink
erhof was materially in error. Incredible as
the statement seems, still it is true that Mas
sachusetts Wing prevented the Question from
being taken. The bill came up for action on
the day fixed for the adjournment; and Mr..
Senator Davis, of Massachusetts, spoke against
time till the hour for adj iournment arrived. 1t
would be the best, thing, by far, that ever hap
pened to his reputation, if any one could show
that this was no worse than a transcendcntly
stupid blunder.
The next winter, the "Wilmot Proviso as
| the restriction on the introduction of Slavery
into territory about to be acquired had come
to be called-prevailed in the House, as an
amendment to an appropriation bill, by vote
of lis to l06 The Senate, which had return
ed to its accustomed track of action, struck it
out, and the tractable House concurred by a
majority of three in l99 Governor Cass, in
the Senate, indicated his present course and
| that Of his friends, the ground of the unsea-
sonableness of attaching conditions to territory
not yet acquired.
Meanwhile, a Presidential election was ap-
| preaching, and, usual at such periods, politi.
cal arrangements were shaping themselves with
! reference to that issue. General Taylor, an
obscure officer hitherto, had become favorably
| known for his courage, wisdom, and clemency,
in the management Of the war. From the cir
cumstances of his career, he could not be sup
posed to have matured any opinions in politics,
and it was even said that he had never cast a
| vote. But, however clear or crude the concep-
ton he may have attached to the name, he had
been brought to call himself Wing; a slave
holder he unquestionably was; and so the
scheme had naturally come to be entertained,
by the Wing section of the Slave Power inter
est of usinp his popu laritv tn nlace q Pro-Slo
very Wing Administration in power. To bring
up the mass Of Northern Wing voters to such a
point, intense as had been the disgust lately
expressed among them at the atrocities of
| Texas annexation and the Mexican war, might
well seem an arduous undertaking. But some
of the leaders had already been secured, and
were deep in the plot and the ease with which
| such high-handed measures had been carried,
| BODIED no insurmountable difficulties for the
! future.
A symptom of the state 10 which the Wing
Ant-Slayery OF the North, of late 80 loud
tongued, had been reduced by some of the par
/ ty managers, appeared in the action of the
| Wing Convention of Massachusetts, held in
| September, l847. One of the resolutions re-
| ported by the Committee was, that "the Wings
of Massachusetts declare, and put this declara.
ton of their purpose on record, that Massachu.
sets will never consent that Mexican territory.
however acquired, shall become part of the
American Union except upon the unalterable
condition, that there shall be neither Slavery
nor involuntary servitude therein, otherwise
than in the punishment of crime" This was
| no bad bait for the votes of patriotic men, But
| there were those in the Convention who had
their suspicious of the sincerity of what was
| going on, and who wanted the record made up
in way to bear upon practice. Mr. Palfrey,