Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1858-11-10
Extracts from the Speech OF Hon
caleb Cushing,
AT RICHMOND, VA, OCTOBER 2sTH, 1858.

BILE blood of Europe-invoke us to cast an
eye of thOughtfnlness towards those rich re-
gions Of the New World once the dominion
of Spain, and now the prey OF anarchy. and
of social, rather than civil war; and all these
considerations do most especially invoke us
to send forth of the too full of our own vital
force for the redemption and regeneration OF
unhappy Mexico.
Unhappy Mexicol The initial step of her
| national indenendnnce was not like ours. a
Congress of the Colonies deliberately pro-
nouncing and preparing to maintain it; bat a
tnmultuary uprising Of Indians warning on
white men. Such was the revolutionary GTTo
of Dolores under the auspices Of the.Prlest
Hidalgo The second step, that of the Priest
Moreos was no bett-r; for this also. was bnt
| another trmultnarv insurrection of Indians.
The third step. Iturbide's plan of Iguala. pro-
fessed to give equality to the two races, ELL
rOpean and Indian but that. Of course. did
not satisfy the latter. Since then. forty years
of revolution and of domestic or foreign war
have elapsed. with gradual expulsion or ex-
tinction Of the white race. and now from end
to end of the land while the silly pretentious
partv cries of Liberal, Constitutional, FEEDER
al Central. Pure and what not, are the watch
words of cOntending factions. efficient alike
only to waste their common country, that
country n plague-spot of social war all over,
Is fast losing all the attributes of n civilized
| stare ana relaIlSlnR
Those of the departments nearest to the Unit
| ed States are already half depopulntcd by the
incursons of the nomad savugeS; the more
central and popuous departments are over
run by red querJi!leroS and robbers, their plan
tations ravaged. theT cities worse off than if
sacked by foreign foes, and their white men
| covering i'm presence of the omens of coming
| disaster; while the extreme southern depart
ments are ALREADY at the mercy Of their resi-
| dent p,eblO and Sierra Indians
| As TO oar Intervention to stay this surGing
| deluge of calamity, it is n question of AMIGA
| BILE international negotiation. not of uncon-
| stitutional intermeddling with affairs not
| rightfully concerning us; it is not question
of the conquest of neighboring people. but
| of their salvation: ii is not n question of hos
| tilitics bnt of commercial union and protec-
| tive alliance.
When America had been discovered by En-
| rope. it was not the voice of the Pope. but the
| voice of God which gave to them the New
| World to occupy. to christianiZc and to civil
| izp And so. now. the will of God seems, by
| evident signs and portents, to call on US to
intervene as nation, for the salvation OF the
people of Mexico.
We frequently hear of the American poll
cv of excluding Europeans from America. l
think that much of what is said on that sub
iect is somewhat vaguely said; since they
who say it seem not to remember that all
aIonp Our northern frontier there is a British
America on the one sea. and British Column
bia on the other: and that while we are alb
snrhed in the discussion of metaphysical sub
tleties, and doing little or nothing to bind
our Atlantic and Pacific States together, Eng
land is. with our aid even. attaching those
colonies more closely to herself by an ocean
telegraph. and to one another by continent
tai railway; so that not ours, as it ought to
he. but hers, shall be the line of communica-
ton from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Let
that pass British America, after all. has her
own republican future, plain and assured. be-
fore her. I assume that our prcdestincd lines
of expansion, now, ut least are to the West
and to the South If Cuba lies in the path
of that destiny. so much the better: bnt tuat
Mexico must and does. | relgiOusly believe
and / would have it so; not in the sense Of
animosity. but Of friendshp-not by the act
of frivolous, irresponsible, mischievous, priv
ate invaders, bnt by the deliberate, eficacious
and official action of the Government of the
United States.
If any thoughtful person contest this-if,
apart from the question of eXpediency, they
doubt its rightfulness. and. therefore. oppose
the continuation of the advancement of the
United States-let them tell me by what ar
gumemts they Justify the beginnings of that
advancement, and its progress thus far-nay.
let them tell me by what rule of right we
Stanu anywhere Ill AHPrlCd 10 wv
hatan? Where Massiot? Where Sassacus?
Is not the occupation of any portion of the
Earth bv those competent to hold and till it,
a providential law of national life? Can you
say to the tide that it ought not to flow, or
the rain to fall? / reply. must. And so it
is with well-cOnstituted, and therefore, pro-
gressiye and expansive nations. They cannot
help advancing; it is the condition of their
existence.
When. in a celebrated state paper of the |
last Administration, three eminent statesmen
alluded to this law of national life as applca-
BILE in assigned contingencies, to the relation |
of the United States to Cuba the suggestion
was reprobated, in some quarters, as a politi- |
cal heresy. Was it such? Did not Washing |
ton himself, reserved as he was habitually in !
speech of such matters, express the same idea
in one of his letters to Lee, anticipating
with comprehensive precision. thecommercial
connection between the waters of the Attain
tic and the Mississippi, and twenty years be-
forehand, the acquisition of louisiana? His
words are whenever the new States be-
come so pOpulous and so eXtented to- the West
ward as really to need it, there will be no
power which can deprive them of the use of
the Mississippi" | pray you to weigh we'll
these wOrds-to penetrate into the very core
of their inner thcught-and then decide. if
Won can. at what point on the North Amer-
The United States are already most benei-
Gently, as well as glorously, involved in the
fortunes of Mexico. What waste wllderness"s
of undiscovered wealth, prosperity and happi
ness were not Texas and California before
their association with usi Nay, the presence
even of the armies of the United States in
Mexico was n benefit TO her, rather than a
prejudice. Never before or since did the
material interests of the Mexican Republic
better flourish; never before or since did she !
enjoy more of substantial peace or security of
person and property; never, elsewhere, was
a conquered country favored and so !
treated as the friend and ally. instead of the J
prey, of the cOnqucror. When Zachary !
TAYLOR that illustrious son of Virginia, con. !
Quoted the victorious eagles of the Union, !
from Palo Alto to Resaca DE- Guerrero, and /
from Monterey TO Buena Vista; when that /,
other il!ustrious son of Virginia, Winfield /
Scott. conducted the same victorious eagles |
from Vera Cruz TO Cerro Gordo, and from |
Padierna to Churubusco and Chapultepec, |
and ut length planted the banner of the /
Union ON the site of the old Teocalli of the |
Aztecs; rs they severally marched onward in
triumph they yanquished hostile armies in |
fair encounter, of course, but they respected
the persons and property OF the country rs
carefully as il il had been their own, and
they occupied the territory OF Mexico, its
cities and its hamlets, as peaceful governors,
not n hostile masters. And If you, the men
of Virginia, who, rs | right well know, fur
nished To that war the most numerous and
best appnted of all the many regiments OF
Volunteers which served in it. did not have
the good fortune TO participate in its glorious
battles, it was honor enough for you to have
been the mother of its great commanders,
Taylor and Scott They | say, occupied
Mexico in the spirit OF friends, rather than of
enemies. Aud the Federal Government OF
that day, James X. Polk its President, James
Buchanan aud William l.. Marcy, its Miuis-
tiers of Foreign Affairs and of War, nantes