Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1859-03-16

y
items of Interested informcrs. and may be led
into the grossest errors. / do not undertake to
giyrparticular Instances or illustrations. That
might be consid' r, d invidious, and would
occupy too much time; but. sir. conclude
what have TO say on this subject by laying
down the proposition that every abuse and
lrregul .rity, every corruption and excess
| incident to a Government, both in the
military and in the civil servic.', will always
| be found to increase in proportion TO the
distance FIRM the place or locality of COM
| mission, and the correcting and Furnishing
head.
The President has announced, as have
seen II STATE d in the nrwspaptrs and public
| Journals of the city, upon an occasion not
very well adapted. it seems tn M, TO the an
nouBcCmeBt Of such ~ niimeRts, thai the
| policy Of this country benc.fOrth is expan-
| sion. and that none but towards f ar or op-
/ pose it. / should be sorry to supt,ase thai
sentiment was announced upon delberatiOn;
! but have hraid no corre1ion; | have seen
no correction Of it. The Senator from Georgia
| IMr. Tonm5e has annOuncsd that ii was the
HDalterable aid fix policy az this country
to progress throughout the tropics regardless
! of all consequence, 10 foreign nations MANY
! OF our leading gentlemen. S,nators and
! Others. have announced similar policy. Ii
! is announc, d in the most solrmn form as
und rstand il, in the rport which is now
before the Senate. | will say that | am as
tOnished at the declaration coming from som,
quarters: but shall wait before / draw fiIa
conclusions of what is the sentiment of par
ticular sections and parties in this country.
Mr.. Calhoun willing to see the boun-
DIARIES of this Republic extended so as 10 en-
brace the valley of the r o Grande as well
as the Mississippi and to make the Sierra
Madre the ultima thule of our territorial posses
siOns in that dir ciion. but b. never wished to
OF that boundary Incorporated with our peo-
pie. Mr.. j. fierson has also exI ress the SEN
iimrnt, and did it in very early day. that
he looked upon Cuba as the ne Plus ultra If
our advance in the same direction. What has
become If thepoiicy and councils of these dis
tingushed men? Is il true. Mr.. President
that all generation for the ilnstrinus founders
OF our Cove rHment ct those who adorned our
county. has perished? Is il true, that the
sentiment Of yenoration is so far extinci in the
country as not TO N mber the pr cep's and
maXimS of the cailv fathers and found rs { {
the Government What spectacle you VIII
present. l. no respect to be gwen tn the sen
timent and policy If Mr.. Calhoun, distinguish
ed, min. nj ~ was, in biz day. aud at no
recent datc? He was no believer in the theo-
ry that, when we once got possession Of those
countries. the Mexican States aud Central
Am"rica, We could soon AmericauZe ih m
assimilate with them: or that those popula-
tons could be extinguIshcd, and no longer
form an obnoxious element III our popula-
ton.
Five million civilized and half civilized
Indians to enjOv the privileges OF citizenship
in Mexico! How many generations would
there he before they could he assimilat dor be
fore they could b, come no lOng,ra poisonous
obstruction i'll the progress of civilization. in
the progress of liberty, eith"r in their own
country or as auxiliary To The people Of this
country in prot cling them? How long
w"uld IL he b. fore the population of the Cen
trial Am, rican States. which can only boast
ten per cent. of the white race, by the same
Americanizing process. could b. fitted Ia be-
come members # this Union, and 10 control
the dcstinics of this great county.
But. President think there are some con-
sid, ratious ola gravor kind han any Ia which
| have yet ailudrd. CONNECTED with this idea
of expansion. and beg leave TO occupy a few
minutes upOn tn IN. When you shall have
,xt"nded your dominion over the States of
Mexico aud Central Amrrica. you will have
ad l. twelve million of population. for the
most part perfectly imhecile aud incapable for
ii her off nsive or defensive war: yOn viii
have added another five thousand miles to the
se;,-cOast line of frontier; aud if this policy
of expansion is come cttd with any i'd "a of
our becoming great IN litary Power. nothing
could be more empty and idle than to suppose
that would follow from such policy. | un-
d rtake to state here, that from the moment
you consummnte this policy and add the
States If Mexico and c ntral America. both
England and France. the great commercial
and maritime Powers of Europe, will breathe
freer. From that moment all j 'alousy OF the
rising giant Power OF the western hemisphere
stands at rest. | venture to say mOrt. that
if you are prepared TO annex those States
now. or willing 10 accept th' IN that neither
England nor France would fire Il gun TO pre-
vent it. provide you gave The people OF those
countries the cuj yment Of the franchise. al
lowe, d the citizens of those TWO nations the
benefit of commerce. and assumed the debts
due by those several States 10 their own sub
iects.
venture to say further. that they will sig
nifty, On those conditions. their free assent
that You should annex them all; and II you
will engage To annex The whole of them and
the other nations of North America, they
will let you take Cuba, too unless they can
not dispense with honor Ia Spain. upon the
same conditions that yon pay the debts due
their subjects. British or FIR nch, and particu-
larly the English. There is no reason of pol
icy that | can conceive of that will prevent
them from giving their free assent and ii may
lie that that is the view of the President in
manf sting and announcing his cheap cour-
age. That may be she view of the honorable
gentlemen from Georgia also, in declaring
that he did not fear, or they did not ar, and
none but towards. as the President says, do
fear this policy. think they ought To have
given us the benefit of their opinions rs to
the policy of England and France in relation
to these auneXations which we propose 10
make.
What will he the consequences Of anneNing
the Stats Of N xico aud Central Ameiica
The first would be bringing ord,r out of
chaos, establishing regular Governments
there, and in terminating TO some extent. the
almost expired energi Of those populations.
In the development {" the national resources
of the country, by the infusion OF a new and
NOR. vigorous race, we should Increase the
production, we should add 10 their present
pwers OF consumption there. and their abli-
~ TO consume, extend the trade aud Inter
courss. between ourselves and those States aud
foreign nations; but England and France
would share almost equally with ourselves.
When their policy, and that which may be-
the policy OF this country, shall be settled
and Consolidated, they may even derive the
lions share Of the spoils aud benefit of ii, for
they would be free from the burden of de
fnce and protect We should enjoy some
increased advantages from the trade and in
tercourse between members of the CuiOn.
which might compensatr US for the protection
and defence "f that people in time of peace.
But, sir, Great Britain and France would
be in position to do even more than that.
They could dictate the commercial policy Of
this country. They would be powerful aux
iliari, IS of the honorable Senator from Virgil
MIA, MIR. Hand ri in carrying out his favor
lite policy. They would concur with him that
n" more money ought to be raised of ties
upon foreign import than were just sliificieni
for the support of the Govrrnm. nt economi-
cally administered. TIL y would he grner-
Gus enough TO allow you 10 do that. They
would allow you to raise u sufficient sum be
sides, perhaps To support an army large
enough To suppress Indian hostilitirs. and u
Navy To protect your sca-coast aud your
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