Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1860-06-21
Lincoln mnt, the Mexienm war

From the debates In Illinois, between
Lincoln and Douglas, as published by
Follet & Foster, we take the following
from one Of the speeches of Mr.. Douglas;
"When the Mexican War was being
woged, and the American army was sur
rounded by the enemy in Mexico, he
thought that war was unconstitutional,
unnecessary and unjust. He thought it
was not commenced on the right spot"
"When | made an incidental alluson
of that kind in the joint discussion over
at Charleston some weeks ago, Lincoln,
in replying, said that /, Douglas, had
charged him with voting against supplies
for the Mexican war, and then he reared
up, full length, and swore that he never
voted against the supples-that it is a
slander--and caught hold of Ficklin,
who sat on the stand, and said: Here,
Ficklin, tell the people that it is ie."
Well, Ficklin, who had served in Con-
gress with him, stood ur and told them
all that he recolected about it. 1t was
that when George Ashmun, Of Massa-
chusettS, brought forward resolution
declaring the war unconstitutional I'M
necessary and unjust, that Lincoln had
voted for it. Yes, said Lincoln, Il did.
Thus he confessed that he voted that the
war was wrong, that our country was in
the wrong, and consequently that the
Mexicans were in the right but charged
that had slandered him by saying that he
voted against the supplies. never charg-
ed him with voting against the supplies
in my life, because | knew that he was
not in Congress when they were voted
The war was commenced on the 18th
day of May, 1916, and on that day We
appropriated in Congress ten millions Of
dallars and fifty thousand men to prose
cute it. During the same session we vot
ed more men and more money, and a
The next session we voted more men and
more money, so that by the time Mr.. Lin
coin entered Congress, we had enough
men and enough money to carry on thu
war, and had no occasion to vote for any
more. When he got into the House, be
ing opposed to the war, and not being
able to stop the supplies because the,
had all gone forward, all he could do was
to follow the lead of Corwin, and prov
that the war was not begun on the righ
spot, and that it was unconstitutional
unnecessary and wrong, Remember, to,
that this he did after the war had beer
begun. 1t is one thing to be opposed t,
the declaration of war, another and very
different thing to take sides with the enc
my against your own country after tn
war has been commenced. Our arm,
was in Mexico at the time, many battle
had been fought; our citizens, who wer
defending the honor of our country's flag
were surrounded by the daggers, the gun
and poison of the enemy. Then it wa
that Corwin made his speech in which h
declared that the American soldiers ough
to be welcomed by the Mexicans wit
bloody hands and ho ospitablo graves; thc1
it was that Ashmun aud Lincoln voted il
the House of Representatives that the wa
was unconstitutional and unjust; ant
: Ashmun's resolution, Corwins speech
and Lincoln's vote, were sent to Mexic
and read at the head of tho Mexican ar
my, to prove to them that there was
, Mexican party in the Congress of th
United States who were doing all in thei
power to aid them That man VIII
takes sides with the common enem
against his own country in time of wa
should rejoice in war being made on m
now, is very natural And in my opin
ion no other kink of man would rejoic
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