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causes which led to the Mexican war, and the means which should have been adopted by our government to avoid it.

We have seen, that its occasion was the annexation of Texas to the United States, a measure which, though not inconsistent with justice to Mexico, must be acknowledged to have been uncalled for, and in view of its probable consequences, to have been unwise and wrong. We have seen, that the war might have been prevented by sending a commissioner to Mexico; for its refusal to do which, the United States can offer no excuse. We have seen, that the advance of our army to the Rio Grande was a deliberate invasion of the known territory of Mexico, and was the sole cause of the war. We have seen, that this invasion was not for the defence of our territory, but was the result of a determination to wage war against Mexico in the event of the rejection of our minister. We have seen this determination studiously concealed, and means adopted to goad Mexico to hostilities; and when these had proved successful, we have seen our country incited to the contest by the falsehood that her army had invaded our soil. And we have seen moreover,

that congress might probably have stayed the war even after its commencement. Then on us

must rest the whole responsibility of this unprovoked and wanton aggression, as clearly without justification as it is without remedy.

This is a hard judgment, but we solemnly believe that it is the voice of truth, and that when the prejudices and passions of the present hour shall have cleared away, when the causes of this war shall have become more universally. known, and history shall have sifted the truth from error, posterity will record the same decision that the misconduct of our rulers involved this country in a crime for which no extenuation can be pleaded, and brought upon us a calamity whose extent we can but imperfectly realize.

CHAPTER X.

THE Objects of the War. Conquest. Its Progress. The Treaty of

peace.

WE come now to inquire into the objects of this war, in which examination we shall give a general view of its progress and events.

The president, in his message of December, 1846, says: "The war has not been waged with a view to conquest, but having been begun by Mexico, it has been carried into the enemy's country with a view to obtain an honorable peace, and thereby secure an ample indemnity for the expenses of the war, as well as to our much injured citizens, who hold large demands against Mexico."

The meaning of this enigmatical expression, "an honorable peace," something which was to possess such a great value in ready money, we shall discover presently.

Now we have seen that the war was not commenced by Mexico, but by our government. How an honorable peace could follow such a war, causeless and disgraceful to a christian people, it is beyond our power to comprehend. The wrong which marked its inception must attend every step of its progress. The obligation to arrest it which existed at its commencement, must be renewed every moment of its continuance. Its victories must be murder, its acquisitions must be robbery.

We have seen a determined purpose in the executive to effect a war, a purpose for the attainment of which truth and the constitution were alike disregarded.

And for this purpose the messages of the executive furnish us with no motive. One thing however is plain. The neglect of Mexico to pay her debt to our citizens and her refusal to receive our minister were not its causes. Had they been, had the declarations of the executive to Mr. Slidell been sincere, had it believed its own story, that the rights and honor of the country had been invaded, and that indeed nothing remained "but a resort to arms," it was clearly its duty to lay the matter before con

gress, which was then in session, and which could alone adopt the necessary measures. It would undoubtedly have done so. Deceit and unconstitutional means would not then have been resorted to. Besides, government stoutly denied that it made war at all, thereby showing its own consciousness that the reasons which it had before declared to have exhausted its cup of forbearance, were not only ridiculous as a justification, but useless as excuses for commencing the war. No, these could not have been the reasons which led to it.

Then what were they? What was the purpose for which this cunningly contrived plot was laid to involve the country in a war without the sanction of congress, and falsehoods were employed to incite the people to its pros

ecution?

Mr. Calhoun, so late as January, 1847, declared in the senate, that up to that hour the causes of the war were left to conjecture. All was then involved in mystery. Since the

words of Mr. Calhoun were uttered, day has dawned upon this darkness, and the mystery is revealed. The reasons given to Mr. Slidell are now shown to have been as false as was the

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