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stood to be opposed to invading Texas, and in favor of an amicable settlement with the United States. He fell-partly on account of this imputation; but Paredes, who succeeded, was just as little disposed to undertake such a conquest as Herrera had been.

And not only would there have been no invasion, or attempt at invasion, if the President had occupied only the proper and acknowledged soil of Texas, but it is manifest that nothing of the sort would have occurred, notwithstanding that our army had crossed the Nueces and taken position on the west bank of that river, provided the President had allowed it to remain there. Corpus Christi, and a narrow strip of country on the west bank of the Nueces, though not a part of the ancient province of Texas, had been actually occupied by Texans, and governed by the laws of the Republic. General Taylor had held his position there for six months without disturbance, and he was just as little threatened with disturbance at the end as at the beginning-and vastly less so. At first there was some apprehension, both in the camp and at Washington, that Mexico might mean something by her threats of war and invasion. But this apprehension soon subsided at both points. On the 6th of September, within three weeks of his arrival at Corpus Christi, General Taylor writes: "I have the honor to report, that a confidential agent dispatched, some days since, to Matamoras, has returned, and reports that no extraordinary preparation was going forward there; that the garrison does not seem to have been increased, and that our Consul is of opinion there will be no declaration of war." He adds, "I must express the hope, that no militia force will be ordered to join me without my requisition for it. I am entirely confident that none will be required." And on the 17th of September, the Secretary of State writes from Washington: Information recently received at this department. . . . renders it probable that the Mexican Government may now be willing to restore the diplomatic relations between the two countries." We say confidently, that from the month of September down to and including the 13th of January, when a peremptory order was issued to General Taylor to move to the Rio Grande, there was not the least reason to apprehend, nor was any serious apprehension actu

ally felt by the Administration at Washington, that Mexico would declare war, or would attempt an invasion of Texas, or even cross the Rio Grande with an army. If it was otherwise, let it be shown. It cannot be shown, or pretended. For any movement of troops, or demonstrations of hostile purpose, the Administration relied for information on General Taylor at Corpus Christi. Not an expression can be found in any letter of his, from the month of September onward, which indicated danger, or any prospect of danger. On the contrary everything breathed of repose, quiet and peace. And the news of peace from General Taylor was confirmed to the Administration from other quarters. The Secretary of War writes to him, under date of October 16: "The information which we have here renders it probable that no serious attempts will, at present, be made by Mexico to invade Texas-although she continues to threaten incursions." We repeat, and we charge, in the most solemn manner, not only the fact, but that the President and his Cabinet well knew, that so long as General Taylor remained, or should remain, in his position at Corpus Christiso long as they refrained from pushing the army forward towards the Rio Grande, no war and no invasion was to be apprehended from Mexico. All the accounts show conclusively, that after the month of August, and up to the time of this fatal movement of our army from the Nueces, there had been no concentration of Mexican troops on that frontier-no movement of troops towards it, and no preparations for any such movement. The military correspondence shows this fact beyond all dispute.

The collision of arms between us and Mexico resulted, without any sort of doubt or question, from the movement of our army to the Rio Grande. The present war is the necessary consequence of that movement, and is attributable to that cause alone. This movement was commenced about the first of March, and every active preparation for resistance by Mexico, was made after that periodor at least after the time when the news of this intended movement reached her capital. Meja was then in command of a small force-not two thousand men

at Matamoras. Ampudia was at the capital, but marched to Matamoras with a force of two or three thousand men, where he arrived and assumed the com

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mand a fortnight after General Taylor had sat down before that city. A fortnight later, on the 4th of April, Arista arrived and assumed the command. And what was the attitude and position which these commanders assumed, under instructions from their Government? Each in succession issued a proclamation, or sent a communication to General Taylor. That of Ampudia recited the explicit demands of his Government. They were, in substance, that General Taylor should forthwith break up his camp and retire to the Nueces, until the question of boundary should be settled between the two Governments. "If," said he, "you persist in remaining upon the soil of the Department of Tamaulipas, it must certainly result that arms, and arms alone, must decide the question." The answer of Taylor was: The instructions under which I am acting will not permit me to retrograde from the position I now occupy." Taylor acts as he is ordered, and says little. He immediately ordered the blockade of the mouth of the Rio Grande, to cut off all supplies from Matamoras. "It will," said he, a few days afterwards, "compel the Mexicans either to withdraw their army from Matamoras, where it cannot be subsisted, or to assume the offensive on this side of the river." He was right. On the very next day Captain Thornton's command was at tacked, and sixteen men killed and wounded; and "hostilities were now considered as commenced." General Arista considered hostilities commenced before this. The Mexican army in force, soon after "assumed the offensive on this side of the river," and the country is informed of the issue.

We desire, in all this, that our readers should note the attitude assumed by the Mexican Government and the Mexican Commanders. The Proclamation of the President was: "I solemnly announce that I do not declare war against the United States." "But the defence of the Mexican territory, invaded by the troops of the United States, is of paramount ne; cessity." The Commanders called on General Taylor to retire to the Nueces, as his occupation of "the soil of Tamaulipas" must lead to hostilities. And we advert to these things now as affording indubitable proof of the position we have been insisting on, namely that Mexico had long since abandoned all idea, if she had ever seriously entertained it, of declaring or making war on account of the Annexation of Texas to the United States,

with an undefined boundary, or of invading or occupying that territory, or any part of it, with her forces; that if General Taylor had been suffered to remain at Corpus Christi, no war and no collision would have taken place, and that hostilities and the war are to be attributed solely to the marching of our army to the Rio del Norte. It was not Texas that Mexico undertook to invade or defend; but it was the soil of Tamaulipas invaded by our army, even to the banks of del Norte, that she attempted to protect. She submitted, in terms express as she could make them, before a blow was struck, to our forcible occupation of Texas up to, and even over, the Nueces. More than that, pending the question of boundary between the two countries, she resolved not to submit to.

We can think of nothing more absurd and silly, than a reference in a case like this, to the party that struck the first blow, as determining the question as to which party began the war. We have no hesitation whatever in saying that the President of the United States began this war. The people of this country, and the world, will hold him responsible for it. Let him justify it, if he can. We have said before, and on another occasion, that it was not his fault that this war was not begun many months earlier than it was. He began in the first summer month of 1845 to point the vision of a brave military commander to the banks of the Rio del Norte. Taylor was a warrior, bred in camps, who had never any fault to find with his profession, except that in a long peace it lacked activity. This was the individual whom the President invited in repeated messages-we cannot call them orders— through several successive months, to march to "the point of his ultimate destination." But Taylor waited for orders, and when they came he marched. And he had no sooner passed out of the valley of the Nueces, and over the unsettled region adjoining, than he became fully aware that he was in a foreign country, at the head of an invading army, and surrounded by enemies. His situation was wholly changed. At Corpus Christi he had seen no enemy. Mexican traders came and went, and all was friendship and peace. Now the case was altered. His advance began to be met, he says, by armed parties of Mexicans, thrown out to observe his force and his movements. At the Arroyo Colorado he was met by a considerable force, who in

formed him that they were there to dispute his passage of that river, with positive orders to fire on him if he attempted to cross. He crossed as in the presence of an enemy, with his "batteries of field artillery planted so as to sweep the opposite bank." The Mexicans retreated. Some miles before reaching Point Isabel, he was met by a civil deputation, bearing a white flag, from Matamoras. They brought with them a formal Protest of the Prefect of the northern district of Tamaulipas against his occupation of that country. The citizens of this district," says this respectful and dignified document, "in the exercise of the natural rights of self-defence, PROTEST, through their organ, IN THE MOST SOLEMN FORM, THAT NEITHER NOW, NOR AT

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ANY TIME, DO THEY CONSENT, OR WILL EVER CONSENT, TO SEPARATE THEMSELVES FROM THE MEXICAN REPUBLIC, AND UNITE THEMSELVES ΤΟ THE UNITED STATES OF THE NORTH." "The inhabitants must, whatever professions of peace you may employ, regard you as openly committing hostilities." General Taylor found this information strictly and literally true. The buildings at Point Isabel were fired at his approach. The inhabitants abandoned their homes and cultivated fields, and fled as he advanced. When he reached his position opposite Matamoras, in his brief, soldierly way of writing, he sums up the case in this wise: "The attitude of the Mexicans is so far decidedly hostile." He conducted himself accordingly. "On our side," said he, "a battery of four 18 pounders will be completed, and the guns placed in battery to-day. These guns bear directly upon the public square of Matamoras, and within good range for demolishing the town. Their object cannot be mistaken by the enemy," &c. Only one step was wanting to "compel the Mexicans either to withdraw their army from Matamoras, or to assume the offensive on this side of the river;" that step was to blockade the mouth of the river -and it was done!

We are not condemning General Taylor. This war was not his, but the President's. And it was no sin of ignorance in the President. He knew that the country on the Rio Grande had never been occupied by Texans, or touched by Texans, except to be destroyed, or captured as enemies. He knew that the inhabitants were Mexicans; that the whole district was under the quiet and undisturbed rule of the civil authorities of Mex

ico, and was occupied and protected by her military posts. In the earliest dispatches from the Department of War, General Taylor was advised of the existence of these military posts and Mexican settlements this side the Rio Grande. And now let the President answer whether he did not begin this war. He invaded, with his army, a foreign country-in possession of a foreign people, and under the rule of a foreign power. And this is war-this is war! It was, in every step of the march for the last hundred miles, a forced invasion, with military array-a conquering march, with inhabitants fleeing, and military parties retreating before it. And this is war! It was an invasion of a foreign country to the distance of one hundred miles beyond where the United States, or the Republic of Texas, had ever exercised or pretended to exercise jurisdiction; and the invasion did not stop till, at that distance from any territory which we ever had the slightest pretence to call our own, a powerful battery was planted to "bear directly on the public square" of a foreign city, "within good range for demolishing the town!" If this is not war, will the President tell us, in the name of all the martial gods at once, what war is?

We think that no reader who has followed us thus far can doubt that the President of the United States is alone responsible for the war with Mexico-that that war is to be attributed solely to the march of our army, under his orders, from the Nueces to the Rio Grande-that that march itself was a hostile invasion and the commencement of hostile operations. There is not a nation in Christendom, or in the world, having the ability and the courage, that would not have resisted such an invasion, under the like circumstances. It remains to inquire what justification or apology the President offers, or can offer, for making this war. We can do but small justice to this part of our subject in the brief space that is left to us for this article.

Let us not, in this inquiry, be diverted from the true point in the case. This war, as we have seen, was begun by the act of the President, in moving the army from Corpus Christi on the west bank of the Nueces, and sending it to take possession of the country on the east bank of the Rio Grande del Norte. The question is, what sufficient reasons existed to justify this act? The President makes the most of his own case, in his message

to Congress of the 14th of May. We feel bound to give him the benefit of his defence just as he has presented it. Here

it is:

"This force (the army) was concentrated at Corpus Christi, and remained there until after I had received such information from Mexico as rendered it probable, if not certain, that the Mexican Government would refuse to receive our Envoy.

"Meantime, Texas, by the final action of our Congress, had become an integral part of our Union. The Congress of Texas, by its act of December 19th, 1836, had declared the Rio del Norte to be the boun

dary of that Republic. Its jurisdiction had been extended and exercised beyond the

Nueces.

"The country between that river and Del Norte had been represented in the Congress and in the Convention of Texas, had thus taken part in the act of Annex ation itself, and is now included within one of our Congressional Districts. Our own Congress had, moreover, with great unanimity, by the act approved December 31st, 1845, recognized the country beyond the Nueces as a part of our territory by including it within our own revenue system; and a revenue officer, to reside within that District, has been appointed by and with

the advice and consent of the Senate.

"It became, therefore, of urgent necessity to provide for the defence of that portion of our country. Accordingly on the 13th of January last instructions were

issued to the General in command of these troops to occupy the left bank of the Del Norte. This river-which is the southwestern boundary of the State of Texas is an exposed frontier. From this quarter invasion was threatened; upon it and in its immediate vicinity, in the judgment of high military experience, are the proper stations for the protecting forces of the Government.

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"In addition to this important consideration, several others occurred to induce this movement. Among these are the facilities afforded by the ports at Brazos Santiago and the mouth of the Del Norte for the reception of supplies by sea, stronger and more healthful military positions, the convenience for obtaining a ready and more abundant supply of provisions, water, fuel and forage, and the advantages which are afforded by the Del Norte in forwarding supplies to such posts as may be established in the interior and upon the Indian frontier."

We will see what this defence amounts to. The army had lain quietly for several months at Corpus Christi, disturbing nobody, and nobody disturbing it. On the 13th of January it became, in the

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opinion of the President, "of urgent ne cessity" to provide for the defence of that particular section of country which lies between the Nueces and the Rio Grande. Why? What new exigency had arisen to demand now, and not before, the special defence of " that portion" of country? The President answers : Meantime, Texas, by the final action of our Congress, had become an integral part of our Union," and the country "between the Nueces and Del Norte" was a part of Texas; and hence "the urgent necessity to provide for the defence of that portion of our country," on the 13th of January. But, Mr. President, allow us respectfully to remind you, that if the Rio Grande was the south-western boundary of Texas, it did not become so on or near the 13th of January, 1846, or at or about the time when Texas, by the final action of our Congress, became an integral part of our Union. You, yourself, date that boundary from the 19th of December, 1836; and besides this, your army had actually occupied the Texan country-yes, and "beyond the Nueces"-for several months before your order of the 13th of January, and before Texas, by your present confession, had become an integral part of our Union, by the final action of our Congress. Several months before that order, you assumed, in derogation of the Constitution, and to the great scandal of your country, that Texas, by the action of the Congress, or Convention, of that republic, became an integral portion of our Union, and you ordered an army to march there, to occupy and defend it, as such. For months before Texas became a State of this Union-while she was still an independent republic, governed in all things by her own republican authorities-your

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Army of Occupation," by your order, was encamped and entrenched in that country, to defend it as an integral portion of our Union. And if the Rio Grande was the boundary of Texas in January, 1846, it was not less the boundary of Texas in July, 1845; and we do not yet see, therefore, how your obligations, on your own principles, became so much more "urgent" to provide for the defence of that portion of Texas beyond the Nueces, in January, than it had been in July.

Certainly, the President seemed to entertain no doubt from the beginning that, as soon as Texas herself had acted on the question of Annexation, it became his duty to protect and defend that country, and

12*

Our Relations with Mexico.

the whole of it, up to its extremest limits;
and as little doubt did he seem to enter-
tain, as long ago as the 15th of June, that
the Rio Grande constituted its western
boundary. Gen. Taylor was then so in-
structed. Under instructions, he took up
a position in Texas, "beyond the Nue-
ces," and this occupation was designed
expressly for the protection and defence
of Texas-not of Texas on this side of
that river only, but of Texas wherever
Texas was, and wherever Texans were.
By orders of the 13th of July, he was to
protect and defend "the territory of Texas,
to the extent that it has been occupied by
the people of Texas." "The Rio Grande
is claimed to be the boundary between the
two countries, and up to this boundary
you are to extend your protection-only
excepting any posts on the eastern side
thereof, which are in the actual occupancy
of Mexican forces, or Mexican settle-
ments over which the Republic of Texas
did not exercise jurisdiction at the period
of Annexation, or shortly before that
event." Such were then the General's
orders; and under them, and to fulfill
them to the letter, he selected and main-
tained his position on the west bank of
the Nueces. What we want to know is:
what had happened, on or about the 13th
of January, to create such an "urgent
necessity" for directing his position to be
changed from the Nueces to the Rio
Grande? and that change to be made, too,
wholly regardless of any Mexican posts
or Mexican settlements on this side of
that river! Up to that time the "Army
of Occupation," in its position at Corpus
Christi, had served abundantly to protect
Texas, and the whole of it, to the extent
that it had been occupied by the people
of Texas, and strictly in accordance with
the orders of the 15th of June, and the
30th of July. No war had been declared,
and Texas had not been invaded; and all
apprehension that it would be was past.
No such apprehension was sincerely felt
either in the camp or in the cabinet. We
have furnished the proof of this significant
fact already. We ask again then: where-
fore the orders of the 13th of January?
What were the grounds of that " urgent
necessity" which then arose to provide
especially for the better defence of "that
portion" of country which lies beyond
the Nueces? Certainly, the President
does not account for it, by declaring that
"meantime Texas, by the final action of
our Congress, had become an integral part
of our Union,"-nor by declaring, as if it

were a new idea to him, that Texas had
its western boundary on the Rio Grande
nor yet by talking of that boundary as
"an exposed frontier," propen and con-
venient to be occupied by the protecting
forces of the Government. On the 23d of
Aug., a dispatch was written from Wash-
ington to inform General Taylor that
the Administration then had "reason to
believe that Mexico was making efforts
to assemble a large army on the frontier
of Texas;" and he was instructed that,
"should Mexico assemble a large body
of troops on the Rio Grande, and cross it
with a considerable force, such a move-
ment must be regarded as an invasion of
the United States, and the commencement -
of hostilities." And yet he was told in
the same dispatch, that they had no
more explicit instructions to give him in
regard to his movements than had been
already forwarded." At that time, even
a danger felt to be imminent could not
draw from the President a positive order
to move the army to the Rio Grande;
what, in the name of wonder, was it that
made that order of such "urgent neces-
sity" on the 13th of January?

But we have not forgotten that the
President had then, as he states, "received
such information from Mexico as rendered
it probable, if not certain, that the Mexi-
can Government would refuse to receive
our Envoy." If the President really offers
this as a reason for moving the army to
the Rio Grande, then it must have been
on one of two grounds: either that he
intended to consider the rejection of Mr.
Slidell as cause of war, or to make it, if
he could, the occasion of war, with Mexi-
co, on the part of the United States, and
to lead the way to the commencement of
hostilities accordingly; or, he apprehend-
ed that Mexico would follow up that act
by herself making war on us, or invading
Texas.

Now we are prepared to say, and main-
tain, that the President had not the slight-
est reason to believe-nor do we suppose
he did believe, or would so pretend that
Mexico was about to commence hostili-
ties because she had rejected, or would
reject our Minister. The subject of this
mission, and the temper and manner in
which it was conducted, ought to receive
a full exposition in this connection. But
we cannot now enter into it. We think
if the object really was to conciliate the
Mexican Government in the matter of An-
nexation-the point of offence to Mexi-
co-nothing would have been more un-

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