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happy than the course adopted and persisted in. And the Government should have known that such conciliation was the way both to peace, and to the securing of our just rights and interests at the hands of Mexico. But let this pass. Mexico refused to receive Mr. Slidell in the ordinary form as a Minister, resident near that Government, until he, or somebody else, had first been received as a Commissioner, to make terms with her in regard to Annexation. Such a Commissioner she professed herself willing to receive. Mr. Slidell insisted that she had promised to receive a Minister, with full powers. This she denied; and he was rejected. Now, the very grounds on which she put this rejection-however absurd, and however false-show conclusively that she did not mean war by this rejection. She meant to run the hazard of a war begun by us for such a cause; but the manner of the rejection precluded the idea of its being taken as a declaration of war on her part, or as leading necessarily to such a declaration, or to any acts of hostility. We are perfectly safe in saying, that the President did not so regard it-by anticipation or otherwise.

The other alternative then remains, namely: that he intended to consider, and so far as depended on him, to make, the rejection of Mr. Slidell, taken in connection with the unsatisfactory state of our relations with Mexico, cause of war, or rather the occasion of war with that power; and that he directed the movement of our army to the Rio Grande, by his order of the 13th of January, as a hostile operation, or at least as calculated, in its very nature, and by its necessary effects and results, to leave no alternative but war to either Government. We believe this to have been the exact state of the case. Indeed the proof that it was so is at hand, and is incontrovertible.

On the 20th of January Mr. Buchanan addresses a dispatch to Mr. Slidell, written after information had been received of the "probable" rejection of the Minister. In this dispatch the purpose of the President is fully disclosed. He tells Mr. Slidell, in case of his final rejection, that "nothing will then remain for this Government, but to take the redress of the wrongs of its citizens into its own bands." "The desire of the President is, that you [Mr. Slidell] should conduct yourself with such wisdom and firmness

in the crisis, that the voice of the American people shall be unanimous in favor of redressing the wrongs of our much-injured and long-suffering claimants." In other words, this affair was to be so conducted, that the hearts of the American people might be "prepared for war." Finally, Mr. Buchanan says: "In the mean time, the President, in anticipation of the final refusal of the Mexican Government to receive you, has ordered the Army of Texas to advance and take position on the left bank of the Rio Grande; and has directed that a strong fleet shall be immediately assembled in the Gulf of Mexico. He will thus be prepared to act with vigor and promptitude the moment that Congress shall give him the authority."

The

What becomes now, we ask in view of this explicit declaration, of the pretence set up by the President, that his order of the 13th of January, for the movement of the army from the Nueces to the Rio Grande, was prompted by some new and urgent necessity," to provide for the defence of that portion of our country!" Who does not now see that that order originated in another and a very different design? The rejection of Mr. Slidell was to be the signal for war-the ostensible ground of which should be the unsatisfied claims of our citizens on the justice of Mexico. There were real objects which were not disclosed. hearts of our people were to be prepared for the war. Congress was to be appealed to for its authority, but not-as events have demonstrated-until a hostile incursion and military demonstrations, under Executive direction, carried through Mexican settlements and Mexican military posts up to the gates of a Mexican city, more than one hundred miles beyond the remotest dwelling of any Texan citizen, and the remotest limits of Texan authority and jurisdiction, had made the war inevitable, and left Congress no alternative but to adopt and prosecute it. The President knew as well as we could tell him, that the Rio del Norte was the nominal boundary of Texas only; that Texas could not make it her boundary by her declaration merely; that the country on the east bank of that river for fifteen hundred miles, constituting parts of four provinces or departments of Mexico, with several cities

Santa Fé among the number-was inhabited exclusively by Mexicans, and was, as it had been continually, exclu sively under Mexican jurisdiction; that

the question of boundary, expressly reserved in the Act of Annexation, related solely to the country beyond the Nueces and in the direction of the Rio Grandea question which it was one professed object of the Mission of Mr. Slidell, instituted by the President himself, to adjust with Mexico; that the jurisdiction of Texas, though exercised "beyond the Nueces," never extended to or near the Rio Grande; that though the country "between" these two rivers had been represented in the Congress and Convention of Texas, and is now included within one of our Congressional districts, and within our revenue system, yet that neither Texan authority, nor the authority of the United States, had ever approached within a hundred miles of the Rio Grande, until our power was carried there by the hostile march of an invading army. All this the President knew; and we believe he acted with a full understanding or at least a confident expectation-of the consequences that have resulted, when he issued his order for the march of that army. The war is his, and he made it.

But we must bring this article to a close. It is manifest to us that the object which the President has all along proposed to himself to secure, out of our difficulties with Mexico, has been the acquisition of territory. Fifteen hundred miles of territory, from the mouth to the highest sources of the Rio Grande, on the left bank of that river, including several towns and cities, and sixty thousand Mexicans, with several of the richest mines in all Mexico-so much, at least, was to be secured. And if Upper California, with Monterey, and the fine harbor of San Francisco, could be clutched at the same time, no doubt the President has thought that his administration would be signalized as among the most glorious in the annals of the aggrandized republic. He has calculated largely on the supreme affection which he thinks animates the American people for their neighbor's possessions or what he supposes to be the covetous desires, the rapacity, and the ambition of the " Model Republic." Witness the absurd and false claim set up to the whole of Oregon-as high as fiftyfour, forty-and his readiness to involve us in war with England, to back this pretension.

The President must allow us to do him the justice to say, that he has been more consistent with himself from the beginning of this Mexican business, than he

has been willing should publicly appear. As soon as he was fairly settled in his seat, his policy was fixed. Texas proper was secured already, and without his aid. He must have more than ever belonged to Texas. There was the fine country of the Rio Grande-that he would have at all hazards; and his appetite was sharp for California also. Mexico owed our citizens some millions, and she was unwise enough to sulk about Annexation, and yet leave these debts unpaid. Here was a capital chance for a blow, and a speculation. He could get her lands in consideration of the debts, and make war upon her, if need be, to secure them, and still throw the fault of the war on her. He could make her bear all and everything-the loss of Texas-the loss of as much more territory as we could grasp and the blame and the cost of the war. The new territory acquired would pay for all, and the country would sing peans to the President, and compel him to serve them for another term. Mexico was poor, distracted, in anarchy, and almost in ruins-what could she do to stay the hand of our power, to impede the march of our greatness? We were Anglo-Saxon Americans; it was our "destiny" to possess and to rule this continent we were bound to do it! We were a chosen people, and this was our allotted inheritance, and we must drive out all other nations before us!

The President was ready to bring on this war with Mexico in June, a year ago. Everything was said and done to seduce General Taylor, even then, to prepare for his march, and not to stop short of the Rio Grande. At first some degree of caution was employed. He was to defend Texas, as far as wherever Texans had extended their possessions; and he was to approach as near the Rio Grande as prudence would allow. But he was not to disturb any Mexican posts or Mexican settlements. Shortly after this, he was told, if a Mexican force should cross the Rio Grande, or attempt to cross it, this would be war; and Texas must be defended—an object which he would then but secure by himself crossing the river and taking and holding possession of Matamoras and "other places" in the country. No more cautions now about Mexican posts and settlements this side of the Great River. Finally, he was told, with the Rio Grande again distinctly set before him: " You need not wait for directions from Washington, to carry out what you may.

deem proper to be done." This was said to General Taylor, after the President had become satisfied that "no serious attempt would be made by Mexico to invade Texas." Still the wily soldier held back. Mexico would not invade Texas, and Taylor would not invade Mexico. What was to be done? Says the President, "After our army and navy had remained on the frontier and coasts of Mexico for many weeks, without any hostile movement on her part, I deemed it important to put an end, if possible, to this state of things." Then the mission to Mexico was undertaken. It was undertaken in order to put an end to this state of things." The President was impatient that Mexico would commence no hostile movement on her part. That mission came to an unhappy conclusion, and still without any prospect of a "hostile movement" on the part of Mexico. And then it was, and finally, "to put an end to this state of things," that the peremptory order was given for the march of our army to the Rio Grande. Hence the war! and he who runs may read how it was begun, and for what objects it was undertaken.

We had intended, in conclusion, to recur to the plans of the Administration for prosecuting this war, in connection with the objects manifestly proposed to be secured by it. And we had intended, also, to note some of the more glaring instances where the Constitution has been, and is, wantonly trampled upon in this business. But we must stop. Hardly has the President deemed it necessary to pay even a decent and cold respect to the remains of that once venerated instrument. In every step of his progress-in sending an army into Texas, and in authorizing a call for militia from that country, while it was still a foreign and independent republic in directing the invasion of the proper soil of Mexico, covered with Mexican posts and settlements--in beginning a

war with Mexico on his sole authority, even though Congress was then present at Washington-and finally, now, in undertaking the conquest of Mexico, even, if need be, to the gates of the Imperial City, with an army to be composed of militia, to the amount of five-sixths of its numbers, when his utmost authority, under the Constitution, is to employ militia "to repel invasions"-in all these things, and in others which might be named, he manifests a reckless disregard of Constitutional restraints, and of his own solemn oath, in which he leaves far behind him, in the career of daring experiment and political gambling, the worst and boldest of his predecessors. God help the country, while he remains at the head of it!

We have intimated, in the commencement of this article, what we thought the Administration ought to do--the initiative steps it ought immediately to take-to restore peaceful relations with Mexico. But we confess we have little to hope from the Administration-except in the difficulties which will certainly environ every step of its further progress in its proposed career of conquest. Possibly Mexico, having done what she could, may soon succumb to our power. But beyond this, our hopes of peace rest mainly on the interested interposition of other Powers of England or France, or both-with their friendly offices, to mediate between us and Mexico. Without such mediation, if prayers of ours could be heard in such high quarters, we would pray the Administration, for the honor of the country, for humanity's sake, to make peace with Mexico. We pray God to put thoughts of peace into their heartspeace with justice and honor-peace without conquest, or the wanton desire of spoiling the enemy of his goods, his possessions and his heritage. D. D. B.

HEARTS WE LOVE.

BY W. T. BACON.

THEY talk of homes amid the wild,
And fancy decks them forth
With every charm that ever smiled
To beautify the earth;

Yet sure I am the purest flame
E'er human heart did move,

Is that sweet light that burneth bright
In happy hearts we love.

The sailor sails upon the sea,

His heart, his home is there;
The spirit's veriest witchery

Comes in that spot and air;
He proud will roam and dare the foam
And all its wonders prove,
Yet sure we are no rest is there
Like that in hearts we love.

And one will find his home in fame,
Another in his gain,

And some despise a glorious name
And riot in the mean;

With different mind they each will find

A joy, a thing to move;

And such it is, but not the bliss

That lives in hearts we love,

And some have thought the martyr's crown, So full of glories bright,

Had joys, from its fire circlet won,

To thrill with wild delight;

Such will receive-such crown will give

A joy like that above,

Yet nothing sure than bliss more pure
That burns in hearts we love.

Others have thought the poet's fire
Unearthly pleasure has,

And light there is around his lyre
That doth in Heaven blaze;

He strikes the string, his numbers ring,

Rapt is his soul above,

And yet his bliss is not like this

Found in the hearts we love.

When morning comes, we go abroad
Upon the vernal earth,

And feel the very breath of God

Is in its shouting mirth;

The heart's not still, with wildest thrill

Its living pulses move,

Yet comes there not with all this thought
The bliss of hearts we love.

The warrior dares the angry path

Where death-doomed surges swell,

The madness of its awful wrath
He seeks it pleases well;

Yet go to him when stars burn dim
O'er those life late did move,

Ask if his pleasure has that large measure
Poured from the hearts we love.

Then give me one in which my own
Shall ever center'd be,

And I will spurn the monarch's throne

The richer man than he;

There's not o'er all this earthly ball

One joy like this to move

A happy heart that dwells apart,
And lives in our own love.

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"We are fond of talking of those who have given us pleasure, not that we have anything important to say, but because the subject is pleasing."-GOLDSMITH'S LIFE OF PARNELL

"Blest with a taste exact, yet unconfined,

A knowledge both of books and human kind."-POPE.

"Je parle au papier comme je parle au premier que je rencontre."-Montaigne, Chap. 1, Liv. 3d.

HUNT's temperament and genius have been strongly marked by the decided characters of his parents. His father was a West Indian, a descendant of a long line of clergymen, and was educated at Philadelphia, where, when difficulties broke out between England and America, he sided zealously with the mother country, and became obnoxious to the citizens, who seized him with the intention of giving him a coat of tar and feathers; but while proceeding on their way to accomplish their design, their prisoner was struck on the head so violently by a stone, that he fell senseless, and his eyesight was so much impaired by the blow, that he ever after was compelled to wear glasses. He now thought it best to leave for England, and on his arrival in London he was strenously advised to go on the stage by some actors who had heard him recite, but instead of this he went into the church. When he spoke his farewell oration on leaving College, two young ladies fell in love with him, one of whom he afterwards married. He is described as being fair and handsome, with delicate features, a small aquiline nose and blue eyes. To a graceful address he joined a remarkably fine voice, which he modulated with great effect. It was by reading that he completed the conquest of his wife's heart, a graceful and noble method of courtship. He was ordained by the celebrated Lowth, then Bishop of London, and in a short time became so popular that the Bishop sent for him and remonstrated against his preaching so many charity sermons. His delivery was admirable, and one day Thomas Sheridan came up to him in the vestry and complimented him on having profited so well from his treatise on reading the Liturgy. Fancy the astonishment of Sheridan

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when quietly informed by the parson that he had never seen it. Crowds of carriages were to be seen at the door of the church, and one of his congregation had an engraving made of him, and a lady of the name of Cooling left him by her will £500, as a return for the gratification his sermons had afforded her. Unfortunately his polished manners and accomplished mind, joined with a strong inclination and keen relish for the festive enjoyments of society, too often brought him to the tables of the gay and the witty. He was blessed with various and pliant powers. He told a story capitally, had seen much of life, which gave a shrewdness and point to his conversation. Here he was in his element. Better for him if he had remained in Barbadoes; there he could unreproved have quoted Horace, enjoyed "the pleasant labyrinths of ever fresh discourse," and quaffed his wine. There is much matter of fact in the nature of John Bull, and in his island, "where merchants most do congregate," the gay dashing divine was incomprehensible to the shopkeepers, who knew not under what head to class him, especially as he was poor. With ten thousand a year, he could have led the same life unreproached and even admired.

"But let a man of parts be wrong,
'Tis triumph to the leaden throng.
The fools shall cackle out reproof,
The very ass shall raise his hoof;
And he who holds in his possession,
The single virtue of discretion,
Who knows no overflow of spirit,
Whose want of passion is his merit,
Whom wit and taste and judgment flies,
Shall shake his noddle and seem wise."

He became careless and inattentive to his profession, "society became his glit

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