Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

ONE session of this Congress has gone by; another has begun. The country has reason to rejoice that it is so near its end. The late elections exhibit an extraordinary revolt in the public mind against the principles, professions and practice of the dominant party which has guided the conduct of this Congress. The elections yet to be held, we may believe, will speak with equal emphasis to the same purport. The Twenty-Ninth Congress will terminate its career in a blaze of popular reproof.

In the brief review which we propose to make of some of the leading measures to which this Congress has given its sanction, we are led, by many considerations, to recur to that with which it stands in very remarkable contrast-the ever-memorable Twenty-Seventh. These two legislative bodies may be regarded as rivals in the public view. They are antagonistic in nearly every point of doc. trine and policy affecting the manage ment of public affairs; each the sign and exponent of a new administration; each the type of the party by which it was controlled. We can find no better index, in the events of our time, to the characteristic temper, aims and practical purposes of the two great parties which divide the nation, than is afforded in the history of these two Congresses.

Of the Twenty-Seventh it may be said, that its ruling influence was Conservatism. It was careful to maintain the national institutions as they were known

VOL. IV.-NO. VI.

36

to the earlier statesmen of the Union. Turning its back upon that wretched conceit of the day, which calls itself the progressive principle and which, as exhibited in our legislation, is nothing more than the charlatanry of small politicians, who come into the public service unprovided with the experience, and unendowed with the capacity, for the grave duties of statesmanship-it placed itself upon the ground which was occupied by the last administration of Madison, and which was preserved through the two administrations that followed, with the approbation and support of the most eminent and capable men who have ever graced the public counsels of this country. It should never be forgotten that the Twenty-Seventh Congress, in the scheme of its action, aimed at perpetuating that system of measures which may be described as the Madisonian platform, and which was sustained, in 1816, by the whole democracy of the Union;which had Madison himself, Clay, Crawford, Calhoun, Lowndes, Sergeant, and a host of others not less renowned, for its champions; which gave to the country the Tariff, the Bank, the Internal Improvements, as its measures, and the careful restraint of Executive power, economy of administration, and faithful execution of the Laws as its principles.

Endeavoring to conduct its action according to this scheme, the TwentySeventh Congress was industrious to suggest and promote whatever was likely

to enlarge the national prosperity. It sought to regulate the currency by a National Bank, improved and guarded by every guarantee which a long experience had suggested as likely to protect it against abuse. It became, in the most liberal sense, the patron of domestic industry; and, with infinite care and study, enacted a Tariff by which it imparted the greatest vigor to every resource of labor. It provided means for the protection and expansion of our lake and river commerce, for the multiplication and scarcity of harbors and the erection of lighthouses. It directed a distribution of the proceeds of the public lands to be made amongst the several States, as long as the country should be at peace-in accordance with a policy which all parties had once approved, and which never fell into disfavor until it was discovered that its adoption might add to the already brilliant reputation of one of the wisest and best of American statesmen. It enlarged our foreign trade by the Chinese Treaty; and laid the foundation of a permanent peace with Great Britain by the wise and just spirit in which it met the difficulties of the Macleod and Boundary questions. And it cannot be doubted that the equitable disposition manifested by this Congress, in reference to these negotiations, prepared the way for the adjustment of the dispute as to Oregon, and thus contributed, in no small degree, to the removal of the only remaining point of collision between two great communities, of whom it has been justly said that they possessed the means of doing to each other and to the cause of civilization more good or more harm than any other nations upon the globe.

It established an economical administration; arrested the ruinous policy by which, in a time of peace with all for eign powers, a national debt had been permitted to grow up; provided means for its extinguishment, and restored the credit of the government, which a wasteful system of expenditure had impaired. It repealed the Independent Treasury that most absurd abortion in legislation which partisan pride and obstinacy ever inflicted upon the country. It enacted the single district system for the election of the House of Representatives-a measure so eminently just, so exactly in accordance with the spirit and design of the Constitution, that we cannot cease to wonder at the hardihood which made

it the subject of denunciation and even of State nullification in some sections of the Union, by a party which affects to be the champion of equal rights and assumes to call itself the democracy.

This Congress resisted, and with complete success during the period of its own existence, that ill-fated policy, which has, under less propitious counsels, added the Republic of Texas to the Union. A scrupulous adherence to the limits of constitutional power, a becoming sensibility to the injustice which might be done to the rights of a friendly neighbor republic, and an apprehension of those unhappy consequences which have since been realized, and were then foreseen and foretold, will ever vindicate the wisdom as well as the humanity which refused to concur in the Annexation.

These are amongst the triumphs of the Twenty-Seventh Congress. Several of the measures which we have enumerated in this summary, it is true, were not permitted to take effect. They fell under that formidable power of the veto which the accidental occupant of the chief magistracy of that day has rendered even more odious than it had been before, by his attempt to make it subservient to the mean flattery of one party and the deliberate betrayal of the other. Still, what that Congress accomplished is not more honorable to its fame, than what it was denied the privilege of giving to the country. Nor is it less to be commended for its many labors that were not matured into actual legislation. It devoted its attention to every branch of the public service; its investigations in this field were careful, minute and comprehensive; and there may be found, in the reports of its committees, a digested mass of information upon the public affairs, and an amount of prepared business touching the various interests of the nation, which may serve as the basis of useful legislation for many years to come. The Twenty-Seventh was, in fact, a working Congress. It aimed to present to the country, in visible shape, an embodiment of that political philosophy which the Whigs have ever believed to be essential to the prosperity and grandeur of the nation. It was steadfast to this purpose, and spared no toil to commend itself to the judgment and affections of the people by its industry, its patriotism and its fidelity to every interest embraced within the circle of national concern.

The Twenty-Ninth Congress is, almost

in every respect, the reverse of the Twenty-Seventh. Its first characteristic is its tendency towards destructivism. There is apparent in its action a recognition of positive pleasure in doing what is calculated to surprise the country by its boldness and its novelty. It harbored the utmost ultraism on the Oregon and Texas questions:-nothing was too extravagant to be said or done on those topics. It has given to the Constitution an entirely new character. They who could not find authority to pave the Pennsylvania Avenue, or to make a national turnpike, have now discovered power to bring new empires within the Union. With this body the will of party is everything. In the advocacy of the President's movements against Mexico, it has stripped itself and its successors of the right of judging upon the expediency of a war, and given that question over to the arbitrament of the Executive alone. In the re-establishment of the Independent Treasury, it has not only been guilty of a piece of inexcusable folly, but it has defied the public will and treated it with contumely. In the repeal of the Tariff of 1842 it has grievously assailed the welfare of the people, and consummated an act of perfidy which, for its intrepidity-if not for its impolicy -is without a parallel in our history. The country has looked with amazement upon the hardihood with which their representatives have advanced in this work of destruction; and the public sensibility to their misdeeds seems, for the moment, even to have been blunted by the frequency of the recurrence of acts which singly could not escape a quick and indignant denunciation."

Το say nothing of the unfortunate exhibition made by the President and some of his friends in the Oregon questionthe peculiar absurdity of which has been sufficiently reproved in the manly and wise statesmanship of the Senate-we can find no language too strong to express our objections to the course of Government action by which the country has become involved in the Mexican war. The Twenty-Ninth Congress has made itself accessory to the folly and improvidence of this act, not only by its acquiescence but by its vindication of the President and its active co-operation in his views.

We see no justification of that war in any incident of its history. It had its origin in an untruth. It was impolitic

if

and useless. The object of the war, it be what it is pretended-for we are as yet without any clear avowal of its real purpose-could have been better accomplished without an invasion than with it. It is, therefore, but an indefensible aggression upon a weak and distracted country, wholly unworthy the prowess of our arms.

We began by the annexation of Texas. The extent of our duty, after that measure, was to defend this new possession. To that point the country would have been with the administration-even those who opposed the policy of the annexation. To this extent, the President has had ample evidence that all parties would have united with him and lent their aid to the achievement of a secure and honorable peace. With all due allowance for the natural ebullition of Mexican feeling against the annexation, there is scarcely a doubt that wise forbearance on our side, and firm assertion of our purpose to resist all attempts on the part of Mexico to repossess herself of her lost province, would have soon, been followed by a restoration of friendly relations. But the President has gone far beyond this position. We have become invaders— not to defend Texas but to add new domains to our national territory.

Without intending to dwell upon the history of this war and its objects, there are one or two inquiries, connected with our pretensions, upon which the people will hereafter demand an explanation.

When the question of annexation was brought to the consideration of the last Congress, a distinguished member of the Senate, whose course upon this measure entitles him to the respect and the thanks of the nation-we mean Mr. Bentonvery pertinently asked: What Texas is it, that it is proposed to annex to this Union? Is it the province of that name, formerly belonging to the Mexican confederation, which revolted and, on the plains of San Jacinto, won its independence? that Texas which was bounded by the Nueces and the Red River, and known to all geographers as definitively as any other Mexican State ?-Or is it proposed to annex that country which is defined only in an act of the Texan Congress; which claims to have the Rio Grande for its limit up to the forty-second parallel of latitude, and includes large portions of five Mexican provinces that have never revolted, but now live contentedly under the Mexican law; within whose borders no hostile Texan has ever been, except as a pris

oner of war? This was, in substance, Mr. Benton's inquiry. The reply was: There is no purpose to annex any other State or part of any province, but that which has conquered its independence the Texas of the Mexican confederation. It was said, moreover, that the acquisition of any boundary beyond the recognized limits of that State, would be made the subject of friendly negociation with Mexico. This answer, more than any other argument, secured the passage of the resolution which brought the new Republic into our Union. There was a pledge given that no war should be provoked upon this question. It fell to Mr. Polk's lot to redeem this pledge to the country. His first movement was to demand a negociation for the new boundary, but coupled with that for the settlement of divers other complaints, and at the same time to order armaments both by sea and land to the Mexican border. The answer from Mexico was that of a people irritated with the unfriendly character of the whole proceeding for the annexation. They would treat only for the settlement of the Texas question, as preliminary to all other questions for discussion. This did not satisfy Mr. Polk; and our army was marched to the Rio Grande, and planted upon territory at that time in the unquestioned occupation and under the jurisdiction of Mexico. Batteries were constructed to threaten the Mexican town of Matamoras; and the entrance to the Rio Grande was blockaded by our vessels. A skirmish took place, as might have been expected; a few American soldiers were wounded; and Col. Cross, a valued officer of our service, was waylaid and slain. These events were calculated to arrest the attention of the country and draw it to the seat of war; they were of a nature to excite some degree of sensibility. Advantage was taken of this by the Government press, to raise a cry of vengeance against the Mexicans, "for the shedding of American blood upon American soil." We were now informed that the pledges given at the date of the annexation were nought-mere empty promises to secure an object:-that the territory of Texas extended to the Rio Grande and covered the space defined within the limits of the act of the Texan Congress; and that the portions of the five Mexican provinces, spoken of by Mr. Benton, were embraced in the new acquisition of the United States. That for the maintenance of this acquisition we were now in arms; that

the march of Mexican troops on the left bank of the Rio Grande was an act of war begun by Mexico herself; and, that having thus begun the war, she was to bide the consequences. This untruth regarding the first act of war was inserted into the preamble of a bill to provide supplies necessary for the protection of our army, now threatened by a force of superior numbers to their own. The minority of the House, the Whigs, avowed their readiness to vote the supplies as essential, in the existing state of affairs, to secure the means of an early peace :they protested against the falsehood of the preamble, but the previous question, called, not to terminate but to forbid all debate, was rigorously enforced, and no alternative was left but to pass the bill, or stand exposed to the odium of abandoning our gallant army to its fate in the midst of an exasperated enemy. Contenting themselves with their protest against the misrepresentation contained in the preamble, which they justly regarded as a snare of legislative trickery, they treated it with the contempt it deserved and performed their duty to the country in placing all the means necesary for the speedy and honorable termination of the conflict at the disposal of the Executive. By whatsoever event begun, they saw that a war was now actually waged, and that the only mode of extricating the nation from it, without discomfiture before the whole world, was to furnish the Government every facility for its prosecution with effect. They properly left the Executive to take the responsibility of conducting it to its conclusion. Looking to the provocation of the war, the temper in which our demand upon Mexico was made, the occupation of territory to which, to say the least of it, the Mexican claim was as good as ours, and to the palpable violation of the constitutional restraint upon the President which confides the question of war with a foreign nation exclusively to Congress, we cannot conceive a quarrel more indefensible in its origin, more worthy of censure for the recklessness with which it was hurried forward, or likely to be more pernicious in its results than this. We have acted towards Mexico too much in the spirit rebuked in the fable of the Wolf and the Lamb, and have held her to a bloody account for muddying the stream, at which, with a little moderation, forbearance and Christian charity, we might both have quenched our thirst in amity.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »