Mexican-American War and the Media

Richmond Whig and Advertiser
Vol. 22, January-June 1846
Missing: March and April,

January-June 1845	July-December 1845	January-June 1846	July-December 1846
January-June 1847	July-December 1847	January-June 1848	July-December 1848

Index Volume/issue/page/column/date

January 1846

RW46v23n1p1, 2 January 1846 Who would suffer most in the event of War?

RW46v23n1p1, 2 January 1846 Oregon

RW46v23n1p1, 2 January 1846 THE PROSPECT OF WAR

RW46v23n1p1, 2 January 1846 Oregon question

RW46v23n1p2, 2 January 1846 Better Prospects for Peace

RW46v23n1p2, 2 January 1846 CONGRESS

RW46v23n2p1, 6 January 1846 REMARKS OF MR. ADAMS

RW46v23n2p1, 6 January 1846 PEACE FEELING IN THE SENATE

RW46v23n2p1, 6 January 1846 BRITISH PREPARATIONS FOR WAR AND DEFENCE

RW46v23n2p1, 6 January 1846 OREGON

RW46v23n3p1, 9 January 1846 OREGN DEBATE IN THE HOUSE

RW46v23n3p1, 9 January 1846 MR. ADAMS POSITION

RW46v23n3p1, 9 January 1846 State of parties

RW46v23n3p1, 9 January 1846 Response to Adams speech

RW46v23n3p1, 9 January 1846 Proceedings of Congress

RW46v23n3p1, 9 January 1846 England and the United States

RW46v23n3p2, 9 January 1846 CONGRESS, Senate

RW46v23n3p2, 9 January 1846 OREGON QUESITON

RW46v23n3p3, 9 January 1846 Letter to the Editors on Oregon

RW46v23n7p1, 23 January 1846 ORGEON QUESTION

RW46v23n7p1, 23 January 1846 War for Oregon

RW46v23n7p1, 23 January 1846 Expense of War

RW46, 23 January 1846 Crittenden Resolution on Oregon

RW46v23n7p2, 23 January 1846 Senator Allen and contingent war declaration

RW46v23n7p4, 23 January 1846 Senator Allen and Mexico

RW46v23n8p1, 27 January 1846 From Mexico

RW46v23n8p1, 27 January 1846 Peace Party

RW46v23n8p1, 27 January 1846 Oregon and Mr. Winthrop

RW46v23n8p1, 27 January 1846 Oregon and British Claims

RW46v23n8, 27 January 1846 LATE AND IMPORTANT FROM MEXICO

RW46v23n9p1, 30 January 1846 LATEST FROM MEXICO

RW46v23n9p2, 30 January 1846 FOREIGN NEWS

RW46v23n9p2, 30 January 1846 REVOLUTION IN MEXICO

RW46v23n9p3, 30 January 1846 Foreign News continued

RW46v23n10p1c2, February 3, 1846: IMPORTANT NEWS FROM MEXICO
Various information from Mexico.

RW46v23n10p1c3, February 3, 1846: TEXAS
Information about the Texas constitution.

RW46v23n10p1c4, February 3, 1846: TEXAS
More random information from Texas.

RW46v23n10p2c2, February 3, 1846: THE LATE NEWS FROM MEXICO

RW46v23n10p2c4, February 3, 1846: LATER FROM TEXAS

RW46v23n10p4c1, February 3, 1846: A BETTER SPIRIT
Discussion of the Oregon question.

RW46v23n10p4c4, February 3, 1846: LATER FROM MEXICO

RW46v23n11p1c2, February 6, 1846: OREGONTHE VOICE OF VIRGINIA
Discussion of the Oregon question in the Virginia Legislature.

RW46v2311p1c4, February 6, 1846: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. OREGON QUESTION.
Discussion of the Oregon question in the House of Representatives.

RW46v2311p2c1, February 6, 1846: WAR AND ITS GLORIES

RW46v2311p2c2, February 6, 1846: CALIFORNIA
Talk of the Mormons in California.

RW46v2311p3c1, February 6, 1846: LATEST NEWS FROM A WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
Insider news about Oregon.

RW46v2311p4c3, February 6, 1846: MEXICO
Talk about annexation

RW46v2312p1c2, February 10, 1846: MEXICO
Yucatan declares its independence

RW46v2312p2c2, February 10, 1846: LATE FROM TEXAS
Talk of trade in Texas.

RW46v2312p2c4, February 10, 1846: LATER FROM MEXICO

RW46v2313p2c3, February 13, 1846: THE LATE MEXICAN NEWS

RW46v2313p4p3, February 13, 1846: MEXICAN AFFAIRS
A series of reports from Vera Cruz.

RW46v2314p3c2, February 17, 1846: TEXAS MIGRATION
Advertisement to settle in Texas.

RW46v2315p2c1, February 20, 1846:
Rumors of Mexican states declaring independence.

RW46v2315p4c4, February 20, 1846: THE TEXAS MAILS
Info that future letters should not be sent to Corpus Christi because the army has moved

RW46v2317p2c2, February 27, 1846: LATER FROM TEXAS AND MEXICO
Possibility the army has gone from Corpus Christi toward the Rio Grande.

RW46v2317p4c2, February 27, 1846: MEXICO
News that an internal revolution in Mexico has been put down.

March

RW46n23n18 Mar 3, 1846: Later From Mexico.
Information from Mexico.

RW46v46nn18 Mar 3, 1846: Something Curious.
Rumors from Corpus Christi.

RW46v46nn18 Mar 3, 1846: Oregon Correspondence.
Letter concerning Oregon.

RW46v46nn18 Mar 3, 1846: Oregon Debate
Debates over the Oregon issue.

RW46v46nn18 Mar 3, 1846: Mexico.
Mexico in the way of expansion.

RW46v46nn19 Mar 6, 1846: The British and American Tariffs.
Building tensions between Britain and the U.S..

RW46v46nn19 Mar 6, 1846: From Texas.
News about the Army in Texas.

RW46v46nn19 Mar 6, 1846: Views on Oregon.
Points of view on the Oregon issue and the conflicts it is causing with Britain.

RW46v46nn19 Mar 6, 1846: The Axe Again At Work
The negative action of the government.

RW46v46nn19 Mar 6, 1846: Oregon Debate
More arguments about the Oregon issue.

RW46v46nn21 Mar 13, 1846: The Oregon Debate
Mr. Benton's speech about the Oregon issue.

RW46v46nn21 Mar 13, 1846: Later From Mexico
News from Mexico.

RW46v46nn22 Mar 17, 1846: A Monarchy in Mexico
The Mexican government.

RW46v46nn22 Mar 17, 1846: Mr. Webster On Oregon
A call for compromise.

RW46v46nn22 Mar 17, 1846: Later From Mexico
News from Vera Cruz.

RW46v46nn22 Mar 17, 1846: The Oregon Question, Mr. Webster's Remarks
Another Perspective on the Oregon issue.

RW46v46nn23 Mar 20, 1846 p1c1: Mr. Calhoun's Speech
The Oregon question.

RW46v46nn23 Mar 20, 1846 Later: From Mexico
More arrivals of ships and information on Mr. Slidell.

RW46v46nn23 Mar 20, 1846 p4c3: More of Calhoun's Speech
Continued opinion on the Oregon question.

RW46v23n24 Mar 24, 1846 p1c2: The Army of Texas
The idea of aggression is out.

RW46v23n24 Mar 24, 1846 p1c3: Collection of military reports
Many different reports.

RW46v23n24 Mar 24, 1846 p2c1: The Message
Probability of war, the President warns.

RW46v23n24 Mar 24, 1846 p2c7: Important Message From the President
Calls for an increase in the Navy and the Army.

RW46v23n24 Mar 24, 1846p3c1: The Army and the Navy
A collection of opinions.

RW46v23n24 Mar 24, 1846 p3c1: House of Representatives Military Bill
Military issues in general.

RW46v23n24 Mar 24, 1846 p4c1: The Administration in its Conduct of Foreign Affairs
Questions the way the U.S. is handling Britain with the Oregon issue.

RW46v23n26 Mar 31, 1846 p1c2: Mexico
Contradiction in accounts.

RW46v23n26 Mar 31, 1846 p1c4: Despatches From Mr. McLane
Concerning the Oregon issue.

RW46v23n26 Mar 31, 1846 p1c4: Correspondence of the American
The projected naval up builds.

RW46v23n26 Mar 31, 1846: The Secret Articles
Proposed forty to fifty million dollars for ship building.

RW46v23n26 Mar 31, 1846 p2c1: Signs of War
Tensions between Britain and the U.S..

RW46v23n26 March 31, 1846 p4c1: Gen. Santa Ana
A small Article concerning Santa Ana.

RW46v23n25 March 27, 1846 P1c3: Important Report
The position of the troops in Texas.

RW46v23n25 March 27, 1846 p1c3: Late From Texas
Troops moving south.

April

RW46v23n27p1c2 Friday April 3, 1846: More Annexation

RW46v23n27p1c35 Friday April 3, 1846: Congress. Senate, March 30, Speech of Mr. Webster on the Oregon Question

RW46v23n27p1c5 Friday April 3, 1846: From Yucatan
From the New Orleans Picayune

RW46v23n27p1c2 Friday April 3, 1846: Later From Texas
From the New Orleans Picayune

RW46v23n27p3c1 Friday April 3, 1846: Highly Important
From the National Intelligencer, Oregon Question

RW46v23n27p3c1 Friday April 3, 1846: Benton's reply to Cass
Correspondence of the Baltimore American, Washington, April 1, Oregon Question

RW46v23n27p3c1 Friday April 3, 1846: Pregon Question
Correspondence of the Baltimore Patriot, Washington, March 31.

RW46v23n27p3c1 Friday April 3, 1846: Congress. Senate
Correspondence of the Baltimore American, Washington, April 1

RW46v23n27p3c2 Friday April 3, 1846: Later From England
From the Baltimore American, Oregon question

RW46v23n27p3c2 Friday April 3, 1846: U. States and England Effect of the Refusal to Arbitrate
From the London Times, March 4

RW46v23n27p4c1 Friday April 3, 1846: Affairs in Mexico Republic of Hayti

RW46v23n27p4c2 Friday April 3, 1846: The Naval Estimate

RW46v23n27p4c4 Friday April 3, 1846: Congress. Monday March 30, Senate; House of Representatives

RW46v24n28p1c4 Tuesday, April 7, 1846: The Notice
From the National Intelligencer, on the Oregon boundary issue

RW46v24n28p2c2 Tuesday, April 7, 1846: Mr. McDuffle's Speech
Oregon question, comment and extended extract

RW46v24n28p2c4 Tuesday, April 7, 1846: Late From Mexico
From the New Orleans Picayune, March 26

RW46v24n28p2c4 Tuesday, April 7, 1846: Later From Galveston
From the New Orleans Picayune, March 27

RW46v24n28p2c6 Tuesday, April 7, 1846: Santa Anna
Correspondence of the New Orleans Picayune, dateline: Havana, February 20, 1846

RW46v24n28p3c1 Tuesday, April 7, 1846: Two Day Later From Europe
Items on the Oregon issue

RW46v24n28p4c1 Tuesday, April 7, 1846: Debate in the Senate, Oregon question

RW46v24n28p4c11 Tuesday, April 7, 1846: The Union

RW46v24n28p4c36 Tuesday, April 7, 1846: Congress. Wednesday, April 1, Senate. The Oregon Question

RW46v24n28p4c6 Tuesday, April 7, 1846: Congress. Thursday, April 2, Senate. The Oregon Question; Friday, April 3, Senate

RW46v24n28p4c67 Tuesday, April 7, 1846: Congress. Senate. The Ashburn Treaty

RW46v25n29p1c12 Friday, April 10, 1846: Senator Webster. Editorial

RW46v25n29p1c2 Friday, April 10, 1846: The News From Mexico

RW46v25n29p1c4 Friday, April 10, 1846: Congress. April 6, Senate
Correspondence of the Baltimore American, Oregon debate

RW46v25n29p1c46 Friday, April 10, 1846: Congress. Tuesday, April 6, Senate; House of Representatives
Correspondence of the Baltimore American, Oregon issue

RW46v25n29p1c7 Friday, April 10, 1846: Mexico. Highly Important
From the New Orleans Picayune, April 1

RW46v25n29p1c7 Friday, April 10, 1846: From Another Correspondent
Fro the New Orleans Picayune, dateline: Vera Cruz, Thursday 11 o'clock, March 19.

RW46v25n29p2c2 Friday, April 10, 1846: Value of Oregon

RW46v25n29p3c1 Friday, April 10, 1846: Last Evening's Mail. Congress. Wednesday, April 8, U.S. Senate; House of Representatives
Oregon issue

RW46v25n29p4c1 Friday, April 10, 1846: From Santa Fe

RW46v25n29p4c2 Friday, April 10, 1846: Mexico Gen. Santa Anna

RW46v25n29p4c3 Friday, April 10, 1846: Proposed Steam Armada for the Gulf of Mexico

RW46v25n30p1c1 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: Messrs. Webster and Ingersol. Editorial

RW46v25n30p1c12 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: Opinion in England
Comment and extract from London Times, March 5, 1846, Oregon issue

RW46v25n30p1c2 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: A Curious Revelation
Senator Benton and Oregon

RW46v25n30p1c45 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: Mr. Webster's Speech. Second Day.
Correspondence of the U.S. Gazette, Washington, April 7

RW46v25n30p1c6 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: Congress. April 10, Senate
Correspondence of the Baltimore American, Washington

RW46v25n30p2c1 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: A Conspiracy Charged
House of Representatives, Oregon boundary

RW46v25n30p2c1 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: The Foreign News
Oregon in England

RW46v25n30p2c1 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: Value of Oregon

RW46v25n30p2c2 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: Mexico Santa Anna

RW46v25n30p2c4 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: Foreign News
From the Balitmore Sun, Extra, April 11, from the Liverpool Chronicle, March 4, Oregon question

RW46v25n30p2c45 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: The Oregon Question in England SemiOfficial View of the British Government Opinions for the English Press
From the New York Herald, April 11, extract from London Times, March 9

RW46v25n30p2c7 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: Congress, Saturday, April 11, House of Representatives
Ingersoll's accusation against Daniel Webster

RW46v25n30p4c1 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: Mr. Webster's Speech. Editorial

RW46v25n30p4c3 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: Later from Europe
From the New York Gazette, April 9, items from the London Morning Chronicle and the United Service Journal on Oregon issue

RW46v25n30p4c3 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: No title
Kendall on excursion to Texas and prairie

RW46v25n30p4c4 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: Mr. Webster's Speech, editorial
Correspondence of the United States Gazette, Washington, April 6

RW46v25n30p4c7 Tuesday, April 14, 1846: Congress. April 9, Senate; House of Representatives
Correspondence of the Baltimore American, April 9, Oregon issue

RW46v25n31 Friday, April 17, 1846: Issue missing from microfilm

RW46v25n32p1c1 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: The Closing Scene
Oregon debate, from the National Intellignecer, April 20

RW46v25n32p1c2 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: News from Mexico
From New Orleans Tropic, Extra, April 11, dateline Havana, on Slidell, Santa Anna, and Almonte

RW46v25n32p1c2 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: No title
General Gaines on the defense of New Orleans

RW46v25n32p1c2 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: No title
Comment on Oregon

RW46v25n32p1c35 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: Interesting Piquant
Debate in Senate on Oregon

RW46v25n32p1c6 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: Letter to Editors, signed SEMPRONIOUS

RW46v25n32p1c7 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: Congress, House of Representatives
Correspondence of the Baltimore American, Oregon Resolution

RW46v25n32p2c1 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: The Notice
Congressional resolution to give England notice on the Oregon boundary issue

RW46v25n32p2c2 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: Foreign News
Items on the Oregon issue

RW46v25n32p2c2 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: Mexican News

RW46v25n32p2c2 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: No title
House bill would extend jurisdiction of Supreme Court and laws of Iowa west of Rocky Mountains

RW46v25n32p2c3 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: Captain Fremont

RW46v25n32p2c46 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: Eight Days Later from Europe
From the New York Tribune, Extra April 18, items, from Wilmer and Smith's European Times on the Oregon question; and from the London Times, March 17

RW46v25n32p2c7 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: The United Staes and Mexico
Mexico's response to Slidell's correspondence

RW46v25n32p4c1 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: Letter of John M. Botts, Esq. On the Probability of War
Editorial comment and the Botts letter

RW46v25n32p4c3 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: Gen. Houston's Speech

RW46v25n32p4c3 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: Mr. Buchanan's Ultimatum

RW46v25n32p4c4 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: Passage of Mr. Crittenden's Resolution Danger of War with England

RW46v25n32p4c4 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: No title
Webster and the contigent fund

RW46v25n32p4c4 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: No title
Letter from Matamoras, from the New Orleans Bulletin

RW46v25n32p4c4 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: California

RW46v25n32p4c4 Tuesday, April 21, 1846: No title
Captain James Smoot to command U.S. frigate United States

RW46v25n33 Friday, April 24, 1846: Issue missing from microfilm

RW46v25n34p1c2 Tuesday, April 28, 1846: The Notice

RW46v25n34p1c4 Tuesday, April 28, 1846: Triumph of the Peace Party. Congress, April 23, Senate; April 24, House of Representatives, item on the Joint Resolution on Oregon

RW46v25n34p1c5 Tuesday, April 28, 1846: No title
Civilian company going to California

RW46v25n34p2c1 Tuesday, April 28, 1846: Dilemma of the Official Journal. Editorial

RW46v25n34p2c2 Tuesday, April 28, 1846: No title
London paper mistakenly stated Polk had been taken prisoner by British in last war

RW46v25n34p2c5 Tuesday, April 28, 1846: Affairs in Texas
Correspondence of the Journal of Commerce, dateline Austin, Travis Co. (Texas), April 3

RW46v25n34p4c1 Tuesday, April 28, 1846: The Policy of the Administration. Editorial

RW46v25n34p4c2 Tuesday, April 28, 1846: No title
Humor, Parkenham and a New York drunk

May

RW46v23i35p1c1, May 1, 1846: Ingersoll and Webster

RW46v23i35p1c1, May 1, 1846: News From Capt. Freemont

RW46v23i35p1c1, May 1, 1846: Latest from the Army

RW46v23i35p2c1, May 1, 1846: title cut off

RW46v23i35p2c1, May 1, 1846: Debt of Texas

RW46v23i35p2c4, May 1, 1846: Additional Foreign News

RW46v23i35p4c4, May 1, 1846: From the N.O. Picayune April 21, Later From Brazos Santiago

RW46v23i35p4c4, May 1, 1846: From the N.O. Picayune, Later From Mexico

RW46v23i35p4c5, May 1, 1846: From the N.O. Picayune April 21, Later From Texas

RW46v23i36p1c1, May 5, 1846: The Model Republic

RW46v23i36p1c2, May 5, 1846: News Expected

RW46v23i36p1c2, May 5, 1846: Forthcoming work on Mexico

RW46v23i36p2c1, May 5, 1846: "Democratic" Principals

RW46v23i36p2c2, May 5, 1846: Our Army on the Rio Grande

RW46v23i36p2c5, May 5, 1846: Later From Mexico
From the N. O. Picayune

RW46v23i36p4c1, May 5, 1846: Saturday Morning May 2, 1846, “Oregon Controversy Settled”

RW46v23i36p4c1, May 5, 1846: Gen. James Hamilton

RW46v23i36p4c3, May 5, 1846: Texas not a Paradise
From the Charleston Evening News. Corpus Christi, (Texas) Jan. 25

RW46v23i36p4c6, May 5, 1846: The Army

RW46v23i37p1c2, May 8, 1846: Benton and Polk

RW46v23i37p1c3, May 8, 1846: From the New Orleans Tropic , Extra, April 29. Late from Texas

RW46v23i37p1c3, May 8, 1846: Later from the Army of Occupation

RW46v23i37p1c3, May 8, 1846: Still Later. From the Galveston News, Extra

RW46v23i37p1c3, May 8, 1846: Thirteen days later from Mexico
From the N.O. Picayune, (Extra,) April 29.

RW46v23i37p2c1, May 8, 1846: The Foreign Intelligence

RW46v23i37p2c2, May 8, 1846: Congressional Independence

RW46v23i37p2c2, May 8, 1846: No title

RW46v23i37p2c4, May 8, 1846: From the Rio Grande
Correspondence of the N. O. Picayune

RW46v23i37p3c1, May 8, 1846: Last Evening's Mail. The Oregon Question
Correspondence of the Alexandria Gazette.

RW46v23i37p3c1, May 8, 1846: Congress
Correspondence of the Baltimore American

RW46v23i37p4c2, May 8, 1846: From Vera Cruz

RW46v23i38p1c1, May 12, 1846: The Question Not Settled

RW46v23i38p1c2, May 12, 1846: Stirring News from the Army

RW46v23i38p1c3, May 12, 1846: Important from Texas and the Army

RW46v23i38p1c3, May 12, 1846: To Arms! Texans to Arms!

RW46v23i38p1c3, May 12, 1846: Correspondence of the N.O. Tropic

RW46v23i38p1c3, May 12, 1846: To the Editors of the Tropic

RW46v23i38p2c1, May 12, 1846: The News!

RW46v23i38p2c4, May 12, 1846: The Surprise and Defeat of Capt. Thornton
From the New Orleans Picayune, May 3.

RW46v23i38p2c4, May 12, 1846: Camp Opposite Matamoras, April 26,1846

RW46v23i38p2c4, May 12, 1846: From the New Orleans Tropic, May 4

RW46v23i38p2c4, May 12, 1846: Latest from the Army

RW46v23i38p2c5, May 12, 1846: Congress. Washington, May 9, 1846. Senate

RW46v23i38p3c2, May 12, 1846: Last Evening’s Mail. From Washington

RW46v23i38p3c2, May 12, 1846: Camp before Matamoras, April 27, 1846

RW46v23i38p3c2, May 12, 1846: Important From Washington. By the ElectoMagnetic Telegraph

RW46v23i38p3c2, May 12, 1846: Correspondence of the Baltimore American

RW46v23i38p4c2, May 12, 1846: News From the Frontier

RW46v23i38p4c3, May 12, 1846: Later From the Army. Col. Cross Murdered!His body Found!
From the New Orleans Picayune, May 1.

RW46v23i38p4c3, May 12, 1846: The Blockade of the Rio Grande

RW46v23i38p4c3, May 12, 1846: From the New Orleans Picayune

RW46v23i38p4c2, May 12, 1846: More on the Oregon Question

RW46v23i38p4c2, May 12, 1846: The Army.Misapprehension Corrected.Gen. Worth

RW46v23i38p4c4, May 12, 1846: The Sandwich IslandsOregon and California

RW46v23i38p4c4, May 12, 1846: From the Honolulu Friend, Feb. 11. Oregon

RW46v23i38p4c5, May 12, 1846: Letter From Washington
Correspondence of the Alexandria Gazette

RW46v23i39p1c1, May 15, 1846: The Debate

RW46v23i39p1c2, May 15, 1846: General Scott

RW46v23i39p1c2, May 15, 1846: No title

RW46v23i39p1c2, May 15, 1846: England and Mexico

RW46v23i39p1c2, May 15, 1846: From Pensacola, No title

RW46v23i39p1c3, May 15, 1846: Debate on the War Message

RW46v23i39p1c4, May 15, 1846: Monday May 11, 1846. In Senate

RW46v23i39p1c6, May 15, 1846: The War Bill Passed

RW46v23i39p1c7, May 15, 1846: Additional.By the Magnetic Telegraph

RW46v23i39p1c7, May 15, 1846: By the Magnetic Telegraph

RW46v23i39p2c1, May 15, 1846: The Debate. The Country and the Administration

RW46v23i39p2c2, May 15, 1846: Mr. Benton’s Position

RW46v23i39p2c3, May 15, 1846: Excess of Patriotism

RW46v23i39p2c4, May 15, 1846: Late from Texas
From the New Orleans Tropic, May 7

RW46v23i39p2c4, May 15, 1846: Military News

RW46v23i39p2c4, May 15, 1846: From the National Intelligencer, May 13

RW46v23i39p2c4, May 15, 1846: The War Spirit
From the Mobile Advertiser, May 8

RW46v23i39p2c4, May 15, 1846: To Arms! To Arms!! To Arms!!! To the Gallant Young Men of Alabama

RW46v23i39p2c4, May 15, 1846: Military

RW46v23i39p3c1, May 15, 1846: Executive Declaration of War

RW46v23i39p3c1, May 15, 1846: Congress

RW46v23i39p4c1, May 15, 1846: Boundary of Texas

RW46v23i39p4c2, May 15, 1846: Foreign Interference

RW46v23i39p4c2, May 15, 1846: A Mexican Proclamation

RW46v23i39p4c2, May 15, 1846: No title
Mexican secrecy

RW46v23i39p4c1, May 15, 1846: Tyler’s Guns

RW46v23i39p4c1, May 15, 1846: Volunteers
New Orleans, May 5.

RW46v23i39p4c4, May 15, 1846: President’s MessageWar Measures by Congress

RW46v23i39p4c3, May 15, 1846: The Volunteers“The cry is still they come”

RW46v23i39p4c3, May 15, 1846: Meeting at the Commercial Exchange

RW46v23i39p4c3, May 15, 1846: No title

RW46v23i39p4c3, May 15, 1846: The True Spirit

RW46v23i39p4c3, May 15, 1846: No title

RW46v23i39p4c3, May 15, 1846: Military Movements

RW46v23i39p4c3, May 15, 1846: U.S. Troops From Fort Pike

RW46v23i39p4c3, May 15, 1846: Recruits From Texas

RW46v23i39p4c5, May 15, 1846: No title
From the Washington Union

RW46v23i39p4c5, May 15, 1846: No title
From the Baltimore American

RW46v23i39p4c5, May 15, 1846: No title
From the Senate

RW46v23i40p1c1, May 19, 1846: Melancholy Tidings

RW46v23i40p1c2, May 19, 1846: Warlike Demonstrations

RW46v23i40p1c1, May 19, 1846: The Right Spirit

RW46v23i40p1c4, May 19, 1846: What Does it Mean?

RW46v23i40p1c4, May 19, 1846: Later From the Army

RW46v23i40p1c3, May 19, 1846: No title
From the New Orleans Tropic

RW46v23i40p1c3, May 19, 1846: No title
From the New Orleans Picayune

RW46v23i40p1c3, May 19, 1846: Volunteers
From the Mobile Advertiser, May 9

RW46v23i40p1c4, May 19, 1846: Two Days Later From Mexico

RW46v23i40p1c5, May 19, 1846: No title
No important news

RW46v23i40p1c5, May 19, 1846: Latest News

RW46v23i40p1c6, May 19, 1846: Castle of San Juan de Ulua

RW46v23i40p1c6, May 19, 1846: General Taylor in His Tent

RW46v23i40p1c5, May 19, 1846: No title
From Yucatan

RW46v23i40p1c5, May 19, 1846: Mexican Privateers Against the United States

RW46v23i40p1c5, May 19, 1846: Santa Anna

RW46v23i40p1c7, May 19, 1846: The War Movements

RW46v23i40p1c7, May 19, 1846: Congress
From the Baltimore American

RW46v23i40p2c1, May 19, 1846: Triumph. A Glimpse at the Future

RW46v23i40p2c2, May 19, 1846: The Texan Boundary

RW46v23i40p2c2, May 19, 1846: Reducing the Tariff

RW46v23i40p2c1, May 19, 1846: The True Meaning of the Term 'Army of Occupation'
From the New York Mirror

RW46v23i40p2c2, May 19, 1846: No title

RW46v23i40p2c2, May 19, 1846: Warlike Movements

RW46v23i40p2c4, May 19, 1846: How Presents Crowd Upon Us

RW46v23i40p2c5, May 19, 1846: Later From the Army
Daily AdvertiserExtra, Mobile, Tuesday May 12

RW46v23i40p2c4, May 19, 1846: Congress

RW46v23i40p2c5, May 19, 1846: Later From the Army of Occupation
From the N.O. Tropic, May 11

RW46v23i40p2c5, May 19, 1846: Extracts

RW46v23i40p2c7, May 19, 1846: Volunteer Meeting

RW46v23i40p3c1, May 19, 1846: Last Evening’s Mail
Correspondence of the Baltimore American. Washington, May 17, 5 ½ P.M.

RW46v23i40p4c1, May 19, 1846: The War Proclamation

RW46v23i40p4c1, May 19, 1846: Volunteers from Richmond

RW46v23i40p4c2, May 19, 1846: No title
War horse and plate to Capt. Forno in New Orleans

RW46v23i40p4c2, May 19, 1846: No title
Charleston Mercury responding to Washington Union attack

RW46v23i40p4c1, May 19, 1846: No title
Rumor, cabinet members to resign, from the New York Globe

RW46v23i40p4c1, May 19, 1846: Destiny of Mexico

RW46v23i40p4c1, May 19, 1846: Shadows of Coming Events!

RW46v23i40p4c1, May 19, 1846: Trouble Ahead for Mexico

RW46v23i40p4c1, May 19, 1846: No title
Companies on the move, from the Norfolk Herald

RW46v23i40p4c2, May 19, 1846: New Orleans, May 8. From Galveston

RW46v23i40p4c3, May 19, 1846: Debate in the Senate

RW46v23i40p4c6, May 19, 1846: Congress

RW46v23i40p4c6, May 19, 1846: No title
White lady visits Comanche

RW46v23i41p1c1, May 22, 1846: A “Democratic” Tariff

RW46v23i41p1c2, May 22, 1846: The Past and the Present

RW46v23i41p1c2, May 22, 1846: Difficulties of a Mexican Campaign

RW46v23i41p1c4, May 22, 1846: No title
From the New York Herald

RW46v23i41p1c4, May 22, 1846: A Vindication of Texas

RW46v23i41p1c4, May 22, 1846: New Orleans, May 12, 1846. To the Editors of The Picayune

RW46v23i41p1c3, May 22, 1846: Warlike Preparations

RW46v23i41p1c4, May 22, 1846: Further Details From the Army
From the New Orleans Picayune, May 13

RW46v23i41p1c3, May 22, 1846: No title
Richmong Fayette Artillery

RW46v23i41p1c4, May 22, 1846: Here We Go

RW46v23i41p1c6, May 22, 1846: No title
From the Philadelphia American

RW46v23i41p1c7, May 22, 1846: Congress

RW46v23i41p2c3, May 22, 1846: Gen’l Scott

RW46v23i41p2c3, May 22, 1846: The Mexican WarSuspected Interference of European Powers

RW46v23i41p2c4, May 22, 1846: A Week later From Mexico. Gen. ParedesHis Proclamation

RW46v23i41p2c3, May 22, 1846: The Mexican Version

RW46v23i41p2c3, May 22, 1846: No War NewsA state of suspenseVolunteers still pouring into New Orleans

RW46v23i41p2c4, May 22, 1846: Regular Force in Texas

RW46v23i41p3c1, May 22, 1846: Last Evening’s Mail
Correspondence of the Baltimore American. Washington, May 20, 5 ½ P.M.

RW46v23i41p3c1, May 22, 1846: Congress

RW46v23i41p3c5, May 22, 1846: Dragoons, Attention

RW46v23i41p4c1, May 22, 1846: The True Boundary Line

RW46v23i41p4c2, May 22, 1846: General Taylor

RW46v23i41p4c2, May 22, 1846: No title
Ridiculous rumor, Mexicans steamers to blockade New York harbor

RW46v23i41p4c2, May 22, 1846: No title
Deas swam river to meet his Mexican beauty

RW46v23i41p4c2, May 22, 1846: No title
Col. Cross's widow died

RW46v23i41p4c2, May 22, 1846: No title
Douglass criticizing John Q. Adams

RW46v23i41p4c2, May 22, 1846: No title
General Wool to Washington

RW46v23i41p4c2, May 22, 1846: No title
New York war meeting

RW46v23i41p4c2, May 22, 1846: No title
Pensacola rumors from the New Orleans Tropic

RW46v23i41p4c3, May 22, 1846: Later Advices

RW46v23i41p4c4, May 22, 1846: Further From the Army!
From the New Orleans Picayune, May 12.

RW46v23i41p4c4, May 22, 1846: Attack Upon Gen. Taylor’s Camp

RW46v23i41p4c4, May 22, 1846: Surprise and Surrender of Capt. Thornton’s Command

RW46v23i41p4c3, May 22, 1846: The Richmond Volunteers, Upwards of One Hundred StrongTheir Exercises at the Armory

RW46v23i41p4c3, May 22, 1846: No title
From the Washington Union

RW46v23i41p4c3, May 22, 1846: Correspondence of the Baltimore American. Washington, May 18, 5 ½ P.M.

RW46v23i41p4c4, May 22, 1846: Correspondence of The Picayune, Point Isabel, May 5, 1846

RW46v23i41p4c5, May 22, 1846: The Administration and the Country

RW46v23i41p4c7, May 22, 1846: Congress

RW46v23i42p1c1, May 26, 1846: Thrilling News

RW46v23i42p1c2, May 26, 1846: Volunteers

RW46v23i42p1c1, May 26, 1846: A Wise and Prudent Decision

RW46v23i42p1c1, May 26, 1846: The Right Spirit abroad in the Land

RW46v23i42p1c5, May 26, 1846: England’s Warlike Preparations for America

RW46v23i42p1c5, May 26, 1846: Congress

RW46v23i42p2c1, May 26, 1846: From the Army

RW46v23i42p2c2, May 26, 1846: Virginia Volunteers

RW46v23i42p2c3, May 26, 1846: Call upon Virginia!

RW46v23i42p2c3, May 26, 1846: No title
Correspondence to Editors of St. Louis Republican

RW46v23i42p2c3, May 26, 1846: No title
Volunteers

RW46v23i42p2c3, May 26, 1846: No title

RW46v23i42p2c4, May 26, 1846: Official Dispatch to Gen. Gaines
From the N.O. Bee, May 18.

RW46v23i42p2c4, May 26, 1846: Affairs on the Frontier

RW46v23i42p2c4, May 26, 1846: General Vega

RW46v23i42p1c4, May 26, 1846: Three Days Later From Mexico
From the New Orleans Tropic , May 10.

RW46v23i42p2c5, May 26, 1846: Organization of Volunteer Corps for the United States Service

RW46v23i42p2c6, May 26, 1846: A Proclamation, Governor of Virginia

RW46v23i42p2c5, May 26, 1846: Military Arrangements
From the Washington Union

RW46v23i42p2c6, May 26, 1846: General Orders

RW46v23i42p2c5, May 26, 1846: Captain Walker

RW46v23i42p3c1, May 26, 1846: Last Evening’s Mail. Gen. Scott

RW46v23i42p3c5, May 26, 1846: Dragoons, Attention

RW46v23i42p4c4, May 26, 1846: Latest From the Army
Montgomery Journal Extra, Tuesday Morning, May 19, 1846 [by Express from Mobile]

RW46v23i42p4c4, May 26, 1846: Late Intelligence from the Seat of War
From the New Orleans Reformer

RW46v23i42p4c4, May 26, 1846: The News Confirmed

RW46v23i42p4c4, May 26, 1846: Correspondence of the Tropic

RW46v23i42p4c5, May 26, 1846: No title
Ship arrivals

RW46v23i42p4c5, May 26, 1846: Still Later From the Army
From the New Orleans Tropic Third Edition, 1 P.M.

RW46v23i42p4c5, May 26, 1846: The Fort [Brown]

RW46v23i43p1c1, May 29, 1846: Course of the Whigs

RW46v23i43p1c2, May 29, 1846: Mr. Benton

RW46v23i43p1c2, May 29, 1846: The Interior of Mexico

RW46v23i43p1c2, May 29, 1846: General Taylor

RW46v23i43p1c2, May 29, 1846: No title
Captain Walker

RW46v23i43p1c2, May 29, 1846: Distressing Intelligence

RW46v23i43p1c2, May 29, 1846: A Good Suggestion

RW46v23i43p1c3, May 29, 1846: What the Calhoun Men Say!

RW46v23i43p1c3, May 29, 1846: No title
Georgetown College clergy offer services as chaplains

RW46v23i43p1c3, May 29, 1846: Lieut. Deas

RW46v23i43p1c3, May 29, 1846: No title
From Vicksburg

RW46v23i43p1c3, May 29, 1846: From Washington
Correspondence of the Baltimore American, May 26

RW46v23i43p1c5, May 29, 1846: Official

RW46v23i43p1c7, May 29, 1846: From the Baltimore American. Congress

RW46v23i43p2c1, May 29, 1846: Mr. Benton’s Great Speech

RW46v23i43p2c2, May 29, 1846: The Sinews of War

RW46v23i43p2c2, May 29, 1846: The Richmond Troop

RW46v23i43p2c2, May 29, 1846: No title
5440 papers "dumb as oysters"

RW46v23i43p2c3, May 29, 1846: Gen. Winfield Scott

RW46v23i43p2c3, May 29, 1846: No title
Sword for Captain May

RW46v23i43p2c3, May 29, 1846: No title
Captain Fulton

RW46v23i43p2c3, May 29, 1846: No title
Captain Walker

RW46v23i43p2c3, May 29, 1846: No title
From the New York Express, two Mexican steamers purchased by U.S. Navy

RW46v23i43p2c4, May 29, 1846: Castle of San Juan De Ulloa

RW46v23i43p2c5, May 29, 1846: No title
From Point Isabel

RW46v23i43p3c1, May 29, 1846: Correspondence of the Alexandria Gazette. Washington, May 27

RW46v23i43p3c1, May 29, 1846: From the Baltimore American. Congress

RW46v23i43p4c1, May 29, 1846: The U. States and Mexico

RW46v23i43p4c2, May 29, 1846: New Engine of War

RW46v23i43p4c2, May 29, 1846: No title
Mexican churches

RW46v23i43p4c2, May 29, 1846: Warlike Preparations

RW46v23i43p4c2, May 29, 1846: From the New York Herald. No title

RW46v23i43p4c5, May 29, 1846: From the Seat of War
From the N.O. Daily Delta

RW46v23i43p4c6, May 29, 1846: Congress.

June

RW4545v22i44p1c6 June 3, 1845 From Texas
News from Texas

RW4545v22i44p1c6 June 3, 1845 From Mexico
News from Mexico

RW4545v22i44p2c3 June 3, 1845 Texas will accept
Bid to the union

RW4545v22i44p2c3 June 3, 1845 A proclamation

RW4545v22i44p2c4 June 3, 1845 The Texans
Texan behavior

RW4545v22i44p2c5 June 3, 1845 Later From Texas
News from Texas

RW4545v22i47p1c1 June 13, 1845 Violence of the Texas Presses

RW4545v22i47p1c1 June 13, 1845 Mexico and Texas

RW4545v22i48p1c2 June 17, 1845 Texas and the Treaty

RW4545v22i48p1c2 June 17, 1845 Peace or War

RW4545v22i48p3c3 June 17, 1845 From Texas

June 20, 1845:

RW4545v22i49p1c2 June 20, 1845 Late From Mexico
News from a Mexican Steamer/p>

RW4545v22i51p1c3 June 27, 1845 Banishment of Santa Anna

RW4545v22i51p1c3 June 27, 1845 Important from Texas

RW4545v22i51p2c1 June 27, 1845 The annexation of Texas

RW4545v22i51p4c2 June 27, 1845 Very late from Mexico

January

RW46, January 2, 1846 v23n1p1 Who would suffer most in the event of War?

Who would suffer most in the event of War?

The New York Express of Saturday Says:

“The “ALBANY ARGUS” labors to prove that Great Britain will suffer sadly by a war with the United States as indicated by the fall of consuls in London, &c. &c.

There is no doubt that England would be a great sufferer, more so from a war with us than any other nation in the world, because our cruisers would do so much damage to her commerce,—but we would never strike her at home or she would strike us. We would never plant our feet on the soil of Britain. We would never shell into London, or bombard Liverpool or Bristol, or Edinburgh,—while New York, Charleston, Norfolk, Mobile, Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland and Chicago might suffer terribly from British guns.

But because England will these suffer, the Albany Argus reasons, England cannot be kicked into a war with the United States! Either ignorance of British character, or stupidity dictates such a conclusion as that. When was England ever known to hold back in a fight? When did England ever shrink from war, because of its consequences to property?—The People who plunged into a war with the French Empire, when not half as strong as they are now, count but little on consequences, where pride, passion and honor are concerned. England is the same stuff we are, always ready for a fight to redress a wrong, or to vindicate a right.

Again, it is argued England will not dodge war with the United States, because of the unpacified state of Ireland, because the potato crop has the rot there, and Mr. O’Conner threatens rebellion! The rot in the potato crop only makes it easier to enlist men of the best physique in Ireland for the British army. Ireland has been twice on the borders of a rebellion, when England was in a war with France, but she was kept under and kept in awe, as she is now. Since the days of Cromwell, there has been nothing that threatened to be a successful rebellion in Ireland. The leaders of the opposition in Ireland are spouters, the people have no arms. It is folly too to calculate on the sympathies of the Irish soldiers in the British army. The Irish soldier is only a machine. The admirable drill of the British officers convert them into so many six feet, or five feet men machines. They obey orders. Thinking is out of their line of duty.

The Argus with its usual profligacy attempts to turn a party point on this Oregon question: It strives to convert the Whigs into the enemies of their country, and the friends of England! We verily believe the politicians of the Albany Argus would sell their souls to the devil, as Tom Walker did, to keep in with the party in power. Spoils is all it breathes of, dreams of, feeds on, or thinks of.”

COMMENT.

If the event of a war with England was to be determined by the relative extent of the suffering mutually inflicted, we should soon have to come to an ignominious peace.

Where can we strike England? Obviously, but in two places—in Canada and on the Ocean! We could and would overrun and conquer the two Canadas, possibly all of British North American possessions. Should we cripple England or impair her power by the conquest? Not at all. We should relieve her of what now hangs as a dead weight upon her, her North American Colonies. So far from paying any revenue into the British Exchequer, the Colonial Governments draw money from the Exchequer for their support.

There is, we believe, little doubt felt by England herself, that her North American Colonies are rather a burthen than a benefit, and it is known that a strong party in Great Britain would tomorrow be willing to compliment the Canadas. New Brunswick, &c. with independence—a boon which those Provinces are too wise to accept. Pride alone restrains England from taking the step. We should cut off her commerce with the St. Lawrence, and that would be the extent of the injury we could inflict in that quarter. The loss would be temporary and scarcely felt in England. England gained in the end commercially, by American independence, for she enjoyed the same advantages of trade without being encumbered with colonial expense and responsibility—and she would gain by cutting loose from the Canadas. She would retain the commerce, and rid herself of the expense of her military and civil establishments in those countries.

Again, we could strike at England on the Ocean—as in the war of 1812, capture a frigate in single combat, and by Privateers, cut up her commerce in every sea. But this game she would play too, and to the full as successfully as we. Her fleets would ride triumphant and irresistible in every sea. Her commerce is better protected than ours, by a superior navy, which is a match for all the naval forces in the world united. She has more men, ships and ports, and even at Privateering could overmatch us. We can indeed strike England on the Ocean, but not without having the blow fearfully repaid, and our Commerce destroyed. Like Van Tromp, her ships would sail with a broom at the masthead, in token of having swept our trade from every sea!

Let us briefly glance at the other side of the picture. Where could England strike us? Or, rather, where could she not strike us? Our seaports and great cities are defenceless: She could and would bombard them, and exact millions to save them from destruction. The products of our looms and forges would remain in the warehouses, and England would resume the monopoly of supplying the countries where we have slowly rivalled or driven her from the field of competition. Our cotton, wheat, tobacco, rice, would rot in the barns, or be stowed away for an indefinite period. Oregon, the cause of war, would fall into her hands without the firing of a gun, for we have no force there, nor are capable of sending one. If wise, and not swayed too much by her pride, England would withdraw her forces and military stores from Canada, and abandon that Province, a relief for her, and which would prove, if conquered, a curse and firebrand to us. This step taken, we could literally strike her nowhere, except by Privateering.

They are greatly deceived, in our opinion, who think England in a bad position to enter a war with us: On the contrary, she is in a most advantageous position. Her armies and navies could be recruited at libitum from a pauper population, eager to procure a subsistence which they cannot find at home. The supplanting of the Americans from all corners of the world, would impart a stimulus in trade and manufactures: Nor is there solidity in the idea, that we could starve England by withholding our cotton. She would not be more anxious to buy, than we to sell; and she would soon procure from neutral ports, the Cotton we now send to Liverpool: while we should be but too happy thus circuitously to dispose of that Staple.

In short, we have all to lose and nothing to gain by War.
[TCS]

RW46, January 2, 1846 v23n1p1 Oregon

Oregon—E. Jay Morris, Esq., of Pennsylvania—The Native American Party.

When Mr. Webster, some weeks since, in his speech at [Fanebil] Hall, alluded to the difficulty to extending the laws of the Union over this territory, and expressed the opinion that it would be far better to leave the settlers to their own course, believing that an independent nation would soon spring up on the shores of the Pacific; we signified our hearty concurrence, calling, at the same time, attention to the fact, that we had advanced the very same views a week before, and that we had, at the time, believed them original with us. A friend assures us that neither we nor Mr. Webster are entitled to priority in this discovery. In the House of Representatives, during the last session, a debate having sprung up incidentally upon this question, Mr. E. Joy Morris, of Pennsylvania, a gentleman of a high order of intellect, enlarged and rendered liberal by assiduous cultivation, suggested that under any circumstances coming within the scope of his imagination, he thought the best disposition that could possibly be made of the territory, after it has been proven unquestionably ours, was to make a present of it to the actual settlers. These sentiments, according so exactly with all that the Whig Party has ever contended for, are justified by the actual relative condition of the two countries, Oregon and the United States, separated by two thousand miles of howling wilderness, or unexplored prairie—by the Spirit of the age, avers to all measures which may lead blindfolded to bloodshed—by justice and common sense. It is remarkable that a view, so striking, should not have attracted more attention at the time than it did; and we can only account for it by supposing that it was buried in the agitation consequent upon the Texas debate.

Mr. Morris is no longer a Member of Congress, having been defeated by the Native American candidate, Mr. Levin. It is singular, that John P. Kennedy, of Baltimore, and E. Joy Morris, of Philadelphia, both of them warm friends of the only measure embraced in the creed of Native Americanism, the latter having actually offered a resolution upon the subject of altering the Naturalization laws, should have been both defeated by the Native American Party! These facts should make the body of that party reflect seriously before they act again. That they are honest, we have no doubt; that their object is such as should be granted, we have just as little. But when we see them deliberately throwing overboard the very pilots who have stood by them in the midst of thestorms, we cannot help suspecting that they have become the prey of the Demagogues in some shape or another. What do they want? A change in the Naturalization laws. What else? Nothing they say. Here are two men who represent them now, exactly of their way of thinking—men of talents both—men of energy and decision—ready to go the entire length of their creed—Why reject them? The conclusion is irresistibly forced upon the mind, that the party is held together, under false pretenses, by designing men for their own purposes. We call upon all Whigs who have allied themselves to it, for the sake of the name, to reflect upon these things; and further upon the undoubted fact, that while their organization renders, invariably, service to Locofocism, it never fails to advance the only party really opposed to any change in the Naturalization laws.
[TCS]

RW January 2, 1846 v23n1p1 THE PROSPECT OF WAR

THE PROSPECT OF WAR.

The Baltimore Patriot strongly inclines to the opinion that there will be no war, and that the controversy will be ultimately adjusted on the parallel of 49 degrees. This settlement it thinks, and we have no question correctly, would prove satisfactory generally. We have no doubt it would be so to the Atlantic States and to men of moderation every where.

The Patriot says:

“THE OREGON QUESTION.—The papers to the East of us have had, for several days, reports that the negotiation about Oregon had been resumed, and some letter writers went so far as to say that the question had been settled—the line of the 49th parallel having been fixed as the boundary, and some mutual equivalent and concessions having been made. We have reason to believe that these reports were premature, if they were not altogether unfounded, and that it is only since the arrival of Mr. Calhoun in Washington, that an adjustment of the question has seemed probable.

Our correspondent, in his letter published today, alludes to the fact that Mr. Calhoun has had a long interview with Mr. Packenham; and we learn from other sources that the result of the interview is a conviction, in which Mr. Polk shares, that there is no reason to apprehend that a war will grow out of the Oregon question—but that it will be settled amicably, and with proper regard to the rights, whatever they may be, of both nations.

We may say also, that public opinion here, and we believe every where, is decidedly in favor of the course pursued by the American negotiators in the matter, and that if the offer made by Mr. Polk, for the settlement on the basis of making the 49th parallel the boundary, be renewed or accepted by him, there will be no complaint, and no cause for it.

The aspect of things in Washington is, in every view, pacific; and, though we never shared in the apprehension that war was likely to come, we believe that it is now much more unlikely to ensue than two weeks ago.

But whilst we do not believe we are to have a war, we hold it not less the duty of the General Government to prepare for it, let it come when it may. The recent excitement has had this good effect, if no other in directing the attention of Congress to the exposed situation of the seaboard of the whole country, and especially to the defenceless position of all the considerable cities on the Atlantic. If war were now waged, there is nothing to prevent the occupation by the enemy of all our cities, or to ward off the destruction which a bombardment would bring upon them.

The wise admonition—in peace prepare for war—through so often repeated as to become trite, and never [gain said] though it be so old—has been lost upon the General Government, which,—though repeatedly involved in disputes with foreign powers, which threatened to disturb the peace between them,—has been content to leave these disputes settled without a rupture, leaving the country as the dispute found it, destitute on any adequate means to encounter the hostilities that were threatened, or it may come upon it hereafter;—and which experience teaches are often prevented by the very means taken to meet them.

The escape from a war now—if happily we shall entirely escape—we trust will cause Congress to have the whole country put in a situation to be successfully defended.—That speaking of our own city—which is the case of all the Atlantic cities,—the lives and property of our citizens will not be left, as they are now, open to any Naval force that may be brought against them, but that, be the erection of proper forts, and defences, we may be at least able to keep off or hold at bay, whatever enemy may be sent, hereafter, “to wake the city.”

We are gratified to know that the nearly defenseless situation of Baltimore has attracted the attention of the proper Committee of Congress, and our citizens will be glad to learn, that the visit made to this city on Saturday last the Military Committee of the House of Representatives, and the excursion to Soller’s Point, to which we alluded on Saturday, will result in an earnest recommendation from that Committee in favor of the erection of proper forts. Of the success of the recommendation we will not permit ourselves to doubt, as such a doubt would be to question the disposition of the members of the Senate and House, to defend the city in case war should ever come.

In regard to the excursion to “Soller’s Point,” we may say this much, that apart from the personal knowledge it gave to those whose official position required of them to thus seek information, the excursion was most a delightful one to all who took part in it, and from the good things said, to say nothing of the good things which were on the table, was time well spent and wisely enjoyed.”

We should be glad that our friends of the Patriot would afford some small hint where the money is to come to fortify the whole country! Does it think the amount of the British National Debt would accomplish it?
[TCS]

RW46, January 2, 1846 v23n1p1 Oregon question

Correspondence of the Baltimore Patriot.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 1845.

I know not precisely upon what authority, but nevertheless the opinion is gaining ground rapidly, that the Administration will, after all, consent to settle the Oregon question with England upon the basis of the 49th parallel; with some little hackling, by way of throwing dust in the people’s eyes, about Vancouver’s Island.

With this impression, it is stated that Hannegan’s resolutions were introduced in the Senate today, declaring that any surrender South of the parallel of 54° 40 would be an abandonment of the rights and honor of the United States. These resolutions are to be the test question, as I am informed upon sensible Locofocco authority, and if they are voted down or laid on the table or in any other way receive the go by, then a new party starts for the Presidency with the Governor Lewis Cass for its candidate, and Mr. Polk goes to the wall! Hannegan, as you know, is a friend of Mr. Cass!

Mr. Polk today sent into the Senate a large batch of appointments, which it required some thirty minutes to be read through, I learn that Marcus Morton, Collector of Boston, the Locofocco Abolitionist was among them. Unquestionably he will be rejected, if all of half of what his Locofocco brethren say of him to be true.

I am informed that at last it has been decided that Mr. Hagner, the Third Auditor, Mr. Pleasanton, the Fifth, and Mr. Edwards, Commissioner of Pensions, must walk the plank. It is confidently predicated that a grand display of dismissals is soon to take place!
[TCS]

RW46, January 2, 1846 v23n1p2 Better Prospects for Peace

Better Prospects for Peace!

We congratulate the country on the improved prospect for the preservation of peace. It seems to be acknowledged generally, that the ground taken by Mr. Calhoun Tuesday, is decisive, and that Messers. McDuffie, Haywood, Lewis, and probably others acting with him, the claim to all Oregon will not be insisted upon, the absurdity set up by Mr. Hennegan, that no foot of vacant territory can be alienated even for the adjustment of boundaries, scouted s it deserves to be, and the foundations laid for an honorable compromise on the 49th parallel of latitude, which in reality gives us nearly all the country worth having.

Mr. Calhoun’s resolutions, which we heartily approve, and a succinct but satisfactory sketch of the debate may be seen in another column. He very adroitly represents Hannegan’s movement as an attack on the Administration, but the latter retaliated severely in his reference to the “hot haste” of the “peculiar” friends of Texas!
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RW46, January 2, 1846 v23n1p2 CONGRESS

CONGRESS.
Tuesday Dec. 30, 1845.
In Senate

In the Senate at an early hour, the resolutions of Mr. Hannegan, declaring that a surrender of any portion of Oregon would be an abandonment of the honor and best interests of the United States, were taken up for consideration.

Mr. HANNEGAN moved that they be printed, and made the special order of the day for some day next week, but, at Mr. Archer’s suggestion, changed his motion so as to have made the order of the day for the third Monday in January.

Mr. CALHOUN rose to offer an amendment in the shape of a series of counter resolutions—declaring the power to make treaties to be voted in the President with the approbation of two thirds of the Senate—that the Administration did right in offering to settle the Oregon Question with England upon the basis of the 49th parallel—and that it would be no abandonment of the honor and best interest of the nation to settle that question upon that line of parallel. He supported his amendment, and stood by the course of the President on this subject vigorously. To pass the resolutions offered by the gentleman from Indiana, he said, would be to declare that the Oregon Question could not be settled by negotiation, to bring on war, and settle the question at the cannon’s mouth—to lose us, for the present, at least, the whole of Oregon—and to pronounce an implied censure for having offered the 49th parallel to Great Britain. Although he could not support the resolutions, but must oppose them, yet he was glad they were offered. They were direct, manly, and met the point boldly.

He pictured the horrors of war which might ensue from a false step in this delicate business, and said that, if war should come in this matter, he would stand by his country as firmly as any man, while he would hold those responsible for its devastating consequences, who, by rashness or imprudence, should bring it upon us.

The following was submitted by Mr. Calhoun.

Resolved, That the President of the United States has the power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided twothirds of the Senate concur.

Resolved, That the power of making treaties embraces that of fixed and settled boundaries between the territories and possessions of the United States and those of other powers, in case of conflicting claims between them in reference to the same.

Resolved, That however clear their claims, in their opinion, to the country included between the parallels of 40 deg. and 54 deg. 40 min. North latitude, and extending from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, known as the territory of Oregon, there now exist, and have always existed, conflicting claims to the possession of the same between us and Great Britain—the adjustment of which has been the subject of negotiation between the respective Governments.

Resolved, That the President of the U.S. has rightfully the power under the Constitution, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided twothirds of the same concur, to adjust by treaty the claims of the two Governments to the said territory, by fixing a boundary for their present possessions.

Resolved, That the President of the U.S., in renewing the offer in the spirit of peace and compromise to establish the 49th degree of North latitude as a line between the two countries to the said territory, did not abandon the honor, character, or the best interests of the American people, or exceed the powers vested in him by the Constitution to make treaties.

Mr. HANNEGAN followed. He did not intend any censure upon the administration for having offered the 49th parallel. The contemptuous rejection of that offer had changed the whole aspect of the case, and it would now be an abandonment of our honor and best interests to settle the question upon that basis, and thus surrender a large portion of soil clearly ours. While we would not censure the President, he was not so bound down to power, but that he could stand up and oppose any measure of the President which he felt was not right. He claimed to be an independent man, as well as the President, and had as good a right to express his sentiments as the President had to communicate his. If war were to come—and he hoped it would not, if it could be avoided with honor—he desired that it might never be settled except at the cannon’s mouth, and upon our own terms. He could not help referring to the different treatment meted to this of Oregon and that of Texas by the peculiar friends of the latter. Both questions were born and cradled in the Baltimore Convention, and the democracy of the whole country solemnly agreed to stand by both alike. But the friends of Texas were in hot haste to get that question settled and into the Union, while they were strangling Oregon in the cradle! There were conflicting claims on the subject of the western boundary of Texas, as much so as in regard to the northern boundary of our part of Oregon.

But when those who presumed to know something about the history of the country (Col. Benton was probable to allude to) told the Senate that we ought to stop on the banks of the Nueces and ascertain whether we were right before we should go further, their counsels were unheeded, and there was no pacifying gentlemen until the war horse of the United States was prancing on the banks of the Rio del Norte. Nothing would do short of an armed occupation of the country between these two rivers. In that matter we had only weak Mexico to offend; but now that we have England for an opponent, gentlemen are anxious to prevent hostilities.

Mr. CALHOUN rejoined and explained his course both on the Texas and the Oregon question. He reiterated the sentiments that he had before advanced.

M. HAYWOOD rose as a pacificator—thought the discussion was premature, and rather out of place—and moved to lay the whole subject on the table.

Mr. J.M. CLAYTON followed in support of the motion. He thought the Senate ought not to commit itself in advance of the subject.

Mr. ARCHER supported the motion—thanked Mr. Calhoun for the high and honorable position he had assumed—and congratulated the country that new glad tidings would be wafted on the wings of peace to the four quarters of the globe.

Mr. ALLEN spoke on the subject, in his usual style—He supported Mr. Hannegan’s resolutions, and deprecated warpanics, got up to frighten the feebleminded persons from maintaining the just rights of the nation! The commercial interest were ready to parade the cost of war in grim array before the people, when a question like this came up—as if dollars and cents were to be weighed against the honor of the country.

Mr. CALHOUN, again addressed the Senate, in justification of the course he had marked out for himself on the question. He was followed by

Mr. HAYWOOD, who advocated the medium ground, first reviewing and opposing the position of the Senator from Indiana, and then reviewing and not agreeing with the position of the Senator from South Carolina. They were both wrong, and it would be wrong for the Senate to adopt the resolutions of either, until the jurisdiction of the Oregon question should pass into its hands from those of the Executive. He thought after all, there would be lees to fear from war with Great Britain than from a war of politicians on that floor! He begged Senators to give the Administration two moons for a fair trial, and not attempt in a single month after the assembling of Congress, to break it down by getting up an octagon party in that Chamber. After he had concluded—

MR HANNEGAN once more took the floor in support of the position he has assumed, and in reply to the gentleman from N. Carolina. He maintained that the PReident had yielded up the jurisdiction question, and announced in his message, to the whole world, that the negotiation had terminated, and was at an end. He asked the gentleman from N. Carolina how, if the negotiation had not terminated, he would defend the President saying it had, in his message? He concluded by declaring himself against any unjust, dishonest and cowardly surrender of our territory, by a settlement of the question upon the 49th parallel.

He then modified his motion, so as to have both sets of resolutions laid on the table, with the understanding that they be taken up with the report of the Committee on Foreign Relations, on the same subject, when the latter shall be presented to the Senate for its adoption.

Mr. BENTON said emphatically the he would vote for the motion without the qualification.—So the whole subject was laid on the table, and soon after the Senate adjourned.
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RW46, January 6, 1846 v23n2p1 REMARKS OF MR. ADAMS

REMARKS OF MR. ADAMS

Mr. J.Q. ADAMS rose to address the House. He said that he ought perhaps to commence with an apology to the House for addressing it at all on this question. The state of his health was such to render it impossible for him to appear at all on the many important questions [ . . . ] with this subject, and whatever observations he might fell it his duty to make upon it, must necessarily be brief. His physical power would not enable him to go at any length into the question.

The question now immediately before the House he understood to be, whether the bill making provision for raising two regiments of riflemen should be made a special order for the first Tuesday in January.

The SPEAKER said that this constituted one part of the question, but was not debatable. The other part of the question was on referring this bill to a Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, and that question was open to debate.

Mr. ADAMS said that he asked, then, that the question might be divided, and might first be put on the reference, because he presumed the there was no diversity of opinion on that point; if there was, it would change the whole state of the debate.

Mr. HOUSTON, of Alabama, said, in explanation, that it was not the reference of the bill he said he had objected to, but its being made a special order.

The SPEAKER further declared that the first branch of the question, viz. the reference of the bill could be decided by a majority, but that to make it a special order would require a vote of two thirds.

Mr. ADAMS said that, if the House should refuse the references he should have nothing further to say.

The SPEAKER said that the first question would be on the reference of the bill, and that question was debatable.

Mr. ADAMS then asked if he was at liberty to debate the question whether this bill should be made the special order Tuesday next.

The SPEAKER replied that he could not, but that the question of reference might be debated.

Well then, (said Mr. ADAMS,) I will, at risk of being arrested for irrelevancy, (which seems of late a favorite mode of preventing discussion,) speak in reality and in substance to the question of making the bill a special order—while in form, my remarks will be on the question of reference.

This measure now proposed to be referred is one, which, for a variety of reasons, is as important as any question which has hitherto come, or will hereafter come, before this House for discussion. It is difficult to speak on one of the bills relating to this subject without a reference to all others. For example: this is a bill to raise two regiments of riflemen. Now, I find there has been reported in another part of this building a bill providing for one regiment of mounted riflemen. The question then presents itself to me—how are these two bills to go together? If but one regiment only of mounted riflemen is necessary to be maintained, then it does not follow that two regiments of unmounted riflemen are needed: the bill depends in a measure upon the other. I refer to this merely as an illustration [the rest of the paragraph is illegible].

I do not see any testimonials of the probability of a war at this time; but, if any danger is apprehended by any gentlemen here, it appears to me that the very first measures to be taken—that should precede all military measures of any kind—is to give notice to Great Britain that we mean to terminate the existing treaty of joint occupancy of Oregon. That is the first measure to be taken. How can gentlemen apprehend war otherwise? Does Great Britain tell us that she shall take offence at the continuance of the treaty of Joint Occupancy? She does not, though I have heard of some question being made in England, whether they shall not give us notice of the termination of the treaty of joint occupancy. Yet it is not a joint occupation, and I have been surprised at the language held by some gentlemen on the subject. The treaty acknowledges no occupation of the territory by either party; it is a commercial convention for free navigation, but does not admit by either party the occupation of one inch of territory by the other. It is no occupation. But, whatever it is, neither party can permanently occupy the country without notice to the other to terminate the convention of commerce and trade, which would not be permitted without such convention. It is not a treaty of joint occupation; it is a treaty for the exercise of navigation rights, commercial rights, and trading rights with the Indians. It precludes the occupation of the country by either party. Exclusive occupation cannot be assumed by either party without notice. Of all these measures for occupancy and for assuming jurisdiction over citizens to of the U. S., who may have gone to Oregon, and there in actual possession, notice id the first thing. Twelve months after that noticeshall have been given, the right will accrue to the U. States to occupy any part of the territory they may think proper.

In a bill which passed at the last session I myself moved, as a first section to the bill, that such notice should be given. The House did not think proper to agree to it. And passed the bill without any notice.

Mr. C.J. INGERSOLL. No; It was put into the bill at the last moment.

Mr. ADAMS. But the bill did not pass the Senate, and so the insertion was immaterial. But it is a material fact to me, because I proposed it as constituting the first section of the bill. I declared myself ready then; and I am ready now, to give such notice. {Great sensation.} I hope it will be given, and that we shall do it as the first measure to be taken—to be followed afterwards by a real occupation of the whole territory. {Great sensation in the House and an incipient clap, which however, was promptly arrested by the Speaker, who called loudly to order.} But it is indispensable that we shall give notice.

The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Douglas) says that it appears to him there is a game playing here—a remark which is quite incomprehensible to me. I shall not inquire to what the gentleman alluded. But I confess I was very much surprised to hear that the Committee on Foreign Affairs will not report to the House such notice.

Mr. C. J. INGERSOLL. I know of no member of that committee who has said so.

Mr. ADAMS resumed. I have heard it from various quarters; and if the report is delayed much linger I shall believe it. {A laugh.} If it is so, I shall deplore it; I shall deeply regret if a majority of that committee shall not be ready to give notice. All the other measures must depend on that. While we are talking about regiments of riflemen and regiments of infantry, and stockade forts and sappers miners, and pontoniers, Great Britain is assembling steam vessels, equipping her frigates and lineofbattle ships, and sending troops over here to be ready. I would press a resolution giving notice this day if I hoped that a majority of the House could be obtained to effect the measure.

Mr. WENTWORTH here moved that the rules be suspended to afford the opportunity for such a motion; but the motion was pronounced out of order.

Mr. ADAMS resumed. I fell myself scarcely authorized to hope that I should be successful should I make the motion. But for this I would have moved it on the first day of the session. Because I have so profound a sense of duty of adhering to treaties, I feel debarred from the least act of hostility, or even from meeting hostility manifested elsewhere, till notice shall have been given. While our convention remains, I will vote no increase of the army or navy, no fort or stockade, no riflemen, no infantry, no sappers, no miners. All must depend on that. If this bill shall be made the special order for Tuesday, I hope it will be arranged by the gentlemen who manage the business of this House, that the question of giving notice shall come up on the same day, and shall be taken up before anything else. It is mere wasting of time, and whistling in the wind, to talk about raising a military force until our conscience is clear from the obligation of the convention.

And it does not follow that if we give notice, there must of necessity be war; nor does it even follow the we shall then take possession. It will only be saying to Great Britain: After negotiating twenty years about this matter we do not chose to negotiate any longer; we shall take possession of what is our own; and then, if to settle the question what is our own, you wish to negotiate , we will negotiate as long as you please. We may negotiate after we take possession. (Much laughter.) That is the military way of doing business. (Increased merriment.) When the great Frederick came to the throne of Prussia, his father had prepared and equipped for him and army of an hundred thousand men. Meeting, shortly after, the Austrian Minister, the latter said to him: “Your father has given you a great army; but our troops have seen the woolf: yours have not,” “Well, well,” said Frederick. “I will give them an opportunity to see the woolf.” Frederick then added in his memoir: “I had some excellent old pretensions to an Austrian province which some of my ancestors had owned one or two hundred years before, and I sent an ambassador to the Court if Vienna stating my claim, and presenting a full exposition of my right to the province. The same day my ambassador was received in Vienna I entered Silesia with my army.” (A laugh.) So you see that, on the very day his army entered Silesia, he gave notice to the Court of Vienna that the convention of joint occupation of Silesia was ended. (Loud and prolonged laughter.)

I say, therefore, that I hope the first measure adopted by Congress will be to give the most solemn manner, the notice to Britain that the treaty requires; then the coast will be clear for us to do as we please. It does not, I repeat, does not follow as a necessary consequence that, because we gave this notice, we must take possession, though it is my hope that we shall. It is not necessarily draw after it a war; and if Great Britain chooses to take such notice as an act of hostility on our part, and forthwith commence hostilities on hers, we have told been told that we may all be of one party, and God Almighty grant that we may be so! If it shall be so, the war will have less of those extraordinary terrors which my friend fro South Carolina (Mr. Holmes) has now discovered, notwithstanding the extreme military propensities which manifested on this floor last year.

The gentleman was a most valiant man when Texas was in question. But I shall draw no comparisons as to what we witnessed then and what we see now; but this I will say, that I hope, if war shall come—which [ . . . ] forbid, and of which I [entertain] no fears at all—the whole country will have [ . . . ] one heart, and one united hand. And of this I am very sure, that in that case Great Britain will no longer occupy Oregon, or any thing [ . . . ] north of the Canada line. (Great sensation, and incipient indications of applause.) But if you will serve to give notice, strong as is my horror of war, and of all military establishments, if there should then be the breath of life in me, I hope I [rest of sentence is illegible]. But, till notice is given, I am not prepared to vote any preliminary measures of a military kind. I suppose, however, that we may, without giving notice, extend our laws and our protection to our brethren who have settled at least in that part of Oregon which is not claimed by Great Britain; but there can be no need of increasing our army and our navy in order to do that. I hope that such an act will not be effective to Great Britain, and that she will not think of going to war about it.

But if we are going to take actual occupation of the country, then some additional force will be needed to our army, and in that case, however, unwilling I have ever been to increase our military establishment, I think I should get over my difficulties, especially if a disposition should be manifested by Great Britain to take offence at the measure I have just mentioned. All our military preparation must depend on notice to Great Britain; we must not have our hands and feet bound; the obligations of joint occupancy must be dissolved, and we left free to her according as the interests of our country require.

I believe it will not be necessary for me to refer to any other part of this subject. There have been, as I understand, two applications made to the House by fellow citizens of ours settled beyond the Rocky Mountains, for the protection of the Government. The Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (Mr. C.J. Ingersoll) presented, as I think, one memorial, while another from a different, [sic] quarter is also before the Territorial Committee—possibly it is a copy of the same.

Mr. C. J. INGERSOLL. No; they are different memorials, from different persons.

Mr. ADAMS. I think it is time this House should consider what are our duties to our countrymen there. I confess that I know them very imperfectly. I have of course seen the reports of Lieutenants Wilkes and Fremont; they contain valuable information; but that sort of information which we now want it was not the object of those expeditions to obtain. I am in favor of protecting these persons as far as we can.

I believe I have said all that is at present necessary. I have said perhaps more than I should, and certainly more than I intended; I am not able to go further. The most important point I wished to state is, that to give notice should be our first measure. Then let us protect our emigrating citizens, and our own frontier, by stockade forts and such an increase of our military establishment as may be necessary; but I am against all other measures unless that is done first.

Mr. FARAN of Ohio, moved to suspend the rules for the purpose of offering a resolution which he held in his hand, but the House, without hearing it read, immediately adjourned.
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RW46, January 6, 1846 v23n2p1 PEACE FEELING IN THE SENATE

PEACE FEELING IN THE SENATE

The correspondent of the Courier & Enquirer expresses the opinion the “the Benton and Wright Senators” will cooperate in resisting all violent and aggressive measures respecting Oregon—that the year’s notice will not be given, unless provoked by England—and in short that Polk, his Organ, and the Illinois Democracy will be baffled in their bellicose purpose.
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RW46, January 6, 1846 v23n2p1 BRITISH PREPARATIONS FOR WAR AND DEFENCE

BRITISH PREPARATIONS FOR WAR AND DEFENCE.

The correspondent of the National Intelligencer, is clearly right to the opinion that the immense defense preparations of England, are not made from any apprehensions of an American war, since an invasion form this country would be as little feared by her as dreamt by us. They have reference of course to a possible rupture with France, at the death of Louis Phillippe, and the facility with which the Island may be invaded from the introduction of steam. Had it been discovered and in use at the time as now, neither Hoche in 1798 would have baffled in landing in Ireland, nor Bonaparte in England in 1804. they had but to have waited for a storm to blow the British fleet off the coast, to put to sea in steamers and land before the fleet could have reassembled. It is no longer possible by sail vessel to hinder French invasion, and hence these gigantic preparations for coast defense.

The correspondent of the National Intelligencer says:
“New York, December 25, 1845.

The immense preparations that are making in England, both for attack and defence, on land and water, have attracted the attention of the civilized world, but especially France and the United States. That these active movements and warlike arrangements on the part of Great Britain were not produced by the position of the public affairs of that country and this, must be evident to the most superficial observer. She had no cause to apprehend an invasion by the Americans, and consequently, there was no necessity to guard against such an event. Her coast, denfences, therefore, must be intended to meet contingencies that may or may not hereafter arise.

But when we review the vast steam navy that she has created and is creating—the expensive arrangements that she has entered into for the transportation of her mails, by steamers built purposely to be converted, if necessary, into vessels of war, and then take into consideration the large deposites of coal which she has caused to be made on our coasts and in our vicinity, it is impossible to resist the impression that these movements have a beating upon the unfriendly position which the two Governments occupy in relation to each other. True, these movements on the part of Great Britain are only precautionary, and of themselves are no cause of national offence. But it will be perceived that it places her in a position, in case if war, to strike a blow most disastrous to our commerce, and for a period destructive to our revenue rising from imposts and tonnage.”
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RW46, January 6, 1846 v23n2p1 OREGON

OREGON

We propose to devote a few moments this morning to another consideration of the vexed question, pregnant with the fate of empires. We would fain hope, that the lust of dominion has not so warped the judgment of our people, that they will turn a deaf ear to the voice of calmness and reason, which admonishes us that war is the greatest calamity which can befall our land, and that Peace alone can fulfill the bright destiny assigned us. We will not emulate the sickening patriotism so forward to sound the charge, but so backward in the hour of battle—nor those political incendiaries, who, like Danton and Robespierre, rouse the worst passions of the breast that they may rise upon the ruin of all that is great and virtuous. We dare to say that our country is in a false position on the Oregon question. And that the interests of our great republic should not be sacrificed to the dictates of a rump convention and the political schemes of a heartless faction. There are occasions enough, Heaven knows, when war is unavoidable. Such were our wars with England. There was Independence to gain and honor to preserve. But let us assure those timid Statesmen, who are too sensitive as to their course in the last contest wit Great Britain, that this is a far different issue. If calamity befalls us now, it will spring from an unholy lust for Dominion—if war come, it will be at our own beckoning, and the distress and devastation of our country will be the proofs of our own folly and madness.

How stands the case! We find ourselves on the brink of a disastrous war, to be commenced in folly, and whose end no tongue can tell. With a country the most fertile under the sun, teeming with everything nature can give, or art invent, with hundreds of millions of unoccupied territory, we are to join in deadly conflict for the doubtful sovereignty of a hundred and eighty miles of inhospitable sea coast. For this, our towns must be burnt, our commerce swept from the ocean, our Union endangered, and our country thrown back fifty years in the great march of civilization and improvement. All this must be done at the bidding, and to satisfy the behests of our party. Which under the suspicious guise of Democracy, would soon reduce us to that wild and reckless mob, which acknowledges only the argument of the cannon, and the logic of the sword. Are we so drunk with prosperity, that in the humor of the Donnybrook Fair, we must [ . . . ] trail our coast upon the ground, and solicit a fight? Are we so lacking in manly independence, that we must stand by the vaporings of a President so newly in his seat, that he [ . . . ] not yet assumed the dignity appertaining to his office? Are we so regardless of those who preceded, and those who are to come after us, as by us unnecessary and unrighteous war, to cripple the energies, and to paralyze the resources of a country which, but for ourselves, would be the brightest portion of the earth? With what spirit can we go into battle when the fearful conviction presses itself upon us, that we ourselves have closed the door of hope, and extinguished the last chance of reconciliation? And what is the state of our defences? Was there ever such excess of folly as to invite war when the whole of our seaboard lies unprotected, and our small navy is scattered in every ocean? Is this culpable negligence, or are we to hope the “Polk” now building will be as great in war, as its namesake in speech, and settle and establish our “clear and unquestionable right” with a few swivels? Or are we to hope, that General Cass. With his homilies on the Right of Search, will scatter our enemies as by the Riot Act? Or shall we trust to the potent arm of the “Union,” (that of Washington,) and as John Randolph said, “enter the war against ships of the line; with a sixpenny pamphlet.?”

But for the magnitude of interests involved, we might laugh at the bungling diplomacy of an administration which supports its side by hostile and antagonistic claims—which seeks to establish our right to Oregon by discovery, and the next breath gives all the credit thereof to another country, and shows its desire for a compromise and peace, and its deference to predecessors by offering worse terms than had been refused. How fit a conclusion to all this folly is the folly is the withdrawal of the proposition and the assertion of a claim to the whole territory in dispute. But we turn from this Bobadil with disgust. We appeal to the people themselves and their representatives in Congress assembled. We ask the latter to pause before they carry out the measures which must inevitably bring woe to their country. Let them not suffer themselves to the hurried away by a mock enthusiasm, or a dread of the people. We can tell them that the nation does not wish war, nor will it fail in time to inflict the heaviest vengeance upon the heads of its authors. Let them forget themselves and look singly to the welfare of their country. Let them speak in a voice not to be misunderstood, and all may yet be well. There is no need to close the negociation. Examine the earlier parts of the correspondence, and it will be seen that but for the unhappy intervention of Mr. Polk and his Secretary of State, there was every prospect of an amicable adjustment. Mr. Calhoun, in his principal letter, the most masterly production of his mind, proves our best right to the region drained by the Columbia, postpones to a subsequent period the assertion of our right to the country north of the 49th parallel. To this claim of the valley of the Columbia, the British minister returns but a feeble reply, and confines his principal argument to the subject of Great Britain’s claim to Vancouver Island. Had negotiation been conducted in the spirit in which it was commenced, we have no doubt that a compromise could thus have been effected, viz: that the United States should extend their line to the 49th degree of north latitude , and then taking the middle channel of the straits of Fuca, leave Vancouver’s Island as and equivalent for the territory surrendered by England above the mouth of the Columbia river.

This would give t each all that it desired, good harbors and naval stations. England has never cared for Oregon except for the Fur Trade, and, as the animals which yield the fur gradually disappear before the increasing population, she will value her possessions there less and less. If this proposition be not acceptable let our Representative urge the arbitration of this question. Let us not lose the consolation that we have used every honourable means to avert the calamity of war. It has been urged that we should not have justice form any monarch of Europe in case of arbitration. But are monarchs the only umpires? Are Wisdom and Justice only to be found beneath a crown? Have not the two countries sufficient confidence in the integrity of their own citizens to entrust it to a commission appointed equally by such government? Or if this be objected to, let it be referred to some crowned head, with the distinct understanding that any departure from the fortyninth degree by the umpire shall be surrendered by the party receiving the award, and thus generously terminate a dispute, which should never for a moment have disturbed the friendly relations of two great nations.

Above all, let us have calmness and moderation. With these, we may have peace and Oregon. Without them we shall have war, disaster and defeat. Blessed will be his position who aids the peaceful conclusion of this subject—whilst upon him, through whose agency a different result is effected, will fall deservedly, the curses of a blighted country.
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RW46, January 9, 1846 v23n3p1 OREGON DEBATE IN THE HOUSE

THE OREGN DEBATE IN THE HOUSE

Saturday, the Debate commenced Friday upon the proposition of the Military Committee through Mr. Haralson, to raise two Regiments of Riflemen, was continued by Messers. C.J. Ingersoll, Haralson, Darragh, King of N. York, Winthrop of Mass., Owen of Indiana, and Barker of Illinois—Mr. Cabell, of Florida, got the floor Monday.

There was little in this debate but what we uniformly find in all American Debates, much clamorous profession and loud vaunting—much Demagogism, much pretended courage, and much real fear of the People.
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RW46, January 9, 1846 v23n3p1 MR. ADAMS POSITION

MR. ADAMS POSITION.

The position assumed by this venerable and most eminent, most conscientious and illustrious citizen, to whom is familiar the learning of the ancient and modern world, of all mankind indeed, of all ages, countries and races, is a most melancholy commentary upon human nature, its certain decay under the load of years, (notwithstanding the strictest temperance, and daily ablutions in the Potomac!) its weakness and imperfections. We individually, grieve to see this man, who is worthy in knowledge to have been called by Solomon into consultation, and to have given him sage advice, subject himself to the suspicion of friends, and to the more significant condemnation of Loco Foco plaudits! There must be a screw loose somewhere, or, fast and attached friends could not be universally amazed and disgusted, and the most implacable enemies, rejoiced and delighted! We remember the fate of Gil Blas with the Archbishop, and shall say nothing upon a subject of extremest delicacy at all time and with all men; yet we should be glad if great men would be great here too, as well as in other matters.

Than Mr. Adams’ approbation of the war measures of the Executive, nothing is felt by the general community, to be more unworthy of his grey hairs, and christian professions; than his course of argument in support of that view, nothing is regarded as more contradictory, sophistical and weak!

His cardinal policy is to give the year’s notice to England! Why! Aye WHY! What public necessity demands, or what good is to come from it? He says to preserve (an admirable object) the faith of treaties! But does the treaty of 1818 or 1827, require us to give the notice now? When we are resolved to take all Oregon, the notice may be right: But is the nation so resolved? Are the American People prepared to say that all Oregon belongs of right to us? In no other conceivable state of things can the notice be expedient or necessary.

Mr. Adams claims all Oregon, and looks to war as the consequence of the claim. He knows that England will never relinquish her rights, whether they be real or pretended, and that war must infallibly ensue from our giving her notice, and at its expiration, proceeding to take possession: What does he propose to do, while the year’s notice is running? To prepare for war? To equip soldiers, build navies, and construct fortifications? No! We must do none of these things! He quotes with approbation, the conduct of the great Frederick, in taking possession of Silesia under exactly different councils from those he recommends—but he will have us, in respect of treaties, not build a ship, or arm a man, until the 365 days have elapsed, when undoubtedly a war, British war, the most formidable war in the world, will be poured upon us, on Atlantic and Gulf, Lakes and Pacific! He would throw away the whole year of notice—the only time for preparation we have—and let England, in ultrumque paptus, catch us then, as we should now, completely defeceless and unprepared!

For ourselves, we cannot understand this sort of logic, national faith, or common sense. The notice, if it effects any thing, will bring war, and the it has to run, is the only time left us for PREPARATION.
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RW46, January 9, 1846 v23n3p1 State of parties

State of parties in the Senate

Upon the state of [ . . . ] in the Senate, everything depends –whether a wanton and ruinous war shall be waged—to the entire prostration of the Southern and planting states—to the disgrace of Christendom, and the outrage of humanity—or whether Peace shall be preserved and continued. Mr. Calhoun has deserved nobly of his country, and has acquired golden opinions: We wish him “God Speed” in efforts which we did not expect from him—efforts which in their philanthropic tendency ought to make those who profess so much christian spirit, blush for the homicide spirit which actuates them with one foot in the grace.

We hope and believe that Mr. Calhoun will be sustained by all the Atlantic States: As for war we fear it as little as another: But war for so slight and absurd a cause! War with ENGLAND, the head of civilization, of christianity and Protestantism! Bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh! The devastation of countries, the expenditure of unknown millions, the slaughter of tens of thousands, the destruction of prosperityand for what? Let the people ask for themselves FOR WHAT? Why not make a President, or to facilitate the plunder of the Treasury! As for Oregon, we must infallibly obtain it by Peace, and as infallibly lose it by War!
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RW46, January 9, 1846 v23n3p1 Response to Adam's speech

A letter in the Courier and Enquirer says:

“Washington, 2d Jan. 1846.

DEAR SIR:—Mr. Adam’s speech today will no doubt produce much speculation and alarm, but I have what I deem good reason to believe that Southern Senators are unanimous for and adjustment of the Oregon question by the 49th degree, if a treaty be made, and that Mr. Calhoun will be sustained in resisting the notice so you may be confidant that we are to have no war.

We have a rumor that Col. Benton, who has heretofore refused to indicate his course, has declared in favor of the notice and for the “whole of Oregon,” and some suppose that he will take the Senators from Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Maine as well as Michigan; but without knowing what the other Senators will do, I have the best reason to feel assured that Mr. Cameron of Pennsylvania and Mr. Turney of Tennessee will go with Mr. Calhoun.

It is proper, however, that the press should speak out and sustain those who are for peace.”
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RW46, January 9, 1846 v23n3p1 Proceedings of Congress

Proceedings of Congress on Tuesday.

The Oregon debate in the House of Representatives, more that any other and all other questions combined, attracts the public attention, and we thereforemake an effort to present the proceedings of Tuesday, including the resolutions of Mr. McConnell of Alabama.

These resolutions are we presume, a burlesque upon the arrogance of American pretensions: But, we are free to confess that we think them rather serious joking! Inflated by prosperity—puffed up by vain glory—we believe that with the immense body of the ignorant who all have votes, and who pretty much rule the roast—such ideas exist in reality, as Mr. McConnell has advanced possibly in jest.
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RW46, January 9, 1846 v23n3p1 England and the United States

England and the United States!

These two countries, it is well said by the North American, are almost the only homes of the PROTESTANT RELIGION! The Religion has indeed a foothold upon the continent of Europe, but uncertain and subsidiary: In the event of a crusade against Protestantism, England and the United States are the only countries which can be relied upon the unfurl the banner of Protestantism and to repel the shackles of Popery and Superstition!

Here then, in the strongest and noblest motive for perpetuating the bonds of brotherhood between the two nations, in addition to the thousand considerations of kindred, similarity of Institutions, and ties of interest and humanity, all pleading eloquently for Peace.
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RW46, January 9, 1846 v23n3p2 CONGRESS, Senate

CONGRESS.
Correspondence of the Balt. American.
WASHINGTON Jan’y. 6, 1846

UNITED STATES SENATE

Mr. ALLEN, form the Committee on Foreign Affairs, reported a Resolution directing the Secretary of the Senate to cause to be prepared for the use of the Senate 10,000 copies of the map of Oregon, compiled by the officers of the Exploring Expedition, provided the cost of the same does not exceed $10 per hundred. Laid over.

Mr. CAMERON, from the Committee on Public Buildings, reported a joint resolution to authorize the Washington Monument Committee to erect a statue to Washington on any part of the public ground not otherwise occupied that may be designated by the President of the United States. Laid over.

Mr. BREESE offered a resolution calling upon the Secretary of War for information relative to the land mines on the public lands in the State of Illinois. Adpopted.

Mr. SEVIER, from the Committee of Foreign Affairs, reported a bill authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to pay the States of Texas the amount ascertained to be due her by the United States, arising out of the disarming of her troops while she was an independent state by the troops of the United States under the command of Major Shively. Laid over.

Mr. SPEIGHT offered a resolution instructing the Committee on Commerce to inquire into the expediency of making an appropriation for the erection of light houses on St. Joseph’s Island and other points on the Mississippi. Adopted.

The Senate proceeded to the consideration of the joint resolution offered yesterday by Mr. Niles, regulating and reducing the price of public printing.

Mr. J. M. CLAYTON moved to recommit the resolution to the Committee on Printing, with a view to amend it so as to provide the compensation allowed by it shall apply to the printing [ . . . ] [ . . . ] [ . . . ] [ . . . ] as well as that which may be executed hereafter. The motion prevailed.

A Message was received from the President of the United States transmitting copies of Correspondence between the Attorney General and the leagal authoriyies of Florida, relative to the power and duties of the Territorial Judges under the act of admitting said State into the Union.

The Senate then went into executive session.
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RW46, January 9, 1846 v23n3p2 OREGON QUESTION

OREGON QUESTION.

Mr. YANCEY of Ala. moved that the House resolve itself into Committee of the Whole. The motion prevailed, and the debate was resumed upon the question of the notice and the whole Oregon question was debated upon its merits.

MR. YANCEY expressed himself in opposition to war at this time, and therefore in opposition to giving the notice at this time, because he regarded it as a war measure.—He advocated the American claim to the whole territory, and believed that it was secured to us by the delay.

Mr. CALEB B. SMITH of In. made a very able and eloquent speech against giving notice at this time, and in favor of committing the power of the President to give the notice. The responsibility belonged to him, and he would not take it form him. The country, however, ought to be defended at once, and placed in a condition to meet any emergency that might happen, but we were now in no condition for war.

Mr. Smith’s speech commanded great attention form the fact that he was a Western man and one of the Committee on Foreign Relations. It was patriotic, statesmanlike, and inits views such as will commend it to the common sense of the nation.

Mr. COBB next obtained the floor, and on his motion the Committee rose and the House adjourned.
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RW46, January 9, 1846 v23n3p3 Letter to the Editors on Oregon

To the Editors of the Whig:

Gentlemen:—Deprecating, as I do, a war between the United States and Great Britain as the most direful calamity that could befal these two great, and most powerful nations on the globe, even if sufficient cause existed, but which is ten times more horrible when it shall result form mere wantonness or madness of political tradesman, my heart beat with unbounded pleasure on taking up, for the first time, last night, your paper of the 2nd inst., and my eye rested on a brief editorial beginning as follows:

“Better prospects of Peace.”

“We congratulate the country on the improved prospect for the preservation of peace. It seems to be acknowledged generally that the ground taken by Mr. Calhoun on Tuesday is decisive,” and so forth.

Well, I naturally hurried over the paper, in search of the column referred to in the after part, to ascertain what was the ground taken Mr. Calhoun, that was to settle this much vexed Oregon question, and give harmony to the civilized world; and presently I found it, but before looking to the resolutions he had offered, I ran my eye over the debate they had occasioned; first, because of my impatience to form a just estimate of the importance that had been attached by the Senate to the proposition he might have submitted, and secondly, because I could not well understand how a mere proposition form Mr. Calhoun, who certainly heads no very considerable or formidable party in the country, and who I believe is held responsible for no set of opinions or principles he may advance beyond the duration of a single moon, was to work out so desirable, but at the same time, so extraordinary an effect.

But I could not find any one member of that body, save Mr. Archer, had put such a construction on their import as your remarks had led me to anticipate. Yet when I read his views as reported in the proceedings of the Senate. I could not help ejaculating, “Now, indeed, a great man has arisen in Israel; and whatever may be his former errors, and however ignis fatuus like, his previous career, I for one will hereafter hail him as a Patriot,” and a deliverer of his country: Mr. Calhoun has thrown off at last all party shackles, has risen superior to the consideration of whether it will “[ . . . ]enure to his own benefit,” and struck for his own country. Content with plundering Mexico, he will not attempt to rob Great Britain: content with seizing that, which fell an easy prey, he will no venture to involve the world in arms, to secure a barren, worthless and inhospitable tract of country that must prove disastrous to our institutions, “if we obtain it and settle.”

How could I sat less, Messers. Editors, on reading your remarks as quoted above, and the following from Mr. Archer?

“Mr. Archer supported the motion—thanked Mr. Calhoun for the high and honorable position he had assumed, and congratulated the country that new glad tidings would be wafted on the wings of peace to the four quarters of the globe.”

But judge, Mr. Pleasants, of my mortification and disappointment, when on turning to the Resolutions themselves, I found the first four to consist mainly of a few common place undisputed truisms, as to the functions and extent of the powers of the Executive and Senate in forming treaties, and the last to bolster up his own “consistency” whilst acting in the character of negotiator. They ran thus:

1st. Resolved, That the President of the United States has the power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senate concur.

Well think I, that don’t settle any boundary question, secure peace, or improve “the prospects of peace.” I read again—

2d. Resolved, That the power of making treaties embraces that of fixing and settling boundaries between the territories and possessions of the United States, and those of other powers, in cases of conflicting claims between them in reference to the same.

Well think I, that don’t settle any boundary question, secure peace, or improve “the prospects of peace.” I read on—

3d. Resolved, That however clear their claims, in their opinion, to the country included between the parallels of 40 degrees and 54 degrees 40m, North latitude, and extending from the Rocky Mountains to the pacific Ocean, known as the territory of Oregon, there now exist, and have always existed, conflicting claims to the possession of the same between us and Great Britain—the adjustment of which has been the subject of negotiations between the respective governments.

Well think I, that don’t settle any boundary question, secure peace, or improve “the prospects of peace.” It needed no ghost to tell us that, for every school boy knows it. But nothing daunted, I read on—

4th. Resolved, That the President if the United States has rightfully the power, under the Constitution, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided twothirds of the same concur, to adjust by treaty he claims of the two governments to the said territory, by fixing a boundary to their present possessions.

Well think I, that don’t settle any boundary question, secure peace, or improve “the prospects of peace.” But now for the last, though not the last; for like all lovers of good wine, he has saved the best bottle to wind up with: So on I went , full of hope and confidence, to the 5th and last resolution, which by a dash of goose quill, was to settle all difficulties, and give ease to the aching minds of patriots, and peace to the agitated bosoms of millions—and here I could not pause for a moment, and reflect on those beautiful and impressive words of Richelieu, when speaking of his pen—

“Behold the arch enchanter’s wand; itself a nothing,
“But taking sorcery from the master hand—to paralyze the Cezars,
“And strike the loud earth breathless.”

And so it was to be, with the magic pen of the mighty peacemaker: and on I went to the

5th. Resolved, That the President of the U.S. in renewing the offer in the spirit of peace and compromise to establish the 49th deg. of North latitude, as a line between the two countries to the said territory, did not abandon the honor, character, or best interests of the American people, or exceed the powers vested in him by the Constitution to make treaties.”

Well, thinks I, is that all? How does it settle any boundary question, secure peace, or improve “the prospects of peace.”

I laid the paper down, lit my pipe, and went to thinking, and wondered how my friends Archer and Pleasants should have fallen into so egregious an error, as to construe these resolutions into a settlement of peace maker, unless it was one of the Stockton sort, dispensing mischief, confusion, and destruction to all that followed in its wake.

I at length laid down my pipe, took a long breath, and in spite of my self, said What! John Cataline Calhoun (as the Globe and Enquirer called him) the great disturber of the public peace, whose mischief making propensities have brought this government to the verge of dissolution, kept our own family in continual agitation, discord and turmoil for fifteen years, become a settler of difficulties? Whew!

Now I may be mistaken, and it may be, that if all this does not satisfy Great Britain, she is rather too hard to please, to justify any further effort on our part.

To be told by Mr. Calhoun, that Mr. Polk, did not exceeded his powers, and did not abandon the integrity of his country, by submitting at one time, a proposition to divide the territory by the 49th deg., may appear plain enough to some, as carrying with it sufficient atonement to appease to aroused anger and indignation of the British government, occasioned by the impudent and bullying tone of our Executive and his mouthpiece, who being suddenly, unexpectedly, and undeservedly transferred to positions that nature did not design them to occupy, have seemed to know nothing of the dignity, courtesy, and decency, that should regulate intercourse between nations; but as a plain and simple minded man, I must confess, that I do not see how the matter is mended in the slightest degree.

Mr. Calhoun does not propose to abandon the preposterous claim now set up by Mr. Polk to the whole of Oregon or none; he does not even advise that the offer of the 49th degree should be renewed; but contents himself with declaring the Mr. Polk, in renewing the proposition which he (Mr. Calhoun) himself had made in the early part of the negotiation, and which had been rejected, had not exceeded his powers, nor abandoned the dignity, character, and bests interests of the American people; for if he had, then so had Mr. Calhoun, and if Mr. Polk had been justified in making this offer, then so had he; so that while he strikes one blow for Mr. Polk, he strikes two for himself but not one for his country; and in this like the rest of the Presidential aspirants in Congress, (of which there are not perhaps less than 200, large and small) he proposes to convert the whole country into one great political chessboard, and make that move which he thinks most likely to win the game that will “ensure to his own benefit.”

I say he does not propose to renew the proposition to settle the boundary by the 49th degree, and even if he did, how would that secure peace, or improve the prospects of peace? When has Great Britain agreed to accept such a line of division? Have we not over and again offered it? and has she not rejected it? And why is it to be supposed, that she would be more disposed to accept it now under the bravado and threats of our hectoring and warlike Hickory Sapling (which is a more appropriate title for him than “Young hickory”) than before, when she could have gotten it without hard words, and contemptuous treatment.

But if the proposition could now be renewed, so far from its being accepted, I question if a greater indignity could be offered to that people—No! The acceptance of [her] proposition for honourable arbitration, is the only alternative left us, for a peaceable adjustment; and it ought never to have been subjected, unless there was a better prospect of settling it by negotiation, than there appears to have been at the time.

But imagine the proposition to be renewed to divide by the 49th degree, and it would approximate a domestic scene, that we who have spoiled children, are all familiar with.

We attempt to divide an apple between two urchins, John and Jack; John’s half is a little the larger, and Jack pouts and says: I won’t have that. Why? Because it ain’t as big as John’s. You had better take this, for if you don’t you shan’t have any. Well, I won’t have any then. He begins to cry, and makes a devil of a racket, which becoming insufferable, he is told—come now, be a good boy, wipe your eyes, and kiss father, and you shall have the piece of apple. Jack wipes his eyes, kisses Pa, takes the apple and chuckles over his good fortune, wisely thinking that half a loaf is better than no bread.

But whether the British nation, and her Statesmen Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington, are such babies as to thus easily appeased by taking what they had before refused, because you have threatened to withhold all, is a question that remains to be settled.

As that instrument which strikes every note in the [ . . . ] though he never plays but two tunes, to wit: the “President’s March” and the ‘loaves and fishes,’ sometimes says, “Nous Verrons.”

No, no, Mr. Whig! Let us look this question sternly in the face: let us not deceive ourselves or the people; let us not lull them into a fatal fancied security; you may rely upon it our young sapling has involved us in difficulties not easily to be overreached and not very likely to be counteracted.

Let us act as becomes men; let us hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

Henrico, January 4th, 1846.
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RW46, January 23, 1846 v23n7p1 ORGEON QUESTION

THE ORGEON QUESTION

To the Editors of the Whig:

I believe it is now a well established maxim, that man has no interest in man, and that all the laws and constitutions of man’s invention cannot convert a human being into property. The days of vassalage are or ought to be over. Wild lands belong to the settlers, and not to the different Governments under which these settlers once lived. To throw off allegiance by expatriation, is also a well established maxim. The people, then, of Oregon belong to themselves, and if numerically weak are just as independent as if numerically strong. They, then, should be consulted as to whether they will set up for themselves, be annexed to the U.S. Government, or prefer allegiance to the British Crown. How absurd, then, for the U. States and Great Britain to be negotiating for the free men, pioneers of a wild country, appropriated by original settlement to themselves!

Suppose the U.S. and Great Britain should determine upon parallel of latitude as a geographical line of division – Can they by this species of legislation control the free will of the citizens of Oregon? The idea is preposterous t o my mind. No matter how civilized or enlightened man may be, he will act upon the principle that might gives right. Submit then, the controversy to the people of Oregon, and let them decide as to the course most advantageous for them to pursue, regardless of the wishes or pretensions of other nations, who have no legitimate authority either to divide their territory, or coerce them into an obedience of Government and Laws not of their own making, and probably very uncongenial to their wishes. Upon what principle of common sense is it to be inferred that persons residing North of a certain degree of latitude are friendly to British Laws, and those South of it to Republican institutions? Legislations with power to coerce may partially control the actions of men, but cannot subvert the will, or change the operations of the mind.

PAUL PRY.

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RW46, January 23, 1846 v23n7p1 War for Oregon

WAR FOR OREGON

It as been suggested in distinguished quarters that the Territory of Oregon is worthless. It has also been said on both sides of the Atlantic that the territory cannot long be governed either by Westminster or Washington; but that it will require a separate government of its own. If either of these assertions be true, a war, in this age of civilization, to determine the title of Oregon, will be “monstrous” and “impious” beyond any wager of battle in history. The following verses from an ancient newspaper will fitly illustrate the folly of both nations that engage in it. – Boston Daily Adv.

CLUMPY and CLOD, two surly clowns,
As reeling home one night
From alehouse, where their sappy crown
They’d soak’d in sad’ning plight,
While all the azure tinted sky
Spread out its clear expanse.
And all the glittering train on high
Seem’d o’er their heads to dance –
Quoth Clump to Clod. “I tell thee what!
“I only wish that I
“As much good pasture land had got
“As I can see blue sky.”
“And I,” quoth Clod to Clump, “should like
“Thy wish to beat by far,
“And have, to prove a wealthier tyke,
“An ox for every star.”
“Ah but,” says Clump, “to veed them all
“What pasture could be vound?”
“Enough,” says Clod, “vor great and small:
“I’d veed them on thy ground.”
“What! And without my leave?” says Clump.
“Ay, that I would,” says Cloddy.
Quoth Clump, “then thee my hide shall thump,
“Or I will bump thy body.”
So to’t they went, both Clump and Clod,
As ast as fist could tag,
Till both lay sprawling on the sod,
And scarce a fist could wag.
“Now, where’s your oxen, Clod,” says Clump?
“And where,” says Clod, “your ground?”
Both sigh’d, and, carcase raised on rump,
In vain for both look’d round:
Then, shaking hands, they cursed all jars,
And all deceiving eyes,
That looked for oxen in the stars,
And pasture from the skies.

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RW46, January 23, 1846 v23n7p1 Expense of War

EXPENSE OF WAR

The occurrence of war will so nearly annihilate the revenue from customs, that it will be a large allowance to admit that even the odd money (four and a half millions) of the present revenue from that source will be annually available to the Treasury from customs after war begins. The amount was more than what was collected in the second year of the War of 1812; before war steamers were even thought of, and almost before steam navigation of any sort was successfully practiced.

War will therefore produce a deficiency of twenty millions of dollars in the revenue required to defray the ordinary expenses of the Government: and, after the first year of war, five millions of dollars will be required (an amount which will increase with each year) in addition, making an annual amount of twenty millions of dollars, which must be raised, at the very beginning of the war, by DIRECT AND INTERNAL TAXATION. We do not press this consideration as any argument against a necessary war; but we do put it to our readers whether they are willing to pay to U. States’ excisemen, taxes upon all that they eat, or drink, or wear, upon the houses that they live in, and the shops they work in; and upon every little thing almost in God’s Creation, for the gratification of those honest gentlemen, in Congress or out of it, who are of opinion that it is our duty TO SEEK A WAR! – Nat. Int.
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RW46, January 23, 1846 v23n7p2 Crittenden Resolution on Oregon

MR. CRITTENDEN’S RESOLUTION
A resolution concerning the Oregon Territory

Whereas, by the convention concluded on the 20th day of October, 1818, between the United States of America and the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for the period of ten years, and afterwards indefinitely extended and continued in force by another convention of the same parties, concluded the 6th day of August, 1827, it was agreed that any country that may be claimed by either party on the northwest coast of America, westward of the Stony or Rocky Mountains, now commonly called the Oregon Territory, should together with its harbors, bays and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same, be ‘free open’ to the vessels, citizens and subjects of the two powers, but without prejudice to any claim which either party might abrogate and annual said convention, on giving due notice of twelve months to the other contracting party:

And whereas it has become desirable that the respective claims of the United States and Great Britain should be definitely settled, and that said territory may, no longer than need be, remain subject to the evil consequences of the parties might have to any part of said country; and with this further provision in the 2c article of the said convention of the 6th august, 1827, hat either divided allegiance of its American and British population, and of the confusion and conflict of national jurisdictions, dangerous to the cherished peace and good understanding of the two countries:

With a view, therefore, that steps be taken for the [ab]abrogation of said convention of the 6th August, 1827, in one mode described in its second article, and that the attention of the Governments of both countries may be the more earnestly and immediately directed to renewed efforts for he settlement of all their differences and dispute in respect to said territory:
Be it Resolved, by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby authorized, at his discretion, to give to the British Government the notice required by its 2d article for the abrogation of said convention of the 6th of August, 1827. Provided, however, That in order to afford ample time and opportunity for the amicable settlement and adjustment o[f] all their differences and disputes in respect to said territo[f]ry, said notice ought not to be given till after the close o[f] the present session of Congress.

This was made the order of the day for the 10th of February, the day appointed for the consideration of the resolution proposing to give immediate notice to Great Britain.
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RW46, January 23, 1846 v23n7p2 Senator Allen and contingent war declaration

Mr. Allen’s Contingent War Delcaration.

Speaking of Mr. Allen’s notice of an intention to force up his Resolution of warning to the Powers of Europe, the National Intelligencer says: We can think of nothing more unpropitious to the peace of the country at the present moment than the entertaining and discussing of such propositions, and we are quite sure that considerate men every where have felt grateful to the Senate for putting the subject, as it seemed, to rest.

With these views in regard to the extreme and mischievous proposition, it is with great regret that we have learnt the Mr. Allen gave notice yesterday, of his intention to move the Senate on Friday next, to take up his motion for leave to introduce the resolutions. We are sure that the whole country would be startled at any successful attempt to engage the Senate in public debate of such a measure. The mere disturbing of it is much to be deprecated – especially at this juncture, teeming with agitating and momentous events; and much more would any thing like a grave discussion of it to be deplored.
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RW46, January 23, 1846 v23n7p4 Senator Allen and Mexico

ALLEN – MEXICO.
Correspondence of the Baltimore Patriot.
Washington, Jan’y 20, 1846.

You see by Mr. Allen’s notice in the Senate to day that he intends to run another tilt at the interference of European with American powers, next Friday. The eagle eyes of John C. Calhoun, you may depend, are upon him! – The country is believed to be safe, as it regards that matter!

It is understood that despatches have gone off requiring the Home Squadron to repair forthwith to the vicinity of Vera Cruz and the Army in Texas, and to be there, to proceed to the most available point near the bank of the Rio del Norte to meet the Meixcan forces, should they be sent into Texas.

It is further stated, that the President and the Secretary of War refuse to put the army in Texas under the control and direction of Major General Scott! It must be recollected that the Secretary of war fought some himself during the last war – and that if the President did not volunteer and was not drafted to go to the defence of New Orleans, like many of his comrades, it was no fault of his, because he left his residence in Columbia and went away to Murfreesborough to complete his studies!

But what course will the President now recommend Congress to take on the subject of our affairs with Mexico? – Remember that in his Message, at the opening of the session, after announcing the appointment of Mr. Slidell as Minister, he uses the following significant language:

“The minister appointed has set out on his mission, and is probably by this time near the Mexican capital. He has been instructed to being the negotiation with which he is charged to a conclusion at the earliest practical period; which , it is expected, will be in time to enable me to communicate the result to Congress during the present session. Until the result is known, I forbear to recommend to Congress such ulterior measures of redress for the wrongs and injuries we have long borne, as it would have been proper to make had no such negotiation been instituted.”

And now that it is understood his instituted negotiation has been rejected with insult, it mremains to be seen what “ulterior measures of redress” the President will recommend to Congress! Nous Verrons.

POTOMAC.

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RW46, January 27, 1846 v23n8p1 From Mexico

FROM MEXICO

An arrival at New Orleans from Tampico, brings news to the 5th January.

There seems to be no doubt of the success of Paredes in his revolt. The call of Herrera, upon the “Defenders of the Country,” had met no response, and it was believed that the reins of power had fallen from his hands. Paredes was expected to enter the City of Mexico on the 29th December.

Vera Cruz and Jalapa have pronounced. Gen. Almonte is said to be under arrest. It is said; there are 2,000 troops in the garrison at Tampico, ready for action against the Government.[TCS]

RW46v23n8p1, January 27, 1846, Peace Party

THE PEACE PARTY.

Some of the Administration presses, a short time since the rampant for the “whole of Oregon or [n]one,” have of late considerably modified their tone, and one of them in an article of some length undertakes to prove that the Democracy are essentially the “party of peace.” If this be so, then has the blustering in Congress been to little purpose. It only proves the truth of the oftrepeated remark, that those who make the most noise are always the least inclined to blows.

The windy speeches have reminded us of scenes of everyday life – something that may have often been noticed in an assemblage of pot. valiant heroes in a barroom. A man of wrath is seen boiling over with superabundant caloric, “pitching and snorting” for an adversary, and swearing he can “lick all creation.” In this alarming state of affairs, he calls out for an opponent some two or three goodnatured and peaceful friends, averse to blood and thunder, undertake to hold him – and four other men of peace take hold of his adversary – and then, good lack, how the froth flies!

“Each hero burns to conquer or to die,
What mighty hearts in little bosoms lie!”

But the moment the bystanders cry “hands off!” the gallant champion, who threw down the gauntlet, becomes as “cool as a cucumber,” and declares, “’pon honor,” he has not the least bad feeling towards any living mortal.
And this is the drama being enacted on the great national theatre at Washington.
[TCS]

RW46, January 27, 1846 v23n8 p1 Oregon and Mr. Winthrop

OREGON – MR. WINTHROP.

We had hoped, ere this, to have been able to present our readers the truly able and statesmanlike speech of Mr. Winthrop of Massachusetts, on the Oregon Question, as well as that of Mr. Hunter of Virginia, the latter taking what may be considered the Calhoun view of the question. But other matters have intervened, to delay our purpose. We find, however, an extract at hand, appropriately and happily introduced by our friend of the Lexington Gazette, to which we call the attention of the reader. We insert this more cheerfully, because it has been intimated to us that on some former occasion, an article appeared in our columns, doing injustice to Mr. Winthrop.

From the Lexington Gazette.

Many of the speeches delivered in the lower House can only make their hearers blush for their country. The vaporing, the hectoring, the rabid abuse of England, the excessive glorification of every thing American, the furious appeals to the passion of the populace! How unlike the calm repose of a mind conscious of right, which aims only at what is just, and seeks just ends by just means. How like the bully endeavoring to intimidate his adversary by menaces, yet trembling in his inmost soul lest his opponent should answer his words with blows. If speeches of this description represent the spirit of this nation [as they do not] we ought to change our national emblem at once, and instead of the Eagle hovering over our ensigns, and fanning with its hue pinions the fires of battle, choose a turkey cock, spreading and spluttering at the sight of a red rag, but running as fast as legs and wings will carry him, at the first rigorous rush of a resolute enemy.

No. This is not the character of the American people. There are statesmen and others, (we regret they are so few) whose arguments and eloquence are worthy the great subject they discuss, and the great nation has called them to its councils. Prominent among these, in the House of Representatives, is Mr. Winthrop of Massachusetts, a man who has reflected new [luster] upon his own honorable name as well as upon the legislators of his country. While we do not doubt for a moment the American title to Oregon, we believe the following extracts from Mr. Winthrop’s speech will commend themselves to every true patriot for the enlightened amor patris which they evince – to every friend of humanity for the pacific spirit which they breathe – and to every lover of genuine eloquence for the chaste and impressive language in which such noble sentiments are arrayed.

“I am perfectly aware, Mr. Speaker, that I express the views which I entertain when I say, I shall not escape reproach and imputation from some quarters of the house. I know that there are those by whom the slightest syllable of dissent from the extreme views which the administration would seem recently to have adopted, will be eagerly seized upon as evidence of a want of what they call patriotism and American spirit. I spur all such imputations in advance. I spur the notion that patriotism can only be manifested by plunging the nation into war, or that the love of one’s country can only be measured by one’s hatred of another country. Sir, the American spirit that is wanted at the present moment, wanted for our highest honor, wanted for our dearest interests, that which dares to confront the mad impulses of a superficial popular sentiment, and appeal to the sober second thoughts of moral and intelligent men. Every schoolboy can declaim about honor and war, the British lion and the American eagle, and it is a vice of our nature that the calmest of us have heartstrings which may vibrate for a moment even to such vulgar touches. But (thanks to the institutions of education and religion that our fathers founded) the great mass of the American people have also an intelligence and a moral sense which will sooner or later respond to appeals of a higher and nobler sort, if we will only have the firmness to make them. It was a remark of an old English courtier, a century and a half ago to one who threatened to take the sense of the people on some important question, that he would take the nonsense of the people and beat him twenty to one. And it might have been something better than a good joke in relation to the people of England at the time it was uttered. But I am not ready to regard it as applicable to our own intelligent and educated American people at the present day. An appeal to the nonsense of the American people may succeed for an hour; but the stern sense of the country will soon reassert itself, and will carry the day in the end.

“I honor the Administration, Mr. Speaker, for whatever spirit of conciliation, compromise, and peace it has hitherto manifested on this subject, and have no hesitation in saying so. If I have anything to reproach them with, or taunt them for, it is for what appears to me as an unreasonable and precipitate abandonment of that spirit. And if any body desires on this account, to any other account, to brand me as a member of the peace party, I bare my bosom, I hold up both my hands to receive that brand. I am willing to take its first and deepest impression, while the iron is sharpest and hottest; if there be any thing of shame in such a brand, I certainly glory in my shame. As Cicero said, in contemplation of any [axiom] which might attach to him for dealing in too severe [for] summary a manner with Cataline, “ Eo animo semper fui, ut invidiam virtute partam, gloriam, non invidiam, patuarem!”
[TCS]

RW46, January 27, 1846 v23n8 p 1 Oregon and British Claims

OREGON:
Its Limits – And the Respec’ive Claims set up to
It by the contestants

We have been heretofore prevented, by a pressure of other matter, from spreading before our readers the Correspondence between the British Minister and out own Secretaries of State, on their respective claims to the disputed portion of Oregon. To remedy this omission, and to supply the reader whose time is limited with an abstract of the whole subject, we avail ourselves of the following excellent article, from the New York Mirror:

“THE OREGON QUESTION.

The Oregon question is so completely the paramount object of attention, and peace or war are so immediately dependent upon its settlement, that we have thought it would not be unadvisable to place before our readers the prominent facts upon which the claim of either nation is based. These facts may all be found in the diplomatic correspondence of the two nations, or in the historical voyages now published; but, few men have the time, or care to spend it in searching for them, and of those few but a small number so examine as to form or retain clear notions as to the dates and circumstances attending the several explorations. In any event, this kind of article will be useful in those after dinner and bar room political discussions, which we are brought to what Mr. Puff calls “a dead lock,” by assertion on one side, and flat denial on the other.

The Oregon or disputed territory, comprises that portion of the Northwest coast of America between the 42d and 54 50 parallels of latitude. North of it lie the Russian and south the Mexican possessions.

In 1543 the Spaniards visited the Northwest coast, certainly as high as the 40th, and possibly as high as the 43rd latitude.
In 1579 Sir Francis Drake was, without doubt, on the coast as high as the 42d parallel, and it is claimed by the historian of his voyage that his progress extended as far north as the 48th. From the narrative itself, however, it seems clear that the precise degree was not known, and that the one named was merely a conjecture. Drake, with the consent and by request of his inhabitants, however, took formal possession in the name of his sovereign, of that portion of the country on or near the 38th degree.

In 1592 Jean de Fucs, a navigator in the service of Spain, sailed as high as the 48th or 49th parallel, and discovered the straight which now bears his name. This discovery was considered apocryphal for nearly two centuries.
In 1602 a Spanish expedition, consisting of several vessels, was fitted out at Acapulco for the purpose of surveying the Northwest coast. Of this expedition, the most adventurous, or most stormdriven, a vessel reached the 43rd parallel.
In 1763, Spain, by the treaties it made at the then peace recovered from France New Orleans, and Louisiana west of the Mississippi; the remainder of Louisiana, Florida and Canada, and all other French possession on the North American continent became the property of Great Britain.

Between 1774 and 1779, three exploring expeditions, sent Spain, ascended to the 64th parallel.

On the 15th August 1777, Heceta, the captain of one of the vessels of the above expedition, discovered the mouth of the Columbia, and gave it the name of San Roque; he did not, however, enter it.

In 1776, Cook sailed from England on a voyage of exploration, the peculiar limits of which, so far as the northwest coast was concerned, were to extend from the 45th parallel, northerly.

In April, 1778, he anchored in Nootka Sound.

In 1787, Berkley, an Englishman, sailing under Austrian colors, re discovered the southern entrance of the Strait of Fuca.

In 1788, Meares, an Englishman, settled some men on Vancouver’s Island, by permission of the chief, and erected a fortification. He also entered the bay at the mouth of the Columbia, in search of the river San Roque, but left with the conviction that no such river existed.

In 1790, Spain destroyed the settlement of Meares on Vancouver Island. The difficulties between Spain and England on this subject were settled by the Nootka Sound Convention, which determined no title whatever, but admitted the right of both nations to trade and settle.

In 1792, Kendrick, and American, the first white man since Fuca, sailed through the Strait of Fuca.

In April, 1795, Vancouver, commander of an English expedition, visited the coast between the 40th and 48th degrees, and records his conviction that between those parallels no navigable stream existed large enough to float his vessel. He persisted in this opinion after being informed by Gray, an American sea captain, of his suspicion of the existence of a large river between the 46th and 47th parallels.

On the 11th of May, 1792, Gray sailed 10 miles up the Columbia.

Gray communicated his discoveries to Vancouver, who sent Lt. Broughton in the Chatham to explore it. Broughton ascended it 80 miles in his cutter, the navigation being too intricate to take up his ship.

In 1792, Mackenzie, an Englishman, floated 250 miles on the Frazer river, which empties into the Strait of Fuca.

In 1803 the U.S. purchased Louisiana.

In 1805 and ‘6, Lewis and Clarke crossed the Rocky Mountains, explored the whole country drained by the Columbia, and followed that stream to its mouth.

In 1806 the English made settlements west of the Rocky Mountains, but the Columbia river never proved to have been seen by them until 1811.

Before 1810, the (American) Missouri Company made a settlement on Lewis river, the Southern branch of the Columbia, which was shortly abandoned.

In March, 1811, the Pacific Fur Company of New York sent the Tonquin with their agents to the Columbia. They landed and formed a settlement at Astoria, ten miles from the mouth of the river.

On the 18th October, 1813, three of the partners of the Pacific Fur Company sold the establishment, furs and stock in hand to the Northwest Fur Company. While the transfer of property was going on, an English vessel of war, sent to destroy the American settlement, arrived; but as the property was then British, departed, after substituting the British for the American flag, and naming the place Fort George.

In 1818, Astoria was restored under the 1st Article of the Treaty of Ghent – the United States leaving the question of title open, by express understanding.

The whole territory in dispute is yet open to joint occupation, by virtue of various conventions.

In a subsequent article we shall examine the title conferred on each nation by the various acts above enumerated, and shall endeavor to give somewhat in detail; the substance of all the treaties that bear upon the subject. N.Y. Mirror.
[TCS]

RW46, January 27, 1846 v23n8 LATE AND IMPORTANT FROM MEXICO

OFFICE OF THE N.O. “DAILY TROPIC,”
TUESDAY, Jan. 13th, 1 P.M.

LATE AND IMPORTANT FROM MEXICO.

The Mexican schooner Julia, Zalduondo master, arrived here this morning from Vera Cruz, which place she left on the 30th ult., bringing us papers from that place to the 29th inst., and from the city of Mexico to the 23d ult. The Julia also brought J. Tilghman Hoffman Esq, bearer of Despatches to our Government, from whom we learn that Paredes was certainly on his march to the city of Mexico, and that our Minister, Mr. Slidell was still there. From the Vera Cruz and Mexico papers, we have hurriedly gleaned the following news:

The Moniteur, of the 21st ult., says that the Supreme Government has appointed Gen. Bustamente Commander in Chief, and Gen. Obregon his second in command, of the Army to oppose Gen. Paredes. That paper says the Government is indefatigably working to quell the revolt and that it has already taken the necessary measures to put he capital in a state of defence, and given out 3000 guns to be distributed among the citizens. On the 21 ult., the Senate concurred with the Government in giving Dictatorial powers to President Herrera. El Siglo says that Paredes had seized upon the Public Treasury of the Fair at St Juan, which had been committed to his charge. El Veracruzano of the 24th, says that on the 23d, a salute from the Castle of san Juan de Ulloa, under the command of Cassanova, announced the first movement of the Army and Navy, in favor of the Proclamation of San Louis Potosi by Gen. Paredes, and that it was immediately seconded by the garrison of the place, at whose head is the brave Landero, with the exception of a part of the battalion Sigero, numbering about 100 men; who left their barracks with their officers, refusing to join their companions. This body, as they were marching out, fired a volley on those who remainder, killing a captain and ten veterans, and wounding three others.

It then marched to the Government palace, and was ordered to quarter in the Convent of San Francisco, where they remained at the latest dates. The same paper says that at a late hour is learned that the city and garrison of Jalapa had pronounced in favor of Paredes, and that it was momentarily waiting for a similar movement in Orisaba and the fortress of Perote.

On the 23d, the forces of Paredes were said to be only three das march from the city of Mexico.

On the 24th, the troops at Puebla under Gen. Inclan, who had received orders to march to the Capitol, refused to depart, and it was certain that, notwithstanding the efforts of the General to the contrary, they would soon declare in favor of Paredes.

Mexico, it was said, would in a few days open its gates to Paredes.

The Vera Cruzano of the 29th, says that it learns by letters, of responsible persons, from mexico, that the imbecile and shortsighted Cabinet had mortgaged to England the department of Yucatan, on condition that she would pay its immense debt. There, says that paper, are facts that will soon be divulged.

A Circular of the 24th, transmitted by President Herrera to the Governors of the different Departments, delegates to said Governors the tremendous extraordinary powers with which Congress had invested him, and already had the capital of the Republic began to feel the weight of such despotism, as imprisonments, irrespective of person or characters, had become common, and even the Arch Bishop, Granduno, had obliged to fly from the persecutions that awaited him. Gen. Ampudia had gone over to the revolutionists, and the government troops had publicly expo[u]sed their cause.
Gen. Almonte was concealed, earing persections.

The latest intelligence is to the effect that Perote had had declared it self for Paredes, and that the numerous cavalry of that General were in the near vicinity of the Capitol. His artillery and infantry were between the city and Arroya Sarco. The cities of Orizava and Guanajuato, had also declared for Paredes at the approach of his forces.

Gen. Urrea, says El Siglo of the 19th, has been defeated by the forces of Generals Campuzana and Cuesta, each party having lost about 60 persons.

The same paper says, that the Government Council, after long deliberation, had determined not to receive Mr. Slidell in his ordinary official capacity, notwithstanding its previous engagement to receive a Plenipotentiary from the United States with special powers to treat on the subject of Texas. This conclusion of the Government took place after Mr. Parrott had reached Mexico on his return from the United States.

In the Monitor of the 23d, is published Herrera’s proclamation calling upon his compatriots to rally in defence of the laws. It is a long document, and concludes as follows: “It is my duty to defend our liberties, and yours to sustain me.”
[TCS]

RW46, January 30, 1846 v23n9p1 LATEST FROM MEXICO

LATEST FROM MEXICO

By the arrival, on the 14th instant, of the United States brig Porpoise, at Pensacola, (twelve days from Vera Cruz,) the intelligence of a revolution in Mexico has been confirmed.

It appears that on the morning of the 30th, the troops relied upon by the goernment to defend it against Paredes pronounced in his favor; and the government entered into terms of capitulation with the General Paredes. He entered and took possession of the city on that day without opposition.

The rumor was, that General Paredes manifested less opposition to the reception of Mr. Slidell than the late President, Herrera.
[TCS]

RW46, January 30, 1846 v23n9p2 FOREIGN NEWS

THE FOREIGN NEWS

Every body seemed to have been somewhat disappointed in the tone of the English papers, in reference to the President’s Message. Many of the good people of England are probably too much engrossed with home affairs to care a great deal about Oregon – but whatever be the cause, the President’s Message fell upon dull ears and very languid sensibilities.

The London Times, which is generally regarded as indicating the feelings and sentiments of the British Ministry, talks quite coolly, and we must say, very rationally, upon the Oregon question. – It seems decidedly to “prefer a settlement to a litigation – a compromise to a contest – peace to a war.” It thinks, then, that “every purpose, both of honor and interest, would be answered, if the British Minister, on whom now devolves the duty of making fresh proposals to the government of the United States, were to renew on his part the offer made to England by Mr. Gallatin, in the Presidency under the direction of Mr. Adams. That proposal was to take the 49th degree of N. Latitude,” &e. “This would concede all that the most successful war would acquire – a sovereign, but barren dominion – but it would secure all the commercial bearings of an honorable compromise and a rational peace.”

Such sentiments must meet a cordial response from the sensible and reflecting people of both countries – and it will be a criminal disregard of the dictates of humanity, if, from false pride or sublimated notions of honor, the peace of the two countries would be [jeoparded].

The National Intelligencer is inclined to regard with satisfaction, as far as our relations with England are concerned, the return of Sir Robert Peel to power. So, indeed, are most of the papers that have had time to comment on the news.
[TCS]

RW46, January 30, 1846 v23n9p2 REVOLUTION IN MEXICO

REVOLUTION IN MEXICO

News has reached the city by way of Pensacola that the Revolution in the Government of Mexico is complete, Gen. Paredes having entered the city of Mexico, and possessed himself of the reins of government, without serious opposition. – Nat. Int.
[TCS]

RW46, January 30, 1846 v23n9p3 Foreign News continued

THE FOREIGN NEWS
Continued

The British Ministry – The following is an official list of the readministration:

First Lord of the Treasury, Sir Robert Peel.
Secretary of the House Department, Sir J.R.G. Graham.
Lord Chancellor, Lord Lyndhurst.
Lord President of the Council, Duke of Buccleugh.
Commander in Chief, Duke of Wellington.
Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Earl of Aberdeen.
Lord Privy Seal, Earl of Haddington.
President of the Board of Control, Earl of Ripon.
Chancellor of the Exche[q]uer, Right Hon. H. Goulburn.
Chancellor of the Duchy Lancaster, Lord G. Somerset.
Commissioner of Land Revenues, Earl Lincoln.
Secretary at War, Right Hon. S. Herbert.

The following are the new members of the Cabinet:

President of the Board of Trade, Earl Dalhouse.
First Lord of the Admiralty, Earl of Ellenborough.
Postmaster General, Earl of St. Germains.
Secretary of the Colonies, Hon. W. Gladstone.
From the London Times of December 24.

A President’s Message is seldom so much a new fact as a more authoritative confirmation of what the world has known long before. In England a good deal may be guessed from the general leaning of the Minister, and a convenient usage allows the heads of a Royal speech to transpire just the evening before. In the United States the council at which the President has determined on his announcements is one in which millions are privileged to advise, and the whole world is admitted to hear. For several years every citizen is allowed, or rather compelled, to offer the candidate the benefit of his experience, and to demand in return specific pledge on almost every possible point of disagreement. The candidate strikes a compact with every State, every city, every separate supporter in the Union. – Thence he derives his commission, which is only his own because he has received it, and has perchance been able to suggest some little of it during his previous political life. – But, once elected, there he is the incarnation of creed long since determined and promulgated. As a popular man, as a partisan, as a speculative politician, he may have entered into that creed with disinterested and passionate ardor. On the day of his election, however, he awakes to a new existence. He is the Sovereign, charged with the most awful endless responsibilities, the living source [weat or wo], the arbiter of peace or war, with the eyes of all the world upon his actions, be they good or be they evil, and with posterity, as it were, to enter and pass its calm, irreversible judgment on his name. It is no wonder that the busy candidate for a people’s suffrages should pause when he has ascended to this height, and begin to perceive the paternal instincts and conscience of power. Even with a second term of sovereignty still to be solicited, he is compelled, in spite of himself, to be considerate, just, and humane.

In this, the first legitimate act of his Presidency, Mr. Polk does nothing more than impersonate the Democracy which bore him into power. The style of his address is all that can really be called his own, and that is unusually readable, simple, and clear. On such minor topics as are not to us matters of practical discussion, or are not even of a sort to call for commendation; the Message will be read with interest, and sometimes with pleasure.

The annexation of Texas is treated as a matter of history, and at the same time with the brevity of recollection in which the shortlived dictations of the Union are so tempted to indulge. Texas, no matter how, was independent; the States of Europe acknowledged it; Mexico herself at least acknowledged it, though with an offensive or impertinent condition, and too late to answer her purpose. The citizens, whoever, whatever, or whencever, they might be, desired annexation, and on the great principle of selfgovernment, had a right to be governed as they liked. With the same sweet oblivion of Texan antiquities, the inference of Great Britain and France is treated as simply an attempt to maintain a balance of bower against the encroachments of the Union. It is asserted to be the indefensible right and duty of the Americans not only to resist European interference, but to be utterly deaf to the suggestions of European discretion and humanity.

With a rather unreasonable avidity of self gratulation, the President claims the contradictory honors of peace and war in the Texas triumph. “The accession to our territory,” he says, “has been a bloodless achievement. No arm of force has been raised to produce the result. The sword has had no part in the victory.” He cannot, however, forego the pleasure of relating, a few sentences after, what efficient military preparations he had made, and how thoroughly Mexico had been hemmed in on all sides, both by land and by sea, before it could have time to defend the disputed territory.
On one point the message exhibits sympathy with our own Ministerial intentions as marvellous as it is auspicious of international amity. The principle protective duties as opposed to those for revenue, is clearly defined and strongly condemned; and the Legislature is recommended to put an end to oppressive inequalities of what is called the general adoption of ad valorem duties. The President lays down the important maxim that taxation ought to fall as lightly as possible on the materials of profitable employment and the necessaries of life.

Oregon is the subject which the almost fanatical interest with which it has been agitated by the States, and its consequent bearings on the peace of the world, renders the most prominent in the address. The long and animated comments of the American press show how little disposed the citizens have hitherto been “to let off” the President and this painful and delicate subject. What is actually said is neither more nor less than what a million voices have dictated and we have long known. It need not augment the terrors of the European alarmists, and it certainly will not change the resolves or add to the preparations of the British Cabinet. It is already resolved and prepared.

Mr. Polk, after adverting to the negotiations, and attempts at compromise before he came into office, informs us of what he has done towards the conclusion of this unfortunate dispute. In reading his simple narrative, it becomes necessary to remember that an American exists in a sphere of his own, and can hardly be judged by European ideas of moderation, decency, and honor. The President makes great credit to himself for having made and offer which he acknowledges to be less than what the British Government has repeatedly declined.

“In consideration, too, that under the conventions of 1818 and 1927, the citizens and subjects of the two Powers held a joint occupancy of the country, I was induced to make another effort to settle this long pending controversy in the spirit of moderation which had given birth to the renewed discussion. A proposition was accordingly made, which was rejected by the British Plenipotentiary, who, without submitting any other proposition, suffered the negotiation on his part to drop, expressing his trust that the United States would offer what he saw fit to call ‘some further proposal for the settlement of the Oregon question more consistent with fairness and equity, and with the reasonable expectations of the British Government.’ The proposition thus offered and rejected repeated the offer of the parallel of 49 degrees of north latitude, which had been made by the preceding two Administrations, but without proposing to surrender to Great Britain, as they had done, the free navigation of the Columbia river. The right of our rivers, through the heart of our country, was one which I was unwilling to concede.”

In making this proposal, already twice refused, the President thinks it necessary to apologise to his Democratic supporters. He pleads, with all the humiliation of one bound by prescriptive compliances, that he had been obliged to proceed on the basis of compromise, and asks the public condolence for that, under this bondage, he has offered what was known by repeated trials, would not be accepted. To make amends for this selfimposed indignity, he declares that the day of compromise is now over.

“Had this been a new question, coming under discussion for the first time, the proposition would no have been [refused].
[TCS]

February

RW46v23n10p1c2, February 3, 1846: IMPORTANT NEWS FROM MEXICO

By the barque Peno, just arrived from Vera Cruz, we learn that a bearer of dispatches from Mr. Slidell to our Government is on board. We have not received any letters by her, but learn verbally from the Captain that Mr. Slidell had been ordered to leave Mexico, and that no escort had been allowed him to Vera Cruz.

We learn, also, that on the reception of the news of the dismissal of Mr. Slidell, the commander of the U.S. brig Somers, at anchor at Vera Cruz, started immediately for the city of Mexico, with a detachment of Marines, in order to escort our Ambassador to that port for embarkation, and protect his person. –N.O. Courier, Jan. 23.

The accounts in other papers state that Paredes was acting President, and Gen. Almonte, (former minister to the U. States,) acting Secretary of War.

A letter from Vera Cruz, January 8^th, says: “The new Government has adopted a very harsh tone towards of Mr. Slidell, the United States Minister, and appear determined to carry on the war against Texas. Business, of course, under the above circumstances, has almost been put a stop to; but we now look forward to an improvement.

Trade is exceedingly dull here but we expect an improvement after first of next month, when the new Tariff will come into operation.
[SDW]

RW46v23n10p1c3, February 3, 1846: TEXAS

TEXASThe Washington Union says that an express from the Government of the U. States, bearing with him to Texas the acceptance of her Constitution by Congress, arrived at Galveston on the 12^th instant, and left immediately for Houston. There he was met by President Jobes, who had left Austin to meet the dispatches, and who, immediately on receiving them, issued a proclaimation calling on the Legislature to convene at Austin on the 16^th of February to organize a State government and adopt such other measures as they may deem necessary for the general welfare. –Balt. Amer.
[SDW]

RW46v23n10p1c4, February 3, 1846: TEXAS

FROM TEXASBy the arrival, since our last, of the steam ship McKim, Capt. Lewis, we have Galveston dates up to the 15^th inst.

President Jones has issued a proclamation convening the Legislature of the State of Texas at Austin, on the 16^th February next, for the purpose of organizing a State Government, and “other measures for the general welfare.”

Capt. Elliot, the original “man with the white hat,” was in Galveston on the 12^th. We presume he is on his way to Austin to attend the funeral of all British hopes of making any thing out of the new State.

The health of the army at Corpus Christi was improving. The “Army Theatre” opened on the night of the 8^th inst. With Sheridan Knowles’ play of “The Wife”Julien St. Pierre, Mr. Edwards; Marianna, Mrs. Hart. The orchestra numbered no less than twenty five musicians.

All was quiet on the frontiers. – N.O. Pic., Jan 20
[SDW]

RW46v23n10p2c2, February 3, 1846: THE LATE NEWS FROM MEXICO

The New Orleans Tropic of the 26^th ult., is of opinion, from valuable sources of information within its reach, that although our Minister at Mexico had demanded his passports, yet that the report that he had been grossly insulted, by the refusal of an escort to ensure his safety out of the country, was a mere rumor. We observe that the warhawks, however, are stirring their wings, and preparing to fan up the sparks of war into a comfortable flare. It would seem a pity, indeed, if we can’t get a set to with England, that so much pugnacious patriotism as has been recently exhibited should be altogether wasted; and just in the nick of time, Mexico, and her usual blundering awkwardness, steps in presents a fair target for our concentrated wrath. Whether it is altogether just and polite, considering the disordered and distracted condition of that Republic, to avenge the refusal of her Government to receive Mr. Slidell, is somewhat doubtful. But then it might be advisable and expedient, as an outlet for the surplus steam which has so long been generating in American bosoms, to mandate our little neighbor with the boiling flood of our courage and indignation. As we can’t fight England, without being almost demolished ourselves, we may as well turn upon Mexico: like a testy and chivalrous gentleman, of whom we have heard, who, whenever he had a controversy with a stout neighbor, who it was not quite prudent to be said with any thing harder than his words, usually retired to his domicile, and eased himself of his disagreeable feelings by whipping his wife.

The New Orleans Picayune, referring to projects said to be on foot by foreign powers, for settling the affairs of Mexico and Central America, says:

“In this connection the following paragraph, which first made its appearance in El Imparcial, a periodical of the Isle of Carmen of the 14^th Dec’r., may shed some light. We find the article reproduced in the Memorial Historico, of the 4^th inst. The latter journal is the Siglo revived and is published in Mexico under the eyes of the new authorities. We quote as follows:

“By way of Havana, it is known that Spain, France and England have entered into an alliance to place in Mexico and Guatamala a stable and liberal Government, for which purpose each power will furnish a quota of men; at the same time it is assured that England has already at sea thiry ships of the line which are on their way to the Gulf of Mexico.”

“The Yucatan editor states that a knowledge of what has before transpired renders this intelligence worthy of credence. The Imparcial deplores the condition of the Spanish Republics, but without acknowledging outright the crisis to be so humiliating as to render the intervention necessary. It thinks the three powers possess means to give effect to the projected movement. It indulges foreboding of ulterior purposes on the part of the intervenors, and winds up with a flourish of patriotism and valor.”

It is stated that Texas is divided into 35 counties. Galveston is the largest city, and Houston the next. Austin, the seat of government, has a population of 1500, and Washington about the same number. Saint Antonia is the oldest town in the State, with a population of 1500
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RW46v23n10p2c4, February 3, 1846: LATER FROM TEXAS

By the arrival yesterday of the steamship Galveston, Capt. Wright, we have Galveston dates up to the 21^st instant.

The Civilian of the 21^st instant has the following, which may be of interest to our commercial readers:

“The Government of Texas has remitted the extra five percent duty, hitherto levied on merchandise imported in U.S. vessels, as that government is no longer regarded as being upon the footing of ‘nations not in treaty with Texas.’”

A mail rider was recently shot at by Indians near Austin, but fortunately was missed and escaped unhurt. It was thought they were Wacoes. The Register intimates that many hostile Indians are prowling about in the neighborhood of Austin, and although there is a company of U.S. Dragoons and a company of Rangers at that town, the editor goes on to say that “stationary troops are about as efficient on an Indian frontier as a stationary locomotive on a railroad.” There is much truth in this.

The Hon. Anson Jones was at Galveston at last accounts. The papers also chronicle the arrival of Capt. Todd, bearer of dispatches from Washington.

A party of Mexican traders was lately robbed a short distance from San Antonio, on their return to the Rio Grande. It is supposed that the robbers were a few renegade Americans who have been prowling about San Antonio for several months.

The latest accounts from Corpus Christi represent that the health of the U.S. troops had materially improved.

The unusually inclement winter has caused great suffering among the Cammanche and other prairie Indians. Many of them had been in at Torrey’s Trading House, and were delighted to procure the blankets sent them for their use.

According to the Houston Telegraph, counterfeit ten dollar notes on the Bank of Louisiana are in circulation in Texas.

Since the above was written, we have received Galveston dates one day later, brought by the steamship Alabama, Capt. Windle.

Young Audubon, the naturalist, had arrived at San Antonio, and had been well received.

The editor of the Galveston News, who has just returned from Western Texas, has published many interesting letters describing his wanderings. He describes the country as in every way prosperous. – N.O. Picayune, January 25.
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RW462310p4c4, February 3, 1846: LATER FROM MEXICO

The Revolution ConsummatedParedes In Power

The U.S. brig of war Porpoise, Lietenant Comm’g Hunt, arrived at Pensacola on the 14^th instant, from Vera Cruz. The N.O. Picayune, says: From the papers before us we cannot discover what day the Porpoise sailed, but from the tenor of a private letter we presume that it was either on the evening of the 1^st instant, or morning of the 2^nd.

According to the letters before us, General Paredes appeared with his army before the city of Mexico on the afternoon of the 30^th ult. The gates were immediately thrown open to him, and he took possession of the town without firing a gun. The accounts allege that he was immediately proclaimed President of Mexico, and that expresses were at once started off from the capital to the different points of the Republic to proclaim that the revolution was complete. One of these expresses reached Vera Cruz just before the Porpoise sailed.

If then our intelligence is to be fully relied upon, as we presume it may be, although we have so few details, Gen. Paredes has attained to the height of power in Mexicoa hazardous elevation, whence he is liable to be hurled at any moment, unless he shall exhibit great firmness of purpose and energy of will, mingled with sincere devotion to his country’s best interests. Gen. Paredes is universally acknowledged as a brave man, carrying his valor to the point of reckless daring. He is resolute and determined, not fearful of assuming the gravest responsibilities, as he has shown in several revolutions which have been carried through by his influence and under his immediate lead. He bears the name of being a disinterested man, and in proof of this it is urged that with so many opportunities of gratifying merely mercenary purposes, or obtaining personal advantages, he is at this day a poor man, and owes his influence purely to the weight of his personal character. His address to the nation upon setting forth from San Luis Potosi, breathes the sentiments of a patriot and resolute reformer. It is a clear expose of the difficulties into which the Republic is now plunged, and of the causes of the debasement. It indicates a resolute purpose of putting a term to the influence of these causes. In his estimation, there have been revolutions enough in Mexico. He is determined that that now achieved by himself shall work a radical reformation of the causes of discontent. Being popular with the army and the clergy, and having secured public confidence in his disinterested and patriotism he has certainly the most favorable opportunity for the execution of his designs. It may fairly be questioned if he possesses the capacity requisite for the emergency, which is certainly one fo extreme difficulty, overwhelmed as Mexico is with bankruptcy, civil dissensions and grave misunderstandings with foreign powers. It is, we believe, notorious, that Gen. Paredes is a man given to habits of dissipation. It is a nice question whether he will throw off their control with his access to power, or give them freer dominion over him. Yet upon this may measurably depend the stability of his rule. It would be rash in us to speculate upon the probably course of events, but it will be sincerely gratifying to see Paredes coping successfully with the immense difficulties of his position.

In regard to the ultimate policy which Paredes will putsue towards the United States, we are not to suppose that it is the be rabidly hostile, as the tenor of the popular cry upon which he has gone into power would indicate. Paredes, we believe, has lived in the United States, and fully appreciates the power of the country, and cannot but feel the hopelessness of a controversy with us. Even in his manifesto to the nation, he makes no professions of hostility to the United States, although he laments that Texas has been turn from the Republic, and illustrates the fatal results of their internal dissensions by reveling the boasts of “our neighbors,” as he terms us, “that the stars of the North American Union shall soon shine upon the towers of Mexico and as far as the Isthmus of Panama.” To show the spirit with which he will enter into the exercise of his power, it may interest the reader to peruse the concluding portion of his address to the Mexican nation:

“The army has risen to save the country and put an end to the precarious and dangerous position in which we have for a long time been plunged. I, who have the honor of fighting for the independence of my countryI, who glory in having been the first to raise at Jalisco the banner of insurrection against a disturbed powerI have bound myself to make good the consequences of this national insurrection. Mexico has not broken the yoke of a soldier to be delivered over without defense to the tyranny of demagogues. If such had not already been my settled conviction, it would have been infused into me by the excitements which have been presented to me, by the appeals which have been addressed to me, by the spontaneous election of the army, and by the misfortunes and fears of the country.

At the moment of marching upon the capital to accomplish the glorious enterprise which has been entrusted to me, I declare in the most solemn manner that we are not about to accomplish a revolution of persons merely; that we aspire to something more grand, more fruitful, more complete. It is not to usurp the Presidency; it is not to install another Congress in the place of the present, that we move. We would make an appeal to the nation, to the end that, without fear of turbulent minorities, it may form a constitution agreeably to its own wishes, and oppose a barrier to the dissolution which threatens it on all sides.It must avoid falling into the power of professed revolutionists, and refrain from the renewal of the excesses which at a former epoch, of lamentable memory, scandalized the Republic. It is necessary to restore to the producing classes their lost influence, and to give to wealth, to industry, and to labor the share which belongs to them in the government of society. The nation, weary of incessant vicissitudes and of sterile convulsions, without attaining the desired repose, ardently longs for guarantees of orders and stability. These considerations have determined me and determined the army to undertake a revolution which shall be final, so that we may commence, under the shade of peace of internal tranquility, the sure development of the elements of our wealth.”
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RW46v23n11p2c2, February 6, 1846: CALIFORNIA

It is said that the Mormons intend to make this the Canaan of their future abode, after their exodus from their Egypt in Illinois. If such be the case, and they emigrate in very large numbers, it is more than probable they will erect an empire in California, which Mexico will find impossible to subjugate, and the United States troublesome to annex.

As to any little question of property involved in the acquisition of California by the Mormons, we presume they would regard that matter as a mere “abstraction,” totally unworthy the consideration of saintly minds. They have shown in the code of morals by which their social and domestic intercourse is regulated, that long possession is not even prima facie evidence of right, and that the desire of the mind for an object is sufficient authority for the hands to seize it, if they can. They have also before them the high and honorable example of the United States, which has annexed Texas, is annexing Oregonand will annex California, unless the Mormons are beforehand with them and all this for the simple reason that the United States wants them, and therefore must have them.

If such is to be the rule of the future policy of our country, we are free to confess that California ought to be annexed at once, it being a far richer and more desirable region, in every way, than either Texas or Oregon, or both combined. The character of the population also, is such as ought not to be tolerated in the neighborhood of a free and enlightened Republic! They are generally the degenerate descendants of Spaniards and Indians, of an indolent and puxillanimous nature. The country, however, is capacious, rich, and inviting. It has a sea coast upon the Pacific of 1420 miles. It has some of the finest harbors in the world. It has large rivers, and extensive salt lakes. Its climate is one of the most delightful and salubrious under the Sun. The qualities of its soil are eminently adapted to the purposes of Agriculture. Wheat of excellent quality, Indian Corn, Potatoes, Pear, Beans, &c., are said to be produced abundantly. Grapes also flourish luxuriantly, and a large quantity of wine, some 3 or 4000 gallons, is made, as well as a like quantity of brandy, altho’ this, it is said, is not enough for the consumption of the present inhabitants, who, from their habits, it would appear, have never heard of Father Matthew. The country is also well adapted to the raising of cattle. Hides and tallow are stated to be its chief articles of export. A considerable quantity of beaver, elk, and deer, and sea otter skins, are also exported.

We would call the attention of our Government to this fine country. Do we not want it? And, if so, must we not have it? There is also another reason, the force of which will be at once recognized by our rulers. If we do not steal it, the Mormons will. Can we hesitate longer?
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RW46v23n11p3c1, February 6, 1846: LATEST NEWS FROM A WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

FROM A WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 1846.

I understand that a communication will be transmitted by the President to both Houses, tomorrow, in reply to the resolutions of Mr. Webster and Mr. Gollamer, calling upon him for the correspondence on the Oregon question, subsequent to the date of his message; and that it will announce the fact that negotiation has not been resumed, no communication on the subject having been received from the British Government since Mr. Buchanan’s last letter; and, in view of the extensive warlike preparations making by England, will recommend the immediate adoption of measures for defense. –FAIRFAX.

The Washington Correspondent of the Baltimore Patriot writes as follows concerning the opinion of the British Admiral Seymour concerning war with England:

“One of the evidences that England is not going to war with us about Oregon is to be found in the fact that none of her Naval officers believe it. Our late Charge des Affaires to Lima had a friendly conversation in that city a few months ago, he informs me, with Sir George Seymour, the Commander of the British Fleet in the Pacific Ocean. In that conversation Sir George who is a brave, clearheaded man, that has seen much service and had half of his face shot away in battle, informed Judge Bryan, that England would not and could not go to war with the United States about Oregon, and that the British Admiralty had not a thought of it.”
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RW46v23n11p4c3, February 6, 1846: MEXICO

The oath administered the new President of Mexico Paredes, was as follows:

“You swear to God to sustain the independence and integrity of the national territory against any foreign aggression whatever; and the republican, popular, representative system; and the plan of administration of the Republic, agreed to by the Act of the Army on the 2d of January.”

A Committee of three drew up the oath, one of whom was in favor of adding a clause compelling the President to swear “to repel the invasion of the United States.” The Assembly, however, says the National Intelligencer, after a long discussion, refused to adopt the clause, on the ground that it would be tantamount to a declaration of war, and that it was beyond the competency of the Assembly to declare war.

MORE ANNEXATION.

A recent letter from Yucatan received at New Orleans by way of Mexico says

The people of Yucatan are in daily expectation of declaring the independence of that province. Offences on the part of the Mexican Congress towards Yucatan have dictated the step. Two assemblies comprised of the most distinguished personages have already met to discuss the measure of separation, and much is said of seeking assistance, should it be necessary. From the cabinet at Washington.
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RW46v23n12p1c2, February 10, 1846: MEXICO

The New York Herald contains a letter from Merida, dated Jan. 1, 1846, from which we take the following paragraphs:

Yucatan is no longer a part of the Mexican federation. Yesterday the “Assembly Departments!” pronounced against their existing form of government, and have recalled the deputies in the Mexican Congress.

The Mexican eagle has been torn from their banner, and replaced by the stars of 1843. They have gone back to the old state of things, as they existed before the treaty with Mexico. The cause of the rupture is this same treaty; a resolution having been introduced and carried, in the Mexican chambers for a revision of said established treaty.

Incident upon this has been the resignation of the Governor of the department, Don Tiburcio Lopez; and his place is filled by Don Miguel Barbachiona, formerly holding the same office.

The Herald says:

“This freshly revolted province is one of the best int eh whole Republic of Mexico. Its inhabitants are energetic and enterprising, and if they are determined to be independent, the rest of Mexico cannot retake them.”
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RW46v23n12p2c2, February 10, 1846: LATE FROM TEXAS

By the arrival of the steamship New York, Capt. Phillips, late last evening, in 36 hours from Galveston, we have dates from Galveston to the 28^th, and from Corpus Christi to the 22d. We give all the news we have room for below:

The Corpus Christi Gazette of the 22d ult. says:

“We are happy to say to their absent friends, that the general health of the camp is very good. We have seen all the great encampments in Europe for several years past; and its beauty of situation, excellence of arrangement, cleanliness and good order, it will bear a favorable comparison with that of any other nation. It confers great credit not only upon its commander, and officers generally, but upon the country whose cause they have come here to sustain.”

“A train of thirty wagons left here on the 18^th inst. Laden with military stores for the detachments of U.S. troops at San Antonio. Our last advices left the troops in good health.

The Gazette also states: “We have just been facored with the perusal of a letter from our much esteemed Consul at Matamoras, J.P. Scatrell, Esq., to a gentleman of this place, in which he says, that Tampico is the only place we have heard of that has pronounced in favor of Paredes. Our place, Matamoras, is strongly in favor of supporting the government. They wish for peace, and hope the result will be of short duration.’ Upon this information every reliance may be place.”

“The Mexican trade continues lively, as there are daily arrivals. Parties of traders from all the settlements for three hundred miles on the Rio Grande, and as far inland as Monterey, have visited this place during the past week. They have little newsa report had reached Arista at Monterey, that Mejia, at Matamoras, had declared war against the Government, in favor of Paredesa force of 2000 was ordered by the former to march on Matamoras for the purpose of quelling the revolt. By an arrival this morning from Mef., we learn that Gen. Arista with his whole force was still at Monterey, and also that the report of Jejia’s treachery was doubtful.”

The Galveston News of the 27^th says:

“It is reported by the passengers arrived in the steamer Cincinatti (from Corpus Christi) that “General Taylor had expressed a determination to march immediately to the Rio Grande in case of the overthrow of Herrera.”

The Corpus Christi Gazette says:

“It is now rendered certain that Gen. J.P. Henderson is elected Governor of Texas, and but little doubt remains that Gen. N.H. Darnell is chosen Lieutenant Governor
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RW46v23n12p2c4, February 10, 1846: LATER FROM MEXICO

Important IntelligenceWe are indebted to our friend Middleton, of the Herald and Tribune, for the perusal of a letter from Pensacola, written on Saturday last, from which we learn that the U.S. brig Somers had just arrived at the port from Vera Cruz, bringing the important intelligence that Gen. Arista had declared against the Paredes Government and in favor of the restoration of Herrerathat throughout the country the people were organizing in opposition to the present Administration, assigning as a reason their dread of war and bloodshed, and regretting their having permitted Paredes to overthrow the Herrera Administration. Mr. Slidell was still at Jalupa, with brightening prospects.

Such is the brief and nasty account furnished by the Herald’s correspondent, who wrote just as the mail was leaving, with a promise to furnish full particulars in another letter. From the nature of the intelligence we infer that the people of Mexico are not prepared to encounter a war with the United States, and that the illfated country is on the eve of another revolution – Mobile Adv.
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RW46v23n13p2c3, February 13, 1846: THE LATE MEXICAN NEWS

We yesterday received two letters from Pensacola, from our attentive correspondence at that place, dated on the 1^st inst., which would go to confirm the reported revolution by Arista. One of the letters has it that Arista has a regular force of 4000 men at his command, which would probably be increased by volunteers if he had any chance of success.

The U.S. brig Porpoise sailed from Pensavola for Vera Cruz on the morning of the 1^st inst., with dispatches for Mr. Slidell. All accounts would have it that that gentleman was quietly waiting, at Jalapa, the result of the different movements in Mexico. Our correspondent “Marinua” says:

“No mention is made of his having demanded his passports, or otherwise deported himself so as to compromise the suviter in vodo, for which he is celebrated, with the fortierin re which can at any time be resorted to when everything else has failed.”

All the vessels of war at Pensacola are said to be preparing and will soon be off to sea.

One of our letters says that Arista is represented to be more hostile than any Mexican officers against the United States, and that he is determined to attemptthe resubjugation of Texas. Arista knows too much for this. He may make a noise about it, and pretext to have some such object to view, but he is not so Quixote as to put his foot this side the Rio Grande.

From our regular files of papers, it would seem that it was known in the city of Mexico, as early as the 8^th of January, that General Arista had declared against Paredes. He was in consequence removed from the command of the army of the North, and ordered to devolve it upon Gen. D. Romano Diaz de la Vega, until the arrival of a successor. The papers speak as if Gen. Ampudia were likely to be his successorthe inhuman wretch who maltreated the remdios of Gen. Sentnanat, and whose broken faith to the unfortunate Meier prisoners is on record.

The Texas Bible Society will hold its eight annual anniversary in the city of Austin, on the 22d of February. >N.O. Picayune.
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RW46v23n13p4p3, February 13, 1846: MEXICAN AFFAIRS

We take from the New Orleans Picayune, some extracts of a letter from Pensacola dated Jan. 31, giving items of Mexican news received by the Somers, from Vera Cruz.

“The dilatoriness of the Mexican Government in furnishing our Minister with an escort, which was demanded at least a fortnight before it was finally granted, and the lame pretences under which it was delayed, or refused from time to time, have been thought to indicate a disposition to defain our Minster in the country to the last possible moment, in hopes that the sentiment fo the people might finally take a turn favorable to negotiation.

It is certainly very singular that a military Government, with a force in the capital succicient to oversee all the neighboring Departments, should plead inability to supply an escort of eight men to expedite the departure of a foreign minister, the question of whose reception had been the cause of the revolution, and thus delay in the capital a functionary “whose very presence,” one of the principal agents in the revolution had a few days before declared, “To be an insult to a free and brave people.” It has been suggested that the Government were waiting for President Polk’s Message before they allowed the Minister to leave.

The Message was conveyed to Mexico by Mr. White about the 12^th of January, and was immediately translated into the principal journals without comment of any king. The Message appears to have given great satisfaction to all the American residents.

The Santa Anna party is growing stronger every day in Vera Cruz. It is confidently asserted that if he were to make his appearance at any time, he would be supported by an immediate proununciamento. It is thought that the revolutionary Government will not, therefore, venture to weaken their force on the seaboard by sending any military forceor naval detachments against the rebellious Yucatanos.

With Arista on the North and Yucatan on the South in armed oppositionwith California disaffected and Vera Cruz unstable in its adherence to the plan of San Luis Potosiit does not seem possible that the revolutionary power should be remanent. I have heard an opinion thrown out that Paredes would remain in power about four months. I know not why this express term should be set, unless it be the shortest time in which the Mexicans can accomplish anything. Four months ago, Hererra was elected by 110 to 130 votes; he was barely installed before a revolution was predicted; it has been at length accomplished, and the military dictator who has come into power by acclaimation will probably last no longer than his predecessor.

The N.O. Commercial Times contains the following correspondence, deemed of interest.

“VERA CRUZ, Jan. 16, 1846.

“After consummating the last revolution, Gen. Paredes, although he most solemnly protested that he did not aspire to the executive seat, was, as it might well be expected, named President ad interim, giving the Department of Finances to his former accuracy, Luis Parres, a well intentioned man, but lacking the financial talents called by by the more and more critical circumstances of the treasury. Castillo y Lanzas, at the head of Foreign Relations, is likewise a good and honest man, and possesses a vast deal of correct information. He was Minister Pienipoten tiary at Washington a few years ago; but never had the reputation of a firm and energetic diplomatist. He, with the other meunders of the actual mninistry, are likely to follow, so far as the general policy of the country is concerned, the impulse of Gen. Almote, Secretary of War, who is looked upon as the Preunier. According to the latest news from the capital, the cabinet was giving satisfaction, but we do not venture to express the hope, that it will do the country any good.”

VERA CRUZ, Jan 21, 1846

“Our latest dates from Mexico reach to the 17^th inst. It was generally thought that the affairs pending between the United States and this government, will not terminate amicably.

“It is rumored that the government have decreed., that the licences for the introduction of 60,000 quintals foreign Cotton, are to be given to any one that may apply on the payment of $10 per quintal duty.”

We understand that letters have been received from Mr. Slidell, at Mexico, under the date of the 17^th ult., on which day he intended to depart for Puebla.

Speech of General Paredes upon taking the Presidential Chair.

Representatives of the Deparments:Designated by you provisionally to control the destinies of the nation, I have just aken an oath before the Supreme Being, which proves to you that I have no wish to deceive my fellow citizens by fallacious promiseswhich the people receive with indifference, because they are generally without effect. What I have sworn will be true. I determined at San Luis to rescue the nation from disgrace, to raise it to the height of power and glory, which were the noble end of Hidalgo and Iturbitle. You now give me the means of accomplishing this sacred object, which I will employ for the good of our country, overwhelmed with the evils and all her hopes blated.

It is not ambition that has led me to this cahir where cares and danger abound. As I know all the difficulties of the times, my conduct is a sacrifice, and every thing ought to be sacrificed to the country that honours its children, and after exposing my life and shedding my blood in the field of battle, the loss of rest and even of reputation is nothing, when we are called upon to risk all to save al.

My glory shall be open for my country an era of happiness, and when the time shall come when she may freely dispose of her lot, I will retire to my home and give the first example of submission and respect for her august will.

Fellow citizens, receive assurances of my unbounded gratitude, many solemn declaration, that under my Provisional Government there shall be liberty but without crimes and without outrages. I have done.
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RW46v23n15p2c1, February 20, 1846: Untitled

An arrival at New Orleans from Texas brings a rumor that Chihuahua and some adjoining States have declared their independence of the Mexican government, and were determined to maintain a separate confederacy
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RW46v23n15p4c4, February 20, 1846: THE TEXAS MAILS

Army Letters beFrom what we can learn, there is no longer any necessity for letters to the officers or soldiers stationed at Corpus Christi, or any other part of Texas, to be addressed to the care of the Quartermaster, Col. Hunt, now stationed at this place. Mr. Penn, the postmaster here, having taken the responsibility of making up mail bags regularly for Corpus Christi, which are transported hence without charge to the Post Office Department by the schooners in the Government employ. It will increase the work at our post office which has augmented heavily within the past year and without a corresponding increase in the number of clerks; yet Mr. Penn appears determined that nothing shall be left undone to insure the regular transmission of all mailable matter to Texas and elsewhere with promptness. –N.O. Picayune.
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RW46v23n17p2c2, February 27, 1846: LATER FROM TEXAS AND MEXICO

By the arrival last night of the steamship Galveston, Capt. Wright, we have Galveston dates up to Monday, the 16^th inst. The G. reports only 34 hours from city to city.

By an extra of the Corpus Christi Gazette, dated on the 12^th inst., we learn that they have received dates at that place from the city of Mexico up to the 21^st of January, three of four days later than we have received here by way of Pensacola. The dates from the Rio Grande are up to the 16^th inst.

The editor of the Gazette publishes several extracts from Mexican papers, which, if any reliance can be placed in them, would go to show that Paredes is endeavoring to raise a heavy force to act against Texas. We copy one item:

On the 15^th Jan. Gen. Paredes issued a circular order to all the Governors of States that within forty days from that date, they shall furnish the necessary quota of men to fill up the Army of Invasion to a war complement60,000 men. The present army does not exceed 40,000. The troops at the capital are constantly drilled with a view to act in large bodies.

The news was brought to Corpus Christi by dispatch. The editor of the Gazette says that the bearer reports a considerable force of Commissioners or Mexican Customs Guards, near the mouth of the Grullo or San Gertrudes, within less than twenty leagues of the camp at Corpus Christi. Another party has been seen about the same distance form that placebut a considerable distance from the Gulf, in the interiorwatching for return parties of Mexican traders.

The following item we take from the Gazette of the 12^th inst:

A large party of traders arrived here last night, bringing in nearly 1000 mules and horses of superior quality. They saw Lieut. Hamilton, having about forty men of the 2d Dragoons and fifteen wagons on the 9^th inst., and within a short distance of the rendezvous of a commission party.

The editor of the Gazette thinks there is no truth in the reports brought here by way of Pensacola of the revolt of Arista. That officer, it would seem from the reports of traders, was at his hacienda near Monterey on the 25^th January, where he had retired on resigning the command of the army of the North.

The editor of the Gazette deems it unadvisable for the present force at Corpus Christi to march upon the Rio Grande, not thinking it strong enough. He is of the opinion that within twenty days the Mexicans can have 25,000 men within two days march of Point Isabel.

The Corpus Christi Gazette says:

The Hon. Mr. Slidell left the City of Mexico to return to the United States on the 17^th January. The passport for which he applied was refused him by the government, but he was furnished with an escort to Vera Cruz. The passport was refused upon the ground that he was not a Special Minister of the United States for the settlement of the affairs of Texashis appointment being that of a Minister Plenipotentiary, which was in violation of the agreement made with Herrera’s Government to receive a Special Minister for a special purpose only
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RW46v23n17p4c2, February 27, 1846: MEXICO

Our correspondent at New Orleans writes us under date of the 14^th instant as follows:

I am just in possession of an item of news on Mexican affairs which I believe can be relied on. The garrison at Matamoras has declared in favor of General Paredes’ government, and Arista has been suspended from the command of the Army in the North. Thus the fresh attempt at revolution in the distracted country has been defeated in the very outset. – BALT. AMER
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March

RW46v23i18 March 3, 1846: Later From Mexico

Information from Mexico

By the arrival of the brig Titj. Capt. Brown, Havanna, we have advices, brought by the British steamer Fevmot, from Vera Cruz to the 31^st Jan, and from the city of Mexico to the 27^th. These advices are several days later than we had previously received, but the intelligence has nevertheless been mostly anticipated. We find them in our Havanna exchanges-our Mexican files not coming to hand.

From the tenor of the papers before us we infer that Gen Arista has attempted no revolution-has made no movement whatever against the Government of Gen. Paredea. The news which reached us by way of Pensacola of his movements cannot of been authentic. El Diario de Gobierno, of the 21^st Jan, says that the whole country has given ** its ******** to the plan of San Louis Potosi. Nothing is said of the Yucatan, though the Havanna papers were fully aware that he had withdrawn from the Mexican confederacy.

By this arrival no light whatever is thrown upon the actions of Mr. Slidell. It is mentioned that after repeated *********, he obtained an escort to leave Mexico. It is somewhat singular that this most important matter should be shrouded in mystery. In Gen Almonte’s letter, which we do not recollect to have seen before, in which he accepted the office of Secretary of War and Marine, there occurs a photograph in which he speaks of the embarrassments of the Government; of his desires to co-operate in the preservation of order, "promptly-re-established," and of making preparations for "the campaign of Texas." Neither in this nor to other documents do we see anything to confirm the report of raising an army of 60,000 men for the for the recovery of Texas. But measures have been taken beyond all doubt, to increase the effective military force of Mexico, and the war for Texas is the single pretext for the same.

The Minister of the Treasury is taking energetic measures to reduce to order the affairs of his department. He has forbidden the Governors of the several Departments to contract loans, and has ordered the "centralization" of the revenues appropriated to the different departments. But these revenue measures are somewhat indistinct. Not so however, the remittance of $50,000 to the army of the north, which is announced in the memorial of the 25^th.

The importation of cotton at the port of Vera Cruz is allowed upon the payment of $10 a bale.

The Monitor Constitutional of the 231, says that the Baron Gros has been appointed to settle the differences between France and Mexico. (We think this appointment has before been announced.)

The Mexican editors continue to exhibit great suspicion, and even alarm, in regard to the United States naval forces on their Pacific Coast. Our readers need not be informed as to that squadron; but the Mexicans attribute to Com. Sloat as ominous menace: That in cause Mexico should declare war against the United States, he would take possession of the Mexican armed vessels, and with them blockade the Mexican ports, leaving his own squadron free for more interesting operations upon the coast. The Mexicans grieve over this personal menace of the American Commodore, but they are not a little pleased that both France and England have strong naval force on the Pacific coast to watch "the American forces, and see that the property of their countrymen is respected."

The "call" for the assembling of a Mexican Congress has been made. The act was celebrated as a national holiday, with every demonstration of joy. We do not find the particular day noted for the convening of this Congress and presume the Convocation to have reference to the election, rather than the meeting of this body.

A minister from the King of Prussia has arrived at Vera Cruz.

The Memorial Historico of the 18^th January, commenced the emphcity of the habits of the Provisional President, his accessibility to all classes, and indefatigable attention to business. He has not taken up his residence in the National Palace, visiting it only at certain hours for dispatch of s***ts.

A committee has been appointed by him for the purpose of digesting a complete reorganization of affairs-a plan of Government and policy. Senores Gomez de la Cortica, Frencisco Faguogs, and Eduardo de Gorostiza compose this committee, the designs of which are not particularly unfolded. [PP]

RW46v23i18 March 3, 1846: Something Curious.

The Picayune of this morning contains a letter from Corpus Christi, February 14, which says: Col. Cavallo, an agent of General Arista, here, endeavoring to persuade General Taylor not to advance upon the Rio Grande; for if he does, Arista’s party will join Paredes-but if the General remains in his current position, Arista cannot carry out the revolution he has started. Another emissary, probably of Paredes, an alcalde, tells General Taylor, that all is peace on the Rio Grande, and that the Mexicans are looking for American troops to advance for their protection. One thing is certain adds the letter, the camp is full of rumors and we shall move on the Rio Grande, but nobody knows when.- N.O. Cour., Feb 20. [PP]

RW46v23i18 March 3, 1846: Oregon Correspondence.

Mr. J. M. Clayton offered a resolution, calling upon the President of the United States for copies of any correspondence which has taken place in the reference to the Oregon question, it is not incompatible with the public interest, since the 4^th of February. Laid over under the ****. [PP]

RW46v23i18 March 3, 1846: Oregon debate.

After some unimportant business the Senate proceeded to the special order of the day, and the Oregon debate was resumed.

Mr. Haywood who was entitled to the floor, commenced his speech with an elaborate defence of the President’s course in ****** to the Oregon negotiation, in the course of which be denounced in no measured terms the ******* within and been displayed by some of his own party interesting in the manner they had done. The Ashburton Treaty.

Mr. H. then presented a brief view of the state of the Oregon question; and contended that the President now stood where he stood in August last-viz: upon the line 49 deg and that no where in the message could it be shown that he stood upon the 54 deg. 40. Although he believed our title to be clear he had offered to compromised on the 49 deg. **** although he had withdrawn the offer, he still held the door open For Great Britain to enter upon that line.

Mr. H. was in favor of this notice, as a great moral weapon to peace in the hands of the Executive. He thought the question must be settled within the year, or it could not be settled at all peaceably-and said he would stand by the President upon the line of 49 deg; and below that line substantially he would not talk about inches. The American people would never consent to yield the territory, be the consequences that may.

Mr. Haywood had some slight alteration with Mr. Allen while commencing upon the remarks of the Senator from *** that "England dare not go to war with the United States," and before he closed his speech a motion was carried to adjourn. [PP]

RW46v23i18 March 3, 1846: Mexico.

The last arrival from Mexico represents the new Executive as making extraordinary efforts to raise an army for the invasion of Texas. We have not much confidence in the ability of that Government to make any very grand and decisive demonstration. But it is possible that it may raise the funds and under the lead of a determined man like Paredes, make a vigorous effort to retrieve the ground it has lost. The rulers of Mexico must perceive that the difficulty in which they are at present involved in a struggle for the national existence. It is not merely the loss of Texas, but the independence and integrity of Mexico are threatened. If they submit to the recent dismemberment of their territory, one providence after another, by the same process of American emigration and armed resistance, will fall into the bands of the Anglo-Saxon race. Just as their ancestors sacrificed the unoffending Indian to their avarice and ambition, another race with all the thirst of the old Spaniard for gold and power, and ten times energy and strength, will pour down from the Northern hive in an angry food, sweeping away upon its resistless tide the last vestige of Mexican power.

We have no idea, however, that any thing that Mexico can do will preserve her from her doom. She stands in the shadow of a colossal power. She is in the way of our manifest destiny. A worm, under a giant’s uplifted foot, would have a better chance of escape. She may make a desperate rally for life, she has the courage, doubted though it be, she has the patriotic fire, her sons will gather around their homes and altars, and die like true men. But it will be useless. Their fate is fixed. No temporary success, if such shall be gained over our small force upon the frontiers, can prevent the inevitable result. The first trumpet of defiance will sound her own funeral dirge. For every American that falls, a hundred will fill his place. The Western wilderness will become alive with moving myriads of armed men, who will not stop till they have planted the Stars and Stripes upon the Mexican capital, and reveled in wild triumph in the "halls of Montzumas."

If Mexico was a monarchical government, we should feel less pity for her condition, though even then, we might indulge a natural sympathy for the weak in a struggle with the strong. But when we regard her as a sister Republic, imitating the model of our own Constitution, and looking up to us as an example, the claim upon our compassion is irresistible. We feel humbled at the idea, that a country, rich and powerful like our own, should covet the possessions of a poor and defenceless neighbor, long allied to us by the fraternal bonds of kindred political principals. We are reminded of the rich man, with many flocks and herds, who coveted and seized the one lamb of his poor neighbor. Let us avoid the curse which will be certain to follow similar injustice. [PP]

RW46v23i19 March 6, 1846: The British and American Tariffs.

The following remarks were made by the Union, in publishing the news brought by the Cambria:

"Great an substantial modifications of the English tariff system are to take place; tending, as we conceive, directly to a very considerable extension and improvement of our commercial relations with the British empire. Indian corn and buck wheat are, by Sir Robert Peel’s plan, to be at once admitted to the English ports free of duty; a sliding scale of diminished duties on other grains is to be adopted, and various other provisions and natural products, grown in great abundance in the valley of the Mississppi, are to be admitted on terms far more favorable than ever before.

No one can doubt that measures such as these are of great importance to us; and we do not hesitate to express our conviction that if legislation in this liberal spirit towards us shall be carried out in good faith, it will be met on our part by a modification of our tariff system, conceived in a spirit of corresponding liberality.

We take occasion to say upon this point, in reference to certain rumors which have been extensively prevalent in some quarters, that we do not doubt for a moment the readiness of the great western sections of our country to rally cordially during the present session of Congress on the democratic platform, for the essential modification and improvement of the tariff of 1842. We know it has been said that between the West and South, there is diversity and even contrariety of sentiment on this subject and that the West is now inclined to recede from the democratic doctrine of a revenue tariff. We reject this opinion as altogether groundless. The West is the great farming region, and it go for a true farmer’s tariff against the tariff of 1842. We have entire confidence in the manly and straight forward policy of the West upon this subject; and we fully believe that that the votes of the present Congress will signally attest the harmony of the democratic party on this great and cardinal point in the domestic legislation of the country. England, heretofore pre eminently the country of the restrictive system, is now leading the way to the better policy of commercial freedom. It is not for us to be outdone in such a career- a career in harmony at once with our institutions, with the varied productions and the extended area of the country, with the demonstration of political science, and with the recognized, well settled, and authoritative political creed of the democratic party."

The above article shows pretty clearly the leaning of the Administration. Every one must be struck with the marked contrast of its language and temper, to the belligerent tone of the Government organ before the arrival of the Cambria. Then, to speak with friendship of Great Britain, was a little less than high treason to Polk. The Whigs were British Whigs, aliens in heart, secret traitors, because they did not join the hue and cry against England, and advocate war to the knife for a poor, barren, wretched territory, where no American would permanently settle, if Great Britain should give us a quit-claim deed to the whole concern tomorrow, and which could never be useful except as a kind of Siberia for exiled Americans. The arrival of the Cambria, however, has lifted a thick veil, and the public are beginning to get a peep at the true position of affairs behind the curtain. It would seem, then, that all the fireworks which have been let off by the great pyrotechnist at Washington, were merely for the amusement of the people, that the thundering broadsides which have caused the ship of State to reel with their recoil, have been complementary salutes and that no harm has been intended from the first. The people have all along asked, if we are to have war, why don’t our government prepare! What is Congress about? Why does not the War Department show some signs of life? Why does Mr. Bancroft nod on his post, instead of starting his ***** off the stocks and recruiting sailors at every port? Nonsense! We were all looking the wrong direction. The Government was preparing. But not in the way we expected. It was not the War, not the Navy, but the Treasury Department, which, under a cloud of smoke from the Oregon combat, was making ready to carry us successfully through our threatening difficulties. Instead of sending a fleet to dispute the empire of the waves, we were sending a Treasury Report, while on the other side not to be out done in liberality, the British Administration met us with "Free Trade." Sir Robert Peel, and "Sir Robert Walker," embrace each other with fraternal love, while the venerable performer upon the Government organ, saying aside the armor he had just done battle upon the Philistines, exclaims, in the spirit of the minstrel monarco of Israel, "Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity."

We appeal to the extract which we have made from the Union, to show that the are grounds for the belief that the Tariff is to be the offering by which peace is to be ensured between our country and Great Britain. Look at the enumeration which it makes of the advantages proposed by the plan of Sir Robert Peel, the conviction expressed that it will be met by a corresponding reduction of our own Tariff, and the bait so skillfully thrown out by this experienced angler to the West "the great farming region," to come in and assist in the overthrow of the American policy. Here we find the British Premier and the American Editor, both in pursuit of the same object, "the great farming region" of the West. There is the chief theatre of the war spirit. It is the West which is most glamorous for Oregon. But it is the west too, which will expect to be principally benefited by the British Free Trade, and Sir Robert, nothing daunted by its patriotism, makes an appeal to its pocket, as the last hope for the preservation of peace, and the promotion of British power.

It is impossible to predict the result of this crafty scheme. It may succeed, it will succeed, unless a true love of country predominates over self interest. It will be attended, no doubt, with one great benefit, the blessing of peace. And what is more, it will make peace with England perpetual. When she has taught us to look to her for supplies of clothing and arms, when she has drained us of our money, and stolen away all "the sinews of war," it will be no longer in our power to resist her aggressivo spirit. She will sit like the old man of the sea, astride the shoulders of your young giant of the West, until he falls, strangled and breathless, beneath the odious burthen. She will accomplish by her arts, that which, in the Revolutionary and the late war, she in a vain endeavored to effect by the cannon and the sword. We fear this Trojan horse of free trade. But thank Heaven, the country is yet secure, unless a British party is to be found within the citadel, who will surrender the key of our strength to the insidious. [PP]

RW46v23i19 March 6, 1846: From Texas.

The steamship Galveston, Capt. Wright, arrived yesterday, brining Galveston papers of the 28^th, and Houston of the 25^th. The News publishes the act of Congress extending the jurisdiction of our government over Texas, and also the instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury Circular from Washington, which accompanied the act of of our Congress, fixed the revenue laws should commence their operation. On the faith of the circular, says the News, a large amount of goods was shipped to Galveston under the expectation that they would be admitted free. The Texas Treasury instructions, however required the collectors to continue their functions in conformity with the laws of Texas until the 16^th of February, and thereafter if a Collector, appointed by the U.S. Government, should not have then arrived. Thus were created say that paper, forty-seven days of conflicting jurisdiction, duties after the 31^st December not being collectable under the United States law, but collectable under that of Texas. The News, in nearly two columns of comment upon the state of things, is severe upon the Texas authorities. The Texas legislature met at Austin on the 16^th, and both Houses were duly organized. Gen. Burleson was unanimously elected President pro tem. Of the Senate, and Mr. Crump of Austin, Speaker of the House. On the 17^th the votes for Governor were counted, when it appeared that Gen. Henderson had received 8910 votes, and Dr. Miller 1672. The Houston Star says.

Gen. Darnell received a majority of 48 votes of the official returns, but no official returns were received from the counties of Bastrop, San Patricio, Jackson, Jefferson, Braesos and Lamar. In these counties Col. Horton received a majority of about 600 votes. If the official returns of these counties had been furnished to the Secretary of State, Col. Horton would have been declared elected. Gen. Darnell was not in Austin when the votes were counted. He has been declared by the legislature to be duly elected. His friends think he will resign.

The inauguration of Governor was to place on the 18^th. The U.S. Senatorial election would probably be deferred until the 25^th February, or first week in March. Gen. Rusk was a candidate. The Star thought Col. V. E. Howard would be appointed Attorney General. Judge Hemphill, Chief Justice, and Judge Lipscomb, and Judge Wheeler, or Judge Boylor, Associates. Austin was crowded with visitors.

The steamboat "Kate Ward" ascended The Colorado a short time since as far as Bastrop; and the Captain intended to proceed up the river as far as Austin; if practicable. The people of that section are Highly elated at the prospect of rendering the Colorado navigable.

Majors Chase and Ogden returned to the city a few days since, in the Cutter Woodbu y, from Corpus Christi. Maj. C. informs us that all the information he has acquired strengthens his opinion of the practicability, ease and importance of opening the interior navigation along the coast of Texas from the Sabine to the Rio Grande. Comparatively a very few miles of excavation will connect all the rivers and bays, having their outlet in the Gulf of Mexico, with each other along the whole extent of our southeastern boundary; and thus open internal navigation from Louisiana to Mexico, secure at all times from the dangers of ocean storms, and completely protected in case of war, from the attacks of hostile fleets in the gulf.

In a military point of view this is a measure of vital importance to the security and interest of the whole southern country.- Civilian. [PP]

RW46v23i21 March 6, 1846: Views on Oregon

The following letter, intended only for the eye of a friend when written, has been deemed worthy of publication on account of its calm and dispassionate views. The writer has retired from public life, after having occupied a prominent position in the State and National Councils, which afforded him the means of forming correct opinions upon topics of general interest.

Springdale, Fredrick Co. Va, Feb. 18, ’46. My Dear Sir; I differ from you entirely in regard to the probabilities of a war with Great Britain. Leaving altogether out of the view the fact that Mr. Polk has never called a secret session, nor recommended an enlargement of the military and marine force of the country- nor an augmentation on, in any form of its pecuniary means. I do not think the history or the internal evidence afforded, by the pending negotiation, warrant any serious apprehension. If any thing could excite a fear in my mind, it would result from the shameless resolution of the Baltimore Convention, and the conduct of the boisterous Hotepurs in the Congress of the United States, committed perhaps to the mandate of that resolution. Great Britain evidently shuns a war – a majority of the people of the United States certainly do not desire one. Mere punctilios or pride may prompt individuals to declare concession, but they will hardly ever precipitate two nations into war, when the bulk of the people on both sides are amicably disposed. Mr. Polk knows too well this disposition of his constituents, and through for party purposes or ulterior personal designs, he may vaunt a high tone and assume a bold front, compromise he must, and compromise he will, ere three months pass away.

I am too much a man o business now, to canvass, with much care the State papers or political news of the day, but a few hours of leisure at night have enabled ine to examine, with some degree of attention, the claims of the two governments to Oregon; and while I think no power on earth has such a clear and irrefragable claim to the whole or any part of Oregon, as Mr. Polk would assume, still I think the title of Great Britain to the Northern portion of that territory is the most valid, while ours to the Southern embracing the Columbia river, is the clearest. In my humble library, I found two volumes of the journal of Alexander McKensie, containing a narrative of two explorations from Hudson’s Bay to the Pacific, made in 1789 and 1793. In these volumes he refers to the English fishing and hunting establishments and settlements, at Vancouver, Pugett’s Sound, & c., extending into the interior as far as Hudson’s Bay. What is remarkable, while he designates the 49^th parallel of latitude, East of the Rocky mountains, as the future division between the British possessions and the United States, on the ground that that parallel leaves to the United States the head waters of the Mississippi and the Missouri, a line which was long subsequently established by treaty, he asserts for his government a claim West of the Rocky mountains to countries down to 45 deg, and which, he adds, "may now be considered a part of the British dominions." This is the language McKensie employs in the preface to his Journal. The precise boundary of claim is asserted in the body of his work.

Now, Sir remember this claim was asserted ten years or more, prior to Lewis & Clarke’s discoveries. This certainly shows a pretension of claim and title, which cannot be the score of discovery and settlement near the mouth of the Columbia, and thence up the Tacouche or Frazer’s river, (as it is now called I believe) her title seems to me weak, for her navigator, Cook, passed the mouth of the river, denied its existence- named one of its capes Disappointment, on account of his failure, while Astoria was settled, after the Spanish discoveries of the river, by our people and restored to us after its capture during the war. Their failure, then, either to discover or settle the Columbia, leaves no claim to the country contiguous to the Tacouche or Frazer’s river, which rises in the 54 deg 40m. N. latitude, although that river was explored by the British, it being an inferior tributary of the Columbia. But how is our title to this high degree of latitude established, even if we have a just claim to the country adjacent to the mouth of the Columbia? It is no better claim than would have been that to the country about Santa Fe, previous to the acquisition of Texas, for the reason that. In that country, were found the sources of the Arkansas and Red River. The discovery of the mouth of the river by consent, rather than the usage of nations, has given to the discoverer a right to the country upon its sources, but only when that right has never been contested.

However, let the question of title pass: For my part, I wish the Pacific Ocean washed the base of the Rocky Mountains. That Western slope in a quarter of a century will bring this country into trouble: commercially, however, it is important and that is all that can be said for it. With 700 whale ships, and a growing East India and China commerce, we want harbors upon the Pacific. The mouth of the Columbia is a poor harbor. The whole coast of the Pacific, from Vancouver to Monterey, is iron bound, with scarcely an inlet or shelter for ships. The grand objects, with both England and our country, our harbors. Both countries assumes high pretensions, to give room to fall. England asserts a claim to the mouth of the Columbia, that she may recede and secure Vancouver and its harbors. We pretend to 54 deg. 40m. that we may obtain Vancouver and its apparent advantages. In my opinion, something like the suggested by Gallatin and rivers will ultimately be adopted. I infer this from the whole temper of the discussion on the subject- the correspondence between Ministers, and the geographical and commercial fitness and appositeness of things. I have not here, in the country, access to any good maps, but from an examination of such as I have, if they do not betray me into error, it strikes me inconveniences would result from an undeviating adherence to the 49^th parallel of latitude which I have not seen adverted to. Assuming that line as the basis of a compromise, slight departures might be made from it without material detriment to either country. For example: One of the navigable waters of the Columbia is Clarke river, which rises in a degree south of its great recipient, yet in its course makes a large bend North of 49 deg., nearly reaching 50 deg.. A Conventional line should not cut this river in two. In my limited vision of the proper line, it has struck me that an extension of the 49^th parallel West of the Rocky Mountains until it strikes Clarke’s river; thence with the Northern margin of that river until it flows Southward to the same latitude; thence a straight line to the highest navigable point of the Tacouche or Frazer’s River in 50 deg.; thence down its Western margin to 48 deg. 30m; thence to Pugett’s sound and Strait to the Ocean, would leave us the undisturbed possession of all the Columbia River and its chief tributaries: While England would be secured in the possession of all of Vancouver and its best, though not all its harbors; and she would enjoy that next desideration, a compact quadrangular territory between the ocean and Frazer’s river forever connecting her with her interior Hudson’s Bay interests, by continuity of country and settlement, if not by water navigation.

It is evident, from Pakenham’s tone, that his country doesn’t want war, and maugre the daunting bluster of Mr. Polk in his inaugural, he, as well as his "Organ" have cooled off. True Mr. Buchanon declines arbitration, but it is worth the blessing coyness of the loving maiden, who says to her lover: "Oh don’t! Pray don’t ask my mamma or papa; we can arrange this matter between ourselves. Submit your proposals in writing, or in some other form, at some other one, and as there are no two (people) on the earth more closely bound together by the ties of (love), so there are none who ought to be more able or willing to do each other justice without the interposition of third parties."

The diplomacy of Washington differs from that of any other place on earth perhaps. Protoculs and formula of treaties are frequently dispensed with, and private interviews and understandings precede, if they do not wholly supercede, clerical formalities. The Ashburton Treaty, it is understood, was concocted at the diner table, and now we may guess the sinahude. A game is going on between Pakenham, an English gentlemen, and Buchanan, who is a good fellow, not the worse say you for being a bachelor, in which after various good natured attempts to check mate each other, they will get tired, take a glass of wine, damn the game and draw it. Washington is a city, you know of "magnificent distance." The Grand Witemagenott assembled at one end- the Exclusives and Diplomats at the other. The l atter, small in number, dispel ennui, by the diner party or evening coterie. My word for it, Pakenham and Buchanan have often stood cheek by jowl pointing upon the map, and tracing a boundary where it may be, or should be. The qualified notice, as it passed the House of Representatives, even should it pass the senate, ought not and can not give offence, as Mr. McLane has probably assured his Government in the suppressed part of the late correspondence. Lord Aberdeen, with all his frankness, could scarcely have given any other answer than he did to our Minister. That response certainly does not indicate any fixedness of purpose hostile to our country, while all the inferences, I think, should be the other way. A more direct answer would commit his Government, and offend in a quarter, where offence and a blow would come together. On the whole, I have no fear of war; and if I were a merchant about freighting a ship to China, I would not add 1 10^th of 1 per cent. Insurance on account of the present attitude of the two countries.

In connexion with this subject, however, it seems to me every reflecting patriot must deeply deplore the rage for territorial conquest or acquiddon, which characterizes the American people. Time is not given for the establishment of a national or homogenaous character. Migratory now, the wide expanse increase the roving propenisity. Household Goods are scattered. No final remembrance is left, to drop a tear upon the graves of the honored dead at the ancient homestead. Sell out – move – is the constant cry. Industrial pursuits are thus abandoned, and a high toned national morality slighted. Oregon, or half of Oregon, once acquired, North California comes next but as her Southern Boundary divides the gulf of that name, we must have all old California to secure that important estuary. Next, we will grasp at the cornucopia of all Mexico and Gustemals, to pour into our laps their golden riches.

These are the crude speculations of a very indifferent and forever retired politiciant they have served to beguile a winter’s evening, and can scarcely be worth your attention, except when you may have nothing else to engage you.

With love to all, including my dear bay, believe me, Sincerely yours, R.W. Barton. [PP]

RW46v23i21 March 13, 1846: The Axe Again At Work.

We perceive by some of the papers, that a now batch Clerks has been lately removed, entirely, we suppose, on account of a difference of political opinion with Mr. Polk and his party. In the midst of a most exciting and critical condition of public affars, the President finds time to step from the great theatre of State and wreak this vengeance upon a handful of innocent clerks. We hope that the press of Virginia will also find time, in the midst of Oregon and Texas discussions, on the record these barbarous acts, to old them up to universal shame, and to denounce and anathematize that infamous system of Proscription which finds such a favor with the General Government, but which; thank Heaven, has only showed its head in this Commonwealth, to be crushed like a vile and hitteous reptile into the earth.

Let the people never forget the cruel and unmerciful proscription with which the present Administration commenced its "reign of terror." Bear it in mind, that its first employment, in the morning of its existence, was to while away itstime with petty cruelties, sacrificing clerks and other subordinate officers in the same heartless spirit in which a noted tyrant amused himself in boyhood with impaling flies. There have been many events to drown the recollection of those wrongs, to divert the public mind from the sad contemplation. We have had great questions of national policy, rumors of war about Texas and Oregon, while Mr. Polk himself, dropping the hangman’s cord, has arrayed himself in a soldier’s garb, and with gorgeous regimentals, nodding plume, and a flashing sword, is playing the part of a "young Napoleon." But, through it all, we recognize the familiar visage of the executioner- we remember his victims- we think of the heart broken and impoverished families who lay their ruin at his door, and in the political damnation which now hangs like a black thunder cloud over his head, we foresee the approaching retribution of that Divine Justice, which has never yet failed to avenge the wrongs of the poor, and the oppressed.

Just think for one moment of the crime, the horrid and unparalleled enormity, which these poor Clerks have committed, and for which they and their families must be turned out of doors to beg or perish by starvation. They are excellent officers; prompt, experienced, industrious, in every respect competent. No one denies that. But they cannot control the operations of their minds, so as to think upon all points in exact accordance with Mr. Polk and his party. What monstrous, what impossible conditions, does the Administration require, if this be the only secure tenure by which its subordinates can retain their stations? Suppose the case of the Clerk, anxious to retain his situation, and with an elasticity of conscience equal to almost emergency. Which shall he go for, Oregon or Free Trade? How is he to know the mind of the Administration? The West proclaims that Oregon is first importance. The South shouts for Free Trade. Then again, he must choose between 49 and 54. Well, he reads the President’s Inaugural, and is perfectly satisfied that the U.S. have an indefeasible claim to the whole of Oregon. In short, he thinks there never was such a title except that of Adam to the Garden of Eden. Soon after, however, he discovers that Mr. Polk has made the offer of 49 to the British Government, and then it for the first time occurs to him that this is a most judicious proposition, and he cannot sufficiently honor the wise statesmanship and the conciliatory spirit which has dictated this excellent compromise. But soon the scenery is shifted again, and instead of remaining in the comparatively pleasant region of Vancouver’s Island, our Clerk finds the President, with his coat but toned up to his throat; and encased in furs, hurrying off with long strides to North Pole, and planting the American flag under the very nose of the Russian Bear. Of course, our unfortunate scrivener springs at once from his position, and warming his nose with one hand, and holding hard to the coat tail of the Executive with the other, makes tracks for the region of eternal snow. Here, perhaps, he hopes to find some repose, but no! He is condemned to a worse fate then that of the Wandering Jew. His illustrious predecessor has scarcely planted his foot upon the line of 54 40, before he wheels to the right about, and then, the cork leg "keeps going the same as before." A gentle breath of free trade, soft and spring like has come from the South, and as he inhales the odorous breeze, and turns to follow the President, one would think our knight of the pen the most delighted creature in the world. He smiles at the thought that he could ever have indulged the insane idea of living in a land of everlasting winter. He utters some touching sentiments, handsomely expressed too, upon the blessings of peace and "babbles," like a poet, about "green fields." At last they reach 49once more, but just in their path, as the President is about to repose himself upon a bank of negotiation; up starts and armed legion of Western Democrats, who, with Hannegan and Allen at their head, bid the Executive retrace his steps, or die the death. Once more they commence the unceasing round. Poor Clerk! He must think with the President. A hard condition indeed. Like the Irishman’s owl; a man must keep up a "devil of a thinking," who does not wish to be left behind by the progressive Democracy.

There is no evil from which a lesson of good may not be learned. Let our young ******* avoid the contagion of office-seeking with which the land is cursed, and never a commit their happiness and fortune to the caprice of mortal man. Let their own strong right arm wield the hammer of the mechanic, or the farmer’s spade, but let them not "put their trust in princes." [PP]

RW46v23i21 March 13, 1846: Later From Mexico

By the mail of yesterday we received private advices from Pensacola, announcing the arrival there, on the evening of the 1^st inst., of the U.S. brig Lawrence from Vera Cruz in eleven days. Unfortunately we received no papers by this arrival, but our correspondent informs that there had been no change in affairs in Mexico. A letter from Vera Cruz dated the 18^th, from a most responsible source, induces us to believe confidently, that nothing like a revolution has occurred in Mexico since the 1^st of February, up to which day we have had advices by way of Havana. The Lawrence brought dispatches to the Government from our Minister, Mr. Slidell. This gentleman was still at Jalapa waiting instructions from Washington.

The U.S. brig Somera was to sail from Pensacola on the 21^st for Vera Cruz.

From letters received in this city, other than our own, it would seem that Mr. Slidell left the city of Mexico on the 17^th January, as we have previously stated. One letter states that he was at Jalapa, quietly awaiting dispatches from our Government at Washington, where he would remain until such documents were received as might determine his course. One of our Pensacola letters states that he was much disgusted with the treatment he had received at the hands of Mexican Government.

Another letter states that there was great reason to believe that Mr. Slidell’s treatment had been such as must lead to hard blows with Mexico. The writer says that the course of the leading men of Mexico had been of a nature most outrageous in the matter of the reception of a Minister from this country, so outrageous, that no other recourse than a resort to war left us. The writer thinks that it must be declared immediately. [PP]

RW46v23i22 March 17, 1846: A Monarchy in Mexico.

This subject, which we first took to be an idle conjecture, seems to be treated seriously by the Paris Journal des Debats and The London Times. The Journal says:

"This return of the Spanish American Republic to monarchical ideas is a serious subject for meditation: they turn their spirits to a monarchy as their only means of safety."

The Times says:

"The results of Mexican independence are before the world. The people of Mexico cannot be insensible to their own ruin, however powerless they may be to avert it. Under such circumstances, what would be the effect of the reappearance on the shores of America of that flag of Spain which was originally planted there by the great discoverers and captains of former ages, and which left indestructible traces of its pristine authority in the colonial descendants of the Spanish people? It would be as easy to accomplish the conquest of Mexico at the present moment, with a handful of the troops which form the garrison of Cuba, as in the days of the aboriginal Mexican princes. Would it be impracticable to accompany such an expedition with political institutions fitted to the wants of the Mexican people, and a calculated to rescue them from the perils which threaten their national existence? When we threw out this suggestion, some months ago, we confess that it wore an air of romance, and night be received with incredulity. But the more the world has learned of the utter weakness of Mexico, and the unquestionable designs of the United States, the more urgent has the case become and the more practienble the application of the only remedy which has been thought of. As far as Spain herself is concerned, such an enterprise would not be unworthy of the man whose military success and whose resolute character have already restored so much of the luster of the Spanish monarchy." [PP]

RW46v23i22 March 17, 1846: Mr. Webster On Oregon.

We publish the brief, but calm, well digested, and statesman like remarks of Mr. Webster upon the Oregon subject. They render the point clear beyond dispute, that there can be no pacific settlement of the Oregon question, except by compromise. England will never yield the whole of Oregon. In this opinion, indeed, Gen. Cass seems fully to concur. The question is, will the Administration negotiate, or not? It has the decision of war or peace in its own hands. [PP]

RW46v23i22 March 17, 1846: Later from Mexico.

We have been permitted to make the following extract from a letter lately received from Vera Cruz, under date of February 18^th:

"Although the recent revolution has given much dissatistaction to a majority of the departmental governments, the country remains quiet. It does not appear that General Arista has as yet declared against the authority of Paredes, though it is highly probable he will do so."

A rumor has reached here which appears to have some foundation, that Sonora, Sinaloa, and California have pronounced against the government.

Mr. Slidell is still at Jalapa. Our citizens and commerce remain unmolested.

There are at present before this place, French, English, and Spanish vessels of war. [PP]

RW46v23i22 March 17, 1846: The Oregon Question, Mr. Webster’s Remarks

The following are resolutions proposed by Mr. Colquilt, of Georgia is the U.S. Senate.

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives. That notice be given, in the terms of the treaty, forabrogating the convention made between Great Britain and the United States on the twentieth of October, eighteen hundred and twenty seven, immediately after the close of the present session of Congress, unless the President, in his discretion, shall consider it expedient to defer it to a later period."

"Sec. 2. And be it further resolved. That it is earnestly desired that the long standing controversy, respecting limits in the Oregon territory, be speedily settled by negotiation and compromise, in order to tranquilize the pable mind, and to preserve the friendly relations of the two countries."

In the Senate on Thursday week, the question came up for consideration and a long debate ensued. We here copy the remarks of Mr. Webster, as reported by the National Intelligencer:

I shall vote said he, for both portions of the amendment suggested by the Senator from Georgia, (Mr. Colquilt). I am prepared to do so. At the opening of the present session the President, uncalled upon by the Senate, sent to both Houses the diplomatic correspondence which had taken place between his Secretary of State and the Representative of the British Government here, recommending at the same time the giving of notice to that Government the termination of the convention of 1818. The correspondence thus submitted has very properly been made a subject of remark in this House. I will say nothing in regard to the propriety of sending that correspondence here. I suppose such a step could hardly be justifiable, save on the ground that the negotiation was ended by the rejection of the President’s offer of the parallel of 49 as the boundary, and the immediate withdrawal of that offer; because, is the general practice of Governments, it has been found very inconvenient to publish the letters which may have passed between negotiators before the end of the negotiation has been arrived at. But as the President had sent us this correspondence, and as the Senate was called upon to act on the proposition of notice, I thought it would expedite our decision to have before us also any further correspondence,which might have taken place subsequently to that first sent. I accordingly moved the call, and in response to it, the more recent correspondence has been laid before us, from which we learn the offer by the British Envoy to submit the question to arbitration, and the rejection of that offer by the Executive.

Now without meaning at this time to go into any sort of examination of the course of the Executive in this matter, or indulging in any remark expressive of an unfriendly feeling towards the Administration, or any disposition to embarrass the Government, for I feel nothing of the kind, and nothing is further from my intention, I must still be permitted to say that the existing posture of affairs is such as to render it quite desirable that we should know what is the option of the executive in regard to this measure a and its consequences. Nobody doubts that the two Houses of Congress have a perfect authority to terminate the Oregon convention, without offense to any body, because this is our specified right and its exercise can present no just cause of complaint in any quarter. But, though this is an undoubted position, yet it must be considered in connection with the circumstances which have been made to surround it. The resolution of notice has passed the other House of Congress with a qualification, or addition, or by whatever same it should be called, which changes in some respect from being a mere naked notice to termination. It comes with that qualification or condition for adoption here. Other propositions are offered in the Senate, and are entertained as a fit subjects of consideration.

The Senator from Kentucky, in one part of his speech, says that he will leave the entire responsibility of this whole controversy where the Constitution has placed it, and contends that those who have the power to conduct the foreign diplomacy of the country are responsible to the country and to the world for the manner in which they shall exercise that power. This is certainly very just, but it raises a doubt whether we ought to do more than simply to give, or refuse to give, the naked notice. But some modification of the mere naked notice has been made already in the other House; and there is, as I believe, a conviction on the part of a large majority of the Senate that it should, to a certain extent, be qualified. Now, I hold that, under these circumstances, we have a right to know in what point of view the Executive himself regards this notice; what are the consequences to which, in the judgment of the Executive, the notice is to lead.

When speaking on this subject some six week ago I said it was most obvious that the President could not expect war; because he did not act as the Chief Magistrate of such a nation must be expected to act, if, charged as he was with the defence of the country, he expected any danger of its being assaulted by the most formidable Power upon earth. I still say there is nothing in the Executive communications to show us that the President does expect a war. He must, then, expect nothing but a continuance of the prevent dispute, or a settlement of it by negotiation. But how is it to be settled? On what terms? On what basis? All that we hear is, "the whole of Oregon or none." And yet there is to be negotiation. We cannot conceal from ourselves or the world the (the next couple lines are blurred). And yet we are to negotiate! What is negotiation? Does any gentleman expect that the Administration are, by negotiation, to persuade Great Britain to surrender the whole of what she holds in Oregon? They may do this: I cannot say they will not. If that is their expectation, let them try their hand in it; I wish them success. That is, I wish that we may get "all Oregon," if we can; but let our argument be fair, and let us settle the question reasonably.

But I do not understand the position we are placed in. The Executive seems to be for negotiation, but against taking any thing but the whole of Oregon. What is to be the ground of negotiation? What is the basis on which it is to proceed? If the Executive has made up his mind not to treat for less than the whole, he should say so, and throw himself at once on the two Houses of Congress.

I am entitled to make this remark, because it cannot be disguised that the probable effort of this notice is viewed very differently by very intelligent gentlemen, all friends of the Administration, on this floor. The Senator from Georgia (Mr. Colquitt) regards it as a measure tending to peace; he expects, he hopes peace from it, and he thinks the expression of such opinions as he avows, will enable the Administration ration to secure the peace of the country. There are certain other gentlemen, and among them the honorable Senator from Michigan, (Mr. Cass,) who are much less ardent in their hopes of peace. That Senator’s impression has been, that, if we pass this notice, there is a possibility and prospect of war; and so, against the gentlemen’s own declarations and disavowals, his speeches generally terminate in the expression that war is inevitable.

Mr. Cass here rose amid a general smile, and said, no, (much laughter.) no; I never used the word; and I beg leave to contradict the statement. I have been afraid of war. Thus I allow, has been my position; and I hope I shall never be misunderstood nor misrepresented. I do not mean to say that the Senator from Massachusetts intends to misrepresent me.

Mr. Webster. Certainly not.

Mr. Cass. What I said was, that we were called on by the President to give this notice; that if we gave it, and there was no negotiation, and England did not recede, and we went on to carry out the other measures recommended by the President, that then war would be certain. (a laugh) I will repeat my position. I say, if we give these notice, and here shall be no negotiation; and if England adheres to her pretensions, and we go on to take possession of Oregon while she is there in possession, then there will be- gentlemen may use any term they please.

Mr. Webster. The only contingency the Senator fear is that England will continue her claim. Now, I would ask the honorable Senator whether he expects that Englan will ever surrender all of Oregon to any Power on earth?

Mr. Cass. I have my doubts that she will. I asked, as long ago as in October last, when she had ever relinquished any claim to territory she ever had set up.

Mr. Webster. Exactly; and it comes to the same thing. The gentleman thinks we shall not recede, and England will not recede; and, then, what more likely to happen than war. It was the Senator’s argument, and not any particular. It was the Senator’s argument, and not any particular expression he employed, which gave me the idea that such was his impressions. I do not charge the gentleman with saying that "war was inevitable," but what he did say yet things in my years, and on every return of the like language I am reminded the sentence with which the Roman Senator ended all his speeches, "delenda est Carthago."

I am desirous of expressing the sentiment (without wishing to embarrass the Administration; if negotiations are pending I withhold my tongue; my tongue shall be blustered before I will say any thing against our own title so long as negotiations are pending; but the President must see the embarrassment under which we stand: I am willing to aid the Administration, and will aid it to obtain all to which we are justly entitled)- that I must know something of the views, expectations, ends, and objects of the President in recommending this notice. I cannot much longer be quiet in the existing posture of affairs when no measures of defence are recommended to us, but negotiation is held out as likely to bring the question to a settlement by England giving up the whole matter in dispute. My doubt of that is as strong as that expressed by the Senator from Michigan (Mr. Cass). I say here, so far as my own knowledge goes, that it is not the judgment of this country, that it is the judgment of this Senate, that the Government of the United States shall run the hazard of a war for Oregon, by renouncing as no longer fit for consideration propositions made by ourselves to Great Britain thirty years ago, and repeated again and again before the world. I do not speak of any specific propositions, but of the general plan so justly suggested by the Senator from Missouri, (Mr. Beaton,) of separating the interest of British subjects and American citizens beyond the Rocky Mountains. I repeat the assertion that it is not the judgment of this country that we are bound to reject our own propositions, made over and over again twenty and thirty years ago. I do not believe that such is the judgment of this Senate. I have the fullest belief that the propositions proposed by the gentleman from Georgia concur with the views of a large majority of this body.

(A voice. Yes, of two thirds)

A gentleman near me says two thirds of it and I am willing to try that question today, this hour, this minute. I am ready now to take the question whether this difficulty shall or shall not be settled by compromise. Compromise I can understand; but negotiation, with a fixed resolution to take and not to give, with a predetermination not to take less than the whole, is what I do not and cannot understand in diplomacy. I wish we could take that question now not for the purpose of giving information in any quarter, but I wish to put an end to the prevent distressing, distracting, annoying state of things. There are many things which we should attend to, all of which are greatly and materially embarrassed by the present position of this affair. It is proposed, for example, to remodel the tariff. But with what view? If it is to augment revenue, or reduce revenue? If it is to augment revenue, then I ask, is that with a view to war? If it is to reduce revenue, then I ask, is that with a view to peace? How can we possibly know how to act, without the least knowledge whether there is a likelihood of the continuance of peace, or whether we are on the eve of an outbreaking war? The embarrassment in the private affairs of men is equally pressing. The nation possesses a great Commerce. New it is easy for a gentleman to say, "I disregard commerce on a question of the national honor." So do I when it is the question. It the honor of my country is attacked, I will say, in the language once used by a member of the other House, "Perish commerce!" But these are interests not to be trifled with. These great interest of this country, in which we are involved the daily bread of thousands and millions of men, are not to be put in jeopardy for objects not connected in reality either with the honor or the substantial interest of the country. I wish, therefore, as soon as it is practicable, to obtain and expression of the opinion of the Senate. If it shall be the opinion of this body that it is best to give the naked notice recommended in the Executive message, that will throw the responsibility upon either on the Executive to the fullest extent. I am for getting a question either on the naked notice, or on notice in some modified form, such as shall the express what I believe tho be the judgment both of the Senate and the country.

Other Senators expressed their views on the subject, but no question was taken. Many of the friends of Mr. Colquitt’s resolution desired that a vote upon them might be taken at once, being confident of success; but a motion to adjourn, which takes precedence of all others, was made by Mr. Breese of Illinois, and was carried. [PP]

RW46v23i23 March 20, 1846: Later From Mexico.

The French bark Anax, Capt. Pomparres, arrived here yesterday from Vera Cruz, having sailed on the 23^rd two or three days latter than the U.S. brig Lawrence brought. The news is not important, if we may judge from the imperfect files which we have received. The prominent feature in the news is the open canvassing of the question of erecting a constitutional monarchy in Mexico. This is the common theme of conversation at Vera Cruz, and in a late number of the Memorial Historice- the successor of El Siglo XIX- is an earnest article written to show that monarchies are no more exempt from revolutionary disturbances than Republics. The question is illustrated from general history, and especially from that of Spain. The subject has evidently taken hold of men’s minds seriously, and the probability of a revolution founded noon the desire of obtaining a stronger and more stable Government was the town talk.

Mr. Slidell was still at Jalapa, awaiting instructions from Washington. Upon receiving his orders, a short interval would elapse before receiving the definitive action of the Mexican Government; but we presume that the next arrival will inform us, either of Mr. Slidell’s reception, or of his return to the United States.

An intelligent passenger by the Anax thinks there is scarcely a chance of war between the two countries: that Mexico, when it comes to the pitch, will receive our Minister with the best grace possible.

The Falmouth, St. Mary’s and Porpoise, of the U.S. Gulf Squadron, were lying at Vera Cruz when the Anax left there on the 23^rd. As we have before mentioned, the appearance of so large a force, when unexpected, alarmed the citizens of Vera Cruz not a little. When the Anax came out, she saw a vessel, supposed to be an American frigate, going into Vera Cruz. Can it have been the Raritan, which was reported as bound thither from Rio at our last account.

The Anax, we should mention, brought $65,000 in specie, and twenty four passengers.

The Mexican steamer Guadaloupe left Vera Cruz on to 22^nd for Tampico, with 600 troops on board.

Don Angel Trias, the Governor of the State of Chihuahua, thus, has resigned his office, after having refused adherence to the power of Paredes.

Robberies still continue very frequent in Mexico. One occurred on the 9^th, directly opposite the National Palace, three thousand dollars in specie being stolen. The streets are patrolled by the military, but there is no efficient police.

So strained are the means of the new Government in Mexico, that the clerks of the different Departments have not touched their pay since the new order of things. The Secretary of the Treasury, having recovered from a temporary illness is urged to give his attention to this needy class, if he would prevent great distress.

A new paper, El Boletin Militar , assures the public that Gen. D. Juan Alvarez has not disposed of any thing belonging to the expedition to the Californias, has been charged against him. Such things do happen sometimes in Mexico!

Gen. Ampudia does not appear to have moved further than Celaya, on his march to the army of the North. Some scandalous reports had been in circulation about him, but one paper contradicts them.

On the 6^th, Gen. Paredes reviewed the troops of the capital, and there was a brilliant shame fight on the occasion. In returning to town in the evening, several accidents happened. One poor fellow was run over and trampled by the cavalry. [PP]

RW46v23i24 March 24, 1846 p1c2: The Army of Texas.

It will be seen by the important news in another column, that the army of Texas is on the advance, and we may soon expect other tidings of stirring interest. If a strong Mexican army be really in the neighborhood of the point to which our forces are advancing, a collision is not improbable; and unless our Generals commit the error of under ratting their enemy, we may soon hear of a new triumph of American arms. But in such a cause, and with such a foe even victory loses half its charms. Hitherto our sword has never been unsheathed, save in the defence of our own territory. Now, it is to be drawn, for the first time, in a war of aggression – never, perhaps, to be returned to its scabbard until our "manifest destiny" has arrived at its complete fulfillment, in the dominion of the United States over the whole of North America. Gen. Taylor, in his proclamation, pays proper respect to the religious feelings of the people when we are about to subjugate. We have no doubt that he will execute his duty with judgment and prudence, but it must be galling to a gallant spirit to be engaged at all in such an enterprise. [PP]

RW46v23i24 March 24, 1846 p1c3: Collection of Military Reports

From the New Orleans Courier , Extra. March 14^th

GENERAL ORDERS ISSUED BY BT. BRIG’R GENERAL Z. TAYLOR OF THE ARMY OF OCCUPATION, AT CORPUS CHRISTI.

Galveston, March 12, 9 o’clock, A.M.

The Galveston has just arrived from Aransas Pass. The main body of Gen. Taylor’s Army had marched towards Brazos St. Jago and the last Regiment with Gen. T. and staff, was to leave this morning. The rumor of a large force of Mexican troops being about to oppose the concentration of Gen. Taylor’s forces had occasioned great excitement. The troops of Gen. T. are said to be in high spirits in the expectations of a conflict with the enemy. The following orders have been issued:

HEAD QUARTERS ARMY OF OCCUPATION.

Corpus Christi, March 8, 1846.

As the Army is about marching to the frontier on a delicate service, the Commanding General wishes it distinctly understood that no person, not properly attached to it, will be permitted to accompany the troops, or establish themselves in their vicinity, either on the route or on the Rio Grande, on any pretence whatever. It may save many individuals useless expense and annoyance to be informed that rigid measures will be taken to enforce this regulation, which is deemed necessary for the intrest of the public service.

By direction of the General.

W.S. Bliss, Asst. Adjt., General.

Head Quarters, Army of Occupation,
Corpus Christi, Texas, March 8, 1846.

Orders No. 30

The army of occupation being about to take position on the left bank of the Rio Grande, under the orders of the Executive of the United States, the General commanding deems it proper to express his hope that the movement will prove beneficial to all concerned, and that nothing may be wanted on an part to insure so desirable a result, he sinetly enjoys upon his command the most scrupulous regard for the rights of all persons who may be found in the peaceable pursuit of their respective avocations, residing on both sides of the Rio Grande. No person under any pretence whatever, will interfere in any manner with the civil rights and religious privileges of the people, but will pay the utmost respect to both. Whatever may be required for the use of the army will be purchased by the proper departments of at the highest market price. The General commanding is happy to say that he has entire confidence in the patriotism and discipline of the army under his command, and feels assured that his orders, as above expressed, will be strictly observed.

Z. Taylor, Br. General,
U.S. Army Commanding.

The 3^rd Brigade commanded by Col. Whistler, composed of the 3^rd Regiment of Infantry, commanded by Lieut. Col. J. Garland; will take final leave of their old Corpus Christi encampment, on Wednesday, the 11^th instant, to join the main Army.

The squadron of transports are to leave on the 20^th inst. under convoy of the cutter Woodbury, Capt Foster, and the steamer Monmouth.

The proclamation above has been published in the Spanish language, and issued to the inhabitants of the Rio Grande.

The First Brigade under the command of Brevet Brigadier General Win. J. Worth, composed of the Battalion of Artillery, commanded by Lieut. Col. Thomas Childs, and the eighth Regiment of Infantry commanded by Lieut. Col. W. G. Beik***, will leave the encampment on the morning of the 9^th, for the same destination.

The steamer Cincinnati, and almost every thing else is said to be charted for the use of the Army.

The 2^nd Brigade, commanded by Lieut. Col. J. S. Melatosh of the 5^th Infantry and composed of the 5^th Regiment of Infantry, under Major T. Brown, will strike their tentson the morning of the 10^th, and take up the line of march for the Depot.

Gen. Mejia is said to have returned to Matamoras on the 2^nd. The Mexican troops this side the Rio Grande (if any) are said to be under the command of Garcia, Canales and Severiego. It is Reported that Gen. Taylor has made a requisition for more troops- we doubt whether he has done so, or whether he will need them.

Corpus Christi has been literally abandoned. The hangers on of the army are leaving for the East as fast as possible. The respect so strictly enjoyed for the rights of private property will meet with universal approbation. [PP]

RW46v23i24 March 24, 1846 p2c1: The Message, Probability of War.

We publish in another column, the Message of the President, of which we yesterday gave a sketch. It is with some difficulty that any answer at all has been obtained from that high functionary, but, having at last condescended to respond to Mr. Dayton’s resolutions, he declares that an increase of the naval and military force is at this time advisable to put the country in a state of defence. It is understood that an expenditure of ten or twelve millions will be required immediately.

Now, we are free to confess, that if war be inevitable, if there are no proper, natural, honorable means to escape from that dire calamity, we should not object to the appropriation of ten times ten millions. Of the facts, however, so far as they are stated in his Message, upon which Mr. Polk grounds the recommendation of an increase of the naval and military force, the country has been long since apprised, and is as capable of judging as himself. Is there no way, plain, easy, equitable, by which the Oregon dispute may be amicably settled? We believe there is. We have had every evidence of the disposition of England, to arrive at a peaceful result. We have had good reason, in the language of the papers which are upon this point the organs of the British Government, and in the declaration of the Premier himself in reference to Mr. Pakenham’s rejection of the proposition of 49, to believe that a pacific settlement of this controversy may be easily attained, if such be the inclination of our Government. Such a settlement, we fearlessly venture to assert, would receive the approbation of three-fourths of the American people. They are thoroughly tired, disgusted, sick at heart, of this senseless quarrel. The President cannot but know, that public sentiment, with wonderful unanimity, points him to a compromise, by which our honor may be preserved, and a war avoided. We have the authority of the Washington Correspondent of the Richmond Enquirer for saying that a very decided majority of the Senate of the United States are believed to be in favor of a reasonable adjustment of the dispute. In his letter of the 22^nd instant, he says:

"A letter, written in a jocose vein, in the New York Herald, headed "scientific classification of the Senate according to Buffon, exhibits signs of what a good number here conceived to be the real condition of parties is that body on the Oregon question, though I know it embraces takes as to the individual position assigned to many of the Senators. Few doubt that a treaty would be ratified on the basis of the 49^th degree of North Latitude, which by the bye, should not yield to Great Britain the navigation of the straits of Fuea. Indeed, it is generally believed that not more than twelve Senators at most could be found to vote against it. Many members of that body who would sustain it, doubtless believe with the Executive that the title of the United States to the whole of Oregon, up to fifty-four forty, is clear and unquestionable."

If such be the case, there can be no necessity of an enormous expenditure of money for the object specified by the President. He has it in his own power to save that expenditure, and to avert the terrible issue of a collision between two of the greatest empires of modern times.

We do not charge upon the President that he willfully designs to involve this nation in a bloody strife,- we would impute to no man such horrible criminality: But, from first to last, from the Alpha to the Omega of this Oregon dispute, he has taught this nation a lesson which may yet need to be enforced by the scorpion lash of war, never to elevate an inferior man to a post of such transcendant importance. In his very Inaugural, he throws down the gauntlet of defiance to Great Britain upon this subject. He addresses her in the menacing tone of a high-wayman, bidding the traveler stop and deliver, rather than in the calm and dispassionate language of a practiced statesman. Confident of the goodness of his cause, and mindful of the courtesies which should prevail in the intercourse of civilized nations. We all recollect the explosion which followed in the British Parliament. Then came a lucid interval, in which our Government made the proposition of 49, and then, its pettish withdrawal of negotiation, because of the somewhat unceremonious rejection of that proposition by the British Minister. Afterwards, the Ambassador of Great Britain, representing the solicitude of his Government to avoid a war, makes the proposal of arbitration, and that, not by crowned heads, but by a commission of distinguished private citizens. This offer is at once rejected, and upon grounds calculated to arouse general indignation in the minds of the British people. Such, indeed, has been its effect. Previous arrivals from that country had indicated a pacific and friendly feeling. But, the last news shows a decided change in journals which had, before been distinguished for the moderation of their tone to our country. Distrust had pervaded commercial circles, and a general apprehension evidently prevailed, that no prudential reasons would sufficiently restrain our Government from stubborn adherence to a policy which must terminate in war. The last act in this strange drama is the Message which bids us put on our armour and prepare for battle. It seems to us, that if Mr. Polk had come into the Executive Chair, with the sole design of involving our country in hostilities with Great Britain, he could not have pursued a line of conduct better calculated than that which he has in reality adopted, to bring about a collision with Great Britain. At the same time we fully acquit him of any such intention, and acknowledge that his course may be more properly attributed to a lamentable deficiency of the wisdom, judgment and experience so necessary to the dignified and successful discharge of the duties of his responsible trust.

The President, however, "sincerely trust," that collision between the two countries may be avoided, and declares it to be his "settled purpose" to pursue such a course of policy as may be best calculated to preserve "an honorable peace." We wish we could feel the same confidence that the Oregon controversy will be so conducted by our Government as to come to a peaceful termination. Yet Mr. Polk has but to speak the word. [PP]

RW46v23i24 March 24, 1846 p2c7: Important Message From The President

During the session of the Senate on Tuesday, the following message from the President was received, read and ordered to be printed:

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the inquiry or the Senate, contained in their resolution of the 17^th, whether in any judgment, any circumstances connected with, or growing out of the foreign relations of this country, require at this time an increase of our naval or military force, and, if so what those circumstances are, I have to express the opinion, that a wise precaution demands such increase.

In my annual message of the 2^nd of December last I recommended to the favorable consideration of Congress as increase of our naval force, especially of our steam navy, and the raising of an adequate military force to guard and protect suck of our citizens as might think proper to emigrate to Oregon. Since that period, I have seen no cause to recall or modify these recommendations. On the contrary, reasons exist which, in my judgment, render it proper not only that they should be promptly carried into effect, but that additional provision should be made for the public defence.

The consideration of such additional provision was brought before appropriate comities of the two Houses of Congress, in answer to calls made by them in reports prepared, with my sanction, by the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy, on the 29^th of December and the 8^th of January last; a mode of communication with Congress not, unusual, and, under existing circumstances, believed to be most eligible. Subsequent events have confirmed me in the opinion that those recommendations were proper as precautionary measures.

It was a wise maxim of the Father of his country, that "to be prepared for war, is one of the most efficient means of preserving peace;" and that, "avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace," we should "remember also, that timely disbursements to repel it." The general obligation to perform this duty is greatly strengthened by facts known to the whole world. A controversy respecting the Oregon territory now exist between the United States and Great Britain; and while, as far as we know, the relations of the latter with all European nations are of the most pacific character, she is making unusual and extraordinary armaments and warlike preparations, naval and military, both at home and in her North American possessions.

It cannot be disguised, that, however sincere may be the desire of peace, in the event of a rupture these preparations the fact is undoubted that they are now proceeding, in part, at least, with a view to the contingent possibility of a war with the United States. The general policy of making additional warlike preparations was distinctly announced, in the speech from the throne, as late as January 1^st, and has since been reiterated by the ministers of the crown in both houses of Parliament. Under this aspect of our relations with Great Britain, I cannot doubt the propriety of increasing our means of defence, both by land and by sea. This can give Great Britain no cause of offence, or increase the danger of rupture. If on the contrary, we should fold our arms in security and at last be suddenly involved in hostilities for the maintenance of our just rights, without any adequate preparation, our responsibility to the country would be of the gravest character. Should collision between the two countries be avoided, as I sincerely trust it may be, the additional charge upon the treasury, in making the necessary preparations, will not be lost; while in the event of such a collision they would be indispensable for the maintenance of our national rights and national honor.

I have seen no reason to change or modify the recommendations of my annual message in regard to the Oregon question. The notice to abrog it’s the treaty of the ** of August, 1827, is authorized by the treaty itself, and cannot be regarded as a warlike measure; and I cannot withhold my conviction that it should be promptly given. The other recommendations are in conformity with the existing treaty, and would afford to American citizens in Oregon no more than the same measure of protection which has long since been extended to British subjects in that territory.

The state of our relations with Mexico is still in an unsettled condition. Since the meeting of Congress another revolution has taken place in that country, by which the government has passed into the hands of new rulers. This event has procrastinated, and may possibly defeat, the settlement of the differences between the United States to Mexico, at the date of the last advices, had not been received by the existing authorities. Demonstrations of a character hostile to the United States continue to be made in Mexico which has rendered it proper, in my judgment, to keep nearly to thirds of our army on our southwestern frontier. In doing this, many of the regular military post have been reduced to a small force, inadequate to their defence should an emergency arise.

In view of these "circumstances," it is my "judgment" that "an increase of our naval and military force is at this time required," to place the country in a suitable state of defence: At the same time, it is my settled purpose to pursue such a course of plicy as may be best calculated to preserve, both with Great Britain and Mexico, an honorable peace; which nothing will so effectually promote as unammity in our councils, and a firm maintenance of all our just rights.

JAMES K. POLK

Washington, March 24, 1846
[PP]

RW46v23i24 March 24, 1846 p3c1: The Army and the Navy

Mr. Berrien offered a resolution directing the comities on Military and Naval Affairs so lay before the Senate the communications and estimates form the War and Navy Departments, relative to the proposed increase of those branches of the public service.

Mr. Benton said the Committee on Military Affairs, all of whom he had consulted, except one now absent, were ready to lay before the Senate the report and estimate of the Secretary of War, and saw no impropriety in their publication.

Mr. Fairfield said that some of the papers communicated by the Secretary of the Navy, were not proper to be made public, and he hoped the resolution would not prevail.

Mr. Berrien said he wished the Senate to be put in possession of the information, and they would afterwards decided upon the expediency of publishing or withholding it.

Mr. Westcott hoped the resolution would pass. The information would be as safe in the possession of any and every member of the Senate as it would be in that of the Committees, or he Executive and his Secretaries- and it was proper they should have it to guide their action.

The resolution was then passed, and the report and estimates from the Secretary of War ordered to be printed. [PP]

RW46v23i24 March 24, 1846 p3c1: House of Representatives Military Bill.

Mr. Adams motion to reconsider the vote (closing the debate upon the Military Bill at three o’clock yesterday) waslaid upon the table.

The House on motion of Mr. Brinkerhoff, went into the Committee of the Whole.

A motion was made by Mr. McConnell to lay aside the Military Bill, and lost.

The Committee then adopted an amendment that the enlistment should be for three years, unless sooner disbanded by the President and that the increase to each company of privates should not exceed eight. This amendment was adopted.

An amendment to increase the number of troops for each company from eighty to one hundred, was also carried.

A substitute to the whole bill was the proposed by Mr. Hungerford, of N.Y., and agreed to, authorizing the companies to be filled with six men each, and to serve for three years unless sooner disbanded by the President.

The Bill was then reported to the House.

Mr. Brinkerhoff moved to the previous questions which was withdrawn, and Mr. McKay addressed the House in favor of an amendment to the bill by increasing the rank and file at once to sixty men; and by giving power to the President to make each company 100 men.

Mr. McKay renewed the motion for the Previous Question, which the House refused to second, yeas 50, nays 91.

Mr. Boyd moved to recommit this bill. Lost 96 to 69.

Mr. Haralson of Ga. Proceeded to defend the bill as reported from his Committee. Mr. H. said he should bring forward another bill to give the President power to raise 50,000 men, and if the emergencies of the country required it, he was ready to vote 100,000 or 1,000,000.

Mr. Davis of KY., put some plain questions to Mr. Haralson as to the exigency which the Executive had surmised in the increase of the Army.

Mr. Haralson answered that a communication had been received on the 31^st of December, upon which was based the action of the Committee.

Mr. Davis whished to know what were the views of the Executive about the increase.

Mr. Burt S.C. (a member of the Military Committee) objected as the information and Mr. Haralson then said that the information could not be communicated consistently with a due regard for the public interest.

The motion for the Previous Question was now renewed and seconded by a vote of 91 to 50.

The amendment that Mr. McKay was rejected by a vote of 105 to 76, and the amendment of Mr. Hungerford (raising each company to 80 men, if the President thought proper to do so, and to enlist the new troops for three years) was agreed to by a vote of 112 to 79.

A motion was now made to lay the bill upon the table, and lost a vote 149 to 32. The bill was finally passed, 169 to 15. The bill if passed, would ad 2900 men to the Army.

The house again went into Committee of the Whole upon the bill for making appropriations for deficiencies in former bills.

A debate upon an amendment in relation to distributing book, which was denounced by Mr. Payne, of Ala. The debate was continued by Mr. Ewing, of Pa. and Mr. Winthrop, of Mass., amidst much confusion, and the committee rose without action on the bill or amendments, When the House adjourned. [PP]

RW46v23i26 March 31, 1846 p1c2: Mexico

The N.O. Tropic of the 20^th inst, contains some news from Mexico. It is not, however, of much importance. All sorts of rumors were rife among the Mexicans in regard to advance of the American Army. One report states that the army was advancing towards Matamoros on the left bank of the Rio Bravo, but that they had been driven back by the Mexicans. This was contradicted by other accounts. There were large stories also of desertions from the American army. [PP]

RW46v23i26 March 31, 1846 p1c4: Despatches From Mr. McLane.

Despatches from Mr. McLane- the Washington correspondent of the New York Courier, under date of Monday last, writer:

"Despatches were received at the State Department per the Hibernia, from Mr. McLane, our Minister at London; the exact purport of which I am not informed, but unquestionably of an unfavorable character as it relates to the existing attitude of the Oregon question. Those who from their position and political relations, are accurately advised of the nature of those dispatches, and who are also advocates of peaceful and equitable adjustment of the difficulty, are evidently alarmed at the posture of affairs, and are full of apprehension that the course of our government has been such as to make it extremely improbable that the matter will be settled by negotiation."

But the Editor of the Courier himself says in the same paper:

"With regard to the Oregon difficulty, we have a well settled conviction, that it will be in a train of settlement shortly after the arrival of the steamer of the 4^th of April. We have no doubt but Mr. McLane has been instructed to inform the British Government that if they will offer the proposition refused by Mr. Packenham, it will be accepted; and in our judgment, they will tender that proposition accompanied with a demand of free navigation forever, of the Columbia for a term of years, when by the extinction of the fur trade, it will become valueless to G. Britain. Should they do so we cannot doubt but the whole difficulty will be amicably arranged. For the offensive manner in which Mr. Buchanan refused arbitration, there can be no apology; but recent events have taken off the edge of that foolish and unjustifiable act; and the wise merchant and all who are engaged in business should feel and act as if the Oregon affair was in a train of satisfactory adjustment. Such a tall events are our opinions of the matter, and we give them what they are worth." [PP]

RW46v23i26 March 31, 1846 p1c4: Correspondence of the American.

The secret estimates of the Naval Beareau and Secretary of the Navy were in the House this morning, and at one time upon the Speakers table. The Committee on majority took the matter into their own hands, and refused to show the reports to be read. The information, however, I can give you.

The information, then, which the House designed to keep secret is the fact that the estimates were made by the Heads of the Naval Bureaus. Commodores Morris, Warrington, Crane and Shubrick proposed, under estimates prepared by the Secretary of the Navy, the following increase of the Navy:

In men, thirty six thousand, eight hundred.

Expenditure, $20,000,000

And the increase of the vessels in commission to the following number:

Steamers	40
Frigates	40
Sloops of War	30

An increase of fifty-eight vessels of war in all. The Secretary of War did not go to this extreme, but proposed and increase of 50,000 to the Standing Army, the whole force to be under the control of the President of the United States. [PP]

RW46v23i26 March 31, 1846 p1c5: The Secret Articles.

Our Washington Correspondent writes us, by telegraph, as follows- I have it from reliable authority, that the suppressed, or withdrawn, estimates of the bureau, made with the President’s sanction, proposed an expenditure of from forty to fifty millions of dollars: The Navy estimates proposed forty steamers!

Mr. Fairfield, the Chairman of the Naval Committee in the Senate, got alarmed and cut them down to ten steamers. I will write you further in my letter tonight.- Belt Pat. of Thursday. [PP]

RW46v23i26 March 31, 1846 p4c1: General Santa Ana.

This renowned exile, it is said, is amusing himself at present with the gentlemanly occupation of cock fighting. He has lost heavily of late at cards. He will have to return to Mexico before long, if for no other purpose than to replenish his exhausted purse. [PP]

RW46v23i25 March 27, 1846 p1c3: Important Report.

We learn by an extract from a letter, receive by a commercial house yesterday from Galveston, and dated on the 14^th inst. that the schr. Mary Shields, from Matamoros bound to New York, put into Galveston a few days since in distress. The captain reports the American Consul at Matamoros, to Gen. Taylor at Corpus Christi. In addition to this, we earn verbally that a Mexican who was the bearer of dispatches from Mr. S. at Matamoros, to Gen. Taylor at Corpus Christi, had been shot by the authorities at the former place on his return. It is also said that 8000 Mexican troops are stationed there.

There was a rumor in town yesterday, to the effect that Mr. Slidell himself had been thrown into prison, but this undoubtedly took its rise from the above. Should it turn out that Mr. Schatzell has really been incarcerated at Matamoros, Gen. Taylor cannot reach the vicinity of that city with too great speed. We have heard of several other acts committed of late- one of which was the shooting of a young American trader named Burney, in Perote, on the principal ground that he was in Texas during her early straggle for liberty- and now it is stated that one of our Counsuls has been thrown into prison on no other plea than that he has been in correspondence with Gen. Taylor. We have said so often that our Government should come to some understanding with Mexico- should have a full and final settlement with her of all difficulties – that we have become sid of the subject. Granted that Mexico- a weak, powerless- yet no one can allow a snarling puppy to be continually snapping at his heels without kicking him out of the way at least. [PP]

RW46v23i25 March 27, 1846 p1c3: Late from Texas.

Extract of a letter from an Officer in the Army of Observation, dated. Corpus Christi March 10, 1846.

The Dragoons and Ringgold’s Light Artillery left on the 8^th for the Rio Grande; the first brigade (Worth’s) with Duncan’s battery, on the 9^th; and the second brigade, this morning. The brigade, with Bragg’s battery, will march tomorrow morning and Gen. Taylor, with his staff, will follow at noon. It is said that all the corps will unite on the Sal Colorado, and moved on together towards Matamoros or point Isabel, as it may then be determined.

No one expects a fight. My own opinion is, and has been for some time past, that the Mexican troops will retire as we made advance, and that some arrangement will be made with the Mexican Commander, by which our troops will be permitted to take position on or near the Rio Grande, and that a post will be established at Point Isabel, which will be fortified in order to insure a water communication with New Orleans and a depot for supplies.

This is all conjecture on my part – but we shall soon see whether I am right or not. The former battalion of light artillery being broken up by the assignment of three of the batteries to the Dragoons and Brigades, is late commander, Major Erving, is ordered to remain in command here for the purpose of removing the troops, artillery and stores left, from this to St. Joseph’s, and thence to the Brazos Santiago, or Point Isabel. A battery of six 18 pounders, besides Monroe’s field battery, is to fo round by water with the troops and stores. St. Joseph’s as well as this place, will be abandoned – though a small depot for the supply of the dragoons at San Antonio and at Austin, may be continued. The army is to move slowly, and will probably be from 13 to 15 days on the march.

I cannot yet say how long I shall remain here, or at St. Joseph’s – both which stations are under Major Erving’s command – no final instructions having yet been received – but the passage to the Brazos Santiago could be made by an ordinary steamboat in good weather, in from 12 to 14 hours.

The troops left with me consist of Monroe’s company, Porter’s first Artillery, and somewhere about sixty or seventy supernumeraries, effective for guards, &c. Besides these are the sick and convalescent of general hospital, &c. I believe it is intended that the troops, including engineers, tools, &c, shall arrive at point Isabel about the time the troops reach it by land.

I may be wrong in some of these points, for I cannot know with certainty what is to be done here, till the instructions I have before mentioned are received. I will write a line and tell you when to change the directions of my letters. I have written this in very great haste, to be in time for the steamer for St. Joseph’s, which leaves in a few minutes.

Captain Frank of the schr. Equity, which has just arrived from Matamoros, which place she left on the 11^th inst. reports that the American Consul Mr. Schatzeil is not imprisoned as the schr. Mary Shields reported. Letters were received by a Commercial House in this city from the Consul himself, who says the rumor is entirely unfounded. [PP]

April

May

RW46v23i35p1c1, May 1, 1846: Messrs. Ingersoll and Webster.

We deem no apology necessary for occupying much space in this morning’s paper with the [ . . . ] (though, we must add, discr**itiable) debate in the House of Representatives, on Monday last, between Mr. Charles Jarod Ingersoll and Mr. Ashmun of Massachusetts. The former gentleman, it will be perceived, has not only repeated his last series of charges against Mr. Webster, the first having been abandoned as untenable, and the accuser thereby acknowledging their fal**y,) but he has attempted to sustain them, in advance of the investigation directed to be made [ . . . ] the House. And how? Why, by reading manuscripts from the books of the State Department, to which, it seems he has been permitted to have access, and the contents of which he has not hesitated to divulge, although the President, in whose charge the fund to the disbursements of which these books refer is specially placed by law felt himself constrained by solemn considerations of public duty to withhold even from the Representatives of the People that precise information, when requested by a resolution of the House to lay it before that body! It will devolve upon Mr. Ingersoll, therefore, even if he shall be able to sustain his charges against Mr. Webster—and upon that point we are content to await the action of the Committee of Investigation, prepared to unite in his condemnation if he be guilty, though feeling nevertheless a strong hope, as well as a profound conviction that he will pass through the fiery ordeal unscathed—we say it will devolve upon Mr. Ingersoll to clear his own skirts of the serious charge of have transcended his privileges as a member of the House in examining the records referred to, and of having violated a law of the land in making portions of those records public. If Mr. Ingersoll shall be permitted, like “a mousing owl,” to pry into the secret recesses of the Executive Departments for the purpose of arming himself with weapons of assault upon the personal reputation of a gentleman who (incomplete).
[BWP]

RW46v23i35p1c1, May 1, 1846: News from Capt. Fremont.

The New Orleans Picayune of the 22d inst., announces the arrival in that city of an intelligent gentleman from California, via the city of Mexico, bringing intelligence that our adventurous countryman, Capt. Fremont, reached Capt. Sutter’s settlement at New Helvetia, about the 21^st of February last, with a force of about 60 mounted men. He had discovered a new route or pass, perfectly practicable for wheeled vehicles, by which California can be reached by emigrants in 60 days less time than by the old route, via Oregon. Capt. Fremont left his party at Sutter’s and proceeded himself to Monterey on a visit. There is a strong tide of emigration pouring in from the U. States, including many of the disappointed emigrants to Oregon, who wander on southwardly in search of better lands and brighter skies—the El Dorado being still farther on! “Man never is, but always to be, blest.”

The Picayune is also informed that the political condition of California is very unsettled, allegiance to the Central Government of Mexico having been almost entirely thrown off, and there being very little prospect of the restoration of Mexican authority. The Californians, we presume, will have perfected their independence, and be ready for annexation, by the time we get rid of our troubles on the Texas frontier, and settle the Oregon question—when there will be another extension of the “area of freedom,” towards the “Peaceful Sea!”
[BWP]

RW46v23i35p1c1, May 1, 1846: Latest from the Army.

We learn from the New Orleans papers of the 22d inst., that Brig. Gen. Worth, one of the most accomplished of the Junior Generals, and who has done the State more service of late years than any other, especially in the Florida War, has thrown up his commission, left the army, and is now probably in new Orleans, having sailed from the Rio Grande for that port some days previously in the steamer Hunter. The cause of his resignation is not clearly stated; but it is intimated that it has grown out of a collision between himself and the commanding General (Taylor) with regard to rank.

Another untoward event, we are informed by The Picayune, is the capture, on the 10^th inst., of Col. Cross, the acting Quarter Master General of the Army, by a party of Mexicans. The Colonel, it seems, left the American camp on horseback, unattended on business in his department; and not returning within a reasonable time, parties were sent out in search of him, but could obtain no satisfactory tidings. After the lapse of three or four days, it was ascertained that he had been taken prisoner by a party of Mexican rancheros, consisting of a captain, lieutenant and five men, and carried off. No apprehension, it seems, is now entertained for his personal safety, although it is not known in Gen. Taylor’s camp where he is—the Mexican officers affirming positively that he is not in Matamoras!

This is rather an inauspicious beginning of the Mexican campaign. We shall be gratified, however, if worse tidings do not reach us from that quarter soon; for, with every confidence in the bravery of our troops, we cannot expect them to perform impossibilities. The wisdom of sending a small force to the very borders of Mexico without a corps de reserve to fall back upon in the event of being assailed by greatly superior numbers, which it is fair to presume the Mexicans may be able to concentrate at that point, seems to us to be very questionable to say the least of it.
[BWP]

RW46v23i35p2c1, May 1, 1846: title cut off

[ . . . ] announced to Congress that [ . . . ] Resolution, adopted by [ . . . ] notice to Great Britain that [ . . . ] of 1827, recognizing the [ . . . ] (or nonoccupation, as [ . . . ] the Oregon territory, shall [ . . . ] of twelve months from [ . . . ] of giving the notice, contem[ . . . ] for by thie treaty itself, is of [ . . . ] of wear, nor has it any one who [ . . . ] the subject. In or out of Congress, [ . . . ] of resorting to this measure, we [ . . . ] been questioned and denied, mainly [ . . . ] if it should be given in a discourteous [ . . . ] spirit, as there was certainly at one [ . . . ] too much reason to fear, and in regard to which we are not now entirely free from apprehension, it might close the door to friendly negotiation, and consequently result in war at the expiration of this twelve months, if not sooner. Especially, was it apprehended, would this be the case, if, as was clearly recommended in the President’s Message, measures should be adopted by Congress, simultaneously with the adoption of the notice, for the purpose of taking actual possession, at that time, of the disputed territory, and expelling from it the British occupants now holding it and exercising over it, as they have long done, all the rights of sovereignty.

But the language of the notice being unobjectionable, and unaccompanied as it has been by any measure calculated to would the pride or to affect the rights (real or imaginary) of Great Britain, these grounds of objection of course cease to apply, and the notice itself may be regarded if not as a measure of peace necessarily, certainly as furnishing no just pretext for war.

The result of the controversy now depends materially, we doubt not, upon the manner in which the President shall exercise the “discretion” with which, as well because it is legitimately and Executive function, as because of his peculiar relations to this question, he has been properly clothed. We hope for his own sake, as well as for that of the country, that neither the “pride of consistency,” by which even strong minds are often unduly influenced, nor the dread of denunciation from the ultra portion of his own party, which has so much terror for aspiring politicians, will induce him, in communicating the resolution of Congress to the British Ministry, to accompany it by an inadmissible ultimatum, or, if he shall make no new proposition himself to present it in such manner as to prevent the submission, in reply, of terms of compromise by that Government. Entertaining a less exalted opinion both of Mr. Polk’s expansiveness of mind and of his firmness, than some of his friends appear to do—regarding him rather as a partizan than as a statesman—believing him to be influenced less by his obligations to his country, and less by considerations of what its vital interests demand of him, than by his allegiance to party, and by his estimate of the effect which a particular course of policy may exert upon its fortunes—we have not been without strong apprehensions that he may so far depart from the spirit of the resolution adopted by Congress, as to neutralize the pacific temper of its joint resolution, and thereby to counteract the obvious design of that body in giving to it the “form” which it finally assumed. These apprehensions have not been diminished by the fact, that, in that form the resolution drew to its support every Whig in both branches of Congress, and every member of the Administration party exposed to the extreme position originally assumed by Mr. Polk, and zealously maintained by those supposed to be in his confidence,circumstance in itself well calculated to influence the action of a mere partizan. And certainly we are not authorized to draw a very favorable augury from the recent declaration of the Official Journal, [if that paper reflects the feelings, and foreshadows the purposes of the President,] to the effect that, while it rejoices that Congress has authorized the notice to be given, it strongly disapproves of the form which that notice finally assumed.

Nevertheless, we have no desire nor intention to prejudge the Executive, nor unnnecessarily to excite in the public mind fears of an inauspicious conclusion to this controversy. If, indeed, the Washington Correspondent of the New York Courier be correctly informed, Mr. Polk will adopt a course calculated to promote its pacific adjustment; notwithstanding the contrary inference is, we th9ink, legitimately deducible from the language of the Washington Union , and from the President’s own uniform language and conduct heretofore. The correspondent of the Courier thus shadows forth the probable views and purposes of the Cabinet:

“I believe that the President is still willing to adjust the matter fairly and upon the basis heretofore offered. If the same opinion is the majority of his Cabinet, the only opposing member being Mr. Buchanan; but he, from his position, is a very serious obstacle in the way of the pacific intentions of the government. His opposition, however, was upon ulterior objects the first and more immediate of which is the vacant seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the next and more remote is that of the succession to the Presidency. By adhering to his opposition he may compel the President to gratify the first and most reasonable of his wishes, in which, if he should be successful, the question of the succession would be merged. It is well understood that the War candidate for the Presidency, the candidate of the 54 40 men, is Gen. Cass. He commences with a small force, it is true, but they are pledged fanatica in the cause, and unless the question be settled before the canvass of 1848, will constitute a forlorn hope that will make no capitulation.

“My opinion therefore is that Buchanan will either make terms with the President by which his nomination to the vacant judgeship will be secured and his aid given to the consummation of the pacific intentions of Congress, or that by his stubborn opposition he will compel the President to give him the seat he so much covets. I have no doubt the President anxiously desires to adjust the Oregon Question on the basis heretofore offered, and I know that in this he is sustained, with the exception of Mr. Buchanan, by the united sentiments of his Cabinet; and I do not believe that he will suffer that gentleman to defeat his own convictions of dutym, as well as the expressed will of the nation.”

In regard to the mode of giving the notice, another correspondent of the same paper writes as follows:

“The “notice” will be sent to Mr. McLane, by the steamer of the 1^st prox., to be presented to the Earl of A**deen, on behalf of this government. The respect due to a foreign power, and the importance of the occasion in the view of the administration, requires the observance of this form, which seems to be consistent with reason and propriety. I have it from the most reliable authority, that it will not be accompanied by a proposition; but Mr. McLane will be instructed to renew the assurance of a sincere desire to effect an amicable and immediate adjustment of the pending controversy.”
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RW46v23i35p2c2, May 1, 1846: Debt of Texas.

A letter from the seat of government of Texas in the N. Y. Journal of Commerce, dated April 8, states, that the Legislative committee to which had been referred the subject of the Public Debt, has reported that it is impossible to ascertain what part of the debt should receive par, and what part less than par, and how much less. So their idea is to “lump it,” and pay, when they can, about 50 cents in the dollar. They will never find out the actual amount, we imagine—though they had it at their finger’s ends when they were pressing the annexation measure through CongressUntil Uncle Sam shall be persuaded to assume the entire debt, in exchange for the public lands of Texas. It will soon be ascertained, after that, how much is due; and it will be “a caution to Crockett” to see how rapidly the millions will multiply!
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RW46v23i35p2p4, May 1, 1846: Additional Foreign News.

Now that the war in Indian is decided, the Oregon question begins to attract more attention, but the speeches of Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Haywood, and others, had convinced the British Public that our intentions were peaceable.
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RW46v23i35p4c4, May 1, 1846: From the New Orleans Picayune, April 21. LATER FROM BRAZOS SANTIAGO

The U. S. steamer Col. Harney arrived in port last evening from Brazos Santiago, whence she sailed on the 16^th inst. She brings us advices from Gen. Taylor’s camp down to the 12^th instant.

The accounts which have already been given of Gen. Taylor’s march to the Rio Grande and of his position opposite Matamoros are fully confirmed. The advanced guard of his forces were met some seventy miles from the Rio Grande, and warned to advance no further. Again upon the Arroyo Colorado, a written notice was received, that any further advance would be deemed an act of hostility. Still Gen. Taylor continued his march, meeting with no resistance. He himself was waited upon at Brazos Santiago, when in advance of his army, by a deputation of the civil authorities of Matamoros, and again warned to retire. We have had all these facts in substance before. In spite of all these warnings, Gen. Taylor took up his position on the 28^th ult. directly opposite Matamoros, and within reach of the Mexican batteries. Utterly disregarding these, he proceeded to plant four 18 pounders, so that at any moment he could batter down the city at pleasure.

Thus affairs remained till the 11^th inst., when Gen. Ampudia arrived at Matamoros. The following day General Ampudia sent a written notice to Gen. Taylor, requiring him to retire at once to the left bank of the Nueces, and insinuating to him that his persistence in maintaining his position would be deemed an overt act of hostility. To this Gen. Taylor replied substantially that he had received orders from the President of the United States to take up his position upon the Rio Grande, and to see that no encroachment was made upon our Territory; That he should obey his orders, and repel any hostile attempt to cross the river. At the same time he assured the Mexican that he had no hostile designs upon the people; that they might remain in the undisturbed enjoyment of their property and rights; and that his sole business was to resist aggression.

Gen. Taylor, however, thinking it possible that Ampudia might attempt hostilities, changed his position somewhat on the 12^th inst., and thereby withdrew his army beyond the reach of the Mexican batteries, he still commanding the town with his 18 pounders and the only practicable fords. At the same time he chose to regard Ampudia’s letter as so far hostile, that he directed the commandant of the force at Brazos Santiago to act as in case of war, and he gave a verbal intimation to the same effect to the naval officer in command on that station. He particularly enjoined upon the latter to seize vessels expected in the Rio Grande with supplies for the Mexican forces at Matamoros. Both these notices would appear to be rather precautionary measures than intended to lead to aggressive acts.

Gen. Ampudia made no hostile demonstration after receiving Gen. Taylor’s letter, but, like the valiant Mejia before him, determined to forward Gen. Taylor’s letter to his Government, and await further orders.

We are assured by this arrival that Gen. Ampudia had but 2000 troops with him when he reached Matamoros. Of these, 1000 accompanied him from the city of Mexico; the rest joined him on the march. He lost about 1000 more between San Luis and Matamoros by mutiny and desertion. He found in the latter town about 3500 troops, so that the whole force there on the 12^th was not far from 5500. {In another part of this paper the reader will note that upon other authority we have given the date of Ampudia’s arrival, the number of his troops, &c., somewhat differently. We place full confidence in our later advices by the Col. Harney.] The Mexicans have 18 or 20 pieces of artillery at Matamoras, which may be call serviceable. The Americans 12 field pieces, besides the four 18 pounders before mentioned.

Upon the whole, therefore, we think there can be little doubt that we shall hear of no fighting for some time to come; and yet less doubt, that when it does come to blows our army will render such an account of itself as the country anticipates, and has a right to anticipate. In the means time the troops are well supplied with fresh provisions, chiefly by the Mexicans themselves. Citizens of the country are allowed to come and go undisturbed, and to traffic at their pleasure. Partially by their fears of the Americans, but more by the threats of the Mexican officers, the inhabitants on this side the river have very generally been induced to cross over to the other side. The Mexicans have it in their power to concentrate a large number of men at Matamoros, but they ought by no means to be called soldiers. They have neither the equipments, the discipline, nor the moral force of wellorganized troops.

We have reports that Gen. Taylor has put a check to desertions from his ranks by shooting ten or twelve men who were in the act of crossing the river.

It has been mentioned to us that Gen. Worth is on his way to this port in the iron steamer Hunter.

The U. S. brig Lawrence and the schooner Flirt, lying off Brazos Santiago, had been compelled to put to sea by a gale of wind, and they had not returned on the 16^th inst. We think it more than probable the Lawrence proceeded to the mouth of the Rio Grande to look after those vessels laden on this port with supplies for the Mexicans. Their owners had better get insured!

At the late hour at which we write, we find we have neither time nor room for a word more!
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RW46v23i35p4c4, May 1, 1846: From The Picayune. LATER FROM MEXICO

The bark Claremont, Capt. Lermond, arrived at this port yesterday from Vera Cruz, whence she sailed on the 6^th inst. By her we have received our files from the city of Mexico to the 2d inst., and from vera Cruz to the 5^th.

And first of all, the revolution so confidently spoken of by the master of the bark Mandarin, as to take place on 3ds inst., did not come off agreeably to announcement. The Vera Cruz papers speak very freely upon the subject. El Locomoto says that if the revolution did not take place, it was only because the leading men engaged in it differed about the measures to be taken; as to principles, they were perfectly of accord. The passage of Gen. Almonte through Vera Cruz, on his way to Havana, afforded an opportunity to communicate with Gen. Santa Ana, which was readily embraced. It goes further, and say that when once the necessary steps have been agreed upon, the revolution will not be long delayed. The same paper of the 2d inst states that in Vera Cruz the Government of Paredes has completely lost all popularity and respect, and that when a revolution was hourly expected, men of all political opinions either openly favored it or remained indifferent—none opposed it.

Private letters have been received in town from a very intelligent source in Vera Cruz, dated the 6^th inst. These attribute the failure of the expected revolution to a disagreement between the Federalists and the Santa Ana party.—They represent every thing as perfectly quiet.

The frigate Potomac arrived at Vera Cruz from Norfolk on the 1^st inst. the American squadron at Sacrificios on the 5^th Inst. was composed of the frigates Cumberland and Potomac, and the sloops Falmouth, St. Mary’s and John Adams.

The Courrier Francais of the 1^st inst. [published in the city of Mexico] announces, upon the authority of a private letter, that the port of Mazatland had been blockaded by the Americans, and that the troops which were to have sailed from San Blas for Mazatlan had been ordered to proceed by land. The Mexican papers say nothing of this, and the Courrier was evidently a good deal incredulous in regard to the matter. Although there can be no foundation for the rumor, it may be well to hear what the editor of the Courrier has to say upon the subject, upon the presumption that the blockade was declared.

“Behold, then, the war broke forth upon the point the most feeble, and yet the most interesting of the Republic! If the announcement of the blockade of Mazatlan be authentic, this first hostile demonstration on the part of the United States menaces directly the Californias, which, cut off from all succor and destitute of real force, cannot fail to succumb at the first blow. And in the midst of these momentous transactions, the soidisant national press is aroused to preach homilies for this or that form of government, to disparage and vilify every man in power, and to suggest incendiary measures, under the guise of proclaiming the union of citizens! Great God 1 how mad is the spectacle before us!”

Senor D. Manuel E. Gorostiza has accepted the portfolio of the Treasury Department, resigned by the former incumbent in consequence of ill health. LA REFORMA asserts that Sr. Gorostiza made it a condition to his acceptance of office that the President should modify the call for the constituent Congress, and abrogate the decree in regard to the press; and that the President acceeded to this. Up to the 2d inst no denial of this had appeared in the Diario Official. El Republicano urges upon the President to retrace his steps, especially his measure towards the press; and reminds him that it is more magnanimous to acknowledge the errors already committed, and pursue a new course, than obstinately to hold our against the clearest manifestations of public opinion.

The two Mexican papers, the Reforma and the ContraTiempo, have been seized by the Government, and Senor Zercero, the editor of the first, and D. Luis Espino, of the second, have been put under arrest. Two military gentlemen, also, have been ordered from the capital under a species of arrest—General Alcorta to repair to Oaxaca, and Capt. Schiafino to San Juan de Ullua. The two editors were proceeded against because they openly demanded the recall of Santa Ana and his restoration to power; the other two individuals had taken a very active part in getting up a protest in favor of the republican system—a protest which was signed by a large number of officers. The republican press is full of indignant rebukes of the course of the Government in pursuing journals devoted to Santa Ana, while it take no step to check El Tiempo, which continues its warm advocacy of monarchical principles, and praises the state of Mexico under the old colonial rule.

We note that the President is gradually effecting a reorganization of the army, almost every paper containing orders for the reduction of one regiment, the creation of another and the like. This clearly evinces distrust of the army under its old officers.

We find in the Mexican papers, continual despatches from Gen. Mejia, detailing proceedings upon the Rio Grande. The examination of numerous deserters from Gen. Taylor’s troops are given to show the American designs, but our advices direct are ten days later than by Vera Cruz, and are quite as authentic as the revelations of deserters.

The primary elections were going on in some of the Departments, but excited little interest. It was even difficult to induce a majority of those possessing the franchise, to exercise it in any way.

The mission of Gen. Almonte to France, has been attributed to a variety of motives, the most plausible of which would appear to be the desire of Paredes to get rid of him; to send him into an honorable exile. The Diario Official, on the contrary, says that the President was induced to make the appointment solely in consequence of the severe illness of the present Minister to France, Senor Garro, and in consideration of the high qualifications of Gen. Almonte, and his familiarity with the controverted points with the U. States. The General had an outfit of $10,000, and an annual salary of the same allotted to him.

The death of D. Manuel Cortazar is announced. He was the treasurer or administrator of the tobacco revenue, and is spoken of as an honest public officer.

The Archbishop of Mexico was seized with apoplexy on the night of the 30^th ult., and his life was at one time despaired of but he was somewhat better on the 2d inst.

The wretch Palacio, who was the principal instigator in the assassination of D. Luis Falconi and his brotherinlaw, and who had been sentenced to death, made his escape from prison at Vera Cruz the morning of the 5^th inst. The authorities were making diligent pursuit for him. His guilt had excited the utmost abhorence towards him.

A report from the military hospital of Vera Cruz, dated the 28^th ult. states that one death had occurred there from yellow fever since the 21^st. There had been but two new cases admitted since that day, and of previous cases four had been discharged. On the 28^th there were five remaining cases under treatment.

Since the 1^st inst., the brigs Plymouth and Orleans, and the French bark Anex, have arrived at Vera Cruz from this port.
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RW46v23i35p4c5, May 1, 1846: From the New Orleans Picayune April 21. Later from Texas.

The steamship Alabama, Capt Windle, arrived yesterday from Galveston with dates to the 18^th inst.—three days later than our former advices. There had been no arrival at Galveston from the Rio Grande, and the Galveston papers are destitute of any intelligence of importance.

The Civillian and Gazette of Saturday last had received a few more reported returns of the Congressional election, and the editor was of opinion that there was scarcely a doubt of the election of Col. Williams.

From the same paper we copy the following resolution, which embodies the substance of a report made by the select committee of the House of Representatives, in the Texas Legislature, to whom was referred the subject of the subject of the public debt and public lands of Texas. This resolution had not been finally acted upon at the date of our last advices. It is the same resolution mentioned by our correspondent “Paul” in a letter of the 1^st inst. from Austin, and the discussion of which he thought would lead to violent excitement:

Resolved, That our delegation in Congress be requested and authorized forthwith to open a negotiation with the Government of the United States, in such form as they may think fit, for the cession of the public lands of Texas to the United States, for an adequate consideration, to enable Texas to pay her public debt; and negotiation to be subject to the ratification of the Legislature of the State of Texas, according to the ordinary forms of legislation.

The following are the classes of debts incurred by the Republic of Texas, included in the bill to be entitled “An act to ascertain and establish the public debt, and to define how the same is to be paid.”

1. All bonds issued by her authority, for which she received par in gold and silver, or its equivalent, together with the interest stipulated to be paid on the face of the bonds, shall be paid at par.

2. All bonds issued under special contract for munitions of war, vessels of war, and naval supplies which continue in first hands, or have not been assigned at a discount, shall be paid atwith the interest stipulated on the face of the bonds, at whatever rate they might have been taken, provided such bonds can be traced to have originated under such special contract, and can be clearly authenticated and identified.

3. The bonds of the Consolidated Fund of Texas, having been funded when the Treasury notes and audited papers were at an average of less than 33 1/3 cents on the dollar, shall be paid at 33 1/3 cents on the dollar, with the interest on the same stipulated to be paid on the face of the bonds from the date of the said bonds to the day of payment.

4. All other certificates of stock under the seal of the Treasury, shall be paid at thrity cents on the dollar, with interest from the date of issue to the date of payment.

5. The average value of Treasury notes and 8 per cent. Bonds, having been from the date of their issue less than twentyfive cents on the dollar, they shall be paid at twentyfive cents on the dollar, with the interest called for on their face; and when no interest is stipulated to be paid on the premissory notes, then with five per cent interest from the 1^st of Feb., 1842, to the day of payment.

6. All audited certificates issued by the Republic for public service or supplies at par, shall be paid at par with interest of five per cent, per annum form date; and all issued at less than par, at the rate at which they were issued with similar interest.

7. All debts or open accounts charged at par, for services or supplies, ascertained and declared valid by law, shall be paid at par, with an interest of five per cent; or if charged at the rates of paper currency, shall be paid at the par rates equivalent.
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RW46v23i36p1c1, May 5, 1846: “The Model Republic.”

Epithets have not unfrequently been thrown out in a derisive and scornful spirit, which became “words to conjure with,” moving masses of men to action with talismanic power. Innumerable instances might be cited, in which terms originally of degradation and reproach have become the watchword and warcry of revolutionary hosts, and have been inscribed with pride upon their victorious banners—thus “returning to plague the inventors.” Is it not possible, at least, that the words at the head of this article, which the April number of Blackwood’s magazine sarcastically adopts as the running title of a long disquisition upon American manners, the design of which is of course to depreciate our national character and to cast odium upon our institutions, may at no distant day be adopted by the oppressed and downtrodden people, even of great Britain, as the prelude to the overthrow of her artificial and corrupt political system, and to the correction of those monstrous abuses in Church and State, which even her most partial eulogists do not hesitate to acknowledge and deplore? May it not happen, that, in despite of all the defects of our own system, either inherent or which have been engrafted upon it by a departure from the just and wise principles upon which it is founded, the toiling millions of Europe, suffering not only the deprivation of political rights, but of physical comforts to an extend undreamed of on this side of the Atlantic, while the favored few, born to a higher destiny, not only monopolize all public distinctions, but revel in luxury and splendor, unknowing or unnoticing the destitution and wretchedness which surround them on e very side—may if not indeed come to pass, that they will take up the words in earnest, which the organ of the British tories has thrown out in derision, and demand the reorganization of the British Government upon the great principles of “equal rights” which constitutes the foundationstone of “THE MODEL REPUBLIC?” Indeed, is not a revolution now in progress in Great Britain? Now a revolution of force, we admit; but a revolution of opinion by which radical changes are in progress, and changes still more radical are ultimately to ensue, in the very constitution and frame work of her institutions, affecting ultimately her social not less powerfully than her political system? To what cause is this strong and resistless tendency of opinion to be mainly ascribed? Certainly to the light which has been thrown upon the subject of human rights, by the brilliant example of “the Model Republic”—a light, which as it shall be more widely diffused, will unveil still more extensively and clearly the monstrous abuses under which the hereditary bondsmen of Europe have so long despairingly groaned, and excite them to renewed, and in the end successful efforts, to throw off the yoke of the oppressor.

The recent debate in Congress on the existing relations between the United States and Great Britain, has furnished Blackwood with the text upon which it descants with such unction touching the defects of American institutions, and the vices of American statesmen. Some of the speeches which it cites, in corroboration of its opinions, we confess are far from being models either of sense, temper or taste. But is it fair to select the most objectionable portions of the worst speeches of the most violent men in Congress as specimens of American statesmanship? From the debates of the British Parliament examples not less coarse and vulgar might be selected, in which an American commentator might find a text not less apt for his purposes, if it were fair thus to deduce from occasional exhibitions of bad taste and temper inferences prejudicial to the character of a nation, and to the influence of its institutions in forming and modifying that character.

Blackwood’s Magazine, however, is not singular in its efforts to depreciate our institutions and to defame our reputation. The London Times, not unfrequently of late, indulges in these ribald assaults. One of its bitterest articles, in which, after characterizing the speech of ExPresident Adams as “the ravings of a moonstruck madman,” it proceeds to comment in terms of great severity upon the proceedings of our Government, which it says is “too feeble to restrain bad impulses” has drawn forth a brief and eloquent reply from an American citizen, which the Times, with unwonted candor and courtesy, publishes in its own columns. And it was chiefly for the purpose of introducing that pungent article to our readers, that we have been led into these remarks upon the vituperative and sneering disquisition of the coadjutor of the Times in the congenial work of national defamation. If the English papers will continue top open their columns to such manly vindications of the “the Model Republic” as that which we subjoin from the London Times, the period will be rapidly accelerated when it will in truth be regarded, even in England, as a model of which its framers need not be ashamed, and after which British patriots will be proud to fashion their own system.

To the Editors of the Times: Sir,Among other reasons for thinking our Government “too feeble to restrain bad impulses, and our population too excitable to be conscious of consequences," ” "moonstruck madman's” speech and the manner in which it was listened to in the United States House of Representatives, seem with you to rank among the foremost. Without stopping to inquire whether it is his “much learning that has made him mad,.” If Mr. Quincy Adams be really mad (for learning even if his wits be disordered, he possesses to a degree seldom equalled in Europe or America) and without uttering a suspicion, that the superstructure, reared on such a crazy foundation, may be unsound, allow me to ask in what, and on what occasion, the general government at Washington has exhibited feebleness, and wherein has our population betrayed an excitability which is regardless of consequences?

Since we came into being, which was but as yesterday in the history of nations, it can be said without a boast, that there is not a quarter of the globe that will not bear witness to the strength and energy of our Executive in its foreign relations. Were we not the first to refuse tribute to the Algerine, while Europe was laying its black mail sat his feet? Did we follow or lead in declaring and making the slave trade subject to the penalties of piracy—which was at least one step towards purgation from the black plague inherited from our ancestors? Was our claim upon the kingdom of Naples for indemnification suffered to grow weak through age? Had France any repose till the $25,000,000 were paid? And in these latter days, was not Texas annexed in spite of foreign interference?

But perhaps the feeble nature of our Government developes itself only at home. Well, then, at home.Did it not quell a most portentous insurrection in Pennsylvania, and that, too, while its powers were in their infancy, without sheeding a single drop of blood? Did it not, in its full strength, stifle South Carolina’s nullification scheme with a menace? Did it not easily crush a monster bank conspiracy? And finally, has it not recently, in scorn of domestic opposition, added a new territory to its own?

Should weakness in the art of defence ever be charged against it, the voices from English graves throughout the country, honored wherever found, would induce many not to gainsay the slander. And if its power of offence be doubted or forgotten, not the wide ocean alone, but your very channels, whose waves almost kiss the lintels of your doors, could, if their records were not written in water, bear witness to its reality. The smoke, too, from many a richly laden convoy, was wafted too often, with a not sweet smelling savour, to the nostrils of their armed but too distant guardians, to convict the aggressors of inoffensiveness.

As to the excitability of a population, no part of which corresponds to the English mob or the French canailla, and to none of whose members the common rudiments of education are strange, it is vain to speculate on its evil results; for intelligence goes hand in hand with it, and the cool, calculating spirit of my countrymen, is a sufficient guarantee, that it will never lead them into danger.

Tried by the Procrustean standard of Europe, I doubt not that we should often be pronounced out of measure, and that even upon the floor of Congress certain scenes might be curtailed to advantage; but that “one branch of the most important legislative assembly of the new world should listen with interest and excitement” to our “lunatic” exPresident’s most original exhibition ought no more to raise your wonder, than that the House of Commons should be amused by a ludicrous description of a noble lord’s coalhole escapade, or that it should now and then uuproariously cheer on “Young England’s” champion, to badger a man who is to him like Jupiter to a rejected entellite.

As in common with my countrymen here, I no longer regard the Oregon question as a war question, with your permission, I will add a line or two respecting what is described by you to be “the threatning state of our relations with Mexico.” Your intelligent correspondent in that unhappy country might have told you, that as against a more powerful antagonist it is more helpless than a wailing child, whether for offence or defence, because it is like a “house divided against itself;” that it can no more prevent the flood of emigration from the States into California, and its consequences, be they what they may, than could the red man close his forests against the inundation of the whites; and that, though it may declare war till it is “hoarse with calling,” it can never make, it unless perchance, which I do not suspect, some European nations come to its aid, and then, without time even to see the forecast shadow of coming events, one universal howl of war, on both sides of the Atlantic, will for many a year be heard, smothering in its death echo the voice of peace.

Our “democratic pretences,” I sincerely believe, are entirely misunderstood in Europe, especially as they regard territory. We want none of your possessions, and Canada we should be must less thankful for than yourselves would be to get honorably rid of a colony, which is ravenous as a horseleech and ungrateful as its own soil.

No! pretences, unjust pretences, if they have an existence, time will show that they are not on our side. But in the eyes of some, because we are professed Republicans, and having power, choose to use it as to us seems best, we therefore and our claims are arrogance itself; and, because we will not that kings or nobles should have dominion over us, we are for that reason “of the earth earthly,” and on the high road to anarchy and confusion. What is most “strange and unnatural” is, that it is not those who are divinely hedged about and stand in high places, that are in general our selfdeluded or malicious traducers; but mere men, unnoble and untitled men like ourselves, who, having sucked in their mother’s with milk an over weening reverence for rank, cannot bear to see others, void of sympathy for their weakness, asserting and maintaining the dignity of their common nature.

Most respectfully, your obedient servant,
A “STATES” MAN

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RW46v23i36p1c2, May 5, 1846: News Expected.

We have received no New Orleans papers since Thursday morning last. The last Charleston Mercury, however, copies a paragraph from the new Orleans Picayune of the 24^th ultimo, announcing that the Mexican schooner Ventura was in the river below, said to have on board a bearer of important dispatches. The next mail will probably bring us additional particulars.
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RW46v23i36p1c2, May 5, 1846: Forthcoming work on Mexico.

The Washington correspondent of the Philadelphia North American informs us that Gen. Waddy Thompson, formerly a distinguished member of Congress from South Carolina, and late our Minister at Mexico, has now in press, to be issued with the present month, a book containing the recollections of his residence in that unhappy and interesting country. All who know Gen. Thompson will concur in the opinion, expressed by the American’s correspondent, that few public men possess in so eminent a degree the requisites for an attractive, useful and instructive work of this sort as that gentleman; and we know of no country in reference to the real character and condition of which authentic information is more desirable and necessary than that of Mexico—of which, although our nearest neighbor, there is an universal ignorance.
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RW46v23i36p2c1, May 5, 1846: “Democratic” Principles.

In an elaborate address “to the people,” reviewing the events of the year that has elapsed since his removal from Richmond toi preside over the Executive Organ, the Editor of the Washington Union congratulates himself that he has labored with honesty and singleness of purpose to support “the true principles of the a ncient and wellestablished democratic creed.” We are not disposed to question either his zeal or his ability in the vindication of every Executive recommendation; and if that b e, as from the events of the last sixteen years we may legitimately infer, the test of modern democracy, it is impossible to doubt his fidelity to the great principle—submission to Executive dictation—which constitutes the leading feature of the creed of the party which has cunningly appropriated to itself a popular appellation, to the influence of which, in despite of the unpopularity of many of its measures, it is indebted for its repeated triumphs.

“The true principles of the ancient and wellestablished democratic creed!” What are they? We are aware that certain cabalistic terms are in vogue among our opponents, to which they will refer us, with a triumphant air, as an answer to this question—such as “Revenue Tariff,” “divorce of Bank and State,” “strict construction,” and the like. But whose mind is so obtuse as not to see that these phrases, though constituting the shibboleth of the party, have practically no clear and well defined signification? In reference to the Tariff, the very scheme just introduced into the House of Representatives, as an Administration measure, violates throughout the definition of a Revenue Tariff given by the Address of the Virginia Democratic Convention held in this city in 1843, and which has since been reiterated times without number by recognized leaders and organs of that party: and, even thus modified, it is admitted to be questionable whether the Administration party, overshelming as is its ascendancy in the House of Representatives, and decisive as is its amjority in the Senate, will be able to consummate the overthrow of the existing system. How happens this, if indeed a tariff discriminating alone for revenue and against protection be, as the Union asserts, one of the “true principles of the ancient and well established democratic creed?” Is it not, rather, because it is an innovation upon the uniform policy of the Government since its foundation—a policy which, looking to the development of our national wealth and power, by the protection afforded to national industry, received the sanction and approval of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, embracing the whole line of Revolutionary Presidents, and emphatically the Fathers of the Constitution,to say nothing of their successors, (including Jackson and Van Buren, the apostles of modern democracy,) all of whom, without exception, unless the present Chief Magistrate constitute that exception, were avowedly, as their written opinions and votes demonstrate, in favor of a Protective Tariff? This “principle,” therefore, is neither “ancient” nor “well established.” It is, on the contrary, an attempt—we hope an abortive attempt—to subvert a policy as old as the Government itself—a policy under the benign effects of which this Republic, which but yesterday was in the swaddlingclothes of infancy, has so rapidly acquired Herculean stature and strength, and has been enabled to take its position among the leading Powers of the world,if not the first, soon to assume that rank unless her energies be fettered and cramped by the injudicious legislation of those who would go to Birmingham and Leeds, rather than to Lowell and Pittsburg, for ploughs to till the soil, and for garments to clothe the laborers who cultivate it.

Still less can it be even plausibly pretended that the idea of “divorcing Bank and State,” by the establishment of a SubTreasury, in which the surplus revenues of the Government are to be locked up, (though, by the way, under their “revenue system,” a deficiency rather than a surplus is to be apprehended,) is one of the “true principles of the ancient and well established democratic creed.” We need only refer to the files of the Richmond Enquirer, nine years ago, then conducted by the present Editor of the Union, to show, that so far from being entitled to be so regarded, it was at that time denounced by himself as a dangerous innovation upon the “ancient and well established” principles of the Republican creed. Indeed, we have some reason to doubt whether the Editor of the Union has yet become a convert to the wisdom and expediency of a system borrowed from barbarian and despotic governments—for, in the address to which we have referred, he touches it as gingerly as if he were handling hot iron. “The country,” he believes, “has resolved to adopt it.” It was promulgated as one of the important measures of the Baltimore Convention.” But he does not say that he is any more in favor now, than he was in 1837, of strengthening, by its adoption, the Executive power, already too great for a Republic, and of adding to its overgrown patronage—or that he wishes to see two currencies established, the better for the Government, and the more worthless for the people. Confessedly, then, this is neither an “ancient” nor a “well established” principle, either of the “democratic” or of any other creed—for although the Washington Globe, in 1833, pronounced this now favorite measure of the democracy a “foul federal conception,” it thereby grossly slandered a party, which, whatever may be the sins of which it was guilty, at no time entertained the design of separating the government from the people, by the introduction of a financial system which is equally at war with the spirit of the age and with the genius of free government.

“Strict construction” is, we admit, an ancient and w ell established principle of the old Republican party; but, judging the tree by its fruit, we are constrained to deny that the modern democracy, of which the Union is the metropolitan organ, has any especial and peculiar right to array itself under a banner upon which those words are inscribed. They are, indeed, sufficiently rigid in the interpretation of the Constitution when they would thwart the purposes or impugn the orthodoxy of their opponents. But when they wish to carry a measure, who has ever seen them hesitate to overleap a constitutional barrier, or deficient in the ingenuity so to torture its provisions as to sanction their designs? We need only refer to their final action upon the Texas question, to show how little they regard any impediment to the consummation of an object which they desire to accomplish. Never before, we venture to assert, were the provisions of the Constitution so violently wrested from their true intent and meaning as in the measures adopted on that occasion, (rest of article unreadable).
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RW46v23i36p2c2, May 5, 1846: Our Army on the Rio Grande.

We have before alluded to the critical position of our little army on the Rio Grande, and to the danger of a hostile collision with the Mexican forces on the opposite bank. The Charleston Mercury closes an article animadverting with some severity upon the foreign policy of Mr. Polk, [whom, having aided to elect it has a right to castigate—the Chinese, we are told, some times whip their gods,] with the following remarks:

“Nor can we see the wisdom of his policy in sending the army of the United States to the Rio Grande. Did he fear that the Mexicans would invade Texas, or that we could not at any time take possession of just as much of Texas as we pleased to call by that name? The camp at Corpus Christi was far beyond any American settlements, and therefore a far more efficient point for their protection than further off. And if it was expedient, for some cause which we cannot divine, to send our army to the Rio Grande, why order them to pitch their tents directly opposite Matamoras, with their cannon pointing into the town? Is there no other position along that mighty river where our troops could be accommodated whilst our rights were maintained? This course looks very like a determination to provoke a war with Mexico. But whether this is the intention or not, most clearly this is the tendency. Every army, great or small, is always eager for war. If the American army on the Rio Grande does not get up a fight with the Mexicans, in spite of all pacific instructions, it will be little short of a miracle.”
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RW46v23i36p2c5, May 5, 1846: From the N. O. Picayune LATER FROM MEXICO

The Mexican schooner Ventura, Captain Durantez, arrived at this port yesterday from Vera Cruz, having sailed thence on the 10^th inst. Our files are but two days later from the capital or Vera Cruz, than we had previously received, and they contain little of interest. So far as we can learn, nothing had occurred to change the aspect of affairs in the country.

We perceive that the Government is determined to be ready to meet Santa Ana, should the exPresident determine to return, as we have not doubt he will do. It may be known that criminal proceedings were instituted against Santa Ana for his transactions just prior to the revolution which hurled him from power. The proceedings in the case have been published by order of the Supreme Court, and they make a pamphlet of 130 pages. A general circulation of these may, it is thought, have some influence on the minds of the people, and prepare them for any measure of severity which the Government may take against Santa Ana.

A new paper called El Puritano, publishes two letters from Gen. Santa Ana to Gen. Tornel, Secretary of War. The first was written from Perote, at the moment Santa Anna was about setting forth from his imprisonment to leave the country. The second is dated the 9^th March last from Cerro, his retreat near Havana. It is sufficiently curious to be deserving a free translation:

“MY ESTEEMED FRIEND AND COMPANION—Your entrance into the War Department has been much applauded, and I join with the nation in congratulations upon it; especially as it will enable you to give your active services in the matter of the Texas question and the other frontier departments. WHO KNOWS BETTER THAN YOU THE INTENTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?

“You have done well in accepting the portfolio of war, as it will enable you in a measure to reciprocate the kind offices of Senor Paredes, extended to you at the melancholy crisis of your banishment. You know well, that the noble and generous conduct of that General to yourself and other friends of mine reconciled me with him, and I have not hesitated to express as much in my correspondence with others.

“By that course of conduct he entitled himself to every consideration from me, and to a certain point repaid the solicitous kindness which he received during his severe and critical illness at Toluca. You will recollect that one of my aidsdecamp was charged with visiting and attending upon him, extending to him at the same time the pecuniary assistance called for by his situation.

“I know not for what Providence has reserved me; but whatever may be my lot, I live in the enjoyment of the sweet idea that the day will come when justice shall triumph, and when not only my innocence shall be acknowledged, but my policy vindicated, which you well know was always inspired by the purest patriotism. In nothing does my conscience upbraid me; I live in peace, notwithstanding that I eat without salt the bread of exile. I shall never solicit a return to my beloved country; and should events ever restore me to her bosom, it will be only to serve her, and to shed the little blood which is left in me ion defence of her liberties and in defeating foreign influences, direct or indirect.

“Present my profound respects to Madame, your wife, and count always upon the affection of your old friend and companion. A. L. DE SANTA ANA.”

The impertubable impudence of the above is so characteristic, that we believe the letter to be genuine; its grossness led us at first to think it a hoax. Presuming it to be genuine, we argue from it that Santa Ana will be in Mexico by the time it has been sufficiently circulated.

La Reforma of the 28^th ult. says that orders have been given to the administrator of the mails from Jalappa and Vera Cruz, that any extraordinary courier from the latter port to the capital should be strictly detained at Puebla, and the drivers even are enjoined to preserve silence as to what may transpire at Vera Cruz. This may be an invention of La Reforma, but it shows what men are thinking about in the capital, and that Paredes knows well from what quarter danger threatens.

It is mentioned in the papers that the President has increased very considerably the detachment assigned to guard his residence, as if he were not without apprehension of difficulties in the city of Mexico.

The Mexican papers now deny the blockade of Mazatlan, and tell a long story to show how the rumor was started.

Mention is also made of an ineffectual attempt of the Indians in the South of Mexico, to get up an insurrection of purposes of rapine and plunder.

The press in the Department of Durango still complain of Indian outrages such as robbery and murder, and suggest that the only remedy for the evil is the reestablishment of the old presidial guards.

The papers abound with more than usual complaints of the insecurity of the public roads for travellers.
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RW46v23i36p4c1, May 5, 1846: SATURDAY MORNING, MAY 2,1846, “Oregon Controversy Settled.”

Under this imposing caption we transferred to our last paper, without comment, an article from the New York Journal of Commerce, announcing, in the most positive and unqualified manner, the adjustment of the Oregon question—that is to say, that the preliminaries have been informally agreed upon, with the concurrence of both parties, and that it now only remains to embody them in a treaty, and give them the sanction of the usual official forms. This information the Journal professes to have obtained from letters received by the Great Western “from high sources,” stating that the latitude of 49 to the Straits of Fuca, and thence through said Straits to the Pacific, leaving the whole of Vancouver’s Island to Great Britain, and the navigation off the Columbia for a term of years, had been agreed upon as the basis of the treaty of pacification.

The Journal is not in the habit of heedlessly throwing out important statements of this character, from the silly ambition of anticipating its cotemporaries, or for the more reprehensible purpose of affecting the stock market, and enabling the “Bulls” to prey upon the “Bears.” At the first blush, therefore, we were indisposed to question the accuracy of its statement. But subsequent reflection induces us to apprehend that it has been itself misled, and that “its wish is father to the thought.” It may be, indeed, as the Enquirer of yesterday, commenting on the Journal’s article, remarks, that there is “some probability of the prospective realization of the settlement described;” but we cannot believe that it has yet been concurred in by the high contracting parties. It is not probable, certainly, in the first place, that, during the pendencey of the discussion on this subject, in the American Congress, and while it was yet uncertain what would be the character of its final action, the British Government would resume the negotiation, t wice before asbruptly broken off, by submitting a new proposition; and they have not had time to do so, of course, since the a doption of the joint resolution. And in the next place, the e ditorials of the Official Journal, within a few days past, urging the Senate, in a somewhat imperious tone,m promptly to follow up the notice, “by carrying out the other measures recommended by the President in relation to Oregon,” the most important of which, extending the jurisdiction of our laws over our citizens in Oregon, has already passed the House of Representatives, satisfy us that the editor of that paper could not have been in possession of this information, upon which the Journal so confiently relies, and which, if it had been well founded, we take it for granted, must have reached Washington prior to the publication of the last of them. If a treaty be formed upon the basis stated by the Journal of Commerce, the “other measures” referred to, though still to some extent necessary, must be materially modified—and the “Union,” would therefore scarcely have exhibited such feverish anxiety for the speedy action of Congress upon the bills in their present shape, had it been aware that the outlines of a treaty, rendering some of their provisions inapplicable, and precipitation in all of them both unnecessary and unwise, had been already agreed upon.

The article in the last London Quarterly Review, which seems to be regarded as semiofficial in its character, indicating a considerable abatement of British pretensions and an earnest desire to adjust the controversy peaceably, in connection with other significant circumstances, leaves us but little room to doubt that both the British Government and the British people are willing to make a treaty upon the basis suggested in the article of the Journal of Commerce. Supposing that difficulty removed, there is of course no reason to apprehend a hostile issue, if our own Government is prepared to assent to terms of compromise, which, however just in themselves, fall so far short of the high ground heretofore assumed by the President and his Cabinet. We have felt serious apprehensions that here would be found the great obstacle to the pacific settlement of the controversy. These apprehensions have been to some extent relieved, we confess, by the remark, in yesterday’s Enquirer, [to which we hope we do not give more weight than it is entitled,] that “there may be some probability of the prospective realization of the settlement described” by the Journal of Commerce. While, therefore, we think the annunciation of the Journal premature, we are not without hope that it truly foreshadows coming events.
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RW46v23i36p4c1, May 5, 1846: Gen. James Hamilton.

This distinguished gentleman, in a letter addressed to the President of the Senate of Texas, explanatory of his last connection with the affairs of that Republic, urges the transfer of the Public Lands to the Government of the U. States, as the means of enabling Texas to meet all her obligations, which he says she is entirely able to do by a wise management of her resources. The General declares, in the same letter, that the federal government has no right to take the Custom Houses of Texas under its control, because the revenue from this source was pledged to the creditors of the defunct Republic before the ordinances of annexation was passed! This is one of those vagaries, smelling somewhat rankly of Nullification, by which General Hamilton has before rendered his opinions more notorious than respected.
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RW46v23i36p4c3, May 5, 1846: Texas not a Paradise.

Ye restless and dissatisfied; you who are disposed to abandon your pleasant and prosperous homes, in the vain hope of finding in an untried wilderness, and earthly paradise, who have heard of the flowers, but not of the thorns; who have been told of the balmy breezes, but not of the freezing siroccos of Texas, read and ponder well the sad revelations of the unadorned truth, briefly shadowed forth in the following from and intelligent and well informed source:

From the Charleston Evening News. CORPUS CHRISTI, (Texas,) Jan. 25.

The people of the United States have been, and still are, egregiously gulled by scripholders and editors respecting the character of this country. I should be amused in reading the eulogistic descriptions which are to be found in almost every newspaper respecting the climate, the productions, and the general capabilities of Texas, were it not for the indignation which I feel in reflecting on the very many worthy families that will be ruined by such barefaced misrepresentations. There is no district in all Texas, from the Sabine to the Rio Grande, with the general character of which I have not made myself pretty well acquainted. This I did by making it a business to crossexamine intelligent persons who had visited one or more of all those districts. One of the conclusions which I derive from my inquiries is, that, taking Texas in its totality, there is no region in the United States, containing the same number of square miles, that is not intrinsically much more valuable. Another is, that no district of ten miles square can be found within the widest limits of Texas which combines the advantages of good land, good water, good timber, good health, and good navigation. Ninetenths of the whole country (at the lowest calculation) consist of prairie wastes, which, for many substantial reasons, must remain for centuries to come, if not forever and uncultivated wilderness, fit only for animals to inhabit. It is almost exclusively on the banks of a few paltry rivers, which are said to be navigable, that good timber is to be found; and even on them only narrow strips, which do not generally average over three hundred yards in breadth. The lands on the margins of those rivers are generally very rich, but almost every year they are extensively overflowed, and subsequently visited by fevers of a most deadly type. In addition to all this, the seasons in Texas are unquestionable worse than those of any country in the United States. The rainy season prevails here during the winter months, when rains are not wanted, and from April till September there pretty regularly prevails an unremitting drought. The consequence is that experienced planters do not calculate on making more than one out of three crops; and it is not always that they can make so large a proportion. I was told the following anecdote yesterday by a gentleman who attempted, during four years to sustain himself by planting on the bank of the “Gaudalupe,” near Victoria, which is one of the richest, the best located, and most lauded positions in all Texas. He told me that he planted on high ground, which was very rich, the first year; and that his crop was entirely burnt up by the drought. The second year he planted on the low river bottom lands, and succeeded in making a crop. The third and fourth years he planted in the same land, and each year his crop was totally destroyed by the floods.—He said, moreover, that the only crop which never failed was bilious fever, and that this flourished abundantly in his family every year as regularly as July came.”

The climate of Texas, like every thing else, has been greatly misrepresented. The tremendous “northers” which prevail every few days, during the winter months, and which sweep unbroken from the Rocky Mountains, over the prairie regions of this wilderness country, frequently reducing the mercury to twenty degrees, give one a strange idea of “tropical” Texas! These, together with cold pelting rains, dense fogs, relieved by a few scattering fair days, present the true bill of fair of the winter season in the most tropical portion of Texas! In summer there prevails dreadful droughts, which generally commence in April and continue unremittingly till September. These droughts are accompanied, four days out of five, with blustering, parching sirocco winds, which occasion such excessive evaporation as to destroy any species of young tree; and it is probably to this circumstance that Texas owes it prairie character. I have seen several attempts made to raise sugar cane in this part of country, but they all prove signal failures. The cane, though planted in the richest land, was so stunned by the powerful evaporating winds, as not to acquire one half the size of ordinary cane by the 28^th November, when it was utterly destroyed by a frost, which reduced the mercury to 20 degrees. It is said that some good sugar crops have been made on the Brasos, and on the rifer north and east of this; but it would take ocular demonstration to convince me that a full sugar crop ever has been or ever will be made in any portion of the country between the Sabine and the Rio Grande. I need scarcely inform you that orange trees and other tropical productions will never be seen (except as curiosities) in a country whose climate is so inclement that a blackjack tree dares not show its head. But, supposing that the unavailable prairies which form nearly the whole of southern and western Texas (alias tropical “Texas”) were rich, well timbered, well watered lands, with good navigation and a seasonable climate, instead of being, as they are timberless; unwatered, landlocked deserts, subject to irregular and most inclement seasons, would it even then, I ask, be advisable for southern planters to emigrate here?—Most assuredly not, unless they wished to lose all their negroes, and then cultivate, by free labor, lands to which they would have precarious titles. The insecurity of slave property is so great in the southern and western portions of Texas, that no man in his senses would risk a large gang of negroes south of the Colorado, even did he find their labor profitable, which he most assuredly would not. It is only necessary for a negro in this region of the country to mount one of the mustangs, which are always and every where at hand, and in less than fortyeight hours he is irrecoverably lost to his owner; for he has only to cross the Rio Grande in order to be a freeman, and on a perfect equality with his adopted countrymen.

I have not space to say half that I wish to say about Texas, and must therefore conclude here for the present, and I may probably renew the subject in another communication.
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RW46v23i36p4c6, May 5, 1846: THE ARMY.

Official accounts from the “Army of Occupation,” to the 15^th of April, inclusive, have been received at Washington. The United States and Mexican armies were still posted on opposite sides of the Rio Grande; bur no collision had taken place, and none was seriously apprehended.
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RW46v23i37p1c2, May 8, 1846: Benton and Polk.

We have heretofore informed our readers that Colonel Benton’s speech on the Oregon question, in reply to Gen. Cass, had given great dissatisfaction to the ultra Oregon papers in the West, the remarks of one of which we have already quoted. Another, [the Jacksonian, published at Rushville,] declares that, “He has passed the Rubicon; it is time that every Democratic press should speak of him as he deserves—to unmask his plans and lay bare his treachery. It were better it had been done before. He is travelling in the path of the Rivers, the Tallmadges, and others, that have heretofore SLOUGHED OFF. He will soon reach THEIR level.”

All of them, however, do not exhibit this vindictive and unforgiving temper. Some of them remember that in times past, the Missouri Senator has rendered good service to the Locofoco cause; and even if he had now grown somewhat lukewarm, or if his position were somewhat dubious, the most vindictive of his assailants might, it seems to us, find some palliation for his lack of zeal and firmness in the vaccillating policy of the President himself on the Oregon question, whose position is at least as equivocal as that of Mr. Benton. So thinks the Lafayette [Indiana] Courier, which, in a tone of amusing simplicity, remarks:

“Mr. Benton’s views on the Oregon question differ from those of Gen. Cass, perhaps of Mr. Polk; but they are views that are coincided in by thousands of Democrats all over the Union, and therefore, he forsooth, is to be accused of playing the traitor and abandoning his party.”

“Perhaps of Mr. Polk!” There is a world of meaning in the phrase. It shows that even the friends of the President are at a loss to decide,oscillating like a pendulum as he has been between 54 40 and 49,where he stands upon this great question, in reference to which, although he has written much, he has s aid only enough to obscure his real designs from the most penetrating eye—if, indeed he knows his own mind two days together, which is very reasonably doubted.
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RW46v23i37p1c3, May 8, 1846: From the New Orleans Tropic , Extra, April 29. LATE FROM TEXAS.

The steamship New York, Capt. Phillips, has just arrived, bringing Galveston papers of the 27^th, and dates from the Army to the 22d. The following persons came passengers:

U. S. Army,Gen. Worth, Col. Coffin, Col. Fisher, Col. Waite, Col. Watts, Major Van Ness, Major March, Capt. Duncan, Capt. McLellard, Capt. Whitehead, and Capt. Cobuin, Lieut. Root, Dr. Robinson, Dr. Rain, and seventeen discharged U. S. soldiers.

The iron propeller Hunter, which sailed from Brasos St. Jago in company with the steamer Col. Harney for this port, arrived off Galveston Bar on the 27^th, eleven days out, with loss of smokepipe and short of fuel. She had encountered very heavy weather, having once been within seventy miles of the Pass and obliged to put back on account of head winds.

We take the subjoined article from the Galveston News of the 24^th:
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RW46v23i37p1c3, May 8, 1846: Later from the Army of Occupation.

The schooner L. M. Hitchcock, Capt. Wright, arrived yesterday morning, having left Brasos St. Iago last Sunday. We are indebted for the following information to Col. March, who came on board the Hitchcock, having left the camp of Gen. Taylor on the 15^th inst.

Our former intelligence by the Hitchcock, in regard to the movement of the army to a position three or four miles below Matamoras, was materially incorrect. On the morning of the 10^th ult, when Gen. Taylor found himself exposed to the enemy’s fire, with his right and left unprotected in consequence of the peculiar bends of the river, he ordered one division of his army to take position in the bend above and the bend below the town, while with the main army he maintained his first position, where he still remains. Gen. T. has used all diligence to strengthen his position, by throwing up breastworks, by entrenchments, fortifications, &c., and the Mexican General Ampudia, has been equally industrious in fortifying the town defensively keeping his soldiers employed night and day. Gen. Taylor’s heavy ordinance of eighteen pounders, are said to be situated within point blank shot of Gen. Ampudia’s house in the middle of the city, at a distance of 300 yards. Thus the two armies have been situated for upwards of 2 weeks up to our present dates, neither having committed any positive act of hostility, upon the other. On the 10^th inst., Col. Cross, commissary General of the army, rode out by himself about 10 o’clock in the morning, to the house of a German, about two miles from the army, where, (as was afterwards ascertained,) he was taken prisoner, by a party of Mexican Rancheros. As soon as he was missing, Gen. Taylor sent a detachment of men, who scoured the country in search of him, but to no purpose.

Two or three days after Captain May, of the 2^nd Dragoons, took a runaway negro in the neighborhood of the same place where Col. Cross was captured; and from this negro the above information of the taking of Col. Cross was obtained. Immediately after Gen. Taylor sent a messenger to the Mexican General requesting information whether Colonel Cross was a prisoner with him or not. The next day Gen. Ampudia sent several officers to the American camp with the answer that they knew nothing of Colonel Cross, but they had made Lieut. Deas a prisoner. This officer, it appears, had previously crossed the river [but without orders] in search of Colonel Cross, (who was his particular friend,) and had fallen into the hands of the Mexicans. Much uncertainty and many surmises prevail in regard to the fate of Colonel Cross. But the more probable opinion appears to be that his capture was authorized by, and unknown to Ampudia; and it is to be feared that he has been murdered by the party of by whom he was taken, and his horse, money and clothing divided among them.

On the 14^th, Gen. Ampudia sent a formal notice to Gen. Taylor, ordering him to leave his present position within 24 hours, and to evacuate the whole territory west of the Nueces, or that has refusal would be considered a declaration of war. Gen. T. immediately returned for answer, that his orders were to maintain his position on the east bank of the river, and that he should do so, especially as the roads were muddy, and as it was unpleasant retreating at this season. Shortly after the reception, of this answer, the Mexican army partially withdrew from the town, and a portion of the troops disappeared from the west bank of the river. Thus closes the last act of the drama as far as the enemy is quite as inexplicable to Gen. Taylor as to every body else. Colonel March informs as that a report has been put in circulation, that the threatened hostilities are only suspended till the first of June, then to be renewed, we suppose, with redoubled energy and still more slaughter.

Gen. Taylor is prosecuting the fortifications at Point Isabel, with steady perseverance.

Before he returned the above answer to Ampudia, he ordered the blockade of Matamoros, and directed the commanders of the Flirt and Lawrence to enforce it strictly, which was accordingly done. A vessel, with a cargo of flour, having been waiting some time for a fair wind to enter the port, was the first to suffer from this measure, and was compelled to leave the market, where flour is now, worth $40 per bbl.

The Texas Congressional election was yet undecided. The Houston Star thinks there is little doubt that Judge Pillbury is elected. The Galveston News thinks the chances are in favor of Col. Williams.

The Galveston News of the 24^th, says—The Telegraph, Capt. Auld, arrived last night from the Brasos St. Iago, and four days later from the Army of Occupation. This steamship left Brasos St. Iago at 10 o'clock, A. M., day before yesterday, being only 28 hours out. The Captain has kindly furnished us with some memoranda, stating that on the 19^th inst., Lieut. Porter of the 4^th Regiment, (son of the late Commodore Porter,) being out with a fatigue party of ten men, (some of them wearing uniform,) were tired upon when within a few miles of the camp.

Lieut. Porter and three of his men were killed, in the attack, the rest of the party escaping returned to the camp next day. It is stated that the guns of the Americans were wet and would not fire. We see no explanation given why this party of soldiers should be ranging about the country with guns that would not fire.

Lieut. Van Ness informs us that nothing further had been heard of Col. Cross up to the 19^th, but that the general opinion is that he is still a prisoner, though not at Matamoras.

About fifty of the American army have deserted and swam the river for the Mexican camp, but a number of them were shot as deserters while in the water. The whole number of American troops is estimated at between two and three thousand, and they are said to be in excellent discipline, and eager for an engagement with the enemy.—Ampudia’s forces are reported at between three and four thousand. It is rumored that Arista is about to supercede Ampudia in the command.

The Telegraph left at Brasos St. Iago, barque Wm. Iry, brig Apalachicola and schooners Wm. Bryan, Aurora, Arispa, Invincible, Gen. Worth and the steam schooner Augusta and several others, names unknown.

Laying outside the bar, schooner Florida and schooner Waterman, unable to get in for want of water.
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RW46v23i37p1c3, May 8, 1846: Still Later. From the Galveston News, Extra.

We may here remark that it is now understood as a fact that Ampudia is already superseded by Arista, from whom we may expect the next proclamation. This General is admitted to be an officer of character, good sense and prudence, and whatever proceeds from him will be entitled to some consideration.

In our summary of news by the steamship Telegraph, we omitted to state what may be of some importance, viz: that Gen. Ampudia, in his answer to the inquiries of Gen. Taylor concerning Col. Cross, expressly disavowed any acts of hostility that might have been or might hereafter be committed by Mexicans on this side of the river, stating that all such acts were unauthorized by him or his Government.
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RW46v23i37p1c3, May 8, 1846: From the N. O. Picyune, (Extra,) April 29. Thirteen days later from Mexico.

The brig Orleans, Capt. Patterson, arrived at this port this morning from Vera Cruz, having sailed thence on the 23d inst. She brings us our files of papers to the 22d from Vera Cruz, and to the 18^th from the city of Mexico.

Every thing was still quiet in the Captiol and Vera Cruz, so far as any outbreak in favor of Santa Anna was concerned, but the minds of all men were ripe for a revolution. Letters had been received at Vera Cruz from the City of Mexico, stating that Gen. Alvarez had raised the standard of revolt in the Southern part of the Department of Mexico; proclaimed the Federal Constitution; and declared himself in favor of the recall of Gen. Santa Ana. No details upon this subject are given in the papers, but El Locomotor of the 22d has no doubt of the fact of a revolution having broken out as alleged.

The latest accounts received at Vera Cruz of the military operations on the Rio Grande were only to the 31^st of March. Our advices are several weeks later

The Mexican Governmentis said to have sold its two war steamers, the Montezuma and Guadalupe, to Manning & McIntosh, an English house. The price is said to have been $640,000. Various speculations were indulged us to the object of this sale. The steamers were to proceed immediately to Havanna—some reports say to bring over the Spanish Prince destined to fill the throne of Mexico; others as confidently predict that Santa Ana would return in one of them—in a few weeks, too. On this subject we are left entirely to conjecture.

From various representations which have been made to us, we are convinced that the policy of the Government of Paredes is controlled entirely by the English. Americans in Vera Cruz entertain no doubt whatever that a settlement of the difficulties between Mexico and the United States would have been arranged long ago, but for the interference of the English Minister, but now they do not look for peace until there has been a trial of strength between the two countries—until, in fact, San Juan de Ulua shall be reduced.

In regard to this fortress, it is now rendered almost certain that it cannot be taken unless by every considerable squadron of vessels of the first class, of by a land attack.—It has been put in thorough repair, and is defended by guns of the largest calibre. When the French took it, twentyfour pounders were the heaviest guns mounted in it; at present guns of a much higher class are employed, and additional fortifications have been erected near the mole for heavy cannon. Gen. Bravo has been appointed to the command of Vera Cruz, and is especially charged with the defence of the fortress.

The papers of the captial announces that Gen. Bravo left there at the head of 6000 men,

With a view to protect the Department of Vera Cruz, and any other parts of the interior which may be threatened by attack by the United States forces.

El Diario del Gobierno announces that 7000 men, well organized and officered, and amply provided with munitions, money, &c., will compose the Army of the North, and that the chief command has been restored to Gen. Arista, and that Gen. Ampudia, will henceforth be only second in command. The appointment of Arista is confirmed by way of Brazos Santiago.

The business of Vera Cruz is almost annihihted by the unsettled state of the country, in regard to its internal prospects and foreign relations.

It would appear that Com. Conner has transferred his flag to the frigate Raritan, which arrived on the 18^th inst. He sailed from Vera Cruz on the 23d, on a cruise off the coast, accompanied by the Cumberland, Potomac and Falmouth. The fleet had previously gone out to sea for a day or two, to give the men benefit of fresh air, &c., The sloop of war John Adams was the only vessel of war lying at Sacrificious when the Orleans sailed. The health of the squadron was perfectly good.

The ship Suviah arrived at Vera Cruz on the 18^th inst. The same day the brig Josephine arrived. On going in over the bar she got aground on the reef, and had to discharge her cargo. The brig Plymouth sailed for this port on the 20^th inst.
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RW46v23i37p2c1, May 8, 1846: THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

The intelligence by the Cambria adds very little to our previous information on the subject of the Oregon controversy. Indeed, in the present date of that question, it was scarcely to be expected that any new light would be thrown upon the probabilities of its speedy or pacific adjustment, by developments in London. We must now, for a brief period at least, look to Washington for signs of peace or portents of impending war. The settlement of the controversy is, for the present, in the hands and under the control of the President and his constitutional advisers, and of such others as he may think expedient to consult in regard to his ultimate determination. When he shall have given the so much talked of notice, (which, for aught we know, by the way, he may have done already,) we may then turn our eyes again to the other side of the Channel, to learn in what temper it has been received, and to what additional proposition it may lead. In the mean while, however, there are, in the recent advices, a few indications, from which we may infer the one and c onjecture the character of the other.

The notice, if given by the President in the same pacific spirit by which the resolution of Congress is so emphatically and designedly marked, so far from being deemed offensive, or in itself cause of war, will, we have no doubt, be received as an indication of the anxious wish of Congress, in giving it that mild and proper “form” and of the large majority of the American people whom it represents, to maintain the friendly relations now subsisting between “the Nother and the Daughter,” (to use George Canning’s felicitous phrase,) unimpaired; and that it will be met in a corresponding temper, we do not for a moment question. Regarded too by the British Government as an expression of the nonapprobation (to use a mild term) by Congress, of the extreme position assumed upon this question by the Executive, and of the uncompromising temper exhibited in regard to it by that branch of our Government, and by leading men presumed to be in its confidence, (and it unquestionably may very properly so regard it,) it will justify the British Ministry, without any sacrifice of selfrespect, in a renewal of the negotiation by submitting another proposition, if in that step it shall not have been anticipated by the President. And that must of necessity bring this long pending controversy to a speedy termination –we hope a peaceable one.

The London Times indicates, as the Quarterly Review had previously done, the terms of adjustment contemplated by the British Government—to wit, that the 49^th parallel of latitude must be the basis of the arrangement, but, in the language of the Times, “with more extensive conditions than those heretofore annexed to it by the Americans”—that is to say, Great Britain must be permitted to retain “the whole of Vancouver’s Island, the navigation and harbor of the Straits of Fuca, the free use of the Columbia and its northern branches down to the sea, and an indemnity or compensation to the Hudson’s Bay Company for the posts they will be called upon to surrender.” These terms will not be assented to, in our opinion, by the Executive, nor do we know that public sentiment in this country would be prepared to yield to them, in all their extent. But, while we are aware of the weight to which the remarks of the London Times are entitled, particularly in its articles on the relations of Great Britain with foreign nations, we have a strong hope, that, if Mr. Polk shall consent to abandon his claim to the territory between the 40^th degree and the Russian boundary, these terms will be considerably modified, and that the incidental “conditions” may be finally satisfactorily adjusted. Nevertheless, it is not to be denied or concealed that he difficulties to an amicable adjustment of the question are far from being removed; and, although it is unquestionably now the general opinion, on both sides of the Atlantic, that peace will be preserved, we confess that to our minds it is apparent that THE DANGER IS NOT YET OVER. We repeat, that in this apprehension we seem to stand almost alone; and, in giving it utterance, therefore, we feel that we are striking a chord not at all in unison with the tone of public feeling. We shall most sincerely rejoice if subsequent events shall show that it is without foundation.

The attempt upon the life of the “Citizen King” of France indicates the prevalence in that kingdom still of disorganizing and r evolutionary opinions, which may be expected to develop themselves inextensive popular commotions, whenever the death of Louis Phillippe, (who indeed seems to bear about him “a charmed life”) shall occur. Had the ball of the assassin been directed with a truer aim, a few weeks ago, it seems to be the general impression that a rising of that large portion of the people, Republicans and Legitimists, hostile to the Orleans dynasty, would have taken place—the former because of the failure of the Citizen King to fulfil the pledges exacted from him by their leaders in the Three Days’ Revolution, when they placed the diadem upon his brow; and the latter because they look upon him, nowithstanding the Princely blood that flows in his veins, as scarcely less a usurper than Napoleon, and have consequently been long anxiously awaiting the period of his demise as a favorable moment of the restoration of the older branch of the Bourbons, in the person of their “legitimate Prince,” the young Duke of Bordeaux. It is not improbable however, that the extend of the disaffection to the Orleans dynasty in France has been exaggerated, as it certainly seems to us, at this distance from the scene, to be most unreasonable; for never, at any period, has France been governed so wisely as during the last ten years—and we doubt, if at any moment, since the downfall of Napoleon, that powerful kingdom has been in a condition of greater internal prosperity, or has presented to its enemies a front better calculated to command their respect and to hold them in check. “The Napoleon of Peace,” as he has been justly called, Louis Phillippe has nevertheless won that appellation not by any sacrifice of the honor or rights of the nation, for the government of which he possesses such rare and admirable qualifications, nor by unmanly concessions to the arrogant pretensions of some of his brother Monarchs by whom he has been always rather coldly treated as an intruder into the charmed circle of Royalty,having about him none of that divinity, which, according to the ancient faith of Europe “doth hedge in a King,”—but he has acquired it by holding in check the passions of his violent and impulsive subjects, while asserting firmly, in his intercourse with other Powers, the right of the Nation and the honor of his Crown. It is conceded that, of all living Monarchs, he is incomparably the wisest—wisest, as well in the learning derived from books, as in that practical knowledge which is far better, and which he acquired in that rough school of adversity, into which, in his younger days, it was his fortune to be thrown. His death, occur when it may, will prove a great calamity to the French people, unless indeed they have profited more than we have reason to suppose they have done, by the “bloody instructions” which twenty years of revolution and war ought to have impressed indelibly upon their minds.

From Great Britain, the intelligence by the Cambria is not decisive in regard to those great measures of domestic policy, upon which the prosperity and perhaps the internal tranquility of that kingdom depends. The House of Lords, it will be remembered, has already passed the “Irish Coercion Bill”—a measure characterized, it is said, [for we have not seen it,] by the most despotic and tyrannical features, and to which consequently the Irish members of the House of Commons are so inflexibly hostile, that, in order to prevent its adoption, they have intimated their intention to vote against Sir Robert Peel’s proposed modifications of the British Tariff, if the Ministry shall persist in sustaining a bill so obnoxious to their countrymen. So that the fate of that important commercial scheme may be regarded as seriously endangered by its connection with a measure upon which it has not legitimate bearing.
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RW46v23i37p2c2, May 8, 1846: Congressional Independence.

The Union continues to press upon Congress, with all the earnestness and pertinacity for which its editor is so remarkable, the adoption of those “other measures” in relation to the Oregon territory, which Mr. Polk recommended in his annual message. The Senate, however, turns a deaf ear to the unceasing exhortations of the Official Journal, and proceeds calmly in the consideration of the ordinary subjects of legislation. Even the House of Representatives, which has been heretofore most disposed to lend a willing ear to the importunities of the Union, seems now to be unmoved by its pathetic appeals. Are we to infer from this unwonted indifference of the two Houses to the admonitory counsel of the Union, that the wand of the magician is broken, and that henceforth Congress intends to think and act for itself, instead of sitting in the Capitol to register decrees sent to it from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue? “That were a consummation devoutly to be wished.” Of all the practical reforms demanded by the country not one is more important or more imperatively required by its true interests—not one more essential to the preservation of our free institutions, by keeping the Executive in its constitutional orbit, from which it so often madly shoots—than the correction of the too long prevalent idea, that the representatives of the people in Congress are bound, by party allegiance, to repose implicit confidence in the wisdom and patriotism of the President for the time being, and to carry into effect, without enquiry or deliberation, every measure that he may recommend. There has been already too much of this subserviency; and we rejoice to believe that we see indications, in the action of the present Congress, of a more just and rational appreciation of the relative duties, rights and responsibilities of the coordinate departments of the government.
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RW46v23i37p2c2, May 8, 1846: No title.

The New Orleans Tropic states that Lieut. Porter, recently murdered by a wandering band of Mexicans under the command of Canales, who is said to be himself an outlaw, and therefore not acting under authority of the Mexican Government, was a son of Com. Porter, formerly of the U. S. Navy, and soninlaw of Colonel Beal, of the U. S. Army, now stationed at Austria, Texas. He left a wife and three children at Fort Towson, the residence of his motherinlaw. The Tropic also states that this Canales has been very troublesome to Gen. Taylor, hanging on in the rear of his army, and cutting off his supplies.

From the same paper we learn that there is no doubt Col. Cross is in Matamoras, and had been peremptorily demanded by Gen. Taylor. No answer had been received. Lieut. Deas, of the 4^th Artillery, who is a warm friend of Col. Cross, the moment he heard of his capture, swam the river in his uniform, and was taken prisoner. He is at large, on parole, at Matamoras.

The American officers who have visited Metamoras, say the Mexicans have no idea that there will be war, notwithstanding their furious proclamations.
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RW46v23i37p2c4, May 8, 1846: From the Rio Grande. Correspondence of the N. O. Picayune

CAMP OPPOSITE MATAMORAS, EASTERN BANK OF THE RIO GRANDE, Texas, April 18^th, 1846.

Gentlemen—Knowing your disposition to enlighten the world upon all the important topics of the day, I have borrowed pen, ink and paper with a view of giving you some information with regard to our present position and anticipated differences with Mexico. You have doubtless been apprised of General Ampudia’s bravado communication to General Taylor, in which he informed him that it would be an insult to the good sense and understanding of Don Z. Taylor for him (General Ampudia) to attempt a recapitulation of the very many insults and grievances which the American Government had heaped upon that of Mexico, and if he, the said Don Z., did not within twentyfour hours fall back beyond the Nueces river, that the Mexican Government would be under the disagreeable necessity of making him do so. To this General Taylor politely replied, that although he might have every disposition to accommodate, yet he could not think of disobeying the orders of his own Government, and was therefore prepared to stand the consequences. Several days have elapsed since, and no attempt has yet been made to drive us off. The two opposing armies are within five hundred yards of each other—both busily engaged in entrenching themselves and throwing up field works. The most perfect nonintercourse is established. Thousands of reports are daily in circulation with regard to the proble time at which we are to be eaten up, and frequently news reached us that the Mexicans are crossing the river at some point above or below us, when some unlucky devils (whose detail it happens to be) are detached on a scout for the whole night.

The last report is that Gen. Arista has taken command of the Mexican army, and that all hostile operations are to be suspended until next June, in order to give the two Governments an opportunity of negotiating peaceably—or, in other words, giving the Mexicans an opportunity of backing out with some show of decency. Take my word for it, we are to have no fun, unless we lead off the dance.

Many of our officers assemble daily on the banks of the river, and gaze with longing eyes at the houses, streets and signoras of the beautiful city of Matamoros. In the course of a week our fortification will be finished, when we may safely defy the whole Mexican army. It is said that Arista is the rival and enemy of Parades, and will therefore be disposed to favor the American Government.

Col. Cross our Quartermaster General, has doubtless been taken prisoner by a party of rancheros, and taken over to Mexico. Lieut. Deas, of the 4^th Artillery, concluded, very strangely, the other night that he would swim over to Matamoros and get information about Col. Cross. He swam over in his uniform; and yesterday, when Gen. T. made a demand upon the authorities for Col. C., they returned an answer that he was not there, but that they had Lieut. Deas, whom they held as a prisoner of war. Deas had no permission from Gen. T. to go, so I suppose he will have to get back the best way he can. There is no apprehension but that these gentlemen are safe—Deas at Matamoros, and Col. Cross at some place in the interior. Yours, L.

CAMP OPPOSITE MATAMOROS, Aptil 15, 1846.

My Dear Friends—We are all alive and kicking, the Mexicans not having yet caused “the waters of the Rio Bravo del Norte to drink any of the blood of the degenerate sons of Washington.”

From circumstances we are induced to believe that Col. Cross, was taken prisoner by a set of landpirates that roam (unreadable). A notorious character by the name of Raffael Falcon, who scruples not at theft or murder, is supposed to have been prowling about our camp with some of his party, and seeing the colonel alone, they pounced upon him from the bushes, overpowered him, and either despatched him or run him over the river into Mexico, and now have him a prisoner—which, we have not been able to ascertain. This R. Falcon is said to be a captain of the Mexican army, and keeps at all times in his employ a set of desperadoes ready for any emergency.

This morning Lieut. Edward Deas, of the Artillery, said he was determined to ascertain what had become of Col. Cross. He dressed himself in uniform, mounted his horse, and, it is said, swam the river, and has gone to Matamoros. He has not been heard from, and how he will be received, or what will be his fate among them, none can tell, as he goes it entirely on “his own hook.”

The Mexicans hold no intercourse with us, having immediately before our arrival here drawn up their boats on the other side, and told us they could not talk to us until we retired beyond the Nueces river. We won’t do it.

Today a Mexican came over from the other side and reported to Gen. Taylor that last night an express arrived in Matamoros from the city of Mexico, bringing intelligence that Ampudia is hereby relieved in command of the Army of the North, and Gen. Arista would resume the duties of that office, and that all warlike demonstrations on their part should cease until the 1^st of June next, to give the two Governments time to settle the question. Yours truly,

CAMP, OPPOSITE MATAMOROS, April 19, 1846.

My Dear Friends—A report has been brought over here, by a Mexican from Matamoros, to the effect that Ampudia will, in three days, be relieved in the command of the “army of the North” by Gen. Arista, and that so soon as he arrives, he will give us a battle; and as a matter of course, we are all to have our heads boiled in oil and our livers stuffed with garlic. Look out that the Matamorians don’t “ring in” an extra lot of sausage meat on the Crescent City. From the general character of Gen. Arista I look for more favorable views towards the United States than in appointing any other general in Mexico. He opposed the present Government of Mexico, and since Paredes has been in power, has expressed sentiments favorable to the United States.

Lieut. E. Deas, mentioned in my last, has been heard from. He swam the river for the purpose of gaining information in relation to Col. Cross—he went on his own hook and responsibility, without permission or sanction from either party. He was taken by a picket guard, and is now a prisoner at Matamoros. He writes that he is kindly treated. We heard that he was not in close confinement, but had the privilege of the barracks, on his parole, and was invited to the mess of Col. Curesco. Deas is a brave and intelligent man, and I think will some day be found “right side up.” He is, however, in an unfortunate position, leaving our camp without the sanction of Gen. Taylor, and crossing into Mexico without a passport.

I have not time to say more to you this morning except that there has been a very severe fog her for two days, which has brought the mud to about ancle deep. Your, truly,
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RW46v23i37p3c1, May 8, 1846: LAST EVENINIG’ S MAIL. THE OREGON QUESTION.

Correspondence of the Alexandria Gazette, WASHINGTON, May 6, 1846.

I was informed this morning, by a distinguished member of Congress, in the confidence of the Administration, that he had every reason to believe that Mr. McLane had been instructed to give to Great Britain the “Notice” authorized by the joint resolution of Congress, and at the same time had transmitted to him full powers to act in the event of the British Government being disposed to reopen the negotiation at London.
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RW46v23i37p3c1, May 8, 1846: CONGRESS.

Correspondence of the Baltimore American. WASHINGTON, May 6.

UNITED STATES SENATE.

The Committee on Finance made a report in favor of agreeing with most of the amendments of the House to the bill providing for deficiences in the appropriations for the fiscal year ending 30^th June, 1846, and recommending that the Senate recede from some of its amendments, and insist upon others.

The report was read and adopted, and the bill, as amended, ordered to be returned to the House.

Mr. JOHNSON, of La., on leave, introduced a bill for the relief of the Mexican Rail Road Company.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Several Executive communications were laid before the House from the President of the U. S. and their reading called for.

One was in relation to the Salve trade and covered a correspondence from Mr. Gordon, Consul at Rio De Janeio.

Another was in relation to the Cherokee Indians, and the third a statement from the Adjutant General in answer to a Resolution of the House as to the desertions from the Army.

Gen. Taylor, in his Report tot he Adjutant General, states that there have been four desertions from the Army where the deserters were drowned and two where the deserters were shot while swimming. They were old offenders, and their punishment had deterred others from deserting.

Mr. ADAMS moved to refer this communication to five members.

Mr. DROMGOOLE moved to lay upon the table, which was agreed to.

The Bill from the Senate, in regard to deficient appropriations, was reported, and the House insisted upon its amendments from which the Senate had not receded.
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RW46v23i37p4c2, May 8, 1846: FROM VERA CRUZ.

Extract of a letter from an American officer on the Vera Cruz station, dated April 15.

“Nothing of importance haS TRANSPIRED HERE RECENTLY, BUT NEWS OF EXCITING INTEREST POURS IN UPON US FROM THE FRONTIER. The demonstration of General Taylor on the banks of the Bravo and the concentration of the Mexican forces about Matamoras, are events that w e look upon as involving probable consequences of vast importance.

“The British mail packet Tweed arrived last evening from Havana with thirty passengers, amongst whom were Almonte’s Secretary, who evidently brings important intelligence or propositions.”—NAT INT.
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RW46v23i38p1c1, May 12, 1846: The Question Not Settled.

INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS.

The Washington Union of Thursday night last [ . . . ] occasion, in language rather less diplomatic than it habitually employes, to contradict again the statement recently made by the N. Y. Journal Commerce, and since confidently repeated in other quarters, the truth of which we questioned from the beginning, that the Oregon question had been substantially settled yb the informal concurrence [ . . . ] the high contracting parties in the outlines of a treaty of pacification, satisfactory to both. “We just again state,” says the Union, “that there is some extraordinary mistake in this matter—that there is no foundation for the statementthat the question has not been directly or indirectly settled in London—that nothing will probably be done until the news reaches England of the decision of Congress. And we say this with the recollection that the Cambria has just brought despatches to our Government from London.” This unequivocal denial, of course, puts to rest all the rumors, heretofore pre(unreadable), buy which the public anxiety as to the termination of this controversy had been to a great extent relieved.

There is too, we perceive, a greater diversity of opinion than a day or two since we had imagined, a regard to the final settlement of this controversy. Instead of being “solitary and alone” we find that several of our Northern cotemporaries concur in the strong fears that we have from time to time expressed, that insuperable difficulties may arise, even if both Governments shall agree to assume the 49^th parallel of latitude as the basis of negotiation, in determining the rights of the parties, upon collateral but important points, upon which they are now directly at issue—such as the possession of Vancouver’s Island, the navigation of the Columbia, and the new and grave subject of difference recently suggested in England, growing out of the alleged infraction of certain rights and injury to the possessions of the Hudson’s Bay Company in the valley of the Columbia.

But perhaps the most important indication of the probable unfavorable termination of this complicated affair, the precarious and inauspicious aspect of which is to be ascribed exclusively to the unstatesmanlike manner in which it has been managed by the present Administration,which, without the slightest necessity of it, has precipitated it to a point from which one or the other of the parties must recede from the position it has long and pertinaciously held, or, in the language of Gen. Cass, “war is inevitable,”—is a Letter from

An American citizen now in London, which we find in the Washington Union of Thursday evening last. The importance ascribed to the contents of this letter by the Executive Organ, is emphatically marked by the fact that it “stopped the press,” in order that it might publish, “without a day’s delay,” what it strongly characterizes as “MOMENTOUS” intelligence. The writer, who we are told, by the Union, “is unconnected without missions aboard, but who never writes upon any subject on which he is not accurately informed,” after indulging in the usual flings of the 54 40 men at the timidity of the Senate, in refusing prompt obedience to Executive orders, and descanting upon the mischievous consequences likely to ensue therefrom, remarks: “I frankly confess to you that I cannot discover a solitary ray of hope for maintaining our rights in Oregon, except by the last resort, the ultima ratio of nations.” The reasons for this opinion are to be found in the following extract from his letter, [which bears the date of London, April 18:]

“It is now generally believed, in the best informed circles, that Sir Robert Peel will succeed in effecting the change proposed by him some time since in the corn laws; and that he will then, with his ministers, retire from office. This will happen at a very early day; probably before the middle of next month. A new cabinet will, of course, be immediately formed, after the dissolution of the present one, under the s election of Lord John Russell; and Lord Palmerston, it is confidently asserted, will be restored to his said post of secretary for foreign affairs. The chief obstacle to the formation of a ministry by Russell, at the time of Peel’s resignation, was the objection urged against Palmerston on account of the hostile feelings which he was known to entertain towards France. It was feared on both sides of the channel, that he would be instrumental in destroying the *eptente cordiale which subsisted between Guizot and Peel, or rather between the two governments.

In anticipation of the early resignationof the Peel ministry, Palmerston availed himself of the Easter holydays to make a visit to the French metropolis, where he still continues, for the purpose, it is very evident, of reconciling Louis Philippe to his restoration. He has been most kindly received by Monsieur Guizot and the other members of the cabinet, and his mission doubtless will terminate successfully. His sentiments with regard to France will hereafter be entirely pacific, because his continuance in office would be of but short duration were they to become otherwise; but I have awful forebodings that our country is to find in him an inveterate deadly enemy. In his newborn zeal for the welfare of France, he will at once seize upon Guizot’s “balance of power” doctrine in North America, and use his position and his talents to consummate the most desperate purposes at any time contemplated by England or France to check our growth or diminish the influence which our institutions are exercising over the other nations of the earth.

“I most sincerely regret that there should be so slight a prospect for adjusting the Oregon question before Peel’s administration is at an end. Such an event could have been consummated, if there had been even a moderate degree of good management in Congress. Had the ‘notice’ so sincerely, and I may add, so patriotically urged by the President been promptly authorized to be given with the elevated ground upon which our title was placed by the correspondence which accompanied the message, there is not the shadow of doubt but that every thing could have been, before this, amicably arranged, and to the general satisfaction of the people of the United States. But I distinctly foresee that such a result is no longer attainable by negotiation. Startle not, when I state to you, as my candid belief, that even should the notice arrive by the 25^th inst., under the House resolution, nothing like the clear line of the 49^th parallel can be secured! Peel could not be prevailed upon to settle at that, just as he is going out, if the ‘notice’ was now before him; and if we were disposed to compromise on the boundary, Russell will hesitate long, in my opinion, before he will offer it”

There are some intimations in the late English papers in reference to a possible change of Ministry in Great Britain; but, that event, should it occur, is based upon a presumption precisely the opposite of that upon which the speculations of the Union’s correspondent are founded. We have seen not the remotest allusion to the probability of Sir Robert Peel’s withdrawal from office in the event of the passage of his great measure of “commercial reform;” but it has been surmised, and very reasonably, that, in the event of the defeat of that measure, he will necessarily surrender his post. But is it likely that Lord John Russell, who is even more fully than Sir Robert Peel, pledged to the repeal of the Corn Laws, if Sir Robert Peel be defeated in that measure, will be his successor? We should infer otherwise; and that either Lord Stanly or the Duke of Richmond, who may be regarded as the leaders of the party opposed to the proposed modification or repeal of the Corn Laws, will be entrusted with the responsibility of conducting the Government—to be followed, perhaps, by a dissolution of Parliament a new election, and the postponement of the final struggle until another Parliament shall convene. The statement of the writer of the foregoing letter, however, in relation to Lord Palmerston’s sudden visit to Paris, and his gracious reception at the Tuilleries, is corroborated by the London papers; and we leave it for our readers to judge to what extend that isolated fact is calculated to give plausibility to his gloomy inferences. We confess that we ascribe more importance and give more weight to them from the gravity of the Union in presenting them to the country, than we should be otherwise disposed to do. Occupying, as the editor of that paper does, a position which enables him to go behind the curtain which conceals from the public eye much information that may be essential in arriving at just conclusions on the subject, we cannot for a moment believe that he would, on the faith of a private letter from London, however intelligent and veracious the writer, and however ample his facilities of “ascertaining the truth from the highest and most unquestionable sources,” as we are assured is the fact in the present instance,we say we cannot believe that the editor of the Union would even on such authority, publish, in a manner calculated to give a semiofficial sanction to its contents, a letter of this character, unless its revelations were confirmed by information in the possession of the State Department. If, however, the revelations and speculations of this letter are not confirmed by information received by our Government from our official agents in London, we confess that, for one, we are strongly disinclined to give full credit to them. We believe, as we have heretofore said, that the danger of war is not over; but we do not believe that the event, should it occur, will be rendered more probable by the accession of Lord John Russell to the British Premiership. We have no doubt that he will be as strongly disposed as Sir Robert Peel to settle the controversy amicably. If the latter will consent to adopt the 49^th degree of latitude as the boundary line, it is scarcely to be questioned that the former will accede to the same terms as the basis of the negotiation. But it is in the adjustment of the collateral issues that we have always apprehended, as we still do, the most serious obstacle to the satisfactory settlement of the question; and in reference to them so far as we may judge by their public declarations, we have no reason to suppose that difficulties which might be easily obviated with Sir Robert Peel will prove to be insurmountable with Lord John Russell. The danger lies in the question itself, and not in the individuals to whom its management has been, or may hereafter be entrusted.
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RW46v23i38p1c2, May 12, 1846: Stirring News from the Army!

Sooner, but not more certainly, than we had anticipated, bad tidings have reached us from our gallant little army upon the Mexican frontier—sent there, as it seems to us, in a mere spirit of bravado, and at the imminent hazard of being cut off by the superior force which it ought to have been obvious the Mexicans might at any moment concentrate upon that point. Already, to, it begins to be admitted (see the interesting letter to the New Orleans Tropic ) that the bravery of the Mexican soldiers, and the skill of their officers, have been greatly underrated; and we hope, consequently, that there will be no more exhibitions of that foolhardiness, which prompted one of our officers, at the head of a small reconnoitering party, to attack the advance guard of a formidable army—paying with his own and the lives of his comrades the penalty of his rashness.

The news of Gen. Taylor’s critical position has, it will be perceived, created great excitement in New Orleans as well as in Texas; and thousands of volunteers, we doubt not, are now marching to his relief. And we hope they may not be too late to rescue him from the large force, by which, at the last dates, he was threatened. Fearful will be the retribution, if he and his army have been cut off, that will await those by whose orders they were subjected to this needless peril.

This is among the first fruits of annexation—a war to defend a frontier, which we were assured was itself to be an impregnable wall of defence!
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RW46v23i38p1c3, May 12, 1846: IMPORTANT FROM TEXAS AND THE ARMY.

Per Steamer Galveston from Galveston. Commencement of Hostilities!—News from the Seat of War! From the Galveston News Extra, April 30, 1846.

On Thursday morning, 23d ult., a Mexican came into General Taylor’s camp and reported

2000 Mexicans crossing the river some twenty miles above. That afternoon Captains Hardee and Thornton were sent with two compan8es of cavalry, 63 men in all, to reconnoitre. On Friday morning they fell into an ambush of the enemy, when Lieut. Cain and thirteen men were killed. Capt. Thornton missing and C apt. Hardee and 46 men prisoners. On Saturday afternoon the Mexicans sent in a wounded man who made the above report. These Mexicans, it is stated, were commanded by Canals and Carabajal. After the fight, the Mexicans on this side of the river were largely reinforced, and have surrounded Gen. Taylor’s camp, cutting off all communication with Point Isabel, at which place is the train and all of the stores belonging to the Army—Gen. Taylor not having on hand over ten days provisions. There are at Point Isabel 90 artillery men, 20 dragoons, about 250 teamsters, and a bout 150 citizens and laborers, and the entrenchments not half finished.

The steamer Monmouth landed Mr. Catlett on the night of the 28^th ult. at Port Labacco, with despatches from Gen. Taylor, calling on Governor Henderson for 40 companies of Riflemen, 60 men each, 20 of the companies to be mounted men to rendezvous at Corpus Christi, when they will be mustered into service and supplied with provisions—the foot companies will rendezvous at Galveston where transportation will be furnished.

The steamer Augusta was to have left the Brasos St. Iago on Monday night for New Orleans with Gen. Taylor’s call on the Governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama for 8000 troops. Should immediate relief not be sent to Point Isabel, it will most probably fail into the power of the enemy, with all the army stores, and the destruction of the whole army may follow.

Gen. Taylor’s works in front of Matamoras would be completed on the moring of the 28^th, at which time it was expected the fire would be opened on the city. Troops should not await the call of the Governor, as it will be a week before it can reach this place, but hurry to the relief of Point Isabel, as by saving that place only will we have it in our power to render the army timely assistance. Texas! You have now at last a glorious opportunity of retaliating on these perfidious Mexicans the many injuries they have done you, and of carrying that war into the heart of their own country, the cruelties of which they have so often made you feel.

We are indebted for thr above to Mr. Gen. S. Grason, who has just retured by the Monmouth. He informs us that Capt. Catlett left the army on Sunday night, with a Mexican guide, and passing down the river reached Point Isabel on Monday morning with Gen. Taylors despatches to the Governor of Texas. The Monmouth was unable to leave until Monday night, in consequence of having to discharge, and take in provisions to be sent into Corpus Christi for the volunteers as fast as they arrive. These were left at St. Joseph’s, where the White Wing is now taking them to their destination.

Gen. Memucan Hunt will leave this city late this evening by way of Velasco and Victoria to rendezvous at Corpus Christi, preparatory to marching for the relief of Gen. Taylor.
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RW46v23i38p1c3, May 12, 1846: To Arms! Texans, to Arms!

The United States Army under Gen. Taylor is surrounded by the Mexican enemy on Texan soil. Gen. Taylor has called upon the Governor of Texas for 2400 troops—let Galveston show to the world that they are always ready for the defence of their country—let them display the same spirit and alacrity that they did in 1842.

Head Quarters,
Galveston Volunteer Batallion,
30^th April, 1846.

ORDERS.

The commissioned and non commissioned officers of the companies composing the Galveston Volunteer Battallion, are requested to meet for consultation at ten o’clock this morning, at the Galveston Artillery Armory, at Mr. Crawford’s store. The country needs our services! No time should be lost in immediately organizing the several corps of this battallion. The commandant of the battallion has the fullest confidence in the patriotism and zeal of the citizen soldiers of Galveston! He is sure they will not falter nor hesitate in this emergency! They have always desired an opportunity of showing their prowess to their Mexican enemies! That opportunity has now arrived! It is expected the young men of Galveston will immediately rally as volunteers, nor wait for their services to be required by draft.

A Rendezvouz will be immediately opened for volunteers to increase the ranks of each of the volunteer corps of the city, and also to organize an additional company of infantry or Riflemen. A prompt attendance of the officers is expected at the time and place appointed. By order of C. G. BRYANT, Major Commanding Galveston Volunteer Battalion.

If 150 or 200 men with the proper officers can be raised by tomorrow morning at 8 o’clock, they will be shipped with arms and accoutrements, and will take passage on board the steamer Monmouth, now bound for Point Isabel. N. KINGSBURY, Lieut. U. S. Army.
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RW46v23i38p1c3, May 12, 1846: [Correspondence of the N. O. Tropic .]

BRASOS ST. IAGO, April 27.

By the Augusta, I sent you some of the items now transpiring around this interesting spot. The opinion is fast gaining ground here, that the imbecility of the Mexicans has been greatly overrated. This is the theatre of real war, not paper squabbles, but is the seat of the commencement of sanguinary conflict, and one it is feared of more importance and longer duration than has been anticipated; but the farce is at an end, and the curtain has risen bloody with carnage, the opening of a drama almost unexpected, and our country already mourns the loss of some of her finest and bravest officers. On Thursday, the 23d, Gen. Taylor received information that a body of the Mexican Army had crossed the Rio Grande some distance above the encampment. Early the following morning, Capts. Thornton and Harndee of 2d Light Dragoons, with a company of 70 men, were dispatches by Gen. Taylor, to reconnoitre above, and Capt. Kerr of the same regiment, with a company to reconnoitre below the Enmcampment. The latter returned without having made any discovery.

The former division fell in with what he considered to be a scouting party of the enemy, but which proved to be the advanced guard of a strong body of the enemy; who held a situation in the chapparel immediately in the rear of Gen. Taylor’s c amp. Capt. Thornton charged upon the guard, contrary to the advice of his Mexican guide, and on following the enemy Capt. Thornton found his command surrounded by the enemy, who fired on him, killing as is supposed, Capt. Thornton, Lieuts. Kane and Mason, and some 26 of the men, and taking Capt. Hardee and the remainder of the command prisoner.

The Mexican commander sent in a cart to Gen. Taylor’s camp with a soldier badly wounded, with a message that he had no travelling hospital with him and could not give him the assistance his situations required. There is no doubt the detachment of the enemy east of the Rio Grande consists of fully 2500 men commanded by Col. Carasco and Carrajabal, bold and intrepid officers to experience and ability, and were the whole army officered by such men as Carasco, as I know him personally, we should not be upon an equal footing. There is no doubt their object is to cut off all communication with Point Isabel, this being the general depot of provisions for the American army; they have succeeded and consequently placed the American army in a precarious situation. It will be utterly impossible for Gen. Taylor to force his way along the dreary chaparels in which the enemy are strongly posted. His command cannot exceed 2300 men.

Gen. Taylor has an excellent position in the rear of Matamoras; and can hold his position against the whole Mexican army combined, and his batteries can range the city of an hour. Most of the citizens have left Matamoras, and Gen. Taylor has said that when the regular soldiers of Mexico were seen on the east side of the river, he would destroy the city. His batteries are to be ready on the 27^th, complete. Gen. Taylor has in camp full rations for 15 days, which he thinks can be made to last 30, by which time he is in hopes to receive large reinforcements from the States of Texas and Louisiana, upon each of which State he has made a requisition for the equipment and transmission to Point Isabel of four full regiments of Militia.

It is thought by the superior officers of Gen. Taylor’s army that 20,000 men will be required within a very short period, as it is well known that the Mexican army is daily receiving large reinforcements from the interior. It was supposed by the American officers that Gen. Arista reached Matamoros on the evening of the 22d, with a large Brigade, but up to the period of my informant leaving the Camp no communication had been received by Gen. Taylor from Gen. Arista. On the 22d, Gen. Taylor received from Gen. Ampudia, by the means of a flag of truce, a communication IN VERY DEFENSIVE TERMS, complaining of having blockaded the Rio Grande. To which he replied, that he, Gen. Ampudia, had been the cause of the blockade, he having expressly declared that Unless Gen. Taylor commenced his Retreat beyond the Nueces within twentyfour hours after his displaying his Flag upon the banks of the Rio Grande, he would consider WAR as being declared, and should act accordingly.—Gen. Taylor furthermore stated that he would receive no further communication from the Mexican Government, unless couched in language more respectful towards the Government and People of the United States. At Point Isabel great fears were entertained of a night attack, which, from the exposed situation of that Point, could not be otherwise than successful, if conducted with energy

This post is defended by Major Munroe, with a detachment of 80 artillerists. There are also at the post about 200 armed waggoners, and 10 laborers under the orders of the Quarter Master; some 100 citizen, furnished with arms by the U. S. Ordnance officer, organized under the command of Capt. Perkins, and denominated the Sumter Guards. A company of 50 Mexican cavalry was seen on the night of the 26^th, within 5 miles of Point Isabel. They were supposed to be a corps of observation. The body of Col. Cross was found on the 21^st ult., about three miles from camp, frightfully mutated and entirely divested of clothing.

The body of Lieut. Porter, who was killed by a party of banditti, under the command of Romer Falcon, had not been found., The principal officers known to be in command of the Mexican forces as Generals Arista, Ampudia, Mejia, and Canales; and Colonels Carrasco and Carrajabal are men of talent. I am indebted for the above information to the politeness of Col. ?oane, who is on his way to New Orleans in the Augusta.

P. S. A messenger has just arrived, after severe toil and much danger, owing to the proximity of the troops and the state of the prairie. From him, I learn, that Arista communicated politely to Gen. Taylor, that he had assumed command of the Mexican Army.
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RW46v23i38p1c3, May 12, 1846: To the Editors of the Tropic

ST. JOSEPH’S ISLAND, TEXAS, April 28^th, 1846.

Messrs. Editors:By the arrival of the steamer Monmouth, this day, intelligence has been received at this place of the Army of Occupation being surrounded by 10,000 Mexican troops. The Mexican army passed the Rio Grande in the night. Capt. Thornton, 2 Dragoons, in attempting to cut his way out with his company, was killed. Also, two sub . . . erns and 13 privates, the remainder taken prisoners. Gen. Taylor, on this day, 28^th, engages with the enemy. His whole force of fighting men will not number 3000—his mott is, “Conquer or die!” The United States troops are eager for the fray.

OFFICE OF The Picayune, NEW ORLEANS, (10 o’clock,) May 2^nd.
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RW46v23i38p2c1, May 12, 1846: THE NEWS!

We received no later intelligence by yesterday morning’s Southern mail from the seat of war on the Rio Grande—though the reader will find some additional particulars in our columns this morning.

The New Orleans papers of the 4^th inst. are crowded with articles growing out of the recent stirring events in that quarter, and with notices in reference to the military movements in progress in the city, with the view of raising a sufficient force for the relief of Gen. Taylor. In the mean while, we are gratified to perceive that they generally concur in the opinion that the American Commander would be able to maintain his position, in defiance of the superior force by which he was threatened, until the arrival of an additional force. The Commercial Times, for example, says:

“From all that we can gather in relation to the contest, little apprehension need be entertained that the position of Gen. Taylor will be forced. He is very strongly entrenched, and has a battery commanding the town of Matamoras. The first assault of the Mexicans will be a signal for the levelling of his artillery against that town; and any effort to break into his fortress will only result in the bombarding of that frontier village. Famine alone can drive him into open field, and as, according to his own showing, Gen. Taylor had fifteen days’ rations with him, there is no reasonable fear of such a catastsophe occurring before the arrival of sufficient reinforcements to enable him to resume an offensive attitude. Point Isabel, it is t rue, may tempt the cupidity of the Mexicans, and its loss would be serious, not only because it contains ample munitions and military stores, but from the fact that it commands the route to the main body of our Army. It is stated that an addition of two or three hundred men, would be sufficient to defend this important point, from any probable force that the Mexicans could bring to bear again it. Under such circumstances, the place is safe, for Galveston and the adjacent country have already dispatched more than the number required, to the assistance of the beleaguered fortress. The only possible danger is from meeting the enemy, and being cut up, before they can reach the point. We think, however, that the Texans themselves may be relied upon. Their knowledge of localilties, and experience in the border warfare so frequently waged between them and Mexico, will greatly avail them in so critical a juncture.”

The Tropic presents us with a map of the position occupied by the American forces. It says:

“Gen. Taylor’s camp extend about four miles along the river bank—two miles above, and two below Matamoras. The entrenchment to erect it required 2300 men for thirty days. It is made of sand, and covered over with twigs woven together like basket work, surrounded by a very wide and deep ditch. He walls of the magazine, in the interior of the fortification, are formed of pork barrels filled with s and, seven tier thick, four tier high, covered over with timber, on which sand is piled ten or twelve feet.—Twelve heavy pieces of ordnance are so placed as to command the town of Matamoras. Five hundred men could defend the fortification against any force the Mexicans could bring against it at present.”

The New Orleans paper complain that the volunteering has not been as rapid as had been anticipated, and not at all commensurate with the exigency of the call made by Gen. Taylor. The Tropic of the 4^th furnishes the following, as the number of enrolments on the preceding afternoon:

“For Capt. Breedlove’s Co. (Lou. Greys)					72
“ “ Stockton’s Co.					78
“ “ Strawbridge’s Co.				67
“ “ Doane’s Co. (Washington Gauards)				60
Private lists	47	56	30	35	168
					445
Volunteers for the two artillery companies Major Gally’s and Capt. Forno’s (supposed)					200
Total					645

“We are not aware of the numbers collected down town, but we have been told that perhaps the whole will not amount to more than 800 men, those already enumerated included. Hence it seems that the Governor will be obliged to have recourse to a draft. A gentleman informs us that his Excellency stated yesterday that he should issue his proclamation to that effect this day at noon. Two of the Regiments required will, it is probable, be taken from this city and Lafayette; the other two, from the rural parishes. In Lafayette we heard that up to two o’clock, yesterday, only ten men had volunteered.”

Mobile has displayed more energy than her sister city, though of course her preparations are on a smaller scale. The news from the Rio Grande was received in Mobile on the night of the 2d, and on the 4^th, a company of volunteers, numbering fully 100, started for New Orleans, on board the steamer Fashion, whence they intended to proceed with all possible despatch to the Army. Before leaving, the Company elected Gen. Robert Desha, who is s aid to be a gentleman of great energy and bravery, and one who has “seen service,” as it is Captain, and Capt. Thomas Adrian as its Lieutenant. The wharves were lined with citizens for an hour before the departure of the gallant band, and as the boat shoved off the air resounded with shouts and cheers.

The news from the frontier reached Washington last Saturday evening; and, as might have been expected, it seems to have startled the Administration from its listlessness and apathy. We infer, from an editorial in the Union of Saturday night that the President transmitted to Congress a communication on the subject of our Mexican relations yesterday; and we take it for granted, that, under existing circumstances, that body will act upon his recommendations with promptness, decision and unanimity. It is no time to deliberate in cold debate, while the tocsin of war is ringing in our ears. It is now too late to discuss the propriety of stationing a small force on the banks of the Rio Grande, in the face of an exasperated enemy with the means of greatly outnumbering it; unsupported by a corps de reserve, and with a Desert intervening between our troops and the means of succoring them in the event of a successful assault by their adversary. Nor is it the proper period, for discussing the graver question, whether a position ought to have been taken upon the banks of that river at all, which while we claim it as belonging to Texas, is also claimed by Mexico as a part of its territory, before an effort at least had been made to ascertain and settle the boundary line by the ordinary process of negotiation. It is sufficient for us to know that the Executive, whether in the exercise of his legitimate powers and of a wise discretion it remains hereafter to be seen, has planted our flag upon the disputed territory, and has stationed upon its extreme limits a force inadequate to its defence—that several of our gallant countrymen have already been slain, while others are in captivity—and that the main body of the army is itself in imminent peril of sharing a similar fate before an additional force can be despatches to its succor. THE WEAR HAS BEEN COMMENCED BY MEXICO HERSELF, by an invasion of the soil which, whether it belongs really to her or to the United States, she has no more right than we to occupy, under existing circumstances, with an armed force. She must be repelled therefore, whatever be the consequences; and it will remain for the wisdom of Congress to determine whether the aggression of which s he has been guilty, will justify us, after d riving back her troops, in inflicting upon her still further punishment, by carrying the war into the heart of her own States. For

The Mexican-American War and the Media, 1845-1848