Texas. But this was before Annexation. Up to a recent period, the United States, and the people of the United States, were regarded with unbounded admiration, and strong attachment, by the Mexican everywhere. Now he scorns and hates us; and there is, we apprehend, little difference of sentiment or feeling towards us among Mexicans, from one end of the country to the other.

General Taylor encountered this feeling everywhere on his original march to the banks of the Rio Grande: and so he has informed the Government. He entered the country, proclaiming, that the rights, and property, and religion of all peaceable citizens should be respected; but everywhere the haughty Spaniard refused his protection. The inhabitants retired as he approached, abandoning to the invader their cherished homes. Says a writer on the spot: "This Mexican State, Tamaulipas, in which we are encamped, is a beautiful, a most delightful region. Far as the eye can reach, one level surface presents itself to view, dotted with cotton and sugar-cane fields, interspersed with lovely gardens, after the Spanish fashion, the whole cut up and divided, in all sorts of ways by groves of the finest trees," &c. He adds, forcibly, The scene is rich and peaceful, with nought to mar its appropriate character, but the armies of two nations, worshiping the same eternal God, strengthening their hands to slay each other like beasts of prey." All accounts represent the country bordering on the Great River as exceedingly fertile and beautiful. And such is the country, and such are the homes, which these people abandoned, rather than stay by their property under the guarranty of a hated enemy. Says another writer on the spot: "These people are * actuated by a univers al feeling of hostility towards the United States, and since our arrival, nearly all of them have left this side of the river, and gone over. They quarrel amongst themselves, but against a foreign foe they are united." Never was a more sullen and dogged disposition manifested. The Prefect of the North of Tamaulipas, at the head of a deputation, met General Taylor on his march, to protest against his occupation of the country; and when this would not do, an attempt was made by the inhabitants of the little town of Fronton, to destroy that place, by fire, with their own hands. It was their Moscow, and they would burn it!

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And all this comes, not of attachment to the Central Power of Mexico, but of hatred to us; for it is only six years ago that they were engaged in an attempt to throw off the authority of that power, and establish the independent Republic of Rio Grande.

What we mean to assert is, that it is not to be deemed, or spoken of, as a very little war, to which we are now committed, and so to be justified on any lighter grounds, so far as we are responsible for it at all, than if we had taken, or had, for our foe, the most puissant nation of the earth. It is not such a war, nor like such a war, as we might wage with one of our own miserable Indian Tribes. It is not a Florida war, nor like a Florida war-though that was serious enough, considering that it was only an Executive war. It is not even such a war as the British forces in India have lately waged with the powerful armies of the Sikhs in that country; and though it should never involve a single pitched battle, last as long as it may, or the conflict of one-tenth or one-twentieth part of the numbers that have been engaged on the banks of the Sutlej, yet ours is a greater and higher war than that, in every national view. It is not a war with savage or semi-civilized tribes, who are under our protection, or over whom we claim the right to exercise an ultimate, arbitrary control. It is a war between two independent nations, mutually members of the great family of civilized nations, and the equals of each other, and of every other in that family, before the law of nations. It is a war undertaken, and to be prosecuted, subject to the settled principles of that law, and with the other nations for our witnesses, interested and watchful-as many of them will be-to see that we violate none of their rights as neutrals, on land or sea, sympathizing with the weaker and oppressed party, whichever it may be, and ready to interpose themselves, with a strong arm, on the one side or the other, as they may think their interest, or policy, or safety, may require.

In no light, then, in which the matter can be regarded, is this to be deemed a small war-one which might be lightly entered into, or listlessly prosecuted. As we have said, it is the first time in thirty years that any two considerable nations of Christendom have undertaken to settle their disputes by an appeal to arms. We are one of the parties to this bloody appeal, and one

of the last in Christendom that should ever make such an appeal, till forced into it by an inexorable necessity. If we are responsible for it, the responsibility is a fearful one. And we must not flatter ourselves that we can escape under the notion that it is, comparatively, an unimportant affair-only a war with Mexico! If Mexico, measured by our standard and stature, is a weak nation, distracted, and almost ready to fall to pieces by the essential discordance of the living materials of which it is composed, and, at any rate, utterly unfit to cope with us in feats of arms, or in the necessary resources of war, so much the more shame for us if we have sought a quarrel with her, except on the last necessity, or have allowed her to quarrel with us, when we might have calmed her anger by acts either of justice or of generosity, or soothed her by words and deeds of forbearance and kindness. If Mexico is a weak nation, physically or morally, the more shame for us if we could have avoided this war, and have not. If her sense of right and wrong is not as delicate as ours would that some casuist, great in the resolution of doubtful and difficult problems, would demonstrate the advantage we have shown we possess over her in this particular-if when she has done us wrong she has not seemed as sensible of her error, or as ready to repair it, as we, the injured party, may have thought she should have been; if we have found her prompt to take offence where none was intended on our part, or imagining that her rights were invaded, or her honor insulted, when we have only pursued our own interests or followed a lawful advantage, without doing her any positive wrong; if all this be so, why could not we, proudly conscious of our eminent superiority over her in this regard-would that this, too, were proven to the world's full satisfaction!--why could not we have waited a little longer, with kind and generous indulgence, on her unreasonable temper, or her delays of justice, giving her passion time to cool, her wounded pride to salve itself out of its extreme irritation, and her sense of justice to recover from its blindness? Was the case so urgent that we could not brook one hour's longer delay? Must we fly to our arms on the instant? Was it necessary to answer a threat of war from such a quarter by a defiance sent by a herald no less formidable than a well-appointed army,

ready to proclaim that defiance by the mouth of hostile cannon? We had to complain, and we had good reason to complain, of "long-continued and unredressed wrongs and injuries committed by the Mexican Government on citizens of the United States, in their persons and property," as set forth by the President in his recent War Message to Congress; but these outrages were not committed yesterday, and is it certain that all hope of peaceful redress was at an end? Was there no alternative left but war? Mexico owes us some eight millions of dollars, it may be, but if we are at liberty to suppose that this has been the real cause why the two countries are now at war, may we not well ask ourselves whether we have always shown, in all parts of our own Union, such extreme alacrity in the discharge of our undoubted pecuniary obligations to others, as to entitle us to be very strict and exacting in our demands upon those who happen to be indebted to us? Are we quite at liberty to put any such case on the alternative of prompt settlement or war? Might not the President of the United States, considering what States he had among his most strenuous supporterssome of his hottest partisans might, we are sure-have well enough seemed to be touched with the feeling of that infirmity which causes an impoverished and distressed debtor, if not to repudiate his debt, at least to resort to dishonest or unjustifiable pretexts and pretences for present avoidance and delay?

Or if we are to believe that the real cause of this rupture is to be found in the fact of the refusal of the Mexican Govern

ment, in past or present revolutionary hands, to receive from our President a Minister Plenipotentiary, resident near that government, so circumstantially complained of, and not without apparent grounds of justice, by the Executive, in his late Message, still we may be allowed to ask, whether even so shocking an indignity as this was so unendurable, considering the quarter from which it came, that it could only be answered on the instant by a blow? We know that wars have arisen before now from lighter causes than this-but not very lately; and we did not suppose that the scrupulous, not to say fantastic, spirit of chivalry, was to be revived in our day, and in the person of President Polk. That gallant functionary gives us to understand in his message, so ready was he, with

lance in rest, for a tilt with the adversary, that, instead of waiting until the insult was actually offered, he anticipated events, and ordered a movement of our army, bristling with war, up to the very teeth of the Mexican forces, in a very remote quarter, as soon as he had received such information from Mexico as rendered it probable, if not certain, that the Mexican Government would refuse to receive our Envoy!" So, then, the President snuffed this insult in the distance; and distant enough it was when this movement was first contemplated; for so long ago as the 30th of July, 1845more than three months before his Envoy was commissioned for Mexico, and long before the mission appears to have been thought of-a dispatch from the government instructed Gen. Taylor that he was "expected to occupy, protect and defend the territory of Texas to the extent that it has been occupied by the people of Texas ;" and to "" approach as near the boundary line—the Rio Grande as prudence will dictate!" And it is not to be doubted that if the excellent officer in command of the " Army of Occupation," whose trade is war, had not been more reluctant than the President, so sensitive to the honor and interests of the country, to bring on a conflict of arms with Mexico, the fight which has only commenced in April of this year, would have been begun in the first days of autumn in the last. But even the peremptory order to Gen. Taylor, of the 13th of January, to take up a position on or near the Rio Grande, was quite early enough to save the scrupulous honor of the President, in the matter of his Envoy. At most, the rejection of the Minister was only "probable," in the mind of the President, when that order was dispatched, and his final dismissal did not take place till the 12th of March. One day before that event took place, it happened that our army was actually on its march for the banks of the Rio Grande. Twelve days before that, it seems that Mr. Slidell's letters from Mexico, he then being at Jalapa, spoke confidently of his being received and recognized. What if he had happened to have been received, after all! So far as concerns this point of honor, it would appear that chivalry, on the one side and on the other, took very opposite views. President Paredes proclaims, on the 23d of April, that "Mr. Slidell was not received because the dignity of the nation repelled this new insult."" In

Mexico, then, it was deemed an insult for us to send there a Minister Plenipotentiary, under the circumstances of existing relations, and the hostile demonstrations made by our Government. Here, it was deemed an insult that Mexico should refuse to receive and accredit that Minister. Oh, for some Chevalier Bayard, or Admirable Crichton, to resolve this point of honor between two chivalric nations, that else must needs end this notable difference of opinion by cutting each other's throats!

No one can read the President's War Message without perceiving that great stress is laid on this matter, as one principal ground to justify the war. Mexico affected to deem it as much a ground of offence, that a Minister, with such a commission as ours bore, was sent to her at all. Our President complains of a breach of faith on the part of Mexico, in refusing to receive a Minister whom she had promised to recognize. The Mexican President denies, indignantly, that that Government ever agreed to receive a minister on such terms as would imply that relations of friendship were restored between the two countries, so long as that grand difficulty-the Annexation of Texaswhich had caused the suspension of those relations, remained unadjusted. A Minister, or Commissioner, to adjust that difficulty, would have been received. How much of this suggestion was sincere, and how much a mere diplomatic quirk, it is not for us now to decide. Mr. Polk chose to regard the whole of it as evasive-mere dishonest pretences for delay. "If it were so, it were a grievous fault." And, one way or the other, either because the parties really misunderstood one another, or because Mexico, in the distracted state of her internal affairs, with no regular administration, the supreme power altogether unhinged, held by one military chief to-day, and by another to-morrow, and the whole Government water-logged and in a sinking condition, saw fit to degrade herself by diplomatizing and quibbling for delay against the just demands of a rich and stern, but not unjust creditor; why, for one or the other of these very grave offences, the administration at Washington pretend to have deemed it necessary to push matters to extremes.

But whether this affair of the rejection of the President's Envoy, which he construes as if Mexico had unqualifiedly "refused the offer of a peaceful adjust

out just as they did, was no thanks to him.

It was exactly at seven o'clock the following evening when I threw aside my papers, turned the key of my office, and presented myself at my friend's door. Mrs. Morton met me with her usual cordiality, and I was in the midst of a most violent shaking of hands and speech-making, when a door opened, a young lady presented herself, and I heard the words, "My sister, Mr. Stanley." Never was poor mortal so taken by surprise. I had heard a sister incidentally mentioned during my acquaintance with the family, but nothing of such a bright being as this: in my confusion I nearly overset a chair that was near me, half presented my hand, and as suddenly withdrew it-in short, made as perfect a fool of myself as my veriest enemy could have desired. A few minutes, however, restored me to my self-possession, and it is unnecessary to say that I made most desperate efforts to counteract the unfavorable impression which my first appearance must have oc

casioned.

And now, if the reader is expecting that I am about to furnish him with an exact inventory of Miss St. Clair's personal charms, he is wholly mistaken. I have not the slightest idea of it. It is sufficient to say that she suited my taste, and if he has not confidence enough in my judgment in these matters to trust me-we had better part company at once. The evening passed all too rapidly away, and if from that moment I became their guest more frequently than strict etiquette permitted, the circumstances of my position must be my apology: for how could I be contented in my solitary office with two tallow candles and a law book, when a ten minutes' walk would surround me with all that heart could wish, in the shape of books, music and delightful conversation. I had always been fond of female society-what man of sense is not-but I had no taste for mere beauty, unless it was accompanied by corresponding mental qualities. My mind must be refreshed as well as my vision, and charming insipidity could never win from me the slightest attention.

Miss St. Clair was one of the very best specimens of the daughters of New England. Simple and unaffected in her manners, her mind was of the most attractive order, and the whole was united with a strength of religious principle which would sustain her under all the trials of

life. Can it be wondered, then, that being such as I have described her, a poor fellow like me, without parents, and scarcely a near relative in the world, should have coveted and desired such a treasure beyond all the blessings of earth? No! I am not ashamed to confess it, that, animated and imbued with something of the same spirit that shone forth so beautifully in her, on my bended knees I have implored that I might be made worthy to win such exalted excellence.

Nor was I less earnest in my practical duties. Night after night saw me poring over pages I once viewed with disgust; and I received my reward, in the opportunities that were increasingly afforded me of turning my knowledge to good account.

It was about this period that an event occurred that had an important bearing on my future life. A crime had been committed that caused no little sensation in the community, and I was employed to defend the criminal. There was everything to discourage in the case-he was poor and friendless, and suspicions were strong against him: but I was firm in my convictions of his innocence. Most thoroughly did I study the points of the case and consult the proper authorities; and so unremitting had been my exertions in his behalf, that when the day of trial came I believe I looked scarcely less haggard than the prisoner.

The public prosecutor was a man of powerful intellect, and left no means untried to bring the guilt home to the accused; and as the shades grew dark and darker under his hand, it seemed as if no human effort could save him.

When he had concluded I rose. My voice faltered a little, and the sight of Dr. Morton's anxious face, which I recognized in the crowd, was not calculated to reassure me, yet as I proceeded I gained courage. Calmly reviewing the facts of the case, I showed the worthlessness and inconclusiveness of the testimony, and the sophistry of my opponent's reasoning in short, I was enabled to put such a different face upon the affair, that it soon became evident the tide was turning in my favor. For two mortal hours Ï kept them fastened to their seats, and so breathless was the interest that you might have heard the slightest sound in any part of that crowded court-room. I used no other weapons but those of truth, but I must have been cold indeed, if the sight of that sympathizing auditory, and the

conducted in the most delicate manner, seemed likely to embroil the two nations; but it became evident, after a short time, that, with the best will to make war on us for that measure, the wheel of revolution was turning too rapidly in her own empire to admit of her prosecuting such an enterprise. It became perfectly manifest that her opposition to that measure would expend itself, in due time, in some very natural and proper, but very innocent ebullitions, when nothing, of that question at least, would remain to be settled, but the matter of the boundary. By a solemn act of Congress, we had pledged ourselves before the world, that, in bringing Texas into our Union, we would take only "the territory properly included within, and rightfully belonging to, that republic," and we took all questions of boundary" within our own jurisdiction, out of the hands of Texas, to be adjusted by ourselves. And how adjusted by us? By prompt military seizure of the whole territory in dispute? By an Executive war in defence of the disputed territory? So the President seems to have understood it. He informs the country that he attempted negotiation, which failed by the fault of Mexico. He negotiated, however, after the manner of Frederic of Prussia, with an army already in the disputed country, instructed to occupy and defend every inch of it, and to make war on the opposite party if he attempted to set a hostile foot in it.

How this war has come about it is easy enough now to see. It is not because Mexico owes us money for spoliations and injuries, which she neglects to liquidate and pay. Nor is it because she sent home our Minister, as she had before called home her own. It was not for either of these causes, or both of them, justifiable causes of war as they might be, that the Executive sent his army, on his naked authority, to occupy the banks of the Rio Grande; though a part of his Message might be read as if he meant we should so understand him. Nor has the war broken out because any act of hostility was committed, or offered, by Mexico, up to the time when our flag was raised to flout the Mexican forces on the opposite side of that river, in the Mexican city of Matamoras.

But the war exists by the act of Mexico." So says the President; and Congress yes, the American Congress-has echoed the declaration! It exists, says the President, "notwithstanding all our efforts to

avoid it"-and we almost wonder that Congress did not echo this declaration also. Yes, "the war exists by the act of Mexico." It is true we first set down an army in the heart of a vast country which she claimed as her own, and in that particular part of it of which she has been in undisturbed possession ever since she became a nation; a country where she had numerous towns and cities, and many thousands of peaceful citizens, subject to her sway and authority; and we planted a fortified camp there before one of her important commercial towns, pointing our batteries on the principal square of the city, and when she threatened resistance, we blockaded the mouth of the river on which it stands, to cut off the supplies of the forces that were quartered in it. We did all this; but we committed no act of war-not we; and it exists, as all the world must see, “notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it."! It exists "by the act of Mexico." She first pulled a trigger upon us, not we upon her. It is true that her President, Paredes, ever since he has held his present position, has constantly declared that he was not authorized to make, and would not make, offensive war on the United States. But this at least he has done; he has seen fit to regard the departments of Tamaulipas and New Leon, as we dare say he would also those of Chihuahua and New Mexico, as an integral por tion of the Mexican territory, and the presence of our army there as an invasion of Mexican soil, and has accordingly issued orders that they shall be defended as such. Under those orders, though still protesting that he does not declare war against the United States, and first causing a solemn demand to be made that our troops shall be withdrawn to the other side of the Rio de los Nueces, the ancient limits of Texas," the forces of Mexico have actually ventured to come on to the same side of the river, in the State of Tamaulipas, where our army is encamped; and thus it is, "notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it," that hostilities have actually been commenced. Of course, the war exists "by the act of Mexico!"

But it was far from our purpose, when we commenced this paper, to enter into any particular examination of the causes that have led to the commencement of hostilities, and to the actual existence of war. Nor shall we pursue the subject further at this time. In another number