BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
A SERMON 
 
 MEXICAN W A R 
 
 PREACHED AT THE MELODEON, ON SUNDAY, JUNE 25xn, 1843, 
 
 BY THEODORE PARKER, 
 
 MINISTER OP THE XXVIII. CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN BOSTOX. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 COOLIDGE AND WILEY, 12 WATER STUEET. 
 
 1S48. 
 
A SERMON 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MEXICAN WAR 
 
 PREACHED AT THE MELODEON, ON SUNDAY, JUNE 2&TH, 1848, 
 
 BY THEODORE PARKER, 
 
 MINISTER OF THE XXVDI. CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN BOSTON. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 COOLIDGE AND WILEY, 12 WATER STREET. 
 1848. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by 
 
 COOL1DGB & WILEY, 
 In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 - 
 
SCRIPTURE LESSON. 
 
 OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 AND it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a 
 vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria. 
 And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have 
 it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house ; and I will give thee 
 for it a better vineyard than it ; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the 
 worth of it in money. And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that 
 I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. And Ahab came into 
 his house heavy and displeased, because of the word which Naboth the Jez 
 reelite had spoken to him ; for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance 
 of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his 
 face, and would eat no bread. But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said un 
 to him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread ? And he said unto 
 her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me 
 thy vineyard for money ; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another 
 vineyard for it : and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard. And 
 Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel ? 
 Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry : I will give thee the vine 
 yard of Naboth the Jezreelite. So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and 
 sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles 
 that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth. And she wrote in the letters, 
 saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people ; and set 
 two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou 
 didst blaspheme God and the king : and then carry him out, and stone him, 
 that he may die. And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles, 
 who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as 
 it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them, they proclaimed a 
 fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. And there came in two men, 
 children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed 
 against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Na 
 both did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of 
 the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died. Then they sent to Jezebel, 
 saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead. And it came to pass, when Jezebel 
 heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, 
 take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to 
 give thee for money : for Naboth is not alive, but dead. And it came to pass, 
 when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the 
 vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. And the word of 
 the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab 
 king of Israel, which is in Samaria : behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, 
 whither he is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, say 
 ing, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession ? 
 
 1 Kings, xxi., 1-19. 
 
NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed 
 are they that mourn : for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek : for 
 they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness : for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful : for they 
 shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God. 
 Blessed are the peacemakers : for they shall be called the children of God. 
 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake : for theirs is the 
 kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and perse 
 cute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 
 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad : for great is your reward in heaven : for so 
 persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Matthew v., 3-12. 
 
SERMON 
 
 SOON after the commencement of the war 
 against Mexico, I said something respecting it in 
 this place. But while I was printing the sermon, 
 I was advised to hasten the compositors in their 
 work, or the war would be over before the sermon 
 was out. The advice was like a good deal of the 
 counsel that is given a man who thinks for him 
 self and honestly speaks what he unavoidably 
 thinks. It is now more than two years since the 
 war began ; I have hoped to live long enough to 
 see it ended, and hoped to say a word about it 
 when over. A month ago, this day, the 25th of 
 May, the treaty of peace, so much talked of, was 
 ratified by the Mexican Congress. A few days 
 ago, it was officially announced by telegraph to 
 your collector in Boston, that the war with Mexico 
 was at an end. 
 
 There are two things about this war quite re 
 markable. The first is, THE MANNER OF ITS COM 
 MENCEMENT. It was begun illegally, without the 
 action of the constitutional authorities ; begun by 
 the command of the President of the United States, 
 who ordered the American army into a territory 
 which the Mexicans claimed as their own. The 
 President says " it is ours," but the Mexicans also 
 
claimed it, and were in possession thereof until 
 forcibly expelled. This is a plain case, and as I 
 have elsewhere treated at length of this matter, I 
 will not dwell upon it again, except to mention a 
 single fact but recently divulged. It is well known 
 that Mr. Polk claimed the territory west of the 
 Nueces and east of the Rio Grande, as forming a 
 part of Texas, and therefore as forming part of the 
 United States after the annexation of Texas. He 
 contends that Mexico began the war by attacking 
 the American army while in that territory and near 
 the Rio Grande. But, from the correspondence 
 laid before the American Senate, in its secret ses 
 sion for considering the treaty, it now appears that 
 on the 10th of November, 1845, Mr. Polk instructed 
 Mr. Slidell to offer a relinquishment of American 
 claims against Mexico, amounting to $5,000,000 or 
 $6,000,000, for the sake of having the Rio Grande 
 as the western boundary of Texas ; yes, for that 
 very territory which he says was ours without pay 
 ing a cent. When it was conquered, a military 
 government was established there, as in other 
 places in Mexico. 
 
 The other remarkable thing about the war is, 
 THE MANNER OF ITS CONCLUSION. The treaty of 
 peace which has just been ratified by the Mexi 
 can authorities, and which puts an end to the war, 
 was negotiated by a man who had no more legal 
 authority than any one of us has to do it. Mr. 
 Polk made the war, without consulting Congress, 
 and that body adopted the war by a vote almost 
 unanimous. Mr. Nicholas P. Trist made the treaty, 
 without consulting the President ; yes, even after 
 the President had ordered him to return home. 
 
As the Congress adopted Mr. Folk's war, so Mr. 
 Polk adopted Mr. Trist's treaty, and the war ille 
 gally begun is brought informally to a close. Mr. 
 Polk is now in the President's chair, seated on the 
 throne of the Union, although he made the war ; 
 and Mr. Trist, it is said, is under arrest for making 
 the treaty meddling with what was none of his 
 business. 
 
 When the war began, there was a good deal of 
 talk about it here ; talk against it. But, as things 
 often go in Boston, it ended in talk. The news 
 boys made money out of the war. Political par 
 ties were true to their wonted principles, or then: 
 wonted prejudices. The friends of the party in 
 power could see no informality in the beginning 
 of hostilities ; no injustice in the war itself; not 
 even an impolicy. They were offended, if an ob 
 scure man preached against it of a Sunday. The 
 political opponents of the party in power talked 
 against the war, as a matter of course ; but, when 
 the elections came, supported the men that made 
 it with unusual alacrity their deeds serving as 
 commentary upon their words, and making further 
 remark thereon, in this place, quite superfluous. 
 Many men, who, whatever other parts of Scrip 
 ture they may forget, never cease to remember 
 that "Money answereth all things," diligently 
 set themselves to make money out of the war and 
 the new turn it gave to national affairs. Others 
 thought that " Glory " was a good thing, and so 
 engaged in the war itself, hoping to return, in due 
 time, all glittering with its honors. 
 
So what with the one political party that really 
 praised the war, and the other who affected to op 
 pose it, and with the commercial party, who looked 
 only for a market this for Merchandise and that 
 for " Patriotism " the friends of peace, who seri 
 ously and heartily opposed the war, were very few 
 in number. True, the "sober second thought" of 
 the people has somewhat increased their number ; 
 but they are still few, mostly obscure men. 
 
 Now Peace has come, nobody talks much about 
 it ; the news-boys have scarce made a cent by the 
 news. They fired cannons, a hundred guns on 
 the Common, for joy at the victory of Monterey ; 
 at Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, New York, 
 men illuminated their houses in honor of the bat 
 tle of Buena Vista, I think it was ; the Custom 
 House was officially illuminated at Boston for that 
 occasion. But we hear of no cannons to welcome 
 the peace. Thus far, it does not seem that a sin 
 gle candle has been burnt in rejoicing for that. 
 The newspapers are full of talk, as usual ; flags 
 are flying in the streets ; the air is a little noisy 
 with hurrahs, but it is all talk about the conven 
 tions at Baltimore and Philadelphia ; hurrahs for 
 Taylor and Cass. Nobody talks of the peace. 
 Flags enough flap in the wind, with the names of 
 rival candidates. But nowhere do the Stripes and 
 Stars bear PEACE as their motto. The peace now 
 secured is purchased with such conditions imposed 
 on Mexico, that while every one will be glad of it, 
 no man, that loves Justice, can be proud of it. 
 Very little is said about the treaty. The distin 
 guished Senator from Massachusetts did himself 
 
honor, it seems to me, in voting against it on the 
 ground that it enabled us to plunder Mexico of her 
 land. But the treaty contains some things highly 
 honorable to the character of the nation, of which 
 we may well enough be proud, if ever of any thing. 
 I refer to the twenty-second and twenty-third arti 
 cles, which provide for arbitration between the na 
 tions, if future difficulties should occur, and to the 
 pains taken, in case of actual hostilities, for the se 
 curity of all unarmed persons, for the protection 
 of private property, and for the humane treatment 
 of all prisoners taken in war. These ideas, and 
 the language of these articles, are copied from the 
 celebrated treaty between the United States and 
 Prussia the treaty of 1785. It is scarcely need 
 ful to add, that they were then introduced by that 
 great and good man, Benjamin Franklin, one of 
 the negotiators of the treaty. They made a new 
 epoch in diplomacy, and introduced a principle 
 previously unknown in the Law of Nations. The 
 insertion of these articles in the new treaty is, per 
 haps, the only thing connected with the war 
 which an American can look upon with satisfac 
 tion. Yet this fact excites no attention. 
 
 Still, while so little notice is taken of this matter, 
 in public and private, it may be worth while for a 
 minister, on Sunday, to say a word about the 
 peace, and, now the war is over, to look back upon 
 it, to see what it has cost, ui money and in men, 
 and what we have got by it ; what its conse 
 quences have been, thus far, and are likely to be 
 for the future ; what new dangers and duties come 
 from this cause interpolated into our nation. We 
 
10 
 
 have been long promised " indemnity for the past 
 and security for the future " : let us see what we 
 are to be indemnified for, and what secured 
 against. The natural justice of the war I will not 
 look at now. 
 
 First, then, of the COST OF THE WAR. Money is 
 the first thing with a good many men ; the only 
 thing with some ; and an important thing with all. 
 So, first of all, let me speak of the cost of the war 
 IN DOLLARS. It is a little difficult to determine the 
 actual cost of the war, thus far even its direct 
 cost ; for the bills are not all in the hands of gov 
 ernment ; and then, as a matter of political party- 
 craft, the government, of course, is unwilling to let 
 the full cost become known before the next elec 
 tion is over. So it is to be expected that the gov 
 ernment will keep the facts from the people as 
 long as possible. Most governments would do the 
 same. But Truth has a right of way everywhere, 
 and will recover it at last, spite of the adverse pos 
 session of a political party. The indirect cost of 
 the war must be still more difficult to come at, and 
 will long remain a matter of calculation, in which 
 it is impossible to reach certainty. We do not 
 know yet the entire cost of the Florida war, or the 
 late war with England ; the complete cost of the 
 Revolutionary war must forever be unknown. 
 
 It is natural for most men to exaggerate what 
 favors their argument ; but when I cannot obtain 
 the exact figures, I will come a good deal within 
 the probable amount. The military and naval ap 
 propriations for the year ending in June, 1847, were 
 
11 
 
 $40,865,155.96 ; for the next year, $31,377,679.92 ; 
 the sum asked for the present year, till next June, 
 $42,224,000 ; making a whole of $114,466,835.88. 
 It is true that all this appropriation is not for the 
 Mexican war, but it is also true that this sum does 
 not include all the appropriations for the war. Es 
 timating the sums already paid by the govern 
 ment, the private claims presented and to be pre 
 sented, the $15,000,000 to be paid Mexico as 
 purchase money for the territory we take from 
 her, the $5,000,000 or $6,000,000 to be paid our 
 own citizens for their claims against her, I think 
 I am a good deal within the mark when I say the 
 war will have cost $150,000,000 before the soldiers 
 are at home, discharged, and out of the pay of the 
 State. In this sum I do not include the bounty- 
 lands to be given to the soldiers and officers, nor 
 the pensions to be paid them, their widows and 
 orphans, for years to come. I will estimate that at 
 $50,000,000 more, making a whole of $200,000,000 
 which has been paid or must be. This is the di 
 rect cost to the federal government, and of course 
 does not include the sums paid by individual 
 States, or bestowed by private generosity, to feed 
 and clothe the volunteers before they were mus 
 tered into service. This may seem extravagant ;* 
 but, fifty years hence, when party spirit no longer 
 blinds men's eyes, and when the whole is a matter 
 of history, I think it will be thought moderate, and 
 be found a good deal within the actual and direct 
 cost. Some of this cost will appear as a public 
 debt. Statements recently made respecting it can 
 hardly be trusted, notwithstanding the authority on 
 
12 
 
 which they rest. Part of this war-debt is funded 
 already, part not yet funded. When the outstand 
 ing demands are all settled, and the Treasury 
 notes redeemed, there will probably be a war-debt 
 of not less than $125,000,000. At least, such is 
 the estimate of an impartial and thoroughly com 
 petent judge. But, not to exaggerate, let us call it 
 only $100,000,000. 
 
 It will, perhaps, be said part of this money, 
 all that is paid in pensions, is a charity, and there 
 fore no loss. But it is a charity paid to men who, 
 except for the war, would have needed no such 
 aid, and, therefore, a waste. Of the actual cost 
 of the war, some three or four millions have been 
 spent in extravagant prices for hiring or purchas 
 ing ships, in buying provisions and various things 
 needed by the army, and supplied by political fa 
 vorites at exorbitant rates. This is the only portion 
 of the cost which is not a sheer waste ; here the 
 money has only changed hands ; nothing has been 
 destroyed, except the honesty of the parties con 
 cerned in such transactions. If a Farmer hires 
 men to help him till the soil, the men earn 'their 
 subsistence and their wages, and leave, besides, a 
 profit to their employer ; when the season is over, 
 he has his crops and his improvements as the re 
 turn for their pay and subsistence. But for all 
 that the Soldier has consumed for his wages, his 
 clothes, his food and drink, the fighting tools he 
 has worn out, and the ammunition he has expend 
 ed there is no available return to show ; all that 
 is a clear waste. The beef is eaten up, the cloth 
 worn away, the powder is burnt, and what is there 
 
13 
 
 to show for it all ? Nothing but the " glory." You 
 sent out sound men, and they come back, many 
 of them, sick and maimed ; some of them are 
 slain. 
 
 The indirect pecuniary cost of the war is caused, 
 first, by diverting some 150,000 men engaged in 
 the war directly or remotely from the works of 
 productive industry, to the labors of war, which 
 produce nothing ; and, secondly, by disturbing the 
 regular business of the country, first by the with 
 drawal of men from their natural work ; then, by 
 withdrawing large quantities of money from the 
 active capital of the nation ; and, finally, by the 
 general uncertainty which it causes all over the 
 land, thus hindering men from undertaking or 
 prosecuting successfully their various productive 
 enterprises. If 150,000 men earn, on the average, 
 but $200 apiece, that alone amounts to $30,000,000. 
 The withdrawal of such an amount of labor from 
 the common industry of the country must be seri 
 ously felt. At any rate, the nation has earned 
 $30,000,000 less than it would have done, if these 
 men had kept about their common work. 
 
 But the diversion of capital from its natural and 
 pacific direction is a greater evil in this case. 
 America is rich, but her wealth consists mainly in 
 land, in houses, cattle, ships, and various things 
 needed for human comfort and industry. In 
 money, we are poor. The amount of money is 
 small in proportion to the actual wealth of the na 
 tion, and also in proportion to its activity, which is 
 indicated by the business of the nation. In actual 
 wealth, the Free States of America are probably 
 
14 
 
 the richest people in the world ; but in money we 
 are poorer than many other nations. This is plain 
 enough, though perhaps not very well known, and 
 is shown by the fact that interest, in European 
 states, is from two to four per cent, a year, and in 
 America from six to nine. The active capital of 
 America is small. Now in this war, a national 
 debt has accumulated, which probably is or will 
 soon be $100,000,000, or $125,000,000. Now all 
 this great sum of money has, of course, been 
 taken from the active capital of the country, and 
 there has been so much less capital for the use of 
 the Farmer, the Manufacturer, and the Merchant. 
 But for this war, these 150,000 men and these 
 $100,000,000 would have been devoted to produc 
 tive industry ; and the result would have been 
 shown by the increase of our annual earnings, in 
 increased wealth and comfort. 
 
 Then war produced uncertainty, and that dis 
 trust amongst men. Therefore many were hin 
 dered from undertaking new works, and others 
 found then* old enterprises ruined at once. In this 
 way there has been a great loss, which cannot be 
 accurately estimated. I think no man, familiar with 
 American industry, would rate this indirect loss 
 lower than $100,000,000 ; some, perhaps, at twice 
 as much ; but to avoid all possibility of exaggera 
 tion, let us call it half the smallest of these sums, 
 or $50,000,000. This makes a whole of $250,000,- 
 000 as the complete pecuniary cost of the Mexican 
 war direct and indirect. 
 
 What have we got to show for all this money. 
 We have a large tract of territory containing, in 
 
15 
 
 all, both east and west of the Rio Grande, I am 
 told, between 700,000 and 800,000 square miles. 
 Accounts differ as to its value. But it appears, 
 from the recent correspondence of Mr. Slidell, that 
 in 1845 the President offered Mexico, in money, 
 $25,000,000 for that territory which we now ac 
 quire under this new treaty. Suppose it is worth 
 more suppose it is worth twice as much, or all 
 the indirect cost of the war ($50,000,000), then the 
 $200,000,000 are thrown away. 
 
 Now, for this last sum, we could have built a 
 sufficient Rail Road across the Isthmus of Pana 
 ma and another across the continent, from the 
 Mississippi to the Pacific. If such a Road, with 
 its suitable equipment, cost $100,000 a mile, and 
 the distance should amount to 2,000 miles, then 
 the $200,000,000 would just pay the bills. That 
 would have been the greatest national work of 
 productive industry in the world. In comparison 
 with it the Lake Moeris and the Pyramids of 
 Egypt and the Wall of China seem but the works 
 of a child. It might be a work to be proud of till 
 the world ends; one, too, which would advance 
 the industry, the welfare, and general civilization 
 of mankind to a great degree, diminishing, by 
 half, the distance round the globe ; saving millions 
 of property and many lives each year ; besides 
 furnishing, it is thought, a handsome income from 
 the original outlay. But, perhaps, that would not 
 be the best use which might be made of the 
 money ; perhaps it would not have been wise to 
 undertake that work. I do not pretend to judge 
 of such matters, only to show what might be done 
 
16 
 
 with that sum of money, if we were disposed to 
 national works of such a character. At any rate, 
 two Pacific Rail Roads would be better than one 
 Mexican War. We are seldom aware of the cost 
 of war. If a single regiment of dragoons costs 
 only $700,000 a year which is a good deal less 
 than the actual cost that is considerably more 
 than twelve colleges like Harvard University, with 
 its Schools for Theology, Law, and Medicine ; 
 its Scientific School, Observatory and all. We 
 are, taken as a whole, a very ignorant people ; and 
 while we waste our School-money and School- 
 time, must continue so. 
 
 A great man, who towers far above the common 
 heads, full of creative thought, of the Ideas which 
 move the world, able to organize that thought into 
 Institutions, Laws, Practical Works ; a man of a 
 million, a million-minded man, at the head of a na 
 tion, putting his thought into them ; ruling not barely 
 by virtue of his position, but by the intellectual and 
 moral power to fill it; ruling not over men's heads, 
 but in their minds and hearts, and leading them to 
 new fields of toil, increasing their numbers, wealth, 
 intelligence, comfort, morals, piety such a man 
 is a noble sight; a Charlemagne, or a Genghis 
 Khan, a Moses leading his nation up from Egyp 
 tian bondage to freedom and the promised land. 
 How have the eyes of the world been fixed on 
 Washington ! In darker days than ours, when all 
 was violence, it is easy to excuse such men if they 
 were warriors also ; and made, for the time, their 
 nation but a camp. There have been ages when 
 the most lasting ink was human blood. In our 
 
17 
 
 day, when war is the exception, and that com 
 monly needless such a man, so getting the start 
 of the majestic world, were a far grander sight. 
 And with such a man at the head of this nation 
 a great man at the head of a free nation, able and 
 energetic and enterprising as we are what were 
 too much to hope ? As it is, we have wasted our 
 money, and got the honor of fighting such a 
 war. 
 
 Let me next speak of the direct cost of the tvar 
 IN MEN. In April, 1846, the entire army of the 
 United States consisted of 7,244 men ; the naval 
 force of about 7,500. We presented the gratifying 
 spectacle of a nation 20,000,000 strong, with a 
 sea-coast of 3,000 or 4,000 miles, and only seven 
 or eight thousand soldiers, and as many armed 
 men on the sea or less than fifteen thousand 
 in all ! Few things were more grateful to an 
 American than this thought that his country 
 was so nearly free from the terrible curse of a 
 standing army. At that time, the standing army 
 of France was about 480,000 men ; that of Russia 
 nearly 800,000, it is said. Most of the officers in 
 the American army and navy, and most of the 
 rank and file, had probably entered the service 
 with no expectation of ever shedding the blood of 
 men. The navy and army were looked on as 
 instruments of Peace as much so as the Police 
 of a city. 
 
 The first of last January, there was, in Mexico, 
 an American army of 23,695 regular soldiers, and 
 a little more than 50,000 volunteers the number 
 
18 
 
 cannot now be exactly determined making an 
 army of invasion of about 75,000 men. The na 
 val forces, also, had been increased to 10,000. Es 
 timating all the men engaged in the service of the 
 army and navy ; in making weapons of war and 
 ammunition; in preparing food and clothing; in 
 transporting those things and the soldiers from 
 place to place, by land or sea, and in performing 
 the various other works incident to military opera 
 tions, it is within bounds to say that there were 
 90,000 or 90,000 men engaged indirectly in the 
 works of war. But not to exaggerate, it is safe to 
 say that 150,000 men were directly or indirectly 
 engaged in the Mexican war. This estimate will 
 seem moderate when you remember that there 
 were about 5,000 teamsters connected with the 
 army in Mexico. 
 
 Here, then, were 150,000 men, whose attention 
 and toil were diverted from the great business of 
 productive industry to merely military operations, 
 or preparations for them. Of course, all the labor 
 of these men was of no direct value to the human 
 race. The food and clothing and labor of a man 
 who earns nothing by productive work of Hand or 
 Head, is food, clothing, and labor thrown away 
 labor in vain. There is nothing to show for the 
 things he has consumed. So all the work spent 
 in preparing ammunition and weapons of war is 
 labor thrown away, an absolute loss, as much as 
 if it had been spent in making earthen pitchers 
 and then in dashing them to pieces. A country is 
 the richer for every serviceable plough and spade 
 made in it, and the world the richer ; they are to 
 
be used in productive work, and when worn out, 
 there is the improved soil and the crops that have 
 been gathered, to show for the wear and tear of 
 the tools. So a country is the richer for every in 
 dustrious Shoemaker and Blacksmith it contains ; 
 for his time and toil go to increase the sum of hu 
 man comfort creating actual wealth. The world 
 also is better off, and becomes better through their 
 influence. But a country is the poorer for every 
 Soldier it maintains, and the world poorer, as he 
 adds nothing to the actual wealth of mankind ; so 
 is it the poorer for each sword and cannon made 
 within its borders, and the world poorer, for these 
 instruments cannot be used in any productive 
 work, only for works of destruction. 
 
 So much for the labor of these 150,000 men 
 labor wasted in vain. Let us now look at the cost 
 of life. It is not possible to ascertain the exact 
 loss suffered up to this time,, in killed, deceased by 
 ordinary diseases, and in wounded ; for some die 
 before they are mustered into the service of the 
 United States, and parts of the army are so far 
 distant from the seat of government that their re 
 cent losses are still unknown. I rely for informa 
 tion on the last report of the Secretary of War, 
 read before the Senate April 10th, 1848, and re 
 cently printed. That gives the losses of parts of 
 the army up to December last ; other accounts are 
 made up only till October, or till August. Recent 
 losses will of course swell the amount of destruc 
 tion. According to that Report, on the American 
 side there has been killed in battle, or died of 
 wounds received therein, 1,689 persons ; there had 
 
died of diseases and accidents, 6,173 ; 3,743 have 
 been wounded in battle who were not known to 
 be dead at the date of the report 
 
 This does not include the deaths in the navy, 
 nor the destruction of men connected with the ar 
 my in various ways as furnishing supplies and 
 the like. Considering the sickness and accidents 
 that have happened in the present year, and others 
 which may be expected before the troops reach 
 home, I may set down the total number of deaths 
 on the American side, caused by the war, at 15,000, 
 and the number of wounded men at 4,000. Sup 
 pose the army on the average to have consisted of 
 50,000 men for two years, this gives a mortality 
 of 15 per cent, each year, which is an enormous 
 loss even for times of war, and one seldom equalled 
 in modern warfare. 
 
 Now, most of the men who have thus died or 
 been maimed were in the prime of life able- 
 bodied and hearty men. Had they remained at 
 home in the works of peace, it is not likely that 
 more than 500 of the number would have died. 
 So then 14,500 lives may be set down at once to 
 the account of the war. The wounded men are 
 of course to thank the war, and that alone, for their 
 smart and the life-long agony which they are called 
 on to endure. 
 
 Such is the American loss. The loss of the 
 Mexicans we cannot now determine. But they 
 have been many times more numerous than the 
 Americans; have been badly armed, badly com 
 manded, badly trained, and besides have been 
 beaten in every battle; their number seemed 
 
21 
 
 often the cause of their ruin, making them confi 
 dent before battle and hindering their retreat after 
 they were beaten. Still more, they have been ill 
 provided with surgeons and nurses to care for the 
 wounded, and were destitute of medicines. They 
 must have lost in battle five or six times more than 
 we have done, and have had a proportionate num 
 ber of wounded. To " he like a military bulletin " 
 is a European proverb ; and it is not necessary to 
 trust reports which tell of 600 or 900 Mexicans 
 left dead on the ground, while the Americans lost 
 but five or six. But when we remember that only 
 12 Americans were killed during the bombard 
 ment of Vera Cruz, which lasted five days ; that 
 the citadel contained more than 5,000 soldiers and 
 over 400 pieces of cannon, we may easily believe 
 the Mexican losses on the whole have been 10,000 
 men killed and perished of their wounds. Their 
 loss by sickness would probably be smaller than 
 our own, for the Mexicans were in their native cli 
 mate, though often ill furnished with clothes, with 
 shelter and provisions ; so I will put down their 
 loss by ordinary diseases at only 5,000, making a 
 total of 15,000 deaths. Suppose their number of 
 wounded was four times as great as our own, or 
 20,000. I should not be surprised if this were only 
 half the number. 
 
 Put all together and we have in total, Ameri 
 cans and Mexicans, 24,000 men wounded, more or 
 less, and the greater part maimed for life ; and we 
 have 30,000 men killed on the field of battle, or 
 perished by the slow torture of their wounds, or 
 
22 
 
 deceased of diseases caused by extraordinary expo 
 sures, 24,000 men maimed ; 30,000 dead ! 
 
 You all remember the bill which so hastily 
 passed Congress in May, 1846, and authorized the 
 war previously begun. You perhaps have not for 
 got the preamble, " Whereas war exists by the act 
 of Mexico." Well, that bill authorized the waste 
 of $200,000,000 of American treasure money 
 enough to have built a Rail Road across the Isth 
 mus of Panama, and another to connect the Mis 
 sissippi and the Pacific ocean; it demanded the 
 disturbance of industry and commerce all over the 
 land, caused by withdrawing $100,000,000 from 
 peaceful investments, and diverting 150,000 Amer 
 icans from their productive and peaceful works ; 
 it demanded a loss yet greater of the treasure of 
 Mexicans ; it commanded the maiming of 24,000 
 men for life, and the death of 30,000 men in the 
 prime and vigor of manhood. Yet such was the 
 state of feeling I will not say of thought in 
 the Congress, that out of both houses only 16 men 
 voted against it. If a Prophet had stood there he 
 might have said to the Representative of Boston, 
 "You have just voted for the wasting of 200,000,000 
 of the very dollars you were sent there to repre 
 sent ; for the maiming of 24,000 men and the kill 
 ing of 30,000 more part by disease, part by the 
 sword, part by the slow and awful lingerings of a 
 wounded frame ! Sir, that is the English of your 
 vote." Suppose the Prophet, before the vote was 
 taken, could have gone round and told each mem 
 ber of Congress, " If there comes a war, YOU will 
 
perish in it " perhaps the vote would have been 
 a little different It is easy to vote away blood, if 
 it is not your own ! 
 
 Such is the cost of the war in money and in 
 men. Yet it has not been a very cruel war. It 
 has been conducted with as much gentleness as a 
 war of invasion can be. There is no agreeable way 
 of butchering men. You cannot make it a pas 
 time. The Americans have always been a brave 
 people ; they were never cruel. They always 
 treated their prisoners kindly in the Revolution 
 ary war, in the late war with England. True, they 
 have seized the Mexican ports, taken military pos 
 session of the custom houses, and collected such 
 duties as they saw fit ; true, they sometimes made 
 the army of invasion self-subsisting, and to that 
 end have levied contributions on the towns they 
 have taken ; true, they have seized provisions 
 which were private property, snatching them out 
 of the hands of men "who needed them; true, they 
 have robbed the rich and the poor ; true, they have 
 burned and bombarded towns have murdered 
 men and violated women. All this must of course 
 take place in any war. There will be the general 
 murder and robbery committed on account of the 
 nation, and the particular murder and robbery on 
 account of the special individual. This also is to 
 be expected. You cannot set a town on fire and 
 burn down just half of it making the flames 
 stop exactly where you will. You cannot take 
 the most idle, ignorant, drunken, and vicious men 
 out of the low population in our cities and large 
 
towns, get them drunk enough or foolish enough 
 to enlist, train them to violence, theft, robbery, 
 murder, and then stop the man from exercising 
 his rage or lust on his own private account. If it 
 is hard to make a dog understand that he must kill 
 a hare for his master, but never for himself, it 
 is not much easier to teach a volunteer that it is a 
 duty, a distinction, and a glory to rob and murder 
 the Mexican people for the nation's sake, but a 
 wrong, a shame, and a crime to rob or murder a 
 single Mexican for his own sake. There have 
 been instances of wanton cruelty, occasioned by 
 private licentiousness and individual barbarity. Of 
 these I shall take no further notice, but come to 
 such as have been commanded by the American 
 authorities, and which were the official acts of the 
 nation. 
 
 One was the capture of Tabasco. Tabasco is 
 a small town several hundred miles from the thea 
 tre of war, situated on a river about 80 miles from 
 the sea, in the midst of a fertile province. The 
 army did not need it, nor the navy. It did not lie 
 in the way of the American operations ; its pos 
 session would be wholly useless. But one Sun 
 day afternoon, while the streets were full of men, 
 women, and children, engaged in their Sunday 
 business, a part of the naval force of America 
 swept by ; the streets running at right angles with 
 the river, were enfiladed by the hostile cannon, and 
 men, women, and children, unarmed and unresist 
 ing, were mowed down by the merciless shot 
 The city was taken, but soon abandoned, for its 
 possession was of no use. The killing of those 
 
men, women, and children was as much a piece 
 of murder, as it would be to come and shoot us 
 to-day, and in this house. No valid excuse has 
 been given for this cold-blooded massacre none 
 can be given. It was not battle, but wanton 
 butchery. None but a Pequod Indian could ex 
 cuse it. The Theological newspapers in New 
 England thought it a wicked thing in Dr. Palfrey 
 to write a letter on Sunday, though he hoped 
 thereby to help end the war. How many of them 
 had any fault to find with this national butchery 
 on the Lord's day ? Fighting is bad enough any 
 day ; fighting for mere pay, or glory, or the love of 
 fighting, is a wick'ed thing ; but to fight on that 
 day when the whole Christian world kneels to 
 pray in the name of the Peace-maker ; to butcher 
 men and women and children, when they are 
 coming home from church, with prayer-books in 
 their hands, seems an aggravation even of murder ; 
 a cowardly murder, which a Hessian would have 
 been ashamed of. " But 'twas a famous victory." 
 
 One other instance, of at least apparent wan 
 tonness, took place at the bombardment of Vera 
 Cruz. After the siege had gone on for a while, 
 the foreign consuls in the town, " moved," as they 
 say, " by the feeling of humanity excited in their 
 hearts by the frightful results of the bombardment 
 of the city," requested that the women and chil 
 dren might be allowed to leave the city, and not 
 stay to be shot. The American General refused ; 
 they must stay and be shot. 
 
 Perhaps you have not an adequate conception 
 of the effect produced by bombarding a town. 
 
Let me interest you a little in the details thereof. 
 Vera Cruz is about as large as Boston in 1810 ; it 
 contains about 30,000 inhabitants. In addition it 
 is protected by a castle the celebrated fortress of 
 St. Juan d' Ulloa, furnished with more than 5000 
 soldiers and over 400 cannons. Imagine to your 
 self Boston as it was 40 years ago, invested with 
 a fleet on one side, and an army of 15,000 men 
 on the land, both raining cannon-balls and bomb 
 shells upon your houses ; shattering them to frag 
 ments, exploding in your streets, churches, houses, 
 cellars, mingling men, women, and children in 
 one promiscuous murder. Suppose this to con 
 tinue five days and nights ; imagine the condi 
 tion of the city ; the ruins, the flames ; the dead, 
 the wounded, the widows, orphans ; think of the 
 fears of the men anticipating the city would be 
 sacked by a merciless soldiery think of the wo 
 men ! Thus you will have a faint notion of the 
 picture of Vera Cruz at the end of March, 1847. 
 Do you know the meaning of the name of the 
 city ? Vera Cruz is the TRUE CROSS. " See how 
 these Christians love one another." The Ameri 
 cans are followers of the Prince of Peace ; they 
 have more missionaries amongst the "heathen" 
 than any other nation, and the President, in his 
 last message, says, " No country has been so much 
 favored, or should acknowledge with deeper rever 
 ence the manifestations of the Divine protection." 
 The Americans were fighting Mexico to dismem 
 ber her territory, to plunder her soil, and plant 
 thereon the institution of Slavery, " the necessary 
 back-ground of Freedom." 
 
Few of us have ever seen a battle, and without 
 that none can have a complete notion of the fero 
 cious passions which it excites. Let me help your 
 fancy a little by relating an anecdote which seems 
 to be very well authenticated, and requires but lit 
 tle external testimony to render it credible. At 
 any rate, it was abundantly believed a year ago ; 
 but times change, and what was then believed all 
 round may now be " the most improbable thing in 
 the world." At the battle of Buena Vista, a Ken 
 tucky regiment began to stagger under the heavy 
 charge of the Mexicans. The American com- 
 mander-in-chief turned to one who stood near 
 him, and exclaimed, "By God, this will not do. 
 This is not the way for Kentuckians to behave 
 when called on to make good a battle. It will not 
 answer, sir." So the General clenched his fist, 
 knit his brows, and set his teeth hard together. 
 However, the Kentuckians presently formed in 
 good order and gave a deadly fire, which altered 
 the battle. Then the old General broke out with 
 a loud hurrah. " Hurrah for old Kenttick," he ex 
 claimed, rising in his stirrups ; " that's the way to 
 do it. Give 'em hell, damn 'em," and tears of ex 
 ultation rolled down his cheeks as he said it. You 
 find the name of this general at the head of most 
 of the whig newspapers in the United States. He 
 is one of the most popular candidates for the Pres 
 idency. Cannons were fired for him a hundred 
 guns on Boston Common, not long ago in honor 
 of his nomination for the highest office in the gift 
 of a free and Christian people. Soon we shall 
 probably have clerical certificates, setting forth 
 
28 
 
 to the people of the North that he is an ex 
 emplary Christian. You know how Faneuil Hall, 
 the old " Cradle of Liberty," rang with " hurrah for 
 Taylor," but a few days ago. The seven wise 
 men of Greece were famous in their day ; but now 
 nothing is known of them except a single pungent 
 aphorism from each, " Know thyself," and the like. 
 The time may come when our great men shall 
 have suffered this same reduction descending all 
 their robes of glory having vanished save a single 
 thread. Then shall Franklin be known only as 
 having 'said, "DON'T GIVE TOO MUCH FOR THE WHIS 
 TLE " ; Patrick Henry for his " GIVE ME LIBERTY OR 
 GIVE ME DEATH " ; Washington for his " IN PEACE 
 PREPARE FOR WAR " ; Jefferson for his " ALL MEN ARE 
 CREATED EQUAL " ; and General Taylor shall be 
 known only by his attributes rough and ready, and 
 for his aphorism, " Give 'em hell, damn 'em" Yet 
 he does not seem to be a ferocious man, but gen 
 erous and kindly, it is said, and strongly opposed 
 to this particular war, whose "natural justice" 
 it seems he looked at, and which he thought was 
 wicked at the beginning, though, on that account, 
 he was none the less ready to fight it. 
 
 One thing more I must mention in speaking of 
 the cost of men. According to the Report quoted 
 just now, 4,966 American soldiers had deserted in 
 Mexico. Some of them had joined the Mexican 
 army. When the American commissioners who 
 were sent to secure the ratification of the treaty, 
 went to Queretaro, they found there a body of 200 
 American soldiers, and 800 more were at no great 
 distance, mustered into the Mexican service. 
 
29 
 
 These men, it seems, had served out their time 
 in the American camp, and notwithstanding they 
 had as the President says in his message 
 "covered themselves with imperishable honors," 
 by fighting men who never injured them, they 
 were willing to go and seek yet a thicker mantle 
 of this imperishable honor, by fighting against 
 their own country ! Why should they not ? If it 
 were RIGHT to kill Mexicans for a few dollars a 
 month, why was it not right also to kill Ameri 
 cans, especially when it pays the most ? Perhaps 
 it is not an American habit to inquire into the jus 
 tice of a war, only into the profit which it may 
 bring. If the Mexicans pay best in money 
 these 1000 soldiers made a good speculation. No 
 doubt in Mexico military glory is at a premium 
 though it could hardly command a greater price 
 just now than in America, where, however, the 
 supply seems equal to the demand. 
 
 The numerous desertions and the readiness 
 with which the soldiers joined the " foe ", show 
 plainly the moral character of the men, and the 
 degree of " Patriotism " and "Humanity" which 
 animated them in going to war. You know the 
 severity of military discipline ; the terrible beat 
 ings men are subjected to before they can become 
 perfect in the soldier's art ; the horrible and revolt 
 ing punishments imposed on them for drunken 
 ness though little pains were taken to keep the 
 temptation from their eyes and disobedience of 
 general orders. You have read enough of this in 
 the newspapers. The officers of the volunteers, I 
 am told, have generally been men of little edu- 
 
cation, men of strong passions and bad habits ; 
 many of them abandoned men, who belonged to 
 the refuse of society. Such men run into an army 
 as the wash of the street runs into the sewers. 
 Now when such a man gets clothed with a little 
 authority, in time of peace, you know what use 
 he makes of it ; but when he covers himself with 
 the " imperishable honors " of his official coat, gets 
 an epaulette on his shoulder, a sword by his side, 
 a commission in his pocket, and visions of "glory" 
 in his head, you may easily judge how he will use 
 his authority, or may read in the newspapers how 
 he has used it. When there are brutal soldiers, 
 commanded by brutal captains, it is to be supposed 
 that much brutality is to be suffered. 
 
 Now desertion is a great offence in a soldier ; 
 in this army it is one of the most common for 
 nearly ten per cent, of the American army has de 
 serted in Mexico, not to mention the desertions 
 before the army reached that country. It is related 
 that forty-eight men were hanged at once for de 
 sertion ; not hanged as you judicially murder men 
 in time of peace, privately, as if ashamed of the 
 deed, in the corner of a jail, and by a contrivance 
 which shortens the agony and makes death hu 
 mane as possible. These forty-eight men were 
 hanged slowly ; put to death with painful procras 
 tinations their agony wilfully prolonged, and 
 death embittered by needless ferocity. But that is 
 not all : it is related, that these men were doomed 
 to be thus murdered on the day when the battle of 
 Churubusco took place. These men, awaiting 
 their death, were told they should not suffer till 
 
the American flag should wave its stripes over the 
 hostile walls. So they were kept in suspense an 
 hour, and then slowly hanged one by one. 
 You know the name of the officer on whom this 
 barbarity rests; it was Colonel Harney, a man 
 whose reputation was black enough and base 
 enough before. His previous deeds, however, re 
 quire no mention here. But this man is now a 
 General and so on the high road to the Presi 
 dency, whenever it shall please our Southern mas 
 ters to say the word. Some accounts say there 
 were more than forty-eight who thus were hanged. 
 I only give the number of those whose names lie 
 printed before me as I write. Perhaps the num 
 ber was less ; it is impossible to obtain exact in 
 formation in respect to the matter, for the govern 
 ment has not yet published an account of the pun 
 ishments inflicted in this war. The information 
 can only be obtained by a " Resolution " of either 
 house of Congress, and so is not likely to be had 
 before the election. But at the same time with 
 the execution, other deserters were scourged with 
 fifty lashes each, branded with a letter D, a perpet 
 ual mark of infamy, on their cheek, compelled to 
 wear an iron yoke, weighing eight pounds, about 
 their neck. Six men were made to dig the grave 
 of their companions, and were then flogged with 
 two hundred lashes each. 
 
 I wish this hanging of forty-eight men could 
 have taken place in State Street, and the respecta 
 ble citizens of Boston, who like this war, had been 
 made to look on and see it all ; that they had seen 
 those poor culprits bid farewell to father, mother, 
 
wife, or child, looking wishfully for the hour 
 which was to end their torment, and then, one by 
 one, have seen them slowly hanged to death ; that 
 your Representative, ye men of Boston, had put 
 on all the halters ! He did help put them on ; that 
 infamous vote I speak not of the motive, it may 
 have been as honorable as the vote itself was in 
 famous doomed these eight and forty men to be 
 thus murdered. 
 
 Yes, I wish all this killing of the 2,000 Ameri 
 cans on the field of battle, and the 10,000 Mexi 
 cans; all this slashing of the bodies of 24,000 
 wounded men ; all the agony of the other 18,000 
 that have died of disease, could have taken place 
 in some spot where the President of the United 
 States and his Cabinet, where all the Congress 
 who voted for the war, with the Baltimore conven 
 tions of '44 and '48, and the Whig convention of 
 Philadelphia, and the controlling men of both po 
 litical parties, who care nothing for this bloodshed 
 and misery they have idly caused could have 
 stood and seen it all ; and then that the voice of 
 the whole nation had come up to them and said, 
 " This is your work, not ours. Certainly we will 
 not shed our blood, nor our brothers' blood, to get 
 never so much slave territory. It was bad enough 
 to fight in the cause of Freedom. In the cause of 
 Slavery God forgive us for that! We have 
 trusted you thus far, but please God, we never will 
 trust you again." 
 
 Let us now look at the effect of this war on the 
 
33 
 
 morals of the nation. The Revolutionary war 
 was the contest for a great Idea. If there were 
 ever a just war it was that a contest for national 
 existence. Yet it brought out many of the worst 
 qualities of human nature, on both sides, as well 
 as some of the best. It helped make a Washing 
 ton, it is true, but a Benedict Arnold likewise. A 
 war with a powerful nation, terrible as it must be, 
 yet develops the energy of the people, promotes 
 self-denial, and helps the growth of some qualities 
 of a high order. It had this effect in England from 
 1798 to 1815. True, England for that time be 
 came a despotism, but the self-consciousness of 
 the nation, its self-denial and energy were amaz 
 ingly stimulated ; the moral effect of that series of 
 wars was doubtless far better than of that infa 
 mous contest which she has kept up against Ire 
 land for many years. Let us give even war its 
 due ; when a great boy fights with an equal, it 
 may develop his animal courage and strength 
 for he gets as bad as he gives, but when he only 
 beats a little boy that cannot pay back his blows, 
 it is cowardly as well as cruel, and doubly debas 
 ing to the conqueror. Mexico was no match for 
 America. We all knew that very well before the 
 war began. When a nation numbering 8,000,000 
 or 9,000,000 of people can be successfully invaded 
 by an army of 75,000 men, two thirds of them 
 volunteers, raw and undisciplined ; when the in 
 vaders with less than 15,000 can march two hun 
 dred miles into the very heart of the hostile coun 
 try, and with less than 6,000 can take and hold 
 the capital of the nation a city of 100,000 or 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 200,000 inhabitants and dictate a peace, taking 
 as much territory as they will it is hardly fair to 
 dignify such operations with the name of war. 
 The little good which a long contest with an equal 
 might produce in the conqueror, is wholly lost. 
 Had Mexico been a strong nation we should never 
 have had this conflict. A few years ago, when 
 General Cass wanted a war with England, "an 
 old-fashioned war," and declared it "unavoidable," 
 all the men of property trembled. The Northern 
 men thought of their mills and their ships ; they 
 thought how Boston and New York would look 
 after a war with our sturdy old Father over the 
 sea ; they thought we should lose many millions 
 of dollars and gain nothing. The men of the 
 South, who have no mills and no ships and no 
 large cities to be destroyed, thought of then* " pe 
 culiar institution," they thought of a servile war, 
 they thought what might become of their slaves, if 
 a nation which gave $100,000,000 to emancipate 
 her bondmen should send a large army with a few 
 black soldiers from Jamaica ; should offer money, 
 arms, and freedom to all who would leave their 
 masters and claim their Unalienable Rights. They 
 knew the Southern towns would be burnt to ashes, 
 and the whole South, from Virginia to the Gulf, 
 would be swept with fire, and they said, "Don't" 
 The North said so, and the South, they feared such 
 a war, with such a foe. Every body knows the 
 effect which this fear had on Southern politicians, 
 in the beginning of this century, and how gladly 
 they made peace with England soon as she was at 
 liberty to turn her fleet and her army against the 
 
35 
 
 most vulnerable part of the nation. I am not 
 blind to the wickedness of England more than 
 ignorant of the good things she has done and is 
 doing; a Paradise for the rich and strong, she 
 is still a Purgatory for the wise and the good, and 
 the Hell of the poor and the weak. I have no 
 fondness for war anywhere and believe it need 
 less and wanton in this age of the world, surely 
 needless and wicked between Father England 
 and Daughter America ; but I do solemnly believe 
 that the moral effect of such an old-fashioned war 
 as Mr. Cass in 1845 thought unavoidable, would 
 have been better than that of this Mexican war. 
 It would have ended Slavery ; ended it in blood no 
 doubt, the worst thing to blot out an evil with, 
 but ended it and forever. God grant it may yet 
 have a more peaceful termination. We should 
 have lost millions of property and thousands of 
 men, and then, when Peace *came, we should 
 know what it was worth ; and as the burnt child 
 dreads the fire, no future President, or Congress, or 
 Convention, or Party would talk much in favor of 
 war for some years to come. 
 
 The moral effect of this war is thoroughly bad. 
 It was unjust in the beginning. Mexico did not 
 pay her debts; but though the United States in 
 1783 acknowledged the British claims against our 
 selves, they were not paid till 1803. Our claims 
 against England for her depredations in 1793 were 
 not paid till 1804 ; our claims against France for 
 her depredations in 1806-13 were not paid us till 
 1834. The fact that Mexico refused to receive 
 the resident minister which the United States sent 
 
36 
 
 to settle the disputes, when a commissioner was 
 expected this was no ground of war. We have 
 lately seen a British ambassador ordered to leave 
 Spain within eight and forty hours, and yet the 
 English minister of foreign affairs, Lord Palmer- 
 ston no new hand at diplomacy declares that 
 this does not interrupt the concord of the two na 
 tions ! We treated Mexico contemptuously before 
 hostilities began ; and when she sent troops into a 
 territory which she had always possessed though 
 Texas had claimed it we declared that that was 
 an act of war, and ourselves sent an army to in 
 vade her soil, to capture her cities, and seize her 
 territory. It has been a war of plunder, under 
 taken for the purpose of seizing Mexican territory 
 and extending over it that dismal curse which 
 blackens, impoverishes, and barbarizes half the 
 Union now, and slowly corrupts the other half It 
 was not enough to have Louisiana a slave territo 
 ry ; not enough to make that institution perpetual 
 in Florida ; not enough to extend this blight over 
 Texas we must have yet more slave soil, one 
 day to be carved into slave states, to bind the 
 Southern yoke yet more securely on the Northern 
 neck ; to corrupt yet more the politics, literature, 
 morals of the North. The war was unjust at its 
 beginning; mean in its motives, a war without 
 honorable cause ; a war for plunder, a quarrel be 
 tween a great boy and a little puny weakling who 
 could not walk alone, and could hardly stand. 
 We have treated Mexico as the three Northern 
 powers treated Poland in the last century stooped 
 to conquer. Nay, our contest has been like the 
 
37 
 
 English seizure of Ireland. All the Justice was 
 on one side the force, skill, and wealth on the 
 other. 
 
 I know men say the war has shown us that 
 Americans could fight. Could fight ! almost ev 
 ery male beast will fight, the more brutal the better. 
 The long war of the Revolution, when Connecti 
 cut, for seven years, kept 5000 men in the field, 
 showed that Americans could fight ; Bunker Hill 
 and Lexington showed that they could fight even 
 without previous discipline. If such valor be a 
 merit, I am ready to believe that the Americans in 
 a great cause like that of Mexico to resist wick 
 ed invasion would fight as men never fought 
 before. A Republic like our own where every 
 free man feels an interest in the welfare of the na 
 tion is full of the elements that make soldiers. 
 Is that a praise ? Most men think so, but it is the 
 smallest honor of a nation. Of all glories, military 
 glory at its best estate seems the poorest. 
 
 Men tell us it shows the strength of the nation ; 
 and some writers quote the opinions of European 
 kings who, when hearing of the battles of Monte 
 rey, Buena Vista, and Vera Cruz, became con 
 vinced that we were " a great people." Remem 
 bering the character of these kings, one can easily 
 believe that such was their judgment, and will not 
 sigh many times at their fate, but will hope to see 
 the day when the last king who can estimate a na 
 tion's strength only by its battles has passed on to 
 impotence and oblivion. The power of America 
 do we need proof of that? I see it in the 
 streets of Boston and New York ; in Lowell and 
 
38 
 
 in Lawrence ; I see it in our mills and our si 
 I read it in those letters of iron written all over the 
 North, where he may read that runs ; I see it in 
 the unconquered energy which tames the forest, 
 the rivers, and the ocean; in the school-houses 
 which lift then* modest roof in every village of the 
 North ; in the churches that rise all over the Free 
 man's land would God that they rose higher 
 pointing down to man and to human duties, and 
 up to God and immortal life. I see the strength 
 of America in that tide of population which spreads 
 over the prairies of the West, and, beating on the 
 Rocky Mountains, dashes its peaceful spray to the 
 very shores of the Pacific sea. Had we taken 
 150,000 men and $200,000,000, and built two Rail 
 Roads across the continent, that would have been 
 a worthy sign of the nation's strength. Perhaps 
 the kings could not see it ; but sensible men could 
 see it and be glad. Now this waste of treasure 
 and this waste of blood is only a proof of weak 
 ness. War is a transient weakness of the nation, 
 but Slavery a permanent imbecility. 
 
 What falsehood has this war produced in the 
 executive and legislative power; in both parties 
 Whigs and Democrats ! I always thought that 
 here in Massachusetts the Whigs were the most to 
 blame ; they tried to put the disgrace of the war 
 on the others, while the Democratic party coolly 
 faced the wickedness. Did far-sighted men know 
 that there would be a war on Mexico, or on the 
 Tariff, or the Currency, and prefer the first as the 
 least evil ! 
 
 See to what the war has driven two of the most 
 
39 
 
 famous men of the nation : one wished to " cap 
 ture or slay a Mexican," the other could encourage 
 the volunteers to fight a war which he had de 
 nounced as needless, "a war of pretexts," and 
 place the men of Monterey before the men of 
 Bunker Hill ; each could invest a son in that un 
 holy cause. You know the rest: the fathers ate 
 sour grapes and the children's teeth were set on 
 edge. When a man goes on board an emigrant 
 ship reeking with filth and fever, not for gain, 
 not for " glory," but in brotherly love, catches the 
 contagion and dies a martyr to his heroic benevo 
 lence, men speak of it in corners and it is soon 
 forgot ; there is no parade in the streets ; Society 
 takes little pains to do honor to the man. How 
 rarely is a pension given to his widow or his 
 child ; only once in the whole land, and then 
 but a small sum. But when a volunteer officer 
 for of the humbler and more excusable men that 
 fall we take no heed, War may mow that crop of 
 " vulgar deaths " with what scythe he will falls 
 or dies in the quarrel which he had no concern in, 
 falls in a broil between the two nations, your 
 newspapers extol the man, and with martial 
 pomp, " sonorous metal blowing martial sounds," 
 with all the honors of the most honored dead, you 
 lay away his body in the tomb. Thus is it that 
 the nation teaches these little ones that it is better 
 to kill than to make alive. 
 
 I know there are men in the army, honorable 
 and high-minded men, Christian men, who dislike 
 war in general, and this war in special, but such is 
 then: view of official duty that they obeyed the 
 
40 
 
 summons of battle, though with pain and reluc 
 tance. They knew not how to avoid obedience. 
 I am willing to believe there are many such. But 
 with volunteers who of their own accord came 
 forth to enlist men not blinded by ignorance, not 
 driven by poverty to the field, but only by hope of 
 reward what shall be said of them ! Much may 
 be said to excuse the rank and file, ignorant men, 
 many of them in want but for the leaders, what 
 can be said ? Had I a brother who in the day of 
 the nation's extremity came forward with a good 
 conscience, and perilled his life on the battle 
 field and lost it, "in the sacred cause of God 
 and his country," I would honor the man, and 
 when his dust came home I would lay it away 
 with his fathers with sorrow indeed, but with 
 thankfulness of heart, that for conscience' sake he 
 was ready even to die. But had I a brother who 
 merely for his pay, or hope of fame, had volunta 
 rily gone down to fight innocent men, to plunder 
 their territory, and lost his life in that felonious es 
 say in sorrow and in silence and in secrecy 
 would I lay down his body in the grave ; I would 
 not court display, nor mark it with a single stone. 
 
 See how this war has affected public opinion. 
 How many of your newspapers have shown its 
 true atrocity ; how many of the pulpits ? Yet if 
 any one is appointed to tell of public wrongs it is 
 the Minister of Religion. The Governor of Mas 
 sachusetts is an officer of a Christian church a 
 man distinguished for many excellences, some of 
 them by no means common ; in private, it is said, 
 he is opposed to the war and thinks it wicked ; 
 
41 
 
 but no man has lent himself as a readier tool to ' 
 promote it. The Christian and the Man seem lost 
 in the Office in the Governor ! What a lesson 
 of falseness does all this teach to that large class 
 of persons who look no higher than the example 
 of eminent men for their instruction. You know 
 what complaints have been made, by the highest 
 authority in the nation, because a few men dared 
 to speak against the war. It was " affording aid 
 and comfort to the enemy." If the war-party had 
 been stronger, and feared no public opinion, we 
 should have had men hanged for treason because 
 they spoke of this national iniquity ! Nothing 
 would have been easier. A "gag law" is not 
 wholly unknown in America. 
 
 If you will take all the theft, all the assaults, all 
 the cases of arson, ever committed in time of 
 peace in the United States since 1620, and add to 
 them all the cases of violence offered to woman, 
 with all the murders they will not amount to 
 half the wrongs committed in this war for the 
 plunder of Mexico. Yet the cry has been and still 
 is, " You must not say a word against it ; if you 
 do, you ' afford aid and comfort to the enemy.' " 
 Not tell the nation that she is doing wrong? 
 What a miserable saying is that ; let it come from 
 what high authority it may, it is a miserable say 
 ing. Make the case your own. Suppose the Uni 
 ted States were invaded by a nation ten times 
 abler for war than we are with a cause no more 
 just, intentions equally bad ; invaded for the pur 
 pose of dismembering our territory and making 
 our own New England the soil of Slaves ; would 
 
42 
 
 'you be still ? would you stand and look on tamely 
 while the hostile hosts, strangers in language, man 
 ners, and religion, crossed your rivers, seized your 
 ports, burnt your towns ? No, surely not. Though 
 the men of New England would not be able to 
 resist with most celestial love, they would contend 
 with most manly vigor ; and I should rather see 
 every house swept clean off the land, and the 
 ground sheeted with our own dead ; rather see 
 every man, woman, and child in the land slain, 
 than see them tamely submit to such a wrong 
 and so would you. No, sacred as life is and dear 
 as it is, better let it be trodden out by the hoof of 
 war rather than yield tamely to a wrong. But 
 while you were doing your utmost to repel such 
 formidable injustice, if in the midst of your invad 
 ers men rose up and said, "America is in the 
 right, and Brothers, you are wrong, you should not 
 thus kill men to steal their land ; shame on you ! " 
 how should you feel towards such? Nay, in 
 the struggle with England, when our fathers per 
 illed every thing but honor, and fought for the Un- 
 alienable Rights of man, you all remember, how 
 in England herself there stood up noble men, and 
 with a voice that was heard above the roar of the 
 populace, and an authority higher than the majes 
 ty of the throne they said, "You do a wrong; 
 you may ravage, but you cannot conquer. If I 
 were an American, while a foreign troop remained 
 in my land, I would never lay down my arms ; 
 no, never, never, never ! " 
 
 But I wander a little from my theme the 
 effect of the war on the morals of the nation. 
 
43 
 
 Here are 50,000 or 75,000 men trained to kill. 
 Hereafter they will be of little service in any good 
 work. Many of them were the offscouring of the 
 people at first. Now these men have tasted the 
 idleness, the intemperance, the debauchery of a 
 camp tasted of its riot, tasted of its blood ! They 
 will come home before long, hirelings of murder ; 
 what will their influence be as fathers, husbands ? 
 The nation taught them to fight and plunder the 
 Mexicans for the nation's sake ; the Governor of 
 Massachusetts called on them in the name of 
 " Patriotism " and "Humanity" to enlist for that 
 work : but ifj with no justice on our side, it is 
 humane and patriotic to fight and plunder the 
 Mexicans on the nation's account, why not for the 
 soldier to fight and plunder an American on his 
 own account ? Aye, why not ? that is a distinc 
 tion too nice for common minds ; by far too nice 
 for mine. 
 
 See the effect on the nation. We have just 
 plundered Mexico ; taken a piece of her territory 
 larger than the thirteen states which fought the 
 Revolution, a hundred times as large as Massachu 
 setts ; we have burnt her cities, have butchered 
 her men, have been victorious in every contest 
 The Mexicans were as unprotected women, we, 
 armed men. See how the lust of conquest will 
 increase. Soon it will be the ambition of the next 
 president to extend the " area of freedom " a little 
 further South ; the lust of conquest will increase. 
 Soon we must have Yucatan, Central America, all 
 of Mexico, Cuba, Porto Rico, Hayti, Jamaica all 
 the islands of the Gulf. Many men would gladly, 
 I doubt not, extend the area of freedom so as to 
 
44 
 
 include the free blacks of those islands. We have 
 long looked with jealous eyes on West Indian 
 emancipation hoping the scheme would not 
 succeed. How pleasant it would be to re-establish 
 slavery in Hayti and Jamaica in all the islands 
 whence the Gold of England or the Ideas of 
 France have driven it out. If the South wants 
 this, would the North object ? The possession of 
 the West Indies would bring much money to New 
 England, and what is the value of Freedom com 
 pared to coffee and sugar and cotton? 
 
 I must say one word of the effect this war has 
 had on political parties. By the parties I mean 
 the leaders thereof, the men that control the par 
 ties. The effect on the Democratic party, on the 
 majority of Congress, on the most prominent men 
 of the nation, has been mentioned before. It has 
 shut their eyes to truth and justice, it has filled 
 their mouths with injustice and falsehood. It has 
 made one man " available " for the Presidency 
 who was only known before as a sagacious gener 
 al, that fought against the Indians in Florida, and 
 acquired a certain reputation by the use of Blood 
 hounds, a reputation which was rather unenviable 
 even in America. The battles in northern Mexico 
 made him conspicuous, and now he is seized on 
 as an engine to thrust one corrupt party out of 
 power and to lift in another party, I will not say 
 less corrupt, I wish I could, it were difficult to 
 think it more so. This latter party has been con 
 spicuous for its opposition to a military man as 
 ruler of a free people ; recently it has been smit 
 ten with sudden admiration for military men, and 
 military success, and tells the people, without a 
 
45 
 
 blush, that a military man fresh from a fight which 
 he disapproved of is most likely to restore peace, 
 because most familiar with the evils of war ! In 
 Massachusetts the prevalent political party, as such, 
 for some years seems to have had no moral princi 
 ple ; however, it had a prejudice in favor of decen 
 cy now it has thrown that overboard, and has not 
 even its respectability left. Where are its " Reso 
 lutions " ? Some men knew what they were worth 
 long ago ; now all men can see what they are 
 worth. 
 
 The cost of the war in money and men I have 
 tried to calculate, but the effect on the morals of 
 the people on the Press, the Pulpit, and the Par 
 ties and through them on the rising generation, 
 it is impossible to tell. I have only faintly sketched 
 the outline of that. The effect of the war on Mex 
 ico herself we can dimly see in the distance. 
 The government of the United States has wilfully, 
 wantonly broken the peace of the continent. The 
 Revolutionary war was unavoidable, but for this 
 invasion there is no excuse. That God, whose 
 providence watches over the falling nation as the 
 falling sparrow, and whose comprehensive plans 
 are now advanced by the righteousness and now 
 by the wrath of man, He who stilleth the waves 
 of the sea and the tumult of the people, will turn 
 all this wickedness to account in the history of 
 man. Of that I have no doubt. But that is no 
 excuse for American crime. A greater good lay 
 within our grasp, and we spurned it away. 
 
 Well, before long the soldiers will come back 
 such as shall ever come the regulars and volun 
 teers, the husbands of the women whom your 
 
46 
 
 charity fed last winter, housed and clad and 
 warmed. They will come back. Come, New 
 England, with your posterity of states, go forth 
 to meet your sons returning all "covered with im 
 perishable honors." Come, men, to meet your fa 
 thers, brothers. Come, women, to your husbands 
 and your lovers; come. But what! is that the 
 body of men who a year or two ago went forth, so 
 full of valor and of rum ? Are these rags the imper 
 ishable honors that cover them ? Here is not half 
 the whole. Where is the wealth they hoped from 
 the spoil of churches ? But the men " Where is 
 my husband ? " says one ; " and my son ? " says 
 another. " They fell at Jalapa, one, and one at 
 Cerro Gordo, but they fell covered with imperisha 
 ble honor, for 'twas a famous victory." " Where is 
 my lover ? " screams a woman whom anguish 
 makes respectable spite of her filth and ignorance; 
 " and our father, where is he ? " scream a troop 
 of half-starved children, staring through their dirt 
 and rags. " One died of the vomit at Vera Cruz. 
 Your father, little ones, we scourged the naked 
 man to death at Mixcoac." 
 
 But that troop that is left who are in the 
 arms of wife and child they are the best ser 
 mon against war ; this has lost an arm and that 
 a leg; half are maimed in battle, or sickened 
 with the fever; all polluted with the drunkenness, 
 idleness, debauchery, lust, and murder of a camp. 
 Strip off this man's coat, and count the stripes welt 
 ed into his flesh stripes laid on by demagogues 
 that love the people, the DEAR people. See how 
 affectionately the war-makers branded the dear sol 
 diers with a letter D, with a red hot iron, in the 
 
47 
 
 cheek. The flesh will quiver as the irons burn 
 no matter. It is only for love of the people that 
 all this is done, and we are all of us covered with 
 imperishable honors. D stands for Deserter, aye, 
 and for Demagogue yes, and for Demon too. 
 Many a man shall come home with but half of 
 himself half his body, less than half his soul. 
 
 " Alas the mother, that him bare, 
 If she could stand in presence there, 
 In that wan cheek and wasted air, 
 She would not know her child." 
 
 " Better," you say, " for us better, and for them 
 selves better by far, if they had left that remnant 
 of a body in the common ditch where the soldier 
 finds his bed of honor, better have fed therewith 
 the vultures of a foreign soil, than thus come back." 
 No, better come back, and live here, mutilated, 
 scourged, branded, a cripple, a pauper, a drunkard, 
 and a felon, better darken the windows of the 
 jail and blot the gallows with unusual shame to 
 teach us all that such is war, and such the results 
 of every " famous victory," such the imperishable 
 honors that it brings, and how the war-makers love 
 the men they rule ! Oh Christian America ! Oh 
 New England, child of the Puritans ! Cradled in 
 the wilderness, thy swaddling garments stained 
 with martyrs' blood, hearing in thy youth the war- 
 whoop of the savage and thy mother's sweet and 
 soul-composing hymn : - 
 
 " Hush, my child, lie still and slumber, 
 
 Holy angels guard thy bed ; 
 Heavenly blessings, without number, 
 
 Rest upon thine infant head : " 
 
48 
 
 Come, New England, take the old banners of 
 thy conquering host the standards borne at Mon 
 terey, Palo Alto, Buena Vista, Vera Cruz, the " glo 
 rious stripes and stars " that waved over the walls 
 of Churubusco, Contreras, Puebla, Mexico herself, 
 - flags blackened with battle and stiffened with 
 blood, pierced by the lances and torn with the shot 
 bring them into thy churches, hang them up 
 over altar and pulpit, and let little children, clad in 
 white raiment and crowned with flowers, come 
 and chant their lessons for the day : 
 
 " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
 God. 
 
 " Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be 
 called the children of God." 
 
 Then let the Priest say " Righteousness ex- 
 alteth a nation, but sin is a reproach unto any 
 people. Blessed is the Lord my strength. Which 
 teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight. 
 Happy is that people that is in such a case. Yea, 
 happy is that people whose God is the Lord, and 
 Jesus Christ their Saviour." 
 
 Then let the soldiers who lost their limbs and 
 the women who lost their husbands and their lov 
 ers in the strife, and the men wiser than the 
 children of light who made money out of the 
 war ; let all the people like people and like 
 priest say "AMEN." 
 
 But suppose these men were to come back to 
 Boston on a day when, in civil style, as having 
 never sinned yourself, and never left a man in ig 
 norance and want to be goaded into crime, you 
 
49 
 
 were about to hang three men one for murder, 
 one for robbery with the armed hand, and one for 
 burning down a house. Suppose, after the fash 
 ion of "the good old times," you were to hang 
 those men in public, and lead them in long proces 
 sion through your streets, and while you were wel 
 coming these returned soldiers and taking their 
 officers to feast in " the Cradle of Liberty," they 
 should meet the sheriff's procession escorting those 
 culprits to the gallows. Suppose the warriors 
 should ask, " Why, what is that ?" What would 
 you say ? Why, this. " These men they broke 
 the law of God, by violence, by fire and blood, and 
 we shall hang them for the public 'good, and espe 
 cially for the example, to teach the ignorant, the 
 low, and the weak." Suppose these three felons 
 the halters round their neck should ask also, 
 "Why, what is that?" You would say, "They 
 are the soldiers just come back from war. For two 
 long years they have been hard at work, burning 
 cities, plundering a nation, and butchering whole 
 armies of men. Sometimes they killed a thousand 
 in a day. By their help, the nation has stolen 
 seven hundred thousand square miles of land!" 
 Suppose the culprits ask, " Where will you hang 
 so many?" "Hang them!" is the answer we 
 shall only hang you. It is written in OUR Bible 
 that one murder makes a villain, millions a hero. 
 We shall feast these men full of bread and wine ; 
 shall take their leader, a ro*gh man arid a ready - 
 one who by perpetual robbery holds a hundred 
 slaves and more and make him a King over all 
 the land. But as you only burnt, robbed, and 
 
50 
 
 murdered on so small scale, and without the com 
 mand of the President or the Congress, we shall 
 hang you by the neck. Our Governor ordered 
 these men to go and burn and rob and kill, now 
 he orders you to be hanged, and you must not ask 
 any more questions, for the hour is already come." 
 To make the whole more perfect suppose a 
 native of Loo-Choo, converted to Christianity by 
 your missionaries in his native land, had come 
 hither to have " the way of God " " expounded un 
 to him more perfectly," that he might SEE how 
 these Christians love one another. Suppose he 
 should be witness to a scene like this ! 
 
 To men who know the facts of war, the wick 
 edness of this particular invasion and its wide-ex 
 tending consequences, I fear that my words will 
 seem poor and cold and tame. I have purposely 
 mastered my emotion, telling only my thought. 
 I have uttered no denunciation against the men 
 who caused this desl ruction of treasure, this mas 
 sacre of men, this awful degradation of the moral 
 sense. The respectable men of Boston "the 
 men of property and standing " all over the State, 
 the men that commonly control the politics of New 
 England tell you that they dislike the war. But 
 they re-elect the men that made it. Has a single 
 man in all New England lost his seat in any office 
 because he favored the war ? Not a man. Have 
 you ever known a Northern Merchant who would 
 not let his ship for the war, because the war was 
 wicked and he a Christian? Have you ever 
 known a Northern Manufacturer who would not 
 sell a kernel of powder, nor a cannon-ball, nor a 
 
51 
 
 coat, nor a shirt for the war? Have you ever 
 known a Capitalist a man who lives by letting 
 money refuse to lend money for the war because 
 the war was wicked? Not a Merchant, not a 
 Manufacturer, not a Capitalist. A little money - 
 it can buy up whole hosts of men. Virginia sells 
 her negroes, what does New England sell ? 
 There was once a man in Boston, a rich man too, 
 not a very great man only a good one who loved 
 his country and there was another poor man 
 here, in the times that tried men's souls, but 
 there was not money enough in all England, not 
 enough promise of honors, to make Hancock and 
 Adams false to their sense of right. Is our soil de 
 generate, and have we lost the race of noble men ? 
 No, I have riot denounced the men who directly 
 made the war, or indirectly egged the people on. 
 Pardon me, thou prostrate Mexico, robbed of more 
 than half thy soil, that America may have more 
 slaves ; thy cities burned, thy children slain, the 
 streets of thy capital trodden by the alien foot, but 
 still smoking with thy children's blood, pardon 
 me if I seem to have forgotten thee. And you, ye 
 butchered Americans, slain by the vomito, the gal 
 lows, and the sword ; you, ye maimed and muti 
 lated men, who shall never again join hands in 
 prayer, never kneel to God once more upon the 
 limbs he made you; you, ye widows, orphans of 
 these butchered men far off in that more sunny 
 south, here in our own fair land pardon me that 
 I seem to forget your wrongs. And thou, my 
 country, my own, my loved, my native land, thou 
 child of Great Ideas and mother of many a noble 
 son dishonored now, thy treasure wasted, thy 
 
children killed or else made murderers, thy peace 
 ful glory gone, thy government made to pimp and 
 pander for lust of crime, forgive me that I seem, 
 over gentle to the men who did and do the damn 
 ing deed that wastes thy treasure, spills thy blood, 
 and stains thine honor's sacred fold. And you, ye 
 sons of men everywhere, thou child of God, man 
 kind, whose latest, fairest hope is planted here in 
 this new world, forgive me if I seem gentle to 
 thy enemies, and to forget the crime that so dis 
 honors man, and makes this ground a slaughter- 
 yard of men slain, too, in furtherance of the bas 
 est wish. I have no words to tell the pity that I 
 feel for them that did the deed. I only say, " Fa 
 ther, forgive them, for they know not what 
 they do ! " 
 
 A sectarian church could censure a general for 
 holding his candle in a Catholic cathedral 'twas 
 " a candle to the Pope " - yet never dared to blame 
 the war ; while we loaded a ship-of-war with corn 
 and sent off the Macedonian to Cork, freighted by 
 private bounty to feed the starving Irishman, the 
 State sent her ships to Vera Cruz, in a cause most 
 unholy, to bombard, to smite, and to kill. Father ! 
 forgive the State, forgive the Church. 'Twas an 
 ignorant State, 'twas a silent Church a poor, 
 dumb dog, that dared not bark at the wolf who 
 prowls about the fold, but only at the lamb. 
 
 Yet ye leaders of the land, know this, that 
 the blood of thirty thousand men cries out of the 
 ground against you. Be it your folly or your 
 crime, still cries the voice WHERE is THY BROTH 
 ER ? That thirty thousand in the name of Hu- 
 
53 
 
 manity I ask, where are they ? In the name of 
 Justice I answer, You SLEW THEM. 
 
 'Twas not the people who made this war. They 
 have often enough done a foolish thing. But it 
 was not they who did this wrong. 'Twas they 
 that led the people : it was DEMAGOGUES that did it. 
 Whig demagogues and demagogues of the Demo 
 crats, men that flatter the ignorance, the folly, or 
 the sin of the people, that they might satisfy their 
 own base purposes. In May, 1846, if the facts of 
 the case could have been stated to the voters, and 
 the question put to the whole mass of the people, 
 " Shall we go down and fight Mexico, spending 
 200,000,000 of dollars, maiming four and twenty 
 thousand men, and butchering thirty thousand 
 shall we rob her of half her territory? " the low 
 est and most miserable part of the nation would 
 have said, "Yes;" the demagogues of the nation 
 would have said as they did say, "Yes;" perhaps a 
 majority of the men of the South would have said 
 so, for the humanity of the nation lies not there ; 
 but if it had been brought to the great mass of the 
 people at the North, whose industry and skill so 
 increase the national wealth, whose intelligence 
 and morals have given the nation its character 
 abroad, then they, the great majority of the land, 
 would have said "NO. We will have no war. If 
 we want more land, we will buy it in the open 
 market, and pay for it honestly. But we are not 
 thieves, nor murderers, thank God, and will not 
 hutcher a nation to make a slave-field out of her 
 soil." The people would not have made this war. 
 
 Well we have got a new territory, enough to 
 
54 
 
 make one hundred states of the size of. Massachu 
 setts. That is not all. We have beaten the armies 
 of Mexico, destroyed the little strength she had 
 left, the little self-respect else she would not so 
 have yielded and given up half her soil for a few 
 miserable dollars. Soon we shall take the rest of 
 her possessions. How can Mexico hold them now 
 
 weakened, humiliated, divided worse than ever 
 within herself. Before many years, all of this 
 northern continent will doubtless be in the hands 
 of the Anglo Saxon race. That of itself is not a 
 thing to mourn at. Could we have extended our 
 empire there by trade, by the Christian arts of 
 peace, it would be a blessing to us and to Mexico 
 
 a blessing to the world. But we have done it 
 in the worst way by fraud and blood ; for the 
 worst purpose to steal soil and convert the cities 
 of men into the shambles for human flesh ; have 
 done it at the bidding of men whose counsels long 
 have been a scourge and curse at the bidding of 
 slaveholders. They it is that rule the land, fill the 
 offices, buy up the North with the crumbs that fall 
 from their political table, make the laws, declare 
 hostilities, and leave the North to pay the bill. 
 Shall we ever waken out of our sleep ; shall we 
 ever remember the duties we owe to the world 
 and to God, who put us here on this new conti 
 nent ? Let us not despair. 
 
 Soon we shall have all the southern part of the 
 continent, perhaps half the islands of the Gulf. 
 One thing remains to do that is, with the new 
 soil we have taken to extend order, peace, educa 
 tion, religion ; to keep it from the blight, the crime, 
 and the sin of Slavery. That is for the nation to 
 
55 
 
 do ; for the North to do. God knows the South 
 will never do it. Is there manliness enough left 
 in the North to do that ? Has the soil forgot its 
 wonted faith, and borne a different race of men 
 from those who struggled eight long years for free 
 dom ? Do we forget our sires, forget our God ? 
 In the day when the monarchs of Europe are sha 
 ken from their thrones ; when the Russian and 
 the Turk abolish slavery; when cowardly Naples 
 awakes from her centuries of sleep, and will have 
 freedom ; when France prays to become a Repub 
 lic, and in her agony sweats great drops of blood ; 
 while the Tories of the world look on and mock 
 and wag their heads; and while the Angel of 
 Hope descends with trusting words to comfort her, 
 shall America extend slavery? butcher a na 
 tion to get soil to make a field for slaves? I know 
 how easily the South can buy office-hunters; 
 Whig or Democrat, the price is still the same. The 
 same golden eagle blinds the eyes of each. But 
 can she buy the PEOPLE of the North ? Is honesty 
 gone, and honor gone, your love of country gone, 
 Religion gone, and nothing manly left ; not even 
 shame ? Then let us perish ; let the Union perish ! 
 No, let that stand firm, and let the Northern men 
 themselves be slaves ; and let us go to our masters 
 and say, " You are very few, and we are very ma 
 ny ; we have the wealth, the numbers, the intelli 
 gence, the Religion of the land ; but you have the 
 power, do not be hard upon us ; pray give us a 
 little something, some humble offices, or if not 
 these at least a tariff, and we will be content." 
 
 Slavery has already been the blight of this na 
 tion, the curse of the North and the curse of the 
 
56 
 
 South. It has hindered commerce, manufactures, 
 agriculture. It confounds your Politics. It has 
 silenced your ablest men. It has muzzled the 
 Pulpit, and stifled the better life out of the Press. 
 It has robbed three million men of what is dearer 
 than life ; it has kept back the welfare of seven 
 teen millions more. You ask, oh Americans, 
 where is the harmony of the Union ? It was bro 
 ken by Slavery. Where is the treasure we have 
 wasted ? It was squandered by Slavery. Where 
 are the men we sent to Mexico ? They were mur 
 dered by Slavery ; and now the Slave Power comes 
 forward to put her new minions, her thirteenth 
 president, upon the nation's neck ! Will the North 
 say "Yes"? 
 
 But there is a Providence which rules the world, 
 
 a plan in His affairs. Shall all this war, this ag 
 gression of the Slave Power be for nothing ? Surely 
 not Let it teach us two things : Everlasting Hos 
 tility to Slavery, Everlasting Love of Justice and of 
 its Eternal Right. Then, dear as we may pay for 
 it, it may be worth what it has cost the money 
 and the men. I call on you, ye men fathers, 
 brothers, husbands, sons to learn this lesson, 
 and, when duty calls, to show that you know it 
 know it by heart and at your fingers' ends. And 
 you, ye women mothers, sisters, daughters, wives 
 
 I call on you to teach this lesson to your chil 
 dren, and let them know that such a War is sin, 
 and Slavery sin, and, while you teach them to 
 hate both, teach them to be men, and do the duties 
 of noble, Christian, and manly men. Behind in 
 justice there is RUIN, and above man there is the 
 EVERLASTING GOD.