under any circumstances, which looks to an issue of battle and of blood. I feel deeply that such conflicts are unbecoming civilized and Christian men. Not even the brilliant exploits of our troops at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, though they may fill me with admiration for the bravery of those who achieved them, can dazzle me, for an instant, into the delusion, that such scenes are worthy of the age in which we live.

There was phraseology, too, in the bill which I would gladly have stricken out. Indeed, the question was one on which it was impossible to give an altogether satisfactory vote, and I have nothing but respect for the motives, and sympathy in the general views, of those who differed from me on the occasion.

But I believed when that bill was before us, and I believe still, that the policy of the Administration had already involved us in a state of things which could not be made better, which could not be either remedied or relieved, by withholding supplies or disguising its real character. And I will say further, that while I condemned that policy as heartily as any of my friends, while I condemned both the policy of annexation as a whole, and the movement of our army from Corpus Christi as a most unnecessary and unwarrantable part, I was not one of those who considered Mexico as entirely without fault.

Sir, I will do the Administration the justice to say, that, in my judgment, it adopted a highly honorable and conciliatory course, in proposing to send, and in actually sending, a minister to Mexico. I said this privately, when the fact was first announced in the President's annual message, and I will not hesitate to say so publicly now. And I do not think that Mexico stands justified upon the record, for the rejection of that minister. There is much in the published correspondence to warrant the idea, that her distinction between a minister and a commissioner was a mere after-thought, intended only to cover a virtual retreat from her agreement to enter upon negotiations; and while I am ready to make large allowances for her conduct, in consideration both of the provocation which she had received, and of the distracted state of her domestic affairs, and while I would by no means be understood to vindicate the justice of the declaration, that "war exists by the act of Mexico," I cannot yet hold

her discharged from some share of the responsibility for the rupture which has ensued. Still less can she be acquitted of all responsibility for the continuance of the war, in case she shall persist in declining the overtures which have again been distinctly held out to her.

Mr. Chairman, I plead guilty to something of an extreme jealousy in regard to the faith, and even the forms, of diplomatic intercourse. Missions, mediations, arbitrations, negotiations of every sort, are the select and sacred instruments of peace. They are the only instruments upon which we can rely for the amicable adjustment of international disputes. And, as a friend of peace, I am for holding to a strict accountability every nation which shall trifle or sport with those instruments; much more, which shall discard them altogether. I will hold my own country to that accountability as soon as another. I do not forget the bad example she has recently exhibited to the world, in rejecting the proposition of Great Britain for an arbitration upon the Oregon question. Even the sincere joy which I feel at the honorable and peaceable settlement of that question, is alloyed by the remembrance, that this unreasonable rejection of arbitration must remain, an indelible fact, on the pages of our history. It was somewhere said, not long ago, that Oregon was the last spot on the face of the globe, of which the original discovery and proprietorship was in dispute. The map of the world is now filled up. And would it not have been a cheering circumstance to the friends of humanity and peace, if, on the deed of partition of that one last spot of disputed territory, there could have been inscribed, in characters which the world might read forever, the concurrent and cordial testimony of two of the most powerful and civilized nations of the earth, in favor of a mode of settling international disputes, so reasonable and so righteous as arbitration? There is not the slightest reason to imagine, that the result of such a course would have been less favorable to our pretensions than that which has now been accomplished. But even if it had been so, the difference of a few acres of land would, in my judgment, have been unworthy of consideration, in comparison with the honor of such a proceeding to ourselves, and the priceless influence of such an example upon the world.

But enough of Oregon, and enough of the causes of the Mexican war. The war exists. It is to be prosecuted, as the President has assured us, for no purpose of aggression or conquest. He stands solemnly pledged to the country and to the world, by reiterated declarations, that he will be "prepared to renew negotiations whenever Mexico shall be ready to receive propositions, or to make propositions of her own;" and that he will be" at all times ready to conclude an honorable peace, whenever the Mexican Government shall manifest a like disposition." The honor of the Executive, and the honor of the nation, are committed to the fulfilment of these pledges; and as long as I shall perceive nothing in the conduct of the Administration inconsistent with their fulfilment, I shall not withhold my vote from any reasonable supplies which may be called for. I shall vote for them, not for any purpose of plunder or aggressionnot to enable our fleets to conquer California, or our armies "to revel in the halls of the Montezumas," but to enable the Presi dent to achieve that honorable peace, which he has solemnly promised to bring about at the earliest possible moment. My motto will thus be that of my own honored Commonwealth, "Ense-quietem."

But until this result shall be accomplished, Mr. Chairman, as God grant it speedily may be, it is the bounden duty of the Administration and its friends, to arrange a system of taxation commensurate with the exigencies which they have created. And if this bill were really adapted to such an end; if it held out a reasonable assurance of increasing the revenues and sustaining the credit of the country; if, more especially, it presented the only, or even the easiest and most obvious, mode of supply. ing the wants of the Government, I should hesitate much and long before interposing any objection to its passage.

The bill before us, however, was prepared for no such purpose, and will produce no such result. It was prepared, as everybody knows, long before any war with Mexico was heard of, and while the President was still congratulating the country that the annexation of Texas had been "a bloodless achievement." It was prepared originally, I fear, with no higher purpose than to conform to those party pledges, to which my honorable friend from

her discharged from some share of the responsibility for the rupture which has ensued. Still less can she be acquitted of all responsibility for the continuance of the war, in case she shall persist in declining the overtures which have again been distinctly held out to her.

Mr. Chairman, I plead guilty to something of an extreme jealousy in regard to the faith, and even the forms, of diplomatic intercourse. Missions, mediations, arbitrations, negotiations of every sort, are the select and sacred instruments of peace. They are the only instruments upon which we can rely for the amicable adjustment of international disputes. And, as a friend of peace, I am for holding to a strict accountability every nation which shall trifle or sport with those instruments; much more, which shall discard them altogether. I will hold my own country to that accountability as soon as another. I do not forget the bad example she has recently exhibited to the world, in rejecting the proposition of Great Britain for an arbitration upon the Oregon question. Even the sincere joy which I feel at the honorable and peaceable settlement of that question, is alloyed by the remembrance, that this unreasonable rejection of arbitration must remain, an indelible fact, on the pages of our history. It was somewhere said, not long ago, that Oregon was the last spot on the face of the globe, of which the original discovery and proprietorship was in dispute. The map of the world is now filled up. And would it not have been a cheering circumstance to the friends of humanity and peace, if, on the deed of partition of that one last spot of disputed territory, there could have been inscribed, in characters which the world might read forever, the concurrent and cordial testimony of two of the most powerful and civilized nations of the earth, in favor of a mode of settling international disputes, so reasonable and so righteous as arbitration? There is not the slightest reason to imagine, that the result of such a course would have been less favorable to our pretensions than that which has now been accomplished. But even if it had been so, the difference of a few acres of land would, in my judgment, have been unworthy of consideration, in comparison with the honor of such a proceeding to ourselves, and the priceless influence of such an example upon the world.

But enough of Oregon, and enough of the causes of the Mexican war. The war exists. It is to be prosecuted, as the President has assured us, for no purpose of aggression or conquest. He stands solemnly pledged to the country and to the world, by reiterated declarations, that he will be "prepared to renew negotiations whenever Mexico shall be ready to receive propositions, or to make propositions of her own;" and that he will be "at all times ready to conclude an honorable peace, whenever the Mexican Government shall manifest a like disposition." The honor of the Executive, and the honor of the nation, are committed to the fulfilment of these pledges; and as long as I shall perceive nothing in the conduct of the Administration inconsistent with their fulfilment, I shall not withhold my vote from any reasonable supplies which may be called for. I shall vote for them, not for any purpose of plunder or aggression not to enable our fleets to conquer California, or our armies "to revel in the halls of the Montezumas," but to enable the Presi dent to achieve that honorable peace, which he has solemnly promised to bring about at the earliest possible moment. My motto will thus be that of my own honored Commonwealth, "Ense-quietem."

But until this result shall be accomplished, Mr. Chairman, as God grant it speedily may be, it is the bounden duty of the Administration and its friends, to arrange a system of taxation commensurate with the exigencies which they have created. And if this bill were really adapted to such an end; if it held out a reasonable assurance of increasing the revenues and sustaining the credit of the country; if, more especially, it presented the only, or even the easiest and most obvious, mode of supply. ing the wants of the Government, I should hesitate much and long before interposing any objection to its passage.

The bill before us, however, was prepared for no such purpose, and will produce no such result. It was prepared, as everybody knows, long before any war with Mexico was heard of, and while the President was still congratulating the country that the annexation of Texas had been "a bloodless achievement." It was prepared originally, I fear, with no higher purpose than to conform to those party pledges, to which my honorable friend from