It is an indisputable fact, that the annexation of Texas, then at war
with Mexico, was tantamount to a declaration of war, and that the
comparative weakness of Mexico alone prevented its Government from
considering it as such.
Under these circumstances, it was evidently the duty of the United
States to use every means to soothe and conciliate the Mexicans, and to
wait with patience for an unconditional recognition of the independence
of Texas, till the feelings excited by our aggression had subsided.
It has been shown that after Mexico had resorted, as a substitute for
war, to the harmless suspension of the ordinary diplomatic intercourse,
the attempt to make it retract that measure, before any negotiations for
the restoration of harmony between the two countries should be entered
into, was neither countenanced by the acknowledged law of nations, nor
necessary for any useful purpose, nor consistent with a proper and just
sense of the relative position in which the aggressive measure of the
United States had placed the two countries. But that the refusal of
Mexico to submit to that additional contumely, should have been
considered as an insult to the United States, betrays the pride of
power, rather than a just sense of what is due to the true dignity and
honor of this nation.
It has been demonstrated, that the republic of Texas had not a shadow of
right to the territory adjacent to the left bank of the lower portion of
the Rio Norte; that though she claimed, she never had actually exercised
jurisdiction over any portion of it; that the Mexicans were the sole
inhabitants; and in actual possession of that district; that therefore
its forcible occupation by the army of the United States was, according
to the acknowledged law of nations, as well as in fact, an act of open
hostility and war: that the resistance of the Mexicans to that invasion
was legitimate; and that therefore the war was unprovoked by them, and
commenced by the United States.
If any doubt should remain of the correctness of these statements, let
them be tested by the divine and undeniable precept, "Do unto others as
you would be done by."
If at this moment France was to contract a treaty of defensive and
offensive alliance with Mexico, a treaty taking effect immediately, and
pending the war between the United States and Mexico, and binding
herself to defend it with all her forces against any and every other
Power, would not the United States at once consider such a treaty as a
declaration of war against them?
If, in lieu of declaring war against Great Britain, in the year 1812,
the United States had only suspended the ordinary diplomatic relations
between the two countries; and Great Britain had declared that she would
not enter into any negotiation for the settlement of all the subjects of
difference between the two countries, unless the United States should,
as a preliminary condition, restore those relations; would not this have
been considered as a most insolent demand, and to which the United
States never would submit?
If the United States were, and had been for more than a century, in
possession of a tract of country, exclusively inhabited and governed by
them, disturbed only by the occasional forays of an enemy; would they
not consider the forcible military invasion and occupation of such a
district by a third Power, as open and unprovoked war, commenced against
them? And could their resistance to the invasion render them liable to
the imputation of having themselves commenced the war?
Yet it would seem as if the splendid and almost romantic successes of
the American arms had, for a while, made the people of the United States
deaf to any other consideration than an enthusiastic and exclusive love
of military glory; as if, forgetting the origin of the war, and with an
entire disregard for the dictates of justice, they thought that those
successes gave the nation a right to dismember Mexico, and to
appropriate to themselves that which did not belong to them.
But I do not despair, for I have faith in our institutions and in the
people; and I will now ask them whether this was their mission? and
whether they were placed by Providence on this continent for the purpose
of cultivating false glory, and of sinking to the level of those vulgar
conquerors who have at all times desolated the earth.