about a war as a peace, had the former, instead of the latter, been necessary to enable her to vent her spleen upon the Duchess of Marlborough. I repeat, the correction was a fair hit, and the manner entirely unobjectionable. I shall testify my acknowledg ment by putting the fact right in my printed speech."

In the meantime, the House of Representatives had taken up this subject, and having passed a resolution of a similar import, had sent the same to the Senate for its concurrence. Mr. Allen, therefore, on the sixteenth of April, moved that the resolution offered by him under debate, with the amendments, be laid on the table, with the view of taking up for consideration the resolution of the House of Representatives. The motion was agreed to, and the Senate proceeded to consider the House resolution. It was amended in the Senate, by prefixing to it a preamble, and by changing it from a peremptory and explicit authority to the President to terminate the convention, to a discretionary one. The House of Representatives did not concur in the amendments. Committees of conference were appointed, but they failed to effect an agreement.

In the following month of May, the subject of extending the jurisdiction over the territory west of the Rocky Mountains, being under consideration in the Senate, Mr. Benton again opened the question of the title of the United States to the Oregon territory; and in the course of his speech he attempted to controvert the statements of General Cass, formerly made in regard to the boundary line running along the parallel of 54° 40'.

In reply, General Cass addressed the Senate, examining and discussing the objections raised by his powerful and learned antagonist, sustaining, by irrefragable proofs, the correctness of his own statements, and clearly pointing out the errors of his opponent.

A treaty was made between the two governments, with the view of closing this controversy about Oregon, and the question of its ratification came up in the Senate, in secret session, in July, 1846. General Cass was opposed to its ratification without modifications. By this treaty, the United States not only receded to the parallel of 49°, but it granted rights to British subjects 7o below that, which General Cass deemed incompatible with our national honor. He therefore opposed the ratification in an able speech. The Senate, by resolution, removed the veil of secresy, and hence the propriety of making this statement.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

National Fortifications-Unsatisfactory Relations with Great Britain-War with Mexico-The Three Million Bill-The Sabbath-General Cass' Views-Wilmot Proviso-President's Recommendation -General Cass advocates Appropriations-Extracts from his Speech-For Vigorous Prosecution of the War.

General Cass, foreseeing the approach of a crisis in the vexed questions that appeared to him to be culminating between the United States and Great Britain, and looking forward to the contingency of a war between the two countries, in order to be prepared for that emergency, introduced, prior to the discussion of the Oregon question, for the consideration of the Senate, resolutions instructing the Committee on Military Affairs to inquire into the condition of the national fortifications and of their armaments, and whether other defensive works were necessary; and also into the condition and quantity of the military supplies; into the state of the means possessed by the government for the defense of the country; and also instructing the Committee on the Militia to inquire into the condition of that great arm of the public defense in case of war; and that they be further instructed to report such changes in the system then existing, as would give more experience and efficiency to it, and place it in the best condition for protecting the country should it be exposed to foreign invasion; and also that the Committee on Naval Affairs inquire into the condition of the navy of the United States-into the quantity and condition of the naval supplies on hand, and whether an increase of them was not necessary to the efficient operations of the navy, and to its preservation and augmentation, and, generally, into its capacity for defending our coast and our commerce, and for any service the exigencies of the country might probably require. He advocated them at length, and showed the necessity of their adoption. They were unanimously agreed to.

Before Congress rose, a subject of still more momentous importance, as it turned out, was brought before it. And that was war with Mexico-actual war. After Texas was annexed to the United

States, a question arose with Mexico respecting the boundary line. Mr. Polk, with the view of repelling any invasion from that quarter, in the summer of 1845 ordered troops toward the Rio Grande, with General Zachary Taylor, then colonel, in command. He was ordered there to observe the Mexicans, and defend American territory. In the spring of 1846, Mexican troops crossed the river Rio Grande, and a collision took place, and American blood was shed upon American soil. The President communicated this intelligence to Congress, and in May the two Houses passed a resolution declaratory of war then existing between the United States and Mexico, and measures were taken to enable the government to act as well on the offensive as the defensive. The American army crossed the boundary line of the two republics, and carried the stars and stripes victoriously into the heart of the Mexican country. The President did not wish to prolong the war, and as the Mexican treasury was impoverished, he proposed to Congress to adopt measures to enable him to bring it to a speedy termination. Among others, he asked that money should be placed at his disposal. As the boundary line was the chief obstacle to peace, he thought that an adjustment would require a concession on the part of Mexico, for which it might become necessary to pay money, as an equivalent. For the purpose indicated by the President, a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives in August, 1846, placing at the disposal of the Executive two millions of dollars. During the discussion of this bill-which was just at the close of the session-Mr. Wilmot, a representative from Pennsylvania, offered the following as an amendment to the bill:

"Provided that, as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty which may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Executive of the moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except for crime, whereof the party shall be duly convicted."

This is the famous Wilmot Proviso, as it is called. And from this point of time and place, did it start on its celebrated pilgrimage through the world. It was first, in fact, introduced by Mr. Winthrop, a representative from Massachusetts, and applied to

the Oregon bill. But then, it fell still-born, and passed out of notice until again brought forth by Mr. Wilmot.,

The bill, to which it was now appended, passed the House with this amendment as a rider, on the eighth of August, by a vote of eighty-seven in the affirmative and fifty-four in the negative. The bill was then sent to the Senate, and on Monday, the tenth of August, was, on motion of Senator Lewis, of Alabama, taken up for consideration. That senator moved to strike out the amendment proviso. This motion brought on a debate. Mr. Davis, a senator from Massachusetts, spoke against time, the two Houses having agreed to adjourn at noon of that day, and no opportunity was afforded to take a vote on this bill before the hour of the final adjournment of Congress arrived. As no vote was taken, it is not known what it would have been, if time had been afforded to have taken it; but in secret session, before the introduction of the bill in the House, thirty-three senators approved of the appropriation.

The bill reached the Senate at a late hour in the evening of Saturday, the eighth of August. There was a disposition manifested among the friends of the appropriation, to take the vote at that sitting, even if it was necessary to prolong that day's session through the ensuing Sunday. General Cass was as ready and desirous as any one to reach a final vote, but he was unwilling to trespass upon the Sabbath. Educated in the tenets of the Presbyterian faith, he ever has endeavored to practice them. The observance of the Sabbath, in his estimation, is a bright star in the constellation of their virtues. The blessing of the seventh day, to keep it holy, he considers a wise, social, as well as a sacred institution. What we may do at any time, we are but too apt to do at no time. In his view, the stated observance of religious worship, and the devotion of one day in seven to God's special service, bring our duties before us at prescribed periods, and make the time itself a part of the obligation. And the day, thus sanctified, is also a day of rest-a day of refuge from the toils, and troubles, and ceaseless cares of life; spreading its happy influence over the whole social community, it brings rest to the weary, peace to the troubled, quiet to the care-worn; it shuts out earth and the things of earth, and carries our thoughts far away to heaven and the things of heaven. Vital religion can not exist where God's day becomes man's day, desecrated by all the plea

sures and business of life. So, when the hand of the Senate clock proclaimed it was midnight, General Cass, as is his custom on all similar occasions, retired from the chamber. He will not, in time of peace, sit in the Senate on the Sabbath, nor in time of war, unless necessary, nor willingly even then. We repeat, he is a believer in the divine institution of the Sabbath.

At the subsequent session of Congress, the President renewed the recommendation of his special message of the previous session. Action thereon was had in Congress, and when the bill making a special appropriation of three millions to bring the war with Mexico to a speedy and honorable conclusion, came up for consideration in the Senate, General Cass supported the appropriation, and in the course of his speech, on the tenth of February, 1847, reviewed the relations between the two countries, the peculiar character of the war, and the propriety of legislating in regard to it, as recommended by the President.

We make the following extracts:

"In the remarks I propose to submit, Mr. President, I shall invert the natural order of arrangement. I intend to present my views of the causes and course of the war thus far, and also the reasons which will induce me to vote for the appropriation of three millions of dollars; to which I shall add my views of the best mode of proceeding in the prosecution of the war. I shall begin, however, with the two latter subjects.

"I do not rise, sir, with the emotions so visibly felt and so eloquently described by the distinguished senator from South Carolina. I do not consider this country or its institutions in the slightest danger. Never was it more free, powerful, or prosperous than at the present moment, when untimely warnings come to assail us. The public sentinel may sleep upon his watch-tower. In the distant horizon not a cloud as big as the prophet's hand, is to be seen, which is to overspread the heavens, and to burst in thunder and tempest upon us. We are, indeed, engaged in a foreign war, which demands the solicitude of every good citizen. But the scene of its operations is two thousand miles distant; and, come the worst that may, we can at any time withdraw into our own country. Disgraceful, indeed, would be such a movement; but it would be still better than the evils predicted, and according to the nature of the apprehensions expressed, it would terminate the danger.