Page:Speech of Mr. Chas. Hudson, of Mass., on the Three Million Appropriation Bill - delivered in the House of Representatives of the U.S., Feb. 13, 1847 (IA speechofmrchashu00hudsrich).pdf/15

 lished, the Government expects, through your forces, to be found in actual possession of Upper California." If there was any other evidence necessary, that the war is one of aggression and conquest, it will be found in the Message of the President at the opening of the session. He tells us expressly, that Mexico must pay the expense of the war. But how will she be able to do that? She has failed to pay the instalments on the indemnity due to our citizens from pecuniary inability, and does the President expect that she will make so much by the war, as to enable her to pay some fifty or sixty millions in gold and silver? Does he not know that she has nothing but territory with which to pay the expenses of the war? Has he not himself informed us, that she is too poor to make a treaty? And does he not, on that ground, ask Congress to put three millions into his hands, that he may be enabled to bribe the Government and the soldiers, so that they may be kept quiet till a treaty can be made and ratified? The declaration of the President, that Mexico must indemnify us for the expenses of the war, amounts to a declaration, that we are prosecuting the war for acquisition of territory, and that he will not make peace till Mexico consents to the dismemberment of her Republic.

This war is rendered extraordinary, not only from its unconstitutional commencement and aggressive character, but also from the prospect of success with which it. is attended. I know the bravery of our troops; I allow the skill of our officers; they can perform any thing but impossibilities; but Nature has set bounds to all human efforts. Mexico has a population. of ten or eleven millions, being about half that of ours; and this population is spread over a territory one-third larger than that of the United States. A nation which acts upon the defensive, has always an advantage over the invaders. Nature has also guarded Mexico at almost every point. If we attack her from the Gulf, we have to encounter all the perils of a dangerous sea and a pestilential shore. If we attempt to penetrate into her country, we meet with her arid plains and dangerous mountain passes—bulwarks prepared by Nature for her defence. At one season of the year the "windows of heaven are opened," and the almost incessant rains for bid military operations; at another, the "rivers are turned into a wilderness, the water springs into dry ground," thereby subjecting an invading army to hunger, thirst, and almost every privation. The habits of that people also adapt them to a wandering life, and enable them to subsist where our army would perish, unless supplied with provisions from their own country. With all these obstacles in our way, and all these natural advantages in their favor, we carry on the contest at fearful odds.

Thus far, we have been victorious in every battle; but what have we gained? We have marched several hundred miles into the enemy's country, far away from our supplies, and have just arrived at a point where victory yields us no particular advantage, and where defeat would be ruin. Every city we capture swallows up a portion of our army, and diminishes our ability to proceed. Every step we advance takes us farther from our supplies, and renders our position more dangerous. And while all these causes are impediments in our way, and expose us to new dangers, they operate in favor of our enemy. This very invasion has given union to their councils, stability to their Government, and desperation to their troop?. While our troops are dragging their lives out in a foreign war, these despised Mexicans are lighting for their own country—the land of their birth—for their homes, their firesides, and, above all, for their religion.

It is not possible, sir, to conquer such a people if they are only united