Cu. Vl.]

sonal enemy, and the cause of his recall, and General Worth, whom newspaper correspondents had praised to an extent which seemed to reflect upon himself, under arrest. Into the merits of these disputes we need not enter; they are too recent to be safely adjudicated upon, even were all the necessary data in our possession.*

Mr. Trist, meanwhile, proceeded with his unauthorized negotiations, and on the 2d of February, 1848, the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was completed. It was signed on that day, in the town so named, by Mr. Trist, on the part of the American government, although he had ceased to represent it; and on the part of the Mexican government-which could scarcely be said to exist at all, so perturbed, and vague, and wanting in means of all kinds was it-by 1848. Don Luis G. Cuevas, Don Bernardo Conto, and Don Miguel Atristain. There were twenty-three articles, and one additional and secret article, stipulating that the ratification by the government of Washington might be deferred four months beyond the term fixed in the open articles of the treaty. And the principal conditions contained in it were, the restoration of peace; the cession not only of Texas, but of

1

♦ Major Ripley devotes a number of pages to this matter, and gives it as his opinion, that the effect of the proceedings of the court (held between March and

July, 1849) was to produce "the impression, and truly,

that the whole affair of the different quarrels had its origin in unfounded suspicions and jealousy on the part of the general-in-chief, and that the army and the country had been disturbed by a scandalous quarrel without any reasonable cause, to the injury of the reputation of the service."-" The War in Mexico," vol. ii., p. 632.

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New Mexico and Upper California also, to the United States; the payment, in consideration of this cession of territory, of $15,000,000 by the American government, and of the claims of the citizens of the United States against the gov ernment of Mexico, to the extent of $3,250,000; and a compact to restrain the incursions and misconduct of the Indians on the northern frontier.

The treaty was immediately dispatched to Washington, and notwithstanding the irregular way in which it had been negotiated, was at once sent to the Senate by Mr. Polk. It was there debated quite at large, and ratified after a few alterations, on the 10th of March. The treaty was subsequently ratified by the Mexican Congress, on the 30th of May; and during the summer of 1848, our brave troops returned home. Peace was proclaimed by the president on the 4th of July, 1848.*

Mr. Benton, in his "Thirty Years' View," has some interesting remarks upon the Mexican war, and the negotiations which led to the treaty of peace, which are worth the reader's examination. "Certainly," as he Certainly," as he says, "those who served the government well in that war with Mexico, fared badly with the administration. the administration. Taylor, who had vanquished at Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey, and Buena Vista, was quarrelled with; Scott, who removed the obstacles to peace, and subdued the Mexican mind to peace, was superseded in the command of the army; Fremont,

* For the president's proclamation and the treaty of peace with Mexico, see Appendix at the end of the present chapter.

who had snatched California out of the hands of the British, and handed it over to the United States, was court-martialed; and Trist, who made the treaty which secured the objects of the war, and released the administration from its dangers, was recalled and dismissed."*

The Mexican war, however gratifying in its results it may have proved to the national pride of our countrymen, is nevertheless suggestive of many and very grave reflections. Our gallant troops, it is true, displayed the courage and endurance of the bravest of the brave, and tire whole career of the army, under its accomplished leaders, was one succession of victories; large accessions of territory were made, and beside Texas, New Mexico and California became integral portions of the United States; and from this date, our country has taken her rank in the forefront of the first-rate powers of the world. But it is only right and proper that we should look steadily at the cost of this war, the cost in money, and what is far more valuable, the cost in human life. As to the former, it is, in one sense, of little moment; $20,000,000 were paid for the newly-acquired territory, and official statistics show, that the grand total of expenditure in the way of army and navy support, of bounties, pensions, and the like, was not much, if at all, short of $150,000,000; yet, great as this amount is, it is not of material importance to a nation of so vast and extensive resources as ours. The cost of the war in human lives is far more worthy of note. The number of

* Benton's "Thirty Years' View," vol. ii., p. 711.

regulars who served in Mexico was twenty-seven thousand five hundred, and of volunteers seventy-one thousand three hundred, making a total of ninetynine thousand; of these, some forty thousand resigned or were discharged, and between four and five thousand deserted. The total loss from battle, disease, and all causes, (as calculated by those familiar with the data,) was certainly not less than twenty-five thousand men! The reader will need no aid from us to see how vast an amount of suffering and misery must have resulted from this fearful destruction of human life; how much domestic afflic tion, pauperism, starvation, suicide, and other deplorable evils, must have fol lowed in the train of war and bloodshed in Mexico. The result is yet in the future; and it may be the task of the historian in later ages to "point the moral" of this war, and to show how, in the wise dispensations of God, important ends were accomplished by it, for civilization and the progress of the human race.*

After this long digression, we return to the consideration of home affairs. The twenty-ninth Congress expired, as was stated on a previous page, (p. 430,) on the 3d of March, 1847, and soon after the contest, with reference to members of the new House, commenced in earnest.

The result of the elections

*The venerable Albert Gallatin, while the question of our relations with Mexico was unsettled, issued an interesting pamphlet, entitled "Peace with Mexico," which we commend to the attention of the reader. Mr. G. had previously sent forth a pamphlet, under the title of "War with Mexico," which is also char acterized by the same spirit of moderation, justice, and candor.

CE. VI.] showed that the measures of Mr. Polk's administration had not retained 1847. for it the popularity which it enjoyed when he entered upon office. The Mexican war had deprived it of the favor of some of the states; and others had been displeased at the repeal of the protective tariff; and so, when the first session of the thirtieth Congress began, it was plain that, though in the Senate democracy was still dominant, a majority of the other House was in the opposition.

This fact was clearly shown when the House came to the election of speaker, on the 6th of December, 1847; for Robert C. Winthrop, a Massachusetts whig, was chosen, on the third ballot, by a majority of a hundred and ten votes against sixty-four given to Linn Boyd, the principal democratic candidate, forty-one to other democrats, and three to other whigs. The other officers of the House, who had now to be appointed, were, of course, of the same political complexion.

A large portion of Mr. Polk's message was occupied with the Mexican war and the questions connected with it. Interesting information of a diplomatic kind was also furnished in one paragraph, in which-after recommending the establishment of legal tribunals for the punishment of criminals in China, lest the impunity of citizens of the United States guilty of crime there, should lead to any interruption of friendly relations with that important nation-mention was made of "treaties with the Sublime Porte, Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Muscat," all awaiting the sanction of the Senate; and of the com

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mencement of diplomatic intercourse with the Papal States, which required an appropriation to defray the expense to be incurred.

The receipts into the treasury, dur ing the year ending in June, 1847, had been $26,346,790; but the expenditure had reached nearly to the amount of $59,500,000. The entire public debt was said now to be $45,660,000. "Should the war with Mexico be continued," the president remarked, "until the 30th of June, 1849, it is estimated that a further loan of $20,500,000 will be required for the fiscal year ending on that day, in case no duty be imposed on tea and coffee, and the public lands be not reduced and graduated in price, and no military contributions shall be collected in Mexico. If the duty on tea and coffee be imposed, and the lands be reduced and graduated in price as proposed, the loan may be reduced to $17,000,000, and will be subject to be still further reduced by the amount of the military contributions which may be collected in Mexico."

The operation of the tariff was spoken of as decidedly beneficial, and the independent treasury was lauded in terms which may be worth quoting here:-"While the fiscal operations of the government have been conducted with regularity and ease under this system, it has had a salutary effect in checking and preventing an un- 1847. due inflation of the paper currency issued by the banks which exist under the state charters. Requiring, as it does, all dues to the government to be paid in gold and silver, its effect is to restrain excessive issues of bank

paper by the banks, disproportioned to the specie in their vaults, for the reason that they are at all times liable to be called on by the holders of their notes for their redemption, in order to obtain specie for the payment of duty and other public dues. The banks, therefore, must keep their business within prudent limits, and be always in a condition to meet such calls, or run the hazard of being compelled to suspend specie payments, and be thereby discredited."

In addition to these various topics, the mint, the public lands, the government of Oregon Territory, the navy, the steam marine, and the post-office, received due attention in the very lengthy message, which was concluded with a timely reference to the wise counsels of Washington against disunion, and with an invocation of the blessing of Almighty God upon the deliberations of the national legislature.

Not much, we are sorry to say, was accomplished during this session of Congress, principally because of the exciting political questions, arising out of, and connected with, the approaching presidential election. The "Wilmot proviso" was again warmly debated, in connection with the bill providing a territorial government for Oregon Territory. When the bill was passing through the Senate, amongst

other amendments, on the mo1848. tion of Senator Douglas, the Missouri compromise amendment was appended to it; but the House refused to concur in this addition to its bill; and the Senate in consequence receded from this amendment, by a vote of

twenty-nine to twenty-five, when the House accepted the others. A loan of $16,000,000 was authorized, and an act was passed giving authority to purchase the papers of Mr. Madison, fourth president of the United States. Congress adjourned on the 14th of August, 1848.

The venerable ex-president, John Quincy Adams, who, with rare patriotism, was serving his country as a member of the House of Representatives, was stricken with paralysis, while in his seat, on the 21st of February, 1848. The House immediately adjourned, as did also the Senate; Mr. Adams was removed to the speaker's room, giving utterance to his dying words, "this is the last of earth;" and on the 23d, he sank quietly to his rest. As was fitting, honors were bestowed upon his memory by the myriads of his countrymen who deplored his removal from the councils of the nation. "He lingered," says Mr. Benton, "two days, and died on the evening of the 23d-struck the day before, and dying the day after the anniversary of Washington's birth—and attended by every circumstance which he could have chosen to give felicity in death. It was on the field of his labors, in the presence of the national representation, presided over by a son of Massachusetts, (Robert C. Winthrop, Esq.); in the full possession of his faculties, and of their faithful use at octogenarian age—without a pang-hung over, in his last unconscious moments, by her who had been for more than fifty years the worthy partner of his bosom. Such a death was the 'crowning mercy' of a long life of eminent and patriotic ser