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The Proslavery War

The Proslavery War image
Parent Issue
Day
1
Month
August
Year
1846
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Having found several articles of an intelligible andgraphiccharactcr respecting this war, commonccd for the growthand permanenceof Slavery, we have transcribed them ut some length, believing that they will be read with much interest and profit. Designs of the Administratiox. Last week we mentioned reports that ihe Government hád determined on making the war one of aggression and permanent conquest. We wére slow to gve evidencë to siich rumora, but the}' seem to bë confirmed by further statements from Washington. A correspondent of the Philadélpliia N. American writes, July 14, that n council of twenty captains was to assemble in Washington onTuesday followingto devise measures for attacking Veera Cruz, one of the principal seaports of Mexico, and taking the strong castle of San Juan de Ulloa which defends it. It is said that some of the oldest and most expericneed officers have expressed themselves against the measure. The preparations for it must be of most ampie character in rcferenc to numbers, transportó, artillery, provisions, and ammunition, and its successful execution will require the greatest skill and judgment. CONDITION' 01' THE ARMY. The following extracts from a letter of aperson on the Rio Grande, to a membcr of Congress, as published in the National Intelligencer, will give a very good idea of the condition of the army on the first of July. "As soon as the alarm of war was rung through the country, volunteers hastened here from various quarters. until there is now on this frontier some eight or ten tliousand, and many more on the way. - Many of those men have left comfortable homes, and have come expecting to see active service. Instead of that, they are scattered over the country, in different encampments, exposed to the heat of the sun in latitude 26, and the soaking rain3 ot the summersolstice, inactive and many indulging in dissipation to kill time and chase away ennui. I will explain why this is so. The great object seems to have been to hasten men on here, without any particular object. If t be for the purpose of defence, Gen. Taylor has proved hc did not want many to assist him - certainly no more than he called for. If the object be invasión, thé men come poorly provided. They come with arms in their hands, and there are provisiqns enough, easily obtained, but there is not a sufficiency of transportation for an army of five thousand men. If som" e rtttention had been paid to the necessary transporting supplics for an army, it would have been muchbetter than send" ing masses of men to suñpr in this climate. An army cannot move without provisions, and if we penétrate far into the country it will require a great number of wagons. There are about three hundred wagons and teams here, but not drivers enough for them; when I say here, understand with the army. We are told the Government has three hundred wagons in oi about Philadelphia;when they will be here no one can teil; mules have to be purchased, and no chance of getting them, except from the Mexicans ; they aré perfectly wild, and must be tamed and taught to work ; this will take a long time afler the wagons arrive. The Mexican officers are having the mules driven ofF as fast as they can into the interior, and forbid any sales to us j still a good many are broughtto Matamoras and are purchased. A month ago an officer was sent to New Orleans to purchasc several steamboats suitable to navigate the Rio Grande. - None of them are here yet, and from what we have been informed, when they do arrive, it is not probable they will answer the purpose. In the mean time the mouth of the river has been closed by a bar ; the steamers Sea and Cincinnati, chartered at high rates, were caught inside, and are of little or no use, drawing too much water. The Col. Harney steamer, belonging to the Government was during the last week, in open day light, run on the bar, off this harbor, and has gone to pieces - a great piece of negligence. The uttër neglect to supply the army with suiÏÏcient transportation for amunition and supplies novf paralyzes every thing and prevents the army movingon. If we had had one month ago three hundred additional wagons nnd two or three small steamers in the Uio öranhe, we shoüld now been far on our way to Montery, in a high healthy country, the men contented and well, and no time given the enemy to recruit their forces or recover from the tíonseqüences of their defeat. Instead of this, I do not believe the army will leave the banks of the Rio Grande before the middle of August or commencement of September. Until then the men must be paid and supported - at what cost you will see when you can gèt hold of the accounts." War Expenses. The same writer continúes as follows : When the e-xpenses of this war are paid and the accounts exhibited, the Florida expenditures will appear small. The most enormous rates are paid for manythings, particularíy for tho use of ships ind other vezels engagedin trarisporting troops and stores; from twenty five to üfty percent more than a commercial man tvould pay for similar vessels for bis own ase. Let me give you a few instances. Fhe steamship Alabama is chartered at ho rate of $10,500 per month. She was liere about the end of May with volunteers, and returncd to New Orleans on the lst instant. Shc reached the bar ofT tliis port saveral days ago, and was soon aftcr blown ofl without landing the men Dn her, and bas not yet got back. The steamers Augusta and Cincinnali have long been in service under high charters. The former has been fast aground since the '29th May, until two days ago. The lattcr is cooped up in the Rio Grande, and is of but little service. An old French barque called the Blayais was condemned at Galveston the last of April, or earïy in May, as being unseaworthy, and sold in the latter month at auction. The huil, lower masts, and some of the ground-tackle &c, was purchased forabout 81,100 or 81,200. An expense of 8300 perhaps was incurred in partially rigging her ; when a Lieut. Kingsbury chartered her to bring two companies of Texan volunteers to this place, giving $950 for the trip. Soon alter her arrivalshe was dismantled, and the rigging sold or otherwise disposed of, and the huil alone hired by the Quartermosler at $30 per day - $'10,950 per annum : a good interest on $1,500! Other cases as remarkable could be mentioned. A new Quartermaster General is on bis way here, it is said, and things may be better managed perhaps. At some proper time it might be well tohave an exhibitofthe amount paid to each steamer and sailing vessel engaged in transporting troops and supplies to this place for the army, their tomage, value, &c, and then obtaining from practical business men what such vessels could have been employed for by individuals for their own use. The most enormous rates were also paid lost year for tronsportation to Corpus Christi and St. Joseph's Island. Sometimes as much was paid for a vessel from New Orleans as sho could have made on a voyage to Liverpool, and the rates have not abated. At an carly period it will be well to look into these expenditures, and know who has made them or sanctioned them." Future operations. 'No one can teil when the army will make a forward movement. My belief is it will be a considerable time, and solely for the want of transportaron. In the mean time the volunteers are much exposed. For two weeks or more it has rained almost every day, and the appearances are strongly in favor of a conti nuanceof it. When it does not rain the sun is hot enough, The tents furnished are ofan indifferent kind, and there are a number of companies, particularily among the Texans, that have none at all. Yet the men so far continue tolerably healthy. How long it will last no one can teil. "Whether thd Mexicans will risk another battle of a general kind is a f[UCotion that cannot be decided now. If they could have been pursued soon after the battles in May, their force must have been dispersed, killed, or captured. As it is, (hey have ampie time to raise reinforcements and recruit their spirits, and may make another stand in the hilly country. I f they do, I have no doubt they will be defeated, and the war may be terminated soon ; but if they do not conclude to make another general fight, the war will be of a partisan character, and no one can teil when it wiíl termínate. We may overrun the country, but will not subdue it. As long as private property is respected, and the lives and rights of those not found in arms secured, the Mexicans do not care about our traveling through their country and paying the highest prices for what they have to sell. It is a species of w arfare better for many of them than the state of peace they have heretofore enjoyed. The men are frequently employed here by the Quartermaster, and are much better paid than they ever were before. Yet those people, as a mass, have the bitterest feelings against us. Their priests and demagogues have, for their own purpose, fostered their prejudices and animosities, and the idea of "extending the area of freedom"so as to include them seems ridiculous and absurd. The rumor is (and I think it worthy of credit) that the Mexicans are fortifying thé town of Monterey. It is a place of considerable importance in a civil and military point of view, and it is possible the enemy may fight for it. If they do not, they will make no general fight, that is certain ; and the war will then be of the guerilla' kind, and be waged in a mostsanguinary spirit. Our peoplc, particularly me Texans, feel very hostile and much exasperated against thé Mexicans j and if ever the army is broken up into detachments and small parties they will not be spared by them. As long as we are embodied, under the ontrol of high ofRcers, a proper restraint will be exercised ; but as soon as thé small chiefs have sway then will bloodshed and rapiñe spread over the country." The Rio Grande Republic of July 1, sdys :"During the last ten days the windows of heaven have been opened wide upon this section of country, both upon the "just and the unjust," upon the American and Mexican sides of the Rio Grande. - The tents of the voluntcers are mado of cotton sttifl) rather too fine to sin hominy through, but péculiarly fitted for shower bath purposes. The tents of the regulars are, ninc-tenths of them, rotten and rnggcd. The stuff of which they are made was originaíly better suited for plantation use, such as negro clothing, &c. than for a Many a poor fellow, however, cannot boast of adilapidatcd tent of the decayed material named ; but is living under a shelter made of his own blankcts, under which he can with dilïïculty sit upright. The clothing and bedding of both regulars and volunteers have been half ruined during the short period of the rainy season which has alrcady passed. Very little complaint has been heard among the men. They came hcre with the hope of being actively employed. They have made sacrifices enough (the volunteers) to have paid thricefold the expenses that could haye been incurred by the Government, had the most liberal provisions been promptly made (tffld executed for the health and efficiency of ihe army. The uniforms and effects of the regulars have been destroyed, and it will not, we think, be an exageration to say army supplies enough have have been ruined, for want of proper shelter, to have paid five times the cost of all the nccessaries withheld from our troops. The requisition for tents, &c. was made by Gen. Taylor long ago. - There is no excuse for its having been neglected. Again: there are no means at hand for the transportations of supplies. Wagons cannot well pass between this place and Point Isabel, and there is not, at this moment, a single boat in the Governments service now yunning on the Rio Grande."