CLAY'S MEMORIAL AGAINST WAR, AGAINST TEXAS ANNEXATION

(On Nov. 13, 1847, Henry Clay delivered this speech on the Market Square of Lexington, Ky. The U.S. was at war with Mexico and Clay had lost a son, Col. Henry Clay Jr., at the Battle of Buena Vista that February. Before he died, his son had a companion return the dueling pistols his father had given him when he left for the war. 

A slave owner, Clay's remarkable speech denounced James Polk for inciting the Mexican War and causing huge losses in live of both Mexicans and American troops and planting the seeds of the Civil War over the slavery question. Among the listeners that day was newly-elected Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln. We print some excerpts below. A link to the entire speech is included below.)

By Henry Clay

The day is dark and gloomy, unsettled and uncertain, like the condition of our country, in regard to the unnatural war with Mexico.

The public mind is agitated and anxious, and is filled with serious apprehensions as to its indefinite continuance , and especially as to the consequences which its termination may bring forth, menacing the harmony, if not the existence, of our Union.

It is under these circumstances, I present myself before you. No ordinary occasion would have drawn me from the retirement in which I live; but whilst a single pulsation of the human heart remains, it should, if necessary, be dedicated to the service of one’s country.

And I have hope that, although I am a private and humble citizen, an expression of the views and opinions I entertain, might form some little addition to the general stock of information, and afford a small assistance in delivering our country from the perils and dangers which surround it.

I have come here with no purpose to attempt to make a fine speech, or any ambitious oratorical display. I have brought with me no rhetorical bouquets to throw into this assemblage. In the circle of the year, autumn has come, and the season of flowers has passed away. In the progress of years, my spring time has gone by, and I too am in the autumn of life, and feel the frost of age.

My desire and aim are to address you, earnestly, calmly, seriously and plainly, upon the grave and momentous subjects which have brought us together. And I am most solicitous that not a solitary word may fall from me, offensive to any party or person in the whole extent of the union.

War, pestilence, and famine, by the common consent of mankind, are the three greatest calamities which can befall our species; and war, as the most direful, justly stands foremost and in front. Pestilence and famine, no doubt for wise although inscrutable purposes, are infliction of Providence, to which it is our duty, therefore, to bow with obedience, humble submission and resignation. Their duration is not long and their ravages are limited. They bring, indeed, great affliction whilst they last, but society soon recovers from their effects.

War is the voluntary work of our own hands, and whatever reproaches it may deserve should be directed to ourselves. When it breaks out, its duration is indefinite and unknown – its vicissitudes are hidden from our view. In the sacrifice of human life, and in the waste of human treasure in its losses and in its burdens, it affects both belligerent nations; and its sad effects of mangled bodies, of death, and of desolation, endure long after its thunders are hushed in peace.

War unhinges society, disturbs its peaceful and regular industry, and scatters poisonous seeds of disease and immorality which continue to germinate and diffuse their baneful influence long after it has ceased. Dazzling by its glitter, pomp and pageantry, it begets a spirit of wild adventure and romantic enterprise, and often disqualifies those who embark in it, after their return from the bloody, fields of battle, from engaging in the industrious and peaceful vocations of life.

We are informed by a statement which is apparently correct, that the number of our countrymen slain in this lamentable Mexican war, although it has yet been of only eighteen months existence, is equal to one half of the whole of the American loss during the seven years war of the Revolution!

And I venture to assert that the expenditure of treasure which it has occasioned, when it shall come to be fairly ascertained and footed up, will be found to be more than half of the pecuniary cost of the war of our independence. And this is the condition of the party whose arms have been every where and constantly victorious!

How did we unhappily get involved in this war? It was predicted as the consequence of the annexation of Texas to the United States. If we had not Texas, we should have no war. The people were told that if that event happened, war would ensue . They were told that the war between Texas and Mexico had not been terminated by a treaty of peace; that Mexico still claimed Texas as a revolted province: and that, if we received Texas in our Union, we took along with her, the war existing between her and Mexico.

And the Minister of Mexico [Juan N. Almonte] formally announced to the Government at Washington, that his nation would consider the annexation of Texas to the United States as producing a state of war. But all this was denied by the partisans of annexation.

They insisted we should have no war, and even imputed to those who foretold it, sinister motives for their groundless prediction. But, notwithstanding a state of virtual war necessarily resulted from the fact of annexation of one of the belligerents to the United States, actual hostilities might have been probably averted by prudence, moderation and wise statesmanship.

If General [Zachary] Taylor had been permitted to remain, where his own good sense promoted him to believe he ought to remain, at the point of Corpus Christi; and, if a negotiation had been opened with Mexico, in a true spirit of amity and conciliation , war possibly might have been prevented.

But, instead of this pacific and moderate course, whilst Mr. [John] Slidell was wending his way to Mexico, with his diplomatic credentials, General Taylor was ordered to transport his cannon, and to plant them, in a warlike attitude, opposite to Matamoros, on the east bank of the Rio Bravo [Rio Grande]; within the very disputed territory, the adjustment of which was to be the object of Mr. Slidell’s mission.

What else could have transpired but a conflict of arms ? Thus the war commenced , and the President [James K. Polk] after having produced it, appealed to Congress. A bill was proposed to raise 50,000 volunteers, and in order to commit all who should vote for it, a preamble was inserted falsely attributing the commencement of the war to the act of Mexico.

 I have no doubt of the patriotic motives of those who, after struggling to divest the bill of that flagrant error, found themselves constrained to vote for it. But I must say that no earthly consideration would have ever tempted or proved me to vote for a bill, with a palpable falsehood stamped on its face. Almost idolizing truth, as I do, I never, never, could have voted for that bill.

http://henryclay.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Market-Speech.pdf