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and that was the small number of men at his command." His only regret that he could not kill more Mexicans! "The condition of the brave and esteemed Capt. says an eye-witness, "is melancholy indeed. The whole of his lower jaw, with a part of his tongue and palate, is shot away by a grape-shot. He, however, survives, though entirely incapable of speech. He communicates his thoughts by writing on a slate, and receives the necessary nutriment for the support of life with much difficulty. He does not desire to live, but converses with cheerfulness and exultation upon the success of our arms, and concluded an answer to some queries concerning the battle of the 9th, by writing, 'We gave the Mexi cans hell!'"

"When Lieut.

was on

rode

during the battle of Buena Vista, was sent by Gen. Taylor," says the New Orleans Bulletin, "with a flag to a detached body of 1000 to 1500 Mexicans, that were being cut to pieces by our fire, Col. the eve of charging them with his dragoons; but as Lieut. was passing with his white flag displayed, out and crossed his path to inquire the object of his mission. 'I am going to tell those fellows to surrender, in order to save their lives.' — ' Wait till I have charged them.' .'Impossible; the old man has sent me, and I must go.'—‘But, my good fellow,' said entreatingly, for God's sake just rein up for five minutes, and give us a chance at them.'. 'Would do any thing to oblige you, Colonel; but I have the old man's orders, and there is no help for it.' And he gave rein to his horse, while the Colonel returned to the head of his regiment in the worst of all possible humors against the things called flags of truce."

The diabolical passion of fighting for the love of fighting is illustrated by this repórt of an American General, in the bombardment of a Mexican town, in which 219 were killed, and 300 wounded.

"As we approached, several shots were fired at us, and,

deeming it unsafe to risk a street fight in an unknown town at night, I ordered the artillery to be posted on a hill near the town and overlooking it, and open its fire. Now ensued one of the most beautiful sights conceivable. Every gun was served with the utmost rapidity; and the crash of the walls and the roofs of the houses when struck by our shot and shell, was mingled with the roar of artillery. The bright light of the moon enabled us to direct our shots to the most thickly populated parts of the town.”

At another action, in his report says another officer, now promoted to a generalship, "I cannot speak too highly of Capt. K. and his management of his batteries. His shells and shot fell beautifully upon houses and churches where the enemy were in great numbers. Whenever his shot took effect, the firing soon ceased."

Such is the spirit of war and warriors,* and such, from the necessity of the case, it ever must be. How totally inconsistent with the spirit of the New Testament! Is it not a hidden art, even in this inventive age, to wage war upon Christian principles and sentiments? Killing men, women, and children can hardly be done on the basis of loving our neighbors, or forgiving our enemies. The single question is, whether Christ be our supreme Master or not. When that is settled, it will be comparatively easy to dispose of the question of war.

* The many controversies and quarrels among the authors and advocates of this war and the officers of the army and navy strikingly illustrate the combustible nature of the materials on which the war-system is built. Perhaps we ask too much of men, who cannot keep the peace among their own countrymen, that they should keep the peace with the rest of mankind. Witness the quasi wars of Scott vs. Trist, Pillow vs. Scott, Scott vs. Marcy, Kearney vs. Fremont, Fremont vs. Mason, Benton vs. Kearney, to say nothing of other controversies and duels.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.

"War is in itself a mighty evil, an incongruity in a scheme of social harmony, a canker at the heart of improvement, a living lie in a Christian land, a curse at all times."-LONDON TIMES.

Ir has already been shown by a detailed examination of separate items, that the late war has been totally inconsistent with the commands and spirit of the Gospel. But we treat now of its general spirit. It has been an appeal to might, and there is no evidence that the success of a battle is any proof of the justice of the cause of the victors. Napoleon once remarked, that he had always taken notice that Providence favored the heavy battalions! Victory perches on the banner of might, not always on that of right.

We have seen that even the usual laws of war, and laws of nations, have been rudely broken by the barbarities perpetrated on both sides; how much more then that perfect law of love, revealed by Jesus Christ! If the doctrines of Grotius and Vattel have been set at nought, how much more have those of Paul and John?

The inconsistency of our invasion of Mexico with the Christian faith has been brought into a stronger contrast, from the fact, that at the very moment we were loading down a vessel of war to the very edge with bread-stuffs for the famishing Irish, and despatching them on this mission of mercy, we were sending bomb-ships, laden with the most destructive implements of war, to lay waste the cities of Mexico, and bury men, women, and children in the ruins of

their dwellings and churches. It is a serious inquiry for every Christian, whether, while we have thus been aiming fatal blows at the physical life of a sister republic, we may not have placed ourselves in the way of receiving the fruits of spiritual death in ourselves.

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We can conceive of no line of antitheses more directly pitched, one against the other, than the qualities called into the most lusty life and growth by such a war, and those recommended and enforced in the instructions of our blessed Lord, and shining with a holy and beautiful light in his character, as the brightness of the firmament." It is ambition fronting meekness; pride, lowliness of mind; revenge, forgiveness; retaliation, forbearance; cruelty, mercy; wrong, justice; hate, love. "They," said Erasmus, "who defend war, must defend the dispositions which lead to it; and these dispositions are absolutely forbidden by the Gospel.”

Mexico was weak, we were strong. Common magnanimity, much more that holy law that bids us "support the weak, and be patient towards all men," condemns the onslaught of war. In private life, our blood boils with indignation to see the feeble beset and maltreated by the robust. Does the magnitude of scale alter the nature of the rule? Speaking of those most immediately responsible for the war, Mr. Gallatin says, in his widely-circulated pamphlet, "there is not one of them, who would not spurn with indignation the most remote hint that, on similar pretences to those alleged for dismembering Mexico, he might be capable of attempting to appropriate to himself his neighbor's farm." But can the law of Christian honesty be so palpably violated in the smaller instance supposed, and does it receive no wound in the larger one?

It has been complained of by the advocates of this war that the pulpit has generally been arrayed against it. The fact is probably true. The great mass of the clergy of every denomination have uttered their condemnation of the war

They have preached and prayed against it. Indeed they have felt that no prayer or song could be made out of the subject, except in distinct and decided opposition to carrying our arms beyond the boundaries of our enormous territory into those of a weak and distracted neighbor. The ecclesiastical bodies of this country, with scarcely an exception in the free States, have come out in votes and resolutions of the most stringent condemnation of the war. These facts may show how utterly they have deemed it to be opposed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and may by some be regarded as an intimation, though by no means a proof, that such was the reality.

*

But, in marked contrast with the above, we record as exemplifications of the fatal, corrupting influence of the warmiasma, the cases of some even of the ministers of Christ, who entered the army, and who preached and prayed in favor of the war. A private letter from a Lieutenant in the service, says; "We have here among the volunteers a preacher who is a captain, his officers and non-commissioned officers are deacons of his church; and the privates members. He is called the fighting Preacher. He and his company are from

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We have already mentioned that a preacher was killed in the ranks in the battle of Buena Vista.

Sermons, which are now before us, were preached both on the Rio Grande, and at the city of Mexico before the troops, justifying the war, talking largely of the “Anglo Saxon destiny," comparing the progress of the American. arms with the entrance of the children of Israel into the land of Canaan, and giving the sanctions and benedictions of Christianity to the awful wrongs and barbarities of one of the most cruel, sanguinary, and demoralizing wars on record.

* Advocate of Peace, Nov. and Dec. 1847, pp. 134-137. Feb. 1848, pp. 166, 167. Oct. 1848, pp. 274 — 276.

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