sneering allusion to the Congress and its objects, thinks it reason enough to object to the whole scheme, that "his august majesty the Emperor of Brazil" was invited (how, as an American power, could he be omitted?) to send representatives there.

Mr. Polk then added-"This is a portentous and very important crisis in the history of this country, and every patriot should be at his post. We are about to depart from our ancient and plain republican simplicity, and to become a great and splendid government; new projects are set on foot; we are called upon by the President to change the whole policy of the country, as adopted by our fathers, and so happily pursued by their posterity down to the present period. He called on gentlemen, before they abandoned the present safe policy of the country, to ponder well what they are about to do." Mr. Polk, therefore, announced his purose to vote both against the resolution -declaring the mission expedient under the limitations and restrictions of Mr. McLane's amendment-and against the bill making appropriations for that mission; and he did vote against both, most of his own party friends abandoning him in the last vote.

The amendment of Mr. McLane was supported by higher names then, abler men now, than Mr. Polk. Besides the mover, P. Barbonr of Virginia, James Hamilton of S. Carolina, Jas. Buchanan, and Messrs. Hemphill and Ingham of Pennsylvania, strongly maintained its expediency. It was resisted by Messrs. Brent and Edward Livingston of Louisiana, Buckner and F. Johnson of Kentucky, Markley and Wurtz (now the President of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company) of Pennsylvania, Reed and Webster of Massachusetts. We have room only for some extracts from the admirable speech of the latter, confining them chiefly to the topic, now become so prominent and significant by Mr. Polk's reassertion of it-his former opinions to the contrary notwithstanding that this continent is not henceforth to be the scene of European interference or colonization.

"I concur entirely," said Mr. Webster, "in the sentiment expressed in the resolution of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, (Mr. Markley,) that the declaration of Mr. Monroe was wise, seasonable and patriotic. It has been said in the course of this debate, to have been a loose and vague declaration.

It was, I believe, sufficiently studied. I have understood, from good authority, that it was considered, weighed, and distinctly and decidedly approved, by every one of the President's advisers, at that time. thing, that it meant much; and I maintain agree that the message did mean some

I

*

that the declaration answered the end de

signed by it, did great honor to the foresight and spirit of the Government, and that it cannot now be taken back, retracted, or annulled, without disgrace. It met, sir, with the entire concurrence and hearty approbation of this country. The tone which it uttered found a corresponding response in the hearts of the free people of the Unijoiced to see, that, on a fit occasion, our ted States. That people saw, and they reweight had been thrown into the right scale, and that, without departing from our duty, we had done something useful, and something effectual in the cause of civil liberty. One general glow of exultation-one universal feeling of the gratified love of liberty

the conscious and proud perception of the consideration which the country pos sessed, and of the respect and honor which belonged to it—pervaded all bosoms. Possibly the public enthusiasm went too far. It certainly did go very far. But the sentiment which this declaration inspired, was not confined to ourselves. In that very House of Commons, of which the gentleman from South Carolina has spoken with such commendation, how was it there received? Not only, sir, with approbation, but I may say with no little enthusiasm. While the leading minister expressed his entire concurrence in the sentiments and opinions of the American President, his distinguished competitor in that popular body, less restrained by official decorum, more at liberty to give utterance to the feelings of the occasion, declared that no event had ever created greater joy, excitation and gratitude among all the freemen in Europe; that he felt pride in being connected by blood and language with the people of the United States; that the policy disclosed by the message became a great, a free, and an independent nation; and that he hoped his own country would be prevented by no mean pride nor paltry jealousy from followso noble and glorious an example. ing But how should it happen that there should be now such a new-born fear on the subject of the declaration? the crisis is over! the danger is past! Most of the gentlemen who have now spoken on the subject, were at that time here; they all heard the declaration. Not all danger is over, we are vehemently one of them complained, and yet now when warned against the sentiments of the declaration!"

*

Respecting our acquiescence in the pos

sible occupation of Cuba by some Euroropean power other than Spain, Mr. Webster makes a very strong argument, in the course of which occur these passages.

"It has been asserted, that although we might rightfully prevent another power from taking Cuba from Spain by force, yet if Spain should choose to make the voluntary transfer, we should have no right whatever to interfere. Sir, this is a distinction, without a difference. If we are likely to have contention about Cuba, let us first well consider what our rights are, and not commit ourselves. If we have any right to interfere at all, it applies as well to the case of a peaceable, as to that of a forcible, transfer. If nations be at war, we are not judges of the question of right in that war. We must acknowledge in both parties the mutual right of attack, and the mutual right of conquest. It is not for us to set bounds to these belligerent opera tions, so long as they do not affect ourselves. The real question is whether the possession of Cuba by a great maritime power of Europe would seriously endanger our immediate security, or our essential interests. The general rule of national law is unquestionably against interference in the transactions of other States. There are, however, acknowledged exceptions, growing out of circumstances, and founded in those circumstances. The ground of the exception is self-preservation. Now, sir, let us look at Cuba. Cuba, as is well said in the report of the Committee on Foreign Relations, is placed in the mouth of the Mississippi. Its occupation by a strong maritime power would be felt in the first moment of hostility, as far up the Mississippi and the Missouri as our population extends. It is the commanding point of the Gulf of Mexico. It lies in the very line of our coastwise traffic, interposed in the very highway between New York and New Orleans."

Proceeding from this topic to an imputation thrown out that the project of the Panama mission had been forced upon the President by his Secretary of State, Mr. Webster made this fine reference to that eminent man, and to his acknowledged services in the cause of South American liberty.

"Pains have been taken by the honorable member from Virginia to prove that the measure now in contemplation, and indeed the whole policy of the government respecting South America, is the unhappy result of the influence of a gentleman formerly filling the chair of this House. He charges him with having become himself affected at an early day with what he is pleased to call the South American fever, and with having

infused its baneful influence into the whole councils of the country.

"If, sir, it be true that that gentleman, prompted by an ardent love of civil liberty, felt earlier than others a proper sympathy for the struggling colonies of South America, or acting on the maxim that revolutions do not go backwards, he had the sagacity to foresee earlier than others the successful termination of those struggles—if thus feeling, or thus perceiving, it fell to him to lead the willing or unwilling councils of his country to her manifestations of kindness to the new governments, and in her seasonable recognition of their independence-if it be this which the honorable member imputes to him-if it be by this course of public conduct that he has identified his name with the cause of South American liberty, he ought to be esteemed one of the most fortunate men of his age. If all this be, as it is here represented, he has acquired fame enough. It is enough for any man thus to have connected himself with the greatest events of the age in which he lived, and to have been foremost in measures which reflect high honor on his country, in the judgment of mankind. Sir, it is always with reluctance that I am drawn to speak in my place here of individuals, but I could not forbear what I have said, when I hear in the House of Representatives, and in the land of free spirits, that it is made matter of imputation and reproach, to have been first to reach forth the hand of welcome and of succor to new-born nations, struggling to obtain and to enjoy the blessings of freedom."

Passing from this topic to an examination of the far greater difficulties which the Spanish American States had struggled against and overcome, than those which opposed our contest for freedom, Mr. Webster thus terminated his noble speech :

"A day of solemn retribution now visits the once proud monarchy of Spain-the prediction is fulfilled-the spirit of Montezuma, and of the Incas, might now well

say

The robber and the murderer weak as we ? 'Art thou too fallen, Iberia? Do we see Thou! that hast wasted earth, and dared despise

Alike the wrath and mercy of the skies; Thy pomp is in the grave, thy glory laid Low in the pit thine avarice hath made.'

"Mr. Chairman, I will detain you only with one more reflection on the subject. We cannot be so blind-we cannot so shut up our senses, and smother our faculties, as not to see, that in the progress and the establishment of South American liberty, our own example has been among the most stimulating causes. That great light-a

light which can never be hid-the light of our own glorious revolution, has shone on the path of the South American patriots from the beginning of their course. In their emergencies, they have looked to our experience; in their political institutions, they have followed our models; in their deliberations, they have invoked the presiding spirit of our liberty. They have looked steadily, in every adversity, to the Great Northern Light! In the hour of bloody conflict, they have remembered the fields which had been consecrated by the blood of our own fathers; and when they have fallen, they have wished only to be remembered with them as men who had acted their parts bravely for the cause of liberty

in this western world.

"Sir, I have done. If it be weakness to feel the sympathy of one's nature excited for such men in such a cause, I am guilty of that weakness. If it be prudence to meet their proffered civility, not with kindness, but with coldness, or with insuit, I choose to follow where natural impulse leads, and to give up this false and mistaken prudence for the voluntary sentiments of my heart."

The resolution reported by the Committee on Foreign Relations, limited and restricted as it was after the adoption of Mr. McLane's amendment, was voted down by the friends of the mission, and on the same day the bill making appropriations for the ministers passed by a large majority, and thus terminated in Congress the long and able discussion.

The delays occasioned by the long and vindictive opposition in the two Houses to the proposed mission, although it did not defeat its purpose, did in fact interfere materially with its success.

The period fixed for the first meeting of the Congress was in the month of June. As it was not until the 20th of April that the House of Representatives voted the appropriation, it was impossible for Mr. Sergeant to reach the place of meeting in time. To Mr. Anderson, however, his colleague in the mission, who was at the time minister of the 'United States in Colombia, instructions were dispatched to proceed, without loss of time, to Panama. On his way thither, at Carthagena, he was attacked with a malignant fever, which unfortunately proving fatal, the United States were without any representative at the Congress, which assembled on the 22d June. We may briefly add, in order to complete the story, that Peru, Mexico, Central America and Colombia, were present at the Congress by their ministers: Bolivia had not yet organized its govern

ment, and was not represented; and the concurrence of the legislature of the republic of Chili was not obtained in time to the nomination of plenipotentiaries. the Netherlands, though uninvited, sent The governments of Great Britain and of diplomatic agents to watch the proceedings of this body. They were not present at its deliberations, but received communication of the proceedings as they occurred.

Owing to the absence of the United States, no questions touching their interifest that from the same cause the effect ests were mooted; and it was quite manand importance of the Congress were impaired to such a degree that its moral weight and influence, both upon the nations of this continent and of the other, were of little account. The body continued in session until 15th July-confining their deliberations and doings to matters exclusively concerning the belligerent States and another session was ordered to be held in February, 1827, at Tacubaya, near the city of Mexico.

Mr. Poinsett, the minister of the United States in Mexico, was substituted for Mr. Anderson; but before the period for holding the second session had arrived, the dangerous ambition of Bolivar, and the intestine divisions of some of the new States, had entirely changed the aspect of affairs, and rendered that impracticable then, which, with a more hearty and unanimous concurrence of the United States in the noble, wise and disinterested objects of this assembly of nations, might at an earlier day have been accomplished.

But although the great American principles which prompted the nations of this continent to assemble, by their representatives, at Panama, were, for the time, left in abeyance, this nation gave its assent to them-tardy, indeed, by reason of the opposition of those professing to be the democratic party, but in the end complete. To these principles we are still committed, and by them we are irrevocably bound. Chief among these, most significant and most far-reaching, is that one first proclaimed by Mr. Monroe, and, on occasion of this Congress, reiterated by John Q. Adams of the future exemption of this continent from European interference or European colonization.

For us that is now the law, to be acted up to in moderation and with firmness, without seeking occasion to enforce it, and with all the forms of conciliation in the manner of enforcing it when occasion re