the Cabinet exclusively as a prisoner of war, I have been disposed to regard him more as an apprehended murderer. The conduct of General Santa Anna will not permit me to view him in any other light. A chieftain battling for what he conceives lo be the rights of his Country, however mistaken in his views, may be privileged to make hot and vigorous war upon the foe; but, when in violation of all the principles of civilized conflict, he avows and acts upon the revoltin~ policy of extermination and rapine, slaying the surrender- ing, and plundering whom he slays, he forfeits the consideration of mankind by sinking the character of the hero into that of an abhorred murderer. The President of Mexico has pursued such a war upon the citizens of this Republic. He has caused to be published to the world a decree denouncing as pirates beyond the reach of his clemency, all who shall be found rallying round the standard of our Independence. In accordance with this decree, he has turned over to the sword the bravest and best of our friends and fellow citizens after they had grounded their arms, under the most solemn pledge that their lives should be spared. He has fired our dwellings; laid waste our luxuriant fields; excited servile and insurrectionary war; violated plighted faith; and inhumanly ordered the cold blooded butchery of prisoners who had been betrayed into capitulation by heartless professions. I humbly conceive that the proclamation of such principles, and the perpetration of such crimes, place the offender out of the pale of negotiation, and demand at our hands other treatment than what is due a mere prisoner of war. Instinct condemns him as a murderer, and reason justifies the verdict. Nor should the ends of justice be averted because of the exalted station of the criminal; or be made to give way to the suggestions of interest or any cold considerations of policy. He who sacrifices human life at the shrine of ambition is a murderer, and deserves the punishment and infamy of one. The higher the offender, the greater reason for its infliction. I am therefore of the opinion that our prisoner, General Santa Anna, has forfeited his life by the greatest of all crimes, and is not a suitable object for the exercise of our pardoning prerogative. There are minds no doubt that will readily assent to the justice of this sentence, yet nevertheless, he willi.ng to waive its execution for certain advantages which it is fancied will flow lo our Country from a wise and judicious negotiation. Of those who cherish this view of the matter, I would respectfully enquire, Whal surety do they propose for the fulfilment of any stipulations? What good can they hope to result from an extorted treaty? General Santa Anna is our prisoner of war, and as such may be ready to
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