most respectfully press upon the Cabinet the extreme danger of all policy that conflicts with an impartial execution of strict justice; and would also enforce the important refelction that a negotiation with a villain, for his forfeited life, is but the licensing of crime. The impropriety of the course, which I fear we are about to pursue, in giving life and liberty to one so unworthy of either, in consideration of pecuniary or political advantages, may be easily illustrated by an imaginary case. (Turn to any of the bloodthirsty tyrants whose murders darken the pages of ancient history; Nero for instance; and place him upon trial for his multiform iniquities against God and nature.) Behold him in the pride of his power; the wheels of his chariot rattle on the bones of his foes, and the banner of extermination floats in the sighs of a heart broken people. Behold him in his hours of revelry; the wailing of the widow is the music of the festal hall, and the tear of the orphan is the nectar of the banquet. Behold him in the moments of crnelty and wrath; he rips the womb of his mother; stamps his iron heel upon the bosom of beauty, and drinks the blood of the blue-eyed infant. (Suppose he were now arraigned before us in all the plenitude of crime, with the accumulated guilt of forty years flowering on his head and staring us in the face;) suppose it were proven upon him that the history of his whole life was one contim;ed series of slaughter, rapine, and desolation; that he could devote himself to the amusement of the viol in the midst of a burning city, and walk over the prostrate bodies of the dying, and the dead, from the instinctive love of cruelty and blood? I ask you in the name of outraged nature and insulted justice, what should be our verdict against so foul a demon? Every virtuous emotion, every manly feeling, every ennobling principle of the human heart, proclaims in a voice of thunder, - instant and eternal shame. But suppose in opposition to all the eloquence of nature, we were to whisper in the ear of the princely criminal, that he had gold, and power, and dominion; and that though his crimes were manifold and great, he might still elude the punishment which his villany deserved, if he would give us gold to pay our public debt; if he would enlarge our national boundary, and elevate us in the scale of political dignity; I ask in the name of common honesty, what would be the judgment of mankind upon such a transaction? What could it be less, than that we had dimmed the lustre of our national escutcheon, by sacrificing principle for peace, and honor, for a temporary good. And now I would most respectfully ask the question; in what essential particular does this imaginary case differ from the real one under consideration? Who is Santa Anna but the Nero of
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