493
PAPERS OF l\fIRABEAU BUO:N"APARTE LAMAR
right than encounter the danger of defending it; or that you have indeed worn the chains of tyranny so long that the flesh and the heart have become assified and calous, and can no longer fester with the iron and the shame of slavery, then do we feel constrained to say, that you are not only unworthy the blessings of liberty but that you are incapable of either achieving or enjoying them; and that the Union to which you are invited could be neither profitable to you nor to us; for it would be an Union of uncongenial elements like the linking of the living to the dead. But the latter is not our appreciation. The estimate in which you are held by this Government, m!!_Y be known by the overtures she makes you. And surely you can desire no higher testimony of our entire eon- fidence in your valor and your virtue, than the-fact that we are willing to share our fortunes with you. We have been told by those who have long residded among you, that you are a brave an industrious and an honest people-simple in your manners, generous in temper, and in- flexible in your principles; and it is preciseely on this opinion of your worth that we predicate our frie~dship for you and are ready to receive you in a common government. A proposition which we could certainly never think of making to a people "'.hose integrity and chivalry we had any reason to suspect. And here we will take the liberty of remarking, in vindication of our own National character, that the North Americans are not now, and never have been prejudiced and embittered against the :Mexican people there recent and most righteous resentments have been directed exclusively against the poluted power which has misguided that Nation; ancl have never extended to the citizens themselves. In proof of this we could furnish abundant testimony, if time would permit, in the history of the past and the ·present. That the Mexicans have found a friend in the American people, at a time when they needed friends, will be seen in the spirit stirring times of the l\fex,iean Revolu- tion, when five hundred of that gallant race slew five thousand of the foe. And that we who are a portion of the same people, haVl' not sub- sequently been animated by any improper passions towards them is strongly confirmed by the mild spirit of benevolence and humanity which has guided us in our late revolutionary struggle, under the strong- est possible provocations to vindictive retaliation. The Battles at La Bahia, and those of the Salado, the Alisan, and Medina, will stand a!l enduring monuments, not only of the valor of the American people, but of their devotion to Mexican liberty; while the magnanimous forbearance of our heroes and patriots at San Jacinto, when contrasted with the cold blooded butcheries of the Alimo and Goliad, will live in the applauding memory of man as long as a vestigt1 of virtue remains to appreciate exalted conduct. And now in the full recollection of the ingratitude of :Mexico for the .assistance afforded her in 1812 and 1813; and of the atrocities committed by her Army in the campaign of 1836 why do we not deva~tate the Mexican coast from l\fetamoras to Campeachy; and send our destroying forces to sweep like a desolating whirl wind over the valley of the Rio Grande? We have a Navy that can lay in ruins every city on the Gulf; and we have stout hearts and sharp swords that could make a war upon our western boundar which would make the border river roll like a flood of fire. And why do we not these things? simply because we have no disposition, simply because we have no disposition to despoil the property or shed
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