Sketches of the campaign in northern Mexico : in eighteen hundred forty-six and seven / by an officer of the First Regiment of Ohio volunteers.

. 8 EENTHUSIASM FOR TlE WAR.
jTho may come after us, shall perchance, in their efforts to arrest
Ahe progress of this Republic, either in peace or war, be run
)ver and crippled by that new and powerful American engine'cleped,-" manifest destiny,"-let them not complain if the
)opular decision should be as usual, "no blame is attached
o the company.9" But a decided majority of the people, as
yell as of the. Congress, of the United States, were far from
)eing averse to a war with Mexico, whose wrongs and insults
Jo American citizens had been greater for a series of years;han those inflicted by all other nations combined. Hence,
Tihen it was known that American blood had been shed, and;hat "d the question had reached a point where words must
~ive place to acts," the alacrity with which the people ten-lered their services to the government. Hence the general
mthusiasm, the many public meetings, and the generous con-:ver be the position in which she is placed. I do not recollect a single controversy
n which we have been involved with a foreirgn power, since I have been on the
jtage of action, when the whole sentiment of' the country was united in the cause
of the country. I doubt if there is another people on the face of the globe whose
history presents so many instances of this want of true national pride —patriotisn
~ather-as our own. Whether it results from any peculiar political idiosyncrasy,.'know not; or whether our party feelings are so strong that we are blinded by
hem, and led, in their vehemence, to think that all is wrong our opponents do; or,
t may be, at any rate so far as England is concerned, that some of the old colonial
3aven remains, which leavens much of the lump. Be it one or the other, or
-ihatever else, the deplorable consequence, is certain; and the sentiment of Decatur,
tot less noble than just,-" Our country, right or wrong "-which, being truly un[erstood,-felt rather-means that when embarked in a controversy with a foreign.ation, it becomes every true citizen, after the course of his country has been decided by the constitutional authority, to submit to that authority, and to support her
ause, and not the cause of her foes. This noble sentiment finds many who repu-!iate it,-many who possess the character, without possessing the feelings, of Amer-an citizens."-Extract from speech delivered by General Cass, in the Senate, Janwary 15th, 1853, on the resolution rea;firiaing the 3gonroe doctrine, concerning the Coloization of this Contine7.t