Jes' for his private glory an' eclor; "Nobody ain't a Union man,' sez he, "thout he agrees, thru thick an' thin, with me; War n't Andrew Jackson's 'nitials jes' like mine? An' ain't thet sunthin like a right divine To cut up ez kentenkerous ez I please, An' treat your Congress like a nest o' fleas?" Wal, I expec' the People would n' care, if The question now wuz techin' bank or tariff, But I conclude they 've 'bout made up their mind This ain't the fittest time to go it blind, Nor these ain't metters thet with pol'tics swings, But goes 'way down amongst the roots o' things; Coz Sumner talked o' whitewashin' one day They wun't let four years' war be throwed away. "Let the South hev her rights?" They say, "Thet's you! But nut greb hold of other folks's tu." Who owns this country, is it they or Andy? Leastways it ough' to be the People and he; Let him be senior pardner, ef he's so, Did he set tu an' make it wut it is? riz. Did he put thru the rebbles, clear the docket, An' pay th' expenses out of his own pocket? Ef thet 's the case, then everythin' I 'fore we could wal begin to be a nation, But I allow I never did imegine 't would be our Pres'dunt thet 'ould drive a wedge in To keep the split from closin' ef it could, An' healin' over with new wholesome wood; For th' ain't no chance o' healin' while they think Thet law an' gov'ment's only printer's ink ; I mus' confess I thank him for discoverin' The curus way in which the States are sovereign; They ain't nut quite enough so to rebel, | Things war n't agoin' ez they'd ough' But, when they fin' it's costly to raise to be; h-, [A groan from Deac'n G.] So they sent off a deacon to remonstrate Why, then, for jes' the same superl'tive | Along 'th the wolves an' urge 'em to go reason, on straight; They're 'most too much so to be tetched | They did n' seem to set much by the deacon, Nor preachin' did n' cow 'em, nut to speak on; Fin'ly they swore thet they'd go out an' stay, An' hev their fill o' mutton every day; Then dogs an' shepherds, after much hard dammin', [Groan from Deac'n G.] Turned tu an' give 'em a tormented lammin', An' sez, "Ye sha' n't go out, the murrain rot ye, To keep us wastin' half our time to watch ye!" But then the question come, How live together 'thout losin' sleep, nor nary yew nor wether? Now there wuz some dogs (noways wuth their keep) That sheered their cousins' tastes an' sheered the sheep; They sez, "Be gin'rous, let 'em swear right in, An', ef they backslide, let 'em swear ag'in ; Jes' let 'em put on sheep-skins whilst they 're swearin'; To ask for more 'ould be beyond all bearin'." "Be gin'rous for yourselves, where you 're to pay, Thet 's the best prectice," sez a shepherd gray; "Ez for their oaths they wun't be wuth a button, Long 'z you don't cure 'em o' their taste for mutton; Th' ain't but one solid way, howe'er you puzzle Tell they're convarted, let 'em wear a muzzle." [Cries of "Bully for you!"] I've noticed thet each half-baked scheme's abetters Are in the hebbit o' producin' letters Writ by all sorts o' never-heared-on fellers, 'bout ez oridge'nal ez the wind in bel lers; I've noticed, tu, it's the quack med'- | War's emptin's riled her very dough An' ef I've made a cup, I'll fin' the "Afore the war your mod'rit men [Groan from Deac'n G.J To keep up self-respec' an' show "Ef we 're to hev our ekle rights, Reapin' the spiles o' the Freesiler, Thet tells the story! Thet's wut we shall git By tryin' squirtguns on the burnin' Pit; An' secms to say, "Why died we? war n't it, then, To settle, once' for all, thet men wuz men? NOTES. I AM indebted to Mr. Frank Beverly Williams | number of volunteers, asking Massachusetts for for these illustrative notes. FIRST SERIES. This series of the Biglow Papers relates to the Mexican War. It expresses the sentiment of New England, and particularly of Massachusetts, on that condict, which in its aim and conduct had little of honor for the American Republic. The war was begun and prosecuted in the interest of Southern slaveholders. It was essential to the vitality of slavery that fresh fields should constantly be opened to it. Agriculture was almost the sole industry in which slaves could be profitably employed. That their labor should be wasteful and careless to preserve the productive powers of the soil was inevitable. New land was ever in demand, and the history of slavery in the United States is one long series of struggles for more territory. It was with this end in view that a colony of roving, adventurous Americans, settled in the thinly populated and poorly governed region now known as Texas, revolted from the Mexican government and secured admission to the Union, thus bringing on the war with Mexico. The Northern Whigs had protested against annexation, but after the war began, their resistance grew more and more feeble. In the vain effort to retain their large Southern constituent, they sacrificed justice to expediency and avoided an issue that would not be put down. The story of the Mexican War is the story of the gradual decline of the great Whig party, and of the growth of that organization, successively known as the Liberty, Free-Soil, and Republican party, whose policy was the exclusion of slavery from all new territory. One more victory was granted to the Whigs in 1848. After that their strength failed rapidly. Northern sentiment was being roused to a sense of righteous indignation by Southern aggressions and the fervid exhortations of Garrison and his co-workers in the anti-slavery cause. Few, however, followed Garrison into disloyalty to the Constitution. The greater number preferred to stay in the Union and use such lawful political means as were available for the restriction of slavery. Their wisdom was demonstrated by the election of Abraham Lincoln twelve years after the Mexican War closed. Page 173. "A cruetin Sarjunt." The act of May 13, 1846, authorized President Polk to employ the militia, and call out 50,000 volunteers, if necessary. He immediately called for the full 777 men. On May 26 Governor Briggs issued a proclamation for the enrollment of the regiment. As the President's call was merely a request and not an order, many Whigs and the Abolitionists were for refusing it. The Liberator for June 5 severely censured the governor 1or complying, and accused him of not carrying out the resolutions of the last Whig Convention, which had pledged the party" to present as firm a front of opposition to the institution as was consistent with their allegiance to the Constitution." Page 174. "Massachusetts... she's akneelin'. An allusion to the governor's call for troops (cf. note to p. 175) as well as to the vote on the War Bill. On May 11, 1846, the President sent to the House of Representatives his well-known message declaring the existence of war brought on by the act of Mexico," and asking for a supply of $10,000,000. Of the seven members from Massachusetts, all Whigs, two, Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston, and Amos Abbott, of Andover, voted for the bill. The Whigs throughout the country, remembering the fate of the party which had opposed the last war with England, sanctioned the measure as necessary for the preservation of the army, then in peril by the unauthorized acts of the President. Pare 175. "Ila'n't they sold cnr'ys w'iz?" South Carolina, Louisiana, and several other Southern States at an early date passed acts to prevent free persons of color from entering their jurisdictions. These acts bore with particular severity upon colored seamen, who were imprisoned, fined, or whipped, and often sold into slavery. On the petition of the Massachusetts Legislature, Governor Briggs, in 1844, appointed Mr. Samuel Hoar agent to Charleston, and Mr. George Hubbard to New Orleans, to act on behalf of oppressed colored citizens of the Bay State. Mr. Hoar was expelled from South Carolina by order of the Legislature of that State, and Mr. Hubbard was forced by threats of violence to leave Louisiana. The obnoxious acts remained in force until after the Civil War. Page 175. "Go to work on' part." Proposi tions to secede were not uncommon in New Eng land at this time. The rights of the States had been strongly asserted on the acquisition of Louisiana in 1803, and on the admission of the State of that name in 1812. Among the resolutions of the Massachusetts Legislature adopted in 1845, relative to the proposed annexation of Texas, was one declaring that "such an act of admission would have no binding force whatever on the people of Massachusetts. |