Fort Hill, 29th Oct 1847.
DEAR SIR, I have
read your letter with attention, and will answer it in the same sperit of
candour and freedom, with which it is written.
We do not disagree,
as to the cause of the war, nor as to its certain disasterous consequences in
the end, let it terminate as it will. We also agree in the opinion, that the
war ought to terminate, and that my position requires me to use my best efforts
to bring it to an end. But the great practical question is; How can that be
done?
In deciding that
question, it must not be overlooked, that both parties by large majorities
stand committed by their recorded votes, not only to the war, but that the war
is a war of agression on the part of the Republick of Mexico, agression by
invation and spilling American blood on American soil, and thus committed also
to the Rio Grande being the Western boundary of the state of Texas. It is true,
that very few of either party believed, that there was any just cause for war,
or that the Rio Grande was the Western boundary of Texas, or that the Republick
of Mexico had made war on us by the invasion of our territory, or any other
way; but it is equally true, that by an act of unexampled weakness, to use the
mildest terms, both stand by admission on record to the very opposite of their
belief. And what is worse, they have by this act of unpar[all]elled weakness,
committed large portions of both parties out of Congress to the war, as just
and unavoidable on our part.
The effect of all
this, with brilliant atchievements [sic]
of our arms, have been greatly to weaken the opposition and to strengthen the
party in power, and to make it impossible, in my opinion, to terminate the war
in the manner you propose. I go further, to attempt it, would only tend, under
circumstances, to weaken those, who make it, and give a new impulse to what is
called the vigorous prosecution of the war, instead of bringing it to a
termination. I thought so at the last session, and so informed Mr. Berrien1
and the other Whig members, when he presented his amendment, and such in my
opinion has been the effect, and will continue to be its effect, if it should
be renewed at the next session. The course I adopted then, or rather suggested,
was the only one that had the least prospect of bringing the war to an end. I
stood prepared to carry it out, if I had been supported; and, if I had been,
the carnage and expenses of this campaign, would have been avoided. I shall
take my seat prepared to do all in my power to bring it to an end, consistently
with the state of things, in which I may find the country; but I fear with as
little support, as I had in opposition to the war, or in my attempt to
terminate it, at the last session. The fatal error of the Whigs, in voting for
the war, has rendered them impotent, as a party, in opposition to it; and let
me add, that while I agree with them in the policy of preserving the peace of
the country, as long as it can be consistently with honor, I fear their
timidity, as a party, on all questions, including peace and war, is so great,
as to render their policy of preserving peace of little avail. It is not only
in this instance, that it has disclosed itself. Even on the Oregon question,
they gave away, before my arrival at Washington, on Cass's resolution, and
rendered it very difficult to re[co]ver what was then lost. To go farther back;
they made but feeble efforts to preserve peace during Jackson and Van Buren's
time on the Maine boundary question, and permitted me to stand alone in open
opposition to Gen' Jackson's course, in reference to the French indemnity,
backed by the report of the Committee of Foreign relations in the Senate,
which, had it not been for the mediation of England, would have ended in War. I
rose in my place in the Senate, after the report was read, and exposed and
denounced the whole affair, without a voice raised in my support. It is this
timidity, when they are right, in questions connected with our foreign
relations, and their errors, in reference to those appertaining to our
domestick relations, which keeps them out of power, notwithstanding their
individual respectability, and prevents them from performing, with effect, the
important duties of an opposition. I am sure you will excuse this free
expression of my opinion, in relation to a party, with which you rank yourself.
_______________
* Printed in the
American Historical Review, I, 314, 315, from which it is here copied.
It will be
remembered that General Thompson had been minister to Mexico,
1 John M. Berrien, Senator from Georgia,
1825-1829, 1841-1852.
SOURCE: J. Franklin
Jameson, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical Association
for the Year 1899, Volume II, Calhoun’s Correspondence: Fourth Annual Report of
the Historical Manuscripts Commission, Correspondence of John C. Calhoun,
pp. 737-9
