.

The Senate considered the bill on the ensuing day, and passed it
after a very able debate, in which Mr. Calhoun bore a leading part.
He earnestly deprecated the necessity of the war, though accused
by Benton of plotting to bring it on. Forty senators voted for
it, and but two against it,--Thomas Clayton of Delaware and John
Davis of Massachusetts. Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky and Mr. Upham
of Vermont, when their names were called, responded, "Ay, except
the preamble." The bill was promptly approved by the President,
and on the 13th of May, 1846, the two Republics were declared to
be at war. In the South and West, from the beginning, the war was
popular. In the North and East it was unpopular. The gallant
bearing of our army, however, changed in large degree the feeling
in sections where the war had been opposed. No finer body of men
ever enlisted in an heroic enterprise than those who volunteered
to bear the flag in Mexico. They were young, ardent, enthusiastic,
brave almost to recklessness, with a fervor of devotion to their
country's honor. The march of Taylor from the Rio Grande, ending
with the unexpected victory against superior numbers at Buena Vista,
kept the country in a state of excitement and elation, and in the
succeeding year elevated him to the Presidency. Not less splendid
in its succession of victories was the march of Scott from Vera
Cruz to the city of Mexico, where he closed his triumphal journey
by taking possession of the capital, and enabling his government
to dictate terms of peace.

DEMOCRATIC DEFEAT IN 1846.

For the first and only time in our political history, an administration
conducting a war victorious at every step, steadily lost ground in
the country. The House of Representatives which declared war on
the 11th of May, 1846, was Democratic by a large majority. The
House, elected in the ensuing autumn, amid the resounding acclamations
of Taylor's memorable victory at Monterey, had a decided Whig
majority. This political reverse was due to three causes,--the
enactment of the tariff of 1846, which offended the manufacturing
interest of the country; the receding of the administration on the
Oregon question, which embarrassed the position and wounded the
pride of the Northern Democrats; and the wide-spread apprehension
that the war was undertaken for the purpose of extending and
perpetuating slavery. The almost unanimous Souther