re, brought forward by
very rash men; that they had better admit him, and then put limitations
upon him, chain him down, restrict him. When the debate was going on, a
member is reported to have risen and expressed his sentiments by rather
a grotesque comparison, but one of considerable force:--

"I hear a lion, in the lobby roar!
Say, Mr. Speaker, shall we shut the door,
And keep him out; or shall we let him in,
And see if we can get him out again?"

I was for shutting the door and keeping the lion out. Other more
confident spirits, who are of the character of Van Amburgh, were for
letting him in, and disturbing all the interests of the country. When
this Mexican treaty came before the Senate, it had certain clauses
ceding New Mexico and California to the United States. A Southern
gentleman, Mr. Badger, of North Carolina, moved to strike out those
clauses. Now you understand, that if a motion to strike out a clause of
a treaty be supported by one third, it will be struck out; that is, two
thirds of the Senate must vote for each clause, in order to have it
retained. The vote on this question of striking out stood 38 to 14, not
quite one third being against the cession, and so the clause was
retained. And why were there not one third? Just because there were four
New England Senators voting for these new territories. That is the
reason.

I hope I am as ardent an advocate for peace as any man living; but I
would not be carried away by the desire for peace to commit an act which
I believed highly injurious, likely to have consequences of a permanent
character, and indeed to endanger the existence of the government.
Besides, I believed that we could have struck out the cessions of
territory, and had peace just as soon. And I would be willing to go
before the people and leave it to them to say, whether they would carry
on the war any longer for acquisition of territory. If they would, then
they were the artificers of their own fortunes. I was not afraid of the
people on that subject. But if this course had continued the war
somewhat longer, I would have preferred that result, rather than that
those territories lying on our southern border should come in hereafter
as new States. I should speak, perhaps, with more confidence, if some
Whigs of the North had not voted for the treaty. My own opinion was then
clear and decisive. For myself I thought the case a perfectly plain one,
and no man has yet stated a rea