22* and would gain land ; and politicians seemed anxious to gain popularity by rivalling each other in exulting shouts.
Alas, in very many instances those shouts proceeded from the same lips which denounced the war as uncon- stitutional, unjust, and a national crime !
The struixa'les between the convictions of conscience and the aspirations for popular favor, led others besides the Whigs into strange and almost ludicrous contradic- tions.
We have heard much of late years, from a certain class of philanthropists, of the inviolability of human life ; and societies have been organized for the abolition of capital punishment. Life was a boon granted by the Deity, which could rightfully be taken only by the Giver. All this was very well, as applied to American felons ; but to extend it to Mexican men, women, and children, guiltless of crime, was, of course, to give " aid and comfort " to the enemy. Hence was seen, in one of our largest cities, the singular spectacle of a president of an anti-capital- punishmeiit society presiding over a large and ferocious war meeting. The president of another similar societ}'-, a prominent politician, accepted and discharged the very consistent duty of presenting a compUmentary sword to a popular general.
That portion of the public press whicn supported the war has, in many instances, been instrumental in diffusing througi.out the, community most impious and ferocious sentiments. It was, of course, the policy of the dominant party to excite the passions of the people against Mexico, to encourage admiration for military prowess, and to re- press all compassion for those we were slaughtering and plundering. Hence, many of the war journals apparently labored to pervert the moral sense of the community, and to insult and ridicule those religious feelings which were naturally shocked by the character and events of the war.
A few quotations will illustrate these remarks. Mr.