The Daily Nashville True Whig

The Crisis in Mexico.
The present unhappy condition of things in
our sister Republic, says the National Intelli-
gencer, instead of exciting generally the sym-
pathies of the people of the United States,
seems only to have the effect, upon no incon-
siderable portion of them, of inflaming their
lust of acquisition, and spurring their ingenuity
to devise the most rapid means of seizing upon
and annexing that distracted territory. Even
thus early political speculation has been in-
dulged, on the occasion of Santa Anna's ab-
dication, to an extravagant extent.
The subject is too important in its bearing
upon the future destiny of the United States
to be lightly or hastily treated; and we are
not yet in possession of facts sufficiently au-
thenticated to justify us in a prophecy of what
is to be. We have too often avowed our sent-
iments as to the policy of national aggrandize-
ment by territorial acquisition, to make it
necessary that we should repeat them on this
occasion. It may become expedient for us
hereafter to take a part in the discussion of
the various questions which the present state
of Mexico has called up. In the meantime,
we are content to listen to what our contem-
poraries say upon the subject.
In commenting upon an assertion of a New
York paper, that there is no other future for
Mexico but annexation to the United States.
and the further speculation that the day is not
distant when the stars and stripes will float
over the whole of that magnificent land, even
to the Isthmus of Panama, the Philadelphia
Ledger says:
"These are brilliant visions, and eminently se-
ductive, especially to young and excitable natures.
It is a fine thing to believe that one belongs to a
race and nation whose destiny is to conquer the
world; and it is even more intoxicating if one can
delude himself into the notion that the area of free-
dom and civilization will be simultaneously extended.
The Spaniards seized Mexico under this idea three
hundred years ago. At that time they were to the
rest of the world what the Anglo Saxons are now.
Their nation was at the head of Europe, their in-
fantry was the best in the world, their energy was
proverbial. Nor was it only the temptation of ad-
vancing the material interests of Mexico, which
influenced them to the conquest; but the desire of
converting heathens to christianity was a prominent
impulse with Cortez, and one as sincere as it was
prominent. Yet, we see the consequences. The
victors, instead of elevating the vanquished, have
only degraded themselves. A few flakes of snow
cannot change the ocean into ice; neither can a few
colonists transform a population inferior in charac-
ter, but vastly superior in numbers, into a commu-
nity equal to themselves.
It is wise to look this problem in the face. If
Mexico is annexed to the United States, either the
Anglo Saxon invaders only must be allowed to vote,
or an ignorant, demoralized population, one-quarter
Creole and three quarters Indian, must exercise
the franchise. The former plan would be directly
opposed to the spirit of our republican institutions;
the other would place our liberties at the mercy of the
Mexicans. Human nature is such that, when the
balance of power is possible to be obtained by a party.
the most enormous bids will be made to secure it.
Now the States which would be formed out of Mexico
would hold this balance of power. Moreover, in
exercising the supremacy they might obtain
the Mexicans could not be expected to favor what
we consider freedom, but the reverse; for their customs
and institutions are notoriously different from those
existing in the United States, and a people's social
and political opinions are so notoriously determined
by those influences. Mexico, in fact, is per-
ishing because her people have not those healthy
notions of liberty which alone can avert anarchy
and dissolution.
"Are we prepared for this? Does a wise man,
when he hears that a person has a pestilence, think to
improve his own health by making the infected "pa-
tient his bedfellow? If Mexico was an uninhabited
country, or inhabited only by a few roving Indians,
it might be of value to us. But what can we do
with its worthless population? Reduce the poor
creatures to slavery? Surely that would not be to
advance progress. Admit them, en masse, to vote?
The existence of our institutions might be imper-
iled by such an act. Limit their right to the
franchise? This would be at once to lay a bounty
on dissatisfaction and to violate the spirit of our re-
publicanism. In whatever way we turn, the an-
nexation of Mexico, under existing circumstances,
is surrounded with perils. Let us pause, therefore,
before we allow dazzling visions of "manifest des-
ny" to involve us in a blunder from which we might
never be able to recover."
We beseech our readers to ponder well upon
these views, and compare them with the prin-
ciples which governed the great Founders of
our Republic throughout the whole course of
their political life: and then to endeavor, as
far as the influence of each may extend, to im-
press the moral they convey upon the minds
of all with whom their personal intercourse
may bring them into contact.