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MY DEAR SIR, ... I enclose two copies of my speech on the Mexican war. It has been well received; and has made a deep impression. The best proof of the depth and strength of the impression is the fierce war it has drawn down on me from the Administration through its organ here. Those in power see that they have involved themselves and the country in a war fraught with the most disasterous consequences, and from which it will be difficult to extricate themselves. They begin to feel, that their doom is sealed; and hence their bitter and malignant attacks under the garb of defending the liberty of the press.
The country is, indeed, in a sad Condition, and the principles and doctrines of the Republican party are in a fair way of being permanently subverted through the weakness and folly of the administration. Should the war continue scarcely the vestige of any one of them will be left; free trade will sink under an oppressive debt to be paid by the impost; the Subtreasury will end in a more intimate connection of the Govt. with the paper system than ever; economy and retrenchment will be lost in the vast and irregular expenditures of the war, and the patronage of the Government will be extended beyond all former examples.
I shall meet the assaults on me with perfect composure and with every confidence of rising above them in the end. The war cannot be continued; and a defensive position must be ultimately assumed.
You must excuse a short letter. The pressure of my engagements is great. I have scarcely a spare moment.
My love to Anna; and kiss the children for their grandfather.
- 1847
- Source:
- Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1899, Calhoun Correspondence.
