Washington Union (Democrat)

August 15, 1849. p. 2.

 

The President’s Proclamation

 

            We publish to-day a proclamation which we find in the National Intelligencer and in the Republic of yesterday, signed Z. Taylor, and bearing date the 11th of August, 1849, based upon rumors in circulation to the effect that an expedition was about to be fitted out from a point near New Orleans, for the purpose of invading some country unknown, but supposed to be the island of Cuba. The proclamation does not state upon its face where it was prepared; but the two organs of the administration say that it was received at the Department of State in a communication from the President of the United States, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Both of the organs hold the same language—language which must have been used in order to convey the impression that General Taylor prepared the proclamation at Harrisburg and transmitted it to the Department of State, while care is taken not to assert that such was the fact. This will fully appear by the annexed extracts from the two organs. The National Intelligencer says:

            “The proclamation, a copy of which will be found in another column, was received yesterday at the Department of State, in a communication from the President of the United States, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.”

            The Republic says:

            “The above proclamation was received yesterday at the Department of State, in a communication from the President, at Harrisburg.”

            No one can fail to perceive the strong likeness between the two organs, and the manifest attempt to produce the belief that General Taylor prepared this proclamation since he left this city, and the caution which is observed in failing to state where it was prepared.

            There is an air of insincerity and demagogueism-and that, too, of a low order—about the whole matter. We cannot for a moment believe that General Taylor prepared this paper since he left Washington under the guidance of William H. Winter and John Henry Clay Mudd. We feel confident that it was prepared here in this city, as a mere piece of clap-trap, to be published after General Taylor left Washington, in order to cheat the people into the belief that he was really and practically the President of the United States, and was capable, without prompting, of preparing a State paper fit to be submitted to the people; and that the ridiculous address which was made by him to the citizens of Baltimore caused the publication of the proclamation sooner than was intended. General Taylor left Washington on the evening of the 9th; he spent the night at Baltimore, and reached Harrisburg on the 11th about 3 o’clock, p.m. He was traveling at railroad speed away from those points from which information must necessarily come of proceedings carried on near New Orleans. The whig press represents that his journey was like a triumph, and that he was surrounded by admiring thousands. It is ridiculous, therefore, to suppose that the information on which this proclamation is based could have been obtained on his route to Harrisburg, or after he had reached the heart of Pennsylvania. Indeed, the Republic of yesterday admits that the information which called forth this proclamation has been in the possession of the government “for some time.” That this fact may clearly appear, we quote the language of the organ:

            “Information has been for some time in possession of the government, to the effect that bodies of men were in the course of being levied and drilled in New Orleans. Now been provided, and arrangements made on a large scale, with a view to some military expedition. These movements have been conducted with great secrecy, and the individuals who have embarked in it. Sufficient evidence, however, has been obtained to satisfy the President that the design of the expedition is an invasion of Cuba, and that the intervention of the Executive was necessary to preserve our neutral obligations, and to keep unsullied the honor of the American people.”

            After reading this extract, no one can doubt but that the President’s proclamation was prepared before he left Washington, and was put in the post office at Harrisburg, addressed to Mr. Clayton, or to the Department of State. It is impossible to resist the belief that the whole matter is a contemptible trick to deceive the people into the idea that this administration is really animated with a patriotic desire to protect the interests of the country, while, in reality it is striving to continue a sickly existence by prating of the peaceful councils of federalism and the “war spirit” of democracy, and by duping the country into the belief that General Taylor is really the President of the United States, and is capable of writing a proclamation! If our neutral obligations are in serious peril, and General Taylor thought that peril of sufficient importance to demand his attention, we humbly submit that he should have remained in Washington to vindicate the laws, instead of posting off to Pennsylvania to conciliate the miners and elect a canal commissioner.

            If there is really any danger that our neutral obligations will be violated in any manner or for any purpose, we hope that prompt and honest efforts will be made to maintain and enforce the laws. No one is more fully impressed than we are with the grinding oppression under which Cuba suffers; and if her people should throw off the Spanish yoke and assert their independence, they would have all our sympathies. But we never wish to see our laws violated or our treaty stipulations broken. We say further, that regarding the Gulf stream as the mouth of the Mississippi, the island of Cuba is of the utmost importance to the United States, and that it is the duty of our government to prevent, by force of arms if necessary, the transfer of that island to any great maritime power. If a struggle should ensue between Cuba and Spain, we trust that our citizens, having regard to the grinding tyranny which Spain has exercised over the people of that island, will render them all the aid and comfort which they lawfully can render. But we do not countenance or encourage armed expeditions from our shores to Cuba or elsewhere. If such an expedition is now in contemplation, we trust that the administration will cease its demagogueism and humbug, and discharge its duty honestly, as the constitution and laws direct. Its course thus far is calculated to throw discredit on all its actions. With information in the possession of the government (according to the Republic) for some time, “to the effect that bodies of men were in the course of being levied and drilled in New Orleans, New York, and other cities of the Union,” General Taylor leaves the seat of government and a proclamation is sent from Harrisburg, and Mr. Secretary Preston orders the steamer Alleghany to weigh anchor immediately, as if the Philistines were upon us, in order to give an appearance of patriotic honesty to a mere political trick, which must have been concocted ten days ago, in order to prop up the falling fortunes of Taylorism. We do not mean to say that the administration has not sufficient information to induce the belief that our neutral obligations and treaty stipulations are about to be violated; nor do we mean to condemn any proper exertions to vindicate the laws. But we do mean to say, that the administration should have acted promptly when its information was obtained and not have waited “for some time” in order to manufacture political capital. The whole matter might have been disposed of quietly without ostentatious proclamation. But the administration prefers t raise “a tempest in a tea-pot,” which can have no other effect than to show the people to what shallow devices it is reduced in order to shield itself from the condemnation of its weakness, folly, and vindictiveness have provoked.

 

By The President of the United States.

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A Proclamation.

            There is reason to believe that an armed expedition is about to be fitted out in the United States with an intention to invade the Island of Cuba or some of the Provinces of Mexico. The best information which the Executive has been able to obtain points to the Island of Cuba as the object of this expedition. It is the duty of this Government to observe the faith of treaties and to prevent any aggression by our citizens upon the territories of friendly nations. I have, therefore, thought it necessary and proper to issue this Proclamation, to warn all citizens of the United States who shall connect themselves with an enterprise so grossly in violation of our laws and our treaty obligations that they will thereby subject themselves to the heavy penalties denounced against them by our Acts of Congress, and will forfeit their claim to the protection of their country. No such persons must expect the interference of this Government in any form on their behalf, no matter to what extremities they may be reduced in consequence of their conduct. An enterprise to invade the territories of a friendly nation, set on foot and prosecuted within the limits of the United States, is in the highest degree criminal, as tending to endanger the peace and compromit the honor of this nation; and, therefore, I exhort all good citizens, as they regard our national reputation, as they respect their own laws and the laws of nations, as they value the blessings of peace and the welfare of their country, to discountenance and prevent by all lawful means any such enterprise; and I call upon every officer of this Government, civil or military, to use all efforts in his power to arrest for trial and punishment every such offender against the laws providing for the performance of our sacred obligations to friendly powers.

            Given under my hand, the eleventh day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, and the seventy-fourth of the independence of the United States.

Z. Taylor.

By the President:

            J.M. Clayton, Secretary of State.