But one thing's clear; there is a crack, "No white man sets in airth's broad aisle I hold one on 'em good 'z another. [Applause.] "Wut is there lef' I 'd like to know, "Ef we 're to hev our ekle rights, 't wun't du to 'low no competition; [Continood applause.] "So fur I'd writ an' could n' jedge Aboard wut boat I 'd best take pessige, My brains all mincemeat, 'thout no edge But now it seems ez though I see Sence Johnson's speech an' veto message. "I like the speech best, I confess, The logic, preudence, an' good taste on 't, There's some dependence to be placed on 't; you It 's narrer, but 'twixt an' me, A temp'ry party can be based on 't. "Jes' to hold on till Johnson 's thru An' dug his Presidential grave is, An' then! [Laughter.] who knows but we could slew ? The country roun' to put in "Oh, did it seem 'z ef Providunce Could ever send a second Tyler? Should claim th' old iron for his sheer Coz 't was himself that bust the biler!" [Gret laughter.] Thet tells the story! Thet's wut we shall git Thet comes from nowhere an' from everywhere, An' seems to say, "Why died we? war n't it, then, To settle, once for all, thet men wuz men? Oh, airth's sweet cup snetched from us barely tasted, The grave's real chill is feelin' life wuz wasted! Oh, you we lef', long-lingerin' et the door, Lovin' you best, coz we loved Her the more, Thet Death, not we, had conquered, we should feel Ef she upon our memory turned her heel, My frien's I 've talked nigh on to long enough. ye! [Tumult'ous applause and cries of "Go on!" "Don't stop!"] NOTES.1 FIRST SERIES. THIS series of the Biglow Papers relates to the Mexican War. It expresses the sentiment of New England, and particularly of Massachusetts, on that conflict, which in its aim and conduct had little of honor for the American Republic. The war was begun and prosecuted in the interest of Southern slaveholders. It was essential to the vitality of slavery that fresh fields should constantly be opened to it. Agriculture was almost the sole industry in which slaves could be profitably employed. That their labor should be wasteful and careless to preserve the productive powers of the soil was inevitable. New land was ever in demand, and the history of slavery in the United States is one long series of struggles for more territory. It was with this end in view that a colony of roving, adventurous Americans, settled in the thinly populated and poorly governed region now known as Texas, revolted from the Mexican government and secured admission to the Union, thus bringing on the war with Mexico. The Northern Whigs had protested against annexation, but after the war began, their resistance grew more and more feeble. In the vain effort to retain their 1 I am indebted to Mr. Frank Beverly Williams for these illustrative notes. J. R. L |