That hope has been disappointed. Having
in vain urged upon that Government the justice of those claims and my
indispensable obligation to insist that there should be "no further
delay in the acknowledgment, if not in the redress, of the injuries
complained of," my duty requires that the whole subject should be
presented, as it now is, for the action of Congress, whose exclusive
right it is to decide on the further measures of redress to be employed.
The length of time since some of the injuries have been committed, the
repeated and unavailing applications for redress, the wanton character
of some of the outrages upon the property and persons of our citizens,
upon the officers and flag of the United States, independent of recent
insults to this Government and people by the late extraordinary Mexican
minister, would justify in the eyes of all nations immediate war.
That remedy, however, should not be used by just and generous nations,
confiding in their strength for injuries committed, if it can be
honorably avoided; and it has occurred to me that, considering the
present embarrassed condition of that country, we should act with both
wisdom and moderation by giving to Mexico one more opportunity to atone
for the past before we take redress into our own hands.
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