joy
Unspeakable in worlds to come."

EULOGY.[Footnote: Delivered before the Legislature of New York, by Wm. H.
Seward.]

------

We are in the midst of extraordinary events. British-American Civilization
and Spanish-American Society have come into collision, each in its fullest
maturity. The armies of the North have penetrated the chapparels at Palo
Alto and Resaca de la Palma--passed the fortresses of Monterey, and rolled
back upon the heart of Mexico the unavailing tide of strong resistance
from the mountain-side of Buena Vista. Martial colonists are encamped on
the coasts of California, while San Juan d'Ulloa has fallen, and the
invaders have swept the gorge of Cerro Gordo--carried Perote and Puebla,
and planted the banner of burning stars and ever-multiplying stripes on
the towers of the city of the Aztecs.

The thirtieth Congress assembles in this conjuncture, and the debates are
solemn, earnest, and bewildering. Interest, passion, conscience, freedom,
and humanity, all have their advocates. Shall new loans and levies be
granted to prosecute still farther a war so glorious? or shall it be
abandoned? Shall we be content with the humiliation of the foe? or shall
we complete his subjugation? Would that severity be magnanimous, or even
just? Nay, is the war itself just? Who provoked, and by what unpardonable
offence, this disastrous strife between two eminent Republics, so
scandalous to Democratic Institutions? Where shall we trace anew the
ever-advancing line of our empire? Shall it be drawn on the shore of the
Rio Grande, or on the summit of the Sierra Madre? or shall Mexican
Independence be extinguished, and our eagle close his adventurous pinions
only when he looks off upon the waves that separate us from the Indies?
Does Freedom own and accept our profuse oblations of blood, or does she
reject the sacrifice? Will these conquests extend her domain, or will they
be usurped by ever-grasping slavery? What, effect will this new-born
ambition have upon ourselves? Will it leave us the virtue to continue the
career of social progress? How shall we govern the conquered people? Shall
we incorporate their mingled races with ourselves, or rule them with the
despotism of proconsular power? Can we preserve these remote and hostile
possessions in any way, without forfeiting our own blood-bought heritage
of freedom?

Steam and lightning, which have become docile messengers, make the
American people listeners to this