captured a seaport town which they could not hold. Before them lay the
country they had come to invade, but there, at the outer gate, their
march was arrested, and in sight of the ships which brought them
supplies and reinforcements, they terminated a campaign, the scale and
proclaimed objects of which had caused the world to look on in
expectation of achievements the like of which man had not seen. Why
was it so? was it not that they were unable to move from the depot of
supplies, though a distance less than half of that over which our army
passed before reaching a productive region would have brought the
allied forces to a country filled with all the supplies necessary for
the support of an army. Is it boastful to say that American troops,
and an American treasury, would have encountered and have overcome
such an obstacle? He did not forget the complaints which had been made
on account of the vast expenditures which had been made in the
prosecution of the war with Mexico; but he remembered with pride the
capacity which the country had exhibited to bear such expenditure, and
believed that our people had no money standard by which to measure the
duty of their government, and the honor of their flag. We bear with us
from the wars in which we have been engaged no other memory of their
cost than the loss of the gallant dead. To the printed reports and
tabular statements we must go when we desire to know how many dollars
were expended. The successful soldier when he returns from the field
is met by a welcome proportionate to the leaves which he has added to
the wreath of his country's glory. Each has his reward; to one, the
admiring listener at the hearthstone; to another, the triumphal
reception; to all, the respect which patriotism renders to patriotic
service. To the soldier who, in the early part of the Mexican war, set
the seal of invincibility upon American arms, and subsequently by a
signal victory dispersed and disorganized the regular army of Mexico,
his countrymen voted the highest reward known to our government. Twice