The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-30 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

WINDSOR, TUESDAY.-The Queen and Prince Albert
walked this morning on the Eastern Terrace of the
Castle and slopes.
The Royal family took their accustomed walking and
pony exercise. _ _

great body of our people have thrown no such obstacles
in the way of the Government in prosecuting the war
successfully, but have shown themselves to be eminently
patriotic, and ready to rind cate their country's honour
and interest at any sacrifice. The alacrity and prompt-
ness with which our volunteer forces rushed to the field
,on their country's call, prove not only their patriotism,
but their deep conviction that our cause is just.
The wrongs which we hate suffered from Mexico al-
most ever since she became an independent power, and
the patient endurance with which we have borne them,
are without a parallel in the history of modern civilised
nations. There is reason to believe that if these wrongs
bad been resented and resisted in the first instance, the
present war might have been avoided. One outrage,
however, permitted to pass with impunity, almost neces-
sarily encouraged the perpetration of another, until at
last Mexico seemed to attribute to weakness and inde-
cision on our part a forbearance which was the offspring
of magnanimity, and of a sincere desire to preserve
friendly religions with a sister republic.-
Scarcely had Mexico achieved her independence,
which the United States were first among the nations to
acknowledge, when she commenced the system of insult
and spoliation which she has ever since pursued. Our
citizens engaged in lawful commerce were imprisoned,
their vessels seized, and our flee insulted in her ports.
If money was wanted, the lawless seizure and confisca-
tion of our merchant vessels and their csrgoes was a
ready resource, and if to accomplish their purposes it
became necessary to imprison the owners, captains, and
crews, it was done. Rulers superseded rulers in Mexico
in rapid succession, but still there was no change in this
system of depredation. The Government of the United
States made repeated reelemations on behal: of its citi-
zens, but these were answered by the perpetration of
new outrages. Promises of redress made by Mexico in
the most solemn forms were postponed or evaded. The
files and records of the department of State contain con-
clusive proofs of numerous lawless acts perpetrated upon
the property and persons of our citizens by Mexico, and
of wanton insults to our national flag. The interposi-
tion of our Government to obtain redress was again and
again invoked, under circumstances which no nation
cught to disregard.
It was hoped that these outrages would cease, and
that Mexico would be restrained by the laws which
regulate the conduct of civilised nations in their inter-
course with each other, after the treaty of amity, com-
merce, and navigation, of the sth of April, 1831, was
concluded between the two republics, but this hope soon
proved to be vain. The course of seizure and confisca-
tion of the property of our citizens, the violation of their
persons, and the insults to our flag pursued by Mexico
previous to that time were scarcely suspended for even a
brief period, although the treaty so clearly defined
the rights and duties of the respective parties, that it
is impossible to misunderstand or mistake them.
In less then seven years after the conclusion
of that treaty, our grievances had become so
intolerable that, in the opinion of President
Jackson, they should no longer be endured. In his
message to Congress in February, 1837, he presented
them to the consideration of that body, and declared
that " 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 Govern-
meat and people by the late extraordinary Mexican
Minister, would justify in the eyes of all nations imme-
diate war." In a spirit of kindness and forbearance,
however, he recommended reprisals as a milder mode of
redress. He declared that war should not be used as a
remedy "by just and generous nations, confiding in
their strength for injuries committed, if it can be ho-
nourably avoided," and added, "it has occurred to me
that, considering the present embarrassed condition of
that country, we should act with both wisdom and mode-
ration by giving to Mexico one more opportunity to
atone for the past before we take redress into
our hands. To avoid all misconception on the part of
Mexico, as well as to protect our own national character
from reproach, this opportunity should be given with
the avowed design and full preparation to take imme-
diate satisfaction, if it should not be obtained on a repe-
tition of the demand for it. To this end I recommend
that an Act be passed authorising reprisals, and the use
of the naval force of the United States by the Executire
against Mexico to enforce them, in the event of a refusal
by the Mexican Government to come to an amicable ad-
justment
of the matters in controversy between .us, upon
another demand thereof, made from on board one of our
vessels of war on the coast of Mexico."
Committees of both houses of Congress, to which this
message of this President was referred, fully sustained
his views of the character of the wrongs which we had
suffered ,from Mexico, and recommended that another
demand for redress should be made before authorising
war or reprisals. The Committee on foreign relations
of the Senate, in their report say-.." After such a de-
mand, should prompt justice be refused by the Mexican
Government, we may appeal to all nations, not only for
the equity and moderation with which we shall have
acted towards a sister republic, but for the necessity
which will then compel us to seek redress for our wrongs,
either by actual war or by reprisals. The subject will
then be presented before Congress, at the commencement
of the next session, in a clear and distinct form, and the
Comm itte cannot doubt but that such measures will be
immediately adopted as may be necessary to vindicate
the honour of the country, and insure ample reparation
to our injured citizens."
The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives made a similar recommendation. In
their report they say that they " fully concur with the
President that ample cause exists for taking redress into
,a.ir own hands, and believe that we should be justified
in the opinion of other nations for taking such a step.
But they are willing to try the experiment of another
demand, made in the most solemn form, unpon the jus-
tice of the Mexican Government, before any further
proceedings are adopted."
No difference of opinion upon the subject is believed
to have existed in Congress at that time ; the Executive
a d Legislative departments concurred; and yet such
nave been our forbearance and desire to preserve peace
with Mexico, that the wrongs of which we then com-
plained, and which gave rise to these solemn proceed-
ings, not only remain utile dressed to this day, but addi-
tional causes of complaint, of an aggravated character,
have ever since been accumulating.
Shortly after these proceedings a special messenger
was dispatched to Mexico, to make a final demand for
redress, and on the 22d of July, 1837, the demand was
made. The reply of the Mexican Government bears date
on the 29Lh of the same month, and contains assurances
of the " anxious wish" of the Mexican Government
not to delay the moment of that final and equitable
adjustment which is to terminate the existing difficulties
between the two Governments ;" that " nothing should
be left undone which may contribute to the most speedy
and equitable determination of the subjects which have
so seriously engaged the attention of the American Go-
vernment;" that the " Mexican Government would
adopt, as the only guides for its conduct, the plainest
principles of public right, the sacred obligations imposed
by the international law, and the religious faith of
treaties;" and that " whatever reason and justice may
dictate respecting each case will be done." The assur-
ance was further given that the decision of the Mexican
Government upon each cause of complaint, for which re-
dress had been demanded, should be communicated to
the Government of the United States by the Mexican
Minister at Washington.
These solemn assurances, in answer to our demand
for redress, were disregarded. By making them, how-
ever, Mexico obtained further delay. President Van
Buren, in his annual message to Congress of the sth of
December, 1837, states that "although the large number
of our demands for redress, and many of them aggra-
vated cases of personal wrongs, have been now for
years before the Mexican Government, and some of the
causes of national complaint, and those of the most
offensive character, admitted of immediate, simple, and
satisfactory replies, it is only within a few days past
that any specific communication in answer to our last
demand, made five months ago, has been received from
the Mexican Minister," and that " fur not one of our
public complaints has satisfaction been given or offered;
that but one of the cases of public wrong has been fa-
vourably considered, and that but four cases of both de-
scriptions, out of all those formally presented and
earnestly pressed, have as yet been decided upon by the
Mexican Government." President Van Buren, believing
that it would be vain to make any further attempt to
obtain redress by the ordinary means within the power
of the Executive, communicated this opinion to Con-
gress, in the message referred to, in which he said—
"On a careful and deliberate examination of
the contents" (of the correspondence with the Mexican
Government), "and considering the spirit manifested by
the Mexican Government, it has become my painful
duty to return the subject as it now stands to Congress,
to whom it belongs, to decide upon the time, the mode,
and the measure of redress." Had the United States at
that time adopted compulsory measures, and taken re-
dress into their own hands, all our difficulties with Mexico
would probably have been long since adjusted, and the
existing war have been averted. Magnanimity and
moderation on our part only had the effect to complicate
these difficultie, and render an amicable settlement of
them the more embarrassing. That such measures of
redress, under similar provocations, committed by any of
the powerful nations of Europe, would have been
promptly resorted to by the United States, cannot be
doubted. The national honour, and the preservation* of the
national character throughout the world, as well as our
own self-respect and the protection due to our own
citizens, would have rendered such a retort indispensable.
The history of no civilised nation in modern times has
presented within so brief a period so many wanton
attacks upon the honour of its flag and upon the pro-
perty and persons of its citizens as had at that time been
borne by the United States from the Mexican authorities
and people; But Mexico was a sister republic on the
North American continent, occupying a territory con-
tiguus to our own, and was in a feeble hnd distracted
condition ; and these considerations, it is presumed, in-
duced Congress to forbear still longer,
elnstead of taking redress into our own hands, a new
negotiation was entered upon with fair promises on the
part of Mexico, but with the real purpose, as the event
has proved, of indefinitely postponing the reparation
which we demanded, and which was so justly due. This
negotiation, after more than a year's delay, resulted in
the convention of the 11 th of April, 1839, "for the ad-
justment of claims of citizens of the United States of
America upon the Government of the Mexican Republic."
The joint board of commissioners created by this con-
vention to examine and decide upon these claims was
not organized until the month of August, 1840, and
under the terms of the convention they were to termi-
nate their duties within eighteen months from that time.
Four of the eighteen months were consumed in prelimi-
nary discussions on frivolous and dilatory points raised
by the Mexican commissioners ; and it was not until the
month of December, 1840, that they commenced the
examination of the claims of our citizens upon Mexico.
Fourteen months only remained to examine and decide

NI TED STATES. •

THE

His Royal Highness; Prince Albert, accompanied by
his Serene Highness Prince Lowenstein and Sir G orge
Grey, and attended by the Earl of Listowel and Colonel
Bouverie, enjoyed the sport of shooting this morning.
Lord Edward Howard is expected to arrive at the
Castle to-day, on a visit to her Majesty.
The royal dinner party at the Castle this evening will
include her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, his
Excellency the Chevalier Bunsen, his Serene Highness
Prince Lowenstein, the Lady in Waitinz of the Duchess
of Kent, the Baroness de Speth, Lord Edward Howard,
Sir George Grey, Mr. G. E. and the Hon. Mrs. Anson,
and Capt. Francis Seymour.
The band of the Ist Life Guards attended during
dinner. Her Majesty's private band afterwards attend
in the Castle.

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

LIVERPOOL, TUESDAY NIGHT,

HALF. PAST EIGHT.
The New York packet-ship Ashburton, Captain
Howland, entered the river at a late hour to-night,
bringing New York papers of the 10th, and with
them the Mesage of Mr. President Polk, which, as
usual, is a very lengthy document, occupying nearly

nine columns.
The news from the army is to the effect that the
American forces had taken Monclova and Chihua-
hun, without bloodshed ; the taking of the latter place,
however, has since been doubted.
An expedition had set out against Victoria.
General Wool was under orders for Saltillo.
It was reported that Santa Anna had collected up-
wards of 30,000, with whom he intended to march
against the American forces.
A letter from Camargo, Mexico, dated November

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge visited
her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester, yester-
day, at Gloucester House.
Mr. Samuel Palmer, of Great. Yarmouth, had an in-
terview, yesterday, with the Right Hon. Thomas M. Gib-
ion, at the Board of Trade.
Dispatches were received yesterday, at the Colonial-
office, from the Governors of Hong-Kong and Gibraltar.
Dispatches were sent off yesterday evening, from the
Colomal-office, for the Governor of the Mauritius.
The Earl of Elgin, Governor-General of Coriadi, and
the Countess of Elgin, arrived at Farrance'a Hotel,
Upper Belgrave-street, yesterday, from Lambton Castle.

7, says—
•` There is a rumour (which Ido not vouch for, but which
is not only possible but probable) that another revolution
has broken out in Mexico. The Santa Anna party de-
clared him Dictator—anti Santa Anna (headed by Va-
lencia) demurred, turned their' arms against the Dic-
tator, and drove him and his party from San Luis
Potosi; and that the Dictator was falling back in the
direction of the city of Mexico. This was a very na-
tural route for him to take, were he driven from his
lines at San Luis, considering the position of affairs in
this section.

" American settlers are already commencing to locate
on the Texas side of the Rio Grande. Several tracts of
land below Camargo have been purchased from Mexican
claimants, and the new owners have commenced itn-

proving.
" The steamer Major Brown, which went up the Rio
Grande on an exploring expedition, has arrived at
Loredo, from which Lieutenant Ti!den, 2d Infantry, in
charge of expedition, makes report. He reports favour-
ably generally of the depth of water for boats drawing
four or five feet ; but the channel in many places
crooked, in others filled with limestone rocks which
stick right straight up' (easily removed), and frequent
rapids—all (f which the Brown passed over, and arrived
safe at Loredo."
The sickness along the whole line of the Rio Grande
this summer and fall has been represented as very
severe. Not less than 1,500 men has it made its
victims. Colonel Gates, who commands at Tampico,
keeps the place under strict martial law.
Reports had reached Monterey that General Am-

pudia had been arrested by the Mexican authorities,
for having made the capitulation at Monterey, and is
in gaol at Hadalagara.

It is now declared that Santa Anna, Almonte, and

the other Mexican officers who were passed through
our squadron gave their parole not to engage in the
war against the United States—which was the cause
and condition of their being passed.

Ac counts from Santa tj state, that great fears
were entertained that the stock of provisions would
be altogether inadequate to supply the army during
the winter. The American soldiers were in a state
of insubordination, and were daily committing out-
rages upon the Mexicans. The consequence was
that assassinations were becoming very frequent.
General Kearney had left Santa Fe for California,
but it is doubted if he will reach it. The last accounts
stated that he was at Fra Cristo, 205 miles south of
Santa Fe, having abandoned his waggons, and packed
his provisions and baggage on mules.
The Mormons, under Captain Cook, had also left
for California.

The Royal mail steamer Caledonia had arrived at
Boston.

Another steam-boat explosion had taken place; a
number of the crew were killed.

COMMERCIAL MARKETS, DEC. 8.
The Stock-market opened to-day rather heavy, but
improved before the adjournment of the first board;
between the boards a further advance in prices was
realised, but at the second board a slight decline was
experienced, caused partially by the reception of the
President's Message.
Among the exports to Great Britain for the month,
there were 296,713 bushels of wheat, 78,962 barrels of
flour, 330,528 bushels of corn, 6,351 barrels of corn
meal, and 4,148,394 lbs. of cheese. The value of the
single article of cheese exported for the month was more
than 300,000 dolls.
The shipments of produce from this country to Great
Britain comprise a very large portion of our export
trade, and the demand for our breadstuffs and provisions
in Europe will, no doubt, continue sufficiently large to give
us annually a very large trade in them. The demand
fir corn, cheese, and provisions of all kinds, will, doubt-
less, steadily increase, while that for flour and wheat
will fluctuate according to the harvests of the various
countries.

The price of flour had declined at all the corn depots
is consequence of the news per Caledonia.
Our advices from Washington of the 7th state that
the second session of the Twenty-eighth Congress
opened this day at noon.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
In the House of Representatives the Speaker took
:he chair at twelve o'clock, and called the House to

THE SUN, I,ONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBEIt 30, 1 • ;13

-
uron these numerous and complicated cases. In the
month of February, 1842, the term of the commission
expired, leaving many claims undisposed of for want
of time. The claims which were allowed by the board,
and by the umpire authorised by the convention
to decide in case of disagreement between the
Mexican and American commissioners, amounted to two
million twenty-six thousand one hundredC and thirty-
nine dollars and sixty-eight cents. There were pending !
before the empire, when the commission expired, addi-
tional claims which had been examined and awarded by
the American commissioners, and had not been allowed
by the Mexican commissioners, amounting to nine
hundred and twenty-eight thousand six hundred and
twenty-seven dollars and eighty-eight cents, upon which
he did not decide, alleging that his authority had ceased
with the termination of the joint commission. Besides
these claims, there were others of American citizens,
amounting to three million three hundred and thirty six
thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven dollars and
five cents, which had been submitted to the board, and
upon which they had not time to decide before their final
a ijeurnaient.
The sum of two million twenty-six thousand one
hundred and thirty-nine dollars and sixty-eight cents,
which had been awarded to the claimants, was a liqui-
dated and ascertained debt due by Mexico, about which
there could be no dispute, and which she was bound to
pay according to the terms of the convention. Soon
after the finer awards for this amount had been made,
the Mexican Government asked for a postponement of
the time of making payment, alleging that it would be
inconvenient to make the payment at the time stipu-
lated. In the spirit of forbearing kindness towards
a sister republic, which Mexico has so long abused, the
United States promptly complied with her request. A
second convention was accordingly concluded between
the two Governments on the 30th of January, 1843,
which upon its face declares that " this new
arrangement is entered into for the accommoda.
tion of Mexico." By the terms of this convention, all
the interest due on the awards which have been made
in favour of the claimants under the convention of the
11th of April, 1839, was to be paid to them on the 30th
of April, 1843, and " the principal of the said awards,
and the interest accruing thereon," was stipulated Le
"be paid in five years, in .equal instalments every three
mouths." Notwithstanding this new convention was en-
tered into at the request of Mexico, and for the purpose
of relieving her from embarrassment, the claimants have
only received the interest due on the 30th of April,lB43
and three of the 20 instalments. Although the pay-
ment of the sum thus liquidated and confessedly due by
Mexico to our citizens as indemnity for acknowledged
acts of outrage and wrong was secured by treaty, the
obligations of which are ever held sacred by all just na-
tions, yet Mexico has violated this solemn engagement
by failing and refusing to make the payment. The two
instalments due in April and July, 1844, under the pe-
culiar circumstances connected with them, have been
assumed by the United States and discharged to the
claimants, but they are still due by Mexico. But this
is not all of which we have just cause for complaint. To
provide a remedy for the claimants whose cases were
not decided by the joint commission under the conven-
tion of April the 11th, 1839, it was expressly stipulated
by the sixth article of the convention of the 30th of
January, 1843, that a " new convention shall be entered
into for the settlement of all claims of the Government
and citizens of the United States against the Republic of
Mexico, which were not finally decided by the late com-
mission, which met in the city of Washington, and of all
claims of the Government and citizens of Mexico against
the United States.'
In conformity with this stipulation a third convention
was concluded and signed at the city of Mexico on the
20th of November, 1843, by the plenipotentiaries of
the two Governments, by which provision was made for
ascertaining and paying these claims. In January, 1844,
this convention was ratified by the Senate of the United
States with two amendments, which were manifestly
reasonable in their character. Upon a reference of the
amendments proposed to the Government of Mexico,
the same evasions, difficulties, and delays were inter-
posed which have so long marked the policy of that
Government towards the United States. It has not even
yet decided whether it , would or would not accede to
them, although the subject has been repeatedly pressed
upon its consideration.
Mexico has thus violated a second time the faith of
treaties, by failing or refusing to carry into effect the
sixth article of the convention of January, 1843.
Such is the history of the wrongs which we have suf-
fered and patiently endured from Mexico through a long
series of years. So far from affording reasonable satis-
faction for the injuries and insults we have borne, a great
aggravation of them consists in the fact, that while the
United States, anxious to preserve a good understanding
with Mexico, have been constantly, but vainly, employed
in seeking redress for past wrongs, new outrages were
constantly occurring, which have continued to increase
our causes of complaint, and to swell the amount of
our demands. While the citizens of the United States
were conducting a lawful commerce with Mexico under
the guaranty of a treaty of " amity, commerce, and
navigation," many of them have suffered all the injuries
whic would have resulted from open war. This treaty,
instead of affording protection to our citizens, has been
the means of inviting them into the ports of Mexico,
that they might be, as they have been in numerous in-
stances, plundered of their property and deprived of their
personal liberty, if they dared insist on their rights.
Had the unlawful seizures of American property, and
the violation of personal liberty of our citizens, to say
nothing of the insults to our flag which have occurred in
the ports of Mexico, taken place on the high seas, they
would themselves long since have constituted a state of
actual war between the two countries. In so long suf-
fering Mexico to violate her most solemn treaty obliga-
tions, plunder our citizens of their property, and impri-
son their persons without offering there any redress, we
have failed to perform one of the first and highest duties
which (very government owes to its citizens; and the
consequence has been, that many of them have been re-
duced from a state of affluence to bankruptcy. The
proud name of American cit.zen, which ought to protect
all who bear it from insult and injury throughout the
world, has afforded no such protection to our citizens in
Mexico. We had ample cause of war against Mexico
long before the breaking out of hostilities. But even
then we forebore to take redress into our own hands,
until Mexico herself became the aggressor by invading
our soil in hostile array and shedding the blood of our
citizens.

Such are the grave causes of complaint cn the part of
the United States against Mexico—causes which existed
long before the annexation of Texas to the American
Union, and yet, animated by the love of peace and a
magnanimous moderation, we did not adopt those mea-
sures of redress which, under such circumstances, are the
justified resort of injured nations.
The annexation of Texas to the United States consti-
tuted no just cause of offence to Mexico. The pretext
that it did so is wholly inconsistent and irreconcilable
with well-authenticated facts connected with the revolu-
tion by which Texas became independent of Mexico.
That this may be the more manifest it may be proper to
advert to the causes and to.the history of the principal
events of that revolution.

Texas constituted a portion of the ancient province of
Louisiana, ceded to the United States by France in the
year 1803. In the year 1819 the United States by the
Florida treaty ceded to `-ipain all that part of Louisiana
within the present limits of Texas, and Mexico, by the
revolution which separated her from Spain, and rendered
her an independent nation, succeeded to the rights of the
mother country over this territory. In the year 1824
Mexico established a federal constitution, under which
the Mexican republic was composed of a number of
sovereign states, confederated together in a federal union
similar to our own. Each of these states had its own
executive, legislature, and judiciary, and, for all except
federal purposes, was as independent of the general go-
vernment, and that of the other states, as is Pennsylvania
or Virginia under our constitution. Texas and Coahuila
united and formed one of these Mexican states. The
state constitution which they adopted, and which was
approved by the Mexican confederacy, asserted that they
were "free and independent of the other Mexican United
States, and of every other power and dominion what-
soever;" and proclaimed the preat principle of human
liberty, that " the sovereignty of the state resides on
ginally and essentially in the general mass of the indivi-
duals who compose it." To the government under this
constitution, as well as to that under the federal consti-
tution, the people of Texas owed allegiance.
Emigrants from foreign countries, including the
United States, were invited by the colonization laws of the
state and of the federal government to settle i❑ Texas.
Advantageous terms were offered to induce them to leave
their own country and become Mexican citizens. This
invitation was accepted by many of our citizens, in thg
full faith that in their new home they would be governed'
by laws enacted by representatives elected by themselves,
and that their lives, liberty, and property would be pro-
tected by constitutional guarantees similar to those
which existed in the republic they had left. Under
a Government thus organized they continued until the
year 1835, when a military revolution broke out in the
city of Mexico, which entirely subverted the Federal
and state constitutions, and placed a military dictator
at the head of the Government.

By a sweeping decree of a congress subservient to the
will of the dictator, the several state constitutions were
abolished, and the states themselves converted into mere
departments of the central Government. The people of
Texas were unwilling to submit to this usurpation. Re-
sistance to such tyranny became a high duty. Texas
was fully absolved from all allegiance to the central
Government of Mexico from the moment the Govern-
ment had abolished her state constitution, and in its
place substituted an arbitrary and despotic central Go-
vernment.

Such were the principal causes of the Texan revo-
lution. The people of Texas at once determined upon
resistance, and flew to arms. In the midst of these im-
portant and exciting events, however, they did not omit
to place their liberties upon a secure and...permanent
foundation. They elected members to a convention,
who, in the month of March, 1836, issued a formal de-
claration that their " political connexion with the
Mexican nation had for ever ended, and that the people
of Texas do now constitute a free, sovereign, and inde-
pendent republic, and sire fully invested-with all the
rights and attributes which properly belong to inde-
pendent nations." They also adopted for their govern-
ment a liberal republican constitution. About the came
time Santa Anna, then the dictator of Mexico, invaded
Texas with a numerous army, for the purpose of sub-
duing her people, and enforcing obedience to his arbi-
trary and despotic government. On the 21st of April„
1836, he was met by the Texan citizen soldiers, and on
that day was achieved by them the memorable victory
of San 'Jacinto, by which they conquered their inde-
pendence. Considering the numbers engaged on the
respective sides, history does not record a more brilliant
achievement. Santa Anna himself was among the
captives.
In the month of May, 1836, Santa Anna acknow-
ledged, by a treaty With the Texan authorities, in the
most solemn form, " the full, entire, and perfect izde-

pendence
of the republic of Texas." It is true he was
1-then a prisoner of war, but it is equally ttue that he
' had failed to reconquer Texas, and had met with signal
defeat; that his authority had cot been revoked, and
that by virtue of this treaty he obtained his personal
release. By it hostilities were- suspended, and the army
which had invaded Texas under his command, re-
turned, in pursuance of this arrangement, unmolested to
Mexico.

From the day that the battle of San Jacinto was
fought till the present hour, Mexico has never possessed
the power to reconquer Texas. In the language of the
Secretary of State of the United States, in a dispatch to
our Minister in Mexico, under date of the Bth of July,
1842, "Mexico may have chosen to consider, and may
still choose to consider, Texas as having been at all
times since 1835, and as still continuing, a rebellious
province, but the world has been obliged to take a very
different view of the matter. From the time of the
battle of Sal Jacinto, in April, 1836, to the present
moment, Texas has exhibited the same external signs
of national independence as Mexico herself, and with
quite as much stability of government. Practically' free
and independent, acknowledged as a .political sove-
reignty by the principal Power.; of the world, no hostile
foot finding rest wiehin her territory for six or seven
years, and Mexico herself refraining for all that pet iod
from any further attempt to re-establish her own-autho-
rity over that territory, it cannot but be surprising to
find Mr. do Boc megra" (the Secretary of Foreign Af-
fairs of Mexico) " complaining that for that whole period
citizens of the United States, or its Gee( rnme: t, have
been favouring the rebels of Texas, and supplying them
with vessels, ammunition, and money, as if the war for
the reduction of the province of Texas had been con-
stantly prosecuted by Mexico, and her success pre-
vented by these influences from abroad." In the same
di.petch the Secretary of State affirms that since
1837 the United States have regarded Texas as an in-
dependent sovereignty as much as ielexico ; and that
trade and commerce with citizens of a Government at
war with Mexico cannot, on that account, be regarded
as an intercourse by which assistance and succour ere
given to Mexican rebels. The whole current of Mr.
de Bocanegra's remarks runs in the same di-
rection as if the independence of Texas had
not been acknowledged. It has been acknowledged
—it was acknowledged in 1837, against the remon-
strance and protest of Mexico; and most of the acts of
any importance, of which Mr. de Bocanegra complains,
flow necessarily from that recognition. He speaks of
Texas as still being an • integral part of the territory of
the Mexican Republic;' but he cannot but understand
that the United States do not so regard it. The real
complaint of Mexico, therefore, is, in substance, neither
more nor less than a complaint against the recognition
of Texan independence. It may be thought rather late
-to o repeat that complaint, and not quite just to confine
it to the United States, to the exemption of England,
France and Belgium, unless the United States, having
been the first to acknowledge the independence of
Mexico herself, are to be blamed for setting an example
for the recognition of that of Texas." And he' added,
that " the constitution, public treaties, and the laws
oblige the President to regard Texas as an independent
state, and its territory as no part of the territory of
Mexico." Texas had been an independent state,
with an organised government, defying the power
of Mexico to overthrow or reconquer her, for more
than ten years before Mexico commenced the present
war against the United States. Texas had given
such evidence to the world of her ability to main-
tau' her separate existence as an independent nation,
that she had been formally recognised as such, not only
by the United States, but by several of the principal
Powers of Europe. These Powers had entered into
treaties of amity, commerce, and- navigation with her.
They had received and accredited her Ministers and
other diplomatic agents at their respective tour's, and
they had commit-stoned Ministers and diplomatic agents
on their part to the Government of Texas. If Mexico',
notwithstanding all this, and her utter inability to sub-
due or reconquer Texas, still stubbornly refused to re-
cognise her as an independent nation, she was none the
le-s so on that account. Mexico herself had been recog-
nised as an independent nation by the United States and
by other Powers many years before Spain, 'of which,
before her revolution, she had been a colony, would agree
to recognise her as such ; and yet Mexico was at that
time, in the estimation of the civilised world, and in
fact, none the less an independent Power because Spain
still claimed her as a colony. If Spain had continued
until the present period to assert that Mexico was
one of her colonies in rebellion against her, this
would not have made her so, or changed the fact of
her independent existence. Texas, at the period of
her annexation to the United States, bore the
same relation to Mexico that Mexico had borne to Spain
for many years before Spain acknowledged her inele-
pendenee, with this important difference, that before the
annexation of Texas to the United States was consum-
mated, Mexico herself, by a formal act of her Govern-
ment, had acknowledged the independence of Texas as
a nation. It is true that, in the act of recognition, she
prescribed a condition, which she had no power or
authority to impose, that Texas should not annex herself
to any other power; but this could not detract in any de-
gree from the recognition which Mexico then made of
her actual independence. Upon this plain statement of
facts, it is absurd for Mexico to allege, as a pretext for
commencing hostilities against the United States, thet
Texas is still a part of her territoi y.
But there are those who, conceding all this to be true,
assume the ground that the true western boundary of
Texas is the Nueces, instead of the Rio Grande; and th it,
therefore, in marching our army to the east bank of the
latter river, we passed the Texan line, and invaded the
territories of Mexico. A simple statement of facts, known
to exist, will conclusively refute such an assumption.
Texas, as ceded to the United States by France in
1803 has been always claimed as extending west to the
Rio Grande, or Rio Bravo. This fact is established by
the authority of our most eminent statesmen at a period
Is hen the question was as well, if not better, understood
than it is at present. During Mr. Jefferson's adminis-
tration, Messrs. Monroe and Pinkney, who had been sent
on a special mission to Madrid, charged, among other
things, with the adjustment of boundary between the
two countries, in a note addressed to the Spanish Minis-
ter of Foreign Affairs, under date of the 28th ofJanuary,
1805, assert that the boundaries of Louisiana, as escled
to the United States by France, "are the river Perdido
on the east, and the river Bravo on the west ;" and
they add, that " the facts and principles which justify
this conclusion are so satisfactory to our Government as
to convince it that the United States have not a better
right to the island of New Orleans, under the cession
referred to, than they have to the whole district of terri-
tory which is above described."
Down to the conclusion of the Florida treaty, in
February, 1819, by which this territory was ceded to
Spain, the United States asserted and maintained their
territorial rights to this extent. In the month of June,
1818, during Mr. Monroe's administration, information
having been;received that a number of foreign adventurers
had landed at Galveston, with the avowed purpose of form-
ing a settlement in that vicinity, a special messenger was
dispatched by the Government of the United States, with
instructions from the Secretary of State to warn them to
desist should they be found there " or any other place
north of the Rio Bravo, and within the territory claimed
by the United States." He was instructed, should they
be found in the country north of that river, to make
known to them " the surprise with which the President
had seen possession thus taken, without authority from
the United States, of a place within their territorial
limits, and upon which no lawful settlement can be made
without their sanction." He was instructed to call upon
them to " avow under what national authority they pro-
fess to act," and to give them due warning "that the
place is within the United States, who will suffer no per-
manent settlement to be made there, under any authority
other than their own." As late as the Bth of July, 1842,
the Secretary of State of the United States, in a note
addressed to our Minister in Mexico, maintains that, by
the Florida treaty of 1819, the territory as far west as
the Rio Grande, was confirmed to Spain. In that note
he states that " by the Treaty of the 22d of February,
1819, between the United States and Spain, the Sabine
was adopted as the line of boundary between the two
Powers. Up to that period, no considerable colonization
had been effected in Texas ; but the territory between
the Sabine and the Rio Grande being confirmed to Spain
by the treaty, applications were made to that power for
grants of land, and such grants, or permissions of settle-
ment were in fact made by the authorities of citizens of
the United States, proposing to emigrate to Texas in
numerous families before the declaration of independence
by Mexico."

The Texas, which was ceded to Spain by the Florida
treaty of 1819, embraced all the country now claimed by
the state of Texas between the Nueces and the Rio
Grande. The republic of Texas always claimed the
river as her western boundary, and in her treaty made
with Santa Anna, in May, 1836, he recognised it as
such. By the constitution which Texas adopted in
March, 1836, senatorial and representative districts
were organised, extending west of the Nueces. The
Congress of Texas, on the 19th of December, 1836,
passed " An Act to define the boundaries of the Re-
public of Texas," in which they declared the Rio Grande
from its mouth to its source to be their boundary, and
by the said Act they extended their "civil and political
jurisdiction" over the country up to that boundary. During
a period of more than nine years, which intervened be-
tween the adoption of her constitution and her annexe•
tion as one of the United States of our Union, Texas
asserted and exercised many acts of sovereignty and ju-
risdiction over the territory and inhabitants west of the
Nueces. She organised and defended the limits of coun-
tries extending to the Rio Grande. She established
courts of justice, and extended her judicial system over
the territory. She established a custom-house, and col-
lected duties, and also post-offices and post-roads in it.
She established a land office, and issued numerous grants
for land, within its limits. A senator and a representa-
tive residing in it were elected to the Congress of the re-
public, and served as such before the Act of annexation
took place. In both the Congress and Convention of Texas,
which gave their assent to the terms of annexation to
the United States, proposed by our Congress, were re-
presentatives residing west of the Nueces, who took part
in the act of annexation itself. This was the Texas
which, by the act of our Congress of the 29th of Decem-
ber, 1845, was admitted as one of the States of our
Union. That the Congress of the United States under-
stood the state of Texas which they admitted into the
union to extend beyond the Nueces, is apparent from
the fact that on the 31st of a cember, 1845, only two
days after the act of admission, they passed a law "to
establish a collection district in the state of Texas," by
which they created a port of delivery at Corpus Christi,
situated west of the Nueces, and being the same point
at which the Texas custom-house, under the laws of
that republic, had been located, and directed that a sur-
veyor to collect the revenue should be appointed for
that port -by the President, by and with the advie,
And consent of the Senate. A surveyor was accord
ingly nominated, and confirmed by the Senate, and
has been ever since in the performance of his duties.
All these acts of the republic of Texas and of our