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

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enneress preceded the orders ?or , g
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our army to the .east bank of the Rio t Elf,„-- •
sequently Congress passed an Act " estab
post routes," extending west of theNueces.tVl
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west of that river now constitutes a part of one of the
congressional districts of Texas, and is represented in
the House of Representatives. The Senators from that
state were chosen by a Legislature in which the country
west of that river was represented. In view of all
these facts, it is difficult to conceive upon what ground
it can be maintained that, in occupying the country west
of the Nueces with our army, with a view solely to its
security and defence, we invaded the territory of Mexico.
But it would have been still more difficult to justify the
Executive, whose duty it is to see that the laws be faith-
fully executed, if, in the face of all these proceedings,
both of the Congress of Texas and of the United States,
he had assumed the responsibility of yielding up the ter-
ritory west of Nueces to Mexico, or of refusing to pro-
tect and defend this territory and its inhabitants, includ-
ing Corpus Christi, as well as the remainder of Texas,
against the threatened Mexican invasion.
But Mexico herself has never placed the war which
she has waged upon the ground that our army occupied
the intermediate territory between the Nueces and the
Rio Grande. Her refuted pretension that Texas was
not in fact an independent state, but a rebellious pro-
vince, was obstinately persevered in ; and her avowed
purpose in commencing a war with the United States was
to reconquer Texas, and to restore Mexican authority
over the whole territory—not to the Nueces only, but to
the Sabine. In view of the proclaimed menaces of
Mexico to this effect, I deemed it my duty, as a measure
of precaution and defence, to order our army to occupy
a position on our frontier as a military post, from which
our troops could best resist and repel ally attempted in-
vasion which Mexico might make.
Our army had occupied a position at Corpus Christi,
west of the Nueces, as early as August, 1845, without
complaint from any quarter., Had the Nueces been re-
garded as the true western boundary of Texas, that
boundary had been passed by our army many months
before it advanced to the eastern bank of the Rio Grande.
In my annual message of December last, I informed
Congress that, upon the invitation of both the Congress
and Convention of Texas, I had deemed it proper to
order a strong squadron to the coasts of Mexico, and to
concentrate an efficient military force on the western
frontier of Texas to protect and defend the inhabitants
against the menaced invasion of Mexico. In that mes-
sage I informed Congress that- the moment the terms
of annexation offered by the United States were ac-
cepted by Texas, the latter became so far a part of our
own country as to make it our duty to afford to such pro-
tection and defence; and that for that purpose our
squadron had been ordered to the Gulf, and our army
to " take a position between the Nueces and the Del
Norte," or the Rio Grande. and " to repel any invasion
of the Texan territory which might be attempted by the
Mexican forces."
It was deemed proper to issue this order, because,
soon after the President of Texas, in April, 1845, had
issued his proclaimation, convening the Congress of that
republic, tor the purpose of submitting to that body the
terms of annexation proposed by the United States, the
Government of Mexico made serious threats of invading
the Texan territory.
These threats became more imposing as it became
more apparent, in the progress of the question, that the
people of Texas would decide in favour of accepting the
terms of annexation; and, finally, they had assumed
such a formidable character, as induced both the Con-
gress and Convention of Texas to request that a military
force should be sent by the United States into her terri-
tory for the purpose of protecting and defending her
against the threatened invasion. It would have been a
violation of good faith towards the people of Texas to
have refused to afford the aid which they desired against
a threatened invasion to which they had been exposed
by their free determination to annex themselves to our
Union, in compliance with the overture made to them by
the joint resolution cf our Congress.
Accordingly, a portion of the army was ordered to ad-
vance into Texas. Corpus Christi was the position se-
lected by General Taylor. He encamped at that place
in August, 1845, and the army remained in that position
until the 11 th of March, 1846, when it moved west-
ward, and on the 28th day of that month reached the
east bank of the Rio Grande opposite to Matamoras.
This movement was made in pursuance of orders from
the War Department, issued on the 13th of January,
1846. Before these orders were issued, the dispatch of
our Minister in Mexico, transmitting the decision of the
Council of Government of Mexico, advising that he
should not be received, and also the dispatch of our
Consul residing in the city of Mexico—the former bear-
ing date on the 17th, and the latter on the 18th of De-
cember, 1845, copies of both of which accompanied my
message to Congress of the 11th of May last—were re-
ceived at the Department of State. These communica-
tions rendered it highly probable, if not absolutely cer-
tain, that our Minister would not be received by the
Government of General Herrera. It was also well
known that but little hope could be entertained of a
different result from General Paredes, in case the revo-
lutionary movement which he was prosecuting should
prove successful, as was highly probable. The partisans
of Paredes, as our Minister, in the dispatch referred to,
states, breathed the fiercest hostility against the United
States, denounced the proposed negotiation as treason,
and openly called upon the troops and the people to put
down the government of Herrera by force. The re-
conquest of Texas and war with the United States were
openly threatened. These were the circumstances ex-
isting, when it was deemed proper to order the army
under the command of General Taylor to advance to
the western frontier of Texas, and occupy a position on
or near the Rio Grande.

The apprehensions of a contemplated Mexican invasion
have been since fully justified by the event. The deter-
mination of Mexico to rush into hostilities with the
United States was afterwards manifested from the whole
ter)ur of the note of the Mexican Minister of Foreign
Affairs to our Minister, bearing date on the 12th of
March, 1846. Paredes had then revolutionised the Go-
vernment, and his Minister, after referring to the reso-
lution for the annexation of Texiis, which had been
adopted by our Congress in March, 1845, proceeds to
declare that " a fact such as this, or, to speak with
greater exactness, so notable an act of usurpation,
created an imperious necessity that Mexico, for her own
honour, should repel it with proper firmness and dignity.
The Supreme Government had beforehand declared that
it would look upon such an act as a casus belli ; and, as
a consequence of this declaration, negotiation was, by its
very nature, at an end, and war was the only resource of
the Mexican Government."
It appears, also, that on the 4th of April following,
General Paredes, through his Minister of War, issued
orders to the Mexican general in command on the
Texan frontier to " attack" our army " by every means
which war permits." To this General Paredes had been
pledged to the army and people of Mexico during the
military revolution which had brought him into power.
On the 18th of April, 1846, General Paredes addressed
a letter to the commander on that frontier, in which he
stated to him, " at the present date I suppose you at the
head of that valiant army, either fighting already, or
preparing for the operations of a eampaign ;" and
" supposing you already on the theatre of operations,
and with all the forces assembled, it is indispensable
that hostilities be commenced, yourself taking the initia-
tive against the enemy."

The movement of -our army to the Rio Grando was
made by the commanding general under pcsitive orders
to abstain from all aggressive acts towards Mexico, or
Mexican citizens, and to regard the relations between
the two countries as peaceful, unless Mexico should de-
clare war, or commit acts of hostility indicative of a
state of war ; and these orders he faithfully executed.
Whilst occupying his position on the east bank of the
Rio Grande, within the limits of Texas, then recently
admitted as one of the states of our Union, the com-
manding general of the Mexican tortes, who, in
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crossed the river, invaded our territory,
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and commenced hostilities by attacking our forces.
Thus, after all the injuries which we had received and
borne from Mexico, and after she had insultingly re-
jected a minister sent to her on a mission of peace, and
whom she had solemnly agreed to receive, she consum-
mated her long course of outrage against our country by
commencing an offensive war and shedding the blood of
our citizens on our own soil.

The United States never attempted to acquire Texas
by conquest. On the contrary, at an early period after
the people of Texas had achieued their independence,
they sought to be annexed to the United States. At a
general election in September, 1836, they decided with
great unanimity in favour of " annexation ;" and in
November following the Congress of the republic autho-
rised the appointment of a minister to bear their
request to this Government. This Government, how-
ever, having remained neutral between Texas and
Mexico during the war between them, . and considering
it due to the honour of our country, and our fair fame
among the nations of the earth, that we should not at
this early period consent to annexation, nor until it
should be manifest to the whole world that the re-con-
quest of Texas by Mexico was impossible, refused to
accede to the overtures made by Texas. On the 12th
of April, 1844, and after more than seven years had
elapsed since Texas had established her independence,_ a
treaty was concluded for the annexation of that republic
to the United States, which was rejected by the Senate.
Finally, on the Ist of March, 1845, Congress passed a
joint resolution for annexing her to the United States,
upon certain preliminary conditions to which her assent
was required. The solemnities which characterised the
deliberations and conduct of the Government and people
of Texas, on the deeply interesting questions presented
by these resolutions, are known to the world. The
Congress, the Executive, and the people of Texas, in a
convention elected for that purpose, accepted with great
unanimity the proposed terms of annexation; and thus
consummated on her part the great act of restoring to
our federal Union a vast territory which had been ceded
to Spain by the Florida treaty more than a quarter of a
century before. _ _

After the joint resolution for the annexation of Texas
to the United States had been passed by our Congress,
the Mexican Minister at Washington addressed a note
to the Secretary of State, bearing date on the 6th of
March, 1845, protesting against it as " an act of aggres-
sion, the most unusual which can be found recorded in the
annals of modern history ; namely, that of despoiling a
friendly nation, like Mexico, of a considerable portion
of her territory;" and protesting, against the resolution
of annexation, as being an act " whereby the province of
Texas, an integral portion of the Mexican territory, is
agreed and admitted into the American Union;" and he
announced that, as a consequence, his mission to the
United States had terminated, and demanded his pass.
ports, which were granted. It was upon the absurd pre-
text, made by Mexico (herself indebted for her inde-
pendence to a successful revolution), that the republic
of Texas still continued to be, notwithstanding all that
had passed, a province of Mexico, that this step was
taken by the Mexican Minister.
Every honourable effort has been used by me to avoid