The Arkansas banner., 1844-05-01

Van Buren, as we have seen, proposed the purchase of Texas from Mexico. If, then, there be any force in the objections, that Tex as was aided n her conflict by American cit izens, that the war is still waging, (which 1t is not,) or that the independence of Texas is still unrecognized by Mexico, or that treaty with Mexico Gas we had with Spain) had been ratiied,--all these reasons apply with far greater force against the proposed purchase of Texas from Mexico in 1925, 1927, and 1880, when Mexico was yet unre- cognlzed by Spain when our treaty surren- derlng Texas to Spain, was unrescnded, ex- cept by the revolution in Mexico; and when our citizens were still aiding, as they always had done, the people of Mexico in ther strug- gle for independence. It Is true, that, ill 1897, within few weeks or months succce- ding our recognition of the independence of Texas, and before her recognition by any fo- reign powers, it might have subjected us to unjust imputations |; and therefore might have been deemed inexpedent, at such lime and under such circumstances, to re-anneX Texas by a treaty to this Union. But now, when seven years as an independent power by the great nations of Europe; and her sovereign ty fully established, and fully acknowledged, there can be no objection to such treaty at this period.
 The reasons assigned in 1925, 1927 1929, 1883, and 1885, for the remuneration of Texas, apply now with full force, These reasons were, that the Sabine as a boundary, was too near New Orleans that the defence of that city was rendered insecure and that the Arkansas and Red river, and all their tributaries, ought to be in our own exclusive possession. The present boundary is the worst which could be devised. It is a suc- cession of steps and curves, carving out the the great valley of the west into shape that is absolutely hideous. Itsurrenders the Red river, and Arkansas, and their numerous tri- butaries, for thousands of miles, to a foreign power. It brings that power upon the Gulf, within days sail of the Mississippi, and in the interior, by the curve of the Sabine, with in about one hundred miles of the Missis- sippi It places that power, for many hun dred miles, on the banks of the Red river, in immediate contact with sixty thousand h. dian warriors of our own, and with very many thousand of the fercest savage tribes in Texas, there to be armed and equipped for the work of death and desolation. It ena- bles d foreign power, with such aids, to de- scend the Red river, to the junction Of the Mississippi, there to cut off all communlca- ton from above or below, to arrest at that point all boatsWhich were descending with their troops and munitions of war for the de- fence of New Orleans, and fall down sudden ly on that city thus isolated from the rest of the Union, and subjected to certain ruin.
 From the mouth of the Mississippi to the Sabine, there is not a single harbor where an American vessel of war could find shelter but westward of the mouth of the Sabine, in Texas, are several deep bays and harbors and Galveston, one of these, has depth of water equal to that al the mouth of the Mis- sissippi. Looking into the interior, along this extraordinary boundary, we find a foreign power stretching for many hundred miles along the Sabine to the Red river; thence west several hundred miles along that river to the western boundary of our Indian ter ritories thence north to the Arkansas, and up that stream to the Southern boundary of the territory of Oregon, and at point which, according to the recent most able survey of Lieutenant Fremont, is within twenty miles of the pass of the Rocky mountains, which secures the entrance to Oregon. We thus place a foreign power there, to move east ward or westward, upon the valley of the Columbia or Mississippi. We place this power north of St. Louis, north of a portion of Iowa, and south of New Orleans, and along this line for several thousand miles in our rear.
 Such is the boundary at present given to the valley of the Vest such the imminent dangers to which it is subjected of Indian massacre; such the dismemberment of the great valley, and of many of the noblest streams and tributaries of the Mississippi |; such the surrender of so many hundred miles of our coast, with so many bays and har- bors such the hazard to which New Or leans is subjected, and the outlet of all our commerce to the gulf. Such is our present boundary and it can be exchanged for one that will give us perfect security, that will place our own people and our own settlements in rear of the Indian tribes, and that will cut them off from foreign influences that will restore to us the uninterrupted navigation of the Red river and Arkansas, and of all their tributaries; that will place us at the north, upon point to command the pass of Oregon, and on the south, to secure New Orleans, and render certain the command of the Gulf of Mexico. In pursuing our ancient and right ful boundary, before we surrendered Texas, along the Del Norte, we are brought, by a western curve of that great liver, to point within four hundred miles of the Pacific ocean, and where the waters of the Del Norte almost commingle with those that flow into the Western ocean. Up to this point on the Del Norte 1t is nayigable for steamboats; and from that point to the Pa cifc is good route. for caravans, and where it is believed, the Pacific may be united with the Del Norte and the Gulf by a railroad, not longer than that which now unites Buff falo and Boston and where, even now, without such road, we could command the trade of all the northern States of Mexico, of If no