The Arkansas banner., 1844-05-01


 intrinsic value was incomparably less than that of Texasn
 In the letter of instructions from Mr. Madi son, as Secretary of State, of the 20th July, 1908, he. says, sthe acquisition of the Flori- das is still to be pursued" He adds, the eX- change of any part of western Louisiana which Spain may propose for the cession of the Florida, ''is inadmissable." sin intrinsic value there is no equality.n "We are the less disposed also to make sacrifices to obtain the Floridas because their position and the manifest course of events guarantce an edrty and reasonable acquisition of Hem.o In Mir Madison's letter, also, as Secretary of State, of the 8th of July, 1894, he announces the opposition of AIr. Jefferson ''to a perpetual relinquishment of dny territory whatever eastward of the Rio Bravo" In the message of President Houston of the 9th May, 1855, he says that Texas contains s'four-fitths of all the live oak now in the wolld.o Cotton will be its great staple, and some sugar and molasses will be produced. The grape, the olive, and indigo, and cocoa, nearly all the fruits of the tropics will be grown there also. In Texas are valuable mines of gold and sil- yer; the silver mine on the San Saba having been examined and found to be among the richest in the world.
 In the recent debate in the British Parlla- ment, Lord Brougham said: ss1'he impor- tance of Texas could not be oyerrated It was a country of the greatest capabilities, and was in extent full as large as France. It possessed soil of the finest and most fertile character, and 1t was capable of producing all tropical produce; and its climate was of most healthy character. It had access to the gull, to the river Mississippi, with which il communicated by means of the Red River.n The possession of Texas would ensure to Us the trade of Santa Fe, and all the northern states of Mexico. Above all, Texas IS a large and indispensable portion of the valley of the west. That velley once was all our own; but 1t has been dismembered by a treaty formed when the west held neither of the high executive stations of the govern ment, and was wholly unrepresented in the cabinet at Washington. The Red River and the Arkansas, divided and mutilated, now flow with their numerous tributaries, for many thousand miles, through the territory of a foreign power; and the west has been forced back along the gulf, from the Del Nortre to the Sabine. If, then, 1t be true that the scri- flee of Texas was made with painful reluc- tance, all those who united in the surrender will rejoice at the reacquisition.
 This Is no question of purchase of new territory, but of the remuneration of that which once was all our own. It is not a question of the extension of our limits, but of the restoration of former boundaries It proposes no new addition to the valley of the Mississippi; but of its reunion, and all its waters, once more, under our dominion i If the Creator had separated Texas from the Union by mountain barriers, the Alps or the Andes, these might be plausible objections; but he has planed down the whole valley, including Texas, and united every atom of the soil and every drop of the waters of the mighty whole. He has linked their rivers with the great Mississippi, and marked and united the whole for the dominion of one government and the residence of one people and 1t is impious in lnan to attempt to dis solve this great and glorious Union. Texas IS part of Kentucky, portion of the same great valley. It is part of New York and Pennsylvania, part of Maryland and Vir- ginia, and Ohio, and of all the western States, whilst the Tennessee unites with it the Wa ters of Georgia, Alabama, and Carolina. The Allegheny, commencing it's course in New Y ork, and with the Youghiogany, from Ma ryland and Monongahela from Virginia, mer- ging into the beautiful Ohio at the metropolis of Western Pennsylvania, embrace the streams of Texas at the mouths of the Arkansas and 1 Red river, whence their waters flow in kin dred union to the gulf. And here, let me say, that New ork ought to reclaim for the Alle- gheny its true original name, the Ohio, oi which 1t IS a part, and so marked and called by that name in the British maps, prior to l776, one of which Is in the possession of the i distinguished representative from the Pitts i burgh district of Pennsylvania. The words "Ohion and "Allegheny," in the two different Indian dialects, men clear, as designating truly, in both cases, the character of the water of both streams; hence 1t Is that New Y ork 1 is upon the Ohio, and truly stands at the head of the West. The treaty which struck ! Texas from the Union, inflicted blow upon this mighty valley. And who shall say that that the West shall remain dsmembered and mutilated, and the ancient boundaries of the republic shall never be restored? Who will desire to check the young eagle of America, now re6xing her gaze upon our frontier limits, and repluming her pinions for her returning fight' What American will say that the flag of the Union shall never wave again throughout that mighty territory; and that what Jefferson acquired, and Madison refused to surrender, shall never be restored? Who will oppose the re-establishment of our glo- rious constitution, over the whole of the mighty valley which once was shielded by its benignant sway? Who will wish again to curtail the limits of this great republican empire, and again to dsmember the glorious valley of the West? Who will refuse to re- plant the banner of the republic, upon our former boundary, or re-surrender the Arkan- sas and Red river, and retransler the coast of the gulf; Who will refuse to heal the bleeding wounds of the mutilaed West, and ] T I L.