The Arkansas banner., 1844-05-01


 a question of the re-establishment of our an-
 cient boundaries, and the repessession of a
 territory most reluctantly surrendered. The
 surrender of territory. even ii constiiution-
 al. is almost universally inexpedient and un-
 wise, and, in any event, when circumstances
 may seem 10 demand such t surrender, the
 territory thus abandoned should always be
 re-acquired whenever it may be done with justice and propriety. Independent of these
 views, we have the recorded opinion of John
 Quincy Adams, as President, and Henry
 Clay, as Secretary of State, and also ot Gen Andrew Jackson. as President, and Martin
 Van Buren, as Secretary of State, that Texas i ought to be re-annexed to the Union. On
 the 26h of March, 1895, AIr. Clay, in con- i formty with his own views, and the express
 directions of .Hr. Adams, as President, di-
 rec;ed ....ier to Mir. Poinsett, our Minister
 at Mexico, instrucGng him to endeavor to l procure from Mexico tranfer to us of Texas
 to the Del Norte. In this letter Mir. Clay
 says, < the President wishes you to effect
 that obiect.o AIr. Clay adds: SThe line
 of the Sabine approaches our great western
 mart nearer than could be wished Perhaps the Mexican government may not be unwil-
 ling to establish that of the Rio Brassos de l Dios, or the Rio Colorado, or the Snow
 Mountains, or the Rio del N orte, in lieu of
 it.'' Mir. Clay urges, also, the importance of 1 having entirely within our limits < the Red
 river and Arkansas, and their respective trib-
 utary streams.n
 On the 18th of March, 1927, Mf. Clay
 again renewed the effort to procure the ces- sion of Texas. In his letter of instruction, of that date, to our minister at Mexico, he ,, says 'sThe President has thought the pre-
 sent might be an suspicious period for urging , a negotiation at Mexico, to settle the boun-
 dary of the two republics.o '' If we could obtain such boundary as we desire, the
 government of the United States might be
 disposed to pay a reasonable pecuniary com pensation. The boundary we prefer Is that | which, beginning> at the mouth oi the Rio del Norte in the sea, shall ascend that river i, to the mouth of Rio Puero, thence ascending 3 this river to its source, and from its source e by line due north to strike the Arkansas l; i thence following the southern bank of the 8 Arkansas to its source in latitude Az north ; :, and thence by that parallel of latitude to the 2 South sea.n And he adds, the treaty may provide flor the incorporation of the lnhabl- tants into the Union'
 Mr. Van Buren, in his letter, as Secretary of State, 10 our Minister al Mexico, dated August 25, 1929, says: 'slt is the wish of } the President that you should, without de- : lay, open negotiation with the Mexican } government for the purchase of so much ot the province of Texas as is hereinafter de- } scrbed" .sHe is induced, by deep con ; viction of the real necessity of the proposed acquisition, not only as a guard for our Wes- tern frontier, and the protection of .Ne~ Or } ledns, but also to secure forever te the lnha-
 bitants of the valley of the Mississippi the
 undisputed and undisturbed possession of the navigation of that river.o ''The territory, of which cession Is desired by tke United States, is all that part of the province ofTex- as which lies east of d line beginning at the } Gulf Of Mexico, in the centre of the desert, or grand prairie, which lies west of the riy- T CT Nuecesn And Mir. Van Buren adds, the ' treaty may provide s'for the incorporation ol s the inhabitants into the Union." And he I then enters into long and powerful argu- : ment of his own, in favor of the re-acquisi- ], ton of Texas.
 ' On the 20th of March, 1883, Gen. Jack : son, through Mr. Livingston as Secretary ol !. State, renews 10 our Minister at Mexico the s former ssinstructons on the subject of the . proposed cesson" On the 2d of July, 1855 s through Mir. Forsyth, as Secretary of State, directs our Minister at Mexico to endeavor f to procure for us, from that government, the following boundory, Nbeginning at the Gulf l of Mexico, proceeding along the eastern bank 3 of the river Rio Bravo del Norte, to the 37th { parallel of latitude, and thence along that pa rallel to the Pacic.o This noble and gori- i ous proposition of General Jackson would have secured to us, not only the whole of 2 Texas. but also the largest and most valua- l ble portion of upper California, together with S the bay and harbor of San Francisco, the , best on the western coast of America, and - equal to any in the world If, then, it was n deemed, as it is clearly proved, most desira- a ble to obtain the remuneration of Texas T down to period as late as August, 1855 Il is it less important at this period
 ) We find the administration of Messrs l. Adams and Clay in 1925, and 1927, and that : of Jackson and Van Buren, in 1929, and ;. subsequently, in 1893 and 1885, making stre- ,f nuous efforts to procure the remuneration oi }, Texas, by purchase from Mexico, at the t expense of millions of dollars. Let us ob- ], serve also the dates of these efforts That . of the first by Messrs. Adams and Clay, in !, March, 1925, was within three years after f the recognition of the independence of Mex h ico by this country, and prior to its full re- ' cognition by other powers; and it was with
 in less than five years subsequent to the final e ratification of the treaty by which we sur }, rendered Texas, not 10 Mexico, but to Spain Q Now, as Spain had not then recognized the l. independence of Mexico, and the war was still waging between those nations, the only 7 title which Mexico had to Texas, was by a [ successful revolution, and is precisely the - same title, and depending on the same prin- ' ciples, as that now possessed by Texas ;, The same remarks apply to the subsequent