The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1846-12-19

dction over the territory and nbtpitants west o.
the Nueces. She organized and defined the linus
az counties extending 10 the Rio Grardes sne
isbed courts Of Justice and extended her ju-
,;a;a =. stem over the territory. She estabhsheda
.ho,,se, and collected duties, and also post.
and pos.-roads, in it. She established iand
ss,;ss nd i.sued pumerous grants Tor land, WITH
i no l;,o,s- A Senator and RepresentatIys re-
siding within il were elected 70 the Congress o. ne
republic and served as such before the act q anne
alton took place. In both me Consress sna ~
yenton of Texas which ga 5e lheit sssena ~ ~,
terms Of to the u. Sta 9yf.,
Congress, were representatives res pE
Nueces;whicht took part in the act OF Aa',y
self. This was the Texas which, by tbs ao' ,o
Congress of the twenty ninth OF De cemne
was admitted as one Of the States oil our ',
That the Congress Of the United States understeou
the State of Texas which they admitted INTO Inp
Union to extend beyond the Nueces IS 'apparens
from the fact, that on the shirty-fIst of Decem-
ber, ls45 only two days after the act OF admission,
thew passed law ssto establish 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 wnicn
the Texas custom-house, under the laws oil that
republic, had been located, and directed that asur
veyor to collect the revenue should be appointed
for that port by the President, by aud with the adj
Woe and consent Of the Senate. A surveyor was
accordingly nominated aud confirmed by the Sen,
ate and has been ever since in the performance OF
his duties All these acts OF the republic ot lex
as, and our Congress, preceded The orders lot me
advance our army 10 the east bank OF the hlo
| Grande. Subsequently, Congress passed an act
Establishing certain past routes : extending west
of the Nueces. The country west OF that nyer
now constitutes part of one OF the congressional
districts of Texas and is represented IN the ouse
Of Representatives. The senators from that State
were chosen by legislature in which me country
| west Of that river was represented. In viewt al
these facts, il is difficult to conceive upon what
ground it can be maintained that in occupying the
country west of the Nueces with our army, witha
view solely to ITS Defence invaded the territory
j of Mexico But ii would have been still more
! difficult TO Justify the Executive, whose duty Is
to see that the laws be faithfully executed, It in
the face of all these proceedings. both o the Con.
eress Of Texas and Of the United States, he had
4 assumed the responsibility ofyelding up the ter
ritory rest of the Nueces TO Mexico, or OF refusing
to protect and defend this territory and its inhabi-
tants, including Corpus Christi, as well as the re.
mainder of Texas, against the threatened Mexican
invasion. Z. -
1 But Merico herself has never placed the war
which she has waged upon the ground that our ar
nv occupied the intermediate territory between
the Nueces and the Rio Grande. Her refuted pre-
tension that Teras was not in fact an independent
1 State, but rebellioas province, was obstinately
lpersevered in; and her avowed purpose IN COM
mencing a war with the United States was TO re-
conquer Texas, and to restore Merican authority
over the whole terrltory--not to the Nueces only,
but to the Sabine. In view Of the proclaimed me-
naces of Merico to this effect Ideemed il my duty.
! as me asure of precaution and defence. to order
our army to occupy position on our frontier az 4
. military post, from which our troops could best
resist andiepef any attempted invasion which Mex
leo might make. t9esf 81 y
Our army had occupied position at Corpus
Christi, west Of the Nueces, as early as August.
1885, without complaint from any quarter. Had
the Nueces been regarded the true western boun-
dairy 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 Con-
venton of Texas, had deemed it proper to order
strong squadron to the coasts OF Merico, and to
concentrate an efficient military force on the west
ern frontier Of Tera;, to protect and defend the
inhabitants against the menaced invasion OF Mer-
leo. In that message informed Congress that the
moment the terms of annexation offered by the u
/ nited States were accepted by Teras. the latter
became far part Of our own country as TO mako
1T duty to Afford such protection and defence;
and thatfo that purpose our squadron had been
, ordered to the Gulf and our army to stake po-
4 sition between the Nueces and the Del Norte, :"
or Rio Grande, and to "repel any invasion OF the
E Teran territory which might be attempted by tho
: MEXICAN forces" ssaf tt Aet sag3-. eal sltt.lS
Itwas deemed proper to issue this drder, because,
soon after the President of Teras, in April, lS45,
4 had issued his proclamation convening the Con-
gress of that republic for the purpose submitting
to that body the terms of annexation proposed by
i, the United States, the government oil Merico made
4 serious threats of invading the Teran territory
J. These threats became more imposing as it became
d more apparent, in the progress OF the question,
d that the people Of Teras would decide in favor oil
! accepting the terms of anneration; and. fiuaiy
II they had assumed such formidable character. as
induced both the Congress aad convention of Ter
ir to request that military force should be sent
>, by the United States into her territory for pur
e pose of protecting and defending her against the
,r threatened invasion. II would have been a yio
ID aton of good faith towards the people oil reras
h. have refused to afford the aid which they deslret
nj against threa tened inv ason, to WHICH they hst
tv been exposed by their free determination to an
Of ner themselves our Union, IN compliance witt
ID the verture made 10 them by the joint resolution
< OF our Congress. ,i,l51 s. 3fsstr ,541
@ Accordingly, portion OF the army was orderet
as to advance into Texas. Corpus Christi was thu
I. position selected BY Gen. Taylor. He encamped
v. at that place ia August, ls45, and the army re
y, mained in that position until the eleventh o March
e. 1916, when il moved westward, and on the TWEEN
N ty- eighth of that month reached the east bank
x the Rio Grande opposite Matamoros. This move
he ment was made in pursuance OF orders from th
". War Department, issued on the thirteenth OF Jan
It's uary, 1886 Before these orders were issued, m
le dispatches of our minister in Mexico transmiltin
ri the decision. ot the Council of Government
,o Mexico, advising that he should not be received
nj and also the despatch OF our consul residing IN tn
ce city of Mexico--the former bearing date on tn
seventeenth and the latter on the eighteenth {
he December. iS45, copies of both of which accom-
nv panied my message to Congress of the eleventh
bs NAV last--were received at the Department 9
of State These communications rendered II highl
ro probable il not absolutely certain, that our minis
ma ter would not be received By the government {
he General Herrera. It was also well known that b,
,6. little hope could be entertained of different
m suit from eien Fareoes' III case VIC ieFoiuuoha
IN. movement which he was prosecutingshoul3 pro'
,6 successful. as was highly probable. The pariisa
he of Paredes, minister in the despatch refe
he red to staes brea,hed the ercest hostility again