The Daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1845-1850, 1846-12-10

MEXICO. a simple statement OF facts, known to
exist, win concusively refute such. an assump-
ton. Texas as coded to the United States by
France in 1903, has been always claimed as ex.
tending west to the Rio Grande or Rio Bravo
This fact is established by the authority of our
most eminent statesmen at a period when the
question we'll if not better understood
than it is at present. During Mr.. Jefferson's adj
ministration, Messrs. Monroe and Pinckney, who
had been sent on a special mission to Madrid
charged, among other things, with the adjustment
OF boundary between the two countries in a note
addressed TO the Spanish Minister of Foreign AT
fairs, under date of the 2Sth OF January, 1906,
assert that the boundaries of Louisiana, as coded
to the United States by France, I" are the river
Perdido, on the east, and the river Bravo on the
west !; and they add that s. the facts and princi-
pies which justify this conclusion so .satistac-
tory 10 our Government as to convince it that the
United States have not better right to the island
OF New Orleans under the cession referred TO-,
than they have to the whole district of territory
which is above described"
Down to the conclusion of the Florida treaty.
in February, 1919, by which this territory was
coded TO Spain, the United States asserted and
maintained their territorial rights TO this extent
In the month OF June lSl8 during MI Monroe's
administration, information having beea recei-
we'd that number OF foreign adventures had
landed at Galveston, with the avowed purpose of
forming settlement in that vicinity, a special
messenger was dispatched by the Government OF
the United States, with instructions from the Sec
rotary of State TO them to desist should
they be found there, or any other place north
of the Rio Bravo, and within the territory claim.
ed by the United States - He was instructed
should they be found in the country north OF that
river, to make known to them &C the surprise with
which the President has seen possession thus ia
ken, without authority from the United States, Of
place within their territorial limits, and upon
which no lawful settlement can be made without
their sanction He was instructed to call upon
them to E" under what national authority they pro-
TESS to act,' and to give them due warning g that
the place is within the United States, who will
suffer no permanent settlement TO be made there
under any authority other than their own" As
late as the Sth Of July, 1912, the Secretary OF
State of the United States, in a note addressed
10 our Minister in Mexico, maintains that by the
Florida treaty OF 1872 the territory as far west
as the Rio Grande confirmed to Spain. In
that note he states that, 'by the treaty of the
22d of February, 1919, between the United States
aud Spain the Sabine was adopted as the line of
boundary between the two Powers Up to that
period, no considerable colonization had been ell
tected in Texas but the territory between the
Sabine and the Rio Grande being confirmed 10
Spain by the treaty, applications were made to
that Power for grants Of land, and such grants
by the Spanish authorities in favor Of citizens OF
the United States proposing to emigrate to Texas
in numerous families, before the Declaration OF
independence by Mexico"
The Texas which was ceded to Spain by the
Florida treaty of 1919 embraced all the country
now claimed by the State OF Texas between the
Nueces and the Rio Grande. The republic of
Texas always claimed this river as her western
boundary, and in her treaty made with Santa An
ma in May, 1886, he recognized il as such. By
the Constitution which Texas adopted in March,
1886, senatorial and representative districts were
organized extending west OF the Nueces. The
Congress of Texas on the 10Th OF Dece mber
1886, passed An act TO define the boundaries OF
the republic Of Texas" in which they declared
the Rio Grande from its mouth to its source to be
their boundary, and by the said act they extend
ed their g civil and political jurisdiction" over
the country up to that boundary. During Pc
riod OF more than nine years, which interviewed
between the adoption Of her Constitution and her
annexation as one of the States of our Union,
Texas asserted and exercised many acts of SOW.
ereignty and jurisdiction over the territory and
inhabitants west OF the Nueces. She organized
and defined the limits of counties extending to
the Rio Grande. She established courts of JUS
tice and extended her judicial system over the
territory. She established a custom. house, and
collected duties, and also post-ohices and post
roads, In it. She established land Office and is.
sued numerous grants for land, within its limits.
A Senator and Representative RESTING in it
were elected to the Congress Of the republic, and
served as such before the act of anne Ration took
place. In both the Congress and Convention Of
Texas, which gave their assent TO the terms of
annexation to the U. States, proposed by our Con-
gross, were representatives residing west of the
Nueces, who took part in the act OF annexation
itself. This was the Texas which, by the act of
Congress of the 29th of December 1916, was adj
miteG OF the States of our Union. That
the Congress of the United States understood the
State OF Texas which they admitted into the I'm
ion to extend beyond the Nueces is apparent from
the fact, that on the 3lst of December, 1915, on
ly two days after the act of admission they passed
aJaw g to establish a collection district in the
State of Texas" by which they created port OF
delivery at Corpus Christi, situated west OF the
Nueces, and being at the same point at which the
Texas custom house, under the laws OF that
public, has been located, and directed that sur
yeyor to collect the revenue should be appointed
tor that rort by the President, by and with the
advice and consent Of the Senate A surveyor
was accordingly nominated, and confirmed by the
Senate, and has been ever since in the perform
ance of his duties. All these acts of the repub
lie ofTexas and Of our Congress, preceded the
orders for the advance of our army to the East
bank OF the Rio Grande Subsequently, Congress
naqead on carfoin nosf roufas