Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-06-12
WHAT AND WHERE is TEXAS

A few facts, notorious, undeniable in Tex
a. itself, will settle the question of right as
TO the present collision on the Rio Grande.
aud show that our troops, and not the Mexi-
oans, are the actual and wrongful invaders.
Our rulers at Washington have studiously
kept out Of sight all correct data by which
public sentiment could reach fair conclusions,
and at this moment the European press is
treating The boundary question with more ge-
ographical precision than our home journals.
The province OF Texas never extended to
the Rio Grande never at any period has she,
either as an independent Republic, or a De-
p~artment of Mexico, exercised any act of
sovereignty beyond the Nueces. Tamauli-
pas, (of which Matamoros is the chief city,
Coahuila, and chihuahua, all carry, and have
carried, from the date of the Mexican confed-
eracy, their eastern line to the Nueces. This
river has ever been the acknowledged bound
airy of those three States, and as completely
their line of separation from Texas as the
Potomac marks the line between Maryland
and Virginia. North of them all, on both
sides of the Rio Grande, lies the immense
State of Santa Fe, with an area nearly equal
TO Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and
this, like the first named three, is, and has
ever been, an independent territory, as dis
tinct from Texas as California. The portion
of Tamaulipas, Coahuila and chihuahua w.
ing east of the Rio Grande ia almost unin-
habited but Laredo, and their few settle
ments on the margin of the river, are all
strictly Mexican, and have never been for an
hour under Texan rule. What the Wash
ington Union means by that section of Tex
as being formed into a County, and represent
sd in the Texan Legislature, is unintelligi-
BILE to those ignorant of a curious political
fiction original with that body. 1t is worthy
of explanation. Some Of the Western Coun-
ties of Texas, including San Patricio and
other Counties within the limits of the origi-
nal Province, were so depopulated by the
Mexican invasion Of SO, that they would not
be entitled to Delegates at all if a pro rata
census were to be tho standard. Under these
circumstances, they were admitted 10 Con-
greSs on the score of geographical extent and
future importance, and treated in all respects
as if they were Inhabited districts. TtUenty
soiers, and even less, have, by this accom-
modating spirit, sufliced to elect a member of
the Texan Congress. Thus the score or two
of families forming a trading depot at the ex-
IRENE corner of this County, (equal in extent
TO a State,) sent a Representative to Con-
Ercss. The Union forgets to state, however,
that twenty Mexican towns, also included in
this territory, never saw the flag of Texas ex-
cept in captivity, nor a Texan soldier or citi-
zen otherwise than as their prisoner. 1t for
gets, too, that these fifty or sixty thousand
Mexicans, who have resided in what we call
Texas without ever dreaming Of the fact, are
still under the Government Of Mexico, are
ruled by her laws and submissive to her Of
hcerg. If these twenty villages are within
the bounds Of the Union, why has no mail
route been established to them, And why
is not our Army dispossessing the officers of
Mexico from the positive sovereignty of our
soil, instead of threatening a city and block
aiding a port which we do not pretend to claim.
II we own. by virtue Of a resolution of the
Texan Congress, all the territory this side of
the Rio Grande, then Texas and Mr.. Polk
have been so remiss as TO leave about sixty
thousand of our fellow citizens unprotected
and perfectly under foreign control! If. how
ever, something more than a paper CHIN is
requisite-if settlement, protection, purchase,
conquest possession, or the consent Of its peo-
pie, is essential to a clear title, then neither
Texas nor the United States has one. II
Texas, up to her original boundary-the Nue.
ses-has acquired a right to self-governmen,
by settlement, conquest, possession, or other.
wise, she certainly has acquired, beyond thai
river. no ri1ht whatevaY-N Y Tr;buns