Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1846-12-24
From tho N. Y Tribune.
TIE MESSAGE.

should have good memories Our Government
once found il convenient TO assert that Louisiana
(not Tcxas) extended to the Rio Grande France
authorized US to make no such claim in cedinp US
Louisiana. In lS0G Spanish military force was
VIGOROUSLY in possession Of Texas, and advanced
eastward nearly or quite 10 the Sabine. Mr. JeiTer-
son did not modest them there, though Gen wiki.
inson sent 10 observe them and see that they did
not cross over into the louisiana territory Six
years Afterwards Texas was the theatre of sanpuin-
~ strife between certain Patriots and the Spanish
military force stationed there; but our Govern.
meni never meddled in the matter. So ut a later
period when Galveston Bay had become notorious
resort Of smugglers freebooters and miscreans
generally, What were we about those sixteen years,
fTexas really belonged TO us, as Mr. Pinckney and
Mr. Adams automatically assertedl Why was our
flag never raised and its authority maintained there
during the long interval between our ACQUISITION of
Louisiana in 1903 and our formal and solemn aban.
donment OF all preLensions 10 Tcxls by the Flori.
da Treaty Of 1897 Does am man seriously be.
lieve that the real owners of that vast and
fertile region for sixteer years, with no counter.
claimant but feeble, distracted overwhelmed Spain
yet never sent Prtoon Of soldiers even ship
efwar there (not a weeks sail from NJ Orleansl
down TO cue surrender Of our pretensions in 1919
Bat Lex US see how Mr. Polk puts his foot in it -
Louisiana, he says, extended TO the Rio Grande
therefore Texas has the same extent and he cites
as authority the act of the Texan Congress, Dec.
10Th, 1896, declaring The Rio Grande from its
mouth TO its source to be the Western boundary Of
that Republic, and trumphantly adds, "THis was
the Texas which, by the act of our Congress Of the
29th Dec. 1916, was admitted one of the States
ofour Union" Very good. Sir hold on to this,
will youl while we turn few pages and find
you asserting that "By rapid movements, the prop
ince of NeC Aerieo, with Santa Fe, its capital has
been captured without bloodshcd." Captured, has
III Why that was ours long before, and not New
Mexico at all. but Texas, il your former assump.
tion well founded! Amy who has map
of North America that nearly all that "Ncw
Mexico" including that very "Santa Fe, its cap.
ita" lies east Of the Rio Grande, and within that
very State Of Texas as defined by herself and annex.
ed by our Congress How is it that city and
vast territory can at the same time be integral
portion ofonr State Of Texas and Of the Mexican
province Tor Department. Of New Mexico! Nay,
Sir, how dare you treat portion OF the STATE of
Texas as captured territory, and authorize one OF
your Military satraps 10 appoint all It's Judges, Dis
trct Attorneys, &c. &c. What an astounding
usurpation was here To send an armed force in
to part fthe State of Texas, and not merely
drive out the inUading Mexicans. but actually
treat it as captured territory, and subject it to the
most despotic government conceivable Not a
word whispered by anybody about its relation TO
Texas-no (re) extension ofTexan authority over
itno opportunity afforded its citizens to vote for
Texan Members Of our Congress, though these
have Just been chosen! Is not the whole web of
mingled audacty and fraud covering the pretext OF
extending Texas 10 the Rio Grande here exposed
by its very contriyersl
few words must answer long paragraphs OF
pettifoggery about that Western boundary of
Texas. That the Nueces pas that Western bounda-
~ while Texas formed part Of the Mexican State
of Coahua and Texas, no man has ever had the
hardhood 10 deny. The facts are too recent, too
I,,, a
herself from Mexico Coahuia adhered TO the
Mexican nation. The Map Of Texas prepared by
Stephen F. Austin, one Of her leading insurgents,
and published in 1897 agrees with common sense
in placing it at the Nueces where had previously
been. How it moved westward, fat all -
Surely not by Treaty there has been none. San
ia Annals agreement while prisoner was void BY
the Law OF Nations, repudiaied by Mexico violated
by Texas. None but man thoroughly conscious
of the badness Of his would even refer 10 il as
any sort Of authority. Has Texas then, ever con-
quered the Territory westward Of the Nueces 10 the
Rio Grande ! Never Neveri She has attempted
it once or more, but always with disastrous result
The little village Of Corpus Christi, barely across
the Nueces at its mouth, the western.most lin.
its OF actual Texas down 10 the day that Gen Tay-
lor pitched his tents there. When ordered to
march farther, he marched Mexican soil, en-
countered Mexican troops, caused the Mexicans TO
burn their custom house, &c, at San Isabel, on
the East bank Of the Rio Grande, where they had
always had customhouse Texas never. When
Gen. Taylor, acting under orders, set down oppo-
site Matamoros, he encamped amidst a Mexican
population, interrupting their industry and break
ing up their fields and grounds the letters OF our
officers abundandy testify, expressing amazement
that the Mexcans in Maamoros bore it so tamey.
The Presidents talk Of Mexico's Commencing an
oppressive war, after we had blockaded the mouth
OF the Rio Grande. subiecting her army and peo-