Ypsilanti sentinel. [volume] (Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Mich.) 1843-1900, 1847-01-20

the question. If Texas once belonged to the
United States, it was ceded to Spain, land hence
we have no claims to it on that accout. Then
the President speaks of the treaty with Santa
Anna. | shall not, Mr.. Chairman, dwell upon
the subject. My first femark is, that there
was no treaty made with Santa Anna-nothing
that deserves the name oftredty. In the Sec
ond place, he was prisoner, and so not COM
petent to treat; and, third, if treaty had been
made and ratified, that treaty was violated by
Texas herself; for one of the principal reasons
why Santa Anna was induced to enter into
that treaty, arrangement, or whatever it may
be called, was, that he should be liberated and
sent under the protection of Texas to Vera
Cruz. He did embark for that city, but the
populance demanded his detention, and he was
brought back into Texas and kept prisoner
| in close confinement. He himself makes this
charge against the Texan Government, and the
President of Texas admits it to be true, and re-
grets the occurrence. So that, ifa treaty had
been entered into the violation treaty by Tex
as is good reason why it should have no bin
ding force. But there was treaty; there
was an arrangement, no doubt between General
Houston and Santa Anna: but what is perfect
" conclusive upon this subject is, that this very
| agreement provided that it should be submitted
to their respective governments for ratification,
and Mexico refused to ratify, it, and hence it
was null and void.
But the President says that the Texan Con-
gress, in l636,wh fixing their limits, declared
that the Rio Grande, from Its mouth to its source
was their western boundary. And he spreads
this before the country and before the world as
an argument to Justify us in our claims TO the
Rio Grande. Now MIR. Chairman, if the Pres
ident of the U. States,a lawyer in his own coun-
try, should be called upon by one of his clients,
and asked whether he could prosecute claim
successfully against neighbour to a portion of
land; and at the same time should inform him
thathe had no other title to it than the declara-
ton of the individual from whom he had receive
ed his quit-claim deed, do you suppose he could
hesitate single moment in telling him he had
no eau se whatever? do not believe that there
is pettifogger in the country who would hes
itate to declare that there was no foundation
for the claim. And still the President of the u
nited States, the head of great nation, in a
public document, spread before the country and
the world, as Justification o. an act of war,
brings forward that consideration as evidence
that The country to the Rio Grande was ours
Who does not blush for the honor of his coun-
try under circumstances like these
But the President says this was claimed by
Texas-that Texas declared the Rio Grande to
be her western boundary. Well, Mexico de-
clared the Sabine to be her eastern boundary.
And what does that provel As much in the
one case as in the other. The declaration OF
Mexico is as conclusive as that of Texas; mel
Their of them deserves one moments considera-
ton. And the President himself, By admitting
that New Mexico was department of Mexico,
and Santa Fe its Capital, and that it was con-
quered by our arms, virtually admits that this
10 Ho
knows that boundary can be established only by
treaty or by the sword, and that neither of these
can be alleged in favor of the claim of Texas to
the Rio Gfande.
But there is another argument OF the Presl-
dent which deserves notice, and it is this: Tex
as, says he, had extended her authority beyond
the .N'ueces, and, to sum up all his declarations,
because they all fall under the same general
principle, they amount to this; Texas had ex
tended her jurisdiction beyond the Nueces; she
had cusiom-house at Corpus Christi, on the
immediate western bank of that river: the peo-
pie living on that river, in the immediate valley
OF the Nueces, had been represented In the Tex
an Congress, and had assented to annexation to
the United States, and were included wi chin one
of the Congressional districts of Texas: the
United States, by an act of her Congress, had
established custom-house at Corpus Christi:
all these things were just over the river, on the
west bank in the immediate valley Of the Nue.
ces, and Observation-Disclosures what! Therefoae
we had title to the country soh'o foo or loo
miles further, to. the Rio drande, where not one
ofthese- declarations will hold good! Beyond the
Nueces and therefore to the Rio Grande! Now
what kind of logic is this!
Why, Mr.. Chairman, suppose that question
had arisen before the Virginia portion of this
District had been re-ceded, involving the boun-
Diary of the District, and it could be proved that
the district extended south of the Potomuc; that
Alexandria and Jackson city were subject to
the laws of the District; and from this it should
be inferred that the District extended to the Mis-
sissippi-what would be thought of such an ar
gument! 1t would be treated with deserved rid
cule. But this is the logic of the message
Beyond the Potomac, and therefore to the Mis-
sisslppi-is just as sound as beyond the Nueces,
and therefore to the Rio Grande.
ITO be Continued.)