Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1847-01-07

was disposed to receive q ministry from
us 10 settle existing difficulties, and also i
that the country was on the verge OF one
its frequent revolutions II disposed TO
take remedy into our own hands. Con-
gress might have authorized reprisals up. |
on MEXICO: measure short Ot war, that |
Presjdun; Jackson had recommended, and |
which was then aud at all tines amply !
sufficient lur redress, and for every pur-
pose except to ,icSpuil Mexico Of i portion
Of her territory.
Eut, to return to the mrtrrial question
belwesn President Polk and the Amcrican
People Ho,c, and by achom acds Tbs ,cdr
begun? IIby Mexico, he stands ahsoved
if by himself, he has far surpassed all his
predecessors 10 bold abuse ofpowor.
No threats ON the part of Mexico am
ounted to War. In August, lS45, tn
American Army by order of the President
took post at Corpus Christi, on the west
bank OF the Nucces, and within the line
of the Texan settlements. 1t remained
in that position, unmo!csted by the Next
cans, until March, 1916, when under or
de. D. Of the War Department, it moved
forward to occupy position on the Rio
Grandc. In the execution OF the orders
ufthe President, the Commanding Gencr-
al overthrow by military force, and ex-
PEELED the Mexican authorities from San.
| tiago, took post on the Rio Grande, forti-
| fed his camp, mounted his cannon so as
10 command the town of Matamoras, and
cut off all communications with it by
blockading the mouth Of the river on
which it stands. Up 10 that time Next
co had sent no forces across the Rio
Grande. The Texans had no settlements
or posts (nor ever have they had any) on
the Rio Grande, upon any of its trlbuta-
ties, or within its long valley, from its
sources 10 lis mouth. Texan officers, laws.
or jurisdiction had never been seen or eX
| listed anywhere on the borders Of the Rio
| Grande, from the Green Mountains TO the
| Gulf. On the contrary, the whole length of
the country had been discovered by the
| Mexicans, and their uninterrupted posses
| sion had continued mp to that day. Be
ginning with the city of Taos, more than one
thousand miles up the Rio Grande, the Mex
leans had east of that river towns and
cities, Santa Cruz, Santa Fe (hc capital of
New Mexico,) San Miguel, San Domingo,
Albuquerque, Toreon, TolillaS, Tajiqna,
Nul.eas, Tacira, Valverde, Fra Cristobal,
Oh Preside, Dolores Laredo, and Point Is
abel, stretching the whole length Of the
river. from its sources to the Gulf. From
the time that Mexico became independent
Of old Spain, her jurisdiction, her laws, and
her officers had Swayed over all these cities
and towns, and the entire rural population OF
the country. Texas never had toolhold
in the country of the Rio Glande. Such
was the state of things until it was FIRST in
terrurted, and has since been subverled, by
our army; and all this was as well known
! to the President as TO any other man. Both
Mexico and President Polk have declared
to the world that the United States aud
Mexico were at peace, before Gen. Taylor
was ordered TO march from the NeuceS to
the Rio Grande. Certainly Mexico had not
made war upon the United States. No per-
son will deny that warlikc act is war.
Are not the marching of an army of one
nation into territory that has ever been in
the unbroken possession OF aaother with
which, it is at peace, and where the Juris-
diction laws, and authorities of the country
thus assaulted have been daily enforced, and
the overthrow of these laws and authorities
by the invading army, and the substitution
of its military rule, warlikc acts? If these
acts necessarily lead 70 rar, ii is not coupe
tent for the President TO authorize them, be-
cause the Constitution vests the whole war
mower of the Government in Congress. But
such acts are War, and in most offensive
form. Our armies have taken possession of
a good part of New Mexico and Chihuhua,
without any actual conflict of arms; and
who will not say that we have not made
war upon those Mexican States? No; the
President has no more right or constitution
al power, of himself, to undertake such acts,
than he has to appropriate money in the
Treasury. or to decide cases in the Supe-
rior Court.
But the Message assumes boldly that the
Rio Grande, from its month 10 its So,tce, is
the western boundary Of Texas. 1T redi
Gates this conclusion mainly upon the
grounds that Texas had alpayS claimed TO
that boundary; that her Congress, by the
act of 1885, declared j, TO be so; that in
her treaty with Santa Anna, in May, 1886,
he recognized it as such;' and that Texas,
as cedcd to the United States by France in
1903, has been always claimed as extending
west to the Rio Grande, or Rio Bravo.'-
His, proposition then is, that as Texas by
annexation, became State of the Union,
and her western boundary was the Rio
Grande, the United States extended to that
line, and it was his duty to see that her
laws were faithfully executed up to it.
Let us rapidly examine these various
points. BY the resolution annexing Texas,
Congress did not recognise the Rio Grande,
or any other line, as the western boundary
of Texas. There has been at no time
controversy or doubt upon the true position
of any other than the tcestern boundary OF
Texas; and in reference To this line, the
resolution of an nexation expressly included
only The territory properly included within
and rightfully belonging 10 the Republic of
Texas cautiously providing, in addition,
that said Stale (of I'exaS) was to be for
med subiec, to the adjustment by this Gov
ernment of all questions of boundary that
may arise with other Governmen!s.' Eere
is a district recognition that this western
boundary was unsettled, and condition
imposed which, in terms, was accepted to by
Texas, that its adjustment with Mexico
should be made by the Government of the
United States Will any one maintain that
that the President, of himself, can adjust
and determine the unsettled boundaries OF