The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1848-01-06
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.

review Of the Presidents Message by the
editor Of the National lntelligencer. II is
. review Of the most essential portion ol
tho Message-shat portion which falscl,
accuses Mexico Of having commenced og.
gressions:--
To proceed, however, TO the main poin,
upon tho re-nssertion Ut which alone The
President relics to justify himself before
his own fcllow-ctizens for his agency in
this War, viz: that tho Mexican Govern
ment ''tinaIIy, under wholly unjus,iliab'e
pretexts, involved the two countries in war,
BY invading the territory Of Texas, striking
tho first blow, and shedding tho blood Of
our citizens on American soil" Not one
rord Of this is true. We regret the nc
cessitv, but the President imposes upon us
the obligation, Of renewing the demons,ra-
ton Of tho utter falsity al the whole Of il.
Mexico did not involve the two countries
in war: Mexico did not invade tho terrific
~ Of Texas: Mexicn did not strike the frs,
blow: Mexico did not shed the blood Of our
citizens ON our own soil.
This whole question, il will be seen, re-
solves itself into one Of territorial bouuda-
~.
Did, ut the breaking out Of this war, the
territory between the Nucces aud tho Rio
Grande Del Nortc) belong TO Mexico or to
the Uri,sd States?
Il did not belong 10 the United States.
The Republic Of Texas had no title 10 II.
She had not even n respectable claim to il.
She pretended to no such title when she
called Convention 10 form her Constitu-
ton; Cor not member wns called TO that
Convention from any portion of tho terri.
tory bounding on the Rio Grandc. Nor
when, in her Constitution, she appor,ioned
the Representation in her Legislature a.
mong the several districts Of her territory,
did she cnumerate any districts lying upon
tho Rio Grandc rs entitled TO representa-
ton in the Texan General Assembly,
The whole country on the Rio Grandc, aud
indeed the whole country west Of tho Nue..
ces, exccp: the small settlement of San Pa.
tricio, was exclusively in possession Of the
McXicans, until the army Of the United
States marched into il, driving before il the
Mexican civil officers and the peaceful in
habitants. Texas having M title TO the
territory, the annexation of Texas 10 this
Union could confer none upon the United
States. We're pence TO be made to-mor-
row on the basis Of lcayirg things as they
were before the wnr, the territory between
the Nueccs and tho Rio Grande would s,ill
constitute part Of tho Mexican States OF
Tun,aulipns, &c.
This state Of the fact il none cf orr FIRST
discovering, much less Of our imagining.
We derive aenrly oil our information on
the subject from the highest Democratic
authority. When the Treaty with Texas,
by which she undertook 10 convey TO the
United States western boundary to the
Rio Grandc, WINS depending in the Senate,
Mr.. Senator BENTON thigh authority on the
subject) Indignantly denounced il as an at.
tempted fraud and outrage.
IL wash my hands," snid he, "of ull at
tcmpv to dismcmbcr the Mcrican RepuJ.
Tic. BY scising her dominions in Ncp Mer-
eco, chihuahua, Coahuiia, and Ianauii
pas. The treaty, in all that relates to the
boundary Of the Rio Grandc, is an act Of
unparalleled outrage on Mc.rico. 1t is a
seizure Of tro thousand miles Of her terri.
tory, without a word Of explanation with
her, and by virtue Of treaty with Texas,
TO which she is no party"
Mr.. BENTON further declared that the
claim set up BY Texas by the Treaty, if
maintained, would cut IF .s,ho capital and
forty towns and Villages of New Mexico,
now and always ms fully under the domn-
ion of Mexico as Quebec and all tie towns
Of Canada are under the dominion oil Grcat
Britain"
Mr.. b. closed his speech by Offering the
following resolution:
Resolrcd, That the incorporation of the
left bank of the Rio del Nortc into the A.
merican Union, BY virtue Of n treaty with
Tcxns, comprchending, as the said incor-
poration would do, portion Of the Mexi-
can departments Of New Mexico, Chihua-
hun, Coahuiln, md Tamaulipas, would be
an act Of direct aggression upon Merico,
for all the consequences Of which the Uni
ted States roHld stand responsible.
To the same effect, that great Democrat
ic leader, the lion. SrLAs WRIcmr, (whose
late death has been so Justly Iamented by
men Of all partics,) who was present during
the whole debate upon the Texas Treaty
and gave bis vote against its ratification,
declared to his constituents, in speech de-
livered nj WATERFOWL, as follows:
81 felt il my duty 10 vote against the rat
ifcation Of the treaty fnr the annexation.
] believed that the treaty, from the boun.
darics that mast be implied from il, embra-
ccd a country 10 rhich 7cras had no claim.
orcr rkich she had nercr asserted jurisdic-
ton, and rhich she had no right to cedc.'
But, many years before the date Of this