The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-08-12

ton; If he had, Is there one man ia all of this
broad land who would not, with his laat gasp,
have heaped curses and iinprecations upon his
head And shall this Government force an
insult upon Texas, a sister Of the Confcdeacy,
which she would not and dare not take from any
power on Gods earthi
know not what course Texas may think IL
her duty to take in this emergency. But, sir, it
she strike for her honor-if she strike for her
affairs and her firesides-if she strike for liberty
and law, warn her oppressors that she will not
strike alone.
But, Mr.. Chairman, have said that the Pres-
dent has virtually taken this question Of the dis.
puted boundary between Texas and the United
States ont Of the hands of Congress, and has as
sumed, by an executive pronulciamento, to set
tie the whole matter adversely to Texas; ard
will show that he means this, if he means any
thing.
AS for anything which appears in the message,
Texas never had shadow of claim to any part
of the country in dispute, The President is par
ticulaI in stating that the country was a part of
New Mexico prior to the treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, and rectes at full length the fifth, eighth
and ninth articles of that treaty. to show that the
country belongs to the United States, and that
he is bound to protect it by military power
But he wholly omits to say anything of the
grounds on which Texas bases her claim; not
one word of her revolutionary rights; nothing
of her treaties with Mexico not a syllable about
her boundary as defined in her Constitution of
1896; no reference to the negotiations which
led to her annexation nothing OF the opinions
of his predecessors and their cabinets, recognize
ing the rights Of Texas within the boundary as
prescribed by her constitution: and lastly, no
I'll ~ $3.50 q A. a. L..
mention OF the GROWING act OF annexation--the
resolutions of March ], l845, by which the star
of her existence was blotted out andher political
institutions buried in those ofthe United States,
If Mr.. Fillmore had thought 1t worth his while
to look into these matters, ne would have found
his duty not quite 80 plain, nor the obligation
quite 50 imperative to use the naval and military
power of this Government to crush Texas, if she
dsred to assert her rightful claim to the country
in dispute.
commend the history of this transaction to
the President and his advisers before they COM
mence hanging the Texans for treason. Per-
haps it may be found that Texas acquired some
rights by her revolution and by her treaty with
Santa Anna. 1t may turn out that she placed
the evidence of her rights on record in the endur-
ing form of a written constitution. 1t may
appear that these rights were recognized by
every department of this Government in its nego-
tiations and debates on the treaty OF annexation.
It will most certainly appear chat these rights
were solemnly recognized by this Government
in the final consummation of that treaty. BY
the resolutions Of annexation, approved March
i, l845, it was provided, among other things,
that all that part of Texas lying south of thirty
six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude,
should be admitted into the Union with or with
out slavery as the people might elect; and in
all that part lying north Of the said parallel Of
thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes, slavery
should be prohibited. Now, sir, what does this
language mean, and why was it employed
Texas, rs we all know, had defined her bounda-
ries; she fixed her western limits on the Rio
Grande, from its mouth to its source, and she
extended her northern limits to the parallel oil
AZ deg. Hence, when she asked admission into
the Union. there was no dispute between her and
the United States rs to where her boundaries
were She presented herself with fixed boun-
daries, and we took her as she was. BY a
solemn compact, as binding in its forms as a
treaty between nations could make it, and as
plain in its terms as our language could express
it, we accepted her, and shipped her policy
through all after-time on the subject OF slavery.
Her territory north of So deg. 30 min. was to
be free, and all south OF that line was to be slave
territory. Such was the contract between Texas
and the United States-the only contracting
parties.
Texas presented herself bounded on the west
by the Rio Grande and on the north by the AID
parallel, and we took her as she presented her
self. We had either to do this or not take her
at all. All the debates, all the negotiations, all
that was written or said on the subject pending
the treaty of annexation, shows that this was
the understanding OF both parties. True, there
was an outstanding dispute between exas ana
Mexico about the separate or independent exist
ence Of Texas. Mexico denied the nationality
of Texas. The United States admitted It and
treated with her as a sovereign. Mark you,
Mexico did not dispute with Texas about
boundary, but about her separate national inde-
pendence. We admitted Texas, by treaty en-
tered into between her and the United States,
into the Union of these States and we under
took to defend, to protect and mantaln her
against Mexico. We did this N good faltii--we
went to war with Mexico. That war resulted IN
Mexico giving up all the territory that lay within
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