The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-13

back by the undesirability of Offering 50
grieVouS affrCnt to ncighboring friendly
state, which refused to regard the
achievement of Texas independence as
an accomplished fact SO long as such an
| acknowledgment was likely to result in
an extension of American territory But
as the struggle for annexation progressed
! these purely diplomatic considerations
! became of relatively less Importance, ana
with the rise of the anti-slavery propa-
ganda in the North the Texas question
assumed increasing Importance and came
to constitute the pivotal center about
which the embittered and irreconcilable
| conflict of sectional issues revolved
Left to Her Own Resources.
For nearly a decade the young repub-
. lie of Texas was left to her own devices.
1t was not until the administration Of
Tyler that the waning influence of the
North in the councils of the executive
marked by the retirement of Webster
from the department of state and the
succession of his great opponent, Cal
houn, permitted the government formally
TO surrender itself into the hands of the
annexationists. Even then the task was
difficult of execution. The desires of the
president met with the determined oppo-
sition in the national legislature, and it
was only when the question had been
submitted to popular decision in the cleo
ton of 1914 that newly constituted con-
gress, by act of March /, 1915, empowered
the executive to welcome Texas to the
privilege and duties of American state
hood.
By this act of annexation the United
States had assumed the responsibility OF
defending the newly acquired territory
against the claims of Mexico, a task rem
dered the more difficult from the fact
that the independent government of
THlx- 10 II, 7 e
| ritory to the Rio Grande although the
| area actually occupied by the emigranrs
| had not extended beyond the Nueces.
This further claim the United States was
more willing to assume, since the act of
annexation itself had been carried out
against the protests of Mexico anu was
| formally declared by her to be an act
of war.
President Polk, elected upon a platform
which demanded the remuneration of
Texas with all its consequences, pro-
ceeded at once to assume the burdens
which the situation imposed. Responding
to the demands of Texas for defense
against supposed renewal of hostility
on the part of Mexico, he dispatched
| Gen. Taylor with body of troops to the
disputed belt between the Nueces aad
the Rio Grande. In March, 1916, Gen.
Taylor moved from Corpus Christi, on the
to point in the extreme southwestern
portion of the territory claimed by Texas.
opposite MatamoraS. That this act was
irritating to the Mexican population of
the Lower Rio Grande is beyond ques-
ton; that it was intended to irritata is
almost as evident. The American govern
ment had failed to re-establish diplomatic
relations with it's Inundated neighpor,
and was now convinced that war or the
threat Of war was the only solution OF
the difficulty. In order to perfect DIR
title to Texas treaty was necessary
and no treaty of the kind was to be
obtained with peaceful measures.
The temper of the MeXicans on the Rio
Grande was unable to ignore the chal-
lenge implied in Gen. Taylor's strategy.
An aggressive movement against our
troops across the river, resulting in the
shedding of American blood, threw the
nation into the hands of the war party
and gave occasion for President Polk s
ringing war message, in which the inter-
minable series of Mexican outrages SEEM
ed about to meet with final chastisement
at the hands of a justly indignant ma
ton. The war advanced with an I'M
broken succession of brilliant achieve
ments against an unequal foe. Begun
for Texas, it involved the permanent oc-
cupation of the Southwest to the Pacific.
The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Feb. 2.
1913, established the Rio Grande as a
boundary and wrested from defeated
Mexico the territory which, with the sub
sequent Gadsden purchase of 1853, now
constitutes the states of New Mexico, Ari-
IONA and California, total area of 3d.
39S square miles,.
In all this spoliation, which, in fact, has
little justification but that Of force ard
utility the loss of Mexico was rather SEN
timental than material. Throughout this
region her rule had been but the
SHADOW of power. Nor was she dealt with
after the refined methods of modern con-
querors. So far from paying the ex-
penses of the war, in addition to her
loss of territory, she received partial
recompense Of $1,000 1000 and the cancella-
ton of claims to the amount of S3,509.0OO.
And. moreover. she obtained. with all this
sacrifice, natural boundary agaiIsst the
aggression of a powerful neighbor.
boundary which under the conditions at
present governing the utilization OF land,
is not likely to be disregarded.
Copyright, 1907