our force within the limits of Texas will be strictly defensive, I have thought it right to make these observations.

"It is almost certain that our troops now on the border will be, in a few days, on the march to such stations as may be selected for them within the territory of Texas. Corpus Christi, San Antonio, and one other station farther north, will probably be selected.

"The prospect of a Mexican war is so immediate as to justify your remaining on the lookout for the event. It is openly threatened by Mexico, and the British minister has left behind him a general impression that it will take place. If it does, your coöperation with our land troops I should think sufficient, without much aid from Texas herself, to drive the Mexican arms west of the Rio Grande. It is to be hoped, however, that Mexico, seeing the determination of the United States to maintain by force the right of Texas to annex herself to our Union, will yet prefer to settle, by treaty, the points in dispute."

TERMS OF ANNEXATION ACCEPTED BY THE GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE OF TEXAS.

Mr. Donelson to Mr. Buchanan, June 23, 1845.

"You will receive herewith enclosed the joint resolution and the letter of the secretary of state transmitting it, giving the consent of this government to the proposals for the admission of Texas as a State of the Federal Union. The vote upon it was unanimous.".

The measure remained to be acted upon by the people of Texas. They were notified by a proclamation of President Jones, on the 4th of June, 1845, to choose delegates to meet at the city of Austin on the 4th of July following. The result in convention is stated in despatch, dated July 6, 1845, from

Mr. Donelson to Mr. Buchanan.

"There was but one dissenting voice to the acceptance of our proposals by the convention, and that one afterwards affixed

his signature to the resolution adopted on the subject; so that the ordinance now forwarded to you has the unanimous support of all the deputies. Thus are dissipated all the schemes of foreign powers to raise a party in Texas adverse to annexation; and thus has this gallant State vindicated her appreciation of the principles of liberty, and of the necessity of union with us in order to preserve those principles."

GENERAL TAYLOR ADVISED OF ANNEXATION.

On the 28th of June, Mr. Donelson advised General Taylor that the terms of annexation had been unanimously accepted by the government of Texas; and, on the 7th of July, that the convention of the people had unanimously approved the same; "and that, therefore, the contingency has occurred on which the president of the United States placed the right and duty of defending this territory against the attacks of Mexicans and Indians." On the 23d of August, the secretary of war says to General Taylor, "Orders have been issued to the naval force on the Gulf of Mexico to coöperate with you." In the same despatch, the secretary of war authorizes General Taylor to call upon the governors of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky, for volunteers, "should Mexico declare war, or commence hostilities by crossing the Rio Grande with a considerable force."

THE CHOICE OF THE TEXANS.

Ebenezer Allen, Attorney-General of Texas and acting Secretary of State, to Mr. Donelson, June 23, 1845.

'

Rejecting the idea of separate nationality, although commended to their choice by the proffered recognition of their independence by Mexico, and the countenance of powerful European sovereignties, the people of this country have thus evinced, by most decided manifestations, their strong but natural preference for the advantages of a voluntary incorporation into the American Union, and their strong attachment to the free institutions of that great and glorious Republic."

FREE ACTION OF THE TEXANS. ANNEXATION A BLOODLESS

ACHIEVEMENT.

It is the language of truth and sincerity, however much it may be doubted by partisans, which we find in the message of President Polk to Congress, December, 1845.

"This accession to our territory has been a bloodless achievement. No arm of force has been raised to produce the result. The sword has had no part in the victory. We have not sought to extend our territorial possessions by conquest, or our republican institutions over a reluctant people. It was a deliberate homage of each people to the great principle of our federative Union.

"If we consider the extent of territory involved in the annexation, its prospective influence on America, the means by which it has been accomplished, springing purely from the choice of the people themselves to share the blessings of our Union, the history of the world may be challenged to furnish a parallel."

The president had acted openly and independently in this negotiation, and he had every reason to congratulate the country on the result. We shall more justly appreciate his sentiments if we refer to his letter of instructions, in which the manner of negotiation is advised, in a despatch from

Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Donelson.

"The president entirely concurs in opinion with you, that the United States should avoid even the least appearance of interference with the free action of the people of Texas on the question of annexation. This is necessary to give its full effect to one of the grandest moral spectacles which has ever been presented to mankind, and to convince the world that we would not, if we could, influence their decision except by fair argument. We desire that our conduct shall be in perfect contrast to that pursued by the British chargé d'affaires to Texas in reference to the question."

FOREIGN INTERFERENCE.

PROMPT ACTION NECESSARY. RESULT.

Great efforts were made by the representatives of France and England to prevent annexation, and even Mexico herself was induced to assent to propositions of peace, provided Texas would remain independent.*

Preliminary propositions were formally made and sent from Mexico, in May, by Baron Alleye De Cyprey, and Charles Bankhead, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of his majesty the king of the French, and minister plenipotentiary of her Britannic majesty, sanctioned by the Mexican government. They were presented by Mr. Elliott, her Britannic majesty's chargé d'affaires in Texas. These were duly submitted by President Jones to the Congress of Texas, with all due respect to the motives of those who framed them. The proposed treaty was unanimously rejected by the Congress of Texas on the same day that the resolutions of annexation were unanimously accepted.

These efforts will enable us to understand an anxiety manifested on the part of our government to have the business promptly closed. It must be gratifying to all lovers of their country that the promptitude of our government was not marked by any departure from the fundamental principles of sound diplomacy, justice, and humanity. It is well remarked, and, doubtless, with a just sense of pride, by the president in his message of December, 1845, that,

"In contemplating the grandeur of this event, it is not to be forgotten that the result was achieved in despite of the diplomatic interference of European monarchies. Even France, the country which had been our ancient ally; the country which has a common interest with us in maintaining the freedom of the seas; the country which, by the cession of Louisiana, first opened to us access to the Gulf of Mexico; the country with which we have been every year drawing more and more *See Appendix J.

closely the bonds of successful commerce, most unexpectedly, and to our unfeigned regret, took part in an effort to prevent annexation, and to impose on Texas, as a condition of the recognition of her independence by Mexico, that she would never join herself to the United States. We may rejoice that the tranquil and pervading influence of the American principle of self-government was sufficient to defeat the purposes of British and French interference, and that the almost unanimous voice of the people of Texas has given to that interference a peaceful and effective rebuke. From this example, European governments may learn how vain diplomatic arts and intrigues must ever prove, upon this continent, against that system of self-government which seems natural to our soil, and which will ever resist foreign interference."

POSITIONS OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO AFTER ANNEXATION.

The resolution authorizing the annexation of Texas was passed by the Congress of the United States, on the 28th of February, 1845, and was approved by the president on the 1st of March.*

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On the 6th day of March following, the Mexican minister at Washington, General Almonte, in the name of his government, addressed to the state department a PROTEST, in the most solemn manner, against the law whereby the province of Texas, an integrant portion of the Mexican territory, is agreed and admitted into the American Union; that the said law can in no wise invalidate the rights on which Mexico relies to recover the above-mentioned province of Texas, of which she now sees herself unjustly despoiled; and that she will maintain and uphold those rights at all times, by every means which may be in her power."

He "will say in conclusion, to the honorable secretary of state of the United States, in order that he may be pleased to com

* See Appendix I.