ident in his
message of the 11th of May.

V.--THE CLAIM OF TEXAS TO THE RIO DEL NORTE, AS ITS BOUNDARY, EXAMINED.

From what precedes it appears, that the Government of the United States
considered the refusal of Mexico to receive a resident Envoy, or
minister as a sufficient cause for war; and the Rio del Norte as the
legitimate boundary of Texas. The first opinion is now of no importance;
but the question of boundary, which was the immediate cause of
hostilities, has to this day been the greatest impediment to the
restoration of peace. I feel satisfied, that if this was settled, there
would be no insuperable difficulty in arranging other pretensions.

The United States claim no other portion of the Mexican dominions,
unless it be by right of conquest. The tract of country between the Rio
Nueces and the del Norte, is the only one, which has been claimed by
both parties, as respectively belonging either to Texas or to Mexico. As
regards every other part of the Mexican possessions, the United States
never had claimed any portion of it. The iniquity of acquiring any
portion of it, otherwise than by fair compact freely consented to by
Mexico, is self-evident. It is, in every respect, most important to
examine the grounds on which the claim of the United States to the only
territory claimed by both nations is founded. It is the main question at
issue.

The Republic of Texas did, by an act of December 1836, declare the Rio
del Norte to be its boundary. It will not be seriously contended, that a
nation has a right, by a law of its own, to determine what is or shall
be the boundary between it and another country. The act was nothing more
than the expression of the wishes or pretensions of the Government. Its
only practical effect was that, emanating from its Congress or
legislative body, it made it imperative on the Executive, not to
conclude any peace with Mexico, unless that boundary was agreed to. As
regards right, the act of Texas is a perfect nullity. We want the
arguments and documents by which the claim is sustained.

On a first view the pretension is truly startling. There is no
exception: the Rio Norte from its source to its mouth is declared to be
the rightful boundary of Texas. That river has its source within the
department, province, or state of New Mexico, which it traverses through
its whole length from north to south, dividing it into two unequal
parts. The largest and most populous, including Sant