the Spanish army
had capitulated to Santa Anna, Bustamente put forth a _pronunciamiento_,
and, marching to the city of Mexico, he deposed the President, whom he
afterward caused to be cruelly put to death. Having now, by means of a
successful military insurrection, possessed himself of the executive
power, he proceeded by violent means to overturn, one by one, the
governments of the individual states. In this war against the states he
was also successful, except in the most distant one, that of Coahuila
and Texas.

Texas clearly owed no allegiance to the usurper Bustamente. It was an
independent state in all respects, excepting those powers it had
conceded to the general government by adopting the Federal
Constitution. The subversion of this Constitution reinstated Texas as
an independent republic. It owed no farther allegiance to Mexico. Texas
might at once have applied for admission into our Union, or have asked
to be annexed to any other foreign state, pleading not only her
inherent right to do so, but the excessive cruelties that Bustamente
inflicted on those state authorities that opposed his usurpations.

The learned and eloquent General Tornel, distinguished alike as a
statesman and a soldier, from whose popular history we have below made
a brief extract, in pleading the cause of his country, charges bad
faith against the United States in the acquisition of both Louisiana
and Texas, but in both arguments he fails to make out a case. By the
treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800, France acquired an imperfect title to
Louisiana; by the treaty of Paris in 1803, she conveyed all her title
to the United States. But, before the United States would pay over any
money on account of the treaty of 1803, she required Spain to confirm
the treaty of San Ildefonso by putting France into the actual
possession of Louisiana. This being done, and not till it was done, did
the United States pay over the $15,000,000 stipulated as the purchase
money. The dispute with Spain about boundaries was settled by the
treaty for the acquisition of Florida, in 1819, which established
boundaries that were confirmed in a subsequent treaty with Mexico. Thus
far, certainly, there was no breach of faith.

On the night of January 3d, 1832, the garrison of Vera Cruz _pronounced_
against the usurping government of Bustamente, which was then suffering
dreadfully from the want of funds. A delegation was sent the same night
to Santa Anna, who had been in reti