Such was the feeling in Texas, when Santa Anna, having completed his usurpation of the supreme power and defeated the Zacatecans, who opposed him, sent General Cos into Texas to enforce certain requisitions of the government. One of these was the execution of the Act of 1830, prohibiting the emigration of Americans into Texas. Another was the surrender of Lorenzo de Zavala, who had become a refugee in Texas, in consequence of moving a law, in the Mexican Congress, directed against church property. To enforce these demands, General Cos took possession of Antonio de Bexar. On the other hand, the Texans prepared for an armed resistance, and on the 28th of September, 1835, they attacked and defeated a party of Mexicans at the town of Gonzales, on the Rio Guadalupe. Thus was commenced the war and revolution of Texas: a war which arose, on the part of Mexico, from an attempt to enforce the authority of the government de facto (without reference to the Constitution) over the province of Texas; and on the side of Texas, in an obvious attempt to make that province virtually independent of Mexico. On the 3d of November, 1835, the delegates of Texas assembled at San Felipe de Austin, and issued a solemn declaration against Santa Anna and other military chieftains, "who had by force of arms overthrown the Federal Institutions of Mexico, and dissolved the social compact which existed between Texas and the other members of the Mexican confederacy." The war thus commenced between Texas and the mother country continued, with various fortune, till the 21st of April, 1836, when General Santa Anna was captured at the battle of San Jacinto, and the Mexican au thority over the Texans really destroyed. CAPTURE OF SANTA ANNA. 13 On the 2d of March previously, the Texan delegates assembled at Washington on the Brazos, made a formal declaration of independence, signed a constitution, and organized a government. This independence Santa Anna, a captive in the hands of the Texan army, afterwards bound himself to "solemnly acknowledge, sanction, and ratify;" and to use his personal and official powers to procure without delay the ratification and confirmation of that treaty by the legitimate government of Mexico. The boundaries of Texas, as then defined, are of importance as constituting one of the grounds of claim on the part of the government of the United States against Mexico. They were declared to be as follows: "Beginning at the mouth of the Rio Grande; thence up the principal stream of said river to its source; thence due north to the 42° of north latitude; thence along the boundary line, as defined in the treaty between the United States and Spain, (February, 1819,) to the beginning.” To any claim of boundary, however, resting upon this concession of Santa Anna, it is well replied, that it was made when he was under constraint, and was in its very terms of no effect till ratified by the legitimate government of Mexico. Accordingly when, a little while afterwards, Bustamente became president of Mexico, he repudiated this treaty, and recommenced the war with Texas. This war was continued, in desultory and predatory excursions, on both sides, till Texas was finally annexed to the United States. While things were in this state-the mother country contending for its continued dominion, and the young province for absolute independence-the QUESTION OF ANNEXATION (as it is politically called) arose both in B the United States and Texas. The inhabitants of the latter, we have said, were chiefly citizens of the United States-persons whom past adversities or future hopes had impelled to this new region in pursuit of fortune or adventure. If it was natural for them thus to pursue these new objects, it was equally natural that they should desire to remain politically and socially connected with the land of their birth and the home of their associations. Accordingly, as early as the 4th of August, 1837, scon after she declared her independence, Texas proposed to annex herself to the United States. The then president of this country, Mr. Van Buren, declined the terms, for reasons which were alike honorable to his sagacity as a man, and his principles as a statesman. He declared, that so long as we were bound by a treaty of amity and commerce with Mexico, to annex Texas would necessarily involve the question of war; and that a disposition to espouse the quarrel with Mexico was at variance with the spirit of the treaty, and with the policy and welfare of the United States. Texas continued negotiations with the United States, with Great Britain, France, and Mexico-the object of which was to procure the acknowledgment of her independence by Mexico, or her protection by some more powerful government. Thus matters continued-a partial war at one time, and a series of negotiations at anothertill the administration of President Tyler revived the plan of annexation. On the 6th of October, 1843, the Hon. A. P. Upshur, Secretary of State, proposed to the Texan envoy the renewal of negotiations for the annexation of 1 Vide State Papers. • Idem. BOCANEGRA S LETTER. 15 Texas to the United States; which was accepted by the Texan executive. In the mean while, the subject had been discussed in the newspapers, and the Mexican government availed itself of this information to make a formal declaration of its views on this important point. Mr. Bocanegra, the Mexican Minister of Foreign Relations, addressed a note1 (August 23, 1843) to Waddy Thompson, our minister in Mexico, of which the following is a passage :— "And if a party in Texas is now endeavoring to effect its incorporation with the United States, it is from a consciousness of their notorious incapability to form and constitute an independent nation, without their having changed their situation, or acquired any right to separate themselves from their mother country. His Excellency the Provisional President, resting on this deep conviction, is obliged to prevent an aggression, unprecedented in the annals of the world, from being consummated; and if it be indispensable for the Mexican nation to seek security for its rights at the expense of the disasters of war, it will call upon God, and rely on its own efforts for the defence of its just cause." This declaration was a notice to the American government of the effects to be anticipated from the annexation, and fully justified the sagacity and firmness of Mr. Van Buren. It was replied to, by Mr. Waddy Thompson, in a haughty note, affirming that the notice of the Mexican minister was a threat, or a warning; but silent as to the attitude really assumed by the United States. A short time subsequent to this correspondence, and 1 State Papers-Letter of Bocanegra. as if to prevent any misunderstanding of the meaning of Mexico, General Almonte, Mexican minister at Washington, addressed a note to Mr. Upshur, Secretary of State, of which the following passage is a part: "But if, contrary to the hopes and wishes entertained by the government of the undersigned for the preservation of the good understanding and harmony which should reign between the two neighboring and friendly republics, the United States should, in defiance of good faith, and the principles of justice which they have constantly proclaimed, commit the unheard-of act of violence of appropriating to themselves an integrant part of the Mexican territory, the undersigned, in the name of his nation, and now for them, protests in the most solemn manner against such an aggression; and he moreover declares, by express order of his government, that on sanction being given by the Executive of the Union to the incorporation of Texas into the United States, he will consider his mission ended, seeing that, as the Secretary of State will have learned, the Mexican government is resolved to declare war as soon as it receives intimation of such an act.” Long previous to actual annexation, it will be observed, the Mexican government had officially informed the Executive of the United States, that war must inevitably result from that act. It cannot, therefore, be said, with any regard to truth, that the government of the United States, in annexing Texas, did not have reason to anticipate that result, and did not neglect that preparation which such anticipations required of a prudent administration. 1 General Almonte's Letter, dated November 3d, 1843. |