Mr. Calhoun directed the chargé d'affaires of the United States to assure the Government of Texas that the loss of the treaty did not necessarily involve the failure of the project of annexation. It was admitted, said Mr. Calhoun, that what was sought to be effected by the treaty might be secured by joint resolution, which would have the advantage of requiring only a majority of the two Houses, instead of two-thirds of the Senate. A joint resolution for that purpose had accordingly been introduced by Mr. McDuffie, of South Carolina, in the Senate, and was laid on the table by a vote of 19 to 27, many members being absent, on the ground that there was not sufficient time to act on it. Three of the absentees, and also three who voted to lay on the table, were known to be favorable to annexation. This being so, supposing the other absentees to be unfavorable, only two Senators were required to constitute a majority of the whole number. The indications in the other House were still more favorable." "No measure of policy has been more steadily or longer pursued, and that by both of the great parties into which the Union is divided [than the annexation of Texas]. Many believed that Texas was embraced in the cession of Louisiana, and was improperly, if not unconstitutionally, surrendered by the treaty of Florida in 1819. Under that impression, and the general conviction of its importance to the safety and welfare of the Union, its annexation has been an object of constant pursuit ever since. It was twice attempted to acquire it during the administration of Mr. Adams, once in 1825, shortly after he came into power, and again in 1827. It was thrice attempted under the administration of his successor, General Jackson, first in 1829, immediately after he came into power, again in 1833, and finally in 1835, just before Texas declared her independence. Texas herself made a proposition for annexation in 1837, at the commencement of Mr. Van Buren's administration, which he declined, not, however, on the grounds of opposition to the policy of the measure. The United States had previously acknowledged her independence, and the example has since been followed by France and Great Britain. The latter, soon after her recognition, began to adopt a line of policy in reference to Texas which has given greatly increased importance to the measure of annexation, by making it still more essential to the safety and welfare both of her and the United States.” Mr. Calhoun, Sec. of State, to Mr. Shannon, Sept. 10, 1844, MS. Inst. Mexico, See Mr. Calhoun, Sec. of State, to Mr. Pakenham, British minister, April 18, By a joint resolution, approved March 1, 1845, Congress expressed its consent" that the territory properly included within and rightfully belonging to the Republic of Texas might be erected into a new a Mr. Calhoun, Sec. of State, to Mr. Howard, No. 1, June 18, 1844, MS. Inst. Texas. State, to be called the State of Texas, with a republican form of government to be adopted by the people of said Republic by deputies in convention assembled with the consent of the existing government, in order that the State might be admitted as one of the States of the Union. The consent of Congress was given upon the following conditions: 1. That the State should be formed subject to the adjustment by the United States of all questions of boundary that might arise with other governments, and that the constitution of the State, with the proper evidence of its adoption by the people of Texas, should be transmitted to the President to be laid before Congress for its final action on or before January 1, 1846. 2. That the State when admitted into the Union, after ceding to the United States all public edifices, fortifications, barracks, ports and harbors, navy and navy-yards, docks, magazines, arms, armaments, and all other property and means pertaining to the defense of the Republic, should retain all the public funds, debts, taxes, and dues of every kind which might belong to or be due and owing to the Republic, and should also retain all the vacant and unappropriated lands lying within its limits, to be applied to the payment of the debts of the Republic, and the residue of the lands, after discharging such debts and liabilities, to be disposed of as the State might direct, the debts and liabilities of the State in no event to become a charge upon the United States. 3. That new States of convenient size, not exceeding four in number in addition to the State of Texas and having sufficient population, might thereafter by the consent of Texas be formed out of its territory, which States should be entitled to admission under the provisions of the Federal Constitution; and it was further provided that such States as might be formed out of that part of the territory lying south of 36 30′ north latitude, commonly known as the Missouri compromise line, should be admitted into the Union with or without slavery as the people of each State asking admission might desire, but that in any State or States which should be formed out of the territory north of that line slavery or involuntary servitude except for crime should be prohibited. The resolution further provided that if the President of the United States should deem it most advisable, instead of proceeding to submit the resolution to the Republic of Texas as an overture on the part of the United States for admission, to negotiate with that Republic, then that a State could be formed out of the Republic of Texas with suitable extent and boundaries, and with two Representatives in Congress until the next apportionment of representation, and should be admitted into the Union by virtue of the act on an equal footing with the existing States as soon as the terms and conditions of such admission and the cession of the remaining Texan territory to the United States should be agreed upon by the Governments of Texas and the United States. The sum of $100,000 was appropriated to defray the expenses of missions and negotiations to agree upon the terms of admission and cession, either by treaty to be submitted to the Senate, or by articles. to be submitted to the two Houses of Congress, as the President might direct." On December 29, 1845, the President approved a joint resolution of Congress for the admission of the State of Texas into the Union. This resolution referred to the joint resolution of March 1, 1845, and recited that the people of the Republic of Texas, by deputies, in convention assembled with the consent of the existing Government, had adopted a constitution and erected a new State with a republican form of government, and had, in the name of the people of Texas and by their authority, ordained and declared that they assented to and accepted the proposals, conditions, and guaranties contained in the first and second sections of the resolution of March 1. It further recited that the constitution, with the proper evidence of its adoption by the people of the Republic of Texas, had been transmitted to the President of the United States and laid before Congress. It was therefore declared that the State of Texas was admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever, and that until the Representatives in Congress should be apportioned according to an actual enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States, the State should be entitled to choose two Representatives.' "Texas had declared her independence, and maintained it by her arms for more than nine years. She has had an organized Government in successful operation during that period. Her separate existence as an independent state had been recognized by the United States and the principal powers of Europe. Treaties of commerce and navigation had been concluded with her by different nations, and it had become manifest to the whole world that any further attempt on the part of Mexico to conquer her or overthrow her Government would be in vain. Even Mexico herself had become satisfied of this fact; and while the question of annexation was pending before the people of Texas, during the past summer, the Government of Mexico, by a formal act, agreed to recognize the independence of Texas on condition that she would not annex herself to any other power. The agreement to acknowledge the independence of Texas, whether with or without this condition, is conclusive against Mexico. The independence of Texas is a fact conceded by Mexico herself, and she had no right or authority to prescribe restrictions as to the form of Government which Texas might afterward choose to assume." President Polk, First Annual Message, Dec. 2, 1845. Texas concluded treaties with France Sept. 25, 1839; with Great Britain Nov. 13, Nov. 14, and Nov. 16, 1840, and Feb. 6, 1844; with the Netherlands Sept. 18, 1840; with the United States April 11, and April 25, 1838. The protest of Gen. Almonte, Mex. minister at Washington, of March 6, 1845, against the joint resolution of March 1 (supra), and Mr. Buchanan's reply of March 10, 1845, may be found in Br. and For. State Papers, XXXIII. 246-248. See a communication of the envoy of France at Mexico to the President of As to the events preceding the outbreak of the Mexican war, see Int. Arbitra- 5. OREGON. § 104. In 1792 Capt. Robert Gray, of the American ship Columbia, entered and explored the River of the West, which he named, from his ship, the Columbia River. On January 18, 1803, President Jefferson sent a confidential message to Congress recommending that an appropriation be made for western exploration, and in the following summer Lewis and Clark set out on their memorable expedition, in which, after having traversed the country west of the Mississippi, they entered the main branch of the Columbia and descended the river to its mouth. In 1811 John Jacob Astor, an American merchant, formed at Astoria a fur-trading settlement. This settlement was occupied by the British during the war of 1812, but at the conclusion of peace was restored to the United States, in conformity with the requirements of the treaty. In addition to these acts of discovery and occupation the United States, by the treaty of February 22, 1819, acquired from Spain all her rights to territory on the Pacific north of the 42d parallel of north latitude. On this foundation the United States based its claim to Oregon, a claim which was disputed by Great Britain. The territory in dispute was bounded, according to the claim of the United States, by the 42d parallel of north latitude on the south, by the line of 54° 40′ on the north, and by the Rocky or Stony Mountains on the east. It embraced, roughly speaking, an area of 600,000 square miles. By the treaty of June 15, 1846, the dispute between the United States and Great Britain was terminated by a nearly equal division of the territory. By the first article of this treaty the boundary was continued westward along the 49th parallel of north latitude "to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island; and thence southerly through the middle of the said channel, and of Fuca's Straits, to the Pacific Ocean: Provided, however, that the navigation of the whole of the said channel and straits, south of the 49th parallel of north latitude, remain free and open to both parties." For a full history of the dispute and its settlement, and of the grounds of fact and of law involved therein, see Moore, Int. Arbitrations, I. chaps. vii. and viii. See, also, Wheaton, Int. Law, Dana's ed. 250; Twiss, The Oregon Territory. As to San Juan Island, see H. Ex. Doc. 77, 36 Cong. 1 sess.; S. Ex. Doc. 10, 36 Cong. 1 sess.; S. Ex. Doc. 29, 40 Cong. 2 sess. 6. CALIFORNIA AND NEW MEXICO. § 105. After the annexation of Texas to the United States, the boundary between the United States and Mexico, as defined in the treaty between the United States and Spain of 1819, was further changed by the treaty of peace concluded at Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848, under which California and New Mexico, which had been occupied by the American forces during the war, passed to the United States, the latter paying to Mexico $15,000,000, and in addition assuming the payment of claims of citizens of the United States against Mexico to an amount not exceeding $3,250,000. By Art. V. of the treaty, the new line was defined as follows: "The boundary line between the two Republics shall commence in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from land, opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande, otherwise called Rio Bravo del Norte, or opposite the mouth of its deepest branch, if it should have more than one branch emptying directly into the sea; from thence up the middle of that river, following the deepest channel, where it has more than one, to the point where it strikes the southern boundary of New Mexico; thence, westwardly, along the whole southern boundary of New Mexico (which runs north of the town called Paso) to its western termination; thence, northward, along the western line of New Mexico, until it intersects the first branch of the river Gila; (or if it should not intersect any branch of that river, then to the point on the said line nearest to such branch, and thence in a direct line to the same;) thence down the middle of the said branch and of the said river, until it empties into the Rio Colorado; thence across the Rio Colorado, following the division line between Upper and Lower California, to the Pacific Ocean. "The southern and western limits of New Mexico, mentioned in this article, are those laid down in the map entitled 'Map of the United Mexican States, as organized and defined by various acts of the Congress of said Republic, and constructed according to the best authorities. Revised edition. Published at New York, in 1847, by J. Disturnell;' of which map a copy is added to this treaty, bearing the signatures and seals of the undersigned Plenipotentiaries. And, in |