424
TEXAS STATE LmRARY
No. 421
1.
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. r 1836 Aug.1, H. M. BRACKE 1 RIDGE. " IEXICO A~"D TEX.A " 1 I MEXICO AND TEXAS
'Clipping from the New Orleans Commercial Bulletin.
. TARE TUM, Penn. Augu t 1 t, L.. 36. SIR: The flattering manner in which you were plea ed to notice my la t letter, would have induced me, to have promptly com- plied with your request, in relation to the boundary of Texas, but that my dome tic con~rns, and a certain reluctance to appear before the public i11 a way which may eem pre urning, prevented me at. the moment. The increasing interest in the position of that country, has awakened me from the lethargy which I was beginning to feel; another crisis in the affairs of the infant Republic, is approaching, and I fear, the collision between the United States and Me.-ico, is almo t inevitable. The boundary et up by our government in the place of the abi.ne, contrary to the Treaty, contrary to all the maps, and to the continned a~ ert of Louisiana, i cmething entirely new to me. The Rio Hondn, between ratchitoches and the Sabine, was the boundary until the treaty of 1819; the country south of it to the Sabine, ,vas con idered a kind of neutral ground, and juri diction was claimed and exercised by both nations. The treaty contemplated that Sabine river, :..n which Gen. Wilkinson was encamped, on one ide, and alcedo on the other. I never heard of another Sabine; nor did it ever enter into the head of any one, while I was in Loni iana, tv claim the Post of .Nacogdoches, excepting under the general pretention to the whole, a far as the Rio dcl Torte which was abandoned by the treaty. I think the case too P,lain even for the pretense of claim. The boundary is the stream commoHly known as the abine, to the 31 deg. thence 1 orth to the Red river, up that river to the 100 deg. of longitude, thence to the Arkan as, thence to its source. Thu , giving up a great extent of country between Red River and .the Arkan as, ome part of which, probahly, include a portion of the country intended for our outhern Indians. I com,idered the.boundary nt the time, a cttled with pain, highly objechonable, beinrr of opinion· thnt our- peace and security, required that we should have at least all f7ie sfream.s tdtich are tributary to the Jlfississippi. The Colorndo ought to hnve be n the houndary, to its ource, thence along the mountains of anta Fee, to-include the sources of Red River. Thi error committed untlcr the admini. tration of :\fr. Monroe, in the treaty with pain, it wa hoped might be remedi d by a treaty with l\fexico. But the ame errnr hn been ccmmittcd hy the pre ent ndmini tration; there wa , therefore, very little ground for the crimination and recrimination which took pince last winter. I do not cntcrtnin the least doubt that this boundary could have been obtained on both the occn ions referred to. The im- portance of it, may yet be een, if the lcxicans hould be succes ful
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