425
PAPERS OF :MIRABEAU BUONAPA.RTE LAMAR
in expelling the present population of Texas. ·otbing but the defeat of Santa Anna prevented this collision, and an open war between us would have been the necessary con equence. The boundary from the 31 deg. on the Sabine, and the point where it will touch the right bank of tlie Red river, ha never been ascertained. There is a large Ameri- can population, perhaps the most important in Texas, on the rich red lands of that river, above and below that unknown line; we have expended large ums in opening the gi·eat obstruction to the naviga- tion, and in consequence, acco1·ding to the statement of Capt. Shreve, who now uperintends that work, the emigration has been immen e for the last three years. These settlements have been found chiefly unaer the supposed protection of the United States, a part of the pciptilation was actually under the jurisdiction of Arkansas; they have·~ihce tound the Te...ians under the belief that they are beyond the b6undary, but with a hope of being annexed to the United States. to"':i I ask, would not a Mexican force.flushed with victory, push on to tlie Red river, and would not this bring us directly in collision with their armies¥ \Vould such victorious armies be restrained from in- vading one of the most important di tricts represented in the Tex.ian Oonvention, merely because thii might possibly bring them in collision with us1 F1·om this statement, it will be seen that this is not the plain case of restraining our citizens, from arming and or- ganizino-, in our territory in order to invade a nation at peace with us, which many persons suppose it to be. Let the result of the contest be what it ma.y, nothing can pTevent us from being inv-0lved in it, but a complete revolution in 1\Iexico, or a purchase by our government of 'l'exas. For my part, I have very serious objections to the extension of our territory, and think it probable, that this is the ca e with a great majority of the people of the United States; and it is by no means certain, that the Republic of Texas will agree to the arrangement. On the core of boundary, the acquisition of a part of Texas, is highly desirable; but the statesman both of the United States and :Mexico, would discover serious objections to an independent republic inter- posed bet,veen them.. Great Bi·itain I think would be in favor of it; a free port at Galveston; ~onseq_uently an immense depot of merchan- di'ze for ulterior distribution; ·would extenil the field of her commerce. But my objection to the connexioi1; arises from looking forward to the duration of our confederacy, and I fear our territory is already too exten ive. 'l'his is daily'becoming more obvious from the corruptions almost unavoidably arising .out of the magnitude and variety of in- terests intrusted to the gene1:a1 government; the vast amount of its revenue ; the number and importance of public trusts; the discipline of party, which requires the "hirelin 00 " to support tl1e master, and the master to sustain the "hirelin 00 ;'' and from the difficulty of bringing home to the great mass of the people a sufficient knowledge of their public .affairs, and of the acts of the public agents without which the arossest abuses may escape detection. I have bee~ forcibly struck with the objections made by a gentleman of London, Mr. R. Jackson, to the plan proposed by Dr. Franklin in 1751 (20 years before the revolution) for a general 00 overnment of the Colonies,
Powered by FlippingBook