Whatever the United Slates cannot maintain by reason and facts, according to a just construction of the treaty of limits, will not be insisted upon. In the mean time the undersigned is instmcted to repeat in the most explicit terms, for the satisfaction of the :Mexican Government, that the orders given to General Gaines were not given because the United States believed they had claims to the territory beyond Nacagdoches, nor with a view to assert, strengthen, or maintain those claims, but simply and exclusively to prevent consequences likely to grow out of the bloody contest begun in that quarter, the end of which it is difficult to foresee. The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to reiterate to l\'lr. Gorostiza the assurances of his most distinguished consideration. John Forsyth. His Ex. Sen. Don Manuel Eduardo De Gorostiza, &c. [3016] [GAJNES to SECRETARY OF WAR] Headquarters, Western Department, Camp Sabine, May 10, 1836. Sir: The reports from Texas, referred to in my letters of the 28th ultimo and 2d instant, of the defeat of the advance corps of the Mexican army in Texas, with the capture of the President, Santa Anna, his staff and principal officers, and six hundred men, and about the same num_ber killed, have received daily confirmation, and are placed beyond a doubt. The affairs of this infant republic are therefore assuming an aspect not only of deepest interest to its inhabitants of the present moment, and to the millions and tens of millions destined in the present century to enjoy its fertile soil and salubrious atmosphere, but an aspect of incaJculable importance to our beloved country; to whose benign institutions the inhabitants of Texas of all classes already look as the only guide and sure basis of their pre.sent safety and fu tt1re prosperty and happiness. It is believed, by all whose opinions I have had the means of knowing, that the people of Texas are all willing, and most of them extremely anxious, as soon as possible, to apply to our Government for admission into the Union as a State, or as two or more territorial governments, or in any manner in which they will ultimately enjoy the benefit of our institutions. 209
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