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cannot deny my most lively, and ardent sympathy for them; neither can I cease anxiously to desire a happy issue from whatever attempts they may make to secure these noble ancl desirable ends. Doubtless they have never had, nor will they ever have, occasion more favorable than the present for vindicating their rights and establishing their Independence provided they wish to do it.- l\Iexico and the United States finding themselYes at war with each other, the latter is ready to make a treaty of peace with the aforesaid States; the former will remain without any power to prevent them from obtaining their ob- jects.- Why, then, should they not take advantage of an occasion so opportune for throwing off the yoke of their oppressors and recover- ing their liberties?- If it is fear and cowardice which keeps them from taking such steps, then they will deserve the aggravations which they experience and are not worthy of being free.- Let them remain in "statu quo"- as they are.- The States of the north of Mexico have no interests in common with those beyond the Sierra l\Iadre. Neither have they any reasons for involving themselYes in the present war between l\Iexico and the United States; and even less of submerging themselves in the civil disputes that are continually occurring in that nation. Their interests ought to consist in educating the young; in developing the natural resources of the country; in profitting by the experience and wisdom of other nations; in the cultivation of peace and friendship with their neigh- bors, and in the extension of a free commerce, that never fails to carry with it riches, knowledge, and courtesy. These are their true in- terests-interests that they can neither advance nor enjoy until they first dissolve all political connection with the power that oppresses them, and take their destiny into their own hands. There remains to them only the alternative of unsheathing the sword or living always in a state of poverty and profound degradation. Nature seems to have designed the ,Sierra ilfadre for a great national boundary; and the territory that extends from that chain of mountains to the Riogrande, and from the Gulf of l'IIexico to the Pacific Ocean should form a great Republic whose prosperity and illustrious institutions would l_:ic the admiration and envy of the world. Now, it is in the power of these States to establish a similar Re- public- they have the opportunity of erecting a temple of liberty that might surpass in beauty, firmness and duration any that have preceded it; but if by lack of knowledge, or any cause whatsoever, they neglect to take advantage of such an opportune occasion to effect this immortal work and to assure their Independence and happiness for- ever, another such may never happen to them; and abandoned by their friends who now arc ready to aid them in the great undertaking, they will have to remain as they are today, victims of their own foolishness, ignorance, and cowardice, without any hope of improving their con- dition.- Time, Yery soon., will determine their fate. As the friend of liberty and of good government and one who desires the happiness of all the human race, I can do no less than counsel them to unsheath their swords and trust the result to the God of Justice. The free and gratuitous expression of these views and sentiments is all the connec- tion that I haYc, or have had, with the Rernlution which, it is said, is developing across the Rio Grande.
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