such documents in duplicate, seeing that any risk of loss in their transmission must be for account of the owners, by reason that it is stipulated in the Agreement that the amount of the certificates shall be augmented 10 per cent., as full compensations for all costs and expenses to be incurred, and because the owners can protect themselves by insurance against the loss of their documents.

"10. It shall be distinctly and clearly stated in the certificates issued by the agents of the republic, that the same shall be fully received and admitted at the custom-houses of Vera Cruz and Tampico of the bearer, as effective payment in hard money for the sixth part of any duties which he may have to pay. These certificates shall be drawn out with such marks and checks as may, in the opinion of the agents of the republic and of the minister plenipotentiary to the British Court, be considered necessary to prevent errors or fraud.

"11. To the end that the admission of these certificates at the custom-houses of Vera Cruz and Tampico be conducted in a clear and distinct form, and with the view of avoiding any abuse or fraud which might be attempted to the injury of the nation, and of the creditors themselves, in addition to the entries made in the usual and ordinary books of the custom-houses, there shall be a separate and distinct book kept at each of the custom-houses of Vera Cruz and Tampico, for the sole object of entering these certificates: said book shall be paged throughout, and signed in the first and last page by the commissioners of the Treasury (the other pages having only the rubrica.)

"In this book are to be entered, in rigorous numerical order, the certificates as they may be presented for admission, in payment of the sixth part of any duties, and which may be cancelled, expressing the date, amount, and number of such certificate, agreeable to the accompanying model.

"12. Whenever any certificates shall have been admitted in payment of duties at the custom-houses of Vera Cruz and Tampico, the same shall be immediately cancelled and rendered unfit for circulation by cutting a piece out of the centre, half an inch in diameter; and this shall be done in the presence of the administrator, comptroller, and chief clerk of the custom-house, sending

by the first post a particular account thereof to the Treasury, from whence it will be forwarded to the minister of finance.

"13. For the better attainment of the objects contemplated in the preceding instructions, his Excellency the minister plenipotentiary to the court of St. James, and the agents of the republic in London, shall take especial care to give timely and punctual advices to the custom-houses of Vera Cruz and Tampico, and to the Minister of Finance, of all certificates issued by them, duly enumerating their numbers, dates, values, &c., the certificates must absolutely be issued in strict numerical order, which on no account whatever is to be altered or interrupted.

"14. At the general treasury of the republic there shall be kept a paged book, whereof the first and last pages shall be signed by the minister of finance; (the intermediate ones bearing his rubrica only ;) this book shall be expressly kept for the purpose of showing a clear and detailed account of the operations carried on at the Custom-houses of Vera Cruz and Tampico, on the subjects previously detailed in the 10th article of the instructions. For this purpose the administrators of those customhouses will give timely advice of their proceedings to the general treasury.

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15. Since it may occur that the certificates issued by the agents of the republic be presented indifferently at Vera Cruz or Tampico; to avoid any error or fraud, as also with a view to ascertain whether the whole interest on the foreign debt be covered or not, the administrators of these custom-houses are directed to communicate frequently with each other, advising the amount of certificates which may be presented at their respective offices, taking care to mention their numbers, date, value, &c. And should, at either of the custom-houses, any error or mistake be noted, or that any fraud be committed or attempted to be made, then advice thereof to be sent immediately to the general treasury and to the Minister of Finance to the end that the government may dictate such orders as may be required without prejudice to any proceedings which the administrators may have thought fit to institute before the proper tribunals.

"16. For the true and faithful observance of all the stipulations contained in the 4th, 5th, and 6th articles of the Agreement, and of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th articles of the preceding act of congress, there shall be appointed with the least possible delay a committee of emigration under the immediate orders of the supreme government, composed of three intelligent persons suitable for the office, who shall have the control of the land surveys, location of emigrants, and other necessary details, bearing in mind the end and purpose of the 6th article of the decree of the 12th of April, 1837, which has been admitted, and remains an integral part of the above-mentioned Agreement.

"17. The agents of the republic having first notified such to the minister plenipotentiary at the British court, shall proceed to form an exact account, supported by vouchers, of all and every the expenses occasioned by the issuing of the new bonds for the conversion of the foreign debt, which shall be duly transmitted to the minister of finance.

"18. Immediately upon concluding the payment of the first dividend of the interest on this new consolidated debt, whether such payment be made in London, or by the issue of certificates as herein before described, the agents for the republic shall proceed, in conformity to the 15th article of the Agreement, to collect the original bonds now deposited in the Bank of England, and in the presence of his Excellency the Mexican minister to cancel and render the same unfit for circulation, by cutting out from the centre of each bond a piece of half an inch diameter, and this same operation shall be performed on all bonds which may hereafter be presented for conversion. Both his Excellency the minister and the agents shall give due notice and account to the minister of finance of the bonds thus cancelled, describing from whom received, amount, dates, &c., and all these said documents shall afterwards be placed in a safe deposit, as may be agreed upon by his Excellency the minister to her Britannic Majesty, together with the agents for the republic, so that at any time these documents, when needed, can be forthcoming to prove the legality of the conversion.

"19. The issue of new bonds shall be limited to the precise sum required to satisfy the amount of the old bonds, with arrears, &c., which shall be presented for conversion, so that there shall never be issued one new bond except to replace an old one; which latter is to be directly cancelled, and deposited in a place of safety, as provided for by the preceding article.

"20. In compliance with what is enacted in the 7th article of the before recited act, and for the due fulfilment of what is stipulated in the preceding Agreement with respect to the deferred bonds, it is declared hereby that the acre mentioned in the Agreement contains 4840 English yards, and is equivalent to Mexican measure.

"21. To the end that the accounts of the foreign debt be kept at the general treasury with necessary care and accuracy, so as to correspond with the debt as now established by this present conversion, there shall be opened the proper accounts in the great book, under the different heads of capitals and interests, so that at any time the situation and amount of the foreign debt may be easily seen in all its parts.

"22. Whatever operations may be entered into either within or without the republic relating to this debt, must appear in the books of the treasury; therein must be entered also whatever amounts are received or paid, whether such sums be in cash or in any description of national securities.

"23. For the better carrying into effect the instructions contained in the preceding article, the agents of the republic, entrusted with the management of these affairs, shall remit by every English packet a general account made up to the day of remission, and of this copies shall be sent by the government to the treasury, for the needful entries to be made. Such public officers in the republic who may effect any operation connected with the foreign debt can only do so by virtue of a treasury warrant, and they must give due notice, upon the same being completed, to the treasury.

*There is a blank in the original.

"24. At the end of every year the treasury shall make out a general statement of the foreign debt, arranged to the 31st of December, and this shall form part of the general statement of the public credits and liabilities which the government submits every year to congress.

"And I communicate this to you by order of his Excellency the president, for your information and government.

"Mexico, 29th July, 1839.

"To Messrs. F. de Lizardi and Co."

"God and Liberty.
"ECHEVERRIA.

From the foregoing documents may be gleaned the precise interests and rights of British subjects in Texas, when Lord Palmerston recognized the de facto independence of that country: but even that act of gross injustice towards his own countrymen is not unparalleled; for the territory of which the Texans claim the sovereignty under the right of conquest, notwithstanding that three-fourths of that territory remain an unexplored wilderness, into which the Texans are forbidden to penetrate by its unsubdued, unconquerable, and lawful owners, the native Indians,-includes a large portion of the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Chihuahua, and the territory of Santa Fe, or New Mexico, in addition to Texas-Proper, under the Spanish regime, as shown on the map: but the territory claimed by these people is under an act of the Texan Congress, (and not the right of conquest, as they falsely assert,) passed in the session of 1836, and which defines the boundaries of Texas thus :

"The boundary of the republic of Texas is as