who have breathed the air and lisped the accents of liberty from their infancy, will consent for ever to abandon their free, their native land, and sink to the level of dependants on the Monarchy of Great Britain. I remain, &c.

A. J. Donelson, Esq.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

(10.) The Envoy of France to the President of Texas. MR. PRESIDENT, (Translation.)

Mexico, May 20, 1815. I AM happy to be able to announce to your Excellency that the Mexican Government, after having obtained the authorization of the 2 Chambers of Congress, has acceded to the 4 preliminary Articles which the Secretary of State of Texas had remitted to the Chargés d'Affaires of France and England near your Government, and which these last had transmitted to me and to the Minister of Her Britannic Majesty, to be presented to the Executive power of Mexico.

The act of acceptation, clothed with the necessary forms, will be handed by Mr. Elliott to the Secretary of State of the Texan Government, and your Excellency will thence find yourself in a situation to name commissioners to negotiate with Mexico the definitive Treaty between Mexico and Texas.

The success which has crowned our efforts has only been obtained by much management of susceptibilitics. But I should say that the dispositions of the Executive power have never appeared doubtful to me, and that they give me the hope of a solution proper to satisfy the 2 parties, and to assure their reciprocal well-being.

If, in the course which must be given to this affair, I can contribute to the wise views and sound policy which animate your Excellency, I shall lend myself to it with so much the more zeal, that it relates to the accomplishment of a work useful to humanity; and if the result answers to our hopes, I shall consider the part which I have taken in it as one of the deeds for which I may most applaud myself in my diplomatic career.

Receive, &c.

H.E. Mr. Anson Jones.

BARON ALLEYE DE CYPREY.

Conditions preliminary to the conclusion of a Treaty between Mexico

and Texas.

1. Mexico consents to acknowledge the independence of Texas. 2. Texas engages that she will stipulate in the Treaty not to annex herself or become subject to any country whatever.

3. Limits and other conditions to be matter of arrangement in the

final Treaty.

4. Texas will be willing to remit disputed points respecting

territory and other matters to the arbitration of umpires.

Done at Washington (on the Brazos) the 29th March, 1845.

(L.S.) ASHBEL SMITH, Secretary of State.

(Translation.)

Mexico, May 20, 1845. THE Undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the King of the French, and Minister Plenipotentiary of Her Britannic Majesty, certify that the above copy conforms with the original which has been presented to them by Mr. Elliott, Her Britannic Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires to Texas. (L.S.) BARON ALLEYE DE CYPREY.

(L.S.) CHARLES BANKHEAD.

Declaration of Mexican Government.

Acceptance of Conditions proposed by Texas for the conclusion of a Treaty-Mexico, May 19, 1845. (Translation.)

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Government of the Mexican Republic has received the preliminary propositions of Texas for an arrangement or definitive Treaty between Mexico and Texas, which are of the following tenor:

[Here follow the Conditions, see page 249.]

The Government of the Republic has asked, in consequence, of the national Congress, the authority which it has granted, and which is of the following tenor:

"The Government is authorized to hear the propositions which Texas has made, and to proceed to the arrangement or celebration of the Treaty, that may be fit and honourable to the Republic, giving an account to Congress for its examination and approval."

In consequence of the preceding authority of the Congress of the Mexican Republic, the Undersigned, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Government, declares: That the supreme Government receives the 4 Articles above mentioned as the preliminaries as a formal and definitive Treaty; and further, that it is disposed to commence the negotiation as Texas may desire, and to receive the Commissioners which she may name for this purpose.

Mexico, May 19, 1845.

(Translation.)

(L.S.) LUIS G. CUEVAS.

Additional Declaration.

Ir is understood that besides the 4 preliminary Articles proposed by Texas, there are other essential and important points which ought also to be included in the negotiation, and that if this negotiation is not realized on account of circumstances, or because Texas, influenced by the law passed in The United States on annexation, should consent thereto, either directly or indirectly, then the answer which under this date is given to Texas, by the Undersigned, Minister for Foreign Affairs, shall be considered as null and void.

Mexico, May 19, 1845.

(L.S.) LUIS G. CUEVAS.

PROCLAMATION of the President of Texas, for the cessation of Hostilities against Mexico, and the establishment of an Armistice.-Washington, June 15, 1843.

By the President of the Republic of Texas.

A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS an official communication has been received at the Department of State, from Her Britannic Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires near this Government, founded upon a despatch he had received from Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires in Mexico, announcing to this Government the fact that the President of Mexico would order a cessation of hostilities on his part and the establishment of an armistice between Mexico and Texas, and requesting the President of Texas would send similar orders to the different officers commanding the Texan forces:

And whereas the President of Texas has felt justified, from the dispositions evinced by this act of the President of Mexico, and the nature of those dispositions, in adopting the proposed measure, and ordering the cessation of hostilities on the part of Texas:

Therefore, be it known, that I, Sam. Houston, President of the Republic of Texas, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the same, do hereby declare and proclaim that an armistice is established between Texas and Mexico, to continue during the pendency of negotiations between the 2 countries for peace, and until due notice of an intention to resume hostilities (should such an intention hereafter be entertained by either party) shall have been formally announced through Her Britannic Majesty's Chargés d'Affaires at the respective Governments, and the revocation of this proclamation; and all officers commanding the forces of Texas, or acting by authority of this Government, are hereby ordered and commanded to observe the same.

my hand, and caused Done at Washington,

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set the great seal of the Republic to be affixed. the 15th day of June, A.D. 1843, and of the Independence of the Republic the 8th.

By the President:

ANSON JONES, Secretary of State.

SAM. HOUSTON.

MESSAGE of the President to the Senate of The United States, submitting for approval and Ratification a Treaty concluded with Texas, for the annexation of that Republic to The United States.-Washington, April 22, 1844.

TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,

I TRANSMIT, herewith, for your approval and ratification, a Treaty, which I have caused to be negotiated between The United States and Texas, whereby the latter, on the conditions therein set forth, has transferred and conveyed all its right of separate and independent sovereignty and jurisdiction to The United States.* In taking so important a step, I have been influenced by what appeared to me to be the most controlling considerations of public policy and the general good; and, in having accomplished it, should it meet with your approval, the Government will have succeeded in reclaiming a territory which formerly constituted a portion, as it is confidently believed, of its domain, under the Treaty of Cession of 1803, by France to The United States.

The country thus proposed to be annexed has been settled principally by persons from The United States, who emigrated on the invitation of both Spain and Mexico, and who carried with them into the wilderness, which they have partially reclaimed, the laws, customs, and political and domestic institutions of their native land. They are deeply indoctrinated in all the principles of civil liberty, and will bring along with them, in the act of re-association, devotion to our Union, and a firm and inflexible resolution to assist in maintaining the public liberty unimpaired, a consideration which, as it appears to me, is to be regarded as of no small moment. The country itself thus obtained, is of incalculable value in an agricultural and commercial point of view. To a soil of inexhaustible fertility, it unites a genial and healthy climate, and is destined, at a day not distant, to make large contributions to the commerce of the world. Its territory is separated from The United States, in part, by an imaginary line, and by the River Sabine for a distance of 310 miles; and its productions are the same with those of many of the contiguous States of the Union. Such is the country, such are its inhabitants, and such its capacities to add to the general wealth of the Union. As to the latter, it may be safely asserted that, in the magnitude of its productions, it will equal, in a short time, under the protecting care of this Government, if it does not surpass, the combined production of many of the States of the Confederacy. A new and powerful impulse will thus be given to the navigating interest of the country, which will be chiefly engrossed by our fellow-citizens of the Eastern and Middle States, who have already attained a remarkable degree of prosperity by the partial monopoly they have enjoyed of the carrying trade of * Page 262,

the Union, particularly the coastwise trade, which this new acquisition is destined in time, and that not distant, to swell to a magnitude which cannot easily be computed; while the addition made to the boundaries of the home market, thus secured to their mining, manufacturing, and mechanical skill and industry, will be of a character the most commanding and important. Such are some of the many advantages which will accrue to the Eastern and Middle States by the Ratification of the Treaty, advantages, the extent of which it is impossible to estimate with accuracy, or properly to appreciate. Texas, being adapted to the culture of cotton, sugar, and rice, and devoting most of her energies to the raising of these productions, will open an extensive market to the Western States, in the important articles of beef, pork, horses, mules, &c., as well as in breadstuffs. At the same time, the South and Southwestern States will find, in the fact of annexation, protection and security to their peace and tranquillity, as well against all domestic as foreign efforts to disturb them; thus consecrating anew the Union of the States, and holding out the promise of its perpetual duration. Thus at the same time that the tide of public prosperity is greatly swollen, an appeal, of what appears to the Executive to be of an imposing, if not of a resistiess character, is made to the interests of every portion of the country. Agriculture, which would have a new and extensive market opened for its produce; commerce, whose ships would be freighted with the rich productions of an extensive and fertile region; and the mechanical arts, in all their various ramifications, would seem to unite in one universal demand for the ratification of the Treaty. But, important as these considerations may appear, they are to be regarded as but secondary to others. Texas, for reasons deemed sufficient by herself, threw off her dependence on Mexico as far back as 1836, and consummated her independence by the battle of San Jacinto, in the same year; since which period, Mexico has attempted no serious invasion of her territory, but the contest has assumed features of a mere border war, characterized by acts revolting to humanity. In the year 1836 Texas adopted her constitution, under which she has existed as a sovereign Power ever since, having been recognised as such by many of the principal Powers of the world; and contemporaneously with its adoption, by a solemn vote of her people, embracing all her population but 93 persons, declared her anxious desire to be admitted into association with The United States, as a portion of their territory. This vote, thus solemnly taken, has never been reversed; and now, by the action of her constituted authorities, sustained as it is by popular sentiment, she reaffirms her desire for annexation. This course has been adopted by her, without the employment of any sinister measures on the part of this Government. No intrigue has been set on foot to accomplish it. Texas herself wills it; and the Executive of The United States, con