I mean here what he says about the fixing of the Rio Grande as her
boundary in her old constitution (not her State constitution), about
forming Congressional districts, counties, etc. Now all of this is but
naked claim; and what I have already said about claims is strictly
applicable to this. If I should claim your land by word of mouth, that
certainly would not make it mine; and if I were to claim it by a deed
which I had made myself, and with which you had had nothing to do, the
claim would be quite the same in substance--or rather, in utter
nothingness. I next consider the President's statement that Santa Anna in
his treaty with Texas recognized the Rio Grande as the western boundary
of Texas. Besides the position so often taken, that Santa Anna while a
prisoner of war, a captive, could not bind Mexico by a treaty, which I
deem conclusive--besides this, I wish to say something in relation to
this treaty, so called by the President, with Santa Anna. If any man
would like to be amused by a sight of that little thing which the
President calls by that big name, he can have it by turning to Niles's
Register, vol. 1, p. 336. And if any one should suppose that Niles's
Register is a curious repository of so mighty a document as a solemn
treaty between nations, I can only say that I learned to a tolerable
degree of certainty, by inquiry at the State Department, that the
President himself never saw it anywhere else.
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