As to the country now in question, we bought it of France in 1803, and
sold it to Spain in 1819, according to the President's statements. After
this, all Mexico, including Texas, revolutionized against Spain; and
still later Texas revolutionized against Mexico. In my view, just so far
as she carried her resolution by obtaining the actual, willing or
unwilling, submission of the people, so far the country was hers, and no
farther. Now, sir, for the purpose of obtaining the very best evidence as
to whether Texas had actually carried her revolution to the place where
the hostilities of the present war commenced, let the President answer
the interrogatories I proposed, as before mentioned, or some other
similar ones. Let him answer fully, fairly, and candidly. Let him answer
with facts and not with arguments. Let him remember he sits where
Washington sat, and so remembering, let him answer as Washington would
answer. As a nation should not, and the Almighty will not, be evaded, so
let him attempt no evasion--no equivocation. And if, so answering, he can
show that the soil was ours where the first blood of the war was
shed,--that it was not within an inhabited country, or, if within such,
that the inhabitants had submitted themselves to the civil authority of
Texas or of the United States, and that the same is true of the site of
Fort Brown, then I am with him for his justification.
Pages:
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52