Peace with Mexico

by Albert Gallatin

The whole country beyond the settlement of San Patricio and Corpus Christi, till within a few miles of the del Norte, is a perfect desert, one hundred and sixty miles wide by the route pursued by General Taylor, as stated by himself, and near one hundred and twenty miles in a straight line.

The only settled part of it is along the left bank of the del Norte, and but a few miles in breadth. This belt was settled, inhabited, and occupied exclusively by Mexicans. It included the town of Loredo; and Mexico had a custom-house at Brazos, north of the mouth of the river. Till occupied by the American arms it had ever been, and was at the time when invaded by General Taylor, a part of the Department of Tamaulipas, and subject to the jurisdiction of the Prefect of the Northern District of that department.

In the course of the war between Mexico and Texas, incursions had been occasionally made by each party into the territories of the other. A Mexican officer had, once or twice, obtained temporary occupation of San Antonio, within the limits of Texas; and the Texans had on one occasion taken Loredo itself, and more than once had carried their arms, not only to the left bank of the del Norte, but even beyond that river. In both cases the aggressive parties had been repulsed and expelled. The last Texan expedition of that kind took place in December, 1842, and terminated in their defeat at Mier.

That the country, adjacent to the left bank of the river, was exclusively in the possession of the Mexicans, was well known to our Government.

When General Taylor marched to the del Norte, he issued an order (No. 30), translated into the Spanish, ordering all under his command, to observe with the most scrupulous respect the rights of all the inhabitants, who might be found in peaceful prosecution of their respective occupations, as well on the left as on the right side of the Rio Grande. No interference, he adds, will be allowed with the civil rights or religious privileges of the inhabitants.

In June, 1845, General Taylor had been directed to select and occupy, on or near the Rio Grande del Norte, such a site as would be best adapted to repel invasion and to protect our Western border. But on the 8th of July following, the Secretary of War (Mr. Marcy) addressed the following letter to him.

"This Department is informed that Mexico has some military establishments on the East side of the Rio Grande, which are, and for some time have been, in the actual occupancy of her troops. In carrying out the instructions heretofore received, you will be careful to avoid any acts of aggression, unless an actual state of war should exist. The Mexican forces at the posts in their possession, and which have been so, will not be disturbed as long as the relations of peace between the United States and Mexico continue."

On the 30th July, 1845, the Secretary again addresses Gen. Taylor as follows: "You are expected to occupy, protect and defend the territory of Texas, to the extent that it has been occupied by the people of Texas. The Rio Grande is claimed to be the boundary between the two countries, and up to this boundary you are to extend your protection, only excepting any posts on the Eastern side thereof, which are in the actual occupancy of Mexican forces, or Mexican settlements, over which the Republic of Texas did not exercise jurisdiction at the period of annexation, or shortly before that event. It is expected, in selecting the establishment for your troops, you will approach as near the boundary line, the Rio Grande, as prudence will dictate. With this view, the President desires that your position, for a part of your forces at least, should be west of the River Nueces."

The Mexican settlements, thus excepted, are not those over which Texas did not claim jurisdiction, but those on the East bank of the Rio Grande, over which Texas did not exercise jurisdiction at the period mentioned. The President had no authority to give up the boundary claimed by Texas; but it is clear that at the time, when war was not contemplated, the Administration was of opinion that, till the question was definitively settled, the occupancy by the Mexicans of the territory adjacent the left bank of the del Norte ought not to be disturbed. Neither the subsequent refusal by Mexico to receive a residing Envoy, nor the successes of the American arms have affected the question of right. The claim of Texas, whether to New Mexico, or to the lower portion of the Rio Norte, was identically the same, as invalid and groundless in one case as in the other. Why a distinction has been made by the Executive has not been stated. The fact is that he has established a temporary government for New Mexico, as a country conquered, and without any regard to the claim of Texas; whilst, on the other hand, he has permitted that State to extend its jurisdiction over the country lying on the left bank of the del Norte, which, like New Mexico, had been conquered by the arms of the United States. Not a shadow of proof has been adduced to sustain the pretensions of Texas to that district; and justice imperiously requires that it should by the treaty of peace be restored to Mexico.

It so happens that the boundary, which may be traced in conformity with this principle, is a natural one, and that, as a measure of expediency, none more eligible could have been devised. A desert of one hundred and twenty miles separates the most Southwesterly Texan settlements of Corpus Christi and San Patricio, from those of the Mexicans, on the left bank of the del Norte, than which no boundary could be devised, better calculated to prevent collisions hereafter between the two nations. It will be sufficient, for that purpose, to draw a nominal line through the desert, leaving all the waters that empty into the Rio Norte to Mexico, and all those that empty into the Rio Nueces to Texas, together with such other provisions, respecting fortifications and military posts, as may be necessary for the preservation of peace.