The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 9, July 1905 - April, 1906 Page: 17
ix, 294 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Diplomatic Relations of England and Republic of Texas. 17
seems to us that annexation was from the beginning a certainty.
And this view was certainly taken in England by some at least.
In January, 1837, Wharton wrote from Washington that the Eng-
lish and French governments seemed to consider annexation in-
evitable and would not resist it. The Liverpool Mercury is reported
as saying in 1844 that England in opposing annexation was op-
posing the natural course of human events, and that she should
after all look upon it as favorable to her interests, since it would
remove a cause of jealousy between England and the United States
and would strengthen the American free-trade party. The English
government, however, seems never to have taken this view. Perhaps
it felt that the case of Texas might turn out to bear some resem-
blance to the case of Canada, which, from its geographical and
economic position and because of ties of race and language, might
also have been expected eventually to become a part of the United
States, but which had never done so. Granting the possibility of
keeping Texas out of the Union, England's motives for doing so
were strong. In the first place, at that time English relations
with the United States were by no means cordial,' and England
had good cause to feel jealous of the encroachment of her Ameri-
can rival upon her political and commercial position in the South-
west. England was not only a heavy creditor of Mexico and the
principal country trading with her, but English influence was
dominant there politically. In fact, England's position was such
that she felt justified in speaking of her "ascendency" in the Gulf
of Mexico. Annexation of Texas to the United States, would
threaten very seriously this ascendency. A second reason for Eng-
land's policy was her fear for Mexico's safety in the event of the
annexation of Texas. It seemed certain that annexation would
cause a war between Mexico and the United States which would
result in disaster to Mexico. This would still more seriously im-
pair English ascendency in the Southwest. By maintaining the
independence of Texas, a buffer would be secured between the two
countries, and war between them would be averted. The expan-
sionist tendencies of the American people seem to have created a
distinctly unfavorable impression in England. Some suspicion was
'The dispute over the northeastern and northwestern boundaries of the
United States was causing much ill-feeling between the two countries while
English recognition of Texas was yet in question.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 9, July 1905 - April, 1906, periodical, 1906; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101036/m1/21/?rotate=90: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.