The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 17, July 1913 - April, 1914 Page: 228
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The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
despatch to Clay, mostly in cipher, told of Alaman's declaring, in
what was supposed to be a secret session of congress, that the
United States ought to be regarded as enemies rather than as
friends, because:
Mexico ha.d everything to fear from our ambitions and nothing
to hope from our friendship. He cited the treaty of limits with
Spain as an instance of our disposition to encroach upon her ter-
ritory. There are a few members of both houses disposed to view
the treaty of 1819 in the same light, and it is possible if the ques-
tion be left open and the discussion renewed this government may
revive the absurd pretensions of Cevallos with regard to the west-
ern boundary of Louisiana. I am thus particular because I think
it advisable that the President should be possessed of every circum-
stance that can aid him to come to a correct decision upon this
subject.28
Poinsett's suspicions that the Mexican officials were going to
try to push the line further east instead of permitting the United
States to, push it west proved to be well founded. In an inter-
view respecting the boundary on September 20, 1825, Alaman
asked Poinsett to trace on a map the boundary between the United
States and Spain as defined by the treaty of 1795. Poinsett did
so and then asked why the Mexican negotiator had wished it done.
The latter replied that he thought it advisable to specify the
ancient boundary in the commercial treaty they were about con-
cluding and leave it so until the new line should be agreed on
in the new treaty of limits to be concluded. Poinsett then de-
clared to Alaman that before 1819 the United States had claimed
to the Rio Bravo del Norte and Spain had claimed to the Mis-
sissippi. He also asserted that the treaty of that year with Spain
was binding on the Mexican States, having been concluded before
their emancipation from Spain and since acknowledged by their
accredited agent in the United States. It was only motives of
delicacy toward Mexico that had prevented the United States from
carrying that treaty into full effect. It was the same motive that
had caused him to propose the conclusion of an entirely new treaty.
But he would not yield one square inch of land which had been
included within the limits of the United States according to that
28Poinsett to Clay, Aug. 10, 1825, MS. Dept. of St., Mex., Desp., I.228
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 17, July 1913 - April, 1914, periodical, 1914; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101061/m1/232/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.