The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918 Page: 194
434 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
I avail myself of this occasion to forward to Your Lordship
the Copy of a Veto, Message by General Houston on a Bill which
passed both Houses of the Texian Congress at the beginning of
his last Administration, extending the frontier of Texas to the
Pacific in the parallel of the Mouth of the Rio Grande; which it
may probably be one purpose of Mr Slidell's 1MVission to Mexico
to attempt now for the United States. I have alluded to this
subject in my former despatches, but have only recently succeeded
in procuring a Copy of this Message.
Charles Elliot.
To The Right Honourable.
The Earl of Aberdeen, K. T.
[Enclosure].6 Executive Department.
Copy. City of Austin.
Charles Elliot. Feby. 1st 1842.
To the Honourable the House of Representatives
Impressed as I am with a sense of duty and the true situation
of the Country I cannot yield my assent to the Bill "to amend an
"Act to define the Boundaries of the Republic of Texas". I trust
your Honourable body will bear with me while I assign my reasons
for the course which I feel compelled to adopt.
Texas has heretofore declared by the law of 1836 that her limits
should [be] bounded on the West by the principal stream of the
Rio. Grande to it's source, thence due North to the 42d degree of
latitude and the boundary line of the United States. This formed
our limits with Mexico, and agreeably to this we have been recog-
nized as independent by the United States, and also by those
European Governments with ;which we have established relations.
From these facts it seems to me that until Texas has it in her
power to exercise jurisdiction it can be of no possible advantage
to her, that she should assert any claim which would subject her
to derision, or evince her wish to extend her claim to territory
by mere assumption of a right which she might not be able to
enforce. The recognized limits of Texas are greater than either
her population or resources will enable her at the time to occupy.
To extend our limits according to the provisions of the Bill
0F. O., Texas, Vol. 16.194
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918, periodical, 1918; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101073/m1/200/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.