Message from the President of the United States to the two houses of Congress at the commencement of the Second Session of the Twenty-Eighth Congress. December 3, 1844. Page: 87 of 129
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87 [ 1
system, and declared their independence when a consolidated system
was substituted for the other. This proposition is entirely destitute of
foundation. The permission to colonize was obtained under an absolute
system of Government; they submitted to it freely and spontaneously;
and as Mexico did not adopt federal institutions until October, 1824,
it is mnanifestly erroneous to assert that the colonists went to Texas under
the federal forin of Government; and the merit claimed for them
on this ground, on account of their insurrection, is consequently destroyed.
Austin, in his character of a colonist, and the families which he brought
with him, were obliged to follow the lot of the nation of which they
became a very small part; they were necessarily to submit to its laws,
and to follow the changes which the majority makes. This is a principle
of law constantly observed, and is essential to a Republic.
As regards those who left the United States for Texas, who, as the
American legation confiesses, came to the aid of the colonists, led by the
same feeling which induced Commodore Porter to take part with Mexico,
the undersigned does not discover the identity asserted by the American
legation. The officer here named was in the service of the nation,
in the Mlexican navy, and he was under the obligation to defend its
rights.
Those who have gone to Texas with views of self-interest, and in order
to aid the usurpation, can never be regarded as other than adventurers, introduced
into the Republic in the most illegal manner, and therefore deserving
to be treated with all the severity of the laws, and as co-operating
with the usurpers. The intentions assigned by Mr. Green to the colonists
are contradicted by subsequent acts, and their perfidious conduct places
them in evidetnce; nor can the convention avail them, as it cannot shield
them from the operation of the invariable fundamental laws of every society,
that the minority cannot place themselves above the majority.
It is thus demonstrated, by the history of the period and the circumstances
under which Austin obtained the permission to colonize in Texas,
that it begun under an absolute system of Government; that, after the independence
of Mlexico had been secured, the Imperial Government was
then recognised; that federal forms did not begin to be in force until the year
1824; and, it being on the other hand, it is unquestionable that the submission,
yielded to the Spanish Government as well as to the Mexican, involved
no condition, and did not leave them at liberty to withdraw from
the nation to whose sovereignty they had submitted, it follows naturally
that their insurrection could never be regarded otherwise than as a scandalous
act, and a usulrpation against Mexico. Consequently, the doctrine of
the writers on international law, which Mr. Green cites, is not applicable
to the case, from what has been here shownr and proved.
The undersigned has previously said, and he now repeats, that the occurrence
of the attempted independence of Texas is connected with circumstances
such, and of so exceptional a nature, that there is no parity between
it and those which have occurred at other times, in both continents;
and arguments cannot be deduced from the one, applicable to the other.
The undersigied, and the nation in whose name i1e has tile honor to
speak, will always apply the terrm of insurgents to colonists wlio have
with the most notable bad faith, usurped this integrant part of the territory
of Mexico, violating all rilghts, even those of hospitality; lie will in like
manner recognise as such those adventurers who lh,ave sinice introd(lced
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United States. President (1841-1845 : Tyler). Message from the President of the United States to the two houses of Congress at the commencement of the Second Session of the Twenty-Eighth Congress. December 3, 1844., book, 1844; Washington. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5829/m1/87/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .