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f--a.ss Louisiana, when bought by ms in 1903, as

 clearly "as the island of New 0rlcans.o l

 shall not fatigue the Senate win details on

 this But Texas had been discovered and

 settled by the French il 1885, five years pre-

 vious 10 any Spanish settlements, Alarbols, 1 Hist. of Louisiana, l07) Ithad been viewed

 as " the cradle of Louisiana. ''--<4 Jeff. Life, 609 Il was in the grant by Louis to Crozat, in l7l2.-1 Laws, 439. After ceded to

 Spain, in l76l, it's boundaries became unlm-

 portant; but when r6troceded to, and occu- pied by France in 1800y she claimed as for merly, and delivered it to Us by her officers i in 1904, as extending west to the Rio del

 Norte. Ii was boastcd by Don Onis, the

 Spanish minister, who negotiated the treaty

 of 1919, after his rettfri, that by his ability

 and tact it had been procured from us. Mr.

 Forsyth to Mr. Adams, July 30, 1920, says

 that Don Onis " endeavors to show that the

 treaty of cession of Florida ought to be con-

 sidered as a treaty of exchange of Florida for

 Texas. Q country more extensive, fertile, and

 valuable" The Spanish government itsell

 seems 10 have instructed their minister that

 we might retain il if no better terms could be l proeured.-f fSee Erving's Expose. AndHr

 Gallatin, after laborious research, before 1910, became convinced the territory was ours ;

 and our posts fad therefore, as early as 1906, l been extended beyond the Sabine to Nacog- Hdoches, one of the remotest settlements cI

 much sze.-(1 Laws, 437) And Calves

 ton itself was temporarily occupied by Us in

 l8l7.-(4 State Papers, 297. Sec more fully

 on this, Marbois' History of Louisiana

 State Papers. 4 Jeff. Life, 50. 2Foot's His

 tory of Texas, 397, 376; do. 194. ? Ken

 nedy, 4ij. Clay's Speeches, 82 and g }

 Under what pretence, then, can Mexico

 claim 1t In 1919 we ceded it 10 Spain, not Mexico; and fl, as some incorrectly maintain,

 Mexico was thenfevolutionized, she ofcourse got nothing by this subsequent cession to Spain rather than herself But if, as was the ruth, Mexico never became independent of Spain, even by declaration, till February 24, 1891, though before torn by intestine. divi- sions, all avowmg loyalty to Spain, she claim fed her independence only two days after the

 treaty of 1919 was finally ratified by us, and before Spain was notified thereof, or had taken possession of the territory; or had annexed 1t 10 MeXico; and months before Mexico got possession of the government of the country.

 This is one view of the weakness of the claim of Mexico. Another is, that Spain had previously made claim 10 Texas and, :. un- der the Spanish government, Texas was q separate and distinct province. As such, it had a separate and distinct local oreaniza-' tion.s-fSe l Foot's History of Texas, p. 62) When. therefore, her people, between 1891 and 1924, reyolted from old Spain, and declared themselves independent, and formed q new constitution and political organization, whether always before belonging to Spain, or given 10 her by our cession in 1919, they acted as separate, free, sovereign. and inde- pendent state, as much as did New Hampshire or South Carolina in l776. Then, 15000 people, probably, <besides Indians occupied her territory. As such, she continued in revolutionary condition til, Iturbide being shot, she joined the Mexican confederacv with Coahuila, ill 1891; and with her, as a separate independent state, continued in the coniederacy under certain specified terms til 1854 and 1855; though she wished a seBarate| state governmental 1892, having, in October of that year, held a separate convention from Goahulla, to form a separate constitution, and blocked one out; and sent Austin with Ii and a petition to Mexico, setting forth the reasons for separation.-(2 Kennedy, 19 to 223 EIeI proved unsuccessful and was impnsoned; and, h 1894 and '35, when the confederated rights of Texas were violated by Santa Anna, her people oppressed, her state legislature abolished, and the confederacy dissolved, consolidated government was erected on is rams, October 9th, 1885, and she refused, as was her sovereign right, to enter into the new goyernment-(See the decree, 2 Ken nedy, III, 89, 61.) She continued during l825to contend manlully against the usurper, and to sustain her independent rights till the final victory of San Jacinto in April, l26th) l 1886, crowned her efforts.

 Her constitution-early as March 1lth.I 1927, and while in the confederacv of Mexi-I co-used this emphatic language: Texas Sis free and independent of the other United Mexican States, and of every other foreign power and dominion.o (See , Keaedv's H. 1 Al ?. App And again: After stating thai she has joined the conlederacy for certain specified purposes. the constitution declares that, lorall others, Texas 'retains its liberty. and sovereignty ,

 What jastiiable pretehce, then, las there been since fer Mexico to attempt to dragoon separate and independent state into new om Of government, or into subiection 10 her yramy ? What right of Mexico h;rs she vio- ated The wrong Is on the other side; and tls Mexico, to whom she owes neither du- Fes nor allegiance, that is usurping a control over her affairs not iustifable either by sound of constitutional law, or the great lXloms on which the rights of our own States md their people rest.

 Let 1t be remembered, also, that Texas. beside being an independent sovereign state yer since the original revolution in 1891. nd the first Mexican constitution of I824. lad entirely separated from the conlederacy, when it was dissolved in 1855, as she had lght to, one to two years before the inde- endence of Mexico herself was acknow- i edged by span Ill December, 1856. (

 Texas had attempted independence, and ali year after, at San Jacinto, resisted Mex {