{"character_count": 5521, "word_count": 979, "ccnet_language_score": [0.9678999781608582], "ccnet_perplexity": [768.2000122070312], "fasttext_language": ["en"]}
Letters to the Editor must free postage, they


may not be attended to-


LETTER OF Mr. WALKER,


OF MISSISSIPPI,


Relative to the annexation of Texas in reply to the call


the people of Carroll county, Kentucky, to commu


ncate his views on that subject.


[coNT1NUED.I


The importance of Texas is thus described by
MI. Clay, in his speech of the Sd of April, 1920:


gall the accounts concurred In representing
Texas to be extremely valuable Its superficial
extent was three or four times greater than that
of Florida. The climate was delicious; the soil
fertile; the margins Of the rivers abounding in
Iiving-oak and the country admitting of easy
settlement 1t possessed, moreover, if he were
not misinformed, one of the finest ports IN the
Gulf of Mexico The productions Of which it
was capable, were suited to our wants. The un-
fortunate captive of ST. Helena wished for ships,
commerce, and colonies. We have them all, if
we do not wantonly y throw them away. The
colonies of other countries are separated from
them by vast seas, requiring great expense to pro-
tect them, and are held subject to constant risk
of their being torn from their grasp. Our colo
nies, on the contrary, are united to, and form a
part. of our continent; and the same Mississippi,
from whose rich deposte this best Of them (Louisl.
anal has been formed will transport on her bo-
som the brave, the patriotic men from her tributa-
ry streams, to defend and preserve the next most
valuabIe-the province of Texas" "He was
not disposed to disparage Florida; but its intrinsic
value was incomparably less than that of Texas"


In the letter of instructions from Mr. Madison,
as Secretary of State, of the 29th July, 1903, he
says "the acquisition efthe Floridas is still to be
pursued" He adds, the exchange of any part of
western Louisiana, which Spain may propose for
the cession ofthe Floridas," /" is nadmisSible"
" In intrinsic value there is equality" "We
are the less disposed also to make sacrifices to OBJ
tain the Flordas; because their position and the
manifest course of events guaranty az early and
= reasonable acquisition of thens" In MIR. Madi-
sons letter. also, Secretary of State, of the Sth
July, 1904 he announces the opposition of MIR.
Jefferson to perpetual relinquishment of Gny
territory whatever east of the Rio Bravo" In
the message of President Houston of the 5th May,
1887, he says that Texas contains @ four-hfths OF
all the live oak now in the worldn- Cotton will
be its great staple and some sugar and molasses
will be produced. The grape, the olive and in
digo and cocoa, and nearly all the fruits of the
tropics will be grown there also. In Texas are
valuable mines of gold and silver; the silver mine
ofSan Saba having been examined and found to
be among the richest in the world.


In the recent debate in the British Parliament,
Lord Brougham said: "The importance of Tex
as could not be overrated. 1t a country of
the greatest capabilities, and in extent full as
large as France II possessed soil of the finest
and most fertile character, and it was capable of
producing all tropical produce; and its climate
was of a most healthy character 1t had access
TO the gulf, to the river Mississippi with which
it communicated by means of the Red river"
The possession Of Texas would ensure TO US the
trade of Santa Fe and all the northern States of
Mexico. Above ALL Texas is large and indis-
pensable portion of the valley of the West. That
valley once was all our own but it has been dis
membered by treaty formed when the West
held neither of the high executive stations of
the government, and was wholly unrepresented in
the cabinet at Washington. The Red river and
Arkansas, divided and mutilated, now flow, with
their numerous tributaries, for many thousand
miles, through the territory of foreign power
and the West has been forced back along the gulf
from the Del Norte to the Sabine. If, then, it be
true that the sacrifice of Texas was made with
painful reluctance, all those who united in the
surrender will rejoice at the rencqusition.


This is no question of the purchase Of new
territory but of the remuneration of that which
once was our own. 1t is not question of the ex-
tension of our limits, but of the restoration of
former boundaries 1t proposes no new addition
10 the valley OF the Mississippi but of It's reunion
and all its waters, once more. under our domin-
Ion. If the Creator had separated Texas from
the Union by mountain barriers, the Alps or the
Andes, these might be plausible objections but
he has planed down the whole valley, including
Texas, and united every atom of the soil and
every drop of the waters of the mighty whole.
He has linked theirs with the great Mississippi,
and marked and united the whole for the domin-
ion of one government and the residence of one
people; and it is impous in man to attempt to dis
solve this great and glorious Union. Texas is
a part of Kentucky, portion of the same great
valley. 1t is a part of New York and Pennsyl-
vaIia, part of Maryland and Virginia and Ohio
and of all the western States, whilst the Tennes-
see unites with it the waters of Georgia. Alabama,
and Carolina. The Allegheny commencing its
course in New York, and with the Youghiog-
any, from Maryland, and Monongahela, from
Virginia, merging with the beautiful Ohio at the
metropolis Of western Pennsylvania, embrace the
streams of Texas at the mouths of the Arkansas
and Red river, whence their waters flow in kind
red union to the gulf And here let me saw that