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Adams then Secretary OF Otale, addressed 10
Mr.. Forsyth, our Minister in Spain, on the 18th
Of August, 1919 In that letter, the Secretary
of State SAYS: /" 1t is too well known, and they
(the Spanish Government will not dare to deny
it, that Mr. Onis's last instructions authorized
him to concede much more than he did," and
that !. both ia relation to the grants OF land in
Florida, and 10 the Western boundary, the terms
he obtained were far within the limits OF his
instructions" IN


Having thus unhappily, by some unexplained
fatality lost possession Of this most valuable coun-
try, the high national importance of regaining it.
by every honorable means in our power, has been
felt and acknowledged and acted upon by almost
every Administration which has succeeded the
period of its inauspicious alienation. tits well
known that Mr.. Clay, as Secretary Of State,
made two earnest efforts, during the Administra.


ton and as It is understood, with the hearty con-
currence Of Mr.. Adams, to re-acquire this terri
tory by negotiation from Mexico, into whose
hands it had then passed, by virtue of the revo-
luton which separated Mexico from the domin-
ion of Spain. In the very first year OF General
Jackson's Administration, the same object again
attracted the patriotic vigilance and solicitude of
the Government; and Mr.. Van Buren, as Secre-
tary Of State, by his instruction, renewed the
efforts which had been SO promptly madeby MIR.
Clay to restore the natural integrity OF our ter
ritorial relations, which had been SO unhappily
broken by the treaty of 1919 high national OBJ
iect thus endorsed by the councils and policy Of
successive Administrations, of differing political
complexons, can hardly sustain a permanent
prejudice in the sober estimate of the country,
by any error or fault which may have been COM
mited in the recent prosecution Of it.


Besides the considerations to which have
already alluded in favor of the vital Importance
Of the object, others occur, upon the slightest
reflection, which cannot fail to recommend it TO
the earnest attention OF the nation. In its mill
tary relations, Texas has been pronounced by the
highest military authority of the country, and
as it seems to me, with the justest reason, tho
ken TO the whole southwestern portion OF the
Union. As connected with our naval power
which it should be the pride, as il is the indspen-
sable interest of the country, should be main
tanned by our flag upon the Gulf Of Mexico.
tour Mediterranean sea,) the extended line Of
coast upon the maritime border Of Texas, with its
numerous inlets and estuaries, is all-important.
OF the wide field il would open for the energies of
American industry and enterprise, it can hardly
be necessary for me 10 speak. Its soil and eli.
mate adant it, in a peculiar degree, to class OF
agricultural productions, which, yielding the
richest returns to the labor of the husbandman,
would make a vast addition to the aggregate
wealth Of the nation, and which, entering large.
ly into the commerce, both foreign and domestic.
of the country, would give greatly increased
and profitable employment TO the navigation OF
the Eastern and Middle States. At the same
time, those States would find in Texas, filled with
our own thrifty and enterprsing people, and in
corporated into the Union, home market OF
incalculable value for the products Of their
manufacturing and mechanical industry The
inhabitants Of that country devoting their labor
mainly, as they would do, TO the staple pro-
ductions Of cotton and sugar, for which their
soil and climate are particularly suited, the
west and the northwest would find there new
demand, with all the advantages of free and
unrestricted home trade, for large quantities of
their -four, their pork, their beef, and other
articles of agricultural produce. To the cot
ton-growing States of the South and the South
west, the incorporation Of Texas into the Union
would be attended with the inappreclabe ad-
vantage of placing the whole cotton region on
our continent under the regime of the same
system of commercial regulations, and thereby
securing those States against determinations, to
the prejudice of their productions, which other
wise it might and probably would be the policy
of foreign powers to adopt. Thus this great
national object comes recommended by consider
aations of the highest importance, appealing to
the interests of all the great divisions OF the


The following is the entire passage in MIR. Adams's
despatch to Mr.. Forsyth referred to above:


"The Spanish Government cannot allege either that
Mr. Onis transcended his instructions that the
ratification of the United States has been refused that
any unfair advantage taken The part of the United
States in the negotiation, that Spain not fully
aware before hand of the full extent of the engagements
contracted by Mr. Ons Il is well known, and they
will not dare deny it, that Mr. OHiss last instructions
authorized him concede much more than he did that
those instructions had been prepared by Mr. Pzarro
that after the appointment of the Marqss de Casa Yruo
to the ministry, they were by him submitted to the Kings
council, and, with their full sanction, were transmit
ted Mr. Onis that both in relation to the grants of
lands in Florida and to the western boundary The terms
which he obtained were far within the limits of his in
sructons that it known to and understood by him
that the grants to Alagon Punon, Rostro and Vargas
were annuled by the treaty that fully was this his
understanding that in his dispatches to his Government
he pointed out to them the of ndemnfyng those
grantees for their disappointment from other lands The
Government Of the United States, indeed, considered the
moderation and generosity of the terms to which they
had acceded pledge that they would be received
with pride and Joy by tho Spanish Government and SO,


il will not be denied, they in the first instance
received by the King of Spain and his cabinet IT,
afterwards, from the unexpected extent of sacrifices
which the United States made, for the purposes Of
ciliation and Of sincere anty, Spain has drawn the