But what was the country between this small settlement of San Patricio, or between Corpus Christi and the Rio del Norte, over which it might be supposed from the message, that the jurisdiction of Texas had been extended; so as to be included within one of our congressional districts? Here again, Texas had erected that small settlement into a county called San Patricio, and declared that this county extended to the Rio del Norte. This, like all other declaratory acts of the same kind, was only an assertion not affecting the question of right. The State of Texas might, with equal propriety, have declared that their boundary extended to the Sierra Madre or to the Pacific. The true question of right to any territory beyond the Mexican limits of the Department of Texas depends on the facts: By whom was the territory in question actually inhabited and occupied? and had the inhabitants united with Texas in the insurrection against Mexico? The whole country beyond the settlement of San Patricio and Corpus Christi, till within a few miles of the del Norte, is a perfect desert, one hundred and sixty miles wide by the route pursued by General Taylor, as stated by himself, and near one hundred and twenty miles in a straight line. The only settled part of it is along the left bank of the del Norte, and but a few miles in breadth. This belt was settled, inhabited, and occupied exclusively by Mexicans. It included the town of Loredo; and Mexico had a custom-house at Brazos, north of the mouth of the river. Till occupied by the American arms it had ever been, and was at the time when invaded by General Taylor, a part of the Department of Tamaulipas, and subject to the jurisdiction of the Prefect of the Northern District of that department. In the course of the war between Mexico and Texas, incursions had been occasionally made by each party into the territories of the other. A Mexican officer had, once or twice, obtained temporary occupation of San Antonio, within the limits of Texas; and the Texans had on one occasion taken Loredo itself, and more than once had carried their arms, not only to the left bank of the del Norte, but even beyond that river. In both cases the aggressive parties had been repulsed and expelled. The last Texan expedition of that kind took place in December, 1842, and terminated in their defeat at Mier. That the country, adjacent to the left bank of the river, was exclusively in the possession of the Mexicans, was well known to our Government. When General Taylor marched to the del Norte, he issued an order (No. 30), translated into the Spanish, ordering all under his command, to observe with the most scrupulous respect the rights of all the inhabitants, who might be found in peaceful prosecution of their respective occupations, as well on the left as on the right side of the Rio Grande. No interference, he adds, will be allowed with the civil rights or religious privileges of the inhabitants.