Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
The known desire of the Texans to become a part of our system, although
its gratification depends upon the reconcilement of various and
conflicting interests, necessarily a work of time and uncertain in
itself, is calculated to expose our conduct to misconstruction in the
eyes of the world. There are already those who, indifferent to
principle themselves and prone to suspect the want of it in others,
charge us with ambitious designs and insidious policy.
You will perceive by the accompanying documents that the extraordinary
mission from Mexico has been terminated on the sole ground that the
obligations of this Government to itself and to Mexico, under treaty
stipulations, have compelled me to trust a discretionary authority to a
high officer of our Army to advance into territory claimed as part of
Texas if necessary to protect our own or the neighboring frontier from
Indian depredation. In the opinion of the Mexican functionary who has
just left us, the honor of his country will be wounded by American
soldiers entering, with the most amicable avowed purposes, upon ground
from which the followers of his Government have been expelled, and over
which there is at present no certainty of a serious effort on its part
to re-establish its dominion. The departure of this minister was the
more singular as he was apprised that the sufficiency of the causes
assigned for the advance of our troops by the commanding general had
been seriously doubted by me, and there was every reason to suppose
that the troops of the United States, their commander having had time
to ascertain the truth or falsehood of the information upon which they
had been marched to Nacogdoches, would be either there in perfect
accordance with the principles admitted to be just in his conference
with the Secretary of State by the Mexican minister himself, or were
already withdrawn in consequence of the impressive warnings their
commanding officer had received from the Department of War. It is hoped
and believed that his Government will take a more dispassionate and
just view of this subject, and not be disposed to construe a measure of
justifiable precaution, made necessary by its known inability in
execution of the stipulations of our treaty to act upon the frontier,
into an encroachment upon its rights or a stain upon its honor.
In the mean time the ancient complaints of injustice made on behalf of
our citizens are disregarded, and new causes of dissatisfaction have
arisen, some of them of a character requiring prompt remonstrance and
ample and immediate redress. I trust, however, by tempering firmness
with courtesy and acting with great forbearance upon every incident
that has occurred or that may happen, to do and to obtain justice, and
thus avoid the necessity of again bringing this subject to the view of
Congress.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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