This great Territory comprising 370,472 square miles originally belonged to Mexico. In 1820 Moses Austin, a native of Connecticut, obtained a grant of land and threw it open to settlement by people from the United States, mostly the Southern States. In a few years more than 20,000 had settled there and the strong Anglo-Saxon spirit of liberty began to rebel against the oppressive Mexican rule. In a few years this feeling burst into an open revolt. Texans met and declared their independence and formed a Republic and placed an army in the field under Gen. Sam. Houston. He met the Mexicans under Gen. Santa Anna at San Jacinto in 1836 and gained a complete victory, thus achieving the independence of Texas. Next year Texas applied for admission into the Union but no action was taken by Congress for several years. Meantime in the north a strong sentiment had developed against the institution of slavery. The subject was vigorously agitated in the pulpit, in literature and in public. The Southern people, perceiving the strength of the opposition to their favorite institution, determined in self defense to acquire more territory for the sake of the strength additional votes would give them, and so in 1844 the proposal to admit Texas came up in Congress in earnest. No concealment of the underlying purpose was made by the Southern Congressmen who led the movement. A bitter struggle followed but the annexationists prevailed and in 1845 the “Lone Star State,” as Texas had been called, was added to the Union. The South welcomed the new comer with great demonstrations, but the greetings of the North were not cordial, for in that section it was clearly understood that a great extension was given to slave territory. NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA.