was the sentiment, that to have receded from

this boundary, would have been regarded as

scarcely less inglorious than to have compromised

the very principles of the revolution itself.

To have obtained peace and independence with

such a boundary as that which is sought in

some quarters to be foisted upon them, would

have been regarded at any period of their

separate existence, as a victory without honor

and a triumph without glory.

At the first session of our Congress, "An

act defining the boundary of Texas" was passed,

declaring our boundary as commencing in the

Gulf of Mexico three leagues from land, to the

mouth of the Rio Grande, thence up the principal

stream of said river to its source, then due North

to the 42d degee of North latitude.

This then was our only boundary--our rightful,

because our lawful one and continued so without

modification or abatement up to the period of the

adoption of the annexation resolutions and the

Constitution of the State, and then, if affected at all,

only to be reassured by the first and reasserted

by the latter. The laws and institutions of a

nation constituted her political identity as well

as her political existence. They and those who

represent them, are the only true exponents of her

rights and her pretensions.

By these the Government of the United States

were apprised of our boundary, and only through

these could they acquire any knowledge on the

subject at all; and thus advised, that Government,

in 1837, acknowleged our independence; and so far as

it was concerned, became, thereby, forever concluded