Selections: Col. Polk's Letter On The Re-annexation Of Texas

Colombia, Tenn., April 23, 1844. Gkntlemks- Your letter of the 30th tilt. wliich you have done me the honor to addre98 to ne, rcached my residence during mv absence from home, was not received until yesterday. Accompnnying your letter, you transmit to me as yoa state, 'a copy of ihe proceedings of a very large meeting of the citizens of Cincinnati, assumbledonthe29thu.lt. to express their settled opposition to the annexation of Texas to the Unired States.' You request from me an explicit expression of opinión upon this question of annexation. Having at no time entertained opinions upon public 8ubjecte which I was unwiliing to uvow, it gives me pleasure to comply with tl.e request. I have no hesitation in declnring that ] am in fnvor of the immediate rc-annexatloa of Texna to the terrriiory and government of ihe United Statcs. I entertain no doubts as to the power or expediency of the re-annexaiion. The piof is clenr and snt8ractory to my own mind, that Texas once constituted a part of the territory of the United States, the tille to which I regard to have been as indisputable as that to any portion of our territory. At he time the negotintion was opened with a view to acquire the Floridas, and thc seitlement of other questions, and pending that negotiation, the Spanish government was 8fit!sfied of the validity of our title, and was teady lorecogn'ze aliñe iar West of the Sabine as the true western boundary of Louisiana. ns definod by the treaty of I803 with Franco, under which Louisinnn was acquired. This negotiation_ which had been first opened at Madrid, wns broken off and transferid to Wnshineton, where it wasresumed, and resulted in the treat of Florida, by which the Sabine was fixed on as the western boundaiy of Louisiana. From the ratifïcniion of the treaty of 1803 wiih France until the treaty of 1815, with Spnin, the territory now con8ttuting the republie of Tcxns, belong ed to the United States. In I L19, the Florida trenty was concluded at Washington,!)}' Mr. John Q. Adnms, (the Secietary of State,) on the part of the United States, and Don Louis de Onis, on the part of Spain; and by that treaty this territo lying West of the Sabine. and constituting Texns. was ca derl bj the United States to Spain. - The Rio del Norte orsorne more western bound ary thnn the Sabine could have been obtained had it been ins'sted on by the American Secreta ry of State, and that without ncreasing the con sideration pnid lor the Floridas. In my judgment the country West of the Sabino, and now callee Texas, was most nu wiaely ceded away. Itisa part of the great valley of the Mississippi,. direct ly connected by its navigable waters with the MssÍ8sipni, and having once been a part of oui Union, it should never have been dismemberec from it. The government and people of Texas, it is understood, not only give their consent, bu ure anxiously desirousi to be re-united tö the United States. If the applicniion of Texna for a reunión and admission info our confederacy shal be rejected by the Uniied States, there is imminent danger that she will become a dependeney, f not a coluny o( Great Britain - an event whichno American patriot, anxious tor the safety mul prosperiíy of thi? country, eould permit to occur without the most strenuous resistance. Let Texis be re annexed. and the authority and lowg ot the United Siales be esiablished and maintainec within hér liinits, and aiso in tlie Oregoh Terriory, and let the fixed policy of oar governmem )e. not to perniit Great Britain or nny other 'oreign power to p!mit a colony or hold doninion over nny poriion of the people or territory ofeither. These are my opinions: and without deeming it r.ecessary to extend this let- er, by assigning the many reasons which nfluence me n the corir-lusions to which Icomc, I regret to be compelled to JifTer so widely from the views expiessed by yourselvcs and the meeting pi citizens of Cincinnnti whom you represent. Differing, however, with you and with them ns I do, t was due to frankness that I should be thus explicit in the declaration of my opinions. 1 am, with great respect, Your hunible servant,To Messrs. S. P. Chnse, Thomas Hcaton,&c. Commitiee, Cincinnoti.