a Fe, the capital,
lies on the left bank of the river, and is therefore embraced within the
claim of Texas. Now this province of New Mexico was first visited and
occupied by the Spaniards under Vasquez Coronado, in the years 1540 to
1542. It was at that time voluntarily evacuated, subsequently
re-visited, and some settlements made about the year 1583: finally
conquered in 1595 by the Spaniards, under the command of Onate. An
insurrection of the Indians drove away the Spaniards in the year 1680.
They re-entered it the ensuing year, and after a long resistance
re-conquered it. This was an internal conflict with the Aborigines; but
as related to foreign powers, the sovereignty of the Spaniards over the
territory was never called in question; and it was, in express terms,
made the western boundary of Louisiana in the Royal Charter of the
French Government.

The conquest of the province by Onate, took place five-and-twenty years
prior to the landing of the Pilgrims in New England, and twelve years
before any permanent settlement had been made in North America, on the
shores of the Atlantic, by either England, France, Holland, Sweden, or
any other power, but that in Florida by Spain herself.

I have in vain sought for any document, emanating from the Republic or
State of Texas, for the purpose of sustaining its claim either to New
Mexico or to the country bordering on the lower portion of the del
Norte. The only official papers within my reach, in which the claim of
Texas is sustained, are the President's messages of May 11 and Dec. 3rd,
1846; and these refer only to the country bordering on the lower part of
the del Norte. The portion of the message of May 11th, 1846, relating to
that subject, is as follows: "Meantime Texas, by the final action of our
Congress, had become an integral part of our Union. The Congress of
Texas, by its act of December 19, 1836, had declared the Rio del Norte
to be the boundary of that republic. Its jurisdiction had been extended
and exercised beyond the Nueces. The country between that river and the
del Norte had been represented in the Congress and in the Convention of
Texas; had thus taken part in the act of annexation itself; and is now
included within one of our congressional districts. Our own Congress
had, moreover, with great unanimity, by the act approved December 31,
1845, recognized the country beyond the Nueces as a part of our
territory, by including it within our own revenue system