Trist contemplated or authorized its
insertion. The public lands within the limits of Texas belong to that
State, and this Government has no power to dispose of them or to change
the conditions of grants already made. All valid titles to lands within
the other territories ceded to the United States will remain unaffected
by the change of sovereignty; and I therefore submit that this article
should not be ratified as a part of the treaty.
There may be reason to apprehend that the ratification of the
"additional and secret article" might unreasonably delay and embarrass
the final action on the treaty by Mexico. I therefore submit whether
that article should not be rejected by the Senate.
If the treaty shall be ratified as proposed to be amended, the cessions
of territory made by it to the United States as indemnity, the provision
for the satisfaction of the claims of our injured citizens, and the
permanent establishment of the boundary of one of the States of the
Union are objects gained of great national importance, while the
magnanimous forbearance exhibited toward Mexico, it is hoped, may insure
a lasting peace and good neighborhood between the two countries.
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