New Mexico, though situated in the interior and without a seacoast, is
known to contain much fertile land, to abound in rich mines of the
precious metals, and to be capable of sustaining a large population.
From its position it is the intermediate and connecting territory
between our settlements and our possessions in Texas and those on the
Pacific Coast.
Upper California, irrespective of the vast mineral wealth recently
developed there, holds at this day, in point of value and importance,
to the rest of the Union the same relation that Louisiana did when that
fine territory was acquired from France forty-five years ago. Extending
nearly ten degrees of latitude along the Pacific, and embracing the only
safe and commodious harbors on that coast for many hundred miles, with
a temperate climate and an extensive interior of fertile lands, it is
scarcely possible to estimate its wealth until it shall be brought under
the government of our laws and its resources fully developed. From its
position it must command the rich commerce of China, of Asia, of the
islands of the Pacific, of western Mexico, of Central America, the South
American States, and of the Russian possessions bordering on that ocean.
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