"February 1, 1833. Laredo is a poor-looking place.
It contains about 2200 inhabitants. The people look like mulattoes. They are friendly and clever, but not one of them can speak English. Laredo is the first settlement that I have seen in Tamaulipas." Life of Benjamin Lundy, pp. 57, 95.
In 1836, as we have seen, President Jackson laid before Congress the report of his special agent, Mr. Moffit, who was sent to Texas to acquire information for the Government. The agent reported that " the pohtical limits of Texas proper (that is, the Mexican State of Texas), before the last revolution, were the Nueces river on the West;' &c.
In 1837, Avas pubhshed a map of Texas, " compiled by Stephen F. Austin, from surveys by General Teran of the Mexican Army ;" and here again we have the Nueces for its western boundary. So late as June 28th, 1845, Mr.
Donaldson, American Charge d' Affaires to Texas, declared, in an official letter, that Corpus Christi "is the most western point now occupied by Texas." The Mexican Government always insisted, that the territory on the Rio Grande, had never belonged to Texas. The Mexican commissioners ap- pointed to treat of peace, were, by instructions, authoiised to acknowledge the independence of Texas ; but, to avoid mistake, it was added, " by Texas is understood the territory known by that name after the treaties of 1819, when it formed part of the State of Coahuila and Texas, and not by any means the territory between the Nueces and the Bravo, which the Congress of the pretended Texans claimed to belong to it." On the 18th March, 1846, Gen. Mejia, the commandant at Metamoras, in a proclamation announcing Taylor's invasion, to prove that the Americans intended to seize territory not included in Texas, remarked, " the limits of Texas are certain and recognised ; 7iever have they extended beyond the river Nueces."