The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 9, July 1905 - April, 1906 Page: 38
ix, 294 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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38 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
(6) Effect of annexation on treaties.-Elliot, who had
gone to Mexico in the spring of 1845 to assist Charles
Bankhead, the British minister to Mexico in persuading
the Mexican government to accept the preliminary proposals
of Texas, on his return to Texas went at once to the
United States on personal business and returned to Texas
only for a brief stay. His last interchange of notes with
Allen, the Texas secretary of state, was of an interesting nature.
In the debate in the House of Lords on May 17, 1844, to which
reference has already been made, Lord Aberdeen, speaking of the
treaty of annexation that was then under consideration, had said
that the annexation of Texas raised a question new and unex-
ampled in the history of public law, which would receive serious
attention from the government. This Everett interpreted as re-
ferring to the effect of annexation on the previously existing obli-
gations of the two countries involved. In December, 1845, Lord
Aberdeen directed Elliot to notify the Texas government that the
obligation of the treaties between Texas and Great Britain would
not be impaired by the voluntary surrender by Texas of her inde-
pendence but would continue in precisely the same condition as
if Texas had remained an independent power, and that so long as
they should remain in force Great Britain would be entitled to
require that the engagements contracted by them be fulfilled on the
part of Texas as they would be fulfilled on the part of Great
Britain. Ebenezer Allen, the secretary of state of Texas, replied
with propriety that during the independence of Texas her treaty
obligations had been faithfully maintained, and that they would
continue to be so maintained; but that after the organization of the
State government should succeed to that of the Republic (which
happened, in fact, on February 19, 1846) the settlement of all
questions growing out of her treaty relations with foreign powers
must, so far as Texas was concerned, be referred to the govern-
ment of the United States. Allen's stand here was quite in accord
with international law, and it seems to have satisfied the English
government, for no further correspondence took place on the sub-
ject between Elliot and Allen. Probably Lord Aberdeen in mak-
ing the protest desired merely to get his position on record for
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 9, July 1905 - April, 1906, periodical, 1906; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101036/m1/42/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.