Texas in 1850. By Melinda Rankin. Page: 81 of 196

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TEXAS IN 1850.

longng to the Republic of Texas might be erected into
a new State
to be called the State of Texas."
It is an important matter, at this era, for Texas to
know what she really is, in territory, that it should
embrace all that is her honest due. Encumbered with
a large national debt, contracted in course of her revolution,
she has to look to her public domain as her only
resource for its payment, and the acquitance of her
obligations to,those who generously aided her struggle
for independence. The acquiescence of Texas to give
up the portion claimed will necessarily curtail and limit
her ability to meet her responsibilities, consequently,
she must violate her honor in a very important degree.
The decision of this subject is a matter of serious
consequence to Texas. It is hoped that the present
Congress will decide the unadjusted boundary, and in
that decision will render the justice which is necessarily
expected from a source in which should be concentrated
equity as well as power.
According to the previous confederation, Texas
covers sixteen degrees of latitude, and fourteen of longitude.
She extends from 26 to 42 degrees of north
latitude, and from 96 to 110 of west longitude. The
south-east corner is in the mouth of the Rio Grandea
region of perpetual flowers; her north-west corner is
near the South Pass in the Rocky Mountains -a region
of perpetual snow.
She has a gulf frontier of near a thousand miles, a
frontier on the Rio Grande (the disputed portion) of
two thousand miles, an undisputed frontier of a thou