I congratulate my country that by an act of the late Congress of
the United States the assent of this Government has been given to
the reunion, and it only remains for the two countries to agree
upon the terms to consummate an object so important to both.
I regard the question of annexation as belonging exclusively to
the United States and Texas. They are independent powers competent
to contract, and foreign nations have no right to interfere with
them or to take exceptions to their reunion. Foreign powers do not
seem to appreciate the true character of our Government. Our Union
is a confederation of independent States, whose policy is peace
with each other and all the world. To enlarge its limits is to
extend the dominions of peace over additional territories and
increasing millions. The world has nothing to fear from military
ambition in our Government. While the Chief Magistrate and the
popular branch of Congress are elected for short terms by the
suffrages of those millions who must in their own persons bear all
the burdens and miseries of war, our Government can not be
otherwise than pacific. Foreign powers should therefore look on
the annexation of Texas to the United States not as the conquest
of a nation seeking to extend her dominions by arms and violence,
but as the peaceful acquisition of a territory once her own, by
adding another member to our confederation, with the consent of
that member, thereby diminishing the chances of war and opening to
them new and ever-increasing markets for their products.
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