ton,[1] the validity of which, since the declaration of Independence, has been tacitly acknowledged both by Mexico, and the United States.
According to the third article of this treaty, the boundary line between Mexico and Louisiana (then ceded by Spain to the United States) commences with the River Sabinas, which runs into the Gulph of Mexico, about lat. 29, West long. 94, and follows its course as far as its junction with the Red River of Natchitoches, which then serves to mark the frontier up to the 100th degree of West longitude, where the line runs directly North to the River Arkansas, which it follows to its source, in the 42d degree of North latitude, from whence another direct line is drawn (immediately upon the forty-second parallel) to the coast of the Pacific; thus dividing between the two rival republics the whole Northern continent of America, with the exception of the British Colonies.
A reference to the accompanying map will explain this seemingly complicated arrangement, which at present is of but little importance, except with regard to the Eastern coast; as between the frontier established, and the last settlements of the Americans and Mexicans to the North and West, a vast space intervenes, tenanted only by Indian tribes, who have never yet been subdued, and over whom
- ↑ This treaty was signed on the 22d February, 1819, by Mr. Adams and the Chevalier Onis, then Spanish Minister at Washington.
