on the part of the western and south-western states of the American Union, and it was opposed by many of her most prominent statesinen.
In the following year, under the so-called Missouri compromise, entered into by the slave-holders of the southern states, slavery was not to be extended north of 36° 30'. This compromise, together with the southern boundary stipulated in the Adams-Onis treaty, greatly reduced the area in which slave states might be formed.
The state of Louisiana was separated from Texas by the Sabine River, and it becane desirable to acquire the latter province for the benefit of the slaveholding interest. Several devices were thought of to accomplish that purpose. The first one attempted was that of forcible seizure shortly after the treaty with Spain was concluded. The leader of that movement was James Long, a Tennesseean, who with about 75 men started from Natchez on the 17th of June, 1819, and reached Nacogdoches in Texas. On the 23d of that month he issued a proclamation styling himself president of the supreme council of Texas, and declaring that "the citizens of Texas have long indulged the hope that in the adjustment of the boundaries of the Spanish possessions in America, and of the territories of the United States, they should be included within the limits of the latter." The proclamation of independence of the republic of Texas then followed.[1] Long established a provisional government at Nacogdoches, and then went to Galveston to secure the aid of the buccaneer Lafitte. In his absence the royalist troops routed his force, of whom a number were killed, the rest being taken prisoners. Long made a second invasion, and without difficulty possessed himself of La Bahía del Espíritu Santo. This was after New Spain had acquired her indepen-
- ↑ That document was published in the Louisiana Herald, evidently to invite American citizens to join Long's standard. Jay's Rev. Mex. War, 11.
