things, and keep me truly and constantly advised of any movements which may serve to justify the suspicions which are entertained, than yourself, and I know I can rely with confidence on your fidelity and activity. To secure your exertions in that regard, is the object of this letter, and it is because I wish it to be considered rather as a private than an official act, that it is addressed to you instead of the Governor, (who is understood to be now in Kentucky.)

"The course to be pursued to effect the object in view must of necessity be left to your discretion, enjoining only that the utmost secrecy be observed on your part. If, in the performance of the duty required of you, any expenses are necessarily incurred by you, I will see they are refunded.

"WM. FULTON, Esq."

"I am, respectfully, yours,

"ANDREW JACKSON.

This was written in December, 1830. I adduce it as demonstrative proof that the President of the United States was then perfectly and fully informed of a design on the part of our citizens to produce an insurrection in Texas for the purpose of separating that Territory from the republic of Mexico, and that the President considered the enterprise as highly criminal, and such as called upon him to arrest its progress, and prevent its accomplishment.

It will be recollected that I called some time since upon the Department of State to know if any copy of such a letter was on the files of that Department, and the reply sent to this House was, that there was no such document there. I infer from that fact that this letter, though written, never was sent. And why not sent? I believe that it was the will and intention of the President, at that time, to make the interposition contained in this letter. What inference must be drawn from the fact of its never having been sent, if such, indeed, was the fact? It is not in my power to explain this whole matter. The letter, however, exists. I have seen it and I aver that the whole letter from beginning to end, together with its endorsement, is in the handwriting of General Jackson. The original letter of Dr. Mayo to the President, on which this was written, I have also seen: and any member of the House who feels curiosity on the subject, may have an opportunity of examining both letters. Now, how is this to be explained? That the letters were written is beyond dispute. That this is endorsed" strictly confidential," is equally indisputable; and the letter itself discloses, on the part of the President, his knowledge of a conspiracy which he considered highly criminal, and of which he expressed his "detestation." Is it not demonstrative proof of that duplicity which pervaded every part of the course of the late Administration in regard to Mexico, that there does exist such an autograph letter of the late President, and that, so far as appears, it was never sent? If it was sent, the persons are living who can prove it. The gentleman to whom the letter was written is, I believe, now in this city. The Secretary of the Territory of Florida is yet living. If both letters were sent, the fact may be proved. And if they were, then, surely, it is very incumbent on those who received them to prove what they did in regard to this foul conspiracy.

[Mr. HOWARD here asked leave to interpose. The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts said he has read to the House a document stated by him to be a strictly confidential letter of the late President of the United States, and has expressed his belief that the letter never had been sent. Will it now be in order for me to inquire of that gentleman how he got possession of such a document.

The SPEAKER replied, that if the gentleman from Massachusetts chose to yield the floor for that purpose, the question might be put, but not as a question of order, to be put by authority of the House.]

Mr. ADAMS. I understand the Speaker to have decided that such an inquiry is not a question of order, but that it is competent to the gentleman to introduce it with my assent. The gentleman has my assent, and if he does make the inquiry, I am ready to give a full, clear, and explicit account how this paper came into my hands. Most certainly I have not produced it here without first ascertaining the strict propriety and even delicacy of such a step. If the gentleman thinks proper to put his inquiry in a written form, so that it shall go on the Journal, and that a vote of the House may be had upon it, I am ready to answer in a manner that I hope will be perfectly satisfactory. Sir, this letter interests more than that gentleman and me. It interests more than the members of this House. Yes, sir, more than the people of this nation. The gentleman is not mistaken in the importance which he attributes to this document, and which is implied in the question he has just put to the Chair; and I again say to him that I am prepared to give a full and explicit account of how it came into my possession.

[Mr. H. did not put the question.]

I

Mr. A. continued. And now to return to the present argument. have produced and read this letter in order to show that in December, 1830, the President of these United States was duly informed of the existence of a conspiracy for invading Texas, producing a revolution in that province, and ultimately separating it from the Republic of Mexico, of which it constituted an integral part, and that the whole design was conducted under the command of the individual who is now President of Texas.

I hope the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. HOWARD] will have a full opportunity of replying to and commenting upon what I have been urging on the attention of this House for the last fortnight, if not at the present session, at least at the next; for, sir, this subject has as yet been barely opened. Tedious as my argument may have appeared to many, instead of amplifying it, I have, on the contrary, been obliged to abridge three fourths of what I desired to say, and of what ought to be said on the various topics touched upon. But I was aware that sufficient time could not be allowed me at the present session. I do hope, however, that we shall never more hear of the gag, and that, at the next session, ample time and opportunity will be given for every gentleman to express his opinions on all the topics which shall be reported to us from the Committee on Foreign Affairs. I have adduced these documents simply as proofs of the existence of both duplicity and hostility on the part of this Government toward Mexico, and that from the commencement of the last Administration. We have come down as far as the close of the year 1830. I have read to the House a report of the Mexican Secretary of State, made to the Mexican Legislature during the very time in which General Houston is said to have been engaged in that conspiracy to which the President's letter alludes; and in which report the conspiracy is shadowed forth in all the particularities of its progressive development. All this time, be it remembered, our Chargé near the Mexican Government was charged in a letter of instructions to propose a

cession of Texas to the United States; to urge that proposition with all his influence, and to back it by an offer of five millions of dollars. And at the same time he was charged with the negotiation of a treaty of commerce, and for the purpose of carrying into effect the boundary line agreed upon in our former treaty with Spain. The House has seen that the Legislature of Mexico, having, in consequence of these proceedings, its suspicions very much roused in regard to the views and purposes of this Government, refused to sign the treaty of commerce unless an article should be introduced into it recognising the line marked out in our Spanish treaty as the boundary line between Mexico and the United States. Such an article was accordingly introduced, and the commercial treaty was concluded by Mr. Poinsett, in 1828. But, owing to those delays which frequently happen in matters of this description, that treaty was not ratified in time. Whereupon, Mr. Butler was charged in his instructions to reconclude the same treaty, which he did in 1831 and '32, and in it the same article was inserted, establishing the boundary line as agreed upon in 1819.

[Here the morning hour expired, and Mr. ADAMS, without concluding his remarks, resumed his seat.

The subject, of course, lies over until the next session, Mr. ADAMS being entitled to the floor.]

SUPPLEMENT.

In the National Intelligencer of the 21st of July, 1838, there was published a letter to the editors from Colonel Benjamin C. Howard, chairman of the late Committee on Foreign Affairs, to which are annexed the letter from himself to William S. Fulton, Esq., inquiring whether he had received the letter from the late President Andrew Jackson, of 10th December, 1830, which had been read by me in the House of Representatives, and Mr. Fulton's answer acknowledging that he had received that letter some time in the month of January, 1831. These last two letters Mr. Howard put into my hands, with a request that I would communicate them to the House, which I should have done had I been permitted to address the House again on that subject after receiving them. They are now republished, together with the letter from Colonel Howard to the editors of the National Intelligencer, as forming a natural supplement to that unfinished debate.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.

Your paper of this morning (July 19th) announces that you have finished Mr. Adams's speech, which occupied so many morning hours, as you say that "Mr. Adams, without concluding his remarks, resumed his seat. The subject, of course, lies over until the next session, Mr. Adams being entitled to the floor."

My purpose at present is not to complain that no member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs had an opportunity of replying to the numerous and heavy charges which Mr. Adams brought against that committee, nor to state what would have been the substance of my defence of myself and the rest of the committee, if a few moments could have been found, under the rules of the House, for that purpose. To Mr. Adams's complaints of having suffered under the operation of what he calls the gag-law," when at that very time he was attacking the committee, day after day, without a chance being afforded to them of uttering a syllable in their own vindication, I would reply in the language of the Emperor of Mexico, who was stretched by the Spanish commander upon a bed of burning coals, with one of his companions, whose cries and complaints were loud, and whom the Emperor rebuked by saying, "Do you think that I lie here upon a bed of roses?"

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Passing by the many errors contained in this speech, as far as it relates to the opinions or conduct of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, I only mean to request you to publish the two enclosed letters. I placed them in the possession of Mr. Adams, on the day when his speech ceased, with a request that he would read them when he resumed the floor. I believe he would have done so, but on Monday, the last day of the session, the Speaker of the House decided that it was not in order for the discus sion to continue.

On the preceding Saturday, Mr. Adams read a confidential letter of General Jackson to the Hon. Wm. S. Fulton, then Secretary of Arkansas, and dwelt much upon his belief that, although written, it was never sent. He is reported to have said:

"Is it not demonstrative proof of that duplicity which pervaded every part of the course of the late Administration in regard to Mexico, that there does exist such an autograph letter of the late President, and that, so far as it appears, it was never sent? If it was sent, the persons are living who can prove it," &c. &c.

Having obtained from Mr. Adams the letter which he read, I enclosed it to Gov