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338 of the two houses of congress. In short, the joint resolutions had been passed on the 1st of March, 1845, the senate leaving, however, to the president the option of effecting the annexation by resolution or by treaty, which that functionary promptly availed himself of. A messenger was at once despatched with a letter from Secretary Calhoun to the American representative in Texas to propose the resolutions of annexation to the acceptance of the Texan government. On the 4th of July Texas agreed to be annexed, and on the 22d of December, 1845, she formally became a member of the American Union. The European governments which had recognized Texas as a nation, albeit they had endeavored to prevail on her to retain her independent status, made no objection to the change effected.

It is almost needless to state that General Almonte, the Mexican minister, upon the official publication of the joint resolutions, on the 7th of March, demanded his passports after addressing a protest to the diplomatic corps at Washington against the spoliation thus decreed of his country's territory. This was