Louisiana and Aaron Burr 295 



conquest of Texas. The Government of the United 

 States had nothing to do with winning Texas for 

 the English-speaking people of North -America. 

 The American frontiersmen won Texas for them- 

 selves, unaided either by the statesmen who con- 

 trolled the politics of the Republic, or by the sol- 

 diers who took their orders from Washington. 



In yet other cases the action is more mixed. 

 Statesmen and diplomats have some share in shap- 

 ing the conditions under which a country is finally 

 taken ; in the eye of history they often usurp much 

 more than their proper share ; but in reality they are 

 able to bring matters to a conclusion only because 

 adventurous settlers, in defiance or disregard of 

 governmental action, have pressed forward into the 

 longed-for land. In such cases the function of the 

 diplomats is one of some importance, because they 

 lay down the conditions under which the land is 

 taken ; but the vital question as to whether the land 

 shall be taken at all, upon no matter what terms, is 

 answered not by the diplomats, but by the people 

 themselves. 



It was in this way that the Northwest was won 

 from the British and the boundaries of the South- 

 west established by treaty with the Spaniards. 

 Adams, Jay, and Pinckney deserve much credit for 

 the way they conducted their several negotiations; 

 but there would have been nothing for them to ne- 

 gotiate about had not the settlers already thronged 

 into the disputed territories or strenuously pressed 

 forward against their boundaries. 



