“George Ashmun (December 25, 1804 – July 16, 1870) was a Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts. Ashmun was born in Blandford, Massachusetts to Eli P. Ashmun and Lucy Hooker. He graduated from Yale in 1823 and was married to Martha E. Hall in 1828. He served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1833 to 1837, and the Massachusetts Senate from 1838 to 1840. In 1841, he returned to the Massachusetts House where he served as Speaker.

Ashmun was elected to the U.S. Congress from the Sixth District of Massachusetts in 1844, held office from 1845 to 1851 and was a member of the committees on the judiciary, Indian affairs, and rules. He opposed the Mexican–American War and was a strong supporter of Daniel Webster.”

Nothing, surely, could be more clear and emphatic, unless, perhaps, the statement of the same position by the chairman of Foreign Affairs in this House. On the 3rd of February 1845, he [Ashmun] introduced his resolutions, and spoke in explanation of them; and, on the subject of the boundary, said:

“The stupendous deserts between the Nueces and the Bravo rivers are the natural boundaries between the Anglo Saxon and the Mauritanian races. There ends of the valley of the west. There Mexico begins.”

“Thence, beyond the Bravo, begins the Moorish people, and their Indian associates, to whom Mexico properly belongs; who should not cross that vast desert if they could, as we, on our side, too ought to stop there, because interminable conflicts must ensure our going south, or their coming north, of that gigantic boundary. While peace is cherished, that boundary will be sacred. Not till the spirit of Conquest rages, will the people on either side molest or mix with each other; and whenever they do, one or the other races must be conquered, if not extinguished.”

“Here, Mr. Chairman, we see again an official declaration of this boundary made to quiet all fear that our relations with Mexico would be disturbed by claiming to the Rio Grande! And we see, also, the spirit of prophecy proclaiming, in tones of solemn warning, that while peace is cherished, the desert will be held sacred as the boundary! that not till the spirit of conquest rages will the people on either side of it molest or mix each other! Sir, it is because peace is no longer cherished, that the boundary is not held sacred. It is because the barbarous spirit that animated this declaration, could still have controlled the councils of the President, we should now be in the enjoyment of peace. But mark how the lapse of a few months bring with it a change of opinions to suit the changing purposes of party and of men. We were called upon, a few days since, by this same chairman, to print some extra copies of a report, made at the last session by him, on the subject of the Mexican war. It had fallen dead upon the attention of the country, but by the vote to print, it was elevated to a degree of distinction which alone entitles it to attention; and I accordingly have run through its voluminous pages. And I was not surprised to find a paragraph upon the subject of boundary, so entirely contradictory of everything contained in the above exact, that it worthy of being collated and contrasted. It is on the 44th page, and is as follows:

“President Polk had no constitutional right to stop short of the Bravo; and, in truth, the province of Texas extended to that river by territorial configuration, which nature itself has rendered the limitary demarcation of that region.”

Source: Speech of Mr. Geo. Ashmun … on the Mexican War. Delivered in the House of …By George Ashmun

  

“Mexico, according to the Mexican Herald, is a country “unique in linguistic and ethnological blends, for here the Moor has left traces of his language and customs; these mingled with the customs and languages of the Aztecs and other Indian races, while the genius of the tenacious Spaniard presides over the complex civilization of the country. “In architecture the man or woman of education sees the marked influence of Arabian taste and usage, for hero the .Moorish house, with patio, or court, is common; the.barred windows; the porch with its huge floors, through which one sees flowers and fountains, all most Andalusian antl derived by the southern Spaniards from the Moors, who, in turn, got it all from the .Saracens, antl they from the Persians. Thus Mexico, architecturally, is very oriental; great American artists and architects have come here and admired the severe lines of stately ancient buildings, where beauty is achieved without petty ornamentation. “The Moor has left his Arabic words all over the Mexican ‘casa.’ The ‘zaguan’ or porch; the ‘azotea,’ or roof; theseare Arabic, words. The ‘albanil,’ or mason, who builds the walls antl lays the roof, is called by another Moorish name. The list might be greatly extended. The tourist, calling for his ‘ taza ‘ of coffee, uses, unconsciously, the Arabic Hast’ or cup; In: admires the display in the ‘joyeria,” or jeweler’s, antl what is ‘joya,” a jewel, but the Arabic ‘juahar”.’ ‘Almacenes,’ or warehouses; ‘azucar,’ or sugar; ‘algodon,’ in which one sees clearly the origin of ‘cotton’—all words of the Arabic vocabulary. •’The high-peaked national saddle is the Moorish saddle modified, and the technical vocabulary of every trade in Mexico is tilled with Moorish terms. A few came from the Indian languages, and so Aztec and Arabian meet in the new world. The Spanish language has the Latin manliness and dignity, with a strong blending of the color of the Arabic. Spanish differs thus from Italian, also descended from the Latin, in ;t certain oriental majesty and vividness. It is a language for Solemn discourse, for ardent love-making, for military command, and lor every purpose of the highest literary art. It is a widespread tongue, spoken in the Philippines, in little islands of the Pacific, among the Spanish .lews living long exiled in Constantinople, in North African ports, and over a vast extent of the new world. It is not decaying, it is full of life, its literature showing a surprising vigor.”

                                           

Source: The Sacred Heart Review, Volume 27, Number 14, 5 April 1902

“Festivals come in all colors and sizes but none perhaps more spectacular than the annual Morismas de Bracho, the Moors versus Christian battle reenactments staged each year near Zacatecas, Mexico. Thousands of costumed Moors and Christian soldiers assemble on the streets to reenact great battles of Europe.”

Source: http://mexicolesstraveled.com/morismas.htm