CHAPTER XXI.

1845–1848.

ORIGIN OF THE WAR WITH MEXICO—EFFORTS OF MR. POLK’S ADMINISTRATION TO PREVENT IT.

The administration of President Polk inherited the Texas question from the preceding administration of President Tyler. The mode in which it was finally proposed to bring the republic of Texas into the American Union has been already described. When Mr. Polk became President of the United States, Texas had been for nine years practically an independent power, with a form of government modelled on that of the United States, with the exception of the fact that Texas consisted of a single State. The emigration which had flowed into it from the south-western region of the United States had made it a slaveholding country. From the time when its independence was acknowledged by the American Government, the question whether it should remain a separate nation, or be absorbed into the American Union, became a very serious one. The leading men who had gone thither, had made the revolution which claimed to have expelled, and had practically expelled, the Mexican power; and together with the great bulk of the inhabitants, they looked upon the United States as their mother country. There were great difficulties attending either of the two courses that remained open for the American Government. On the one hand, if Texas should be left as a separate nationality, to continue her war with Mexico, which still lingered after the battle of San Jacinto, that war was quite certain to end in efforts of the Texans to invade and conquer Mexico. This would have been resisted by England, and with her aid Mexico would in turn have invaded Texas. The power of England once introduced into Mexico, she would in all probability have shared the fate of India. On the other hand, the introduction of Texas into the American Union was proposed at a time when the “Abolitionists” of the North had long been pressing forward the immediate and unconditional abolition of slavery everywhere, by what they regarded as “moral means,” without any consideration for the feelings or apprehensions of the Southern people. To make a large addition to the area of slavery by the annexation of Texas, a slaveholding State, was regarded in the South as a necessary means of strengthening the political power of that section against the control of the General Government, which, it was feared, might eventually be obtained by a sectional combination of the Northern States on questions relating to the whole subject of slavery. It was a hazardous mode of meeting the dangers arising from the Northern anti-slavery agitation, because it placed the people of the South in the attitude of seeking a preponderance of political power upon a sectional issue, at a time when the people of the North were not seeking to obtain such a sectional preponderance, and when there was only an apprehension that they might do so. But at the time when President Polk succeeded to the management of this delicate matter, it was believed by him and by many of his most considerate Southern supporters, that the repose of both North and South could be, and required to be, secured by an arrangement with the executive government of Texas, before her admission into the Union, fixing the northern boundary of slavery at the Missouri compromise line of 36° 30´ north latitude, by extending that line westward. North of that line and west of Missouri, it was believed that negro labor could not be valuable, and that the negro could not encounter the climate. These were the views entertained by Mr. Buchanan when he accepted the position of Secretary of State; and he had reason to know that they were the views of Mr. Polk before his election. To Mr. Buchanan the Missouri compromise line recommended itself as a practicable mode of giving effect to the principle of equality among the States in regard to the common territories of the United States.

The precise attitude of the Texas negotiation, and the relations of the United States with Mexico, at the time when Mr. Buchanan took charge of the State Department, must now be stated, together with some reference to the previous history of the project of annexation. The first formal overture of annexation came from the government of Texas, in the time of President Van Buren, after the independence of Texas had been recognized by the United States. Mr. Van Buren declined the proposal, because he considered it inexpedient to open the constitutional questions involved, and because of our friendly relations with Mexico under existing treaties of amity and commerce. The secret treaty of annexation negotiated by Mr. Upshur under President Tyler was rejected by the Senate. Mr. Calhoun’s plan for bringing Texas into the Union as a State, through the action of Congress, was arranged by him with the government of Texas, after he became Secretary of State in March, 1844, and in the following December this plan and the correspondence with the executive government of Texas were submitted to Congress by President Tyler at the opening of the session. The motive was fully disclosed. It was plainly made known that the American executive believed that the British government was about to interpose to cause the people of Texas to abolish slavery in their country. This it was considered would leave the Southwestern States of this Union on what Mr. Calhoun described as the “exposed frontier” of a free state, into which their slaves would be induced to escape, and from which the foreign and the American abolitionists would be able to operate upon slavery in the domains of those States.[97]

The objections urged against this measure, when the resolutions for accomplishing it were finally adopted, three days before Mr. Polk became President, were the great extent of territory which it would add to our dominions, the increase of slavery and slave representation, and its tendency to produce a war with Mexico. It could not be said, however, that under the circumstances Mexico would have a clearly just cause for war if the annexation should be accomplished, whatever she might have had at an earlier period. Texas was now actually independent of Mexico. The United States had not only recognized her independence, but had made treaties and carried on commerce with her, in entire disregard of the claim of Mexico to the sovereignty of this revolted province. And Mexico had during all this period made no attempt at reconquest. She had practically acquiesced in the recognition of Texan independence by the United States and other powers; and therefore it could not be said, after such a lapse of time, that a new and just cause for war would arise if Texas should be annexed to the American Union.[98] There was undoubtedly much danger that Mexico would not regard the annexation in this light; and, therefore, what the new Secretary of State had to do was to conduct the whole matter, under the resolutions of Congress, so as to preserve peace, if possible.

His first official duty was to answer a protest addressed to the Government of the United States by General Almonte, the Mexican minister at Washington. Mr. Buchanan’s answer was regarded by Mr. Webster as “mild and conciliatory.” It was, in substance, that Mexico had no right to complain of such a transaction between independent states; that the Government of the United States would respect all the just rights of Mexico, and hoped to bring all pending questions with her to a fair and friendly settlement; but that the annexation of Texas must now be considered as a thing done. Still, a period of sixty or seventy days must elapse before it could be known how the government of Texas had taken the passage of the joint resolutions. At that time, there were instalments of money due from Mexico to the United States, under an existing treaty, to meet claims of citizens of the United States to a large amount. These Mexico might choose to withhold; perhaps she might decree non-intercourse with the United States; but that she would go to war was not regarded as probable by the best informed persons at Washington. In the meantime, Mr. Buchanan had not only to manage the relations between the United States and Mexico, under circumstances of great delicacy, with firmness, as well as conciliation, but also to keep a watchful eye upon the course of England and France in reference to this measure. It must be remembered that Mr. Buchanan had succeeded, as Secretary of State, to the management of the Oregon question with England, as well as to the completion of the arrangements for annexing Texas to the United States. He was informed, both privately and officially, by the ministers of the United States at London and Paris, of the danger of an intervention by England and France in the affairs of Mexico; and soon after he became Secretary of State, he had some reason to apprehend that the settlement of the Oregon difficulty might be delayed for the purpose of keeping open the unsettled questions in regard to the final disposal of Texas. Mexico was at this time about to undergo one of its many revolutions, and it might become difficult to find an executive government with which to establish diplomatic relations. In this posture of affairs, an interference by either France or England, or both, might render it impracticable to carry out the annexation of Texas to the United States, and might lead to very serious complications. Writing from London on the 3d of March, at the moment when the resolutions providing for the annexation of Texas had just passed, but before they could have become known in London, Mr. McLane said, in a private letter to Mr. Buchanan:

“Allow me to add a word in regard to Mexico. I stated in an early despatch that the policy here would be to keep open our difficulties there, to await the issue of the Oregon question; and of that I have very little doubt. But why not disappoint such calculation? Even if our affairs with Great Britain are to end in a rupture, that result, with proper precaution, may be postponed until the expiration of the year’s notice. Then why not act promptly and decisively in regard to Mexico? ...... Every day is leading to machinations in Europe to interfere with the settlement of the Mexican government.”

On the 25th of March (1845,) Mr. Buchanan sent the following official despatch to Mr. King, the Minister of the United States at Paris:

[BUCHANAN TO KING.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, } WASHINGTON, March 25, 1845.}

SIR:—

Your Despatch, No. 11, under date of the 27th ultimo, has been received and submitted to the President. In commencing his administration, he had confidently hoped, that the government of France was animated by the same kind spirit towards the United States which inspires the Government and people of this country in all their conduct towards their ancient Revolutionary ally. This agreeable impression was made upon his mind by the emphatic declaration of his Majesty to yourself on the 4th July last, when speaking on the subject of the annexation of Texas to our Union, “that in any event no steps would be taken by his government, in the slightest degree hostile or which would give to the United States just cause of complaint.” The President was also gratified with the subsequent assurance of M. Guizot, given to yourself, that France had not acted and would not act in concert with Great Britain for the purpose of preventing annexation, but that in any course she might pursue she would proceed independently of that power. You may then judge of the surprise and regret of the President, when he discovered from your last despatch, that the governments of France and Great Britain were now acting in concert and endeavoring by a joint effort to dissuade the government and people of Texas from giving their consent to annexation. Nay, more, that so intimate has been their alliance to accomplish this purpose, that even “the instructions of the French government to its representative in Texas had been communicated to Lord Aberdeen.”

The people of Texas are sovereign and independent. Under Providence they hold their destiny in their own hands. Justice to them requires that they should have been left free to decide the question of annexation for themselves without foreign interference and without being biassed by foreign influence. Not a doubt exists but that the people of the two Republics are anxious to form a re-union. Indeed, the enthusiastic unanimity which has been displayed by the citizens of Texas in favor of annexation is unexampled in the history of nations. Little reason then had we to anticipate that whilst the two Republics were proceeding to adjust the terms for accomplishing this re-union that France in concert with Great Britain, and under the lead of that power, should interpose her efforts and influence to paralyze and obstruct the free action of the people of Texas, and thus place herself in an unfriendly attitude towards the United States.

The President leaves it to your sound discretion to decide whether you ought not to embrace a favorable opportunity to communicate, formally or informally, to the government of France, the painful disappointment which he has experienced from a review of these circumstances.

I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAMES BUCHANAN.

At the time when this despatch was written, the British and French agents in Texas, in conjunction with certain of the principal officials of that country, were making efforts to produce dissatisfaction with the terms of annexation proposed by the American Government. The people of Texas were by a very large proportion in favor of the annexation. The terms offered by the United States could be made the means of preventing it. Writing privately to Mr. Buchanan, on the 25th of April, Mr. King said:

...... There is scarcely any sacrifice which England would not make to prevent Texas from coming into our possession. France is acting in concert with her, so far as influence goes, but will stop there. She will make no pecuniary sacrifices. I have weighed well the contents of your last despatch, and as you give me full discretion in the matter, I have come to the conclusion that in the present threatening state of our relations with England, no good purpose could be effected by convicting M. Guizot of the gross duplicity of which he has been guilty; and especially as it is to be hoped that the question of annexation has before this been definitely settled. The notice taken of the President’s inaugural on the Oregon question in both Houses of Parliament has roused up a war spirit in that country which pervades all classes, and caused the detention of the steamer which should have left on the 4th, to take out despatches to Mr. Pakenham. As the excitement was then at its height, it was supposed that their instructions contained an ultimatum which was to yield nothing beyond the Canning proposition. Should this be the determination of that government, negotiation must cease, for to such terms we can never accede. I am induced, however, to believe, from conversations I have held with Mr. Ellis, now in Paris, who is connected with the ministry, being a brother-in-law of Lord Ripon, and himself a privy councillor, that Mr. Pakenham’s instructions will be of a conciliatory character; and that they have great hopes of being able to settle the matter upon fair and liberal terms. But of this you are probably much better informed than he is. I am still of the opinion that we should not hesitate to divide the Territory [Oregon] by fixing our northern boundary at latitude 49°. To settle the question, I would yield something more and take the southern shore of the Strait of Fuca, and thus give to England the whole of Vancouver’s Island. Such a variation of the proposition, which was rejected by Mr. Canning, would afford Sir Robert Peel ground to stand on, and might facilitate an arrangement. I fully understand the difficult position you occupy as regards this question, looking to the generally received opinion that our title to the whole of the Territory is unquestionable.

As Mr. King, under the discretion given to him, did not think it best at that moment to make a formal complaint of the conduct of the French government, it became necessary for Mr. Buchanan to encounter the intrigues of the British and French diplomatic agents in Texas to prevent the government of that country from acceding to the proposal of annexation. Satisfied that the people of Texas, with a very near approach to unanimity, desired the annexation, Mr. Buchanan, with the approbation of the President, instructed the representative of the United States in Texas, Major Donaldson, to assure the government and people of that republic that if they accepted the terms of annexation offered by the joint resolutions of the American Congress, they might rely on the United States to make fair and equitable arrangements with them on all points not covered by those resolutions. He also despatched to Texas other trustworthy persons, on whom he could rely, in an unofficial character, to watch the movements of the British and French agents, and to aid Major Donaldson in counteracting them. The Texan Congress was not in session when the resolutions of our Congress were received there. Whether action would be taken upon them with sufficient promptness to prevent foreign interference from encouraging Mexico to invade Texas, depended upon the willingness of the executive of Texas to call that body together before its usual time of assembling. That interference would be attempted by the English and French agents, the American Government was well assured. That England would take the lead in efforts to make the government and people of Texas prefer independence to annexation to the United States, and that France would second these efforts, there could be no doubt. There could be as little doubt that, whatever might be the motive of either power, there could be no solid justification for their interference between the United States and a country which had been practically independent of Mexico for nine years. There was no just ground on which any European power could assume that the United States was dealing unfairly with Mexico; and it should have been remembered that there were then pending questions between the United States and Mexico, quite independent of this matter of Texas, with which no foreign power could have the least right to interfere, and which the Government of the United States might find it necessary to settle along with the questions of Texas. Nevertheless, an intrigue was now set on foot in Texas, by the British agent, Captain Elliott, seconded by the French agent, M. Saligny, to induce the executive government of Texas to accept the guarantee of England and France that Mexico should be made to acknowledge the independence of Texas, provided that her annexation to the United States should be refused. An offer to make Texas independent was actually obtained from the power then ruling in Mexico. That this was done with the knowledge and consent of the President of Texas is true. He was, as he afterwards said, willing to have such an offer drawn from Mexico, because he believed that it would strengthen the cause of annexation and place it on higher grounds with the world. The truth is that the executive government of Texas and leading persons in that country hesitated for some time in regard to the best course to be pursued. They listened to the representations of Captain Elliott and postponed the call for the meeting of their Congress at his instigation. Elliott believed that if the Texan authorities should delay action, or even if the terms of annexation offered by the United States should now be accepted, the consummation would be defeated in the next session of the American Congress, and that in the meantime England and France would come forward and guarantee the independence of Texas. He made these representations to the President of Texas early in May, and he and M. Saligny then left the country, without making known whither they were going; and at about the same time it became known that the Texan secretary of state had suddenly departed for Europe. It was believed in Texas that Elliott had gone to the United States to confer with some of the prominent opponents of annexation, and to bring back proofs that the whole measure would be finally rejected by the Congress and people of the United States. These occurrences aroused the people of Texas to such a degree of earnestness and determination, that their executive was compelled to call the Congress together, for the purpose of summoning a convention to ratify the annexation and to form a State constitution. The meeting of the Congress was fixed for the 16th of June. When this was announced, the people of Texas in general regarded the annexation as settled, and they turned their attention to the subject of their new constitution.[99]

The Texan Congress, when assembled, adopted the basis of annexation proposed by the United States, and made provision for a convention to be held at Austin on the 4th of July. Captain Elliott was then convinced that further opposition would be useless. He was reported to have said: “The hunt is up. I retire and await orders from Her Majesty.” The annexation was ratified by the convention in the month of July.

There were of course no United States troops in Texas at the time of this action of its convention; but after this event it was thought best to place a small force there, and this force was to arrive in the early part of July. But before the convention had assembled, namely, in the last week in June, Mexican troops were put in motion towards the Rio Del Norte. A new election of a President was to take place in Mexico before the close of the year. Whoever might aspire to that position would find his chief means of success in stimulating the war feeling of the nation. In the latter part of July, Mr. Buchanan had left Washington for a short absence in Pennsylvania. He was recalled by the following letter from the President, inclosing one from Mr. Bancroft, the Secretary of the Navy:

[PRESIDENT POLK TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

WASHINGTON CITY, August 7, 1845.

MY DEAR SIR:—

I enclose to you a letter from Mr. Bancroft, and will add to what he has said, that the information from Mexico comes in so authentic a shape as to entitle it to entire credit. The strong probability is that a Mexican army of eight or ten thousand men are now on the western borders of Texas. Should they cross the Del Norte, as no doubt they will, our forces at present in the country will be inadequate to resist them in their march upon Texas. Orders will be issued to-day to increase our forces as far as our disposable troops will enable us to do so. The necessary despatches from your department to Major Donaldson, or (in the event that he has left the country), to the United States Consul at Galveston, will of course be prepared by Mr. Mason. I wish it were so, that while these important steps were being taken, we could have the benefit of your advice.

Before you left you requested me to inform you, if anything should occur which in my judgment would make it necessary for you to return earlier than you intended. We are in daily expectation of receiving further information from Mexico, which may, and probably will, confirm the statement given you by Mr. Bancroft. The news of the action of the convention of Texas was despatched from New Orleans to Vera Cruz by the Mexican Consul on the 15th ult., and would probably be conveyed to the city of Mexico by the 21st or 22d. Upon receiving this information, some decisive action no doubt took place.

In addition to these reasons, which make it very desirable to have the benefit of your counsel, I must confess that the developments which are taking place, as well as my daily reflections, make it, in my opinion, more and more important that we should progress without delay in the Oregon negotiation. You may consider me impatient on this subject. I do not consider that I am so, but still I have a great desire, that what is contemplated should be done as soon as it may suit your convenience. I have felt great reluctance in saying this much, because I desired not to interfere with your arrangements during the short recreation which you have taken from your arduous labors.

I am, very faithfully and truly, your friend,

JAMES K. POLK.

P. S.—If you determine to anticipate the period of your return to Washington, you will see the propriety of leaving Bedford in a way to produce no public sensation as to the cause of your departure. That it may not be known that you leave on receiving a letter from me, I will not place my frank on this letter.

Yours, &c.,

J. K. P.

[MR. BANCROFT TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

WASHINGTON, August 7, 1845.

MY DEAR MR. BUCHANAN:—

You remember I told you, before you left, that Baron Gerolt[100] predicted war on the part of Mexico. Yesterday morning, at the President’s request, I went to see him, and found him very ready to communicate all his intelligence, concealing only the name of his informant, and desiring that his own name may not be used.

His letters came by way of Havana, and Charleston, S. C., and are from Mexico city, of the date of June 28th. He vouches for the entire authenticity and good opportunities of information on the part of his correspondent.

General Arista, with three thousand men, chiefly cavalry, himself the best cavalry officer in Mexico, had been directed to move forward towards the Del Norte; but whether he had orders to cross the Del Norte was not said.

At San Louis Potosi, General Paredes, the commander-in-chief, had his general quarters, with an army of seven thousand men. These also were directed to move forward, in small divisions, towards the Del Norte.

From Mexico City, General Felisola, the old woman who was with Santa Anna in Texas, was soon to leave with three thousand men to join the army of Paredes.

Thus far positive information. It was stated by the baron as _his opinion_ that Mexico would certainly consider the armistice with Texas broken by the action of the Texas convention; that she would shun battles and carry on an annoying guerilla warfare; that she would protract the war into a very expensive length; that she would agree to no settlement of boundary with us, but under the guarantee of European powers.

On these opinions I make no comment. The seemingly authentic news of hostile intentions has led Governor Marcy,[101] under proper sanctions, to increase his little army in Texas, and Mr. Mason has written all the necessary letters. I do not see but that the sun rises this morning much as usual. The President, too, is in excellent spirits, and will grow fat in your absence, he sleeps so well _now_, and sees nothing before him but the plain, though steep and arduous path of duty.

So wishing you well,

Your faithful friend,

GEORGE BANCROFT.

Mr. Buchanan had already determined what course to advise the President to pursue in regard to Mexico. This was to re-establish diplomatic relations with her, by sending a minister with special instructions and authority to negotiate a settlement of all questions between the two countries, including the western boundary of Texas. To select a suitable person for this mission and send him into Mexico with an uncertainty of his being received, or of his being received and treated with, was a delicate matter. The appointment had to be made, and to be kept a profound secret, until it could be known what reception the minister would meet with. It was settled early in the autumn that this appointment should be offered to Mr. John Slidell of Louisiana. His acceptance of the position was made known to the President in September. The following private letter to Mr. Buchanan is somewhat amusing in its earnestness respecting the secrecy which had been enjoined upon the writer:[102]

[MR. SLIDELL TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 25, 1845.

MY DEAR SIR:—

You can scarcely imagine how much I was surprised to-day by receiving your most kind and friendly letter of the 17th inst.

I have never at any time believed that we should have war with Mexico. I have looked upon the rhodomontades of the press and the manifestoes of secretaries, as alike having but one object in view, the presidential contest; and in this point of view I consider it of little consequence who shall be elected. He who had been most strenuous in proclaiming war as indispensable to the vindication of Mexican honor, would, when installed in the presidential chair, “roar you an ’twere any nightingale.” The truth is that although I have no very exalted idea of ...... yet I cannot imagine that any one who could possibly be elected president, could have so small a modicum of sense as to think seriously of going to war with the United States. But strong as I have been in this belief, I had not thought that the government would have been prepared so soon to receive from us an accredited agent. I think with you that they desire to settle amicably all the questions in dispute between us. But will they dare in the present distracted state of the country, to give so great a shock to what is their settled public opinion. They have stimulated popular prejudice to a degree that it may, under any appearance of disposition to treat with us, be fatal to the new administration. But of this you have infinitely the best means of judging, and I shall hold myself in readiness to receive your instructions. I feel most deeply the importance of the mission, and I confess, now that it is probable I shall soon enter upon it, I have some misgivings about it. I hope that you will not consider this as an affectation of modesty and humility. I assure you I am perfectly sincere, but will probably grow in better favor with myself when the work is fairly commenced. I am truly grateful to you for the proof of your friendship and esteem, and am flattered by the confidence reposed in me by the President. I shall endeavor to justify them. The President has enjoined on me the strictest secrecy; he even goes so far as to say that I should not communicate what he had said to me to a single human being. I have told him that I was obliged to make an exception in favor of Mrs. S., but as I could not well enter into particulars with him on this subject, pray let me explain it to you. If I had made an unreserved pledge to the President, I could not have felt myself at liberty to hint it even to my wife. I could have made no preparations for my voyage without her knowing it. We were making our arrangements to proceed shortly to Washington. If I were mysterious with her, she would be shrewd enough to guess what was in the wind. She would have some theory to guide her, because you may recollect that when you first broached this subject with me, I told you that I had no secrets for her. Now I am not one of those who believe that a woman cannot keep a secret. I know _she_ can, for I am sure that she has never breathed a word, respecting it, to any one, not even to her mother. Besides she is living in the country, where we seldom see any one, and where there is little gossiping. Pray, explain this to the President, who might perhaps consider my disobedience of his injunction as an inauspicious omen in the opening of my diplomatic career. It is a matter of great regret to me not to have the opportunity of full personal communication with you before going to Mexico. I feel that it will be a great disadvantage, but I must rely upon your alleviating it as far as possible by your communications and instructions.... I will not fail to convey your very flattering message to Mrs. S. I think I must get her to write to you to remove an impression which I fear you have taken up. She will tell you that I am one of the best tempered men living. I have written in great haste, having barely had time to save the mail.

Believe me, my dear sir, most truly and respectfully,

Your friend and servant,

JOHN SLIDELL.

Mr. Slidell was at Pensacola in the middle of November (1845), prepared to embark for Vera Cruz, on his way to the City of Mexico. He was somewhat disturbed by a rumor that Mr. Buchanan was about to retire from the State Department, but this proved to be unfounded. His instructions came from Mr. Buchanan, and were received before he reached the capital of Mexico, where he arrived in the early part of December. At this time there were two unpaid instalments of money which became due from Mexico to the United States in April and September, 1844, under a convention of April 11th, 1839, and a large amount of claims of citizens of the United States against Mexico which had arisen subsequent to that convention. Mr. Slidell was now authorized to make an offer that the Government of the United States would assume the payment of all just claims of citizens of the United States against Mexico down to that time, which could be established by proofs according to the principles of right and justice, the law of nations, and the existing treaties between the two countries. He was further authorized to include in the new treaty which he was to negotiate an adjustment of the western boundary of Texas; to stipulate for the payment by the United States, in cash, of an ample equivalent for such a settlement of the boundary as the United States desired, and to agree to make the payment on the exchange of ratifications. By such a settlement, while the United States would secure incalculable advantages, Mr. Buchanan believed that Mexico would be more than indemnified for the surrender of her doubtful right to reconquer Texas, and for the establishment of the boundary which the Government of the United States intended to claim.

In the latter part of the year (1845), General Paredes procured himself to be declared President of Mexico, by a process which is described in the following private letter to Mr. Buchanan, written by Mr. Slidell from the City of Mexico:

[SLIDELL TO BUCHANAN.]

MEXICO, January 10, 1846.

MR DEAR SIR:—

I am sending to Vera Cruz, to be forwarded by the first merchant vessel my despatch respecting the instalments of April and September, 1844.

The facts are not as completely developed as I could have wished, but it is impossible to obtain any further information at present...... Paredes, notwithstanding his solemn protestation that he would accept no place in the government, has been elected president by a junta of notables of his own choice, and, as you may readily imagine, unanimously. The government is now really, although not in form, a military despotism. Many of the states have already given in their adhesion, and from present appearances, Paredes is likely to establish his authority throughout the republic. He seems to possess considerable energy, and he is believed to have pecuniary honesty. He will probably maintain himself for some time, if he can arrange the difficulties with the United States. Unless he does this, he will soon find himself without means to pay his troops, for the capitalists will not advance him a dollar in the present state of our relations. So soon as he was elected, I applied wholly through the consul, to the military commandant, for an escort—the cabinet was not appointed for some days after his election. The commandant replied that while Paredes was in opposition to the government, he could not furnish the escort. On the 7th inst. the Minister of Foreign Relations was appointed, when Mr. Black applied in writing for an escort, and received yesterday a reply “that public order not having been yet completely restored, the president could not spare the force necessary for an escort.” Now Puebla has submitted to the government, and nearly the whole of the army is in the capital and on the road to Vera Cruz, this answer looks very much as if the government did not wish him to leave the city, and I should not be at all surprised to receive very soon an intimation of a disposition to receive me.

General Almonte is Secretary of War, and understood to be the soul of the cabinet. The Secretary of State is Mr. Castillo y Zurgas, who was for some years chargé des affaires at Washington. I met with him at Jalapa, where I saw him much, and conversed freely with him during my stay of ten days. He is an intelligent and well educated man, and seemed to have the most friendly feelings towards the United States, and spoke without reserve of the absolute necessity of a friendly settlement of our difficulties. I have not seen him since his appointment, and avoid, indeed, all intercourse with people in any way connected with public affairs, because I am well satisfied that any manifestation of a disposition to approach the new government would only tend to procrastination, if not defeat my object. I think that I shall have a better chance of succeeding than with the former government, for Paredes has the nerve to carry through any arrangement that he may consider expedient, and calculated to promote his continuance in power.

Believe me, my dear sir, faithfully,

Your obedient servant,

JOHN SLIDELL.

Although at the date of this letter it appeared probable that Paredes would receive the general submission of the people of Mexico, and that he must be regarded as at least the _de facto_ President, it could not be considered that a counter-revolution of some kind was not likely to take place. The Mexican Congress was to assemble on the 1st of January (1846). Before Mr. Buchanan had received Mr. Slidell’s private letter of January 10th, he sent to Mr. Slidell the following official despatch:

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. SLIDELL.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

(No. 5.) WASHINGTON, January 20, 1846.

SIR:—

I have the honor to transmit herewith your commission as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Mexican Republic, under the appointment made by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Your despatches, Nos. 2 and 3, under date respectively, the 30th November and 17th December, have been received; and I shall await the arrival of others by the Porpoise with much solicitude. Should the Mexican government, by finally refusing to receive you, consummate the act of folly and bad faith of which they have afforded such strong indications, nothing will then remain for this Government but to take the redress of the wrongs of its citizens into its own hands.

In the event of such a refusal, the course which you have determined to pursue is the proper one. You ought, in your own language, so to conduct yourself as to throw the whole odium of the failure of the negotiation upon the Mexican government; point out in the most temperate manner the inevitable consequences of so unheard of a violation of all the usages which govern the intercourse between civilized nations, and declare your intention to remain in Mexico until you can receive instructions adapted to the exigencies of the case. This sojourn will afford you an honorable opportunity to watch the course of events, and avail yourself of any favorable circumstances which, in the mean time, may occur. Should a revolution have taken place before the first of January, the day appointed for the meeting of Congress, an event which you deemed probable; or should a change of ministry have been effected, which you considered almost certain; this delay will enable you to ascertain the views and wishes of the new government or administration. The desire of the President is that you should conduct yourself with such wisdom and firmness in the crisis, that the voice of the American people shall be unanimous in favor of redressing the wrongs of our much injured and long suffering claimants.

It would seem to be the desire of the Mexican government to evade the redress of the real injuries of our citizens, by confining the negotiation to the adjustment of a pecuniary indemnity for its imaginary rights over Texas. This cannot be tolerated. The two subjects must proceed hand in hand. They can never be separated. It is evidently with the view of thus limiting the negotiation, that the Mexican authorities have been quibbling about the mere form of your credentials; without even asking whether you had instructions and full powers to adjust the Texan boundary. The advice of the Council of Government seems to have been dictated by the same spirit. They do not advise the Mexican government to refuse to receive you; but, assuming the fact that the government had agreed to receive a plenipotentiary to treat upon the subject of Texas alone, they infer that it is not bound to receive an envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary without this limitation.

In the mean time, the President, in anticipation of the final refusal of the Mexican government to receive you, has ordered the army of Texas to advance and take a position on the left bank of the Rio Grande, and has directed that a strong fleet shall be immediately assembled in the Gulf of Mexico. He will thus be prepared to act with vigor and promptitude the moment that Congress shall give him the authority.

This despatch will not be transmitted to you by the Mississippi. That vessel will be detained at Pensacola for the purpose of conveying to you instructions with the least possible delay, after we shall have heard from you by the Porpoise; and of bringing you home in case this shall become necessary.

By your despatch No. 2, written at Vera Cruz, you ask for an explanation of my instructions relative to the claim of Texas on that portion of New Mexico east of the Del Norte; and you state the manner in which you propose to treat the subject in the absence of any such explanation. I need say nothing in relation to your inquiry; but merely to state that you have taken the proper view of the question, and that the course which you intend to pursue meets the approbation of the President.

I am, &c.,

JAMES BUCHANAN.

It is now necessary to recur to the military movement referred to in this despatch. In August, 1845, General Zachary Taylor was encamped at Corpus Christi, in Texas, in command of a small American force of fifteen hundred troops. In the following November, his force was recruited to about four thousand men. On the 8th of March, 1846, acting under the President’s orders, given in anticipation of a refusal of the Mexican authorities to receive or to treat with Mr. Slidell, Taylor moved towards the Rio Grande, and on the 28th his little army reached the banks of that river, opposite the town of Matamoras. In a despatch written on the 12th of March to Mr. Slidell, Mr. Buchanan said:

It is not deemed necessary to modify the instructions which you have already received, except in a single particular; and this arises from the late revolution effected in the government of the Mexican Republic by General Paredes. I am directed by the President to instruct you not to leave that republic, until you shall have made a formal demand to be received by the new government. The government of Paredes came into existence not by a regular constitutional succession, but in consequence of a military revolution by which the subsisting constitutional authorities were subverted. It cannot be considered as a mere continuation of the government of Herrera. On the contrary, the form of government has been entirely changed, as well as all the high functionaries at the head of the administration. The two governments are certainly not so identical that the refusal of the one to receive you ought to be considered conclusive evidence that such would be the determination of the other. It would be difficult, on such a presumption, in regard to so feeble and distracted a country as Mexico, to satisfy the American people that all had been done which ought to have been done to avoid the necessity of resorting to hostilities.

On your return to the United States, energetic measures against Mexico would at once be recommended by the President; and these might fail to obtain the support of Congress, if it could be asserted that the existing government had not refused to receive our minister. It would not be a sufficient answer to such an allegation that the government of Herrera had refused to receive you, and that you were therefore justified in leaving the country after a short delay, because, in the meantime, the government of Paredes had not voluntarily offered to reverse the decision of his predecessor.

The President believes that, for the purpose of making this demand, you ought to return to the City of Mexico, if this be practicable, consistently with the national honor. It was prudent for you to leave it during the pendency of the late revolution, but this reason no longer continues. Under existing circumstances your presence there ought to be productive of the most beneficial consequences......

The time when you shall ask to be received by the government of Paredes is left to your own discretion. The President thinks this ought to be done speedily, unless good reasons exist to the contrary. Your demand ought to be couched in strong but respectful language. It can no longer be resisted on the ridiculous pretence that your appointment has not been confirmed by the Senate......

In regard to the time of your departure from the Mexican Republic, the President is willing to extend your discretion. In the present distracted condition of that republic, it is impossible for those at a distance to decide as correctly what ought to be your course, in this particular, as you can for yourself upon the spot. The intelligence which you have communicated, “that the department of Sinaloa has declared its independence;” “that the garrison of Mazatlan has pronounced against Paredes;” and “that the authorities of the departments of Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Chihuahua, Michoacan, and Queretero have protested in strong terms against the usurpation of Paredes; and refusing to continue in the exercise of their functions, have dissolved,” may well exercise an influence on your decision. Indeed, you suppose “that appearances justify the belief that Paredes will not be able to sustain himself until the meeting of the constituent congress; that his government will perish from inanition, if from no other cause. In this critical posture of Mexican affairs, it will be for yourself to decide the question of the time of your departure according to events as they may occur. If, after you shall have fulfilled your instructions, you should indulge a reasonable hope, that by continuing in Mexico, you could thus best subserve the interests of your country, then you ought to remain, provided this can be done with honor. The President reposes entire confidence in your patriotism and discretion, and knows that no temporary inconvenience to yourself will prevent you from performing your duty. It may be that when prepared to take your departure another revolution might be impending, the result of which would enable you, by a timely interposition, to accomplish the great objects of your mission. Besides, in the present distracted condition of Mexico, it is of importance that we should have an able and discreet agent in that country to watch the progress of events, and to communicate information on which this department could rely. Jalapa is probably not so favorable a position for observation as the City of Mexico.

We have received information from different quarters, in corroboration of your statement, that there may be a design on the part of several European powers to establish a monarchy in Mexico. It is supposed that the clergy would generally favor such a project, and that a considerable party already exists among the people, which would give it their countenance and support. It is believed by many that this party will continue to increase in consequence of the successive revolutions which may afflict that country, until at length a majority of the people will be willing to throw themselves into the arms of a monarch for security and protection. Indeed, rumor has already indicated the king, in the person of the Spanish Prince Henry, the son of Francisco de Paula, the rejected suitor of Queen Isabella.

These may be, and probably are, idle speculations; but they come to us in such a shape that they ought not to be wholly disregarded. It will be your duty to exercise your utmost vigilance in detecting this plot and its ramifications, if any such exists......

This despatch will be transmitted to you by the Mississippi (which is placed at your disposal), and will be delivered to you by an officer of that vessel. There will always be a vessel of war at Vera Cruz, ready to bear your despatches or yourself to the United States.

In conclusion I would remark that it is impossible, at this distance from the scene of action, to anticipate all the contingencies which may occur in a country in a state of revolution, as Mexico is at present, and to provide for cases of sudden emergency. Much must necessarily be left to the discretion of the envoy, who, on the spot, can take advantage of circumstances as they may arise: and the President is happy in believing that you possess all the qualifications necessary for the crisis.

P. S.—To provide for possible contingencies, two letters of credence are transmitted to you: the one directed to General Paredes by name, and the other to the President of the Mexican Republic.

The government of Paredes refused to receive Mr. Slidell, and he consequently retired from Mexico to New Orleans, and on the 9th of April he wrote thence to Mr. Buchanan the following private letter:

[SLIDELL TO BUCHANAN.]

NEW ORLEANS, April 9, 1846.

MY DEAR SIR:—

When I left here a few months since I little thought, or rather I never dreamed, that I should so soon return. Had I found a fair field in Mexico, I believe that I would have justified your good opinion and the confidence which the President, through your recommendation, reposed in me. But the fates have willed it differently, and I return an unsuccessful, and of course in the estimation of the public generally, an inefficient diplomatist. I flatter myself that such will not be your opinion and that of the discreet few, and I must console myself with that reflection. Be that as it may, I shall never cease to entertain the warmest recollections of your kindness and friendship.

I hope to hear from you in a few days; if you express any desire to see me in Washington, I shall leave immediately. I shall probably defer my departure until the end of the month. I most sincerely hope that your anticipations of embarrassment to the Oregon question from my return will not be realized, but if such be the case, the publication by the Mexican government of my correspondence rendered the mischief irreparable.

Mrs. Slidell begs me to present her to your recollection. She will soon have an opportunity of thanking you in person for your many kind remembrances.

Believe me, my dear sir, most faithfully, your friend and servant,

JOHN SLIDELL.

Within a little more than a month after the date of this letter a state of war was declared by an act of Congress to exist between the United States and Mexico. This peculiar declaration came about in consequence of events which had occurred after Taylor had taken up a position on the Rio Grande opposite to Matamoras. The Mexican General Arista, commanding a large force at Matamoras, menaced Taylor with hostilities, if he did not retire to a position beyond the river Neuces. The threat was disregarded, and, in a short time, a small reconnoitering party of Taylor’s troops were attacked by the Mexicans and captured. This occurrence, and the refusal of the Paredes government to receive Mr. Slidell, were regarded by President Polk as tantamount to actual war. By a special message sent to Congress on the 11th of May, 1846, Mr. Polk officially informed Congress of all the facts which he regarded as establishing a state of war, and asked for its recognition. On the 12th of May the act recognizing the war was passed, and provision was made for its vigorous prosecution. The main justification relied upon by the administration for the presence of an American army on the Rio Grande was, that it was encamped upon territory which had already become part of the United States, and that it was the duty of the United States Government to defend this territory from invasion, especially as the only existing executive government of Mexico had refused to receive an American envoy, through whom an adjustment of all questions of boundary and all other pending difficulties could have been negotiated.

[SLIDELL TO BUCHANAN.]

NEW YORK, July 1, 1846.

MY DEAR SIR:—

As I have not heard from you, and have seen no notice in the newspapers of the matter which was the subject of our last conversation, I feel happy in the belief that your application to Mr. A. has resulted in a satisfactory explanation. By this time you must have decided the question so important for the country, as well as decisive of your future political fortunes, whether you will remain in your present post or accept the vacant judgeship. You might not think me altogether a disinterested adviser were I to urge you not to leave the Department of State; and indeed I myself feel that a certain degree of selfishness may render me a somewhat unsafe counsellor; but of one thing I am sure, unless some absolute necessity exist for an immediate decision, you should not take a step which cannot be recalled, and which you may hereafter regret, until the tariff question has been definitively acted on. That stumbling block out of your way, I should most deeply regret to see you shelved upon the Supreme Bench.

There may be here and there in this part of the world, some extreme 54–40 men who disapprove of the settlement of the Oregon question, but I have not as yet met with one of them; and if we acquire California, the specimens will be equally rare in the Western States; it will soon be indeed an extinct race, and two years hence it will be as difficult to make an issue on that question as on the Mexican boundary.

Our people are essentially practical; they look ahead only; no party can be organized on matters that are past. The President has made most judicious promotions in the army and selections for the volunteers, and now that he has got rid of this source of uneasiness, he must feel himself in very smooth water. We have most shocking weather. So soon as it becomes a little more summer like, we shall go to Saratoga. Mrs. Slidell begs me to present her regards.

Believe me, very faithfully yours,

JOHN SLIDELL.

War having been declared General Scott demanded of the Government, as his “right,” to be appointed to lead our armies into Mexico. Whether it was because his “right” was recognized, or because he was regarded as the fittest general for the chief command, his appointment to that position was made, notwithstanding the brilliant victories gained by General Taylor as soon as the war opened.[103] The military history of the war does not come within the scope of this work. During its progress, the American Government kept a diplomatic agent in Mexico, Mr. N. P. Trist, ready to agree on terms of peace. The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, negotiated between him and three plenipotentiaries on the part of the Mexican Republic was signed on the 2d of February, 1848, and was ratified by the Senate of the United States on the 16th of March. It ceded to the United States New Mexico and California, and settled the western boundary of Texas. The private letters given below are of the years 1845 and 1846, and with them the present chapter must close.

[SLIDELL TO BUCHANAN.]

NEW ORLEANS, November 5, 1846.

MY DEAR SIR:—

I reached home about a fortnight since, and was met by the unpleasant intelligence of our overwhelming defeat in Pennsylvania. I have persuaded myself that this can only be a temporary reverse, and that Pennsylvania must very soon retake her position in the Democratic ranks. I should feel much better satisfied, however, to have this opinion confirmed by you. I do not know what to think of Santa Anna’s movements, letters, etc. It may be that he is only mystifying his countrymen, but the more reasonable solution seems to me to be that he has not found himself as strong as he expected, and has not thought it prudent to declare his real sentiments. I believe that he is fully impressed with the necessity of making peace, but whether he will be able to carry out his views is another question. When I last saw you, the course to be pursued, if Mexico refused to treat, had not been decided upon. It is time that this question should be decided. The present system of operation involves the most enormous expense. That would be a minor consideration were adequate results produced. I believe that if the Mexican Congress refuse to treat, the war may be ended in the course of the next year by the capture of the capital. This, if pursued with vigor and under a competent commander-in-chief, would be the better course. I doubt if General Taylor possesses the capacity for operations on so extended a scale; and yet, until he has committed some grave and palpable error, it would be a very unsafe step to supersede him. I have seen many persons from the army; they all think Worth the most competent man. Kearney, perhaps, is equal to Worth. I do not know enough of Butler to have any fixed opinion as to his capacity. The fate of the administration depends on the successful conduct of the war.

There are but two modes of carrying it on—to march upon the capital with such a force as will ensure success, or to hold the northeastern provinces and California, with the ports of Vera Cruz and Tampico, keeping up a rigid blockade of both coasts, and requiring the enemy to supply all the provisions we may require. For this purpose we should not require more than fifteen thousand effective men. If we do not march upon Mexico, it is every way essential to take San Juan de Ulloa. The navy should have an opportunity to distinguish itself, and the people _must_ have something to huzza about.

There is a Doctor Mesa here, just arrived from Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas. He brings letters, stating him to be a man of character and influence, and that he is authorized to speak the sentiments of the leading men of Tamaulipas. He says that the people of that department are willing to separate from Mexico, if they can have assurances of protection from us, and that they would be joined in the movement by the neighboring departments. I of course did not pretend to say what would be done by the administration, but suggested that at present it would be indiscreet to guarantee a northern confederation, but that we would be under the strongest obligations of honor, in making a treaty of peace, to stipulate for full protection in person and property to all those who might take part in the movement. He will proceed to Washington, and I have taken the liberty of giving him a letter of introduction to you. I shall patiently await the expiration of the month of December; if by that time Mexico has not signified her wish to treat, I shall no longer continue to look forward to a renewal of my mission. I have written to the President, and I have felt it my duty to say what I have heard from almost every quarter, that General —— (of whose qualifications I personally have no knowledge whatever), does not command the confidence of the army. Do you know General Pillow? Has not the President exaggerated views of his military talents?

Believe me, my dear sir, very faithfully and respectfully,

Your friend, etc.,

JOHN SLIDELL.

[MR. SLIDELL TO PRESIDENT POLK.]

NEW ORLEANS, January 6, 1847.

MY DEAR SIR:—

The tenor of all the advices from Mexico is such as to satisfy me that [the Mexican] Congress will not authorize the opening of negotiations, and that we are not to have a peace until its terms are dictated by a victorious army before the walls of the capital. The public interest may, and probably will, require that you should make, under such circumstances, other arrangements for future negotiations than those which you had heretofore proposed, and my object in now addressing you is to state, as I do with the most entire frankness, and without the slightest reservation, that I do not expect or desire that my previous mission, or any understanding that has existed in regard to its resumption, should interfere in the remotest degree with any new selection that you may consider it expedient to make. While I shall ever entertain the warmest sense of the distinguished and unsolicited mark of your good opinion in charging me with one of the most important trusts which has ever been confided to a citizen of the United States, I feel that I should be unworthy of its continuance if I permitted any claims of mine, real or supposed, to embarrass you for a single moment.

General Scott, when he passed through this place, considered himself, in consequence of my relation to Mexican affairs, at liberty to communicate in confidence to me, as he did fully, his plan of the campaign, and I was highly gratified to learn that Vera Cruz was to be attacked by a force that will insure the possession of that most important position. I am not so well satisfied, however, that the shortest road to Mexico is the best, and while I take it for granted that the topography, resources and climate of Mexico have been maturely studied, and due weight given to all the considerations which should decide the choice of routes, yet I can not but feel some misgiving as to the result. At all events, the most abundant resources of men and materials should be placed at his disposition. There is one subject connected with this, of which I have long been thinking of writing to you, but have been restrained by feelings which you can understand and appreciate. I fear that the commander of our squadron has not the qualities of energy and decision which are imperatively required for an emergency like the present. Commodore Conner is a brave man, an accomplished officer, and a good seaman, but his health is, and has been for some time past, so much impaired as, in a great degree, to neutralize these qualities; the sound mind, in military matters especially, is not sufficient without the strong body; and frequent violent attacks of a most painful nervous affliction, the tic-douloureux, cannot fail to affect the clearness of his perception and the vigor of his action. To my mind this has been abundantly demonstrated by his two abortive attempts at Alvarado. On this point there is little difference of opinion among the officers under his command. Alvarado might have been taken without difficulty on either occasion. He does not command the confidence of those who serve under him, and confidence is the vital principle of success. I make these remarks with great diffidence and still greater reluctance, for I have the highest regard for Commodore Conner, as an officer and a gentleman, and were it not for his bodily ailments, there are few men in the navy whom I consider better fitted for so important a command. I trust that you will pardon me for suggestions which may perhaps be considered misplaced, but I am sure that you will do justice to the feeling that has dictated them. Your own fame, the success of your administration, the great interests of the country are staked upon a brilliant termination of the war, and the feelings of an individual are but dust in the balance of such momentous issues. This is the scale in which I wish my own to be weighed, and be assured, my dear sir, that so far as I am concerned, I shall most cheerfully and cordially acquiesce in any decision which you may think proper to make.

Yours ever,

JOHN SLIDELL.

[HON. RICHARD RUSH TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

SYDENHAM, NEAR PHILADELPHIA, October 7, 1846.

MY DEAR SIR:—

I am half ashamed to be again sending you little bits of my correspondence from abroad; but you, who have so much to do with heads of governments and nations, will know how to appreciate even general expressions from those who live in daily intercourse with sovereigns, and are constantly hearing them talk—yet whose discretion and training guard them against mentioning names. The enclosed letter, received by the last steamer, is from Lady Lyttleton, and I naturally am disposed to infer that the words I have pencilled, mean Queen Victoria; or that they _include her—at the least_. This Lady L. is the widow of the late Lord Lyttleton, and daughter of Earl Spencer, and holds the post of chief governess to the queen’s children; for which she was selected from among England’s highest women for virtues and accomplishments, to aid in forming their principles and conduct. Her home is chiefly Windsor Castle, but she dates now from “Osborne House,” the queen’s marine residence at the Isle of Wight, where she was at the time of writing, with the queen and children. The queen is understood to hold her in the greatest esteem and confidence: and the little pencilled words, dropping from such a quarter in this private letter, do seem to me to import that this little successor to Queen Elizabeth personally likes your treaty, full as much as when Lord Aberdeen writes officially that it is approved; and so may be taken as a veritable addition to all the other evidences you have on that head; and this must be my excuse for sending the letter to you—which can be returned at your perfect convenience. I need not stop to explain the little allusions it has to my family or self, as they are the mere common courtesies of an amiable lady. The “niece” in question, is the wife of Colonel Bucknall Estcourt, known to you as lately in our country under a commission from the British government.

This good lady’s letter done with, I am tempted to go on and remark, as somewhat growing out of it, that if those who could doubt the President’s consistency in agreeing to the Oregon treaty, or yours in supporting him in it, be not convinced by the articles now in course of publication in the _Pennsylvanian_ (following up the powerful discussions in the _Union_ on the same point), that there _was_ perfect consistency, we may say of them what Hume says of the sturdy Scotch Jacobites who declared for the innocence of Mary of Scots; viz, that they are beyond the reach of reason and argument, and must be left to their prejudices......

I have just been reading my last _Union_. The Santa Fe army of the West appears to have done, and to be doing, nobly; but war, war, war all over Mexico, by land and sea, say I for one. All else is leather and prunella just now, and would be inhumanity to ourselves in the end. If a blow can be struck at Vera Cruz, so much the better. _That_ would tell through the world; which, otherwise, _will_ say, in spite of the different circumstances, that the French took the castle, whilst we, with all our naval resources so much nearer, could not. A thousand of our seamen would do the business. Let them land by night, armed to the teeth, during, or at the close of, a furious bombardment, we having bomb vessels and heavier ships perhaps than now, and they will go right into the works—nothing can stop them—carrying all before them as surely as Decatur succeeded at Tripoli, when, in the face of all their soldiers, batteries, gun-boats, and the guns of the frigate, odds twenty to one more against him than there would be against our squadron in the gulf, he and his mere handful of gallant men, so signally triumphed. There are Decaturs somewhere in our squadron now, or those who have their mantle. Nothing more certain. They would put the gulf in a blaze of glory for us, if you let them try it.

I have been writing a good deal for my little paper; ever a sort of privilege to irresponsibility, joined, if not to entire ignorance, at least to want of full knowledge. But I console myself with the reflection that it must be ever a sort of relief to a high official man with his hands full of engagements, on getting quite through a letter to him, to find at last, as you do with this, that it makes no complaints, taxes him with no business, nor even demands any answer.

And now I will conclude with begging you to accept the assurances of esteem and friendship with which I desire, my dear sir, to subscribe myself,

Very faithfully yours,

RICHARD RUSH.

[RUSH TO BUCHANAN.]

SYDENHAM, NEAR PHILADELPHIA, June 2d, 1846.

MY DEAR SIR:—

A rumor catches my eye in one of the morning papers that General Scott has claimed of the administration his _right_ to lead our army into Mexico. This may or may not be true. I am little inclined to believe all I see in the newspapers, or the half of it; but I know what _is_ true, viz: That when General Brown died, Scott _did_ claim, in the most objectionable manner, his _right_ to succeed to the command of the army. He addressed a series of letters to the Secretary of War, then Governor Barbour,[104] to prove, as he confidently supposed that he did, his alleged right, all of them written in a highly improper tone. One of the members of the cabinet likened them, by a figure of speech, as I remember, to taking the Government by the throat, and demanding its surrender upon his own terms. Being then of the cabinet myself, invited by Mr. Adams from the English mission, where I had been some seven years, (in which country, to give the devil his due, I had observed the military to be always _de facto_ as well as in theory, wholly subordinate to the civil power, above all the supreme executive power), I heard all his letters read, and confess that I was astounded at them. So out of place were they conceived to be as addressed to a member of the cabinet, and thus in effect to the President, that there were those of the body (I am sure there was one) who would have been in favor of striking his name from the army without more ado, and this in the face of the gallant manner in which he did his duty last war in the field, on the mere footing of the spirit of insubordination and dangerous temper for a military man which these letters bespoke. In the end, as you know, Macomb was appointed Brown’s successor, over both Scott and Gaines, for the latter had put in his somewhat imperious claims too, urging it offensively, though in a less degree than Scott. I presume that Scott’s letters are on file in the War Department. The whole history of the affair is curious. It would not do for me to write, or for me to make public, but if ever the opportunity happens to occur to me in conversation, you might be amused to hear some of its details. It came near to breaking Mr. Adams’s cabinet to pieces at the time.

Has not the case occurred for the balancing principle we have been threatened with, and might it not be well to forestall its application? Prevention is better than cure. If we promptly get possession of the Mexican capital, and make them sign a treaty doing us full justice at last, it would be too late for Guizot and company to interfere. They would see too clearly its utter hopelessness. “The burying would have gone by,” as our Judge Yates was fond of saying. It would be the _a posteriori_ argument rather than the _a priori_. These are crude thoughts, occurring while I write, which, of course, you have all been more fully weighing in Washington; but one more I must indulge in, not crude, which is, that really our whole operations in regard to Mexico, compared to the ultimatum of the French Minister Deffands, which preceded the bombardment of Vera Cruz by Admiral Baudin and the Prince de Joinville, quite naturally remind us of Fontaine’s fable of the beasts who accuse each other of their sins. The lions, the wolves and the bears are pardoned everything, while the lamb is devoured for nibbling a little grass.

I had intended only to mention confidentially those letters of General Scott which, if on file, may be seen by all; but I cannot conclude without congratulating the President and yourself on General Taylor’s victories as equally glorious and pure. They are the former by all the best titles that can be laid to efficient and splendid achievements in arms, with greatly inferior numbers, and the latter from having been gained on our own soil in repelling hostile aggressions, following upon “long continued and unredressed injuries.” A people who have thus deliberately commenced a war upon this patient and long forbearing Republic have surely invited its vigorous recoil upon themselves, whatever the consequences to themselves. Such must be the calm voice of history, pronouncing her judgment on well authenticated facts when party spirit is forgotten.

I remain, my dear sir, very sincerely yours,

RICHARD RUSH.

[RUSH TO BUCHANAN.]

SYDENHAM, NEAR PHILADELPHIA, August 18,1845.

MY DEAR SIR:—

I have to pray your excuse for the trouble of this letter.

I wish to have all the documents respecting Oregon that accompanied the President’s message to the Senate of the 21st of July. They were given in the _Union_, which I take, but so often miss, through one bad chance or other at the post office, that I have not these documents; and as they are generally published in the pamphlet form, I would feel greatly indebted to you if (having a copy to spare) you would have the goodness to direct it to me, as I know not where else to seek it. Sometimes I am meditating one more volume on our relations with England, the Oregon question closing the list of the historical ones growing out of our revolution; and I desire at any rate to gather up the authentic documents bearing on that question which seem to me, with the facts they furnish, to supply the materials perhaps of some reflections also, at this new and remarkable epoch in our affairs. On the whole, I think you made a wise settlement of that long pending difficulty. My own impression was ever very strong, that England was ready to appeal to the sword, unless she got territory and advantages south of 49°; and I will candidly own to you that she took up with _fewer_ at last than I supposed she would have done. This I ascribe to the energy and whole course of our Government since Mr. Polk came in, at which I was a little startled at first; but it came out nobly, and what a fine prospect the settlement now offers to us of intercourse with England, in connection with our new tariff.

On this latter head, will not England now do something for our tobacco, and become wholly liberal in the arrangements of her West India trade with us? Our new tariff may well justify us in urging her on these and other points in which she is still much behind the liberality of our own system.

I am sincerely glad that your services are retained in the Department of State. If I might claim to speak, I should say that it is due both to your country and yourself, that, having accomplished so much of good in that station already, you should continue in it to do more.

How ill-judged, I would almost say criminal, in the Senate, to have refused the President the small sum he asked towards the executive plans with Mexico! Reading lately a life of Mirabeau, I was much struck with a remark quoted from Madame de Sévigné, that “_there is nothing so expensive as want of money_.” What may be the executive plans precisely in regard to Mexico, I of course know not; but I can conceive that to have given the President those two millions in hand he asked for, might have saved the ultimate expenditure of fifty or a hundred millions.

I remain, my dear sir, with sincere respect, very faithfully yours,

RICHARD RUSH.

[MR. PICKENS TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

EDGEWOOD (SOUTH CAROLINA), July 5th, 1846.

MY DEAR SIR:—

I owe you a letter; but, as in your last, you said you were so much overwhelmed in business, I thought it would be wrong to inflict a letter upon you until you might have more leisure. And as I see you have disposed of the Oregon question and its difficulties, I suppose now you must be resting upon your triumphs and honors, and have some time to read a humdrum letter from a quondam friend, who assures you in advance that he is not going to beg you for any office whatever.

You wrote me you were about to give a letter of introduction to me for an English lady who was to travel South, etc. I looked a long time for this distinguished visitor, and had my household put in order to receive her, particularly as I heard she was about to write a “book,” and I desired to figure largely in English history.

By the by, I see it stated by “letter-writers,” who now constitute a distinguished fraternity illustrious for the intimate knowledge they possess of everything, that you are going to England yourself, and I see it also stated in the same quarter that you will take with you a very brilliant cousin of mine. Now, I will not tell you how I think you will represent us at the court of St. James, but I have no hesitation in saying that she will do us honor in any court in Europe. Is this all true? Where is King? Is he going to quit Paris? I hope if he comes home he will bring a French lady—it would suit him well. He was a little French before he went, and he must be very much so now. Tell him if he does intend to bring out a lady, for God’s sake, let it be no French or Italian countess. They say you were not satisfied with the settlement of the Oregon question, but that you wanted more rocks, and ice, and muskrats. I think it all turned out right, and would have been settled much earlier if the “notice” had passed at the first of the session. I know you are satisfied. I suppose it is about like what they used to say of you in relation to the tariff, that you wanted thirty-six dollars a ton on iron and prohibition on coal, etc., and yet I always knew you did not care a fig for the tariff, except some of your people were rising about it. I think I can tell what you do desire now above all things, and that is the luxurious feeling of honest independence enjoyed in the retirement of your beautiful homestead at Lancaster. If there is one feeling sweeter to man than any other, it is, after leaving cabinets, and courts, and politicians to breathe once more the pure air of one’s native hills and valleys.

What are you going to do with the Mexican war? I hope there will be no treaty without the acquisition of California. The loss of California to Mexico will be nothing, as it will aid in consolidating her government, and finally strengthen it, while its acquisition will be immense to us. In fact we have already conquered it, as there is no force between us and the North provinces to keep us out of it.

If we had California with its vast harbors, in the next fifty years we could control the commerce of the Pacific, and the wealth of China and India, and the future destiny of our glorious Republic would be to accumulate as vast wealth and power on the Pacific as we have on the Atlantic. Some people seem to have very tender consciences of late as to conquests, etc. I should like to know if half the earth is not now owned by the rights of conquests.

Some time since, when the Mexican war broke out, I wrote the President cordially approving of what had been done, etc.; but I have never heard a word. I hope he has no one to select letters for his eye, and to keep others from him, as used to be done by others who preceded him. This remark is suggested by the fact that I see lately some of his important appointments in this quarter have been made from his bitterest and most malignant opponents. I say this to you in confidence.

If you have time I should be glad to hear from you; and tell me who is to be the next President; and who I must pull off my cap to shout for, etc.

I expect to take my family North this summer, and if so may pass through Washington on my way to Saratoga and the lakes. If nothing happens, I may call to see you about the commencement of the dog-days, if you have not left Washington before that. I believe I will also go to see Van Buren, and console him for the split in the Democratic party of New York, and the political death of Wright, etc. I always liked the stoic indifference with which Van Buren took everything, and the easy way in which he lolled in an armchair. He looked like he would make a good fisherman. The truth is, he was a very firm and sagacious man, but made very poor selections for office. If he had changed his cabinet, and selected young, talented, and ambitious men he never would have been turned out, but he had old men about him who loved ease as well as himself.

I have written you a rambling letter, as I had nothing else to write. If you had been a planter, I would have written you about cotton and our crops. You know I am engaged entirely on my estates at present, and solely occupied, thank God! in the finest and noblest pursuit, the cultivation of the soil. And I hope, if they reduce the tariff, as they ought to do, if there is any honesty at Washington, that I may be able next year to sell my cotton at nine cents to some Pennsylvania manufacturer, and get my iron from your iron-masters cheap enough to use more ploughs and axes for next crop.

Very truly your friend,

F. W. PICKENS.[105]

The following lively letters were written by an English lady, who was a good while in this country, and who soon afterwards published a little book called “The Statesmen of America in 1846”:

[FROM MRS. MAURY.]

CINCINNATI, April 14, 1846.

MY DEAR MR. BUCHANAN:—

Your letter reached me shortly after my arrival in New Orleans, and at once made Mrs. Maury a great lady at the St. Charles. I have been anxiously waiting some information from various quarters, which might decide my plans for the next few weeks, but as yet I have received none. The Unicorn can hardly have sailed at the time we have supposed. I do not wish to remove further from the seaports until I shall be assured that my husband and his anxious charge do not yet require my presence. I have, of course, no news of Dr. Hughes, and therefore have no idea when and where he will wish me to meet him. Mr. Clay is still at St. Louis, and his return to Lexington very uncertain. I have been suffering from a slight indisposition for the last few days, and am not yet ready for travelling. This is a tolerable list of perplexities for a lady. In addition, I cannot avoid feeling great interest and some degree of alarm at the scenes which have lately transpired in Congress.[106] ... Winthrop is a gallant advocate, but neither his noble spirit nor his truthful nature should be wasted thus. For Mr. Ingersoll, to whom, as you know, my personal attachment is very strong, I have felt most keenly; his temperature is warm, and his susceptibilities as exquisite and acute as those of a woman; and I, who admire his mind, and enjoy his wit, and love his worth, cannot endure to think of the abusive epithets which Mr. Webster has heaped upon him. Nevertheless, I always considered his first allusion to the affair of McLeod an indiscretion, and felt certain from the first that evil would arise from it. I can only attribute his turning back to that period, to the historical habits of his mind, which led him to take a new view of affairs subsequent to that event, from the information he had received from Governor Seward. The Governor is intrepid, and will give the unvarnished truth, nothing adding thereto, nor diminishing aught therefrom. I cannot for one moment conceive that Ingersoll has been instigated by personal resentment, because he was in the habit of expressing to me his private opinions of every public man in Washington, and I have never heard from his lips one vindictive word against Mr. Webster....

To proceed, however, to a less painful theme. I like Cincinnati much better than New Orleans, feeling myself here once more in America instead of in some shabby old town of Brittany, listening to _patois_ French (vulgarly called _gumbo_ French in New Orleans). This city presents all the interest which a growing community ever possesses, and Cincinnati is an infant Hercules. We receive from Judge McLean every attention and hospitality, and I find the Judge as attractive and estimable in private life as he is gracious and dignified on the bench. The society here, as elsewhere in America, is excellent, and confirms my preconceived opinions that good society is the same in Europe and in America. At the hands of the excellent Dr. Purcell, the Catholic bishop, I receive every indulgence; he has conducted us in person through his various institutions, which are all prospering, and intends also to accompany us to visit his Ursulines. From him I learned the striking fact that there were present in the cathedral at high mass on Easter Sunday, 600 persons who are converts to the Catholic faith. Here, as elsewhere, the Sisters of Mercy, by their devotion and virtue, afford us proof that even on earth there exist angelic natures. The cotton factories flourish in Cincinnati, and even at Madison, a small town we passed on the Ohio, I saw the black tall chimneys, indicative of the successful progress of the labor going on at its base. It seems to me, from all I have seen, that notwithstanding all the expected (may I say hoped for?) approaches to free trade, that the manufactures of this country are now too firmly established to suffer. I think you know me well enough to be assured that my zeal for the welfare of America is second only to that I feel for the prosperity of that fair and distant Isle to which I owe my birth, which has been the cradle of my children, and the happy home in which for eighteen years I have been the cherished wife of a husband to whom time has made me more dear. How ardently I wish that every feeling of affection which I shall ever preserve for the people of America were shared by my countrymen.

I hope yet to visit Mrs. Catron—instead of challenging each other for the sake of the chairman, we will take your advice, and share his esteem and regard between us. He being our Oregon territory, and each lady having determined not to give notice—of course the treaty of joint occupancy must remain in force. Moreover, on my side, I shall refuse arbitration, either by citizen or sovereign—and I think Mrs. Catron will be of my mind, viz., that the division of a lover’s heart is not a proper subject for interference by foreign powers. Should we ultimately find that we cannot _get along_ with the joint occupancy, but that we are continually shouldering one another, as you, dear sir, are friendly to us both, will you give us permission to ask your advice, as to the most satisfactory mode of dividing equitably between us the heart and head of the honorable gentleman in dispute. I presume, of course, that, like the Oregon territory, he will be content with being contended for by two fair dames, without putting in one word about his own ultimate destiny.

I hope, dear Mr. Buchanan, that I have not tired your patience. I am writing in bed, and still somewhat of an invalid; separated from home, it is a source of great pleasure to write to one who has expressed so much regard for me as you have done.

Believe me always, most sincerely and gratefully,

Your obliged friend,

SARAH MYTTON MAURY.

Will you give my love to Mrs. Plitt, and say to her that I wished for her presence much yesterday, when Judge McLean was eulogizing the talents and virtues of the Secretary of State.

[FROM MRS. MAURY.]

WASHINGTON, Friday Morning, 10 A. M., June 10, 1846.

MY DEAR MR. BUCHANAN:—

I would have called to see you this morning, but had so much fear of too frequently intruding on your patience that I abstained.

I have had a very interesting conversation with Mr. Calhoun upon the subject of his going out to England. He urged his age, his various engagements, the allotment he had already made of the few remaining years of his life, the use that he can render to his country by staying here, and many other reasons. I replied that his age was no objection, that he is not old, and that no duties could be higher than those he would fulfil by going to England; that the effects of his mission would be not only beneficial at the present moment, but throughout all future time; and urged him by every principle of patriotism, utility and devotion, to accept the trust. He yielded at length to my entreaties, and said: “If I can be convinced that it is my imperative duty, then, as duty is above all things, I will go.”

I can scarcely describe the emotions with which I heard this concession, and requested his permission, which was at once granted, to mention it publicly. Of course you are the first to whom I have named it.

On my return, Mr. Calhoun will do himself the pleasure of visiting you, and has promised me the happiness of accompanying him. He wishes to see you in friendly style at your own house, and in an evening; so I shall inquire from Mr. Plitt if you are at home. I hope to be here in less than ten days.

I have seen Mr. Winthrop and Mr. Crittenden. Both highly approve of Mr. Calhoun for the appointment to England. Also Mr. Benton, who would cordially assent; and Mr. Hannegan expressed the highest respect for Mr. C. The two first answered for their party and the country. Benton thought it would be a universally popular movement. Hannegan included his party in his own expressions of respect.

I could not, my dear Mr. Buchanan, leave Washington happily without telling you these circumstances, and confiding them to your wisdom and experience for any use you may deem them eligible.

Looking forward to seeing you shortly again, I remain always, with the highest respect, your obliged and grateful friend,

SARAH MYTTON MAURY.

[FROM MRS. MAURY.]

WASHINGTON, June 14, 1846.

MY DEAR SIR:—

I was sorry to find that you have suffered from indisposition. I went to Coleman’s last night to inquire for you, but found Mr. and Mrs. Plitt absent.

Will you tell me that you are well, or at least better? and will you let me come and see you? and say how soon.

I have a letter, or rather a lecture, from the bishop this morning; not on religion, but morality. He has, however, made me a proposition so singularly flattering and unexpected that I wish to tell you of it.

If you are going to England, how delighted I should be if you were to go in the same steamer with myself and my son, the Great Britain of the first August. But perhaps you would have a ship of war.

I think you would like England and the English upon a near acquaintance, and your sincerity of purpose and warmth of heart would interest their esteem and affections most strongly. But how could you be spared from home, for there is _no other Secretary of State in the Cabinet_? My hopes of the Ministry to England, if you do not go, are for Calhoun, because he could set the people there right on the slave question, and also, I believe, he would do much to get the duties on tobacco reduced in England.

Though the treaty (making) is on the 49th, I shall, in writing, enforce the superior claims of America, and treat the whole arrangement as a concession on the part of the United States. Yours it will be, yours it must be; and however unpopular may be this doctrine in England, such inevitably will be the ultimate conclusion. To-morrow Mrs. Madison takes me under her wing to pay my farewell respects to Mrs. Polk. I will also call on the President for five minutes before I leave Washington.

The Emigrant Surgeon’s Bill will be lost, but, thanks to the admonitions of the excellent bishop and to your expressions of praise and sympathy, I shall bear the disappointment without repining, and trust to do more for those unfortunates at a future time.

How can I ask you to read this long note, and to see me too? But you have made me bold by indulgence, for you have never refused me any one request.

Believe me, my dear Mr. Buchanan, most respectfully your sincere and grateful friend,

SARAH MYTTON MAURY.

[FROM MRS. MAURY.]

BARNUM’S HOTEL,} BALTIMORE, Friday, July 10, 1846 }

MY DEAR MR. BUCHANAN:—

I received your kind and considerate note, and have laid it with the letter you wrote to me in New Orleans to carry home for my husband.

Mr. Calhoun called at eleven, and stayed some time with me. Though I assured him over and over again that I only repeated, both to the President and to you, the exact words which he himself had used, and that I mentioned at the same time distinctly that the whole responsibility was mine,—and mine alone,—still Mr. Calhoun is fearful that you should misunderstand him—I therefore said that in a few days I promised myself the pleasure of writing to you, and that I would again mention to you his scrupulous delicacy of feeling on this subject. I thought of you, dear Mr. Buchanan, on Sunday, and wished that I could have been present at your interview—the conversation of two distinguished men is the highest privilege and advantage that a woman can enjoy, and I should have derived more pleasure from listening than I ever do from talking;—though my reputation for silence is not, I fear, very well established—at least so says our playful friend Ingersoll.

We have visited Emmittsburg since we left Washington, and all the institutions in Baltimore—among others the Penitentiary, where they permitted three English prisoners to come and speak with me—they were well looking men, all acknowledging the justice of their punishment, and apparently cured of their evil propensities. This evening we take the boat for Philadelphia, a cooler and pleasanter mode for travelling than the railroad, and shall arrive about four in the morning. After spending Sunday there we shall reach New York on Monday afternoon.

This hotel has many guests at present, among them are some Creole families—all very pleasant and intelligent—they are full of anecdotes of the war, and all the ladies are in love with the Captain-general La Vega. Mrs. Commodore Stewart, of somewhat eccentric character, is of the number, and informs me that the Mexican enjoys himself greatly, and is most hospitably entertained.

How shocked you must have been at the death of Mrs. Ogle Tayloe. I had sat an hour with her on Friday. She was then very ill, and our conversation became serious. Our acquaintance had been only general, and had entirely arisen from her hospitality towards me; but I imagine that often previous to solemn events, we become intimate and confidential, and thus it was with us, and truly she was a good and pious woman. From what I learned at Mrs. Madison’s door on Saturday, there is much to fear both for her and her niece, and how sad it is to think of. Sometimes I am led to marvel at the singular favor which has been hitherto granted to me, that of perfect health to all my little ones, and restored health to myself and son during our long absence from home. When I shall arrive there and find all well, I shall not fail to write and tell you, for I flatter myself that the advances which I have made in your good opinion will never be obliterated by my absence, whether temporary or permanent, and truly I shall ever hear of you either as presiding in the councils of the Republic, or adorning the ease and elegance of private life, with sincere and heartfelt interest.

I paid my respects to-day to the Chief Justice;[107] he bestowed a delightful half hour upon me, and gave me his parting benediction and kindest wishes. His health is much improved since the winter.

In Baltimore as in Washington the same perplexity exists about a Secretary of State. No one is spoken of, and it would almost seem that people do not realize your resignation. _Must_ it be so? You know that in England we have abandoned the precedent of the minister’s retiring on a change of measures. Such, if I remember right, was the course of Earl Grey, he withstood even the majorities against the Reform Bill, and continued at the helm.

To make Mr. Calhoun feel satisfied that you should understand him thoroughly, I have written the above, but you have encouraged me to speak freely with you on all matters, and therefore I shall add as _my supplement_ to his message, that in case you should see the advantage of Mr. Calhoun’s holding office, _I sincerely hope that you and the President will make out a strong case, and overrule his delicacy; besides, he is very powerful_. My confidence in him is as unlimited as it is in you, for you are both equally noble, finely tempered, faithful and pure.

Dear Mr. Buchanan, do not forget me, for I shall relate in England the considerate solicitude which you have exercised in my behalf. At your hands I have received all the assistance, all the protection which I had anticipated from the minister of my country, and my advice to all who like myself are alone and unattended will be, trust yourselves to the courtesy of the Americans, they will never fail you.

Always believe me, most sincerely, most gratefully,

Your English friend,

SARAH MYTTON MAURY.

P. S.—I think I should add in confidence to you that should any difficulties arise out of the Mexican war between the United States and England, Mr. Calhoun would consider it his _duty_, if requested by the President, to give his services in an official capacity;—of course I leave it to your judgment, to use this information as you think best, and I believe Mr. Calhoun would at once acquiesce, should such a case present itself.

[FROM MRS. MAURY.]

LIVERPOOL, November 3, 1846.

MY DEAR MR. BUCHANAN:—

I am wearying to write you a long letter, and first let me offer you my best congratulations on the recent successes in Monterey;—this Mexican war must give you much anxiety, from the various difficulties which General Taylor has had to encounter in a country scarcely known, and where the climate was new and therefore trying to his troops. I was delighted to observe that the President had made offers of peace, because such a step is worthy of a great, and powerful, and magnanimous nation; thus a wise parent offers to his refractory child, or a forbearing friend to his companion, constant and kindly proposals of peace, pitying the recklessness and stupidity which continue to prompt a refusal of their proffered tenderness.

The ill-fated Great Britain carried myself and my doctor home in safety. Our passage was agreeable, and the recollection of it makes me feel much for the ship, and for her commander. Poor Captain Hawkens had taken leave of his wife, who was not expected to live many hours, just before he sailed. She has since rallied, but only for a season. In a few moments he seemed to lose everything that would render life desirable—his fortune and his fame, and the partner of his life. There is no doubt that the Great Britain had outrun her reckoning. My husband who is the chairman of the Marine Insurance Company has voted in favor of giving her a chance through the aid of a well-experienced engineer; but nothing can be done until the spring, and she will have much to suffer during the winter, besides the danger of rusting.

I have had a most pleasant chit-chat letter from Mrs. Plitt, giving me all the details of our various friends; I have also heard from the bishop who is still suffering from the refractory tooth, and still with extraordinary pertinacity refusing “to pluck it out, and cast it from him.” I am going this day to write and upbraid his “holiness” with neglecting to practise what he preaches. Mr. Ingersoll tells me that he is again a candidate for Congress, and I most earnestly hope he will be successful on account of the vexatious affair which occurred in the spring. Nothing has contributed more to my happiness than your gentlemanly and considerate expressions of unabated regard for my guardian. His letter is like himself, unreserved in confidence, and always a most pleasant mingling of smiles and tears.

I called with my husband to pay our respects to Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft. They had a stormy passage, and Mrs. B. was suffering from the effects of it. The American Chamber of Commerce, of which my husband is the treasurer, waited upon the minister with their best wishes and welcome. He made a very appropriate speech, and acquitted himself extremely well. His manners are less popular than those of McLane, but I predict that he will be highly esteemed and respected here. Mrs. B. is quite a nice woman, and the American ladies have a naïveté which I hear is much admired as a contrast to the sameness of manner which necessarily exists among the aristocratic ladies of an old country. They see none but the artificial phases of society.

I have been in London a month, and have had an interview with the commissioners of the board of emigration, Mr. Elliot and Mr. Rogers. They entered fully into the subject of the Emigrant Surgeon’s Bill. I told them your opinion, and gave them among other documents the report of the expenses of whaling vessels for sickness; they regard it as a very important statement in our favor. I believe them both to be in earnest, and the more especially as they requested me to procure for them various kinds of information relative to the supply of surgeons having taken out diplomas in Liverpool, Dublin, New York, etc. Of course I have lost no time in setting the requisite machinery to work. The commissioners frankly stated that the shipowners would make the same difficulties that Mr. Grinnell had conjured up on the other side. As the bill will have to go through parliament, of course it will be some time before I hear anything from the board; but as soon as I do, I shall hasten to inform you who have been so valuable an ally to me.

Accompanied by my husband, I had afterwards an interview with Lord Palmerston, and after showing him the letter which I wrote in January last from Washington, on the subject of Pakenham’s unfitness for his position there, I fortified the report by several anecdotes. The secretary looked perplexed, heard me most patiently, and when I had ended my story, endeavored as well as he could to defend his representative. As far as respectful politeness allowed me to go, I entirely differed from him, and I said that he was quite unequal in capacity to the men he had to deal with; that he knew nothing of commerce; received neither the Americans nor the English at his house; had quarrelled with the chairman of foreign relations in the House of Representatives; and in fact that this government should send one of their foremost men to Washington with rank, wealth, good manners, and ability to carry him through.

Lord Palmerston then observed:

“Well, they have got more than they bargained for.”

Mrs. M.—They will have the whole of Oregon very soon, my lord.

Lord P.—Do you really think so?

Mrs. M.—Certainly, and the Pope is doing all he can to help them. He has just divided the Oregon into an archbishopric and eight bishoprics, and the Irish and German emigrants will pour in by thousands.

Lord P.—I had not observed that. Is it so, indeed?

Mrs. M.—Undoubtedly.

Here laughing, I rose to take leave. The viscount was extremely courteous, and expressed much pleasure at having made my acquaintance. It is somewhat strange that I should have had the opportunity of expressing these sentiments to yourself and Mrs. Walker in Washington, in the presence of the British minister, and also in England to the secretary for foreign affairs.

And now, my dear Mr. Buchanan, I am going to my old trade of begging favors, and have still a long story to tell you by way of introduction. I have wished to prepare a work with the title of “An English Woman’s Opinions of America,” in compliance with the gratifying wishes of my friends both here and in America; but I cannot get this ready for some months, for you know I have eleven children, and found much to do for them on my return, besides I have had much to do for my husband in the way of business, and the daily congratulations of my numerous friends here to receive, and to return.

In the meantime, however, I am trying to get ready the “Statesmen of America,” that is, my own sketches of their characters, etc., with extracts from their works or speeches. While reading over to my husband the two charming letters you have written to me, it occurred to me that I would ask your permission to place them before my friends here to show that the American statesmen are as elegant in their private correspondence as they are able in their public documents. I have made a mark with a pencil through the opening of the paragraph relating to Mr. Calhoun; but I should dearly like to publish your opinion of him. Mr. Panizzi of the British Museum Library is in love with these letters, and he is head authority in all literary matters. I enclose them for your perusal, because I have thought you might wish to see them before granting me permission to publish them; but whether you grant me this permission or decline it, pray restore me the letters. I cherish with jealous care every memorial of those who made me so happy when among them.

My husband begs that you will accept his most grateful and respectful thanks for all your goodness to me. Forgive me, dear Mr. Buchanan, this unconscionable letter and its long weariness, and believe me always most respectfully and affectionately your friend,

SARAH M. MAURY.

[FROM MADAME CALDERON.[108]]

NEWPORT, August 1st, 1846.

DEAR MR. BUCHANAN:—

As I see a letter for Calderon this morning in your handwriting, I think it as well to let you know that he has gone to New York on business, in case there should be any delay in his answer. Calderon tells us that there is some chance of your coming to New York, which I hope is the case. I am anxious to inquire into the progress of your domestic affairs, and whether I have more chance than I formerly had of finding Mrs. Buchanan when I call at your house. I think, now that you have settled Oregon and the tariff, and are in a fair way of disposing of Mexico, it is time for you to look at home, and bring about the annexation of a certain fair neighbor of ours. Newport is very cool: we have not had a single really _hot_ day. I hope you have stood the heat of Washington better than Calderon did. We are living very quietly here as to society, but with bathing, riding, fishing, etc., pass our time very agreeably. We are at this moment _nine_ ladies in one house, and _no_ gentlemen.

Pray remember me to Mr. Pleasonton and his family the next time you go there, and especially to my friend Miss Clementina. My sister and nieces beg their best regards, and I remain

Yours very truly and respectfully,

FANNY CALDERON DE LE BARCA.

Footnote 97:

It should in justice be stated that, after it was known to Mr. Webster in the winter of 1843–44, that a project was on foot for bringing in Texas by treaty, he, not being at that time in any public position, made great efforts to arouse a popular opposition to it in New England, but without any success. It was not until after the executive Government had become committed to the government and people of Texas to promote the annexation by Mr. Calhoun’s plan of legislative action, and after this plan had been submitted to Congress, that there began to be any considerable opposition to it in the North, coming from organized popular meetings. During the Presidential election of 1844, although the Democratic party made the annexation of Texas one of the measures to be expected from it in case of the election of its candidate, the Whig party, in consequence of the attitude of their candidate, Mr. Clay, on this subject, was not in a position to oppose the annexation on account of the slavery existing in that country. (Compare the detailed account of the annexation of Texas in the Life of Mr. Webster, at the passages referred to in the Index, _verb._ “Texas.”)

Footnote 98:

This was not only the view entertained by President Polk and his political party, but it was the deliberate opinion of Mr. Webster, who may be said to have represented all the grounds of opposition to the measure. He re-entered the Senate on the 5th of March, 1845, four days after the passage of the joint resolutions for the annexation of Texas. On the 11th he wrote a letter to his son, in which he expressed with precision the whole of his objections to this measure, and decidedly maintained that Mexico could now have no just cause for war, if the measure should be accomplished. He exonerated Mr. Polk and his cabinet from any desire to provoke a war with Mexico, and in regard to foreign intervention he said: “Nor do I believe that the principal nations of Europe, or any of them, will instigate Mexico to war. The policy of England is undoubtedly pacific. She cannot want Texas herself; and though her desire would be to see that country independent, yet it is not a point she would seek to carry by disturbing the peace of the world. But she will, doubtless, now take care that Mexico shall not cede California, or any part thereof, to us. You know my opinion to have been, and now is, that the port of San Francisco would be twenty times as valuable to us as all Texas.” (See the entire letter, Life of Mr. Webster, II., 249.)

Footnote 99:

Mr. C. A. Wickliffe, who was sent by Mr. Buchanan to Texas as a confidential agent, and from whose report I have taken the principal facts above related, writing from Galveston on the 6th of May, said: “The subject of the terms of annexation, or the result of the measure when Congress meets, no longer constitutes the topic of conversation among the people. They speak of this as a subject settled. The all-engrossing topic among them is the provisions of their constitution to be adopted. Upon this subject I have been gratified to listen to the views and opinions of many intelligent men. The deep interest they feel in the work of making a constitution which shall secure to Texas and her citizens the blessings of a good government and social order, gives high hopes of their future destiny. I undertake to predict that you will be surprised when you shall see their constitution, emanating from a people of whose disorder so much has been said.”

Footnote 100:

Prussian Minister.

Footnote 101:

Secretary of War.

Footnote 102:

John Slidell of New Orleans, at this time a Representative in Congress from Louisiana, was the same person who became famous all over the world, along with his colleague, Mr. Mason, during our civil war, after they were seized from on board the British steam-packet Trent, on their way as Confederate envoys to England, brought to the United States, imprisoned, and afterwards released. Consult the Index, _verb._ “Slidell.”

Footnote 103:

Colonel Taylor was promoted to the rank of major-general soon after the first of his victories.

Footnote 104:

James Barbour of Virginia, Secretary of War under President John Quincy Adams.

Footnote 105:

Afterwards governor of South Carolina during the first period of secession.

Footnote 106:

This refers to the charges made by Mr. C. J. Ingersoll against Mr. Webster. See the Life of Webster, Index, _verb._ “Ingersoll.”

Footnote 107:

Chief Justice Taney.

Footnote 108:

Wife of the Spanish Minister. She was a Scotch lady, _née_ Inglis.