nor even disembark at this time, and that I should endeavor to prevent his doing so, as his appearance in the capital at this time might prove destructive to the government, and thus defeat the whole affair. You know the opposition are calling us traitors, for entering into this arrangement with you. I told him that I regretted this had not been known in time, as the envoy would be now on his way to this capital, and that the Mexican government had set no time for his arrival, and it was presumed that they would be ready to receive him whenever he arrived. 'I know,' he said, 'there was no time set; but from the conversations which I have had with yourself, and, from what I have heard from others, I had good reason to believe that the envoy would not have been appointed by your government, or, at least, not have started on his mission, until after the meeting of Congress.' * * * "He said that the government itself was well disposed, and ready to proceed in the negotiation, but that if the affair was commenced now, it would endanger its existence; that the government were preparing the thing, collecting the opinion. and consent of the departments, which they expected to have finished by January, and then they would be able to proceed in the affair with more security; that the government were afraid that the appearance of the envoy at this time would produce a revolution against it, which might terminate in its destruction." EMBARRASSING POSITION OF THE U. S. MINISTER. Mr. Slidell to Mr. Buchanan, Mexico, December 17, 1845. "I reached this city on the 6th instant. At Puebla, I was met by our consul, Mr. Black, who in some measure prepared me for the delays and difficulties which I should have to contend with. * * "On Monday, the 8th instant, I addressed to the minister of foreign affairs a note, in the usual form, announcing my arrival in the capital, accompanying it with a copy of my letter of credence, and your official communication to the minister of foreign affairs, and asking to be informed when and where I should be admitted to present my credentials to the president. * * * It was handed by Mr. Black to the minister, who assured him that I should have an answer on the following Wednesday; and requested him to call and receive it. On that day, however, Mr. Black received a note from the secretary of the minister, stating that it was necessary to submit the matter to the council of government, and that he would be advised when the answer would be given. "This government is a permanent body, of a very anomalous character, composed of persons not removable by the executive; its functions, so far as I can understand them, are, with a few exceptions, and these not applying to foreign relations, merely advisory, and no obligation exists on the part of the executive, but in the exceptional cases, to consult the council. The council was not consulted when the executive determined to renew diplomatic relations with the United States, and a recourse to it at this moment was altogether gratuitous. It is a notorious fact, that several of the members of this council are not only in open and violent opposition to the present administration, but endeavoring to get up a revolutionary movement to overthrow it, and it is generally understood that a majority of them are unfavorably disposed towards it. "This, at least, is certain the administration, in referring a matter entirely within their own competence to a body whose decision they cannot control, and upon whose sympathies they cannot rely, manifest either a weakness or a bad faith, which renders the prospect of any favorable issue to negotiations with them at best very problematical. “The deliberations of the council, although ostensibly confidential, soon became known out of doors. It had been twice or thrice convoked for the purpose of deliberating upon my * See Appendix L. reception, and it is perfectly well known that it has advised against it. The most absurd reasons have there been advanced against my recognition; so absurd, indeed, that they would appear scarcely credible to any one not upon the spot. * "The objections started were, that my credentials did not appear to have been given with the sanction of Congress; that my appointment had not been confirmed by the Senate; that this government had agreed only to receive a commissioner, and that, consequently, the appointment of an envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary was not in accordance with the letter of the 15th October, from the minister of foreign affairs to Mr. Black; that this letter only contemplated negotiations of Texas; and finally, to cap the climax of absurdity, that my powers were not sufficient! Having received no reply to my note of the 8th instant, and no assurance of the time when I might expect one, I addressed another, on the 15th instant, stating my desire to communicate speedily with my government, and requesting to know when I might expect an answer. I have, while writing this, received a communication from the minister of foreign relations, of which I shall furnish you a copy.* You will observe that it is dated yesterday, although I have no doubt it was written after the final negative decision of the council, which was rendered on that day. You will find it evasive and unsatisfactory, intimating difficulties respecting my credentials, and that negotiations, by the terms of his letter to our consul, were to be confined to the subject of Texas. "You will observe that this note is not addressed to me in my official capacity; the omission to do so is certainly not an accidental one. "Notwithstanding the desire, which I believe the present administration really entertains, to adjust all their difficulties with us, so feeble and inert is it, that I am rather inclined to *See Appendix M. the opinion that the chances of a successful negotiation would be better with one more hostile, but possessing greater energy. The country, torn by conflicting factions, is in a state of perfect anarchy, its finances in a condition utterly desperate. * * * "A refusal to treat with, or even receive me at all, in the only capacity in which I am authorized to act, under pretexts more or less plausible, is a possible (I ought perhaps to say a probable) event. This is a contingency which could not have been anticipated, and for which your instructions have consequently not provided. It will place me in a novel, awkward, and almost embarrassing position, and impose upon me a grave responsibility. Should it occur, I shall endeavor so to conduct myself as to throw the whole odium of the failure of the negotiation upon this government; point out, in the most temperate manner, the inevitable consequences of so unheardof a violation of all the usages which govern the intercourse between civilized nations; and declare my intention to remain here until I can receive instructions adapted to the exigencies of the case." Mr. Slidell sent to Mr. Buchanan the files of the "Amigo del Puebla," the leading opposition journal. "It breathes," says he, "the fiercest hostility against the United States, denounces the proposed negotiations as treason; and in the last number, openly calls upon the troops and the people to put down the government by force." * "P. S. December 18, 1845. At the moment I was about to close this, I obtained the dictamen of the council of gov ernment, published in the ' Siglo.' I send you the paper." It should be remembered that this was the letter received by our government on the 12th of January, 1846, and which gave rise to the order to General Taylor on the 13th-the following day. MEXICO REFUSES TO FULFIL ITS ENGAGEMENTS OF OCTOBER, 15, 1845. Mr. Peña y Peña to Mr. Slidell, December 20, 1845. "The undersigned having submitted the whole to his excellency, the president of the Republic, and having also considered attentively the note addressed to him by the secretary of state of the United States, relative to the mission of Mr. Slidell, regrets to inform him that, although the supreme government of the Republic is animated by the pacific and conciliatory intentions which the undersigned manifested to the consul of the United States in his confidential note of the 14th of October last, it does not conceive that, in order to fulfil the object proposed by the said consul, in the name of the American government, and accepted by the undersigned, it should admit his excellency Mr. Slidell in the character with which he is invested, of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary residing in the Republic." Mr. Slidell to Mr. Buchanan, December 27, 1845. "On the 21st instant, I received from Mr. Peña y Peña his promised reply, (from which the above is an extract,) conveying the formal and unqualified refusal of the Mexican government to receive me in the character for which I am commissioned. Of this most extraordinary document I send a copy. To this I replied, under the date of the 24th instant, disproving the unfounded assertions of Mr. Peña y Peña, and refuting the arguments upon which the refusal to receive me was based." As the reply of Mr. Slidell to Mr. Peña y Peña, alluded to above, embraces a variety of information of interest to all who desire to understand what were the true relations existing at that time between the two countries, we have placed it in the Appendix.* We would give a place to the letter of Mr. *See Appendix N. |