The Whig standard. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1843-1844, 1844-05-31

savs a You are probably not d,oare that PROPOSE
Ton has been made to the Texan Government
for the annexation of that country to the United
States. This, learn from the Texan charge,
has been for the present declined" Well might
Mr.. Murphy say that sit was impossible for him TO
fad out or know what questions of negotiation ex
listed between his own country and that to which he
was the diplomatic agent" when his oon
Government kept him uninf formed respecting them,
and the documents in his own Office were SO im-
perfect and irregular. And it is certainly very loose
diplomacy, 10 allow the evidence of an important
fact TO depend upon the testimony of single IN
dividual, liable to all the imperfections OF memory
and Misrepresentation, and subject to the casual
ties of life, which, in this case, have been SO la
mentally realized.
Mr. Murphy speaks (see his letter July 9Th,
lS43) of +" i'll feeling and, in some instances,
sentiment seeming to pervade all parties in Texas
towards the Government of the United States -
she has endeavoured," he says, /" to trace this
feeling to its source, and believes that it has
partly arisen from the (our) public archives not
being always or wholly hid from the eye of pub
lie curiosity" This is singular admission, and
the fair inference from it is, that the documents
thus exposed contained matter likely to inspire
ELL feeling and resentment towards this Govern
ment" among the Texan people Mr.. Murphy, in
conclusion. states, that newspaper which he
sends contains paragraph marked as express
ing the avowed sentiments of the Texan admin
istration in regard to the United States" "If it
be true" he says, as the paragraph alleges
that the United States has not kept her faithful
promises with Texas why then we have not
much to complain Of Your archives will enable
you to instruct me fully on that subject, but mine
afford no light whatever
We now come to Mr.. Upshurs letter to Mr.
Murphy, dated August 8, i843. but apparently
written before Mr.. Murphy's letter to the Secre-
tary of State, dated July 8, .l643, was received
This letter commences with the information re-
ceived by a private letter from a citizen of Ma
ryland, then (query, When p in London" This
letter and all Its contents, and all the arguments
dedaced from it, have been most ably handled by
Mr.. Benton. The surmises of the writer tile
official character assumed by Andrews, the sup
posed negotiations with Lord Aberdeen, and the
alleged action of the British Government, have
all proved as "baseless as VISION" and have
vanished into thin air." Even Mr. Upshur, in
the very next instance, although he says the citi-
zen of Maryland 81 man of great intelligence,
and well versed in public affairs, and hence, he
has every reason to confide in the correctness of
his conclusions" admits that he has some diff.
Gully in understanding the information he com
municates," ne gets over the difficulty, however,
by supposing, that this information involves
too Uieics Of question, both views, although con-
Trajectory, may be true and concludes the para
English Government has offered its cooperation
in the abolition Of slavery in Texas'!! He then
argues as though this CO operation was aoeN-
dscertG ned fact, and assumes that the attempt is
not "confned to the abolitionists of Texas"
Then he seems to doubt the ground he has as
sumed, and says. "if 1t be a fact that it has en-
gagged the attention of Lord Aberdeen, and that
he has pledged the cooperation of the English
Government to certain extent" sOhy then " it
possesses an Importance which demands our seri-
GUS attention.! He then assumes that Eng
land has Interior views no less than 10 interfere
with slavery in the United States, and 10 reduce
Texas to The condition Of British colony builds
arguments upon these gratuitous assumptions,
and writes a long despatch to Mr.. Murphy to Sim
press the subject upon his serious attention"
Thus poor MIR. Murphy is kept in ignorance Of
the real designs and negotiations of his own coun-
try, and most plentifully informed respecting the
ANA ginary ones of Great Britain. species of
diplomacy worthy Talleyrand or Metternich.
What Mr.. Upshur means by placing Texas in
the very midst of our slape-holding Sates, is not
very easy to imagine but perhaps geography has
as little to do with diplomacy as good grammar
and sound argument have, appear 10 have, from
the papers under consideration.
This despatch concludes with the acknowledge
ment that the writer :" is in great uncertainty as
to the true state of the armistice concluded with
Mexico" He urges Mr.. Murphy to be full and
accurate in his communications, commencing his
narrative of events at the point at which his
[your1 predecessor left off. The history of the
Legation should be full and unbroken.''
This would be a. difficult task for Mr. Murphy
to perform. whilst the state of the papers and ar
chives of his Office is as he has described it.
MARSHALL.
CONSISTENCY