The daily union., 1846-06-30

envoy from the United States Till January as they
/ were not prepared 10 receive him.
This trepidation but too papaby betrayed tha
peace with the United States on any terms depen
| ded not on negotiation, or reason, or Mexican gov
| ernment, but on the intestine factions Of Mexico
fomented by rival military usurpers to evaporation
only to be appeased by war Psredes supplaoted
Herrera, as Herrera superseded Santa Ana, by en-
listing the feroeious passions Of q sembarbarous
people.
On the 9th Of December, lS45, Mr.. Slidsl reached
the city Of Mexico and the 9Th Of December Off
cialy announced his arrival TO Mr.. Pehs Peha
with copy Of his letter of credenee, and Mr.. Bu-
| chanan's official communication 10 the Mexican
| Secretary Of State. Receiving no answer, he re-
peated his annunciation the 18th December. Mean.
time, on the llth December, the council oil Mexico
resolved for nine equally futile reasons, not to re-
ceive Mr.. Slidell.
On the 10th December, ls45, Mr., PEN Psns
| answered Mr.. Sidel's notes that lAs dsA, in his
reception had arisen froa difheulties oecsso.,ed by
the nature Of his credentials, as compared with the
proposition made by the United States TO treat peace
fully upon the affairs Of Texas. On the 10Th De-
cember, l845, Mr.. Slidell's mission annulled by
an official note from Mr.. Peha Pehi, requiring
him TO produce special powers ad hoe for the settle
| ment Of the Texas question, expressly and exclu-
| sively, before he could be recognised as minister
plenpotentiaryj as otherwise the honor, dignity,
and interests Of the Mexican republic would be put
| in jeopardy
On the Goth January Mr.. slidell retired to Jsla-
pa, town between the city Of Mexico and the sea
port Vera Cruz.
On the 29th December, l845, the presidency OF
General Herrera superseded by that Of General
Paredes, which aggravated the difficulties Of Mr..
Slidell's mission by another military usurpaton,
having hostility to the United States for countesgn
| and watchword. The coincidence is remarkable
between the American messenger Of peaces arrival
| in Mexico and the overthrow, by military usurpa-
| ton, of the government which invited his coming.
II was disaster for the mission TO be apprehended,
and which might have been anticipated
On the LIST March, 1886, Mr. Sdell, from Jalapa
repeated to another Mexican Secretary of State, Mr.
Castillo Lanzas, the profer Of peace rejected by
his predecessor, Mr. Peha Peha, wishing, by ex-
| hausting every honorable means of Cancellation, To
demonstrate to the civilized world that if its peace
should be disturbed, the responsibility must fall on
Mexico alone. The President is sincerely deslrous,
Mr.. Sidell added, to preserve that peace; but the
state Of quasi hostility which now exists on the part
OF Mexico Is incompatible with the dignity and in
erests Of the United States; and it is for the Mexi-
can government to decide whether il shall give place
to friendly negotiation, or lead to an open rup-
| ture.
On the 18th Of March, 1896 Mr. Buchanan in
structed Mr.. Slldell, by the Presidents direction,
not to leave the republic Of Mexico until he made
| formal demand to be received by the govern
ment-the governments of Paredes and Herrera not
being deemed $50 identical that the refusal of the
one to receive you ought TO be considered conclus
evidence that such would be the determination Of the
other"
On the 18th Of March, 1876, (by remarkable CO.
incdence,) Mr. Castillo y Lanzas answered Mr..
Slidels overture Of the first OF that month, again
rejecting him, and again repeating the sole cause Of
Mexican complaints-the only cause--Texas; for,
In all these proceedings other cause of complaint
was ever alleged, On the 18th March, lS46, Mr..
Side replied in letter remarkable for the strength
Of its argument and moderation Of its temper. On
the 2lst March, 1886, his passport sent to him
by the Mexican Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
Soon afterwards he left Japala for Yern Cruz,
whence he embarked and returned 70 the Usiied
States.
Explanatioa of this policy is to be found in Cen
Paradess manifesto, issued at the city Of Mex
leo the 23d April, 1876 and the appearance Of the
Mexican army on the Rio Grande. The Mexican
manifesto bears all the intrinsic evidence Of the war;
which all these extrinsc transactions conspired to
proclaim.
President Paredes had sent orders (hs manifesto
decared) to the general the northern frontier to
act hostility against the army in hostility against
them. From the 23d April lS46 therefore, war
was declared at the capital, by manifesto, to the
world, and waged eight hundred miles off. The
standard raised, said the manifesto, on which
Mexicans would behold the iustrous names of
Hidalgo and Iturbide summoning Mexico to con-
quer, or cease to be. Should wanton and foolish
hostiIities realize the latter alternative the catastro
can they be answerable for it.
The conflict is in no respect imputsbe to this
country; neither Its causes, commencement or con-
sequences. The Texas question, after the acts of
annexation by the United States and Texas, was no
longer a subject for doubt or hesitation by the Exec
utive Of the United States, bound to carry their
laws into effect. Texas became a State of this
Union, and the American government had to deal
with that State as it would with any other. Pres-
dent Paredes's manifesto insists that Texas was
Mexican ground last December, when the last mis-
sionary of peace from the United States Mr. Sdell,
landed in Mexico The American army, sent by
the President to defend Texas from Mexican inva-
sion, Extensively on Mexican territory accord
ing to President Paredes, at Corpus Christi, or
| would be at Austin, as if at Matamoras. In fact,
from Mr.. Gorostiza's appeal to the American peo-
pie TO resist their government in 1885, to MIR. AL
monte's declaration of war at Washington in l845,
Texas or her boundaries were subjects Of ne
gotation with the United States Mexico made no
question Of limits or Of purchase; would listen to
none; would not suffer Texas to be matter of argu-
men at all; but, dsdaining all discussion, she threw
the sword into the scale at once and insisted trial
by battle alone-war; not for boundary, but the
whole; she would fight, and for the whole. The is-
sue of right and reason, which the United States
importuned her to accept, Mexico thrust aside for
that OF might and force preferring invasion to in
tive left the republic Of the United States no alterna-
tive but war, as the only means of peace. Mexico
would hear nothing from the United States but at
| the cannons mouth
To the rest of the world to futurity, and to our
own countrymen, able to show that as these
odous hostilities have not been provoked by our
government or people, so neither they begun
where our forces had no right to be, nor begun by
them anywhere; but that Mexico struck the first
blow, and struck it on American ground.
The provisional and precarious government of
President Paredes was resolved on war while hard
ly double dealing about it with Mr.. Slide in Janu-
| ary, February, and March. On the 18th January
lS46, when the American government had informa-
ton Of the periIous state and qIarrelsome temper
of that of Mexico, the Secretary of War ordered
General Taylor to advance and occupy, with the
troops under his command, positions on the
east bank of the Rio del Nore, presumng that Point
Isabel would be considered by the general elig-
bic position. That point, or some near it, and
points opposite Matamoras and Mier, and in the
vicinity of Laredo, were suggested for oonsidera-
ton. But the general was expressly ordered not to
treat Mexico as an enemy, nor even to enforce
right to the free navigation Of the river, though
deemed common to both nations. The orders to