NORTHWESTERN
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
EVANSTON
ILLINOIS
THE REPUBLIC;
or,
A HISTORY
OF THE
UNITED STATES OF
[N
THE ADMINISTRATIONS,
Krom xhe Monarchic Colonial Days
to the Present Times.
BY
JOHN ROBERT IRELAN, M. D.
AMERICA
in eighteen volumes.
Volume XI.
chicago:
Kaireanks and Palmer Publishing Co.
Boston : Martin Garrison & Co. New York : John Cummings.
Washington, D. C.: W. F. Morse. Cincinnati : The Cincinnati Publishing Co.
St. Louis : E. Holdoway. Minneapolis : Buckeye Publishing Co.
San Francisco : J. Dewing & Co.
1888.
COPYRIGHTED
BY L. T. BALMER
1888.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
HISTORY
or THE
LIFE, ADMINISTRATION
AND TIMES '
OF
JMES Knox Polk,
Eleventh tff the 'Stniteh State*.
War with Mexico,
AND
Beginning of the Golden Era on the Pacific.
BY
JOHN ROBERT IRELAN. M. D.
CHICAGO:
Ka-irbanks.AND Palmer Publishing Co.
1888.
COPYRIGHTED
BY X. PALMER,
1888-
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
«
CONTENTS.
CHAFTER I. pagb.
Origin of the Polk Family — Distribution in the
United States—Family Tree .... 9
* CHAPTER n.
Boyhood of James K. Polk—Education—Profes-
siON—Mr. Polk as a Lawyer . . . .17
CHAPTER m.
Polk as a Politician—In the State Legislature—In
Congress—Mr. Speaker Polk .... 28
CHAPTER IV.
Mr. Polk as Governor of Tennessee—His Defeats—
Greater Things in View—The Conventions—
Platform of the Whigs—The Vice-Presidency
and the Presidency 45
CHAPTER V.
Mr. Calhoun's Disappointment—Democratic Plat-
form—^The Race—The Result—Mr. Clay could
never be President . . . . .79
CHAPTER VI.
Inaugural Ceremony—Mr. Adams's View of it—Mr.
Polk's Inaugural Address—The Cabinet . .101
CHAPTER VII.
The Polk, Calhoun, and Tyler Intrigue—^Blair's
" Globe," the Price of South Carolina—A Story
for which Allowances may be made . .119
(5)
6
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER Vm.
Paqe.
Texas and 54° 40'— Great Subjects before the
Administration—Preparations for War with
Mexico—George Mifflin Dallas, the Eleventh
Vice-President 136
CHAPTER IX.
President Polk's First Annual Message—^Texas and
Oregon 151
CHAPTER X. ,
Oregon — 54° 40' abandoned—Bluster about War
with England—Settlement on the 49th Degree—
Thet Treaty—"First Misstep" of President Polk 197
CHAPTER XI.
General Taylor Marches to the Rio Grande-^Be-
ginning of the War with Mexico—The Presi-
dent's Special Message 224
CHAPTER XII.
War proclaimed—Acts of Congress—French Claims
Veto—Two Million Mystery—Wilmot Proviso—
General Scott and the President—^Palo Alto
and Resaca de la Palma 243
CHAPTER XIH.
John C. Fremont—Conquest of California — The
" Pathfinder's " Best Achievement . . 264
CHAPTER XIV.
War with Mexico—Conquest of New Mexico—Gen-
eral Kearney sets up a Government—Sterling " «
Price whips the Mexicans into Obedience—Doni-
phan and Wool 279
CHAPTER XV.
War with Mexico—General Scott in Mexico—Siege
and Capture of Vera Cruz .... 298
CONTENTS.
7
CHAPTER xvi.
V Page.
War with Mexico—^The President's Second Annual
Message—Colonel Benton's Hand — Questions
and Causes 314
chapter xvii.
A Grand Plan fails—Mr. Benton disappointed—Some
Secrets—Santa Anna and the Three Miluons
for the Secret Service—Laws for New Mexico—
General Kearney's Theory of a Republic 370
chapter xviii.
War with MLexico—Cerro GoIido—A Proclamation
to the Mexicans—Tricks of Negotiation—Scott
and his Generals—^The Hand of Mr. Trist . 385
chapter xix.
War with Mexico—General Scott in the Heart of
the Enemy's Country without Chance of Succor—
Battle of Contreras—Valley of the Wonder-
ful City—A Mephitic Basin in the Cordilleras 413
chapter xx.
Battle of Churubusco—A Long, Evil Armistice—
Battle of Molino del Rey .... 432
chapter xxi.
War with Mexico—Capture of Chapultepec—The
City of Mexico in the Hands of the Invaders—
General Scott's Report—Santa Anna whipped
and driven into retirement .... 447
Chapter xxii.
The Army in Mexico—The Green-eyed Monster—Be-
ginning of the End—ThE GeNERAL of the ArMY
on trial—An Extraordinary Spectacle—^The
Navy 467
8
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXm.
Paob.
President Polk's Third Annual Message—A Plea for
THE Union—^The Territory op Oregon—Benton
AND Calhoun 485
CHAPTER XXIV.
End of the War—^The Treaty—^The Acquisition—Its
Cost—^The Trials—General Butler leads the
Army out of Mexico 536
CHAPTER XXV.
Territory of the United States — Treaties and
Boundaries—" Re-annexation " of Texas a Party
Cry . • 559
CHAPTER XXVI.
The President visits New England—Presidential
Election—" Rough and Ready " . . 572
CHAPTER XXVII.
President Polk's Last Annual Message—Another Ap-
PEAL for the Union—Human Slavery . 582
CHAPTER XXVHI.
Great Events in Polk's Administration—A Brief Re-
VXEW — Mr. Polk's Public Career — Religious
Character—Death—The Man and his Deeds . 644
CHAPTER XXIX.
A Wonderful Will—Residences and Tomb in the
Heart of"Nashville—Mr. Polk an Emancipation-
1ST — The Polk's in the AVhite House — Por-
traits—General Jackson and Aunt Rachel—A
Pleasing Study 659
LIFE, ADMINISTRATION, AND TIMES
OF
James Knox Polk,
ELEVENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
March 4, 1845, to March 4, 1849.
CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN OF THE POLK FAMILY—DISTRIBUTION IN THE
UNITED STATES—FAMILY TREE.
JUDGE A. 0. P. NICHOLSON says, in his «Eu-
J logy " on James K. Polk, that " it is a truth, not
unmixed with cause for regret, that posterity is the
only tribunal on earth whose judgment as to the char-
acter of distinguished men can be impartial, and
consequently infallible." This is an old, threadbare
saying, and, besides the mere fact that infallibility
does not belong to man under the most favorable
circumstances even, there are other difficulties in the
way of its acceptance as the truth. Posterity de-
pends for its knowledge of an individual upon the
testimony of his contemporaries, or those who not
10
LIFE AND TIMES OF
only lived in his day, but who also wrote and spoke
for and against him. Thus the impartial judge, so-
called, is under the disadvantage, after all, of basing
his opinion upon the views of partial or interested
witnesses. Partial and impartial are, however, doubt-
ful terms, and a miscellaneous jury of justices could
hardly agree in their application to a man or a
political event. While posterity may, possibly, be in-
different enough, indifference is an unreliable quality
in a judge. The present looks back at the past
from its own point of view and vantage ground.
Manhood with difficulty views its own childhood
with even-handed justice. " Oh! that I were a
child once morel" is a sentiment which rests on an
exaggeration, a delusion. Time softens asperities,
mitigates and leans to the side of charity. The
future lifts from its back much of the weight of the •
past. One age, in its own cares and strifes, becomes
oblivious of much belonging to the preceding, and
not only loses sight of the real distinctive points,
but also loses its capabilities to recognize and appre-
ciate them. If to be charitable, to look at general
facts, to estimate favorably because it seems un-
called for or ungenerous to do otherwise, is to
be impartial and infallible, then posterity may be
impartial and infallible.
Humboldt said of Bayard Taylor what that mag-
nanimous American would not have said of another,
that he had traveled more and seen less than any
other man. But it is a fact, that however well-
meaning the traveler and explorer in any field may
JAMES KNOX POLK.
ir
be, his view must be hasty, and the opportunities
for him to become a discriminative and just judge
are largely wanting. Posterity is a traveler, and
its reports from the past tend toward extravagant
eulogy. Truth only is just (whether that be par-
tial or impartial) and infallible, however its sub-
ject may be atfected for honor or dishonor. As the
old resident knows his country, and can tell its true
character better than the itinerant observer, so the
contemporary, the honorable neighbor who scans the
daily walk, and is often made to feel the motives
of it, has within him the highest tests of just judg-
ment. With this view constantly before me, and
certainly feeling no superior fitness by belonging to
another generation, I can do nothing but leave the
reader to his own reflections touching my success as
a fair and exact historian and biographer.
Among the many families of Irish, or Scotch-
Irish, origin, which have become distinguished in
this country, none of them, perhaps, stands before
that of Polk. The line of this family has been
traced back to the end of the twelfth century, in
Scotland, and for several hundred years remained
mainly unchanged from Pollock or Pollok, finally
slipping into Polk after the family settled in Ireland.
A commmon tendency in this country is to pro-
nounce the abbreviated term Polk, p(^ke, but this
usage never sprang from the Polks themselves, who
scrupulously hold to the I. The founder' of the
American family was Robert Polk, who came to this
country with his wife, Magdalen, who had been the
12 LIFE AND TIMES OF
widow of Colonel Porter, between 1640 and 1660,
and settled at a place called "Dames Quarter," on
Chesapeake Bay, in the present county of Som-
erset, Maryland, where he had a grant of land from
Lord Baltimore. Robert Polk had a large family,
which became extensively connected, and some of
his descendants are yet identified with the affairs of
Maryland. But Thomas, Ezekiel, and Charles, sons
of William, and great-grandchildren of Robert and
Magdalen, settled finally in what is now Mecklen-
burg County, North Carolina. Both these men and
their father, who was the son of John Polk, were
natives of Maryland. John, their grandfather, was,
perhaps, born in Ireland, as he was the oldest child
of Robert and Magdalen, the original emigrants.
John was Irwice married, and William, the father of
Ezekiel, Thomas, and Charles, was the son of his
first wife, Jugurtha Hugg. William was also twice
married, as was his son EzekiM; and Samuel, one of
the sons of this Ezekiel, was the father of James
K. Polk.
One of the sons or grandsons of Robert and Mag-
dalen settled in Kentucky, and some of his descend-
ants still live in that State, keeping up well the honor-
able history of the family in general. In time the
Polks became dispersed in various parts of the
country, especially in the South and South-west. The
three brothers who settled in Carolina became con-
spicuous in organizing the opposition to Great Britain,
and were firm supporters of the War of the Revo-
lution. Ezekiel was the first clerk of the new
JAME§ KNOX POLK.
13
county of Lincoln, North Carolina, organized in
1768, was afterwards a magistrate in Mecklenburg,
was a staunch Whig, and while he did not himself
become a soldier, he was a man of considerable in-
fluence. He is said to have become wealthy, a fact
here mentioned, not as an item of history, but for
the privilege it gives of saying that wealth is not an
inseparable accompaniment of virtue and wisdom,
while it is sometimes, unfortunately, the only requi-
site of influence. Charles Polk served for a time as a
captain of "light horse" in the Revolutionary War;
but the most considerable of these brothers was
Thomas. He had the honor of being appointed to
call the now famous Mecklenburg Convention, which
declared North Carolina independent of Great Britain,
a declaration which actually went before that of
the Continental Congress. This appointment he re-
ceived from the "Committee of Safety," a Whig
organization, of which he was a member. He was
also commander of the militia of the county, and,
through his captains of districts, the call was made.
He was several times member of the Colonial As-
sembly, was surveyor of the Province, was appointed
colonel of the Fourth Regiment in the Continental
line, in 1776, and served in some capacity, much of
the time in charge of the commissary department,
until 1780, when the distinguished William Rich-
ardson Davie took his place at the head of the com-
missary of the Southern army. He died, and his
remains were buried near Charlotte, in 1793. He
had one son, William, who entered the army at the
14
LIFE AND TIMES OF
age of sixteen, at the beginning of hostilities, and,
after serving under his father against the Tories,
joined the troops from his State under General
Washington. He was in the battle of the Brandy-
wine, and at German town was wounded. He served
under Greene, and, at Eutaw Springs, was again
severely wounded. He quit the war as a lieutenant-
colonel. President Madison offered him a brigadier-
generalship in 1812, but this he did not accept. He
served a term in the Legislature ("House of Com-
mons"). He died at Charlotte in 1835. Thomas
G. Polk, of Mississippi, was his son, and the wife
of Kenneth Rayner, of Washington City, was his
daughter. This William was also the father of the
famous fighting Bishop, General Leonidas Polk, a
man whose qualities as a warrior were ranked as
deservedly high, perhaps, as were his powers as an
expounder of the grand and loving principles and
teachings of the Prince of Peace. The descendants
of Charles, Thomas, and Ezekiel were quite numer-
ous in North Carolina, but they had mostly become
residents of other States before 1840. Charles Polk,
one of the sons of Robert and Magdalen, married
Miss Peale, of Philadelphia, sister of Peale, the
painter, and their son was the late Charles Peale
Polk, a painter of distinction. The following genea-
logical record was furnished for this work by Colonel
W. H. Polk, of Lexington, Kentucky :—
ISSUE AND DESCENDANTS OF ROBERT AND MAGDALEN.
Robert and Magdalen's children: John, William,
Ephraira, James, Robert, Joseph, Margaret, and Ann.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
15
1. John married first, Jugurtha Hiigg; second, Joana
Knox. Issue by first wife: William and Nancy. William
married first, Priscilla Roberts; second. Miss Taylor.
Nancy married Edw. Roberts, brother of Priscilla.
WILLIAM FOLK'S ISSUE.
'William died in infancy.
^ Charles and Polly Clark, issue: Thomas, Charles,
Shelby, William, and Mike.
®Debora and Samuel McCleary, no issue.
* Susan and Benjamin Alexander, issue: Thomas,
Charles, Susan, William, Benjamin, and Taylor.
®Margaret and Mr. McRee, issue: William, Debora,
Susan, James, Margaret, Dinah, Thomas, Harriet, Rachel,
William, and one not named.
*John and Elinor Shelby, issue: Charles, Shelby, Tay-
lor, and John.
^General Thomas and Susan Spratt, issue: Thomas
(killed at Eutaw Springs), William (father of the Bishop),
Ezekiel (died at sea), Chaides (married Miss Alexander),
Margaret (married Governor Alexander), Mary (married
Mr. Brown), Martha (married Dr. Brevard, author of
"Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence"), and Jo-
seph, who married Miss Moore.
® Ezekiel Polk married first, Miss Wilson, second, Mrs.
Leonard, issue: Thomas Polk, Matilda, William, Samuel
(father of James K.), John, Louisa, Clarissa, Mary, Charles
P., Eugenia, Benigna, and Edward. Samuel Polk married
Jane Knox, issue: James K. Polk, Maria Walker, Eliza
Caldwell, Marshall Polk, John L. Polk, Franklin Polk,
Naomi Harris, Ophelia Hayes, William H., and Samuel.
I should have given Mary, who married John Barnett,
as William, Polk's eldest child. By mistake her name
was left off the family tree. She was mother of the
noted Colonel Jack Barnett, a man of great courage and
note in the Revolution.
16
LIFE AND TIMES OF
BALANCE OF EGBERT AND MAGDALEN'S CHILDREN,
2. William married first, Nancy Knox, sister to Jona,
John's wife; second, the Widow Owings.
3. Ephraim married Miss Williams.
4. James married Miss Williams, sister to foregoing.
5. Robert married Miss Guillette.
6. Joseph married Miss Wright.
7. Margaret married Mr. Pollett, of Somerset County.
8. Ann. married Francis Roberts, of Somerset County.
Edward Roberts, who married John's daughter Nancy,
and Priscilla Roberts, who married William Polk, were
children of Aunt Frances Roberts.
William sold his estate in Dorchester County, Mary-
land, in 1723, after his father's death, and moved to Car-
lisle, Pennsylvania, thence to North Carolina.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
17
CHAPTER II.
BOYHOOD OF JAMES K. POLK—EDUCATION—PROFESSION—
MR. POLK AS A LAWYER.
JAMES KNOX POLK, the oldest of the ten chil-
dren, of Samuel (one of the sons of Ezekiel
Polk) and Jane Knox Polk, was born November 2,
1795, in a "double log" house, in Mecklenburg
County, North Carolina, ten miles - south of Char-
lotte, on the Camden Road. The farm on which his
father lived at this time was inherited, his grand-
father, Ezekiel, having owned considerable prop-
erty in that region. His name, James Knox, was
acquired from his maternal grandfather, of Iredell
County, North Carolina, who was a captain in the
War of the Revolution, and one of the worthy Whigs
of the State, who were among the first Americans to
declare open resistance to the parent country.
In 1806, Samuel Polk emigrated with his family
to Tennessee, and settled on Duck River, in Maury
County. Here, as he had done in North Carolina,
he engaged in farming and surveying, and with him
his oldest son shared the toils and pleasures of
these pursuits. This country, now the very heart
of Tennessee, was then new, and land was cheap and
easily obtained. Like all the western adventurers
Samuel Polk had come to Tennessee with a view of
2—K
18
LIFE AND TIMES OF
bettering his fortune. This he did, leaving his
family in "good circumstances" at the time of his
death, in 1827. He made no public pretensions,
and occupied himself mainly in the care and interest
of his family, and so conducted himself as to receive
the distinction of being one of the most worthy of
the Tennessee pioneers. His family had contained
some of the most active, useful, and spirited men
of North Carolina, and its reputation had not suf-
fered by his conduct and life in Tennessee. Like most
men of his day he possessed little education and
polish, but lived to see his son, through these means,
rising above the most ambitious attainments of
any member of the Polk family. Judge A. 0.
P. Nicholson says, in his "Eulogy" on Polk, that
" without a liberal education, he would have become
a man of great wealth, but, as a man of mind,
could never have attained eminence." That is sim-
ply the statement of a general principle. Only
three of Samuel Polk's sons married, and all of them
were short-lived, William H. living to the great-
est age. Marshall Tate returned to North Caro-
lina, where he died young, leaving two children.
William H. was an officer in the Mexican War; he
had held a foreign appointment under President
Tyler, and subsequently was a man of some note
at Columbia, Tennessee, where he died. Three of
the four daughteus of Samuel Polk outlived his
most distinguished son. Mrs. Jane Polk lived to
the age of seventy-five, and died at Columbia several
years after the death of President Polk, her oldest
JAMES KNOX POLK.
19
child. A very ridiculous story has been told as to
her marrying a Mr. Eden, and living in great honor
and happiness with hitn. The fact is, however, that
she was never married a second time, and never
knew or heard of such a man as Mr. Eden, as, per-
haps, nobody else did in Maury County, Tennessee,
although the name Eden was honorably mentioned
in the early history of North Carolina. It is cer-
•tainly a credit to the name of Mr. Polk that his
mother was never married again. Although she
spent her last days amidst honors gathered from the
life of her son, yet, without these, she stood well in
the esteem of her neighbors. To her, her children
were, to a great extent, indebted for many of their
most correct principles of life, although the general
arrangement and conduct of Samuel Polk's home
were those of the North of Ireland Presbyterians.
Although the Polks were not people of much culture
and education, technically speaking, yet James K.
Polk had no reason, immediately or remotely, to be
ashamed of his family and name, either on the side
of his father or his mother.
Notwithstanding the comparatively favorable con-
ditions, for the country and times, surrounding the
early life of James K. Polk, yet he was subjected to
some peculiarly distressing drawbacks deserving no-
tice. Such education as the woods and the farm
afforded he received, and for that his body seemed
better suited than any other, although he showed no
taste for that kind of education. He wanted the edu-
cation of books, and his father favored him in this,
20
LIFE AND TIMES OF
and gave him such opportunities as the circumstances
presented. But the great difficulty in the way was
Polk's frail body and ill-health. While cooking for
his father on the long surveying and land-locating
tours, and in the other out-door and healthful pur-
suits connected with their farm-life, he kept up well,
and the indications were fair for his overcoming an
insidious tendency to disease and constitutional
weakness. Wiser than most parents of this day, his
father feared that he would not be able to stand a
sedentary life, that the unremitting pursuit of books
would only cut short his chances for the useful and act-
ive life he desired. But, selecting what he deemed a
medium between the rougher farm-life and the so-
called learned profession, he placed his son in a
store at Columbia. The experience of Samuel Polk
was that through which most parents pass. Simul-
taneously with the birth of the average boy comes
the stupendous question, what is to be done with
him, what use is to be made of him, what shall
he be ? In a very large per cent of all cases it is
at once decided that he must be something great,
something out of the ordinary way. The road to
something great is in the "learned professions."
Whoever could imagine it to lie in any other direc-
tion ? Yet it is the smallest possible per cent of all
the misguided young men who enter the "learned
professions," that ever reach anything great; and
not one of all who enter the "professions" for their
health or on account of physical weaknesses, ever
receives the least benefit by so doing. In nothing
JAMES KNOX POLK.
21
else is demonstrated more clearly the inherent igno-
ranee and quackery of the human family than in the
numberless shifts to make something out of the boy
so unfortunately born as not to be able to exhibit a
predominant trait, or point by his qualities to the
course he ought to take in life. Every boy that is
defective in hearing, or who has an affection of the
throat, or some weakness of the legs, or who is
asthmatic or phthisical, or who is generally deficient
in strength, and especially whose eyes are out of
measure or weak, is, above all others, selected and
labeled for a "learned profession." The very things
that should send him to the field, or to some active,
natural out-door pursuit, have put him in the best
possible way to establish and perpetuate his weak-
nesses. The place for the weak, especially, is out
of doors. Were men compelled to live mainly in
the open air their ailments, in time, would range on
a scale with those of the inferior animals which
do so live.
Daniel Webster had in his mind the great mass
of worthless men in the legal profession when he
said, that " there is always room in the upper story."
The upper stratums are not crowded in any pursuits.
An old medical lecturer at the Cincinnati Hospital
was once asked how many of the two hundred stu-
dents before him would make honorable and useful
members of the medical profession, and his answer
was : " One, perhaps, may become distinguished; ten
may be tolerably reputable; many of them find-
ing themselves to be failures, will drop into other
22
LIFE AND TIMES OF
pursuits; and the others will be a disgrace to the
profession, and a source of mischief to the race."
Medicine is yet a science only in some of its branches ;
in some of its branches (notably materia medica
and therapeutics), it never will, perhaps, rise to any
great degree of scientific respectability, and, as a
whole, still furnishes the broadest field on earth for
the opportunities of ignorance and charlatanry. The
two or three other "learned professions" present
nothing more inviting. The time will doubtlessly
be, is not now far distant, when the men of the
greatest leisure and the greatest culture and refine-
ment, as well as of the highest physical perfec-
tions, will be found on the farms.
But back to James K. Polk. He found his tastes
and inclinations so little in harmony with the small
affairs of the store that, after a few weeks' trial, on
his further urging the matter, his father concluded
to put him in school. A most serious, determined
affection {vesical calculus) had not only stood in his
way, but also threatened to cut short his life. It was
finally decided to submit him to a surgical operation
for the removal, and this proving successful, he glided
along smoothly in the course he had chosen. Yet
Polk was constitutionally a delicate boy and man,
and fell when he had barely reached what should
be only the half-way point in the journey to a green
old age on this earth. In the summer of 1813, he
was put under the tuition of the Reverend Mr. Hen-
derson; shortly afterward he went into the Murfrees-
boro Academy, under Samuel P. Black; and, in
JAMES KNOX POLK.
23
1815, entered the University of North Carolina.
In June, 1818, he graduated, bearing the distinction
of being the best mathematical and classical scholar.
He had the honor of delivering the "Latin Oration."
Two years before his death this institution conferred
upon him the degree of LL. D. Mr. Polk's success
at' school was not owing to natural superiority or
uncommon brilliancy, but to the exercise of those
common and reasonable, but necessary, means which
have served in the cases of most successful men.
His heart was in the work, and he labored earnestly
and constantly; considered nothing a hardship that
was meant to lead him to the desired goal; did
every thing required of him; left nothing undone
that he ought to do; and by perseverance and right
conduct took position at the head of a class, con-
taining some more active, if not brighter, minds.
The Rev. Mr. Otey, a bishop in the Episcopal
Church, who knew this part of Polk's life well,
said of him :—
"Of his habits, while a student at college, I am able
to speak from personal knowledge. We occupied adjacent
rooms, and boarded at the same house. He had early
trained his mind to a course of vigorous discipline, and
was most exact in his devotion to hours of study. These
hours were well understood by those who were in the
habit of visiting his rooms at college, and none, but those
unacquainted with his habits, would ever, at such times,
seek admittance. The study in which he most delighted,
and in which he was most distinguished, was the pure
mathematics. His proficiency in this department of learn-
ing was often spoken of while a member of the university.
24
LIFE AND TIMES OF
and was sometimes suggested as a reason for the favor-
itism or partiality, as it was called, of the President,
the venerable Dr. Caldwell, himself a devoted lover of
mathematical studies. But the plain truth is, that Mr.
Polk was so regular in all his habits, so unexceptionable
in his deportment, so attentive to all duties, so observant
of all college rules, and restraints enacted by lawful
authority, so diligent in the acqnisition of knowledge, and,
withal, so successful, too, that he could not be otherwise
than a favorite with any instructor or professor. His pro-
ficiency and success are attributed to his economical nse
of time, to his systematic and punctual discharge of every
duty. He was never hurried about anything. The sum-
mons of the bell never found him unprepared for the hour
of devotion, for recitation, or for any appointed exercise.
His hours for relaxation and recreation were as uniform
in their recurrence as were those devoted to study, and
no man entered with more apparent zest into the ordinary
and allowable amusements of the place and day, in their
season, or enjoyed with more relish, the humorous pas-,
sages which not unfrequently break in upon and diversify
the monotonous routine of college life."
Before entering college Mr. Polk had determined
to go into the legal profession, and, accordingly, early
in 1819, he began the study of the law at Nashville,
in the office of Felix Grundy, who was regarded
by some as the most able man Tennessee has
ever had. This was a very fortunate step at the
outset of his career. It not only gave him the
benefit of the professional knowledge and experience
of the first lawyer in the State, but also his warm
friendship and patronage; and by Mr. Grundy he
was introduced, at this time, to Andrew Jackson.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
25
He made several visits to the Hermitage during his
student days in Nashville, and there laid the founda-
tion for a friendship which served him well in after
times. The attachment between General Jackson
and himself was mutual, and lasted to the end of the
old hero's life. At this time he began to imbibe
Jackson's political principles, and was, no doubt,
greatly influenced by him in his public career. In
the winter of 1820 he was admitted to the bar, and,
returning to his father's, established himself in the
practice of his profession at Columbia. His family
influences were favorable to his success; and, above
all, his known principles, habits, and reputation for
painstaking and methodical labor placed him on a
good footing at once with the community.
"His thorough academical preparation, his accurate
knowledge of the law, his readiness and resources in
debate, his unwearied application to business secured him,
at once, full employment, and, in less than a year, he was
already a leading practitioner. Such prompt success in a
profession where the early stages are proverbially slow
and discouraging, falls to the lot of few."
Thus wrote one of his admirers in 1838. He
did not, however, rise to great distinction as a
lawyer, although his reputation as a reliable, accu-
rate, and laborious practitioner was of the first im-
portance. The always fair and generous Henry S.
Foote said, substantially, of him : " Of gentle, unob-
trusive, conciliatory manners; upright and moral
conduct; able as a lawyer, but entered political life
before he attained that eminence at the bar to which
26
LIFE AND TIMES OF
he aspired, as a popular speaker he, perhaps, has not
had a superior in Tennessee."
His law business became quite extensive and
profitable, and, although mainly practicing alone, at
different times he had associated with him some
of the most considerable men of the profession,
among whom were Aaron Vail Brown and Gideon J.
Pillow. As a political speaker he quite early took
a first rank in his State. This was, however, not
owing to intense or extravagant declamation. Few
men of learning have been able to distinguish them-
selves in their public addresses by less of the foolish
affectation and display of the technical formulas of
learning than was Mr. Polk. There were men who,
perhaps, in other respects were tolerable judges,
who did consider Polk a slow, spiritless, and unat-
tractive speaker for this very reason. He wanted,
they held, that fire which eame from rhetorical dis-
play, ad captandum appeals, and far-off "classic"
affectations, as well as the magic of deep and wide-
spread learning. That he did lack all of these there
need be no question, but only the latter was a
defect. His speeches never showed him to be one
of those that
"Pluck bright honors from the pale-faced moon,
Or dive into the bottom of the deep,
And drag up drowned honor by the locks."
If such is to be an orator Polk never was one.
He was a calm, argumentative speaker; dealt with
the facts directly concerning the subject; with
JAMES KNOX POLK.
27
studious precision arranged these to give greatest
possible force; relied but little on collateral or far-
fetched illustrations; and showed, by his great
earnestness, that he had faith in his own utterances.
He was one of the most sound, convincing, satisfac-
tory, and reliable political speakers of his day.
28
LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER III.
POLK AS A POLITICIAN—IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE—
IN CONGRESS—MR. SPEAKER POLK.
Mr. polk began his political career as a member
of the Legislature in the fall of 1823, having
two years previously, however, served as Chief Clerk
of the Lower House in that body. He really took the
"stump" for the first time in the summer of 1823,
and, after a warm " canvass," defeated his opponent by
a large majority at the polls. He entered the Legis-
lature under very favorable circumstances, and his
short service in that body strengthened his position be-
fore the public. His good sense, sound arguments,
and admirable conduct made him at once a mark for
a higher position. His father and family had been
Democrats, and from association and principle he
started out as a Democrat* of the strictest sort
himself, and in his after life there was little incon-
sistency in his course. He became a strong advo-
cate of General Jackson's candidacy for the Presi-
dency, and now had an opportunity to further his
cause in that direction by aiding in his election to the
United States Senate in the fall of 1823. Some oP
his first teachings came from Jackson, and, although
a "strict constructionist," and greatly doubting the
power of the General Government in reference to
JAMES KNOX rOLK.
29
internal improvements, he admitted that the Consti-
tution should be amended to give the authority
without doubt, and, in 1824, actually gave in to the
belief that President Monroe had settled the ques-
tion, and henceforward it would, perhaps, be the
fixed policy of the Government to take charge of
internal improvements, even to constructing roads
of general importance through the States. This po-
sition he subsequently regarded as one of the few
heresies of his immature political days, and returned
with unswerving devotion to the original Democratic
views on this subject. But the Constitution never
was amended to relieve the scruples of the "strict
constructionists," and long ago, in reference to in-
ternal improvements, this class of politicians passed
away, all parties now striving to win public favor by
advocating the greatest national expenditures in this
direction.
A bill to prevent dueling in Tennessee was brought
forward by Mr. Polk during this term of service in
the Legislature, and through his exertions passed.
In a community where dueling was fashionable, or,
at least, tolerable, this was a daring step, and espe-
cially for a young legislator. But it illustrated his
courage and his devotion to principles that the
good judgment of all right-minded men would sus-
tain. In the summer or spring of 1825, he became
a candidate for representative from his district in
Congress, and was elected. The issues at this time
were not very important. In Tennessee the most
prominent, perhaps, being the so-called frauds by
30
LIFE AND TIMES OF
which General Jackson was cheated out of the Presi-
dency, and compelled to wait four years longer.
The question of internal improvements was also
made a matter of some moment. In one of Mr. Polk's
addresses, at this time, is found this language :—
" How far the General Government has power to make
internal improvements, has been a question of some diffi-
culty in the deliberations of Congress. It has been a
question long and ably controverted by our wisest states-
men. It seems, however, to have been lately settled by
the three great departments of the Government in favor
of the exercise of such a power. . . . The expediency
of making internal improvements is unquestioned; it is
only on the question of power that doubt has arisen.
They are calculated to promote the agricultural, commer-
cial, and manufacturing interests of the country; they add
to the wealth, prosperity, and convenience of the great
body of the people, by diminishing the expenses, and im-
proving the facilities for the transportation of our surplus
products to market, and furnishing an easy and cheap
return of those necessaries required for our consumption.
A judicious system of internal improvements, within the
powers delegated to the General Government, I therefore
approve."
In December, 1825, Mr. Polk took his seat in
Congress. This was the first session under Mr.
Adams. Mr. Polk was, of course, an earnest oppo-
nent of the Administration; but, at that date, the
opposition members were in the minority in the
House. He made his first speech of note on a, bill
to bring the election of President and Vice-President
directly before the people, without the intervention
of electors from all the States, and to this scheme
JAMES KNOX POLK.
31
he gave his support. He vehemently opposed the
President's recommendation to send commissioners to
the Panama Congress, and brought forward and sup-
ported in a speech some resolutions against the
impolitic measure, as it was termed by the opposition.
He now began to see the error, as he believed, in
his former position as to internal improvements, which
Mr. Adams seemed to favor on a grand scale.
He was again elected to Congress in 1827, and
was re-elected every two years, serving fourteen
consecutive years without interruption. At the expi-
ration of each term he "canvassed" his district,
which he carried with little ditEculty, it being
strongly opposed to the Administration of Mr. Adams;
and his own conduct in Congress constantly improv-
ing his own standing with his party. In December,
1827, he again took his seat in the House, now
anti-Ad ministration. Among the nine members from
his State at this time were John Bell and David
Crockett. He was now placed on the Committee of
Foreign Affairs, and from this time forward was
closely and conspicuously identified with the history
of the House during his service in that body. A new
member from Tennessee, destined to become distin-
guished in national affairs, and especially in connec-
tion with Mr. Polk, took his seat in the House in 1829,
with the introduction of Andrew Jackson's Admin-
istration. This was Cave Johnson. David Crockett
(the coon-hunter) and John Bell were also returned.
Tennessee now began to lead in national affairs,
and for the next eight years, at all events, she was
32
LIFE AND TIMES OF
at the top, if General Jackson was. Mr. Polk now
began to take a more decided stand against internal
improvements by the General Government, and, in
1830, made before the House one of his most able
speeches in support of his new position. He now
took the most advanced Democratic views of the
tariff and other measures of the opposition, and, like
Mr. Benton in the Senate, was ever ready to find a
plea for General Jackson and defend his Adminis-
tration. In the famous session, beginning December
5, 1881, -Tennessee substituted another representa-
tive for the good-hearted backwoodsman, Crockett,
who did no little in making her famous, as also the
Lower House of Congress. But it was, unfortu-
nately, a kind of fame which that body has not yet
escaped, and which led the distinguished, and some-
times correct, young traveler, De Tocqueville, to say
at that very juncture :—
"On entering the House of Representatives at "Wash-
ington, one is struck with the vulgar demeanor of that
great assembly. The eye frequently does not discover a
man of celebrity within its walls. Its members are almost
all obscure individuals, whose names present no associa-
tions to the mind; they are mostly village lawyers, men
in trade, or even persons belonging to the lower classes
of society. In a country in which education is very gen-
eral, it is said that the representatives of the people do
not always know how to write correctly."
A contemporary partisan writer, in speaking of
Mr. Polk's work in Congress at this time, said :—
"In December, 1832, he was transferred to the Com-
mittee of Ways and Means, with which his connection has
JAMES KNOX POLK.
33
been so distinguished. At that session the directors of the
Bank of the United States were summoned to Wash-
ington, and examined upon oath before the committee just
named. A division of opinion resulted in the presenta-
tion of two reports. That of the majority, which ad-
mitted that the Bank had exceeded its lawful powers by
interfering with the plan of the Government to pay off
the three per cent stock, was tame, and unaccompanied
by pertinent facts or elucidating details. Mr. Polk, in
behalf of the minority, made a detailed report, communi-
eating all the material circumstances, and presenting con-
elusions utterly adverse to the institution which had been
the subject of inquiry. This arrayed against him the whole
Bank power, which he was made to feel in a quarter
where he had everything at stake; for, upon his return to
his district, he found the most formidable opposition mus-
tered against him for his course upon this question. The
friends of the United States Bank held a meeting at
Nashville to denounce his report. The most unscrupu-
Ions misrepresentations were resorted to in order to prove
that he had destroyed the credit of the West by pro-
claiming that his countrymen were unworthy of mercan-
tile confidence. The result, however, was that, after a
violent contest, Mr. Polk was re-elected by a majority of
more than three thousand. Fortunately for the stability
of our institutions, the panics which 'frighten cities from
their propriety,' do not sweep with the same desolating
force over the scattered dwellings of the country.
"In September, 1833, the President, indignant at the
open defiance of law by the Bank of the United States,
and the unblushing corruption which it practiced, deter-
mined upon the bold and salutary measure of the removal
of the deposits, which was effected in the following
month. The act produced much excitement throughout
the country, and it was foreseen that a great and doubtful
conflict was about to ensue. At such a crisis it became
3—E
34
LIFE AND TIMES OF
important to have at the head of the Committee of Ways
and Means a man of courage to meet, and firmness to
sustain, the formidable shock. Such a man was found in
Mr. Polk, and he proved himself equal to the occasion.
Congress met, and the conflict proved even fiercer than
had been anticipated. The cause of the Bank was sup-
ported in the House by such men as Mr. McDuffie,
Adams, and Binney, not to mention a host of other names.
It is instructive to look back, in calmer times, to the
reign of terror known as the Panic Session. The Bank,
with the whole commerce of the country at its feet, alter-
nately torturing and easing its miserable pensioners as
they increased or relaxed their cries of financial agony;
public meetings held in every city, with scarcely the
intermission of a day, denouncing the President as a tyrant
and the enemy of his country; deputations flocking from
the towns to extort from him a reluctant submission;
Whig orators traversing the country, and stimulating the
passions of excited multitudes, without respect even to the
sanctity of the Sabbath; inflammatory memorials poured
into Congress from every quarter; the Senate almost
decreeing itself into a state of permanent insurrection,
and proclaiming that a revolution had already begun;
all the business of legislation in both wings of the Cap-
itol postponed to that of agitation and panic; an extra-
judicial and branding sentence pronounced upon the
Chief Magistrate of the Nation, in violation of usage and
of the Constitution: these features present but a faint
picture of the alarm and confusion which prevailed. Con-
sternation had almost seized upon the Republican ranks,
thinned by desertions and harassed by distracting doubts
and fears. But the stern resolve of him whose iron arm
guided the helm of State, conducted the perilous conflict
to a successful issue. Nor should we forget the eminent
services of the individual who presided over the Com-
mittee of Ways and Means. His coolness, promptitude.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
35
and abundant resources were never at feult. His opening
speech, in vindication of the President's measure, con-
tains all the material facts and reasons on the Republican
side of the question, enforced with much power, and illus-
trated by great research. To this speech almost every
member of the opposition, who spoke upon the question,
attempted to reply; hut the arguments which its author
brought forward to establish the power of the President un-
der the Constitution, as elucidated by contemporaneous or
early exposition, to do the act, which had been so boldly
denounced as a high-handed and tyrannical usurpation,
could neither be refuted nor weakened. Mr. McDuffie,
the distinguished leader of the opposition in this eventful
conflict, bore testimony in his concluding remarks to the
'boldness and manliness' with which Mr. Polk had
assumed the only position which could be* judiciously
taken. The financial portion of his speech, and that in
which he exposed the glaring misdeeds of the Bank, were
no less efiicient. When Mr. McDuflfie had concluded the
remarks to which we have alluded, a member from Vir-
ginia, after a few pertinent observations, demanded the
previous question. A more intense excitement was never
felt in Congress than at this thrilling moment. The two
parties looked at each other for a space in sullen silence,
like two armies on the eve of a deadly conflict. The
motion of Mr. Mason prevailed, the debate was arrested,
and the division proved a triumphant victory for the Re-
publican cause. The Bank then gave up the contest
in despair.
"The position of Chairipan of the Committee of Ways
and Means, at all times a most arduous and responsible
one, was doubly so at this session, which will form an
epoch in the political annals of the country. Mr. Polk
occupied it for the first time. From its organization and
the nature of its duties, this committee must be, at all
times, the chief organ of every Administration in the
36
LIFE AND TIMES OF
House. At this session it was, for obvious reasons, pecul-
iarly so. To attack it, then, was to strike at the Govern-
ment; to embarrass its action was to thwart the course
of the Administration. Extraordinary and indiscrimi-
nate opposition was, accordingly, made to all the appro-
priation bills. It was avowed in debate, that it was
within the scope of legitimate opposition to withhold even
the ordinary supplies until the deposits were restored to
the Bank of the United States; that this restitution must
be made or revolution ensue. The Bank must triumph, or
the wheels of Government be arrested. The people should
never forget the perils of a contest in which they were
almost constrained to succumb. The recollection should
warn them not to build up again a power in the State of
such formidable faculties. The tactics which we have
just described threw great additional labor upon the com-
mittee, and particularly upon its chairman. Fully ap-
prised of the difficulties he had to encounter, he main-
tained his post with sleepless vigilance and untiring
activity. He was always ready to give the House ample
explanations upon every item, however minute, of the
various appropriations. He was ever prompt to meet
any objections which might he started."
In 1833, Tennessee again returned David Crockett
to Congress, one of the most remarkable men who
ever sat in the House of Representatives. He was
instrumental in doing more, perhaps, than any man
of his day in turning the acts, habits, and learning
of Andrew Jackson to ridicule. He was one of the
most determined enemies of Martin Van Buren, and
was possessed of a vast fund of sarcastic wit which
made him famous during his Congressional days.
This it was, mainly, that kept him in public place,
although he was endowed with much good sense,
JAMES KNOX POLK.
37
which he used, with all his want of education, per-
haps, more to the benefit than to the disadvantage
of his country. Nor did his State disgrace herself
by sending him to Congress. Few members of that
body ever acquired a wider national reputation than
did Davy Crockett, or one that may endure longer.
Yet his was not one of great deeds nor wise legis-
lative powers. He was one of the most notable
representatives of the American backwoodsmen, a
race nearly extinct, but which left in the history
of the country a tinge of wild, rough uniqueness
that few persons now could wish had never been.
Poor Crockett was a brave, courageous, generous
spirit. He was one of the first who went to the
aid of the "Lone Star," and fell in the desperate
conflict at the Alamo. In the State Library at
Nashville there is an excellent portrait of this inter-
esting character, probably the only true one extant,
and the sight of which is worth a long journey.
During all these years Tennessee was represented
in the Senate by Felix Grundy and Hugh Lawson
White, two of the most able and .upright public men
of that day. In the winter of 1833, Mr. Polk took
the lead among the supporters of the Administration
in the House. He had made a rapid advance, and
certainly stood high as an earnest and safe partisan,
yet, after hearing one of his speeches, John Quincy
Adams wrote of him: " He has no wit, no litera-
ture, no point of argument, no gracefulness of de-
livery, no elegance of language, no philosophy, no
pathos, no felicitous impromptus; nothing that consti-
38
LIFE AND TIMES OF
tutes an orator but confidence, fluency, and labor."
In many respects this picture is true. Although
Mr. Polk was not a very deeply or widely read man,
yet no orator ever existed without the last three
ingredients in Mr. Adams's schedule of qualities,
and with these almost any man might become an
orator. Polk had made himself as conspicuous as
possible in opposition to the Administration of Mr.
Adams, and this is what he got for it, at all events.
The "Old Man.Eloquent" was now in a position to
strike, and the opportunity he did not always allow
himself to lose.
On the second day of June, 1834, Andrew Ste-
venson resigned the Speakership of the House to
become Minister to England, and the Democrats put
forward as their candidate for his successor, James
K. Polk. On the tenth ballot, however, he was de-
feated by the opposition candidate, John Bell, who
filled the position until the organization of 1835.
The contest for Congress this year was very exciting
in Tennessee. The unanimity which had distin-
guished the Democratic party in that State was
now, for a time, broken. In May, 1835, Mr. Van
Buren was nominated for the Presidency. But Ten-
nessee never liked Mr. Van Buren, and now was
greatly divided as to the propriety of giving her
support to the nominee of the party. The result
was that she threw away her electoral vote on Judge
H. L. White. Mr. Polk was always friendly with
Judge White, and would have been glad to see him
the favorite of the whole party, but as he saw no
JAMES KNOX POLK.
chance for his election then, and as the will of the
party throughout the Nation had been clearly ex-
pressed, and as his State had been favored by eight
years of the Presidency, and as the qualities of Judge
White were not so vastly superior as to justify him
in going against the choice of the party, he took a
position against White, as did Cave Johnson, Felix
Grundy, and some others. Mr. Polk's most consid-
erable rival at this time, and to the end of his life,
was John Bell, who had, at the first, favored some
of the measures of General Jackson, but had finally
come fully into accord with the Whigs. In the
"canvass" of 1836 he supported Mr. White, and
what was called the "no party party." And, from
the State campaign in 1835, Polk and Bell were
unfriendly personally, as well as politically. The
Whigs were mainly successful in 1835, electing not
only their candidate for Governor, but also all their
members of Congress, except in the cases of Cave
Johnson and Mr. Polk. This campaign was attended
with a great deal of bitterness, and still more widely
separated Polk and Bell. The triumph for the
former was especially flattering at this time, how-^
ever, as his advocacy of Martin Van Buren was
seriously to his disadvantage, although his course
was undoubtedly wise and just in acquiescing in the
action of the party as to the Presidency.
In one of his speeches at this time he said on
this point:—
" If, at any time hereafter, the public sentiment in
the Democratic-Republican States in whatever fair mode
40
LIFE AND TIMES OF
ascertained or expressed, shall indicate him as the choice
of the body, or of a majority of the Republican supporters
of the present Administration, I will be found uniting
with them in his support. But until such indication shall
be given, I will wait and see upon whom the great body
of our friends of the same political faith in other States
do concentrate; and upon him, whomsoever he may be, in
my opinion, all should unite."
In a speech in Nashville, at this time, he also
said:—
Being unwilling to do any act which might tend to
break up or disturb the integrity of this party (the Re-
publican party, to which we belong), and with a sincere
desire to avoid the state of things which now exists, and
which I thought I foresaw was likely to be produced, I
did not hesitate, during the past winter, to assume the
position I now occupy. It is the position of principle.
I am still acting upon my old principles, and with a vast
majority of my old political friends; with whom I do now,
and have ever agreed in opinion. I have not changed
my position, or any political opinion, upon which I have
ever acted. I have compromised no principle, nor can I
act with those who have broken off and seceded from the
body of the Republican party, and assumed a position
which can not operate otherwise (though by many that
effect, doubtless, is not intended) than in aid of the adver-
saries of our principles; who, being in a minority, are
'willing to destroy the landmarks of Republicanism;'
who seek to efface the lines which have hitherto separated
Federalists and Republicans, and to organize upon the
ruins of the Republican party, by an unnatural amalga-
mation of political leaders of -discordant principles and
opinions, a new party called by whatever name, whether by
that of the 'no party' party, or any other, when the neces-
sary and inevitable consequences must be the destruction
JAMES KNOX POLK.
41
of those principles we hold dear. If the object of this
amalgamation and new organization be, as is sometimes
professed, to put an end to the existence and asperity of
party, it can not be attained; for of what avail is it, to
break up and destroy one party (the Republican party)
and erect upon its ruins another, the 'no party' party,
which, judging from the indications we have seen from
some of the leaders of this new party, is likely to be, in
Tennessee at least, more intolerant than any other party
which has ever existed among us."
In December, 1835, on the assembling of Con-
gress, Polk was unanimously supported for Speaker
of the House by the friends of the Administration,
and was elected by one hundred and thirty-two
votes against eighty-four for John Bell, the former
Speaker. At the called session of Congress, Sep-
tember 4, 1837, the House was much more, evenly
divided, Mr. Polk receiving one hundred and sixteen,
and John Bell one hundred and three votes for
Speaker.
Of his service in this capacity one of his biog-
raphers says:—
"As the Speaker of the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-
fifth Congress, Mr. Polk occupied the chair of the House
during five sessions. It was his fortune to fill this distin-
guished position when party feelings were excited to an
unusual degree. During the first session, more appeals
were taken from his decisions than were ever before known;
but he was uniformly sustained by the House, and fre-
quently by the most prominent members of the opposition.
He was courteous and affable toward all who approached
him, and .in his manner, as the presiding officer, dignity
and urbanity were appropriately blended. In the appoint-
42
LIFE AND TIMES OF
ment of committees, in awarding the floor, and in his
decisions on questions of parliamentary law, he aimed to
be strictly impartial; and if he at any time failed in this,
it was because he could not entirely divest himself (and
who is there that can?) of party feelings and prejudices.
Amid the stormy scenes that attended the Abolition excite-
ment in Congress, and the presentation of petitions con-
nected in one shape or another with the slavery question,
he was always cool and collected, and never disturbed from
the calm serenity that characterized him. . . .
"Being perfectly familiar with the lex parlianientaria,
he was ever prompt in his decisions. Questions of order
might be multiplied, till the whole business of the House
seemed to be in a state of irretrievable confusion; but he
instantly unraveled the knot and restored order and bar-
mony. Discord and strife might shake the pillars of the
Capitol, but he quailed not from his duty. Whether
frowns or smiles, favor or dislike, followed his decisions,
he did not stop to inquire. He would not swerve a single
hair's-breadth from what he conceived to be right; and
this he did, and to this he adhered, regardless of conse-
quences personal to himself."
At the close of the term in March, 1839, a long
debate took place on a resolution or motion granting
the thanks of the House to Mr. Polk, as its presid-
ing officer for five consecutive sessions. This
merely formal resolution was finally adopted by a
vote of ninety-four against fifty-seven, and although
few of the Whigs were willing to accord him that
courtesy, yet some of them abstained from voting on
the question, and altogether the result was exceed-
ingly gratifying to the retiring Speaker. This was
Mr. Polk's last service in Congress, and, in taking
JAMES KNOX POLK.
43
leave of the House, he made quite a long address,
from which the following is an extract:—
"But five members who were here with me fourteen
years ago continue to he members of this body. My service
here has been constant and laborious. I can, perhaps,
say what but few others, if any, can, that I have not
failed to attend the daily sittings of this House a single
day since I have been a member of it, save on a single
occasion, when prevented for a short time by indispo-
sition. In my intercourse with the members of this body,
when I occupied a place upon the floor, though occa-
sionally engaged in debates upon interesting public ques-
tions, and of an exciting character, it is a source of un-
mingled gratification to me to recur to the fact, that on no
occasion was there the slightest personal or unpleasant
collision with any of its members. Maintaining, and at all
times expressing, my own opinions firmly, the same right
was fully conceded to others. For four years past the
station I have occupied, and a sense of propriety in the
divided and unusually exciting state of public opinion and
feeling, which has existed both in this House and the
country, have precluded me from participating in your
debates. Other duties were assigned me.
"The high ofiice of Speaker, to which it has been
twice the pleasure of the House to elevate me, has been
at all times one of labor and high responsibility. It has
been made my duty to decide more questions of parlia-
mentary law and order, many of them of a complex and
difficult character, arising often in the midst of high ex-
citement, in the course of our proceedings, than had been
decided, it is believed, by all my predecessors, from the
foundation of the Government. This House has uni-
formly sustained me, without distinction of the political
parties of which it has been composed. I return them
44
LIFE AND TIMES OF
my thanks for their constant support in the discharge of
the duties I have had to perform.
"But, gentlemen, my acknowledgments are especially
due to the majority of this House, for the high and flat-
tering evidence they have given me, of their approbation
of my conduct as the presiding officer of the House, by
the resolution you have been pleased to pass. I regard it
as of infinitely more value than if it had been the common
matter-of-course and customary resolution, which, in the
courtesy usually prevailing between the presiding officer
and the members of any deliberative assembly, is always
passed at the close of their deliberations. I regard this
as the highest and most valued testimonial I have ever
received from this House; because I know that the cir-
cumstances under which it has passed have made it matter
of substance, and not of mere form. I shall bear it in
grateful remembrance to the latest hour of my life.
" I trust this high office may in future times be filled,
as doubtless it will be, by abler men. It can not, I know,
be filled by any one who will devote himself with more
zeal and untiring industry to do his whole duty than I
have done."
JAMES KNOX POLK.
45
CHAPTER IV.
MR. POLK AS GOVERNOR OF TENNESSEE—HIS DEFEATS—
GREATER THINGS IN VIEW—THE CONVENTIONS—
PLATFORM OF THE WHIGS—THE VICE-PRES-
IDENCV AND THE PRESIDENCY.
IN the fall of 1838, Mr. Polk was nominated by
the Democrats as their candidate for Governor,
and before going to Washington had opened the
"canvass." He now hastened home, and entered
with great vigor upon the campaign. The circum-
stances were undoubtedly against him. The State
government was in the hands of the Whigs, and
Newton Cannon, then Governor, was his opponent.
Cannon was a popular man, but he was by no means
equal to Polk as a stump speaker. Knowing that
he had this advantage Mr. Polk determined to make
every possible use of it. He proposed to Governor
Cannon to meet him in debate, but this Cannon de-
dined, and appeared disposed to avoid him, as was
natural enough. But Polk overtook him at Knox-
ville, and there and at several other places gave
great impetus to his cause by his superior ability as
a speaker. He traveled night and day, and visited
all parts of the State. The party took the fire of
the leader, and turned out to the contest with great
spirit. Its full speech-making strength was brought
46
LIFE AND TIMES OF
into requisition against the Whig orators. It was
Polk's hardest cOinbat, as its results, if unfavorable,
might be of the greatest hindrance to his future pros-
pects. But he reduced the former Whig majority
22,000 votes, and was elected by 2,669 majority.
Before leaving his home at Columbia for Nash-
ville, in October, 1839, he prepared his inaugural.
This work he did with great care, with the pur-
pose of putting himself on record for the future.
In this design he was not only successful, but his
address also very materially set forward his reputa-
tion in and out of the State. In it he mainly dis-
cussed national questions, clearly stating his views
as to the return of the "deposits" by the States to
the Government, "State Rights," national banks,
tariff, internal improvements, slavery and abolition-
ism, powers of Congress, freedom of speech, and
other subjects, and pledged himself to favor a sys-
tem of State internal improvements, and to advance
general education. In the presence of General Jack-
son and a large assemblage of people in the Presby-
terian Church at Nashville, on the 14th of October,
1889, Mr. Polk took the oath of office, and deliv-
ered this address :—
GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS.
Gentlemen of the Senate, of the House of Representatives, and
Fellow-citizens :—
Deeply impressed with a sense of gratitude to my
fellow-citizens for the confidence they have reposed in me
by elevating me to the Chief Executive Office in the
State, and duly sensible of the weight of responsibility
JAMES KNOX POLK.
47
which will devolve upon me, I enter upon the discharge
of its duties firmly relying upon the co-operation of the
co-ordinate departments of the State government in all
such measures of public policy as may be calculated to
maintain the high character of the State, and to advance
and promote the interests, the happiness, and prosperity
of the people.
A proper respect for public opinion, as well as a com-
pliance with pnblic expectation, seem to require that I
should, upon this occasion, publicly declare the leading
principles which I shall deem it proper to be observed in
the conduct of the State administration, so far as the
action of the Executive branch may be concerned.
Under our happy system of government the ultimate
and supreme sovereignty rests in the people. The powers
of government delegated by the people to their public
functionaries are, by our Constitution, divided between the
Federal and State authorities. The State governments
are not, as has been erroneously supposed by some, subor-
dinate to the Federal Government. " They are co-ordinate
departments of one simple and integral whole." The
States have parted with certain enumerated and specified
powers, and, by the Constitution of the United States,
these are delegated to the Federal Government, and can
only be rightfully exercised by that Government. "The
powers not delegated to the United States by the Consti-
tion, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to
the States respectively, or to the people." By the parti-
tion of powers thus distinctly defined, it is manifest that
each government possesses powers which are withheld from
the other. And so long as each acts within its legitimate
and proper sphere, the system works harmoniously, and
affords to the citizen a greater amount of security for life,
liberty, and property, and in the pursuit of happiness,
than is to be found under any other government which has
ever existed. When either overleaps the true boundary
48
LIFE AND TIMES OF
prescribed for its action, and usurps the exercise of
powers properly belonging to the other, the harmony
of the system is disturbed, and agitating collisions arise
which are calculated to weaken the bonds of union.
Whilst, therefore, the States should be jealous of every
encroachment of the Federal Government on their rights,
they should be careful to confine themselves in their
own action to the exercise of powers clearly reserved
to them. '
It will, I do not doubt, be the patriotic desire of my
constituents, as I know it will be mine, in the discharge
of the functions to which I am called, that "the support
of the State governments in all their rights, as the most
competent administrations for our domestic concerns, and
the surest bulwark against anti-republican tendencies,"
and that the "preservation of the General Government
in its whole Constitutional'vigor, as the sheet-anchor of
our peace at home, and safety abroad," shall be scrupu-
lously observed and inviolably maintained.
In ascertaining the true line of separation between
the powers of the General Government and of the States,
much difficulty has often been experienced in the opera-
tions of our system. The powers delegated to the Gen-
eral Government are either express or implied. The
general rule of construction laid down by the General
Assembly of Virginia in 1799, may be regarded as a sound
one by which to determine whether a given power has been
delegated to that Government, or is reserved to the United
States. That rule is, "Whenever a question arises con-
cerning the constitutionality of a particular power, the
first question is, whether the power be expressed in the
Constitution ? If it be, the question is decided. If it be
not expressed, the next question must be, whether it is
propSrly an incident to an expressed power, and necessary
to its execution ? If it be, it may be exercised by Con-
gress. If it be not. Congress can not exercise it." If the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
49
power be not expressed, it is not enough that it may be
convenient or expedient to exercise it, for such a construe-
tion of the Constitution of the United States would refer
its exercise to the unlimited and unrestrained discretion
of Congress, to determine what would be convenient or
expedient; thereby making the exercise of important pow-
ers, by the General Government, to depend upon the
varying discretion of successive Congresses. It must be a
necessary and proper" power. It must be an incident to
an express power, "necessary and proper" to carry that
express power into effect, and, without which, it could not
be exercised, and would be nugatory.
Mr. Jefferson, whose sound expositions of the relative
powers of the Federal and State Governments but few
of my constituents will be prepared at this day to ques-
tion, near the close of a long and eventful life of public
usefulness, declared "to be most false and unfounded, the
doctrine that the compact, in authorizing its federal branch
to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to
pay the debts and provide for the common defense and
general welfare of the United States, has given them
thereby a power to do whatever they may think, or
pretend, would promote the general welfare, which con-
struction would make that, of itself, a complete govern-
ment, without limitation of powers; but, that the plain
sense and obvious meaning were, that they might levy the
taxes necessary to provide for the general welfare, by the
various acts of power therein specified and delegated to
them, and by no others."
In all cases of well-founded Constitutional doubt, it is
safest and wisest for all the functionaries of Government,
both State and Federal, to abstain from the exercise of
the doubtful power. In all such cases, it is both safest
and wisest to appeal to the people, the only true source of
power in the Constitutional forms, by an amendment of the
fundamental law, to remove such doubt, either by an
4—K
50 LIFE AND TIMES OF
enlargement or a restriction of the doubtful power in
question.
The Federal Government has at different times as-
sumed, or attempted to exercise powers, which, in my
judgment, have not been conferred upon that Government
by the compact. Among these, I am free to declare my
solemn conviction that the Federal Government possesses no
Constitutional power to incorporate a National Bank. The
advocates of a bank insist that it would be convenient and
expedient, and that it would promote the " general welfare
but they have, in my judgment, failed to show that the
power to create it is either expressly granted, or that it
is an incident to any express power, that is " necessary and
proper" to carry that power into effect. The alarming
dangers of the power of such a corporation (vast and irre-
sponsible as experience has shown it to be) to the public
liberty, it does not fall within the scope of my present
purpose fully to examine. We have seen the power of
associated wealth in the late Bank of the United States,
wrestling with a giant's strength -with the Government
itself; and, although finally overthrown, if was not until
after a long and doubtful contest. During the struggle,
it manifested a power for mischief which it would be
dangerous to permit to exist in a free country. The
panic and alarm, the distress and extensive suffering,
which, in its convulsive struggle to perpetuate its power,
it inflicted on the country, will not soon be forgotten.
Its notorious alliance with leading politicians, and its
open interference by means of the corrupting power of
money in the political contests of the times, had converted
it into a political engine, used to control elections and the
course of public affairs. No restraints of law could pre-
vent any similar institution from being the willing instru-
ment used for similar purposes. The State of Tennessee,
through her Legislature, has repeatedly declared her
settled opinions against the existence of such an institution.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
51
and at no time in its favor. She has instructed her
Senators, and requested her Representatives in Congress,
to vote against the establishment of such an institution.
In these opinions, heretofore expressed by the State, I
entirely concur.
Of the same character is the power which at some
time has been attempted to be exercised by the Federal
Government, of first collecting by taxation on the people
a surplus revenue beyond the wants of that Government,
and then distributing such surplus, in the shape of dona-
tions, among the States; a power which has not been
conferred on that Government by any express grant, nor
is it an incident to any express power, " necessary and
proper" for its execution. To concede such a power
would be to make the Federal Government the tax-
gatherer of the States, and accustom them to look to that
source from which to supply the State treasuries, and to
defray the expenses of the State governments. It is
clear that this con.stituted no one of the objects of the
creation of the Federal Government; and to permit its
exercise would be to reduce the States to the degraded
condition of subordinate dependencies upon that Govern-
ment, to destroy their separate and independent sover-
eignty, and to make the Government of the Union, in
effect, a consolidation. The power to make provision for
the support of its own Government, by the levy of the
necessary taxes upon its own citizens, and the adoption of
such measures of policy for its internal government not
inconsistent with the Federal Constitution, as may be
deemed proper and expedient, "remains to each State
among its domestic and unalienated powers exercisable
within itself and by its domestic authorities alone."
A surplus Federal revenue, raised by means of a
tariff of duties, must necessarily be collected in unequal
proportions from the people of the respective States. The
planting and producing States must bear the larger portion
52
LIFE AND TIMES OF
of the burden, tit was this inequality which has here-
tofore given rise to the just complaints of these States, as
also of the commercial interests, against the operations
of a high and protective tariff. If the proceeds of the
sales of the public lands be set apart for distribution
among the States, as has been sometimes proposed, the
operation and effect would be the same; for. by abstract-
ing from the Federal Treasury the proceeds of the sales
of the public lands, a necessity is thereby created for an
increased tariflp to the amount thus abstracted. To collect
a surplus revenue by unequal taxation, and\then to return
to the people, by a distribution among me States their
own money, in sums diminished by the amount of the
cost of collection and distribution, aside from its manifest
injustice, is a power which it could never have been
intended to confer on the Federal Government.
When, from the unforeseen operation of the revenue
laws of the United States, a surplus at any time exists, or
is likely to exist, in the Federal Treasury, the true remedy
is, to reduce or to repeal the taxes so as to collect no more
money than shall be absolutely necessary for the econom-
ical wants of that Government, and thus leave what
would otherwise be surplus uncollected in the pockets of
the people. The Act of Congress of 1836, by which a
large amount of the surplus on hand was distributed
among the States is, upon its face, a deposit, and not a
donation of the sums distributed. The States have be-
come the debtors to the Federal Government for their
respective proportions, and are subject to be called upon
to refund it. Had the act provided for an absolute donation
to the States, so palpable an infraction of the Constitution, it
is scarcely possible to conceive, could have been sanctioned.
By making it assume the form of a mere deposit of the
money of the United States in the State treasuries for
safe-keeping until needed for public purposes, it be-
came the law. Though it may not be probable that
JAMES KNOX POLK.
53
the sums distributed on deposit will be called for at an
early period, if, indeed, they will ever be, unless in cases
of exigencies growing out of a foreign war, yet the States
should be at all times prepared to meet the call when
made; and it will be unsafe for them to rely upon the
sums they have received as a permanent fund. They
should rather look to their own credit and resources in the
accomplishment of their purposes.
It becomes the duty of all the, States, and especially
of those whose constitutions recognize the existence of do-
mestic slavery, to look with watchfulness to the attempts
which have been recently made to disturb the rights
secured to them by the Constitution of the United States.
The agitation of the Abolitionists can, by no possibility,
produce good to any portion of the Union, and must, if
persisted in, lead to incalculable mischief. The institu-
tion of domestic slavery, as it existed at the adoption of
the Constitution of the United States, and as it still exi.sts
in some of the States, formed the subject of one of the
compromises of opinion and of interest, upon the settle-
ment of which all the old States became parties to the
compact and agreed to enter the Union. The new States
were admitted into the Union upon an equal footing with
the old States, and are equally bound by the terms of the
compact. Any attempt on the part of the Federal Gov-
ernment to act upon the subject of slavery, as it exists
within the States, would be a clear infraction of the Con-
stitution; and to disturb it within the District of Co-
lumbia, would be a palpable violation of the public faith,
as well as of the clear meaning and obvious intention of
the framers of the Constitution. They intended to leave,
and they did, in fact, leave, the subject to the exclusive
regulation and action of the States and Territories within
which slavery existed or might exist. They intended to
place, and they did, in fact, place it, beyond the pale
of action within the Constitutional power- of the Federal
54 LIFE AND TIMES OF
Government. No power has been conferred upon the
Federal Government, either by express grant or necessary
implication, to take cognizance of, or in any manner or to
any extent to interfere with, or to act upon the subject
of domestic slavery, the existence of which in many of
the States is expressly recognized by the Constitution
of the United States.
Whether the agitation we have recently witnessed upon
this delicate and disturbing subject has proceeded from a
mistaken philanthropy, as may have been the case with a
few misguided persons; oj whether there is, I regret to
say, but too much reason to fear, from a desire on the
part of many persons who manifest by their conduct a
reckless disregard of the harmony of the Union and of
the public good, to convert it into a political engine, with
a view to control elections, its progress should be firmly
resisted by all the Constitutional means within the power
of the State. The most casual observer of passing events
can not fail to have seen that modern Abolitionism, with
rare and few exceptions among its advocates, has become,
to a great extent, purely a political question. That many
of the leading Abolitionists are active political partisans,
fully identified with, and constituting no inconsiderable
part of, one of the political parties of the country, can no
longer admit of doubt. They address themselves to the
prepossessions and prejudices of the community in which
they live, against slavery in the abstract, and, availing
themselves of these prepossessions and prejudices, are
struggling to control political events. All the lovers of
the Union of the States, and all patriotic citizens, whether
of the slaveholding or non-slaveholding States, who are
ardently attached to our free institutions, must view with
indignant reprobation the use made of such an unholy
agitation with such objects. The attempts made to intro-
duce it for discussion into the Federal Legislature have
been met in the proper spirit, not only by Southern
JAMES KNOX POLK.
55
Representatives, but by a large portion of the Northern dele-
gation in Congress. It is fortunate for the country that,
in the midst of this agitation, there is at the head of the
Federal Government a Chief Magistrate who, in the pa-
triotic discharge of his high duties, has placed the seal
of his unqualified condemnation upon any attempted
action by Congress upon the subject of slavery in any
manner, or to any extent, whether existing within the
States or within the District of Columbia. That he de-
serves and will receive the support of the States and of
the people, in every portion of the Union, in maintaining
his uncompromising and publicly declared determination
to preserve inviolate the compromifses of the Federal Con-
stitution and the reserved rights of the slaveholding
States on this subject, can not be doubted.
In regard to other powers which, at different times,
the Federal Government has assumed, or attempted to
exercise, the same reasoning may be applied. Among
these may be enumerated the power assumed to construct
works of internal improvements within the States, by means
of appropriations drawn from the National Treasury; the
power of "abridging the freedom of speech," secured by
the Constitution to every citizen, by enacting laws to
suppress alleged sedition, or the more recent attempts to
enact them under the more plausible pretense of "secur-
ing the freedom of elections."
I shall most cheerfully co-operate with the Legislative
and Judicial Departments of the State Government, by
all the Constitutional and legal means within the compe-
tency of the Executive, in their efforts to eonfine the
action of the State within proper limits, and to resist
the encroachments of the Federal Government upon her
reserved rights of sovereignty.
I shall as cheerfully co-operate with them in all such
measures as shall be calculated to insure economy in the
expenditures of the State Government, strict account-
56
LIFE AND TIMES OF
ability on the part of public officers, the promotion
of virtue, the suppression of crime, and the development
of the wealth, the resources, and the energies of the State.
The revised constitution under which we are acting
has infused into the administration of the State govern-
ment more of the Democratic principle of immediate and
direct agency by the people than existed under the former
constitution. Instead of delegating, as the old constitu-
tion did, the power of appointing many important minis-
terial and municipal officers to the judicial tribunals and
other appointing agents, the people are now their own
agents, and make the appointments by popular elections.
The higher judicial functionaries hold their offices by a
tenure restricted to a term of years, and not, as formerly
by the tenure for life. These are important changes in the
fundamental law of the State. In practice they have, thus
far, produced no inconvenience, but have worked well.
In the administration of the State government I regard
it fortunate that there are but few subjects of internal
policy upon wbicb there exists much diversity of opinion.
The encouragement of a " well-regulated system of inter-
nal improvement," and the promotion of "knowledge,
learning, and virtue," as "being essential to the preserva-
tion of republican institutions," are duties imposed by the
constitution of the State upon her public functionaries,
which they are not at liberty to disregard. Under the
deep conviction that these are subjects of general and
pervading interest to the whole people of the State, I shall
regard it to be my duty to lend my aid in executing the
injunctions of the constitution in. a liberal spirit. No
objects are, in my judgment, more worthy of the public
patronage and support.
The preservation of public credit, and of a sound cur-
rency in the State, will undoubtedly be among our high-
est duties. It is a prevailing error to suppose that a
multiplication of banks, and an excessive issue of paper
JAMES KNOX POLK,
57
circulation, can advance the public prosperity, or afford
any permanent relief to the community in which they
exist. Instead of a blessing, excessive banking generally
proves to be a curse. The bloated state of apparent pros-
perity which they temporarily excite, our experience has
shown, has invariably been followed by derangement of
the money market, depreciation of the currency, and,
finally, by severe pressure and suffering inflicted on the
people. To prevent the recurrence of such a state of
things, it will be my desire, by all the constitutional and
legal restrictions which can be thrown around them, to
see that the banks which may exist in the State shall be
based upon a solid foundation, and confine their opera-
tions within their reasonable means to meet their respon-
sibilities promptly. I will, at an early day, avail myself of
an appropriate occasion to make to the General Assembly
of the State, now in session, a communication touching
subjects which may .seem to require legislative action at
their present session.
It will be my duty, under the constitution of the State,
to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." The
Executive is vested with no legislative discretion or power.
The laws which the General Assembly shall pass it is
made his duty to execute, even though he may differ in
opinion with that branch of the State government in
regard to their wisdom or policy. This duty I shall
faithfully perform.
Relying confidently upon the support of my fellow-
citizens, and invoking the aid and guidance of the Su-
preme Ruler of the Universe, in whose hands are the
destinies of government and of men, I enter upon the
discharge of the high duties which have been assigned me
by the people.
Although this inaugural was severely criticised
by the opposition papers, and called demagogical
58 LIFE AND TIMES OF
humbuggery, it was generally received well, and by
tbe party was regarded as a wise and able produc-
tion. It was taken as tbe immediate basis for anotber
step. Tbere is no doubt tbat tbe friends of Mr,
Polk, at bome, now began to tbink of bim in con-
nection witb tbe Presidency. A sbort time after be
became Governor, Mr. Laugblin, in tbe State Senate,
introduced a resolution, wbicb be supported by a
long speech, nominating Van Buren for re-election
and James K. Polk for Vice-President. Tbe resolu-
tion was adopted, and Mr. Polk recommended to tbe
people of tbe United States for tbe Vice-Presidency.
He bad already been formally nominated for tbat
office in some outside meetings. But tbe Wbigs
treated the whole matter as a farce, as it really was.
However Georgia, and, perhaps, one or two other
States, took some favorable notice of this movement.
Tbe duties of governor were very few, and
bis authority quite limited in Tennessee at tbat
time, being mainly confined to recommendations to
tbe Legislature, and tbe execution of a few of its
provisions. In bis two messages to tbat body, one
in the fall of 1839, and one just before retiring
from tbe office in 1841, Governor Polk recommended
a "judicious system" of public improvements, and
tbe passage of a law to prevent betting on elections,
as corrupting and against tbe public welfare; also
tbe establishment of a board of public works. His
course as Governor was generally satisfactory to tbe
people of tbe State, and witb bis own party bis
reputation bad been materially advanced.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
59
Tennessee has never had a governor's residence,
and during Mr. Polk's term of office he lived in a
rented house. Nashville was then, as now, the
seat of culture and fashion in the State, and although
Governor Polk took no great interest in society
affairs, he was pleased with the inclination Mrs.
Polk exhibited in that direction. Her life in Wash-
ington for fourteen years, as wife of a "member,"
gave her peculiar advantages, and the wife of Goa'^-
ernor Polk, perhaps, enjoyed the reputation of stand-
ing at the head of the long list of the wives of the.
Governors of Tennessee.
In the summer of 1841, Mr. Polk was again the
candidate of his party for Governor. But, in 1840,
"Old Tippecanoe and Tyler, too," had swept Ten-
nessee by over twelve thousand majority, and the
prospects of defeat were certain for Mr. Polk. The
Whig candidate was James C. Jones, a very popu-
lar man throughout the State, and an attractive
"stump" speaker. Although it is found quite gen-
erally expressed that these "canvasses" were con-
ducted with great good humor, and much genuine
cordiality on the part of the candidates, it is'certain
that Mr. Polk regarded his opponent as a shallow, un-
principled, and unscrupulous partisan. However, Mr.
Jones was successful, although the Whig majority for
General Harrison was reduced to 3,224 votes.
In October, 1841, Mr. Polk's term of office ex-
pired, and, after spending a short time on his plan-
tation in Mississippi, he returned to Columbia and-
resumed the practice of the law.
60
LIFE AND TIMES OF
In 1843, Mr. Polk again made the race for the
governorship, but was defeated by Governor Jones,
by about the same majority as before. Perhaps his
adherence to and support of Van Buren had no
little share in his defeat in these two elections. In
spite of General Jackson's dictum the "Little Ma-
gician" of Kinderhook never stood well in Ten-
nessee. Although that State would do any work
and go to any extreme for Jackson himself, it never
put the utmost confidence in his peculiar attach-
•ments and friendships. A strange, wild, little, self-
laudatory preacher, whose life seemed to be a kind
of repulsive extravaganza, and who was placed by
Military Governor Andrew Johnson on the inside of
the walls of the penitentiary so that his tongue
might not injure him and his country, told me that
the people of Tennessee, men and women, worshiped
Andrew Jackson, and that if the preachers did not
send him to Heaven they did not do their duty.
"Aunt Hannah Jackson," a very old negro, who had
nursed the old General in his last illness, and whom
I regarded as much better authority, told me that it
was her deep conviction that "old master" went
straight to Heaven without any man's interference.
However this all may be, and disgusting as it would
be to think of a fair and intelligent people deifying
any human being, one thing is certain that, polit-
ically. General Jackson's authority became quite norn-
inal in Tennessee in 1840, when his greatest enemy,
•"Harry of the West," carried the laurels from
Nashville in great triumph, when the old hero could
JAMES KNOX POLK.
61
do little more than show his teeth and bark a little
from the "Hermitage."
Although Tennessee had, in the fall of 1839,
earnestly recommended Mr. Polk for the Vice-Presi-
dency, and Georgia had seconded this movement,
the party did not act on the recommendation, and
Mr. Polk was not considered in the race of 1840,
except that Virginia cast for him one of her twenty-
three electoral votes for Vice-President. Mr. Polk,
now actively engaged in his profession at Columbia,
was awaiting the progress of events. His friends in
Tennessee believed the Vice-Presidency in his reach,
and hoped his elevation to the higher office would
follow. In this belief he shared. But a remark-
able process of political intrigue and ambitious per-
sonal scheming was destined, without his interfer-
ence, to lift him suddenly beyond his immediate
expectations. After the death of President Har-
risen it was early decided by the Whigs that their
candidate for the Presidency in 1844 should be Henry
Clay. There was no doubt about this. The question
was not considered. No other name was thought
of, and if it had been, it would have met no kind of
toleration. It was Henry Clay first and last, and
all the time, and everywhere, with the Whigs. In
the spring of 1842, North Carolina took the lead in
formally nominating him, and other States followed
in quick succession. There was no use of waiting.
Mr. Clay, the great Whig leader, had been thrown
out for expediency, for availability in 1840, and no
good had come to the Whigs from it, and now there
62
LIFE AND TIMES OF
was a wild rush to do him justice, to do themselves
justice. A Whig National Convention this time
would be as much a Vice-Presidential convention as
was the Jackson convention of 1832.
But the case was quite different with the Demo-
crats. T^ey were by no means decided as to their
candidate. It was quite generally understood, to. all
appearances, that Mr. Van Buren was to have the
nomination of his party; and how it came about
that he did not receive it has been shown in another
part of this work. Circumstances had again thrown
Mr. Calhoun in a position to bring him more favor-
ably before the country, and he now felt that another
opportunity was about to open for the fulfillment
of his long-cherished desire to become President of
the United States. To this end a movement was
started in 1842. The Democratic managers early
decided that the great issue of the campaign would
be the question of annexing Texas. They made this
the great objective point in every step. Through
it they hoped, by skillful manipulation, to get rid
of Martin Van Buren. Mr. Calhoun was the most
determined advocate of this measure in the country,
and his friends eagerly grasped the occasion now
presented to attempt to carry him into the Executive
Chair. In the winter of 1842, Thomas W. Grilmer
published a skillfully written letter in a Baltimore
newspaper, urging the people of the United States
to demand the immediate annexation of Texas, and
giving, as the main reason, the statement that Eng-
land was about to seize Texas, or had the design of
JAMES KNOX POLK.
63
establishing her authority on the south-western bor-
der for the purpose of aiding in the abolition of
slavery, and for other hostile intentions against the
United States. Gilmer had led the nullification
movement in Virginia, and was the advocate of Mr.
Calhoun, and now, no doubt, he was simply the in-
strument of Mr. Calhoun in building a great polit-
ical force on what seemed to inost men, at first sight,
as the mere fiction of British interference by way
of Texas in the affairs of this country. This letter
very much startled the country, and soon operated,
precisely as its authors had desired, in favoring an-
nexation. The next step was quietly to get Jack-
son, Thomas H. Benton, and other leaders fully
committed to this scheme. Mr. Benton opposed it,
at the outset, with great vehemence, and said, "that
it was, on the part of some, an intrigue for the Presi-
dency and a plot to dissolve the Union; on the part
of others, a Texas scrip and land speculation."
Aaron Vail Brown managed to draw from General
Jackson his famous Texas annexation letter, fully
indorsing the Gilmer letter, before the old man was
aware of the trick, and the effect it would have upon
his favorite, Mr. Van Buren. It was the original
design to withhold Jackson's reply until the meeting
of the Democratic nominating convention, then bring
it in to defeat Van Buren and nominate Calhoun.
Both of these, and, of course, Mr. Clay, were to be
required to give their written opinions on the Texas
question to the country; and the convention, seeing
Mr. Calhoun's to correspond exactly with that of
64
LIFE AND TIMES OF
General Jackson, would favor his nomination. The
scheme of manufacturing evidence of British inten-
tions was then undertaken, and every possible means
used to bring the party into favor with the plan of
Immediate annexation, and also to break up the
prevalent opinion that Mr. Van Buren should be the
nominee of the Democracy. A committee at Wash-
ington worked secretly, night and day, for this pur-
pose, sending circulars and letters throughout the
country. But they were discovered, and some Con-
gressmen from Ohio and other States published a
statement that the whole business was designed to
defeat the will of the people; and, notwithstanding
the scandalous efforts put forth by these men en-
gaged in the Texas, scheme, the popular sentiment
still remained in favor of the nomination of Mr.
Van Buren, and a majority of the delegates to the
convention were instructed to vote for him. In the
letters drawn from Clay, Van Buren, Cass, Johnson,
and others on the subject, all were in favor of im-
mediate annexation, except Clay and Van Buren.
Mr. Van Buren fully understood the design to ruin
him before the convention, but he shrank not from
the courageous and manly announcement that he
was opposed to the annexation without the consent
of Mexico, and in a way to throw this country into
a war with Mexico. Mr. Clay was also opposed to the
annexation without consulting the wishes of Mexico.
But this whole villainous business was to have its
last exciting scene in the nominating convention.
Although Mr. Polk was only a candidate for the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
65
Vice-Presidency, and the general feeling of the party
was, perhaps, in favor of R. M. Johnson for that
office, an anti-annexation meeting at Cincinnati
authorized a letter to be addressed to him on the
subject, and to this he replied in the following
manner:—
"Columbia, Tennessee, April 22, 1844.
"Gentlemen,—Your letter of the 30th ulti, which
you have done me the honor to address to me, reached
my residence during my absence from home, and was not
received until yesterday. Accompanying your letter you
transmit to me, as you state, 'a copy of the proceeding^
of a very large meeting of the citizens of Cincinnati,
assembled on the 29th ult., to express their settled oppo-
sition to the annexation of Texas to the United States.'
You request from me an explicit expression of opinion
upon this question of annexation. Having at no time
entertained opinions upon public subjects which I was
unwilling to avow, it gives me pleasure to comply with
the request.
"I have no hesitation in declaring that I am in
favor of the immediate re-annexation of Texas to the ter-
ritory and Government of the United States. I entertain
no doubts as to the power or expediency of the re-annexa-
tion. The proof is fair and satisfactory to my own mind,
that Texas once constituted a part of the territory of the
United States, the title to which I regard to have been
indisputable as that to any portion of our territory. At
the time the negotiation was opened with a view to acquire
the Floridas, and the settlement of other questions, and
pending that negotiation, the Spanish Government itself
was satisfied of the validity of our title, and was ready to
recognize a line far west of the Sabine as the true western
boundary of Louisiana, as defined by the treaty of 1803
with France, under which Louisiana was acquired. This
5—K
ft
66 LIFE AND TIMES OF
negotiation, which had at first opened at Madrid, was
broken off* and transferred to Washington, where it was
resumed, and resulted in the treaty with Florida, by which
the Sabine was fixed on as the^ western boundary of
Louisiana. From the ratification, of the treaty of 1803
with France, until the treaty of 1819 with Spain, the
territory now constituting the Republic of Texas belonged
to the United States. In 1819 the Florida treaty was
concluded at Washington by Mr. John Q. Adams (the
Secretary of State), on the part of the United States, and
Don Luis de Onis on the part of Spain; and by that
treaty this territory lying west of the Sabine, and consti-
tuting Texas, was ceded by the United States to Spain.
The Rio del Norte, or some more western boundary than
the Sabine, could have been obtained, had it been insisted
on by the American Secretary of State, and by increasing
the consideration paid for the Floridas. In my judgment,
the country west of the Sabine, and now called Texas,
was most unwisely ceded away. It is a part of the great
valley of the Mississippi, directly connected by its navi-
gable waters with the Mississippi River; and having once
been a part of our Union, it should never have been dis-
membered from it. The government and people of Texas,
it is understood, not only give their consent, but are anx-
iously desirous to be reunited to the United States. If
the application of Texas for a reunion and admission into
our confederacy shall be rejected by the United States,
there is imminent danger that she will become a depend-
ency, if not a colony, of Great Britain, an event which
no American patriot, anxious for the safety and prosperity
of this country, could permit to occur without the most
strenuous resistance. Let Texas be re-annexed, and the
authority and laws of the United States be established
and maintained within her limits, as also in the Oregon
Territory, and let the fixed policy of our Government be,
not to permit Great Britain or any other foreign power to
JAMES KNOX POLK.
67
plant a colony or hold dominion over any portion of the
people or territory of either.
" These are my opinions; and without deeming it
necessary to extend this letter, by assigning the many
reasons which influence me in the conclusions to which I
come, I regret to be compelled to- differ so widely from
the views expressed by yourselves and the meeting of citi-
zens of Cincinnati whom you represent. Differing, how-
ever, with you and with them as I do, it was due to frank-
ness that I should be thus explicit in the declaration of
my opinions.
" I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,
. "James K. Polk.
"To Messrs. S. P. Chasb, Thomas Heaton, etc., Committee,
Cincinnati."
Mr. Polk had taken up, unsuspectingly, with the
untruthful scheme as to the intentions of Great
Britain. Although John Quincy Adams had regarded
the final treaty with Spain, in 1819, with some per-
sonal pride as mainly attributable to himself, he had
only submitted to the easteim border of Texas, and
relinquished that territory by the necessities of his
position in the Cabinet. Under his own Adminis-
tration an effort had been made to .have the Rio
Grande recognized as the western boundary on the
southwest. Jackson had also continued this effort.
Mr. Calhoun had consented to this concession to
Spain in 1819, and even General Jackson had sane-
tioned it, although he afterwards lost sight of the
fact that he had done so.
The Whig National Convention, with delegates
from all of the States, met at Baltimore on the first
day of May, 1844. The work was short and unani-
68
LIFE AND TIMES OF
mous. Mr. Clay was nominated by acclamation,
without a ballot, as the candidate for the Presidency.
On the third ballot Theodore Frelinghuysen, then
of New York, was nominated for the Vice-Presidency.
Ambrose Spencer, of New York, was chairman of
this convention. The following brief statement of
principles was unanimously set forth by the con-
vention:—
" Resolved, That in presenting to the country the names
of Henry Clay for President, and Theodore Frelinghuysen
for Vice-President, the convention is actuated by the con-
viction that all the great principles of the Whig party,
principles inseparable from the public honor and pros-
perity, will be maintained and advanced by the election
of these candidates.
"Resolved, That these principles may be summed as
comprising a well-regulated national currency; a tariti
for revenue to defray the necessary expenses of the Gov-
ernment, and discriminating with special reference to the
protection of the domestic labor of the country; the dis-
tribution of the proceeds from the sales of the public
lands; a single term for the Presidency; a reform of Ex-
ecutive usurpations; and generally such an administration
of the affairs of the country as shall impart to every
branch of tiie public service the greatest practical efficiency,
controlled by a well-regulated and wise economy."
On the 30th of August, 1843, the Liberty Party,
or Abolitionists, had held a convention at Buffalo
and nominated a Presidential ticket, consisting of
James G. Birney, then of Michigan, for the Presi-
dency, and Thomas Morris, of Ohio, for the Vice-
Presidency.
JAMES KNOX POLK. 69
Oa the 27th of May, 1844, the Democrats met
in National Convention at Baltimore, and Hendricks
R. Wright, of Pennsylvania,, was chosen to preside.
This proved to be a very inharmonious and turbulent
convention, and lasted three days, giving to the
country a result totally unexpected by friends and foes.
After a severe struggle the two-thirds rule was
again adopted by a vote of one hundred and forty-
eight to one hundred and six<;een, the friends of
Mr. Van Buren fighting desperately against it. The
adoption of this rule sealed the fate of Mr. Van
Buren, according to the desire of his enemies in the
convention. Lewis Cass, Richard M. Johnson, James
Buchanan, John C. Calhoun, and Levi Woodbury
were the prominent candidates introduced in opposi-
tion to Mr. Van Buren at the outset. The follow-
ing is the course of the balloting:—
" The first ballot resulted in the following vote: Van
Buren, 146; Cass, 83; Johnson, 24; Buchanan, 4; Wood-
bury, 2 ; Stuart 1; Calhoun, 6.
"The second ballot: Van Buren, 127; Cass, 94;
Johnson, 33; Buchanan, 9; Stuart, 1; Calhoun 1.
"Third ballot: Van Buren, 121 ; Cass, 92; Johnson,
33 ; Buchanan, 11; Woodbury, 2; Calhoun, 2.
"Fourth ballot: Van Buren, 111; Cass, 105; John-
son, 32; Buchanan, 17; Calhoun, 1.
"Fifth ballot: Van Buren, 103; Cass, 107; Johnson,
29; Buchanan, 26.
"Sixth ballot: Van Buren, 101; Cass, 116; Johnson,
23; Buchanan, 25; Calhoun, 1.
" Seventh ballot: Van Buren, 99; Cass, 123; Johnson,
21; Buchanan, 22; Calhoun, 1.
70
LIFE AND TIMES OF
"The excitement now became intense, and disorder
and confusion prevailed.
"An effort was now made to establish the majority
rule, but failed; 118 voting for, and 148 against.
" On "Wednesday the Convention again met.
"Eighth ballot: Van Buren, 104; Cass, 114; Buch-
anan, 2; Polk, 44; Calhoun, 2.
"Ninth ballot: Polk, whole number of votes, 266.
"Mr. Wright was nominated for the Vice-Presidency,
but declined accepting the nomination, and, on Thursday,
the Convention proceeded to elect another candidate.
"First ballot: Fairfield, 87; Woodbury, 56; Cass,
29; Johnson, 26; Stewart, 23; Dallas, 13; Marcy, 5.
"Second ballot: Dallas, 220; Fairfield, 30; Wood-
bury, 6."
Mr. Benton has given so graphic a description
of this Convention from his lofty anti-annexation
Democratic point of view, that its reproduction here
can not be without interest. He says :—
"The Convention met, a motley assemblage, called
Democratic, many self-appointed, or appointed upon man-
agement or solicitation, many alternative substitutes, many
members of Congress, in violation of the principle which
condemned the Congress Presidential caucuses in 1824,
some nullifiers, and an immense outside concourse. Texas
land and scrip speculators were largely in it, and more
largely on the outside. A considerable number were in
favor of no particular candidate, but in pursuit of office
for themselves; inflexible against any one from whom
they thought they would not get it, and ready to go for
any one from whom they thought they could. Almost all
were under instructions for Mr. Van Buren, and could
not have been appointed where such instructions were
given, except in the belief that they would be obeyed.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
71
The business of undoing instructions had been attended
with but poor success, in no instance having been done by
the instructing body or its equivalent. Two hundred and
sixty-six delegates were pre.sent, South Carolina absent;
and it was immediately seen that, after all the packing
and intriguing, the majority was still for Mr. Van Buren.
It was seen that he would be nominated on the first
ballot if the majority was to govern. To prevent that a
movement was necessary, and was made. In the morning
of the first day, before the verification of the authority
of the delegates, before organization, before prayers, and
with only a temporary chairman, a motion was made to
adopt the two-thirds rule, that is to say, the rule which
required a concurrence of two-thirds to afiect a nom-
ination. That rule had been used in the two previous
nominating conventions, not to thwart a majority, but to
strengthen it; the argument being that the result would be
the same, the Convention being nearly unanimous; that
the two-thirds would be cumulative, and give more weight
to the nomination. The precedent was claimed, though
the reason had failed; and the effect might now be to
defeat the majority instead of adding to its voice.
"Men of reflection and foresight objected to this rule
when previously used, as being in violation of a funda-
mental principle, opening the door for the minority to
rule, encouraging intrigue and combination, and leading
to corrupt practices whenever there should be a design to
defeat the popular will. These objections were urged in
1832 and 1836, and answered by the reply that the rule
was only adopted by each convention for itself, and made
no odds in the result; and now they were answered with
* precedents.' A strenuous contest took place over the
adoption of this rule, all seeing that the fate of the nom-
ination depended upon it. Mr. Romulus M. Saunders,
of North Carolina, was its mover, Messrs. Robert J.
Walker and Hopkins, of Virginia, its most active sup-
72
LIFE AND TIMES OF
porters, and precedent the stress of their argument.
Messrs. Morton, of Massachusetts, Clifford, of Maine,
Dickinson and Butler, of New York, Medary, of Ohio,
and Alexander Kayser, of Missouri, were its principal op-
ponents; their arguments were those of princijde, and the
inapplicability of precedents founded on cases where the
two-thirds vote did not defeat, but strengthened the
majority.
" Mr. Morton, of Massachusetts, spoke the Democratic
sentiment when he said: ' He was in the habit of advanc-
ing his opinions in strong and plain language, and he
hoped that no exception would be taken to any thing that
he might say. He thought the majority principle was the
true one of the Democratic party. The views which had
been advanced on the other side of the question were
mainly based upon precedent. He did not think that
they properly applied here. We were in danger of relying
too much upon precedent, let us go upon principle. He
had endeavored, when at school, to understand the true
principles of republicanism. He well recollected the nom-
inations of Jefferson and others, and the majority principle
had always ruled. In fact, it was recognized in all the
different ramifications of society. The State, county, and
township conventions were all governed by this rule.'
"Mr. Benjamin F. Butler, of New York, enforced the '
majority principle as the one which lay at the foundation
of our Government, which prevailed at the adoption of
ever^ clause in the Declaration of Independence, every
clause in the Constitution, all the legislation, and all the
elections, both State and Federal; and he totally denied
the applicability of the precedents cited. He then went
on to expose the tricks of a caucus within a caucus, a
sub and secret caucus, plotting and combining to betray
their instructions through the instrumentality and under
the cover of the two-thirds rule.
"The rule was adopted, and by the help of delegates
JAMES KNOX POLK.
73
instructed to vote for Mr. Yan Buren, and who took that
method of betraying their trust while affecting to fulfill it.
The body then organized and the balloting commenced,
all the States present except South Carolina, who stood
oflp, although she had come into it at the preceding con-
vention, and cast her vote for Mr. Yan Buren. Two
hundred and sixty-six electoral votes were represented,
of which one hundred and thirty-four would be the
majority, and one hundred and seventy-seven the two-
thirds. Mr. Yan Buren received one hundred and fifty-
one on the first ballot, gradually decreasing at each sue-
cessive vote until the seventh, when it stood at ninety-
nine; probably about the true number that remained
faithful to their constituents and their pledges. Of those
who fell off it was .seen that they chiefly consisted of those
professing friends who had supported the two-thirds rule,
and who now got an excuse for their intended desertion
and premeditated violation of instructions, in being able
to allege the impossibility of electing the man to whoui
they were pledged.
"At this stage of the voting, a member from Ohio
(Mr. Miller) moved a resolve, that Mr. Van Buren, having
received a majority of the votes on the first ballot, was duly
nominated, and should be so declared. This motion was an
unexpected step, and put delegates under the necessity of
voting direct on the majority principle, which lies at the
foundation of all popular elections, and at the foundation
of the Presidential election itself, as prescribed by the
Constitution. That instrument only requires a majority
of the electoral votes to make an election of President;
this intriguing rule requires him to get two-thirds before
he is competent to receive that majority. The motion
raised a storm. It gave rise to a violent, disorderly, fu-
rious, and tumultuary discus.sion, a faint idea of which
may be formed from some brief extracts from the speeches.
" Mr. Brewster, of Pennsylvania : ' They (the delegation
74
LIFE AND TIMES OF
from this State) had then been solemnly instructed to
vote for Martin Van Buren first, and to remain firm to
that vote as long as there vas any hope of his success.
He had been asked by gentlemen of the Convention why
the delegation of Pennsylvania were so divided in their
vote. He would answer that it was because some gentle-
men of the delegation did not think proper to abide by
the solemn instructions given them, but rather chose to
violate those instructions. Pennsylvania had come there to
vote for Martin Van Buren, and she would not desert him
until New York had abandoned him. The delegation had
entered into a .solemn pledge to do so; and he warned
gentlemen that if they persisted in violating that pledge,
they would be held to a strict account by their constit-
uency, before whom, on their return home, they would
have to hang their heads with shame. Sorrj'^ would he be
to see them return after having violated their pledge.'
"Mr. Hickman, of Pennsylvania: 'He charged that
1>he delegation from the " Keystone State" had violated
the solemn pledge taken before they were entitled to seats
on the floor. He asserted on the floor of this Convention,
and would assert it everywhere, that the delegation from
Pennsylvania came to the Convention instructed to vote
for, and to use every means to obtain the nomination of
Martin Van Buren for President, and Richard M. John-
son for Vice-President; and yet a portion of the delega-
tion, among whom was his colleague who had just pre-
ceded him, had voted against the very proposition upon
which the fate of Martin Van Buren hung. He continued
his remarks in favor of the inviolability of instructions,
and in rebuke of those of the Pennsylvania delegation
who had voted for the two-thirds rule, knowing, as they
did, that it would defeat Mr. Van Buren's nomination.'
"Mr. Frazer, of Pennsylvania, replied to the remarks
of his colleagues, and, -amidst much and constantly
increasing confusion, explained his motives for having
JAMES KNOX POLK.
75
deserted Mr. Van Buren. On the last ballot he had voted
for James K. Polk, and would do so on the next, despite
the threat that had been thrown out, that tho.se who had
not voted for Mr. Van Buren would be ashamed to show
their faces before their constituents. He threw back the
imputation with indignation. He denied that he had
violated his pledge; that he had voted for Mr. Van Buren
on three ballots, but finding that Mr. Van Buren was not
the choice of the Convention, he had voted for Mr.
Buchanan. Finding that Mr. Buchanan could not sue-
ceed, he had cast his vote for James K. Polk, the bosom
friend of General Jackson, and a pure^ 'whole-hog'
Democrat, the known enemy of banks, distribution, etc.
He had carried out. his instrucfions, as he understood
them, and others would do the same.
"The crimination and recrimination in the Pennsyl-
vania delegation arose from division among the delegates;
in some other delegations the disregard of instructions
was unanimous, and there was no one to censure another,
as in Mississippi. The Pennsylvania delegation may be
said to have decided the nomination. They were in-
.structed to vote for Mr. Van Buren, and did so, but they
divided on the two-thirds rule, and gave a majority of
their votes for it, that is to say, thirteen votes; but as
thirteen was not a majority of twenty-six, one delegate
was got to stand aside, and then the vote stood thirteen to
twelve. The Virginia delegation, headed by the most
respectable William H. Roane (with a few exceptions) re-
mained faithful, disregarding the attempt to release them
at Shockoe Hill, and voting steadily for Mr. Van Buren,
as well on all the ballotings as on the two-thirds question,
which was the real one. Some members of the Capitol
nocturnal committee were in the Convention, and among
its most active managers, and the most zealous against Mr.
Van Buren. In that profusion of letters with which they
covered the country to undermine him, they placed the
76
LIFE AND TIMES OF
objection on the ground of the impossibility of electing
him; now it was seen that the impossibility was on the
other side, that it was impossible to defeat him, except by
betraying trusts, violating instructions, combining the odds
and ends of all factions; and then getting a rule adopted
by which a minority was to govern.
"The motion of Mr. Miller was not voted upon. It
was summarily disposed of, without the responsibility of a
direct vote. The enemies of Mr. Van Buren having
secured the presiding officer at the start, all motions were
decided against them; and, after a long session of storm
and rage, intermitted during the night for sleep and in-
trigue, and resumed in the morning, an eighth ballot was
taken; and without hope for Mr. Van Buren. As his vote
went down, that for Messrs. Cass, Buchanan, and R. M.
Johnson rose ; but without ever carrying either of them to
a majority, much less two-thirds Seeing the combination
against him, the friends of Mr. Van Buren withdrew his
name, and the party was then without a candidate known
to the people. Having killed off the one chosen by the
people, the Convention remained masters of the field, and
ready to supply one of its own. The intrigue commenced
in 1842, in the Gilmer letter, had succeeded one-half. It
had put down one man, but another was to be put up;
and there were enough of Mr. Van Buren's friends to de-
feat that part of the scheme. They determined to render
their country that service, and therefore withdrew Mr.
Van Buren that they might go in a body for a new man.
Among the candidates for the Vice-Presidency was Mr.
James K. Polk, of Tennessee. His interest as a Vice-Presi-
dential candidate lay with Mr. Van Buren, and they had
been much associated in the minds of each other's friends.
It was an easy step for them to support for the first
office, on the loss of their first choice, the citizen whom
they intended for the second. Without public announce-
ments, he was slightly developed as a Presidential candi-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
77
date on the eighth ballot; on the ninth he was unani-
mously nominated, all the President-makers who had been
voting for others (for Cass, Buchanan, Johnson) taking
the current the instant they saw which way it was going,
in order that they might claim the merit of conducting it.
'You bring but seven captives to my tent, but thousands
of you took them,' was the sarcastic remark of a king of
antiquity at seeing the multitude that came to claim honors
and rewards for taking a few prisoners. Mr. Polk might
have made the same exclamation in relation to the multi-
tude that assumed to have nominated him. Their name
was legion; for, besides the unanimous Convention, there
was a host of outside operators, each of whom claimed
the merit of having governed the vote of some delegate.
Never was such a multitude seen claiming the merit, and
demanding the reward for having done what had been
done before they heard of it.
"The nomination was a surprise and a marvel to the
country. No voice in favor of it had been "heard; no
visible sign in the political horizon had announced it.
Two small symptoms, small in themselves and equivocal
in their import, and which would never have been remem-
bered except for the event, doubtfully foreshadowed it.
One was a paragraph in a Nashville newspaper, hypo-
thetically suggesting that Mr. Polk should be taken up
if Mr. Van Buren should be abandoned; the other, the
ominous circumstance that the Tennessee State Nominat-
ing Convention made a recommendation (Mr. Polk) for
the second office, and none for the first; and Tennessee
being considered a Van Buren State, this omission was
significant, seeming to leave open the door for his ejection,
and for the admission of some other person. And so the
delegates from that State seemed to understand it, voting
steadily against him, until he was withdrawn.
"The ostensible objection to the last against Mr. Van
Buren was his opposition to immediate annexation. The
78
LIFE AND TIMES OF
shallowness of that objection was immediately shown in
the unanimous nomination of his bosom friend, Mr. Silas
Wright, identified with him in all that related to the
Texas negotiation, for Vice-President. He was nominated
upon the proposition of Mr. Robert J. Walker, a main-
spring in all the movements against Mr. Van Buren, whose
most indefatigable opponents sympathized with the Texas
scrip and land speculators. Mr. Wright instantly declined
the nomination, and Mr. George M. Dallas, of Pennsyl-
vania, was taken in his place."
JAMES KNOX POLK.
79
CHAPTER V.
MR, CALHOUN'S DISAPPOINTMENT—DEMOCRATIC PLAT-
FORM—THE RACE—THE RESULT—MR, CLAY
COULD NEVER BE PRESIDENT,
IT is quite evident that this Convention had no
intention of nominating Mr, Calhoun, Even
some of those who had made pretensions of that kind
to him did not mean to support him. These wily
managers knew they could not elect Mr, Calhoun,
not even if the whole people had been avowedly in
favor of the immediate annexation of Texas, war
or no war. Yet no man had greater right to com-
plain of the conduct of this Convention than Mr.
Calhoun, He had set in motion the scheme by
which Mr. Van Buren was overthrown and the Texas
question largely adopted throughout the North, and
he expected to profit by it. But Mr, Calhoun's nul-
lification record had destroyed him forever in the
North, and the extent to which he carried the dogma
of States Rights never could be made acceptable to
the people of that part of the Union, General
Jackson, and these and a few other things, had
utterly destroyed his chances for the Presidency,
and that the Democratic leaders knew, Mr, Cal-
houn had aided in breaking up the unrepublican
Congressional caucus for nominating the President
80
LIFE AND TIMES OF
and Vice-President, and he now made an unanswer-
able attack on the convention system. He had had
full inside opportunities to know how well both
plans could wholly thwart any general sentiment of
the country.
In speaking of the more prominent objection-
able features of the convention system Mr, Cal-
houn said :—
"And here let me add, that as objectionable as I
think a Congressional caucus for nominating a President,
it is, in my opinion, far less so than a convention consti-
tuted as is proposed. The former had, indeed, many
things to recommend it. Its members, consisting of Sen-
ators and Representatives, were the immediate organs of
the State Legislatures, or the people; were responsible
to them, respectively, and were, for the most part, of
higher character, standing, and talents. They voted per
capita, and, what is very important, they represented
fairly the relative strength of the jjarty in their respective
States. In all these important particulars it was all that
could he desired for a nominating body, and formed a
striking contrast to the proposed convention; and yet it
could not be borne by the people in the then purer days
of the Republic. I, acting with General Jackson and
most of the leaders of the party at that time, contributed
to put it down because we believed it to be liable to be
acted on and influenced by the patronage of the Govern-
ment, an objection far more applicable to a convention
constituted as the one proposed, than to a Congressional
caucus. Far, however, was it from my intention, in aid-
ing to put that down, to substitute in its place what I
regard as a hundred times more objectionable in every
point of view. Indeed, if there must be an intermediate
body between the people and the election, unknown to
JAMES KNOX POLK.
81
the Constitution, it may be well questioned whether a
better than the old plan of a Congressional caucus can
be devised. . . .
" I have laid down the principle on which I rest the
objection in question, with the limitation that the relative
weight of the States should be maintained, making due
allowance for thtir relative party strength. The propriety
of the limitation is so apparent, that but a few words, in
illustration, will be required. The convention is a party
convention, and professedly intended to take the sense of
the party, which can not be done fairly, if States having
but little party strength are put on equality with those
which have much. If that were done, the result might
be that a small portion of the party from States the least
sound, politically, and which could give but little support
in Congress, might select the candidate, and make the
President against a majority of the soundest, and on
which the President and his Administration would have
to rely for support. All this is clearly too unfair and im-
proper tO be denied. There may be a great difficulty in
applying a remedy in a convention, but I do not feel my-
self called upon to say how it can be done, or by what
standard the relative party strength of the respective States
should be determined; perhaps the best would be their
relative strength in Congress at the time. In laying
down the principle, I added the limitation for the sake
of accuracy, and to show how imperfectly the party must
be represented when it is overlooked. I see no provision
in the proposed convention to meet it. . . .
"But, in order to realize how the convention will
operate, it will be necessary to view the combined effects
of the objections which I have made. Thus viewed, it
will be found that a convention, so constituted, tends
irresistibly to centralization, centralization of the control
over the Presidential election in the hands of a few of
the central, large States, at first, and, finally, in political
6—K
82
LIFE AND TIMES OF
managers, office-holders, and office-seekers; or, to express
it differently, in that portion of the community who live,
or expect to live, on the Government, in contradistinction
to the great mass who expect to live on their own means
or their honest industry, and who maintain the Govern-
ment; and, politically speaking, emphatically the people.
That such would be the case, may be inferred from the
fact that it would afford the means to some six or seven
States lying contiguous and not far from the center of the
Union, to control the nomination, and through that the
election, by concentrating their united votes in the con-
vention. Give them the power of doing so, and it would
not long lie dormant. What may be done by combina-
tion, where the temptation is so great, will be sure ei-e-
long to be done. To combine and conquer is not less
true as a maxim, where power is concerned, than ' divide
and conquer.' Nothing is better established than that the
desire for power can bring together and unite the most
discordant materials. . . .
But the tendency to centralization will not stop there.
The appointment of delegates en masse by State conven-
tion, would tend at the same time, and even with great
force, to centralize the control in the hands of the few,
who make politics a trade. The farther the convention is
removed from the people, the more certainly the control
over it will be placed in the hands of the interested few,
and when removed three or four degrees, as has been
shown it will be, where the appointment is by State con-
ventions, the power of the people will cease, and the seek-
ers of Executive favor will become supreme. At that
stage, an active, trained, and combined corps will be
formed in the party, whose whole time and attention will
be directed to politics. Into their hands the appointments
of delegates in all the stages will fall, and they will take
special care that none but themselves or their humble and
obedient dependents shall be appointed. The central and
JAMES KNOX POLK.
83
State conventions will be filled by the most experienced
and cunning, and after nominating the President, they will
take good care to divide the patronage and offices, both
of the General and State governments, among themselves
and their dependents. But why say will ? Is it not already
the case ? Have there not been many instances of State
conventions being filled by office-holders and office-seekers,
who, after making the nomination, have divided the offices
in the State among themselves and their partisans, and
joined in recommending to the candidate whom they have
just nominated to appoint them to the offices to which
they have been respectively allotted ? If such be the case
in the infancy of the system, it must end, if such conven-
tions should become the established usage, in the President
nominating his successor. When it comes to that, it will
not be long before the sword will take the place of the
Constitution."
Mr. Calhoun still vainly hoped for something to
turn in his favor after the failure of the convention
in his behalf. A convention was called to meet in
New York to consider his interests, but it never
met. The time had been when he could have had
almost any thing for the asking in New York.
Twenty years before he was not a champion of
slavery, was in fact in favor of extinguishing slave
territory in the Nation, his protective views were
not at all repugnant to the people of the North, and
the younger politicians especially were enthusiastic
admirers of his towering qualities. But these things
had passed away. Although many of his party friends
throughout their lives greatly regretted his political
fate, his case really wanted some of the elements of
sympathy which were uppermost in Mr. Clay's.
84
LIFE AND TIMES OF
The following documents, which are of importance
at this point in the history, are Mr. Polk's letter
of acceptance and the "platform" of principles an-
nounced by his party at Baltimore :—
"Columbia, Tenn., June 12, 1844.
" Gentlemen,—I have had the honor to receive your
letter of the 29th ultimo, informing me that the Democratic
National Convention, then assembled at Baltimore, had
designated me to be the candidate of the Democratic party
for President of the United States, and that I had been
unanimously nominated for that oflBce.
" It has been well observed, that the office of President
of the United States should never be sought nor declined.
I have never sought it, nor shall I feel at liberty to de-
dine it, if conferred upon me by the voluntary suffrages
of my fellow-citizens. In accepting the nomination, I am
deeply impressed with the distinguished honor which has
been conferred upon me by my republican friends, and am
duly sensible of the great and mighty responsibilities
which must ever devolve on any citizen who may be
called to fill the high station of President of the United
States.
" I deem the present to be a proper occasion to declare,
that if the nomination made by the convention shall be
confirmed by the people, and result in my election, I shall
enter upon the discharge of the high and solemn duties of
the office with the settled purpose of not being a candidate
for re-election. In the event of my election, it shall be
my constant aim, by a strict adherence to the old repub-
lican landmarks, to maintain and preserve the public pros-
perity, and at the end of four years, I am resolved to re-
tire to private life. In assuming this position, I feel that
I not only impose on myself a salutary restraint, but that
I take the most effective means in my power of enabling
the Democratic party to make a free selection of a successor
JAMES KNOX POLK.
85
?ho may be best calculated to give efiFect to their will,
md guard all the interests of our beloved country.
" With great respect, I have the honor to be,
" Your obedient servant,
"James K. Polk.
" To Messrs. Henry Hubbard, Wm. H. Koane, etc., etc."
resolutions of the baltimore convention.
" Resolved, That the American Democracy place their
rust, not in factitious symbols, not in displays, and ap-
leals insulting to the judgments and subversive of the in-
ellect of the people, but in a clear reliance upon the in-
diligence, the patriotism, and the discriminating justice
)f the American masses.
" Resdlved, That we regard this as a distinctive feature
)f our political creed, which we are proud to maintain be-
ore the world as the great moral element in a form of
government springing from and upheld by the popular
vill; we contrast it with the creed and practice of Feder-
ilism, under whatever name or form, which seeks to palsy
;he will of the constituent, and which conceives no im-
[losture too monstrous for the popular credulity.
" Resolved, therefore. That entertaining these views, the
Democratic party of this Union, through their delegates
issembled in a generaT convention of the States, coming
:ogether in a spirit of concord, of devotion to the doctrines
ind faith of a free representative government, and appeal-
ing to their fellow-citizens for the rectitude of their inten-
:ions, renew and reassert before the American people, the
Jedaration of principles avowed by them, when on a
former occasion, in general convention, they presented their
candidates for the popular suffrages:
"1. That the Federal Government is one of limited
powers, derived solely from the Constitution, and the
grants of power shown therein ought to be strictly con-
strued by all the departments and agents of the Govern-
86
LIFE AND TIMES OF
ment, and that it is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise
doubtful Constitutional powers.
" 2. That the Constitution does not confer upon the
General Government the power to commenee and carry
on a general system of internal improvement.
" 3. That the Constitution does not confer authority
upon the Federal Government, directly or indirectly, to
assume the debts of the several States, contracted for local
internal improvements, or other State purposes; nor would
such assumption be just and expedient.
"4. That justice anrf sound policy forbid the Federal
Government to foster one branch of industry to the detri-
ment of another, or to cherish the interests of one portion
to the injury of another portion of our common country—
that every citizen, and every section of the country, has a
right to demand and insist upon an equality of rights and
privileges, and a complete and ample protection of per-
sons and property from domestic violence or foreign
aggression.
" 5. That it' is the duty of every branch of the Govern-
ment to enforce and practice the most rigid economy in
conducting our public affairs, and that no more revenue
ought to be raised than is required to defray the necessary
expenses of the Government.
" G. That Congress has no power to charter a national
bank; that we believe such an institution one of deadly
hostility to the best interests of the country, dangerous to
our republican institutions and the liberties of the people,
and calculated to place the business of the country within
the control of a concentrated money power, and above the
laws and the will of the people.
" 7. That Congress has no power under the Constitution
to'interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the
several States, and that such States are the sole and proper
judges of everything appertaining to their own aflPairs, not
prohibited by the Constitution ; that all efforts of the Abo-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
87
litionists or others, made to induce Congress to interfere
with the question of slavery, or to take incipient steps in
relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarm-
ing and dangerous consequences, and that all such efforts
have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of
the people, and endanger the stability and permanency of
the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend
to our political institutions.
" 8. That the separation of the moneys of the Govern-
ment from banking institutions, is indispensable for the
safety of the funds of the Government, and the rights of
the people.
" 9. That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson
in the Declaration of Independence," and sanctioned in the
Constitution, which makes ours the land of Liberty, and
the asylum of the oppressed of every nation, have ever
been cardinal principles in the Democratic faith; and every
attempt to abridge the present privilege of becoming citi-
zens and the owners of soil among us, ought to be resisted
with the same spirit which swept the alien and sedition
laws from our statute-book.
" Resolved, That the proceeds of the public lands ought
to be sacredly applied to the national objects specified in
the Constitution; and that we are opposed to the law lately
adopted, and to any law for the distribution of such pro-
ceeds among the States, as alike inexpedient in policy and
repugnant to the Constitution.
" Resolved, That we are decidedly opposed to taking
from the President the qualified veto power, by which he
is enabled, under restrictions and responsibilities, amply
sufficient to guard the public interest, to suspend the pas-
sage of a bill, whose merits can not secure the approval
of two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives,
until the judgment of the people can be obtained thereon, and
which has thrice saved the American people from the corrupt
and tyrannical domination of a Bank of the United States.
88 LIFE AND TIMES OF
" Resolved, That onr title to the whole of the Territory
of Oregon is clear and unquestionable; that no portion
of the same ought to be ceded to England or any other
power; that the re-occupation of Oregon and the re-an-
nexation of Texas at the earliest practicable period, are
great American measures, which this Convention recom-
mends to the cordial support of the Democracy of the
Union." *
Nobody had greater cause for being surprised at
the work of this convention than had Mr. Polk.
He had served fourteen years in Congress, and had
acquired some degre of national distinction as Speaker
of the House, but he was comparatively unknown.
He had no great qualities, and was merely an astute
politician. His public history was honorable, how-
ever, his capabilities were fair, and he possessed the
conditions, especially valuable at that time, for
uniting an exceedingly factious party. Still his
nomination was one of those startling events which
have repeatedly marked the history of party con-
ventions. Even in Tennessee, where thev had
7 V
learned to expect anything, no matter how extrava-
gant, they had with timidity asked the Vice-Presi-
dency only for this little man.
Although nothing had been said about Mr. Polk
in connection with the Presidency, and only his
friends in Tennessee had thought of it, his nomina-
tion was favorably received, and the result was a
speedy disappearance of all faction from the party,
even Tyler and Calhoun falling into the support of
the ticket. The selection of Mr. Dallas was also a
source of harmony in the party leadership. The
JAMES KNOX POLK, 89
campaign began at .once with great spirit, and
although it did not equal that of " Old Tippecanoe,"
it was certainly one of the most exciting in the his-
tory of the country, involving a question, as was
well known, which led to immediate war with
Mexico. At any rate Polk's nomination removed
all contention from the Democratic rank and file, as
completely as did that of General Garfield from the
Republican camp in 1880. The Democrats had
profited by the example of the Whigs in 1840, and
now they united all their forces, and made a deter-
mined effort to produce the loudest noise. Their
succegs was much better than it had been in the
previous race. If they could not run their candi-
dates in on Texas and tariff, they would sing them
in, as they claimed the Whigs had done theirs four
years before.
They organized glee-clubs all over the country,
and both men and women often joined in songs of
every shade of truth and folly. Everywhere could
be heard such stanzas as:—
"For Polk and Dallas rouse, my boys,
In all your former glories.
And chase the rebels from the land.
The booms and Federal Tories.
For Polk's the man that's bound to run
Their Harry out of water;
All high and dry without a gun
Or coon to cry him quarter." ,
In this and numberless others Yankee Doodle
was brought into service. Barbecues were in great
demand, especially in the West, and tens of thousands
90
LIFE AND TIMES OF
of people of all ages and descriptions gathered at
them. Each pai'ty strove to see which could ex-
eel in numbers and noise. The Democrats raised
hickory poles and the Whigs ash, and the grand
objects aimed at in these pole raisings were length
of pole and noise. Gay processions of men, women,
and children, with flags, bands of music, glee clubs,
devices, mottoes, traversed the streets and highways.
The Whig poets felt, at the outset, that their
convention had made a serious mistake in the selec-
tion of a Vice-Presidential candidate, as they
doubted their ability to utilize his name in song, but
genius overcame the difficulty, and the old Tippe-
canoe and Log Cabin glee clubs were again put in
operation and new ones formed. Harry Clay and
Frelinghuysen now rang over the land. Early in
the campaign some Democrat was unfortunate enough
to say that the Whigs were obliged to run again
their standard candidate, "the same old coon," and
at once this idea was taken up by their opponents,
and no procession of Whigs was without a coon,
and many of them carried beautifully dressed trees
in which sat live coons, some of them entirely white.
As General Jackson had been called " Old Hick-
ory," so Mr. Polk, coming from the same State, and
being, from boyhood, one of his admirers and follow-,
ers, was now dubbed " Young Hickory," however
inapplicable the term was to him. In some States
where the poke-weed grew to great height and
strength, as Ohio, the Democrats ornamented their
processions with these attractive plants, greatly to
JAMES KNOX POLK.
91
their advantage. Lines of wagons and buggies filled
with young and old Democrats, singing and bearing
magnificent poke-stalks, entered the towns and
marched through them on their way to the barbe-
cues or pole-raisings. In Ohio the Whigs were ex-
ceedingly fortunate in some of their songs. ,
"Hi-ho for Clay we'll go,
Ye Buckeye boys, of Ohio,"
still rings in the ears of many a stout Whig, though
boy he may have really been, who then fought his
first and last battle for -the unfortunate Harry of the
West. The little and great orators in both parties
throughout the land were kept busy, and the news-
papers engaged with great zeal and ability on both
sides. Probably the most prominent figures con-
nected with the press in this campaign were, how-
ever, Horace Greeley and George D. Prentice. Mr.
Greeley edited, during this contest, " The Clay
Tribune," in addition to "The Tribune," and Mr.
Prentice " The Louisville Journal."
They were both infatuated with Henry Clay, and
the amount and character of the work they did in
aid of the Whig cause at this time was wonderful.
Neither Horace Greeley nor Mr. Prentice ever ceased
to regret the failure to make Mr. Clay President
of the United States. Their exalted ideas of him
have always been regarded, by the Democrats es-
pecially, as extravagant, and perhaps they were.
Of him Mr, Greeley said :—
" Mr. Clay, born in poverty and obscurity, bad not
even a common school education, and had only a few
92
LIFE AND TIMES OF
months' clerkship in a store, with a somewhat longer train-
ing in a lawyer's office, as preparation for his great career.
"Tall in person, though plain in features, graceful in
manner, and at once dignified and affable in bearing, I
think his fervid patriotism and thrilling eloquence com-
bined with decided natural abilities and a wide and varied
experience to render him the American more fitted to win
and enjoy popularity than any other who has lived. That
popularity he steadily achieved and extended through the
earlier half of his long public life; but he was now con-
fronted by a political combination well-nigh invincible,
based on the potent personal strength of General Jack-
son; and this overcame him.
" Five times presented as a candidate for President
he was always beaten,, twice in conventions of his
political associates, thrice in the choice of electors by
the people. The careless reader of our history in future
centuries Avill scarcely realize the force of his personal
magnetism, nor conceive how millions of hearts glowed
with sanguine hopes of his election to the Presidency, and
bitterly lamented his and their discomfiture."
The two great questions brought into this contest
were the annexation of Texas and what it involved,
and the tariff. By one of Mr. Clay's letters he
drove from him many Freesoil supporters by saying
that he did not object to the acquisition of Texas
on account of slavery. Everybody should have been
wise enough to know that Henry Clay's emancipa-
tion ideas were never so radical as that. And it
was not known then, and never was during his life,
that James K. Polk was an emancipationist at heart,
although the Whigs of Tennessee accused him of
being one, without believing what they did to be
JAMES KNOX POLK.
93
true. Mr. Clay's views on the Texas question were
not very satisfactory to many of his friends in both
sections; and Mr. Polk managed by one of his let-
ters to confuse considerably, and bring to his sup-
port, many voters at the North, and notably in
Pennsylvania.
The following is his letter to Judge Kane:—
%
" Columbia, Tennessee, June 19, 1844.
"Dear Sir,—I have received recently several letters
in referenee to ray opinions on the subject of the tariff, and
among others yours of the" 30th ultimo. My opinions on
this subject have been "often given to the public. They
are to be found in ray public acts, and in the public dis-
cussions in which I have participated.
" I am in favor of a tariff for revenue, such a one as
will yield a sufficient amount to the Treasury to defray the
expenses of the Government economically administered.
In adjusting the details of a revenue tariff, I have hereto-
fore sanctioned such moderate discriminating duties as
would produce the amount of revenue needed, and at the
same time afford reasonable incidental protection to our
home industry. -I am opposed to a tariff for protection
merely, and not for revenue.
"Acting upon these general principles, it is well known
that I gave my support to the policy of General Jackson's
Administration on this subject. I voted against the tariff
act of 1828. I voted for the act of 1832, which contained
modifications of some of the objectionable provisions of
the act of 1828. As a member of the Committee of Ways
and Means of the House of Representatives, I gave my
assent to a bill reported by that Committee in December,
1832, making further modifications of the act of 1828,
and making also discriminations in the imposition of the
duties which it proposed/ The bill did not pass, but was
94
LIFE AND TIMES OF
superseded by the bill commonly called the Compromise
Bill, for which I voted.
" In my judgment, it is the duty of the Government
to extend, as far as it may be practicable to do so, by its
revenue laws and all other means within its power, fair
and just protection to all the great interests of the whole
Union, embracing agriculture, manufactures, the mechanic
arts, commerce, and navigation. I heartily approve the
resolutions upon this subject, passed by the Democratic.
National Convention, lately assembled at Baltimore.
"I am, with great respect, dear sir, your obedient
servant, James K. Polk."
" John K. Kane, Esq., Philadelphia."
The Whigs accused Mr. Polk of insincere trifling
on the tariff, and there is no mistake that this Kane
letter was artfully constructed. But this was a less
important matter than that involved in the Texas
question, and Mr. Clay did not make himself clear
in all quarters alike on this subject. Mr. Clay was
at heart opposed to human slavery, but the question
stood in his way, and publicly he was always in con-
flict with it. Without slavery in this country he
would have been President, as also would have been
Mr. Calhoun. The race was severe and the election
was close, but Mr. Polk was successful. During the
campaign he had remained at Columbia employed in
his profession. On the 28th of November he visited
Nashville with his wife, and was received with great
ceremony. In reply to a flattering congratulatory
speech made to him by Judge Nicholson on this oc-'
casion at " The Square" (the old court-house and
public square) he made the following remarks which
JAMES KNOX POLK.
95
were designed to show the light in which he wished
to be held by the country ;—
" I return to you, sir, and to my fellow-citizens, whose
organ you are, my sincere and unfeigned thanks for this
manifestation of the popular regard and confidence, and
for the congratulations which you have been pleased to
express to me, upon the termination and result of the late
political contest. I am fully sensible, that these congfat-
ulations are not, and can not be, personal to myself. It is
the eminent success of our common principles which has
spread such general joy over the land. The political
struggle through which the country has just passed has
been deeply exciting. Extraordinary causes have existed
to make it so. It has terminated, it is now over, and I
sincerely hope and believe, has been decided by the sober
and settled judgment of the American people.
" In exchanging mutual congratulations with each
other upon the result of the late election, the Democratic
party should remember, iu calmly reviewing the contest,
that the portion of our fellow-citizens who have differed
with us in opinion have equal political rights with our-
selves; that minorities as well as majorities are entitled to
the full and free exercise of all their opinions and judg-
ments, and that the rights of all, whether of minorities
or majorities, as such, are entitled to equal respect and
regard.
" In rejoicing, therefore, over the .success of the Demo-
cratic party, and of their principles, in the late election,
it should be in no spirit of exultation over the defeat of
our opponents; but it should be because, as we honestly
believe, our principles and policy are better calculated than
theirs to promote the true interests of the whole country.
" In the political position in which I have been placed,
by the voluntary and unsought suffrages of my fellow-
citizens, it will become my duty, as it will be my pleasure.
96
LIFE AND TIMES OF
faithfully and truly to rei^resent, in the Executive Depart-
ment of the Government, the principles and policy of the
great party of the country who have elected me to it; but
at the same time, it is proper to declare, that I shall not
regard myself as the representative of a party only, but
of the whole people of the United States; and I trust
that the future policy of the Government may be such as
to secure the happiness and prosperity of all, without dis-
tinction of party."
At noon on the 12th of February, 1845, W. P.
Mangum, acting President of the Senate, took the
chair of the Speaker of the House, when in the
presence of both Houses of Congress, the electoral
votes were opened and counted, the galleries being
densely crowded by spectators. It was found that
Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Missis-
sippi, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas,
and Michigan had cast their electoral votes for Polk
and Dallas; and that Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, Vermont, Delaware, Maryland, North
Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio had gone
for Clay and Frelinghuysen; whereupon the Presi-
dent of the Senate, pro tempore, rose and said:—
"That the whole number of votes given was 275, of
which a majority was 138. But James K. Polk, of Ten-
nessee, had received 170 votes cast for the President of
the United States, and Henry Clay, of Kentucky, 105;
and George M. Dallas," of Pennsylvania, had received 170
votes cast for Vice-President of the United States, and
Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New York, had received 105.
He then added: ' I do, therefore, declare that James K.
JAMES KNOX POLK
97
Polk, of Tennessee, having a majority of the whole num-
ber of electoral votes, is duly elected President of the
United States for four years, commencing on the 4th day
of March, 1845; and that George M. Dallas, of Pennsyl-
vania, having a majority of electoral votes, is duly elected
Vice-President of the United States for four years, com-
mencing on the 4th day of March, 1845.'"
The popular vote stood, 1,337,243 for Polk,
1,299,068 for Clay, and 62,300 for James G. Birney,
Tennessee had voted against her own son, but only
by a majority of 113 votes. The majority for Mr.
Clay was only 282 in Delaware, and 692 in New
Jersey, Ohio and Kentucky giving him the largest
majorities, and these were small, the latter 9,267,
and the former 5,940.
Mr. Polk's majorities were also small, none of
them reaching 12,000, Alabama and Missouri giving
the largest, and Indiana giving only 208, and Louis-
iana 699 votes. The Whigs found a number of very
explicable causes for their defeat on this occasion.
The main one in the campaign was the popularity
of the Texas scheme, and although no man had a
better record than Mr. Clay on the subject of the
territory included in Texas, he was not now quite on
the winning side, and he did not manage the ques-
tion perfectly to the satisfaction of the people. In
the election, at the polls, the cause of defeat was
boldly said to be fraud, fraud of the worst kind, and
to this, day old Whig writers hold to this solution
for the defeat of Henry Clay in 1844, and declare
that Mr. Polk was not the lawfully chosen President
7—K
98
LIFE AND TIMES OF
of the United States. In Louisiana, Pennsylvania,
New York, and several other States sufficient fraud-
ulent votes, by repeating and the voting of unnatu-
ralized foreigners, were cast to have carried the
election for Mr. Clay, it was claimed. But the Demo-
crats also cried fraud quite boldly; and not only held
that the Whigs had lied in every conceivable way
during the campaign, but finally in the election they
had also committed villainous frauds.
However true this charge may be, it has been
resorted to ever since by both parties when there
apj\eared any reasonable ground for it. The cry of
fraud is a party instrument, and must be regarded
with distrust, while at the same time it is too ap-
parent that in the heat and doubt of the conflict
party morals may not always rise above fraud.
In Indiana Mr. Birney had 2,106 votes, in New
York 15,812, and in Michigan 3,632. Mr. Polk's
majorities in these States were respectively 208,
5,106, and 3,422. The great mass of the Freesoil
votes would have been given to Mr. Clay had these
people, who were willing to more than throw away
their votes, viewed the matter before as many of
them did after the election.
Had the 53 electoral votes of these three States
been taken from Mr. Polk's, and added to the vote
of Clay, the result would have been the election of
the latter. No matter what other influences were
brought to bear at this election, one thing seems
quite certain, that the Freesoilers defeated Mr. Clay.
For the part they took they were very justly and
JAMES KNOX POLK.
99
soundly abused by the Whigs. It was also charged
by the Whigs that Great Britain took an undue in-
terest in this election with the hope of seeing the
last blow given to the " American System" of tariffs
in the defeat of Mr. Clay, and to that end used her
gold freely to corrupt the " free,'untrammeled, inde-
pendent citizen."
The following view of the case was taken by
Mr. Benton:—
"The issue in the election was mainly the party one
of Whig and Democrat, modified by the tariff and Texas
questions, Mr. Clay being considered the best representa-
tive of the former interest, Mr. Polk of the latter.
" The difference in the electoral vote was large, 65; in
the popular vote, not so considerable; and in some of the
States (and in enough of them to have reversed the issue),
the difference in favor of Mr. Polk quite small, and de-
pendent upon causes independent of himself and his
cause. Of these it is sufficient to mention New York.
There the popular vote was about five hundred thousand;
the difference in favor of Mr. Polk, about five thousand;
and that difference was solely owing to the association of
Mr. Silas Wright, with the canvass. Refusing the nom-
ination for the Vice-Presidency, and seeing a person nom-
inated for the Presidency by a long intrigue at the
expense of his friend, Mr. Van Buren, he suffered him-
self to be persuaded to quit the Senate, which he liked,
to become the Democratic candidate for Governor of New
York, a place to which he was absolutely averse. The
two canvasses went on together, and were in fact one;
and the name and popularity of Mr. Wright brought to
the Presidential ticket mOre than enough votes to make
the majority that gave the electoral vote of the State to
Mr. Polk, but without being able to brihg it up to his
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LIFE AND TIMES OF
own vote for Governor; which was still five thousand
more. It was a great sacrifice of feeling and of wishes
on his part to quit the Senate to stand this election, a sac-
rifice purely for the good of the cause, and which became
a sacrifice,, in a more material sense for himself and his
friends. The electoral vote of New York was 36, which,
going all together, and being. taken from one side and
added to the other, would have made a difference of 72,
being seven more than enough to have elected Mr. Clay.
Mr. Polk was also aided by the withdrawal of Mr. Tyler,
and by receiving the South Carolina vote; both of which
contingencies depended upon causes independent of his
cause, and of his own merits."
JAMES KNOX POLK,
101
CHAPTER VI.
INAUGURAL CEREMONY—MR. ADAMS'S VIEW OF IT—MR.
POLK'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS—THE
CABINET.
N the 1st of February the President elect, with
Mrs. Polk and two of their slayes, a woman
and a man, accompanied by a friend, V. K. Steven-
son, of New York, and James Knox Walker, the
President's relative, who was to be his private sec-
retary, started from Nashville on the long journey
to Washington. They traveled by steamer from
Nashville to Wheeling, Virginia, stopping at Louis-
ville, Cincinnati, and other points, where every at-
tention was shown to the new President. From
Wheeling they traveled by carriage to Cumberland,
from which place they went to Washington by rail-
road, reaching the Capital amidst the firing of can-
non and other demonstrations, on the 13th of Feb-
ruary, having been joined on the way by Mr. Dallas
and other friends. Mr. Polk was conducted to
Coleman's, or the National Hotel, where he received
the Committee of Congress to notify him of his
election. At this point John Quincy Adams gave
this opinion of President Polk: "He has affected to
speak at Nashville and at Cincinnati of being the
President of the Nation, and not of a party; but he is
102
LIFE AND TIMES OF
sold, soul and body, to that grim idol, half albino,
half negro, the compound of Democracy and slavery,
which, by the slave representation in Congress, rules
and ruins the Union."
At last the 4th of March, a rainy and unpleasant
day in Washington, came. A great display was
made, nevertheless. Military and Democratic so-
cieties from various cities were present, and thou-
sands of sight-seers and office-hunters swelled the
immense collection of people from all parts of the
country.
The following description of the inauguration is
from the sharp and not always considerate pen of
John Quincy Adams:—
"There was a procession of ten or eleven military
companies, who escorted Mr. Polk and Mr. Tyler, who
rode together in an open carriage from Coleman's Na-
tional Hotel to the Capitol. They first assembled in the
Senate Chamber, where George Mifflin Dallas, as Vice-
President, was qualified as President of the Senate, and
whence they proceeded to a platform protruding from the
portico at the top of the flight of stairs ascending the
eastern front to the entrance of the rotunda. There Mr.
Polk delivered his inaugural address, half an hour long,
to a large assemblage of umbrellas, for it was raining hard
all the time. The official oath was then administered to
him by Chief-Justice Taney, and the draggle-tail pro-
cession, thinned in numbers, escorted him back to the
President's House. At night there were two balls, one
at Carusi's Hall, at ten dollars a ticket, of all parties; the
other of pure Democrats, at five dollars a ticket, at the
National Theater. Mr. Polk attended both, but supped
with the true blue, five-dollar Democracy."
JAMES KNOX POLK.
103
Edwin Williams wrote as follows of the inau-
guration;—
"On the 4th of March, 1845, James K. Polk was
inaugurated as President of the United States. A con-
coui*se of people seldom congregated in the City of
Washington were present to witness the ceremony. The
weather proved unfavorable. The morning was lowering;
and before the procession reached the Capitol it com-
meiiced raining, and continued wet during the day, mar-
ring the enjoyments, and defeating the expectations of
many, also much of the intended exhibition and display.
"The ceremony at the Capitol was imposing. The
occasion was one of those striking displays of our repub-
lican system which he must be a stoic indeed, that
could contemplate it with indifference. The flag-staffs
of the Whigs, as well as those of their triumphant rivals,
were decorated, as an acknowledgment that the chief of
the Nation was there, and must be recognized.
" The inaugural procession moved about eleven o'clock
A. M., from the quarters of the President elect, at Cole-
man's Hotel, to the Capitol, under the direction of General
McCalla and his aids. In the procession were the mili-
tary of Washington, officers and soldiers of the Revolu-
tion, the clergy. President elect and his predecessor, in an
open carriage. President Tyler's Cabinet, Justices of the
Supreme Court, diplomatic corps, members and ex-mem-
bers of Congress, members of the Baltimore Democratic
National Convention of 1844, officers of the army and
navy, etc.. Democratic associations and clubs of the Dis-
trict of Columbia, and others from a distance, among
whom was a detachment of the Empire Club of the city
of New York, citizens of States and Territories, citizens
of the District of Columbia, etc.
"The Senate convened at eleven o'clock A. M. The
oath being administered to Hon. George M. Dallas, Vice-
104
LIFE AND TIMES OF
President elect, he delivered a brief address to the Sen-
ators on taking his seat, after which the new Senators
were qualified. The Justices of the Supreme Court in
gowns, and the diplomatic corps, twenty-nine in number,
entered and took their seats; also General Scott and other
officers of the army and navy. About noon, the Presi-
dent elect, Mr. Polk, attended by President Tyler and
Senator Woodbury, entered the Senate Chamber, when a
procession was formed to the platform on the east front
of the Capitol, from which the President delivered his
inaugural address. Chief-Justice Taney then administered
to the President the oath of office, after which the Presi-
dent, quitting the Capitol, drove rapidly, by an indirect
route, to the President's House, where he received, during
the afternoon, the congratulations of his fellow-citizens.
In the evening he and his lady attended the two inaugura-
tion balls which were given in the city."
This doubtful custom of requiring the President
to attend these balls was established before Mr.
Polk's time, of course, and has been kept up since,
but certainly without adding any thing to the dig-
nity of the office.
The following is President Polk's
INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
FELLOW-ciTiz:eNS,—Without solicitation on my part, I
have been chosen by the free and voluntary suflTrages of my
countrymen to the most honorable and most responsible office
on earth. I am deeply impressed with gratitude for the confi-
dence reposed in me. Honored with this distinguished consid-
eration at an earlier period of life than any of my predecessors,
I can not disguise the diffidence with which I am about to enter
on the discharge of my official duties.
If the more aged and experienced men who have filled the
office of President of the United States, even in the infancy of
JAMES KNOX POLK.
105
the Republic, distrusted their ability to discharge the duties of
that exalted station, what ought not to he the apprehensions
of one so much younger and less endowed, now that our do-
main extends from ocean to ocean, that our people have so
greatly increased in numbers, and at a time when so great
diversity of opinion prevails in regard to the principles and
policy which should characterize the administration of our Gov-
ernment? Well may the boldest fear, and the wisest tremble
when incurring responsibilities on which may depend our coun-
try's peace and prosperity, and, in some degree, the hopes and
happiness of the whole human family.
In assuming responsibilities so vast, I fervently invoke
the aid of the Almighty Ruler of the Universe, in whose hands
are the destinies of nations and of men, to guard this heaven-
favored land against the mischiefs which, without His guidance,
might arise from an unwise public policy. With a firm reliance
upon the wisdom of Omnipotence to sustain and direct me in
the path of duty which I am appointed to pursue, I stand in
the presence of the assembled multitude of my countrymen, to
take upon myself the solemn obligation, " to the best of my
ability, to preserve, to protect, and defend the Constitution
of the United States."
A concise enumeration of the principles which will guide
me in the administration policy of the Government, is not only
in accordance with the examples set me by all my predecessors,
but is eminently befitting the occasion.
The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safe-
guard of our federative compact, the offspring of concession
and compromise, binding together in the bonds of peace and
union this great and increasing family of free and independent
States, will be the chart by which I shall he directed.
It will be my first care to administer the Government in
the true spirit of that instrument, and to assume no powers not
expressly granted or clearly implied in its terms. The Govern-
ment of the United States is one of delegated and limited
powers, and it is by a strict adherence to the clearly granted
powers, and by abstaining from the exercise of doubtful or un-
authorized implied powers, that we have the only sure guaranty
against the recurrence of those unfortunate collisions between
106
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the Federal and State authorities, which have occasionally so
much disturbed the harmony of our system and even threatened
the perpetuity of our glorious Union.
"To the States respectively, or to the people," have been
reserved " the powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States." Each State is
a complete sovereignty within the sphere of its reserved powers.
The Government of the Union, acting within the sphere of its
delegated authority, is also a complete sovereignty. While the
General Government should abstain from the exercise of
authority not clearly delegated to it, the States should be equally
careful that, in the maintenance of their rights, they do not
overstep the limits of powers reserved to them. One of the
most distinguished of my predecessors attached deserved impor-
tance to " the support of the State governments in all their rights,
as tiie most competent administration for our domestic concerns,
and the surest bulwark against anti-republican tendencies;" and
to the "preservation of the General Government in its whole
Constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home
and safety abroad."
" To the Government of the United States has been in-
trusted the exclusive management of our foreign affairs. Be-
yond that, it wields a few general enumerated powers. It does
not force reform on the States. It leaves individuals over
whom it casts its protecting influence, entirely free to improve
their own condition by the legitimate exercise of all their men-
tal and physical powers. It is a common protector of each and
all the States; of every man who lives upon our soil, whether
of native or foreign birth ; of every religious sect, in their wor-
ship of the Almighty according to the dictates of their own
conscience; of every shade of opinion, and the most free in-
quiry; of every art, trade, and occupation, consistent with the
laws of the States. And we rejoice in the general happiness,
prosperity, and advancement of our country, which have been
the offspring of freedom and not of power.
The most admirable and wisest system of well-regulated
self-government among men, ever devised by human minds,
has been tested by its successful operation for more than half
a century; and, if preserved from the usurpations of tlie Fed-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
107
eral Government on the one hand, and the exercise by the
States of power not reserved to them on the other, will, I fer-
vently hope and believe, endure for ages to come, and dispense
the blessings of civil and religious liberty to distant generations.
To effect objects so dear to every patriot, I shall devote myself
with anxious solicitude. It will be my desire to guard against
that most fruitful source of danger to the harmonious action of
our system, which consists in substituting the mere discretion
and caprice of the Executive, or of majorities in the legislative
department of the Government, for powers which have been
withheld from the Federal Government by the Constitution.
By the theory of our Government, majorities rule; but this
right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It is a right to be
exercised in subordination to the Constitution, and in conformity
to it. One great object of the Constitution was to restrain ma-
jorities from oppressing minorities, or encroaching upon their
just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitu-
tion, as a shield against such oppression.
,That the blessings of liberty which our Constitution secures
may be enjoyed alike by minorities and majorities, the Executive
has been wisely invested with a qualified veto upon the acts of
the Legislature. It is a negative power, and is conservative in
its character. It arrests for the time hasty, inconsiderate, or
unconstitutional legislation; invites reconsideration, and trans-
fers questions at issue between the legislative and executive de-
partments to the tribunal of the people. Like all other powers,
it is subject to be abused. When judiciously and properly ex-
ercised, the Constitution itself may be saved from infraction,
and the rights of all preserved and protected.
The inestimable value of our Federal Union is felt and
acknowledged by all. By this system of united and confeder-
ated States, our people are permitted, collectively and individ-
ually, to seek their own happiness in their own way; and the
consequences have been most auspicious. Since the Union was
formed, the number of States has increased from thirteen to
twenty-eight; two of these have taken their position as members
of the confederacy within the last week. Our population has
increased from three to twenty millions. New communities and
States are seeking protection under its segis, and multitudes from
108
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the Old World are flocking to our shores to participate in its
blessings. Beneath its benign sway, peace and prosperity pre-
vail. Freed from the burdens and miseries of war, our trade
and intercourse have extended throughout the world. Mind,
no longer tasked in devising means to accomplish or resist
schemes of ambition, usurpation, or conquest, is devoting itself
to man's true interests, in developing his faculties and powers,
and the capacity of nature to minister to his enjoyments.
Genius is free to announce its inventions and discoveries; and
the hand is free to accomplish whatever the head conceives, not
incompatible with the rights of a fellow-being. All distinctions
of birth or of rank have been abolished. All citizens, whether
native or adopted, are placed upon terms of precise equality.
All are entitled to equal rights and equal protection. No union
exists between Church and State; and perfect freedom of
opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds.
These are some of the blessings secured to our happy land
by our Federal Union. To perpetuate them, it is our sacred
duty to preserve it. Who shall assign limits to the achigve-
ments of free minds and free hands, under the protection of
this glorious Union? No treason to mankind, since the or-
ganization of society, would be equal in atrocity to that of him
who would lift his hand to destroy it. He would overthrow
the noblest structure of human wisdom, which protects himself
and his fellow-man. He would stop the progress of free gov-
ernment, and involve his country either in anarchy or despot-
ism. He would extinguish the fire of liberty which warms and
animates the hearts of happy millions, and invites all the na-
tions of the earth to imitate our example. If he say that error
and wrong are committed in the administration of the Govern-
ment, let him remember that nothing human can be perfect;
and that under no other system of government revealed by
Heaven, or devised by man, has reason been allowed so free
and broad a scope to combat error.
Has the sword of despots proved to be a safer or surer in-
strument of reform in government than enlightened reason?
Does he expect to find among the ruins of this Union a hap-
pier abode for our swarming millions than they now have under
it? Every lover of his country must shudder at the thought
JAMES KNOX POLK.
109
of the possibility of its dissolution, and will be ready to adopt
the patriotic sentiment: "Our Federal Union : it must be pre-
served." To preserve it, the compromise which alone enabled
our fathers to form a common Constitution for the government
and protection of so many States, and distinct communities, of
such diversified habits, interests, and domestic institutions, must
be sacredly and religiously observed. Any attempt to disturb
or destroy these compromises, being terms of the compact of
Union, can lead to none other than the most ruinous and dis-
astro us consequences.
It is a source of deep regret that, in some sections of our
country, misguided persons have occasionally indulged in
schemes and agitations, whose object is tbe destruction of
domestic institutions existing in other sections, institutions
which existed at the adoption of the Constitution, and were
recognized and protected by it. All must see that if it were
possible for them to be successful in attaining their object,
the dissolution of the Union, and a consequent destruction of
our happy form of Government, must speedily follow.
I am happy to believe, that at every period of our exist-
ence as a Nation, there has existed, and continues to exist,
among the great mass of our people, a devotion to the Union
of the States, which will shield and protect it against the
moral treason of any who would seriously contemplate its
destruction. To secure a continuance of that devotion, the
compromises of the Constitution must not only be preserved,
but sectional jealousies and heart-burnings must be discoun-
tenanced; and all should remember that they are members
of the same political family, having a common destiny. To
increase the attachment of our people to the Union, our laws
should be just. Any policy which shall tend to favor mo-
hopolies, or the peculiar interests of sections or classes, must
operate to the prejudice of the interests of their fellow-citi-
zens, and should be avoided. If tbe compromises of the Con-
stitution be preserved, if sectional jealousies and heart-burnings
be discountenanced, if our laws be just, and the Government
be practically administered strictly within tbe limits of power
prescribed to it, we may discard all apprehensions for the
safety of the Union.
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LIFE AND TIMES OF
With these views of the nature, character, and objects of
the Government, and the value of the Union, I shall steadily
oppose the creation of those institutions and systems which,
in their nature, tend to pervert it from its legitimate purposes,
and make it the instrument of sections, classes, and indi-
viduals. We need no national bank, or other extraneous
institutions, planted around the Government to control or
strengthen it in opposition to the will of its authors. Experi-
ence has taught us how unnecessary they are as auxiliaries of
the public authorities, how impotent for good and how power-
ful for mischief.
Ours was intended to be a plain and frugal Government;
and I shall regard it to be my duty to recommend to Congress,
and as far as the Executive is concerned, to enforce by all the
means within my power, the strictest economy in the expendi-
ture of the public money, which may be compatible with the
public interests.
A national debt has become almost an institution of Euro-
pean monarchies. It is viewed in some of them as an essen-
tial prop to existing governments. Melancholy is the condi-
tion of that people whose government can be sustained only
by a system which periodically transfers large amounts from
the labor of the many to the coffers of the few. Such a sys-
tem is incompatible with the ends for which our Kepublican
Government was instituted. Under a wise policy, the debts
contracted in our Revolution, and during the War of 1812,
have been happily extinguished. By a judicious application of
the revenues, not required for other necessary purposes, it is
not doubted that the debt which has grown out of the circum-
stances of the last few years may be speedily paid off.
I congratulate my fellow-citizens on the entire restoration
of the credit of the General Government of the Union, and
that of many of the States. Happy would it be for the in-
debted States if they were freed from their liabilities, many
of which were incautiously contracted. Although the Gov-
ernment of the Union is neither in a legal nor a moral sense
bound for the debts of the States, and it would be a violation
of our compact of Union to assume them, yet we can not but
feel a deep interest in seeing all the States meet their public
JAMES KNOX POLK.
Ill
liabilities, and pay off their just debts, at the earliest practi-
cable period. That they will do so, as soon as it can he d.one
without imposing too heavy burdens on their citizens, there
is no reason to doubt. The sound moral and honorable feel-
ing of the people of the indebted States can not he ques-
tioned; and we are happy to perceive a settled disposition on
their part, as their ability returns, after a season of unexam-
pled pecuniary embarrassment, to pay off all just demands,
and to acquiesce in any reasonable measure to accomplish that
object.
One of the difficulties which we have had to encounter in
the practical administration of the Government, consists in the
adjustment of our revenue laws, and the levy of taxes neces-
sary for the support of Government. In the general prop-
osition, that no more money shall he collected than the neces-
sities of an economical Administration shall require, all parties
seem to acquiesce. Nor does there seem to he any material
difference of opinion as to the absence of right in the Govern-
ment to tax one section of country, or one class of citizens, or
one occupation, for the mere profit of another. "Justice and
sound policy forbid the Federal Government to foster one
branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to cherish the
interests of one portion to the injury of another portion of our
common country."
I have heretofore declared to my fellow-citizens that, in my
"judgment, it is the duty of the Government to extend as
far as may he practicable to do so, by its revenue laws, and
all other means within its power, fair and just protection to all
the great interests of the whole Union, embracing agriculture,
manufactures, the mechanic arts, commerce, and navigation,"
I have also declared my opinion to he in " favor of a tariff for
revenue," and that in adjusting the details of such a tariff, I
have sanctioned such moderate discriminating duties as would
produce the amount of revenue needed, and at the same time,
afford reasonable incidental protection to our home industry, and
that I was "opposed to a tariff for protection merely, and not
for revenue."
The power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and
excises," was an indispensable one to he conferred on the
112
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Federal Government, which, without it, would possess no means
of providing for its own support. In executing this power, by
levying a tariff of duties for the support of Government, 'the
raising revenue should be the object, and protection the inci-
dent. To reverse this principle, and make protection the
object and revenue the incident, would be to indict manifest
injustice upon all other than the protected interests. In levy-
ing duties ,for revenue, it is doubtless proper to make such
discriminations within the revenue principle, as will afford in-
cidental protection to our home interests.- Within the rev-
enue limit, there is a discretion to discriminate; beyond that
limit, the rightful exercise of the power is not conceded. The
incidental protection afforded to our home interests by discrim-
ination within the revenue range, it is believed, will he ample.
In making discriminations, all our home interests should, as far
as practicable, be equally protected.
The largest portion of our people are agriculturists. Others
are employed in manufactures, commerce, navigation, and the
mechanic arts. They are all engaged in their respective pur-
suits, and their joint labors constitute the national or home iff-
dustry. To tax one branch of this home industry for the
benefit of another, would be unjust. No one of these interests
can rightfully claim an advantage over the others, or to be
enriched by impoverishing the others. All are equally entitled
to the fostering care and protection of the Government. In
exercising a sound discretion in levying discriminating duties,
within the limit prescribed, care should be taken that it be
done in a manner not to benefit the wealthy few at the ex-
pense of the toiling millions, by taxing lowest the luxuries of
life, or articles of superior quality and high price, which can
only be consumed by the wealthy; and highest, the neces-
saries of life, or articles of coarse quality and low price, which
the poor and great mass of the people must consume. The bur-
dens of Government should, as far as practicable, be dis-
tributed justly and equally among all classes of our population.
These general views, long entertained on the subject, I have
deemed it proper to reiterate. It is a subject upon which con-
fiictiug interests of sections and occupations are supposed to
exist, and a spirit of mutual concession and compromise in
JAMES KNOX POLK.
113
adjusting its details should be cherished by every part of our
wide-spread country, as the only means of preserving harmony
and a cheerful acquiescence of all in the operation of our rev-
enue laws. Our patriotic citizens in every part of the Union
will readily submit to the payment of such taxes as shall be
needed for the support of their Government, whether in peace
or in war, if they are so levied as to distribute the burdens as
equally as possible among them.
The Republic of Texas has made known her desire to come
into our Union, to form a part of our Confederacy, and to en-
joy with us the blessing of liberty secured and guaranteed by
our Constitution. Texas was once a part of our country; was «
unwisely ceded away to a foreign power, is now independent,
and possesses an undoubted right to dispose of a part or the
whole of her territory, and to merge her sovereignty as a
separate and independent State, in ours. I congratulate my
country that, by an act of the last Congress of the United
States, the assent of this Government has been given'to the
reunion; and it only remains for the two countries to agree
upon the terms, to consummate an object so important to both.
I regard the question of annexation as belonging exclu-
sively to the United States and Texas. They are independent
powers, competent to contract; and foreign nations have no
right to interfere with them, or to take exceptions to their re-
union. Foreign powers do not seem to appreciate the true
character of our Government. Our Union is a confederation
of independent States, whose policy is peace with each other
and all the world. To enlarge its limits, is to extend the do-
minion of peace over additional territories and increasing mill-
ions. The world has nothing to fear from military ambition
in our Government. While the Chief Magistrate and the
popular branch of Congress are elected for short terms by the
sufl'rages of those millions who must, in their own persons,
bear all the burdens and miseries of war, our Government can
not be otherwise than pacific. Foreign powers should, there-
fore, look on the annexation of Texas to the United States,
not as the conquest of a nation seeking to extend her domin-
ions by arms and violence, but as the peaceful acquisition of
a territory once her own, by adding another member to our
8—K
114
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Confederation, with the consent of that member, thereby di-
minishing the chances of war, and opening to them new and
ever-increasing markets for their products.
To Texas the reunion is important, because the strong pro-
tecting arm of our Government would be extended over her,
and the vast resources of her fertile soil and genial climate
would be speedily developed; while the safety of New Orleans,
and of our south-western frontier, against hostile aggression,
as well as the interest of the whole Union, would be pro-
moted by it.
In the earlier stages of our national existence, the opinion
, prevailed with some, that our system of confederated States
could not operate successfully over an extended territory, and
serious objections have, at different times, been made to the
enlargement of our boundaries. These objections were ear-
nestly urged when we acquired Louisiana. Experience has
shown that they were not well founded. The title of numer-
ous Indian tribes to vast tracts of country has been extin-
guished. New States have been admitted into the Union;
new Territories have been created, and our jurisdiction and
laws extended over them. As our population has expanded,
the Union has been cemented and strengthened; as our boun-
daries have been enlarged, and our agricultural population has
been spread over a large surface, our Federative system has
acquired additional strength and security. It may well be
doubted whether it would not be in greater danger of over-
throw, if our present population were confined to the compar-
atively narrow limits of the original thirteen States, than it is,
now that they are sparsely settled over an expanded territory.
It is confidently believed that our system may be safely ex-
tended to the utmost bounds of our territorial limits; and that,
as it shall be extended, the bonds of our Union, so far from
being weakened, will become stronger.
None can fail to see the danger to our safety and future
peace, if Texas remains an independent State, or becomes an
ally or dependency of some foreign nation more powerful than
herself. Is there one among our citizens who would not prefer
perpetual peace with Texas, to occasional wars, which so often
occur between bordering independent nations? Is there one
JAMES KNOX POLK.
115
■who ■would not prefer free intercourse with her to high duties
on all our products and manufactures which enter her ports or
cross her frontiers ? Is there one who would not prefer an un-
restricted communication with her citizens to the frontier oh-
structions which must occur if she remains out of the Union ?
Whatever is good or evil in the local institutions of Texas will
remain her own, whether annexed to the United States or not.
None of the present States will be responsible for them, any
more than they are for the local institutions of each other.
They have confederated together for certain specified objects.
Upon the same principle that they would refuse to form
a perpetual union with Texas, because of her local institutions,^
our forefathers would have been prevented from forming our
present Union. Perceiving no valid objection to the measure,
and many reasons for its adoption, vitally affecting the peace,
the safety, and the prosperity of both countries, I shall, on the
broad principle which formed the basis, and produced the adop-
tion of our Constitution, and not in any narrow spirit of sectional
policy, endeavor, by all Constitutional, honorable, and appropri-
ate means, to consummate the express will of the people and
Government of the United States, by the re-annexation of Texas
to our Union, at the earliest practicable period.
Nor will it become in a less degree my duty to assert and
maintain, by all Constitutional means, the right of the United
States to that portion of our territory which lies beyond the
Rocky Mountains. Our title to the country of the Oregon is
"clear and unquestionable;" and already are our people pre-
paring to perfect that title, by occupying it with their wives
and children. But eighty years ago, our population was con-
fined on the west by the ridge of the Alleghanies. Within that
period—within the life-time, I might say, of some of my hear-
ers—our people, increasing to many millions, have filled the
eastern valley of the Mississippi; adventurously ascended the
Missouri to its head-springs; and are already engaged in estab-
lishing the blessings of self-gbvernment in valleys, of which the
rivers flow to the Pacific. The world beholds the peaceful tri-
umphs of the industry of our emigrants. To us belongs the
duty of protecting them adequately, wherever they may be
upon our soil. The jurisdiction of our laws, and the benefits
116
LIFE AND TIMES OF
of our republican institutions, should be extended over them in
the distant regions which they have selected for their homes.
The increasing facilities of intercourse will easily bring the
States, of which the formation in that part of our territory can
not long be delayed, within the sphere of our Federative Union.
In the meantime, every obligation imposed by treaty or con-
ventional stipulations should be sacredly respected.
In the management of our foreign relations, it will be my
aim to observe a careful respect for the rights of other nations,
while our own will be the subject of constant watchfulness.
Equal and exact justice should characterize all our intercourse
with foreign countries. All alliances having a tendency to
jeopard the welfare and honor of our country, or sacrifice any
one of the national interests, will be studiously avoided; and
yet no opportunity will be lost to cultivate a favorable under-
standing with foreign governments, by which our navigation
and commerce may be extended, and the ample products of our
fertile soil, as well as the manufactures of our skillful artisans,
find a ready market and remunerating prices in foreign
countries.
In taking " care that the laws be faithfully executed," a
strict performance of duty will be exacted from all public offi-
cers. From those officers, especially, who are charged with the
collection and disbursement of the public revenue, will prompt
and rigid accountability be required. Any culpable failure or
delay on their part to account for the moneys intrusted to
them, at the times and in the manner required by law, will, in
every instance, terminate the official connection of such default-
ing officer with the Government.
Although, in-our country, the chief magistrate must almost
of necessity be chosen by a party, and stand pledged to its
principles and measures, yet in his official action he should not
be the President of a part only, but of the whole people of the
United States. While he executes the law with an impartial
hand, shrinks from no proper responsibility, and faithfully
carries out in the Executive Department of the Government
the principles and policy of those who have chosen him, he
should not be unmindful that our fellow-citizens who have dif-
fered with him in opinion are entitled to the full and free
JAMES KNOX POLK.
117
exercise of their opinions and judgments, and that the rights of
all are entitled to respect and regard.
Confidently relying upon the aid and assistance of the co-
ordinate branches of the Government, in conducting our public
affairs, I enter upon the discharge of the high duties which have
been assigned me by the people, again humbly supplicating that
Divine Being who has watched over and protected our beloved
country from its infancy to the present hour, to continue his
generous benedictions upon us, that we may continue to be a
prosperous and happy people.
This address was written before the President
left his home at Columbia. Before its delivery at
Washington it was submitted to some, or all, of the
members of his Cabinet, as it possibly had been to
some of his friends in Tennessee. Mr. Polk wrote
his own messages and most of his other public docu-
ments and letters, admitting no assistance in their
preparation. His messages were in parts, and then
in whole submitted to his Cabinet. Yet he had one
faithful adviser to whom he was accustomed through-
out his public career to submit all his writings, his
wife. In the preparation of his inaugural as Gov-
ernor of Tennessee, he sought her opinion and criti-
cism at every point. At Washington City he pur-
sued the same course. The opposite opinions of
himself and his Cabinet were also often submitted to
her without her knowledge of their authors, and her
quick decision was sometimes against him.
This uncommonly long inaugural address is mainly
taken up with the annunciation of principles. It re-
afl&rms General Jackson's famous declaration as to
the preservation of the Union; and, perhaps, with
118
LIFE AND TIMES OF
unnecessary pointedness refers to the rights of this
country on the north-western border, then a matter of
negotiation with Great Britain. The state of the
Texas relations is referred to with great delight; the
agitation of the slavery question, and other matters
of importance to the country, are mentioned in a way
to leave no doubt as to the position of the President.
On the day of the inauguration, the Senate being
in special session as usual on these occasions, Presi-
dent Polk sent in the following nominations for his
Cabinet: James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, Secre-
tary of State; Robert J. Walker, Mississippi, Secre-
tary of the Treasury ; William L. Marcy, New York,
Secretary of War; George Bancroft, then of Massa-
chusetts. Secretary of the Navy; Cave Johnson,
Tennessee, Postmaster-General; and John Y. Mason,
of Mr. Tyler's Cabinet, Attorney-General. This
well-selected Cabinet the Senate at once confirmed.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
119
CHAPTER VII.
THE POLK, CALHOUN, AND TYLER INTRIGUE —BLAIR'S
" GLOBE" THE PRICE OF SOUTH CAROLINA—A STORY
FOR WHICH ALLOWANCES MAY BE MADE.
Before leaving Tennessee to enter upon the
duties of his office Mr. Polk, in company with
some friends, visited Andrew Jackson, .for the last
time, at the Hermitage. It has been charged that
Mr. Polk made this visit to receive from the old man
his blessing and his will as to his approaching Ad-
ministration. It is a mistake to say that Mr. Polk
was ever led by General Jackson, and especially at
this time the weak old man, within a few months of
the grave, was in no disposition to direct for his
friends. His gratification'on account of Mr. Polk's ,
election, and his growing interest in the affairs of
another world, gave him little inclination, as he had
little ability, to devise plans for the administration
of the Government. The principles developed ,dur-
ing the long reign" of Andrew Jackson were
heartily supported by Mr. Polk; and when a young
man studying law at Nashville, and at other times,
he undoubtedly had occasion to admire General Jack-
son; and received from him much of his partisan
enthusiasm, and some of his executive force. Yet
Mr. Polk was not a follower of any man. He was a
120
LIFE AND TIMES OF
thinker, and principles and practices were alike mat-
ters of principle with him. His earnest support of
General Jackson sprang from his own convictions,
while he admired and praised the exceptional strength
and resource with which Jackson executed his own
and the accepted suggestions of his advisers. There
is, however, good reason for supposing that Mr.
Polk mentioned his designs as to his Cabinet to Gen-
eral Jackson, and that the old hero made one request
concerning it, and that in the interest of one of his
first friends. At all events, at Louisville Mr. Polk
found Wm. 0. Butler, and without allowing him to
prepare for the trip, took him with him to Washing-
ton City, for the single purpose of making him Sec-
tary of War. But in the political language of a
later day, the slate Mr. Polk had prepared was
broken when he got to the National Capital, and
Butler was, by necessity, left out. Mr. Polk had
determined to give Silas Wright the position of Sec-
retary of the Treasury, but Mr. Wright, who had
run several thousand votes ahead of the Polk ticket
in New York, and been elected Governor, declined,
and recommended Azariah Flagg. But the Treasury
was bestowed upon Mr. Walker, who had been de-
signed for Attorney-General, and then it was thought
proper to give Mr. Van Buren and his New York
friends the privilege of designating a man for the
War Department, the only available place. They
sent the name of Benjamin F. Butler by special
messenger to Washington, but just before his arrival
the Cabinet had been made up by the appointment
JAMES KNOX POLK.
121
of Wm. L. Marcy. This was not the only indication
of Mr. Polk's total independence of General Jackson
in throwing aside the man above all others, perhaps,
whom the General would have taken real delight in
having made Secretary of War. Mr. Polk had al-
ready made arrangements to take the public patron-
age from Mr. Blair, of " The Globe," and poor Jack-
son lived to see this incomprehensible thing to him,
carried out. Mr. Calhoun was quite anxious to be
continued as Secretary of State in the Cabinet of
Mr. Polk, on account of the Oregon and other ne-
gotiations he had in hand.
Mr. Polk had hardly reached his quarters at
Coleman's before the tide of office-seekers from the
four quarters of the Nation set in, and from there
it flowed to the White House on the 4th when the
President and his family took possession, after the
inauguration. This continued to be the greatest
drain upon his patience and life, as it has been upon
every occupant of the Executive Chair since General
Jackson.
Before examining the more important affairs with
which Mr. Polk at once found himself surrounded, it
may be desirable at this point to present a remark-
able page of history, no less interesting because it
involved the President, General Jackson, and several
other prominent characters, without being especially
reputable to some of them. The disposition of
Francis P. Blair and his "Globe" became, in fact,
Mr. Polk's first duty, according to previous contract,
into which, it was claimed, he had entered before the
122
LIFE AND TIMES OF
election. It has been held that Mr. Polk went into
the Presidential ofEce without promises or pledges to
be carried out. But this is a mistake. Besides the
whole party platform, and several objects his Ad-
ministration was expected to accomplish, it was
gravely charged against him that he had, by a cor-
rupt bargain, obtained the electoral vote of South *
Carolina, then the least Democratic of all the States
in her mode of election.
Francis P. Blair, editor of "The Globe," was,
undoubtedly, a thorn in the sides of President Tyler
and Mr. Calhoun, and a strong desire to stop his
unbridled career was natural enough with them.
This was especially so with Mr. Calhoun, as "The
Globe" had not only been an enemy of nullification,
but was also then an enemy of him and all his doc-
trines.. It also opposed Mr. Tyler's Administration at
every point, and was as openly and persistently against
him as it was against his Administration. Every
means had been used to soften or silence Mr. Blair, but
to no purpose. A large job of Government printing
was given to him, but he struck back all the harder at
the Administration, and the printing was taken from
him. One way only presented itself. The electoral
vote of South Carolina was at the disposal of Mr.
Calhoun, as there was no popular vote in that State,
the Legislature giving the State to any Presidential
candidate as it saw fit. Mr. Tyler was yet before the
people for election to the Presidency, and although
there was not much more probability of his carrying
any State than there was of James G. Birney, it was
JAMES KNOX POLK.
123
quite certain that he would diminish the Democratic
vote, and, in a closely contested election, Mr. Polk
would not be able to stand any thing of that kind.
Polk and his friends* became so anxious on this
point as to consider it necessary to make some
effort to get Mr. Tyler to abandon the field. Mr.
Polk wrote to General Jackson on the subject, and
the General wrote to Mr. Blair and President Tyler,
warning one of vile schemes against him, and the
other against the improprieties of dividing the Demo-
cratic vote for the benefit of Mr. Clay. Mr. Cal-
houn now came to the rescue. Early in August
or two or three months before the election, at all
events, a friend or agent of Mr. Calhoun from South
Carolina visited Mr. Polk at Columbia, and with him
Polk agreed to discontinue Mr. Blair and " The Globe "
as the organ of the Administration, on condition
that the electoral vote of South Carolina should be
secured for him. From this time forward Mr. Cal-
houn and Mr. Tyler both freely operated in the
cause of Mr. Polk, and all sources of division in the
Democratic ranks were removed. General Jackson
was always in the dark as to the "true inwardness"
of this matter, and died without knowing that Mr.
Calhoun, whom he had killed forever, was trading
South Carolina for the gratification of seeing his old
friend and advocate put down. The General finally
advised Mr. Blair to sell "The Globe," as did Mr.
Van Buren and other friends, and this was done.
Thomas Ritchie, of the "Richmond Enquirer," be-
came the successor of Francis P. Blair and John C.
124
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Rives, and the ''Daily Union" took the place of
"The Globe." The amount paid for "The Globe"
was thirty-five thousand dollars, and it was claimed
by Mr. Benton, Mr. Rives, and others that fifty thou-
sand dollars were taken from the Government funds
to make this purchase, to appease Mr. Calhoun, se-
cure the electoral vote of South Carolina, and, to
some extent, furnish an additional inducement to
President Tyler to withdraw from the race. This
disreputable affair has been traced as far as it can
well be done at this day, but Thomas Hart Benton
has been taken as the main authority, high enough,
perhaps, for the great majority of his party.
Although Mr. Calhoun had some unfinished work
which he hoped would induce President Polk to con-
tinue him in service, he doubtlessly based his expec-
tations upon the vote of South Carolina and "The
Globe" negotiation. The grounds may have been
sufficient to arouse such expectations, yet it is diffi-
cult to imagine that any thing could have led Mr.
Polk to propose the appointment of Mr. Calhoun to
a place in his Cabinet.
But this charge of bargain and corruption, in-
volving at least three important figures in the his-
tory, may well be set forth with a greater degree
of completeness. Mr. Benton thus presents the
case :—
"It was in the month of August, 1844, that a leading
citizen of South Carolina, and a close friend of Mr. Cal-
houn, one who had been at the Baltimore Presidential
Convention, but not in it, arrived at Mr. Polk's residence
JAMES KNOX POLK.
125
in Tennessee, had interviews with him, and made known
the condition on which the vote of South Carolina for
him might be dependent. That condition was to dis-
continue Mr. Blair as the organ of the Administration if
he should be elected. The electoral vote of the State be-
ing in the hands of the General Assembly, and not in the
people, was disposable by the politicians, and had been
habitually disposed of by them, and even twice thrown
away in the space of a few years. Mr. Polk was certain
of the vote of the State if he agreed to the required con-
dition ; and he did so. Mr. Blair was agreed to be given up.
Mr. Tyler, now fully repudiated by the Whigs, and
carrying Democratic colors, and with the power and pat-
rouage of the Federal Government in his hands would
take off some votes, enough in a closely contested State to
turn the scale in favor of Mr. Clay. Hence it became
essential to get Mr. Tyler out of the way of Mr. Polk;
and to do that, the condition was to get Mr. Blair out of
the way of Mr. Tyler. Mr. Polk was anxious for this.
A friend of his, who afterwards became a member of his
Cabinet, wrote to him in July, that the main obstacle to
Mr. Tyler's withdrawal was the course of 'The Globe'
towards him and his friends. Another of those most
interested in the result urged Mr. Polk to devise some
mode of inducing Mr. Tyler to withdraw, and General
Jackson was Requested Ho ascertain the motives tohich act-
uated the course of " The Globe " towards Mr. Tyler and his
friends' These facts appear in a letter from Mr. Polk to
General Jackson, in which he says to him : ' The main
object in the way of Mr. Tyler's withdrawal, is the course
of " The Globe" towards himself and his friends' These
communications took place in the month before the South
Carolina gentleman visited Tennessee. Mr. Polk's letter
to General Jackson is dated the 23d of July. In about
as short time after that visit as information could come
from Tennessee to Washington, Mr. Tyler publicly with-
126
LIFE AND TIMES OF
drew his Presidential pretensions! and his official paper,
'The Madisonian,' and his supporters passed over to Mr.
Polk. The inference is irresistible, that the consideration
of receiving the vote of South Carolina, and of getting
Mr. Tyler out of the way of Mr. Polk, was the agreement
to displace Mr. Blair as Government editor if he should
*be elected.
"And now we come to another fact, in this connec-
tion, as the phrase is, about which also there is no dis-
pute; and that fact is this : On the fourth day of Novem-
ber, 1844, being after Mr. Tyler had joined Mr. Polk,
and when the near approach of the Presidential election
authorized reliable calulations to be made on its result,
the sum of fifty thousand dollars, by an order from the
Treasury in Washington, was taken from a respectable
bank in Philadelphia, where it was safe and convenient
for public use, and transferred to a village bank in the
interior of Pennsylvania, where there was no public use
for it, and where its safety was questionable. This ap-
pears from the records of the Treasury. Authentic letters
written in December following from the person who had
control of this village bank (Simon Cameron, Esq., a
Senator in Congress), went to a gentleman in Tennessee,
informing him that fifty thousand dollars was in his hands
for the purpose of establishing a new Government organ
in Washington City, proposing to him to 'be its editor,
and urging him to come on to Washington for the pur-
pose. These letters were sent to Andrew Jackson Don-
elson, Esq., connection and ex-private secretary of Presi-
dent Jackson, who immediately refused the proffered
editorship, and turned over the letters to General Jackson.
His (Jackson's) generous and high blood boiled with
indignation at what seemed to be a sacrifice of Mr. Blair
for some political consideration ; for the letters were so
written as to imply a cognizance on the part of Mr.
Polk, and of two persons who were to be members of his
JAMES KNOX POLK.
127
Cabinet; and that cognizance was strengthened hy a fact
unknown to General Jackson, namely, that Mr. Polk
himself, in due season, proposed to Mr. Blair to yield to
Mr. Donelson as actual editor, himself writing sub rosa;
which Mr. Blair utterly refused. It was a contrivance
of Mr. Polk to get rid of Mr. Blair in compliance with
his engagement to Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Tyler, without
breaking with Mr. Blair and his friends; hut he had to
deal with a man, and with men, who would have no such
hugger-mugger work; and to whom an open breach was
preferable to a simulated friendship. General Jackson
wrote to Mr. Blair to apprise him of what was going on,
and to assure him of his steadfast friendship, and to let him
know that Mr. Ritchie, of the ' Richmond Enquirer,' was
the person to take the place on the refusal of Andrew
Jackson Donelson, and to foretell mischiefs to Mr. Polk
and his party if he fell into these schemes, of which Mr.
Robert J. Walker was believed to he the chief contriver,
and others of the Cabinet passive instruments. On the
14th of December, 1844, he (General Jackson) wrote
to Mr. Blair:—
"' But there is another project on foot as void of good
sense and benefit to the Democratic cause as the other, hut
not as wicked, proceeding from weak and inexperienced
minds. It is this: To bring about a partnership between
you and Mr. Ritchie, you to continue proprietor and
Ritchie the editor. This, to me, is a most extraordinary
conception, coming from any well-informed mind or expe-
rienced politician. It is true, Mr. Ritchie is an expe-
rienced editor, but sometimes goes off at half-cock before
he sees the whole ground, and does the party great injury
before he sees his error, and then has great difficulty to
get back into the right track again. Witness his course
on my removal of the deposits, and how much injury he
did us before he got into the right track again. Another
faux pas he made when he went off with Rives and the
128 LIFE AND TIMES OF
*
conservatives, and advocated for the safe keeping of the
public revenue special deposits in the State banks, as if,
where the directory were corrupt, there could be any
more security in special deposits in corrupt banks than in
general deposits, and it was some time before this great
absurdity could be beat out of his mind.
"' These are visionary measures of what I call weak
politicians who suggest them, but who wish to become
great by foolish changes. Polk, I believe, will stick by
you faithfully; should he not, he is lost; but I have no
fears but that he will, and being informed confidentially
of this movement, may have it in his power to put it all
down. There will be great intrigue going on at "Wash-
ington this winter.'—(December 14, 1844.)
"' I fear there are some of our Democratic friends
who are trying to bring about a partnership of which I
wrote you, which shows a want of confidence, or something
worse. Be on your guard, no partnership; you have the
confidence of the great body of the Democrats, and I have
no confidence in shifting politicians.'—(December 21.)
"'Another plan is to get Mr. Ritchie interested as
editor of " The Globe," all of which I gave you an in-
timation of, and which I thought had been put down.
But that any leading Democrat here had any thought
of becoming interested in "The Madisonian," to make
it the organ of the Administration, was such a thing
as I could not believe; as common sense at once pointed
out, as a consequence that it would divide the Democracy,
and destroy Polk's Administration. Why, it would blow
him up. The moment I heard it, I adopted such meas-
ures as I trust have put an end to it, as I know nothing
could be so injurious to Polk and his Administration.
The pretext for this movement will be "The Globe's"
support of Mr. Wright. Let me know if there is any
truth in this rumor. I guarded Colonel Polk against
any abandonment of "The Globe." If true, it would
JAMES KNOX POLK.
129
place Colonel Polk in the shoes of Mr. Tyler.'—(Feb-
ruary 28, 1845.)
"' I have written a long, candid, and friendly letter to
Mr. Polk, bringing to his view the dilemma into which
he has got by jome bad advice, and which his good sense
ought to have prevented. I have assured him of your
uniform declarations to me of your firm support, and of
the destruction of the Democratic party if he takes any
one but you as the Executive organ, until you do some-
thing to violate that confidence which the Democracy
reposes in you. I ask, in emphatic terms, what cause can
he assign for not continuing your paper, the organ that was
mine and Mr. Van Buren's,_ whose Administration he
(Polk) and you, hand to hand, supported, and those great
fundamental principles you and he have continued to sup-
port, and have told him frankly that you will never de-
grade yourself or your paper by submitting to the terms
proposed. I am very sick, exhausted by writing to Mr.
Polk, and will write you again soon. I can only add that,
although my letter to Mr. Polk is both friendly and
frank, I have done justice to you, and I hope he will say at
once to you. Go on with my organ as you have been the
organ of Jackson and Van Buren.- Should he not, I have
told him his fate, a divided Democracy, and all the political
cliques looking to the succession, will annoy and crush
him; the fairest prospects of successful Administration by
folly and jealousy lost. I would wish you to inform me
which of the heads of the Departments, if any, are hos-
tile to you. If Polk does not look well to his course, the
divisions in New York and Pennsylvania will destroy
him.'—(April 4, 1845.)
"' I wrote you and the President, on the 4th instant,
and was in hopes that my views would open his eyes to
to his own interests and union of the Democratic party.
But from the letters before me, I suppose my letter to the
President will not prevent that evil to him and the Demo-
9—K
130
LIFE AND TIMES OF
cratic party that I have used my voice to prevent. I am
too unwell to write much to-day. I have read your letter
with care and much interest. I knew you would never
degrade yourself by dividing the editorial chair with any
one for any cause. I well know that you^ never can or
will abandon your Democratic principles. You can not,
under existing circumstances, do any thing to save your
character and Democratic principles, and your high stand-
ing with all classes of the Democracy, but by selling out
your paper. When you sell, have good security for the
consideration money. Ritchie is greatly involved, if not
finally broke; and you know Cameron, who boasts that
he has fifty thousand dollars to invest in a newspaper.
Under all existing circumstances, I say to you, sell, and
when you do, I look to a split in the Democratic ranks,
which I will sorely regret, and which might have been so
easily avoided.'—(April 7.)
"' I have been quite sick for several days. My mind,
since ever I heard of the attitude the President had
assumed with you as editor of " The Globe," which was
the most unexpected thing I ever met with, my mind has
been troubled, and it was not only unexpected by me,
but has shown less good common sense, by the President,
than any act of his life, and calculated to divide, instead
of uniting, the Democracy; which appears to be his rea-
son for urging this useless and foolish measure at the very
threshold of his Administration, and when every thing
appeared to augur well for, to him, a prosperous Admin-
istration. The President here, before he set out for Wash-
ington, must have been listening to the secret counsels of
some political cliques, such as Calhoun or Tyler cliques
(for there are such here); or, after he reached Wash-
ington, some of the secret friends of some of the aspirants
must have gotten hold of his ear, and spoiled his common
sense, or he never would have made such a movement, so
uncalled for, aud well calculated to sever the Democracy
JAMES KNOX POLK.
131
by calling down upon himself suspicions by the act of
secretly favoring some of the political cliques who are
looking to the succession for some favorite. I wrote him
a long letter on the 4th, telling him there was but one safe
course to pursue, send for you, and direct you and " The
Globe" to proceed as the organ of his Administration,
give you all his confidence, and all would be well, and
end well. This is the substance; and I had a hope the
receipt of this letter, and some others written by mutual
friends, would have restored all things to harmony and
confidence again. I rested on this hope until the 7th,
when I received yours of the 30th, and two confidential
letters from the President, directed to be laid before me,
from which it would seem that the purchase of "The
Globe," and to get rid of you, its editor, is the great absorb-
ing question before the President. Well, who is to he the
purchaser f Mr. Ritchie and Major A. J. Donelson its
editors. Query as to the latter. The above question I have
asked the President. Is that renegade politician. Came-
ron, who boasts of his fifty thousand dollars to set up a
new paper, to be one of them? Or is Knox Walker to
be the purchaser? Who is to purchase? and where is the
money to come from ? Is Dr. M. Gwinn, the satellite of
Calhoun, the great friend of Robert J. Walker? a perfect
bankrupt in property. I would like to know what por-
tion of the Cabinet are supporting and advising the
President to this course, where nothing but injury can
result to him in the end, and division in his Cabinet,
arising from jealousy. What political clique is to be
benefited ?
"My dear friend, let me know all about the Cabinet,
and their movements on this subject. How loathsome it
is to me to see an old friend laid aside, principles of jus-
tice and friendship forgotten, and all for the sake of policy,
and the great Democratic party divided or endangered
for policy. I can not reflect upon it with any calmness;
132
LIFE AND TIMES OF
every point of it, upon scrutiny, turns to harm and
disunion, and not one beneficial result can be expected
from it. I will be anxious to know the result. If har-r
mony is restored, and "The Globe" the organ, I will
rejoice; if sold, to whom, and for what. Have, if you
sell, the purchase money well secured. This may be the last
letter I may be able to write you; but live or die, I am
your friend (and never deserted one from policy), and
leave my papers and reputation in your keeping.'—
(April 9.)
"' The Globe' was sold, and was paid for; and how ?
becomes a question of public concern to answer; for it
was paid for out of public money, those same fifty thou-
sand dollars which were removed to the village bank in
the interior of Pennsylvania by a Treasury order on the
fourth day of November, 1844. Three annual installments
made the payment, and the Treasury did not reclaim the
money for these three years; and, though traveling through
tortuous channels, the sharp-sighted Mr. Rives traced the
money back to its starting point from that deposit. Be-
sides, Mr. Cameron admitted, before a committee of Con-
gress, that he had furnished money for the payments, an
admission which the obliging committee, on request, left
out of their report. Mr. Robert J. Walker was Secretary
of the Treasury during these three years, and the convic-
tion was absolute, among the close observers of the course
of things, that he was the prime contriver and zealous
manager of the arrangements which displaced Mr. Blair
and installed Mr. Ritchie.
"In the opinions which he expressed of the conse-
quences of that change of editors General Jackson was
prophetic. The new paper brought division and distrac-
tion into the party, filled it with dissensions, which even-
tually induced the withdrawal of Mr. Ritchie; but not
until he had produced the mischiefs which abler men can
not repair."
JAMES KNOX POLK.
133
Mr. Calhoun's negotiator did not reach Columbia,
Tennessee, until in August, and yet, on the 21st of
that month. President Tyler issued his letter sig-
nifying his withdrawal from the contest. The time
was short, and at that day of slow communication in
this country, Mr. Tyler could hardly have been in-
formed of the outcome of the negotiation on the
part of Mr. Calhoun's friend. It would be difficult
to believe that Mr. Tyler could have been led to
abandon his race under a promise for the suppression
of a hostile newspaper merely. Such a thing is
incredible. Mr. Benton's imagination was wonderfully
vivid at times. Mr. Tyler's reasons for withdrawing
from the race were, in 1844, no doubt, fully set forth
in his letter; and, although General Jackson's let-
ters show that he was painfully aware of certain
schemes against Mr. Blair and "The Globe," and
the elaborate statements of Rives, Benton, Blair,
and others, unquestionably indicate that Mr. Polk
was concerned, to some extent, in them, the case is
much less clear as to Mr. Tyler.
"The Globe" had never been the "organ" of
Mr. Tyler's Administration, and, in spite of all Gen-
eral Jackson's efforts, it did not become the "organ"
of Mr. Polk's. The implication of Mr. Polk in this
small intrigue seemed to be well enough established.
He did not live to refute the charge boldly made,
in detail, by Mr. Benton and others, and his friends
were unable to do so. Ex-President Tyler did not
believe that Mr. Polk had secured South Carolina
by the agreement charged, and deemed Mr. Blair's
134
LIFE AND TIMES OF
fall from the pinnacle on which General Jackson
placed him as the natural result of his own conduct.
The following extract from a letter of Mr, Tyler's
written to one of his friends, dated May 8, 1856,
and taken from the second volume of Mr. Lyon
Gardiner Tyler's work, "Letters and Times of the
Tylers," must be taken as completely settling the
matter, at least so far as President Tyler's knowledge
extended:—
"I have read the papers you sent me, containing
Blair's dreams. In his waking hours he can not account
for his fall, and then dreams of a combination and con-
spiracy on the part of the whole world for his undoing.
If he would only rub his eyes a little, and bathe them in
the gushing waters of Silver Spring, he would have no
occasion to conjure up fancies, but would become sen-
sible of the fact that he had victimized himself. He op-
posed the Ashburton Treaty and the annexation of Texas,
preferring, on the last question particularly, to follow the
lead of the broken-down factions of the day, to adopting
the expressed opinions of General Jackson in the matter,
or listening to the loud rallying cry of the Democratic
party. From that moment Mr. Blair was dead, and it
only remained for Mr. Polk to chant his requiem. His
course, personally, towards me, was the same at the one
period and the other. At the time of the Ashburton
Treaty it was the Webster-Tyler Administration; at that
of Texas, it was the Calhoun-Tyler Administration. Let
the good man dream on. I shall not disturb his slumber,
already abundantly uneasy. The fancied connection of
Mr. Calhoun with the Texas movement in its origin, his
agency in inducing the convention of my friends at Balti-
more, the Cameron affair, and the Calhoun-Tyler and
Polk and Armstrong, and Donelson, etc., conspiracy to
JAMES KNOX POLK.
135
supplant' The Globe/ by substituting Mr. Ritchie or any-
body else as the editorial mouth-piece of Mr. Polk, is
the sheerest invention that ever was conceived of."
But Mr. Tyler had more minutely and emphat-
ically handled this matter of "The Globe" intrigue
in a letter to Thomas Ritchie, published in 1851,
and reproduced in the next preceding volume of
this work.
136
LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER VIII.
TEXAS AND 54® 4c/—GREAT SUBJECTS BEFORE THE ADMIN-
ISTRATION —PREPARATIONS FOR WAR WITH
MEXICO—GEORGE MIFFLIN DALLAS, THE
ELEVENTH VICE-PRESIDENT.
TWO great questions at once occupied the atten-
tion of the new Administration. Although it
was not responsible for their existence, its own
creation had depended, to a great extent, upon the
avowed and understood direction it would give to
them. These questions related to the annexation
of Texas to this country, and all that annexation
might involve, and the settlement of the Oregon or
North-western boundary with Great Britain. Dur-
ing the last days of President Tyler's Adminis-
tration Mr. Polk was in Washington, and was
consulted as to every important step in the proceed-
ings of the friends of the annexation or acquisition
of Texas.
Although the Senate had rejected Mr. Tyler's
treaty for the annexation of Texas in 1844, the
result of the Presidential election had made it
apparent that the will of the majority, perhaps,
favored that measure. The joint resolutions of both
Houses for the annexation were, in like manner, on
the point of rejection, when the resolutions of Mr.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
137
Benton, based upon the yiew of annexation by treaty,
throwing the whole matter into the hands of the
President and' the Senate, where it should be, were
ingrafted on the joint resolutions, and the measure
carried by a majority of two votes in the Senate.
At least five Senators voted for the measure, as a
whole, with the full belief and understanding that
the incoming Administration would carry out this
feature of the measure, and thereby avoid war with
Mexico. Mr. Benton's resolutions were ingrafted by
the direct sanction of the President elect. And by
his sanction, too, Mr. Tyler, on the third day of
March started a messenger to Texas with the act
of Congress providing for the annexation. Mr.
Polk was exceedingly anxious that this business
should be completed before the beginning of his term,
and used his etforts with the outgoing Administra-
tion to effect that purpose. It was charged against
him that he did not send to recall Mr. Tyler's mes-
senger on the way to Texas. But that he had no
desire to do. Mr. Tyler had done exactly what he
wanted him to do. At all events, there was not the
least indication of any disposition to make the an-
nexation of Texas depend upon negotiations, and
the Senators whose votes secured the passage of the
measure considered themselves deceived. Their votes
had been obtained by the distinct understanding
that its execution would be left to the new Admin-
istration, and that they believed to be pledged to
carry out Colonel Benton's addition to the resolu-
tions. The cry of fraud may have been an exagger-
138
LIFE AND TIMES OF
ation, however. And where .the blame of deception
mainly rests, whether with Mr. Tyler, President
Polk, or whether it was chiefly a dexterous feat of
the annexation Congressmen, the reader must decide
after taking a full view of the case as presented in
the next preceding volume of this work. It is
there shown that President Polk did not take up
with the negotiation clause of the annexation act
of Congress, and from what here follows, it may be
seen that although he did, after a time, make some
effort at negotiation, not as had been claimed he
would do, by sending a commission of the ablest
men of the country, but by sending a minister pleni-
potentiary with powers, all his acts lay in the direct
way to war with Mexico. Although President Tyler
did not believe that Mexico, as poor and as divided
as she was, would ever go to war with this country
on account of the annexation of Texas, yet he had
certainly laid the foundation for the war in the face
of direct warnings and threats from the accredited
agents of Mexico. Mr. Polk was pledged to his
annexation policy, as he was to the north-western
border of 54° 40'. With the prospect of war with
England he gladly shrank away from this lofty posi-
tion, if he was not also influenced by the question
of adding preponderant territory north of the Mis-
souri Compromise or anti-slavery line.
That Mexico regarded the act to incorporate
Texas with the United States as hostile, and a suf-
ficient gropnd of war, was fully known to the new,
as well as the old. Administration. In 1844, Mexico
JAMES KNOX POLK.
139
had given notice that such a step would be equiva-
lent to a declaration of war. And on the 6th of
March, 1845, but five days after the passage of the
annexation resolutions the Mexican Minister at
Washington, Almonte, demanded and received his
passports, protesting against the resolutions, and
deeming them sufficient to break all friendly relations
between the two nations. There was no indication
now that Mexico had the least disposition to give
up Texas without a struggle. Re-annexation, a
word, a pretext, in American politics had no weight
on the other side of the Rio Grande, and war they
constantly said was inevitable in case the United
States took such a step. Nor did these declarations
and threats hinder the Administration of this Gov-
ernment from proceeding to the accomplishment of
its purpose.
On the 4th of July, 1845, Texas passed her
ordinance accepting the conditions of annexation,
and then proceeded to form. her constitution and
make elections for admission as a State of the Union.
On the 7th of July the Texas Convention called
upon the United States to send an army to the de-
fense of that country. President Polk had antici-
pated this request. General Z. Taylor, then in com-
mand in Louisiana, where he was watching the
movements of Mexico, was ordered to move his
forces into Texas, and A. J. Donelson, the repre-
sentative of the United States in Mexico, was
ordered to advise with General Taylor as to his
movements.
140
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Early in April the Mexican authorities had re-
fused to hold further diplomatic relations with the
United States and had notified our minister there to
that effect. On the 4th of June, President Herrera,
then at the head of affairs in Mexico, proclaimed
that the annexation of Texas to the United States
would not invalidate the rights of Mexico, and that
she should defend her rights by the sword. And
the Mexican Congress took steps in accordance with
this proclamation to put the army in condition for the
field. On the 12th of July, the head of the Mexican
war office issued orders for the army to be ready to
strike against the American aggressors at any point.
Towards the last of June Mr. Donelson had written to
General Taylor advising him to move at once towards
the Rio Grande, and take position at Corpus Christi,
on the Aranzas Bay, thus at the outset adopting
the western boundary claimed by Texas; and no
doubt Texas had as good right to include the country
between the Nueces and the Rio Grande as a part
of the territory of Mexico to be ceded to the United
States, as she had any part of Texas, yet the Ad-
ministration deemed the western border a matter for
settlement.
On the 23d of July, General Taylor, with three
ships and two steamboats, sailed from New Orleans,
and on the 3d of August landed at Corpus Christi
Bay near the mouth of the Nueces. At this point
all the troops that could be spared from other serv-
ice were collected, and in November the force
amounted to somewhat over 4,000 men. While this
JAMES KNOX POLK.
141
" army of occupation" was gathering in Texas or
Mexico, some interesting events were occurring at
"Washington, and in diplomatic affairs.
One of Mr. Polk's biographers states fhat when
Almonte, the Mexican Minister, demanded his pass-
ports, Mr. Buchanan assured him that the Adminis-
tration at Washington was desirous of treating with
Mexico in a kind spirit for the settlement of the
Texas boundary, and all other difficulties between
the two governments. This may be true, but its
truth is not sustained by President Polk's first mes-
sage to Congress. It was, no doubt, the desire of
the Administration to deal kindly with Mexico, as
long as Mexico did not stand in the way of its de-
signs. The first message contains these words: " He
was informed that the Government of the United
States did not consider this joint resolution as a
violation of any of the rights of Mexico, or that it
afforded any just cause of offense to his government,
that the Republic of Texas was, an independent
power, owing no allegiance to Mexico, and consti-
tuting no part of her territory or rightful sover-
eignty or jurisdiction. He was also assured that it
was the sincere desire of this Government to main-
tain with that of Mexico relations of peace and
good understanding." In this extract from the mes-
sage, the only one bearing on the subject, there is
not the slightest hint that the Mexican Minister had
been notified that the Administration was anxious to
treat amicably as to Texas and other sources of dif-
ficulty between the two governments. Nor was the
142
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Mexican at all willing to admit the President's posi-
tions to be true as to the relations between Mexico
and Texas, and consequently the liberties of other
nations as to Texas. For in his protest he boldly
declared the annexation act to be the most unjust
known on the pages of history, and declared that
his government would resist it.
On the 23d of May, 1845, Mr. Buchanan wrote
to Andrew Jackson Donelson, charge to Texas, that
in case Texas accepted the terms of annexation,
it would be the duty of the President to send an
army to protect the new State. On the 4th of
June, Mr. Donelson wrote to the Secretary of State:
" I look upon war with Mexico as inevitable." But
Donelson attributed the cause of war more to the
interference of Great Britain against the extension
of slavery, and the acquisition of territory by the
United States, than to the disposition of Mexico.
He now recommended the army to be ready, as soon
as the decision of Texas was known, to occupy and
hold the new territory. For this reason General
Taylor had been sent to the Nueces.
In September, Mr. Black, the American Consul
living at the City of Mexico, was notified by our
Secretary of State to ascertain the disposition of the
Mexican authorities in relation to renewing diplo-
matic intercourse between the two governments.
On the 13th of October Mr. Black presented the
question in a note to the Mexican Minister of For-
eign Affairs, and two days afterwards received a re-
ply to the effect that the Mexican Government
JAMES KNOX POLK. 143
*
would receive a " commissioner" only " to settle the
present dispute in a peaceful, reasonable, and hon-
orable manner." This was on condition, too, that
the American squadron olf Vera Cruz should be re-
moved. The Mexican Administration desired all
appearance of force and irritation to their people to
be removed, being itself liable at any time to fall a
prey to popular fury. The naval force at Vera
Cruz was recalled, accordingly, and John Slidell im-
mediately sent to Mexico, as minister plenipoten-
tiary, with power to negotiate, and not simply as a
" commissioner" to settle the " present disputes."
On the 8th of December, Mr. Slidell having arrived
in the City of Mexico, wrote to the Secretary of
Foreign Affairs notifying him of his presence. But
he was not received. It had now been discovered
tbat President Herrera was on the point of opening
negotiations with the United States, and this step
being offensive to the people his Administration was
about to be overthrown in the usual way in Mexico.
In order to recover his authority Herrera pronounced
against his former disposition to treat with the
United States, and it was now declared that, Mr.
Slidell had appeared in the wrong capacity. That
he could only be received as a commissioner to treat
of Texas ; that his admission as a minister plenipo-
tentiary, as the United States required, would in-
volve other questions with which he might choose
to occupy himself; that relations would in that way
be re-established to the detriment of Mexico. How-
ever true any of these and other assertions for not
144
LIFE AND TIMES OF
receiving Mr. Slidell as a minister were, they were
pretexts merely to get out of a dilemma. No Ad-
ministration in Mexico could resist the demands of
the war party.
The course of Herrera was not otherwise satis-
factory, and the result was a " revolution." Shortly
after Mr. Slidell's arrival at the capital of Mexico
the soldier, Paredes, was put at the head of govern-
ment on the pledge that he would prosecute the
claims of Mexico by war with the United States.
Mr. Slidell, for a time, took up his residence at Ja-
lapa. And on the 1st of March, under instruction
from Washington, he again renewed his overtures
for recognition as Minister from the United States.
But this request the new Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Lanzas, refused, at the same time repeating the
statement of the former government, that no repre-
sentative could be received from the United States,
except one empowered only to treat of Texas. On
the 21st of March, 1846, Mr. Slidell received his
passports from Costillo Y. Lanzas; and this was the
end of the attempt to settle the difficulties without
war, at any rate on the part of Mexico.
During the summer of 1845, the authorities at
Washington were also occupied with the Oregon
question and other matters which will be fully noted
hereafter. The President did not leave the Capital
during the summer, and the burdens of the office
began early to sit heavily upon him.
Congress convened on the 1st of December in
what is termed the " first session of the 29th Con-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
145
gress." The House was at once organized by the
election of John W. Davis, of Indiana, for Speaker
by 120 against 72 votes for Samuel F. Vinton, of
Ohio. This vote exhibited the comparative strength
of the two parties in that branch, the last Congres-
sional elections having resulted greatly to the advan-
tage of the Democrats. The Vice-President, Mr.
Dallas, took his seat as presiding officer of the Sen-
ate; and at this time appeared several new members,
especially in the Senate, who subsequently became
more or less distinguished in the affairs of the coun-
try. Among these were John A. Dix and Daniel S,
Dickinson, of New York; Lewis Cass, of Michigan;
Jesse D. Bright, of Indiana; and Reverdy Johnson,
of Maryland. Sam Houston, of Texas, also came in
after a time."
George Mifflin Dallas, son of Alexander James
Dallas, was born . July 10, 1792, at Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. He attended school in Germantown,
and in the Friends' Academy at Philadelphia, and
entered Princeton College at the age of fourteen,
graduating in 1810. He began at once the study of
the law with his father, and was admitted to practice in
1813. In that year he accompanied Mr. Gallatin as
his private secretary to Europe, but in August, 1814,
returned with dispatches to the Government from the
Commissioners, then sitting at Ghent. He soon
afterwards began the practice of his profession in
Philadelphia. Late in 1814, he was married. Miss
Nicklin, the daughter of a Philadelphia merchant,
becoming his wife.
10—K
146
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Mr. Dallas was a politician from the outset, and
soon became prominent in the affairs of his State as
a straight Republican (Democrat). He was one of
the warm, early advocates of Mr. Calhoun, and fa-
vored his nomination and election as the successor of
Mr. Monroe. He finally became infatuated with the
hurrah for General Jackson, and fell into the arrange-
ment placing Mr. Calhoun for Vice-President. Dur-
ing the Presidency of Mr. Adams, he was once elected
mayor of Philadelphia. On the election of General
Jackson, he was given the District Attorneyship, in
1829, an office to which his father had been appointed
by President Jefferson. In 1831, a vacancy occur-
ring in the United States Senate from Pennsylvania,
the Legislature appointed him to fill it. Although
he maintained in Congress the favorable reputation
he had established at home, yet the employment was
not to his liking, and on the expiration of his term
in 1833, he was allowed to return to his profession.
He was soon afterwards appointed Attorney-General
for the State, and held the office until the affairs of
the country went under the management of the
Whigs. During this official service he resided at
Harrisburg, but on his resignation, he again resumed
the law practice in Philadelphia. He was, however,
on the incoming of Mr. Van Buren's Administration,
in 1837, sent as Minister to Russia, where he re-
mained until the fall of 1839.
During Mr. Dallas's employment in the Senate he
voted, in 1832, for the re-chartering of the Bank of
the United States, a step not based upon his own con-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
147
victions, but the positive instructions of his con-
stituents. In 1823, when it had been decided to
open diplomatic relations with Mexico, the friends of
Mr. Dallas urged his name upon the President for the
mission. At the outset Mr. Monroe favored his ap-
pointment; but Mr. Adams thought it would be bet-
ter to appoint Ninian Edwards, and held that Mr.
Dallas was not only too young, but also that he had
not yet reached the rank from which the Government
could be justified in selecting its ministers. Both
Edwards and Dallas were unfriendly to Mr. Adams
in the Presidential race. Mr. Edwards was, how-
ever, appointed Minister to Mexico, but becoming
embroiled in the slanderous turmoil of the times, he
was compelled to resign without entering upon the
duties to which he had been appointed.
In 1844, Mr. Dallas was nominated by the Demo-
crats at Baltimore, as their candidate for the Vice-
Presidency, and was elected. While, his nomination
was made, in part, to satisfy and secure Pennsylvania,
his own merits were not overlooked in the selection.
He had taken position among the first lawyers of his
State, and although his public employments had not
been so extensive or important as Mr. Polk's, his
standing in other respects was quite up to that of
Mr. Polk. He presided in the Senate with dignity
and strength, and at the end of his term, resumed
the more active pursuits of his profession, remaining
thus engaged, with little interruption, until appointed
by President Buchanan as Minister Plenipotentiary
to England. In this mission he continued until the
148
LIFE AND TIMES OF
4
administration of national affairs at home had passed
into new hands.
Mr. Dallas returned to the United States an
enemy of the new Administration and its policy, and
full of disappointments and fears. As did other men
.of intelligence, he deplored the sad condition of af-
fairs, and like many other distinguished men of his
party, thought the way to remedy the evils of the
times was to cast his sympathy with the advocates
of the cause of slavery. He never resumed his pro-
fessional employments after returning from England;
and his sudden death, in the midst of the war, took
from him the chance even for a glimpse of the
brighter and better days of his country.
On the 16th of July, 1849, in the "Chinese
Museum" at Philadelphia, Mr. Dallas delivered a
eulogy on James K. Polk. This address was printed
in the " Philadelphian," edited by John W. Forney,
a special friend of Mr. Polk, and occupies more than
five columns of that paper. At the outset of this
long address Mr. Dallas claimed that the task of
setting Mr. Polk's character right would have to be
left to posterity. This was simply repeating the old
thread-bare error, that a lazy or indifferent race con-
cerned most about itself and caring little for the past,
which it can only visit through tradition, with only
the lies and truths of friends and enemies on which
to base its opinion, could possibly be the most reliable
judge of any cause. At any rate, it would be safe
to say that posterity would, indeed, have a task in
any attempt to make out of Mr. Polk a reasonably
JAMES KNOX POLK.
149
safe terrestrial man from Mr. Dallas's eulogy. It is
a iinished composition, and comes under the frivolous
classification of oratory, but it neither gives help in
understanding the character of Mr. Polk, nor ad-
vances a good opinion of Mr. Dallas himself.
In speaking of the qualities of Mr. Polk, the
eulogist says : " He was temperate, but not un-
social, . . . moral without austerity, and devotional
though not bigoted." One of the points made in the eu-
logy as especially favorable to Mr. Polk was his ap-
proachability, as President, by high and low, by every
condition alike. A Democratic President without this
quality, would belie his constantly avowed pretensions
of coming from " the people," and being their servant
and friend. An apology at all gives the impression
that an apology is sometimes needed. The fact is
that this quality has not been peculiar to any Presi-
dent of the United States. Party has made no dif-
ference in this matter, whatever were the pretensions.
All the Presidents have done justice to the repub-
lican spirit of their times and country, and none of
them ever had more affection for the masses than the
case required. The temperance which Mr. Dallas
portrays and eulogizes is one that gives way on ap-
propriate occasions; a morality, which is amiable
and facile; and an easy-going, non-resisting religion.
Temperance does not compromise with the bowl, rao-
rality turns neither to the right nor the left, religion
has no friendship in irreligion. Bigotry is not pred-
icable of the wise. Principle controls in the realm
of true wisdom. True and noble principles, justly.
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LIFE AND TIMES OF
honorably, and unswervingly maintained, make life
worth living, and it may well be doubted if anything
else could do so.
Mr. Dallas died December 31, 1864, of paralysis
of the heart, at his home in Philadelphia. He left
several children, all daughters. One of these daugh-
ters edited and published a volume of his "Letters
from Abroad."
Mr. Dallas was able as a lawyer, and as a poli-
tician was successful without reaching his highest
aim. His aspirations were less those of the politi-
cian than of the statesman perhaps; and while he
never attained the condition of the statesman,
strictly speaking, his dignity-of character prevented
his stooping to the tricks of the office-hunting poli-
tician. Long before the end of his life, Mr. Dallas's
hair became white. He had a fine face and head,
and was altogether physically one of the most re-
markable looking public men of his day. He left
no great fortune in "literary remains," nor other-
wise. But his aristocratic old family is by no
means extinct, and his own name is still heard at
Philadelphia in that of his nephew, the lawyer,
George M. Dallas.
JAMES KNOX POLK
151
CHAPTER IX.
PRESIDENT POLK'S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE—TEXAS
AND OREGON.
ON the 2d of December, President Polk sent to
Congress, by bis private secretary, Mr. Wal-
ker, bis
FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.
Fellow-citizens of the Senate, and House of Representatives:—
It is to me a source of unaffected satisfaction to meet the
Representatives of the States and the people in Congress assem-
bled, as it will be to receive the aid of their combined wisdom
in the administration of public affairs. In performing for the
first time the duty imposed on me by the Constitution, of giv-
ing to you information of the state of the Union, and recom-
mending to your consideration such measures as in my judg-
ment are necessary and expedient, I am happy that I can
congratulate you on the continued prosperity of our country.
Under the blessings of Divine Providence and the benign in-
fiuence of our free institutions, it stands before the world a
spectacle of national happiness.
With our unexampled advancement in all the elements of
national greatness, the affection of the people is confirmed for
the Union of the States, and for the doctrines of popular lib-
erty, which lie at the foundation of our Government.
It becomes us, in humility, to make our devout acknowl-
edgment to the Supreme Ruler of the universe, for the inesti-
mable civil and religious blessings with which we are favored.
In calling the attention of Congress to our relations with
foreign powers, I am gratified to be able to state, that though
with some of them there have existed since your last session
152
LIFE AND TIMES OF
serious cause of irritation and misunderstanding, yet no actual
hostilities have taken place,. Adopting the maxim in the con-
duct of our foreign affairs to " ask nothing that is not right,
and submit to nothing ithat is wrong," it has been my anxious
desire to preserve peace with all nations; but at the same
time, to be prepared to resist aggression, and to maintain all
our just rights.
In pursuance of the joint resolution of Congress "for an-
nexing Texas to the United States," my predecessor, on the
third day of March, 1845, elected to submit the first and
second sections of that resolution to the Eepublic of Texas, as
an overture, on the part of the United States, for her admis-
sion as a'State into our Union. This election I approved, and
accordingly the charge d'affaires of the United States in Texas,
under instructions of the tenth of March, 1845, presented
these sections of the resolution for the acceptance of that
Republic. The Executive Government, the Congress, and
the people of Texas in convention, have successively complied
with all the terms and conditions of the joint resolution. A
constitution for the government of the State of Texas, formed
by a convention of deputies, is herewith laid before Con-
gress. It is well known, also, that the people of Texas at the
polls have accepted the terms of annexation, and ratified the
Constitution.
I communicate to Congress the correspondence between the
Secretary of State and our charge d'affaires in Texas; and also
the correspondence of the latter with the authorities of Texas;
together with the official documents transmitted by him to his
own Government.
The terms of annexation which were offered by the United
States having been accepted by Texas, the public faith of both
parties is solemnly pledged to the compact of their Union.
Nothing remains to consummate the event, but the passage of
an act by Congress to admit the State of Texas into the
Union upon an equal footing with the original States. Strong
reasons exist why this should be done at an early period of the
session. It will be observed, that by the Constitution of
Texas, the existing government is only continued temporarily
till Congress can act, and that the third Monday of the
JAMES KNOX POLK,
153
present month is the day appointed for holding the first general
election. On that day, a governor, a lieutenant-governor,
and both branches of the Legislature, will be chosen by the
people. The President of Texas is required, immediately after
the receipt of ofiicial information that the new State has been
admitted into our Union by Congress, to convene the Legisla-
ture; and, upon its meeting, the existing government will be
superseded, and the State government organized. Questions
deeply interesting to Texas, in common with the other States,
the extension of our revenue laws and judicial system over her
people and territory, as well as measures of a local character,
will claim the earl)' attention of Congress; and, therefore,
upon every principle of republican government, she ought to
be represented in that body without unnecessary delay. I can
not too earnestly recommend prompt action on this important
subject.
As soon as the act to admit Texas as a State shall be passed,
the union of the two republics will be consummated by their
own voluntary consent.
This accession to our territory has been a bloodless achieve-
ment. No arm of force has been raised to produce the result.
The sword has had no part in the victory. We have not
sought to extend our territorial possessions by conquest, or our
republican institutions over a reluctant people. It was the
deliberate homage of each people to the great principle of our
Federative Union.
If we consider the extent of territory involved in the an-
nexation, its prospective influence on America, the means by
which it has been accomplished, springing purely from the
choice of the people themselves to share the blessings of our
Union, the history of the world may be challenged to furnish
a parallel.
The jurisdiction of the United States, which at the forma-
tion of the Federal Constitution was bounded by the St. Mary's
on the Atlantic, has passed the Capes of Florida, and been
peacefully extended to the Del Norte. In contemplating the
grandeur of this event, it is not to be forgotten that the result
was achieved in despite of the diplomatic interference of Eu-
ropean monarchies. Even France, the country which had
154
LIFE AND TIMES OF
been our ancient ally, the country which has a common interest
with us in maintaining the freedom of the seas, the country
which, by the cession of Louisiana, first opened to us access to
the Gulf of Mexico, the country with which we have been
every year drawing more and more closely the bonds of sue-
cessful commerce, most unexpectedly, and to our unfeigned
regret, took part in an efibrt to prevent annexation, and to
impose on Texas, as a condition of the recognition of her in-
dependence by Mexico, that she would never join herself to
the United States. We may rejoice that the tranquil and per-
vading influence of the American principle of self-government
was sufficient to defeat the purposes of British and French
interference, and that the almost unanimous voice of the peo-
pie of Texas has given to that interference a peaceful and ef-
fective rebuke. From this example, European governments
may learn how vain diplomatic arts and intrigues must ever
prove upon this continent, against that system of self-govern-
ment which seems natural to our soil, and which will ever
resist foreign interference.
Toward Texas, I do not doubt that a liberal and generous
spirit will actuate Congress in all that concerns her interests
and prosperity, and that she will never have cause to regret
that she has united her " lone star" to our glorious constellation.
I regret to inform you that our relations with Mexico, since
your last session, have not been of the amicable character
which it is our desire to cultivate with all foreign nations.
On the 6th day of March last, the Mexican Envoy Extraor-
dinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States made
a formal protest, in the name of his government, against the
joint resolution passed by Congress, "for the annexation of
Texas to the United States," which he chose to regard as a
violation of the rights of Mexico, and in consequence of it he
demanded his passports. He was informed that the Govern-
ernment of the United States did not consider this joint res-
olution as a violation of any of the rights of Mexico, or that
it aflbrded any just cause of offense to his government; that
the Kepublic of Texas was an independed power, owing no
allegiance to Mexico, and constituting no part of her territory
or rightful sovereignty and jurisdiction. He was also assured
JAMES KNOX POLK.
155
that it was the sincere desire of this Government to maintain
with that of Mexico relations of peace and good understand-
ing. That functionary, however, notwithstanding these repre-
sentations and assurances, abruptly terminated his mission, and
shortly afterward left the country. Our Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico was refused all official
intercourse with that government, and, after remaining several
months, by the permission of his own Government he returned
to the United States. Thus, by the acts of Mexico, all diplo-
matic intercourse between the two countries was suspended.
Since that time Mexico has, until recently, occupied an at-
titude of hostility toward the United States; has been mar-
shaling and organizing armies, issuing proclamations, and
avowing the intention to make war on the United States,
either by an open declaration, or by invading Texas. Both
the Congress and convention of the people of Texas invited
this Government to send an army into that territory, to pro-
tect and defend them against the menaced attack. The moment
the terms of annexation, offered by the United States, were
accepted by Texas, the latter became so far a part of our own
country, as to make it our duty to afford such protection and
defense.' I, 'therefore, deemed it proper, as a precautionary
measure, to order a strong squadron to the coasts of Mexico,
and to concentrate an efficient military force on the western
frontier of Texas. Our army was ordered to take position in
the country between the Nueces and the Del Norte, and. to
repel any invasion of the Texan territory which might be
attempted by the Mexican forces. Our squadron in the Gulf
was ordered to co-operate with the army. But though our
army and navy were placed in a position to defend our own
and the rights of Texas, they were ordered to commit no act
of hostility against Mexico, unless she declared war, or was
herself the aggressor, by striking the first blow. The result
haS been that Mexico has made no aggressive movement, and
our military and naval commanders have executed their orders
with such discretion, that the peace of the two republics has
not been disturbed.
Texas had declared her independence, and maintained it by
her arms for more than nine years. She has had an organized
156
LIFE AND TIMES OF
government in successful operation during that period. Her
separate existence, as an independent State, had been recog-
nized by the United States and the principal powers of Eu-
rope. Treaties of commerce and navigation had been con-
eluded with her by differelit nations, and it had become
manifest to the whole world that any further attempt on the
part of Mexico to conquer her, or overthrow her government,
would be vain. Even Mexico herself had become satisfied of
this fact; and whilst the question of annexation was pending
before the people of Texas, during the past summer, the Gov-
ernment of Mexico, by a formal act, agreed to recognize the
independence of Texas on condition that she would not annex
herself to any other power. The agreement to acknowledge
the independence of Texas, whether with or without this con-
dition, is conclusive against Mexico. The independence of
Texas is a fact conceded by Mexico herself, and she had
no right or authority to prescribe restrictions as to the form
of government which Texas might afterwards choose to
assume.
But though Mexico can not complain of the United States
on account of the annexation of Texas, it is to be regretted
that serious causes of misunderstanding between the two coun-
tries continue to exist, growing out of unredressed injuries in-
flicted by the Mexican authorities and people on the persons
and property of citizens of the United States, through a long
series of years. Mexico has admitted these injuries, but has
neglected and refused to repair them. Such was the character
of the wrongs, and 'Such the insults repeatedly offered to Amer-
ican citizens and the American flag by Mexico, in palpable
violation of the laws of nations and the treaty between the two
countries of the 5th of April, 1831, that they have been re-
peatedly brought to the notice of Congress by my predecessors.
As early as the 8th of February, 1887, the President of the
United States declared, in a message to Congress, that " the
length of time since some of the injuries have been committed,
the repeated and unavailing applications for redress, the wanton
character of some of the outrages upon the persons and prop-
erty of our citizens, upon the officers and flag of the United
States, independent of recent insults to this Government and
JAMES KNOX POLK.
157
people by tbe late Extraordinary Mexican Minister, would jus-
tify in the eyes of all nations immediate war."
He did not, however, recommend an immediate resort to
this extreme measure, which, he declared, " should not he used
hy just and generous nations, confiding in their strength for in-
juries committed, if it can he honorably avoidedhut, in a
spirit of forbearance, proposed that another demand he made
on Mexico for that redress which had been so long and unjustly
withheld. In these views, committees of the two Houses of
Congress, in reports made to their respective bodies, concurred.
Since these proceedings, more than eight years have elapsed,
during which, in addition to the wrongs then complained of,
others of an aggravated character have been committed on the
persons and property of our citizens. A special agent was sent
to Mexico in the summer of 1838, with full authority to make
another and final demand for redress. The demand was made;
the Mexican Government promised to repair the wrongs of
which we complained; and after much delay, a treaty of in-
demnity with that view was concluded between the two powers
on the 11th of April, 1889, and was duly ratified by both gov-
ernments. By this treaty a joint commission was created to
adjudicate and decide on the claims of American citizens on
the Government of Mexico. The commission was organized at
Washington on the 25th day of August, 1840. Their time was
limited to eighteen months; at the expiration of which, they
had adjudicated and decided claims amounting to two millions
twenty-six thousand one hundred and thirty-nine dollars and
sixty-eight cents in favor of citizens of the United States
against the Mexican Government, leaving a large amount of
claims undecided. Of the latter, the American commissioners
had decided in favor of our citizens, claims amounting to nine
hundred and twenty-eight thoasand six hundred and twenty-
seven dollars and eighty-eight cents, which were left unacted
on by the umpire authorized by the treaty. Still further claims,
amounting to between three and four millions of dollars, were
submitted to the board too late to be considered, and were left
undisposed of.
The sum of two millions twenty-six thousand one hundred
and thirty-nine dollars and sixty-eight cents decided by the
158
LIFE AND TIMES OF
board, was a liquidated and ascertained debt due by Mexico to
the claimants, and there was no justifiable reason for delaying
its payment according to the terms of the treaty. It was not,
however, paid. Mexico applied for further indulgence; and,
in that spirit of liberality and forbearance which has ever
marked the policy of the United States toward that republic, the
request was granted; and on the 30th of January, 1843, a new
treaty was concluded. By this treaty it was provided, that the
interest due on the awards in favor of claimants under the con-
vention of the 11th of April, 1839, should be paid on the 30th
of April, 1843; and that "the principal of the said awards,
and the interest arising thereon, shall be paid in five years, in
equal installments every three months, the said term of five
years to commence on the 30th day of April, 1843, as afore-
said." The interest due on the 30th day of April, 1843, and
the three first of the twenty installments, have been paid. Sev-
enteen of these installments remain unpaid, seven of which are
now due.
The claims which were left undecided by tbe joint commis-
sion, amounting to more than three millions of dollars, to-
gether with other claims for spoliations on the property of our
citizens, were subsequently presented to the Mexican Govern-
ment for payment, and were so far recognized, that a treaty,
providing for their examination and settlement by a joint com-
mission, was concluded and signed at Mexico on the 20th day
November, 1843. This treaty was ratified by the United
States, with certain amendments, to which no just exception
could have been taken ; but it has not yet received the ratifica-
tion of the Mexican Government. In the meantime, our citi-
zens who suffered great losses, and some of whom have been re-
duced from affluence to bankruptcy, are without remedy, unless
their rights be enforced by their Government. Such a continued
and unprovoked series of wrongs could never have been toler-
ated by the United States, had they been committed by one of
the principal nations of Europe. Mexico was, however, a
neighboring sister republic, which, following our example, had
achieved her independence, and for whose success and pros-
perity all our sympathies were early enlisted. The United
States were the first to recognize her independence, and to
JAMES KNOX POLK,
159
receive her into the family of nations, and have ever been desir-
ous of cultivating with her a good understanding. We have,
therefore, borne the repeated wrongs she has committed, with
great patience, in the hope that a returning sense of justice
would ultimately guide her councils, and that we might, if
possible, honorably avoid any hostile collision with her.
Without the previous authority of Congress, the Executive
possessed no power to adopt or enforce adequate remedies for
the injuries we had suffered, or to do more than be prepared to
repel the threatened aggression on the part of Mexico. After
our army and navy had remained on the frontier and coasts of
Mexico for many weeks, without any hostile movement on her
part, though her menaces were continued, I deemed it important
to put an end, if possible, to this state of things. With this
* view, I caused steps to be taken, in the month of September
last, to ascertain distinctly, and in an authentic form, what the
designs of the Mexican Government were; whether it was their
intention to declare war, or invade Texas, or whether they were
disposed to adjust and settle, in an amicable manner, thepend-
ing differences between the two countries. On the 9th of
November an official answer was received, that the Mexican
Government consented to renew the diplomatic relations which
had been suspended in March last, and for that purpose were
willing to accredit a Minister from the United States. With a
sincere desire to preserve peace, and restore relations of good
understanding between the two republics, I waived all ceremony
as to the manner of renewing diplomatic intercourse between
them; and, assuming the initiative, on the 10th of November
a distinguished citizen of Louisiana was appointed Envoy Ex-
traordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico, clothed
with full powers to adjust, and definitely settle, all pending dif-
ferences betweeri the two countries, including those of boundary
between Mexico and the State of Texas. The minister ap-
pointed has set out on his mission, and is probably by this time
near the Mexican capital. He has been instructed to bring the
negotiation with which he is charged to a conclusion at the
earliest practicable period, which, it is expected, will be in
time to enable me to communicate the result to Congress dur-
ing the present session. Until that result is known, I forbear
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LIFE AND TIMES OF
to recommend to Congress such ulterior measures of redress
for the wrongs and injuries we have so long borne, as it would
have been proper to make had no such negotiation been instituted.
Congress appropriated at the last session the sum of two
hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars for the payment of
the April and July installments of the Mexican indemnities for
the year 1844: "Provided it shall be ascertained to the satis-
faction of the American Government that the said installments
have been paid by the Mexican Government to the agent ap-
pointed by the United States to receive the same in such man-
ner as to discharge all claim on the Mexican Government, and
said agent to be delinquent in remitting the money to the
United States."
The unsettled state of our relations with Mexico has involved
this subject in much mystery. The first information in an
authentic form, from the agent of the United States appointed
under the Administration of my predecessor, was received at
the State Department on the 9th of November last. This is
contained in a letter dated the 17th of October, addressed by
him to one of our citizens then in Mexico, with the view of
having it communicated to that Department. From this it
appears that the agent, on the 20th of September, 1844, gave
a receipt to the treasury of Mexico for the amount of the April
and July installments of the indemnity. In the same commu-
nication, however, he asserts that he had not received a single
dollar in cash, but that he holds such securities as warranted
him at the time in giving the receipt, and entertains no doubt
but that he will eventually obtain the money. As these install-
ments appear never to have been actually paid by the Govern-
ment of Mexico to the agent, and as that government has not
therefore been released so as to discharge the claim, I do not
feel myself warranted in directing payment to-be made to the
claimants' out of the Treasury, without further legislation.
Their case is, undoubtedly, one of much hardship; and it re-
mains for Congress to decide whether any, and what, relief
ought to be granted to them. Our Minister to Mexico has been
instructed to ascertain the facts of tbe case from the Mexican
Government, in an authentic and official form, and report the
result with as little delay as possible.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
161
My attention was early directed to the negotiation, which,
on the 4th of March last, I found pending at Washington be-
tween the United States and Great Britain, on the subject of
the Oregon territory. Three several attempts had been pre-
viously made to settle the questions in dispute between the two
countries, by negotiation, upon the principle of compromise;
but each had proved unsuccessful.
These negotiations took place at London, in the years 1818,
1824, and 1826; the two first under the Administration of Mr.
Monroe, and the last under that of Mr. Adams. The negotia-
tion of 1818 having failed to accomplish its object, resulted in
the convention of the 20th of October of that year. By the
third article of that convention, it was "agreed, that any conn-
try that may be claimed by either party on the northwest coast
of America, westward of the Stony Mountains, shall, together
with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all
rivers within the same, be free and open for the term of ten
years from the date of the signature of the present convention,
to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two powers; it be-
ing well understood that this agreement is not to be construed
to the prejudice of any claim which either of the two high con-
tracting parties may have to any part of the said country, nor
shall it be taken to affect the claims of any other power or
State to any part of the said country; the only object of the
high contracting parties in that respect being, to prevent dis-
putes and differences among themselves."
The negotiation of 1824 was productive of no result, and
the convention of 1818 was left unchanged.
The negotiation of 1826 having also failed to affect an
adjustment by compromise, resulted in the convention of
August the 6th, 1827, by which it was agreed to continue in
force, for an indefinite period, the provisions of the third
article of the convention of the 20th of October, 1818; and
it was further provided, "that it shall be competent, however,
to either of the contracting parties, in case either should think
fit, at any time after the 20th of October, 1828, on giving due
notice of twelve months to the other contracting party, to
annul and abrogate this convention; and it shall, in such case,
be accordingly entirely annulled and abrogated after the expira-
11—K
162
LIFE AND TIMES OF
tion of the said term of service." In these attempts to adjust the
controversy, the parallel of forty-ninth degree of north latitude
had been offered by the United States to Great Britain, and in
those of 1818 and 1826, with a further concession of the free
navigation of the Columbia River south of that latitude. The
parallel of the forty-ninth degree, from the Rocky Mountains
to its intersection of the north-easternmost branch of the Co-
lumbia, and thence down the channel of that river to the sea,
had been offered by Great Britain, with an addition of a small
detached territory north of the Columbia. Each of .these
propositions had been rejected by the parties respectively.
In October, 1843, the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of the United States in London, was author-
ized to make a similar offer to those made in 1818 and 1826.
Thus stood the question, when the negotiation was shortly
afterwards transferred to Washington; and, on the 23d of
August, 1844, was formally opened, under the direction of my
immediate predecessor. Like all the previous negotiations, it
was based upon the principles of "compromise;" and the
avowed purpose of the parties was '' to treat of the respective
claims of the two countries to the Oregon Territory, with a
view to establish a permanent boundary between them west-
ward of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean." Accord-
ingly, on the 26th of August, 1844, the British Plenipoten-
tiary offered to divide the Oregon Territory by the forty-ninth
parallel of north latitude, from the Rocky Mountains to the
point of its intersection with the north-easternmost branch of
the Columbia River, and thence down that river to the sea;
leaving the free navigation of the river to be enjoyed in com-
mon by both parties, the country south of this line to belong to
the United States, and that north of it to Great Britain. At
the same time, he proposed, in addition, to yield to the United
States a detached territory, north of the Columbia, extending
along the Pacific and the Straits of Fuca, from Bulfinch's
Harbor inclusive, to Hood's Canal, and to make free to the
United States any port or ports south of latitude forty-nine de-
grees, which they might desire, either on the main-land or on
Quadra and Vancouver's Island. With the exception of free
ports, this was the same offer which had been made by the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
163
British and rejected by the American Government, in the nego-
tiation of 1826. This proposition was properly rejected by the
American Plenipotentiary on the day it was submitted. This
was the only proposition of compromise offered by the British
Plenipotentiary. The proposition on the part of Great Britain
having been rejected, the British Plenipotentiary requested
that a proposal should be made by the United States for "an
equitable adjustment of the question."
When I came into office I found this to be the state of the
negotiation. Though entertaining the settled conviction that
the British pretensions of title could not be maintained to any
portion of the Oregon territory upon any principle of public
law recognized by nations, yet, in deference to what had been
done by my predecessors, and especially in consideration that
propositions of compromise had been thrice made by two pre-
ceding Administrations, to adjust the question on the parallel
of forty-nine degrees, and in two of them yielding to Great
Britain the free navigation of the Columbia, and that the pend-
ing negotiation had been commenced on the basis of compro-
mise, I deemed it to be my duty not abruptly to break it oflT.
In consideration, too, that under the conventions of 1818 and
1827, the citizens and subjects of the two powers held a joint
occupancy of the country, I was induced to make another
effort to settle this long pending" controversy in the spirit of
moderation which had given birth to the renewed discussion.
A proposition was accordingly made, which was rejected by the
British Plenipotentiary, who, without submitting any other
proppsition, suffered the negotiation on his part to drop, ex-
pressing his trust that the United States would offer what he
saw fit to call "some further proposal for the settlement of the
Oregon question, more consistent with fairness and equity, and
with the reasonable expectations of the British Government."
The proposition thus offered and rejected, repeated the offer
of the parallel of forty-nine degrees of north latitude, which
had been made by two preceding Administrations, but without
proposing to surrender to Great Britain, as they had done, the
free navigation of the Columbia River. The right of any for-
eign power to the free navigation of any of our rivers, through
the heart of our country, was one which I was unwilling to
164
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concede. It also embraced a provision to make free to Great
Britain any port or ports on the cap of Quadra and Van-
couver's Island, south of this parallel. Had this been a new
question, coming under discussion for the first time, this propo-
sition would not have been made. The extraordinary and
wholly inadmissible demands of the British Government, and
the rejection of the proposition made in deference alone to what
had been done by my predecessors, and the implied obligation
which their acts seemed to impose, afford satisfactory evidence
that no compromise which the United States ought to accept
can he effected. AVith this conviction, the proposition of com-
promise which had been made and rejected was, by my direc-
tion, subsequently withdrawn, and our title to the whole Oregon
Territory asserted, and, .as is believed, maintained by irref-
ragahle facts and arguments.
The civilized world will see in these proceedings a spirit of
liberal concession on the part of the United States, and this
Government will he relieved from all responsibility which may
follow the failure to settle the controversy.
All attempts at compromise having failed, it becomes the
duty of Congress to consider what measures it may he proper
to adopt for the security and protection of our citizens now
inhabiting, or who may hereafter inhabit, Oregon, and for the
maintenance of our just title to that territory. In adopting
measures for this purpose, care should he taken that nothing
he done to violate the stipulations of the convention of 1827,
which is still ip force. The faith of treaties in their letter and
spirit, has ever been, and, I trust, will ever he, scrupulously
observed by the United States. Under that convention a year's
notice is required to he given by either party to the other,
before the joint occupancy shall terminate, and before either
can rightfully assert or exercise exclusive jurisdiction over any
portion of the territory. This notice it would, in my judg-
ment, he proper to give; and I recommend that provision he
made by law for giving it accordingly, and terminating, in this
manner, the convention of the 6th of August, 1827.
It will become proper for Congress to determine what legis-
lation they can, in the meantime, adopt, without violating this
convention. Beyond all question, the protection of our laws
JAMES KNOX POLK.
165
and our jurisdiction, civil anS criminal, ought to be imme-
diately extended over our citizens in Oregon. They have
had just cause to complain of our long neglect in this par-
ticular, and have in consequence been compelled, for their
own security and protection, to establish a provisional govern-
ment for themselves. Strong in their allegiance and ardent in
their attachments to the United States, they have been thus
cast upon their own resources. They are anxious that our laws
should be extended over them, and I recommend that this be
done by Congress with as little delay as possible, in the full
extent to which the British Parliament have proceeded in regard
to British subjects in that territory, by their act of July the
2d, 1821, "for regulating the fur-trade, and establishing a
criminal and civil jurisdiction within certain parts of North
America." By this act Great Britain extended her laws and
jurisdiction, civil and criminal, over her subjects engaged in
the fur-trade in that territory. By it the courts of the prov-
ince of Upper Canada were empowered to take cognizance of
causes, civil and criminal. Justices of the peace and other judi-
cial officers were authorized to be appointed in Oregon, with
power to execute all process issuing from the courts of that
province, and to "sit and hold courts of record for the trial
of criminal offenses and misdemeanors," not made the subject
of capital punishment, and also of civil cases, where the cause
of action shall not " exceed in value the amount or sum of two
hundred pounds."
Subsequent to the date of this act of Parliament, a grant
was made from the "British crown" to the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, of the exclusive trade with the Indian tribes in the
Oregon Territory, subject to a reservation that it shall not op-
erate to the exclusion " of the subjects of anjT foreign States
who, under or by force of any convention for the time being,
between us and such foreign States, respectively, may be enti-
tied to, and shall be engaged in, the said trade."
It is much to be regretted that, while under this act, Brit-
ish subjects have enjoyed the protection of British laws and
British judicial tribunals throughout the whole of Oregon,
American citizens, in the same territory, have enjoyed no such
protection from their Government. At the same time, the
166
LIFE AND TIMES OF
result illustrates the character ^ our people and their institu-
tions. In spite of this neglect they have multiplied, and their
number is rapidly increasing in that territory. They have
made no appeal to arms, but have peacefully fortified them-
selves in their new homes by the adoption of republican insti-
tutions for themselves; furnishing another example of the
truth that self-government is inherent in the American breast,
and must prevail. It is due to them that they should be
embraced and protected by our laws.
It is deemed important that our laws regulating trade
and intercourse with the Indian tribes east of the Rocky
Mountains should be extended to such tribes as dwell be-
yond them.
The increasing emigration to Oregon, and the care and pro-
tection which is due from the Government to its citizens in
that distant region, make it our duty, as it is our interest, to
cultivate amicable relations with the Indian tribes of that ter-
ritory. For this purpose, I recommend that provision be
made for establishing an Indian agency, and such sub-agencies
as may be deemed necessary beyond the Rocky Mountains.
For the protection of emigrants whilst on their way to Or-
egon, against the attacks of the Indian tribes occupying the
country through which they pass, I recommend that a suitable
number of stockades and block-house forts be erected along
the usual route between our frontier settlements on the Mis-
souri and the Rocky Mountains; and that an adequate force
of mounted rifiemen be raised to guard and protect them on
their Journey. The immediate adoption of these recommenda-
tions by Congress will not violate the provisions of the exist-
ing treaty. It will be doing nothing more for American
citizens than British laws have long since done for British sub-
jects in the same territory.
It requires several months to perform the voyage by sea
from the Atlantic States to Oregon; and although we have a
large number of whale-ships in the Pacific, but few of them
aflford an opportunity of interchanging intelligence, without
great delay, between our settlements in that distant region and
the United States. An overland mail is believed to be entirely
practicable; and the importance of establishing such a mail,
JAMES KNOX POLK.
167
at least once a month, is submitted to the favorable considera-
tion of Congress.
It is submitted to the wisdom of Congress to determine
whether, at their present session, and until after the expiration
of the year's notice, any other measures may be adopted, con-
sistently with the convention of 1827, for the security of our
rights, and the government and protection of our citizens in
Oregon. That it will ultimately be wise and proper to make
liberal grants of land to the patriotic pioneers, who, amidst
privations and dangers, lead the way through savage tribes
inhabiting the vast wilderness intervening between our frontier
settlements and Oregon, and who cultivate and are ready to
defend the soil, I am fully satisfied. To doubt whether they
will obtain such grants as soon as the convention between the
United States and Great Britian, shall have ceased to exist,
would be to doubt the justice of Congress; but pending the
year's notice, it- is worthy of consideration whether a stipula-
tion to this eflect may be made, consistently with the spirit of
that convention.
The recommendations which I have made, as to the best
manner of securing our rights in Oregon, are submitted to
Congress with great deference. Should they, in their wisdom,
devise any other mode better calculated to accomplish the same
object, it shall meet with my hearty concurrence.
At the end of the year's notice, should Congress think it
proper to make provision for giving that notice, we shall have
reached a period when the national rights in Oregon must
either be abandoned or firmly maintained. That they can not
be abandoned without a sacrifice of both national honor and
interest, is too clear to admit of doubt.
Oregon is a part of the North American Continent, to
which, it is confidently aflSrmed, the title of the United States
is the best now in existence. For the grounds on which that
title rests, I refer you to the correspondence of the late and
present Secretary of State with the British Plenipotentiary
during the negotiation. The British proposition of com pro-
mise, which would make the Columbia the line south of forty-
nine degrees, with a trifling addition of detached territory to
the United States, north of that river, and would leave on the
168
LIFE AND TIMES OF
British side two-thirds of the whole Oregon Territory, including
the free navigation of the Columbia and all the valuable bar-
bors on the Pacific, can never, for a moment, be entertained
by the United States, without an abandonment of their just
and clear territorial rights, their own self-respect, and the
national honor. For the information of Congress, I commu-
nicate herewith the correspondence which took place between
the two governments during the late negotiation.
The rapid extension of our settlements over our territories
heretofore unoccupied; the addition of new States to our Con-
federacy; the expansion of free principles, and our rising
greatness as a nation, are attracting the attention of the pow-
ers of Europe; and lately the doctrine has been broached in
some of them, of a "balance of power" on this continent, to
check our advancement. The United States, sincerely de-
sirous of preserving relations of good understanding with all
nations, can not in silence permit any European interference
on the North American Continent; and should any such in-
terference be attempted, will be ready to resist it at any and
all hazards.
It is well known to the American people and to all nations,
that this Government has never interfered with the relations
subsisting between other governments. We have never made
ourselves parties to their wars or their alliances; we have not
sought their territories by conquest; we have not mingled with
parties in their domestic struggles; and believing our own
form of government to be the best, we have never attempted
to propagate it by intrigues, by diplomacy, or by force. We
may claim on this continent a like exemption from European
interference. The nations of America are equally sovereign
and independent with those of Europe. They possess the
same rights, independent of all foreign interposition, to make
war, to conclude peace, and to regulate their internal aflTairs.
The people of the United States can not, therefore, view with
indifference attempts of European powers to interfere with the
independent action of the nations on this continent. The
American system of government is entirely different from that
of Europe. Jealousy among the different sovereigns of Eu-
rope, lest any one of them might become too powerful for the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
169
rest, has caused them anxiously to desire the establishment
of what they term the " balance of power." It can not be
permitted to have any application on the North American
Continent, and especially to the United States. We must ever
maintain the principle, that the people of this continent alone
have the right to decide their own destiny. Should any por-
tiou of them, constituting an independent State, propose to
unite themselves with our Confederacy, this will be a question
for them and us to determine, without any foreign interposi-
tion. We can never consent that European powers shall in-
terfere to prevent such a union, because it might disturb the
"balance of power" which they may desire to maintain upon
this continent. Near a quarter of a century ago, the principle
was distinctly announced to the world in the annual message
of one of my predecessors, that " the American continents, by
the free and independent condition which they have assumed
and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects
for future colonization by any European power." This princi-
pie will apply with greatly increased force, should any Eu-
ropean power attempt to establish any new colony in North
America. In the existing circumstances of the world, the
present is deemed a proper occasion to reiterate and reaffirm
the principle avowed by Mr. Monroe, and to state my cordial
concurrence in its wisdom and sound policy. The reassertion
of this principle, especially in reference to North America, is
at this day but the promulgation of a policy which no Eu-
ropean power should cherish the disposition to resist. Existing
rights of every European nation should be respected; but it is
due alike to our safety and our interests, that the efficient pro-
tection of our laws should be extended over our whole terri-
torial limits, and that it should be distinctly announced to the
world as our settled policy, that no future European colony or
dominion shall, with our consent, be planted or established on
any part of the North American Continent.
A question has recently arisen under the tenth article of
the subsisting treaty between the United States and Prussia.
By this article, the consuls of the two countries have the right
to sit as judges and arbitrators " in such differences as may
arise between the captains and crews of vessels belonging to
170
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the nations whose interests are committed to their charge,
without the interference of the local authorities, unless the con-
duct of the crews or of the captains should disturb the order
or tranquillity of the country; or the said consuls should re-
quire their assistance to cause their decisions to be carried into
effect or supported."
The Prussian consul at New Bedford,* in June, 1844, ap-
plied to Mr. Justice Story to carry into effect a decision made
by him between the captain and the crew of the Prussian ship
Borvssia; but the request was refused on the ground that,
without previous legislation by Congress, the judiciary did not
possess the power to give effect to this article of the treaty.
The Prussian Government, through their minister here, have
complained of this violation of the treaty, and have asked the
Government of the United States to adopt the necessary
measures to prevent similar violations hereafter. Good faith
to Prussia, as well as to other nations with whom we have
similar treaty stipulations, requires that these should be faith-
fully observed. I have deemed it proper, therefore, to lay the
subject before Congress, and to recommend such legislation as
may be necessary to give effect to these treaty obligations.
By virtue of an arrangement made between the Spanish
Government and that of the United States, in December, 1831,
American vessels, since the 29th of April, 1832, have been
admitted to entry in the ports of Spain, including those of the
Balearic and Canary Islands, on payment of the same tonnage
duty of five cents per ton, as though they had been Spanish
vessels; and this, whether our vessels arrive in Spain directly
from the United States, or indirectly from any other country.
When Congress, by the act of the 13th of July, 1832, gave
effect to this arrangement between the two governments, they
confined the reduction of tonnage duty merely to Spanish ves-
sels "coming from a port in Spain," leaving the former dis-
criminating duty to remain against such vessels coming from a
port in any other country. It is manifestly unjust that, whilst
American vessels, arriving in the ports of Spain from other
countries, pay no more duty than Spanish vessels, Spanish ves-
sels arriving in the ports of the United States from other
countries should be subjected to heavy discriminating tonnage
JAMES KNOX POLK
171
duties. This is neither equality nor reciprocity, and is in
violation of the arrangement concluded in December, 1831,
between the two countries. The Spanish Government have
made repeated and earnest remonstrances against this in-
equality, and the favorable attention of Congress has been
several times invoked to the subject by my predecessors. I
recommend, as an act of justice to Spain, that this inequality
be removed by Congress, and that the discriminating duties
which have been levied under the act of the 13th of July,
1832, on Spanish vessels coming to the United States from any
other foreign country, be refunded. This recommendation
does not embrace Spanish vessels arriving in the United States
from Cuba and Porto Rico, which will still remain subject to
the provisions of the act of June 30, 1834, concerning ton-
nage duty on such vessels.
By the act of the 14th of July, 1832, coffee was exempted
from duty altogether. This exemption was universal, without
reference to the country where it was produced, or the national
character of the vessel in which it was imported. By the
tariff act of the 30th of August, 1842, this exemption from duty
was restricted to coffee imported in American vessels from the
place of its production; whilst coffee imported under all other
circumstances was subjected to a duty of twenty per cent ad
valorem. Under this act, and our existing treaty with the King
of the Netherlands, Java coffee imported from the European
ports of that kingdom into the United States, whether in Dutch
or American vessels, now pays this rate of duty. The govern-
ment of the Netherlands complains that such a discriminating
duty should have been imposed on coffee, the production of
one of its colonies, and which is chiefly brought from Java to
the ports of that kingdom, and exported from thence to foreign
countries. Our trade with the Netherlands is highly beneficial
to both countries, and our relations with them have ever been
of the most friendly character. Under all the circumstances
of the case, I recommend that this discrimination should be
abolished, and that the coffee, of Java imported from the Neth-
erlands be placed upon the same footing with that imported
directly from Brazil and other countries where it is produced.
Under the eighth section of the tariff act of the 30th of '
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LIFE AND TIMES OF
August^ 1842, a duty of fifteen cents per gallon was imposed
on port wine in casks; while on the red wines of several other
countries, when imported in casks, a duty of only six cents per
gallon was imposed. This discrimination, so far as regarded
the port wine of Portugal, was deemed a violation of our
treaty with that power, which provides, that " no higher or
other duties shall be imposed on the importation into the United
States of America of any article the growth, produce, or manu-
facture of the kingdom and possessions of Portugal, than such
as are or shall be payable on the like article being the growth,
produce, or manufacture of any other foreign country." Ac-
cordingly, to give efiect to the treaty, as well as to the inten-
tion of Congress, expressed in a proviso to the tariff act itself,
that nothiug therein contained should be so construed as to in-
terfere with subsisting treaties with foreign nations, a Treasury
circular was issued on the 16th of July, 1844, which, among
other things, declared the duty on the port wine of Portugal,
in casks, under the existing laws and treaty, to be six cents
per gallon, and directed that the excess of duties which had
been collected on such wine should be refunded. By virtue
of another clause, in the same section of the act, it is provided
that all imitations of port, or any other wines, " shall be sub-
ject to the duty provided for the genuine article." Imitations
of port wine, the production of France, are imported to some
extent into the United States; and the government of that
country now claims that, under a correct construction of the
act, these imitations ought not to pay a higher duty than that
imposed upon the original port wine of Portugal. It appears
to me to be unequal and unjust, that French imitations of port
wine should be subjected to a duty of fifteen cents, while the
more valuable article from Portugal should pay a duty of six
cents only per gallon. I therefore recommend to Congress such
legislation as may be necessary to correct the inequality.
The late President, in his annual message of December last,
recommended an appropriation to satisfy the claims of the
Texan Government against the United States, which had been
previously adjusted, so far as the powers of the Executive ex-
tend. These claims arose out of the act of disarming a body
of Texan troops under the command of Major Snively, by an
JAMES KNOX POLK.
173
officer in the service of the United States, acting under the
orders of our Government; and the forcible entry into the cus-
tom-house at Bryarly's Landing, on Red River, by certain citi-
zens of the United States, and taking away therefrom the goods
seized by the collector of the customs as forfeited under the
laws of Texas. This was a liquidated debt, ascertained to be
due to Texas when an independent State. Her acceptance of
the terms of annexation proposed by the United States does
not discharge or invalidate the claim. I recommend that pro-
vision be made for its payment.
The commissioner appointed to China during the special
session of the Senate in Mqrch last, shortly afterwards set out
on his mission in the United States ship Columbus. On arriv-
ing at Rio de Janeiro on his passage, the state of his health
had become so critical, that, by the advice of his medical at-
tendants, he returned to the United States early in the month
of October last. Commodore Riddle, commanding the East
India squadron, proceeded on his voyage in the Columbus, and
was charged by the commissioner with the duty of exchanging
with the proper authorities the ratifications of the treaty lately
concluded with the Emperor of China. Since the return of
the commissioner to the United States, his health has been much
improved, and he entertains the confident belief that he will
soon be able to proceed on his mission.
Unfortunately, difierences continue to exist among some of
the nations of South America, which, following our example,
have established their independence, while in others internal
dissensions prevail. It is natural that our sympathies should be
warmly enlisted for their welfare; that we should desire that
all controversies between them should be amicably adjusted,
and their governments administered in a manner to protect the
rights, and promote the prosperity of their people. It is con-
trary, however, to our settled policy, to interfere in their con-
troversies, whether external or internal.
I have thus adverted to all the subjects connected with our
foreign relations, to which I deem it necessary to call your at-
tention. Our policy is not only peace with all, but good will
towards all the powers of the earth. While we are just to all,
we require that ^11 shall be just to us. Excepting the differ-
174
LIFE AND TIMES OF
ences with Mexico and Great Britain, our relations with all
civilized nations are of the most satisfactory character. It is
hoped that in this enlightened age, these differences may be
amicably adjusted.
The Secretary of the Treasury, in his annual report to Con-
gress, will communicate a full statement of the condition of
our finances. The imports for the fiscal year ending on the
30th of June last, were of the value of one hundred and sev-
enteen millions two hundred and fifty-four thousand five hun-.
dred and sixty-four dollars, of which the amount exported was
fifteen millions three hundred and forty-six thousand eight
hundred and thirty dollars, leaving a balance of one hundred
and one millions nine hundred and seven thousand seven hun-
dred and thirty-four dollars for domestic consumption. The
exports for the same year were of the value of one hundred
and fourteen millions six hundred and forty-six thousand six
hundred and six dollars; of which the amount of domestic ar-
tides was ninety-nine millions two hundred and ninety-nine
thousand seven hundred and seventy-six dollars. The receipts
into the Treasury during the same year were twenty-nine mill-
ions seven hundred and sixty-nine thousand one hundred and
thirty-three dollars and fifty-six cents; of which there were de-
rived from customs, twenty-seven millions five liundred and
twenty-eight thousand one hundred and twelve dollars and sev-
enty cents; from sales of public lands, two millions sevent)'-
seven thousand and twenty-two dollars and thirty cents; and
from incidental and miscellaneous sources, one hundred and
sixty-three thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight dollars and
fifty-six cents. The expenditures for the same period were
twenty-nine millions nine hundred and sixty-eight thousand
two hundred and six dollars and ninety-eight cents; of which
eight millions five hundred and-eighty-eight thousand one hun-
dred and fifty-seven dollars and sixty-two cents were applied to
the payment of the public debt. The balance in the Treasury
on the 1st of July last was seven millions six hundred and
fifty-eight thousand three hundred and six dollars and twenty-
two cents.
The amount of public debt remaining unpaid on the 1st of
October last, was seventeen millions seventy-fije thousand four
JAMES KNOX POLK.
175
hundred and forty-five dollars and fifty-two cents. Further
payments of the public debt would have been made in antici-
pation of the period of its reimbursement under the authority
conferred upon the Secretary of the Treasury by the acts of
July 21, 1841, and of April 15, 1842, and March 3, 1843,
had not the unsettled state of our relations with Mexico menaced
hostile collision with that power. In view of such a contin-
gency, it was deemed prudent to retain in the Treasury an
amount unusually large for ordinary purposes.
A few years ago, our whole national debt growing out of
the Revolution and the "War of 1812 with Great Britain, was
extinguished, and we presented to the world the rare and noble
spectacle of a great and growing people who bad fully discharged
every obligation. Since that time, the existing debt has been
contracted; and small as it is, in comparison with the similar
burdens of most other nations, it should be extinguished at the
earliest practicable period. Should the state of the country per-
mit, and, especially, if our foreign relations interpose no oh-
stacle, it is contemplated to apply all the moneys in the Treas-
ury as they accrue, beyond what is required for the appropria-
tions by Congress, to its liquidation. I cherish the hope of
soon being able to congratulate the country on its recovering
once more the lofty position which it so recently occupied. Our
country, which exhibits to the world the benefits of self-govern-
ment, in developing all the sources of national prosperity, owes
to mankind the permanent example of a nation free from the
blighting influence of a public debt.
The attention of Congress is invited to the importance of
making suitable modifications and reductions of the rates of
duty imposed by our present tariff laws. The object of impos-
ing duties on imports should be to raise revenue to pay the
necessary expenses of Government. Congress may, undoubt-
edly, in the exercise of a sound discretion, discriminate in ar-
ranging the rates of duty on difierent articles; but the dis-
criminations should be within the revenue standard, and be
made with a view to raise money for the support of Gov-
ernment.
It becomes important to understand distinctly what is meant
by a revenue standard, the maximum of which should not be
176
LIFE AND TIMES OF
exceeded in the rates of duty imposed. It is conceded, and ex-
perience proves, that duties may be laid so high as to diminish,
or prohibit altogether, the importation of any given article, and
thereby lessen or destroy the revenue which, at lower rates,
would be derived from its importation. Such duties exceed the
revenue rates, and are not imposed to raise money for the sup-
port of Government. If Congress levy a duty, for revenue, of
one per cent on a given article, it will produce a given amount
of money to the Treasury, and will incidentally and necessarily
afford protection, or advantage, to the amount of one per cent
to the home manufacturer of a similar or like article, over the
importer. If the duty be raised to ten per cent, it will pro-
duce a greater amount of money, and afford greater protection.
If it be still raised to twenty, twenty-five, or thirty per cent,
and if, as it is raised, the revenue derived from it is found to
be increased, the protection or advantage will also be increased;
but if it be raised to thirty-one per cent, and it is found that
the revenue produced at that rate is less than thirty per cent, it
ceases to be a revenue duty. The precise point in the ascending
scale of duties at which it is ascertained from experience that
the revenue is greatest, is the maximum rate of duty which can
be laid for the bona fide purpose of collecting money for the
support of Government. To raise the duties higher than that
point, and thereby diminish the amount collected, is to levy
them for protection merely, and not for revenue. As long,
then, as Congress may gradually increase the rate of duty on a
given article, and the revenue is increased by such increase of
duty, they are within the revenue standard. When they go
beyond that point, and, as they increase the duties the revenue
is diminished or destroyed, the act ceases to have for its object
the raising of money to support Government, but is for protec-
tion merely.
It does not follow that Congress should levy the highest
duty on all articles of import which they will bear within the
revenue standard; for such rates would probably produce a
much larger amount than the economical administration of the
Government would require. Nor does it follow that the duties
on all articles should be at the same or a horizontal rate. Some
articles will bear a much higher revenue duty than others.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
177
Below the maximum of the revenue standard Congress may and
ought to discriminate in the rates imposed, taking care so to
adjust them on different articles as to produce in the aggregate
the amount which, when added to the proceeds of the sales of
public lands, may be needed to pay the economical expenses
of Government.
In levying a tariff of duties. Congress exercises the taxing
power, and for purposes of revenue may select the objects of
taxation. They may exempt certain articles altogether, and
permit their importation free of duty. On others they may
impose low duties. In these classes may be embraced such
articles of necessity as are in general use, and especially such
as are consumed by the laborer and the poor as well as by the
wealthy citizen. Care should be taken that all the great inter-
ests of the country, including manufactures, agriculture, com-
merce, navigation, and the mechanic arts should, as far as may
be practicable; derive equal advantages from the incidental
protection which a just system of revenue duties may afford.
Taxation, direct or indirect, is a burden, and it should be so
imposed as to operate as equally as may be on all classes,
in the proportion of their ability^ to bear it. To make the
taxing power an actual benefit to one class, necessarily in-
creases the burden of the others beyond their proportion, and
would be manifestly unjust.
The terms "protection to domestic industry" are of pop-
ular import; but they should apply under a just system to all
the various branches of industry in our country. The farmer
or planter who toils yearly in his fields, is engaged in "do-
mestic industry," and is as much entitled to have his labor
" protected," as the manufacturer, the man of commerce, the
navigator, or the mechanic, who are engaged also in "domes-
tic industry" in their different pursuits. The joint labors of
all these classes constitute the aggregate of the "domestic in-
dustry" of the Nation, and they are equally entitled to the
Nation's "protection." No one of them can justly claim to be
the exclusive recipients of "protection," which can only be
afforded by increasing burdens on the "domestic industry"
of the others.
If these views be correct, it remains to inquire how far the
12—K
178
LIFE AND TIMES OF
tariff act of 1842 is consistent with them. That many of the
provisions of that act are in violation of the cardinal princi-
pies here laid down, all must concede. The rates of duty im-
posed by it on some articles are prohibitory, and on others so
high as greatly to diminish importations, and to produce a less
amount of revenue than would be derived from lower rates.
They operate as "protection merely" to one branch of "do-
mestic industry" by taxing other branches.
By the introduction of minimums, or assumed and false
values, and by the imposition of specific duties, the injustice
and inequality of the act of 1842, in its practical operations
on different classes and pursuits, are seen and felt. Many
of the oppressive duties imposed by it under the operation of
these principles, range from one per cent to more than two
hundred per cent.
They are prohibitory on some articles, and partially so on
others, and bear most heavily on articles of common neces-
sity, and but lightly on articles of luxury. It is so framed
that much the greatest burden which it imposes is thrown on
labor and the poorer classes who are least able to bear it,
while it protects capital, and exempts the rich from paying
their just proportion of the taxation required for the support
of Government. While it protects the capital of the wealthy
manufacturer, and increases his profits, it does not benefit the
operatives or laborers in his employment, whose wages have
not been increased by it. Articles of prime necessity or of
coarse quality and low price, used by the masses of the people
are, in many instances, subjected by it to heavy taxes, while
articles of finer quality and higher price, or of luxury, which
can be used only by the opulent, are lightly taxed. It im-
poses heavy and unjust burdens on the farmer, the planter,
the commercial man, and those of all other pursuits, except the
capitalist who has made his investments in manufactures. All
the great interests of the country are not, as nearly as may be
practicable, equally protected by it.
The Government, in theory, knows no distinction of per-
sons or classes, and should not bestow upon some favors ^nd
privileges which all others may not enjoy. It was the pur-
pose of its illustrious founders to base the institutions which
JAMES KNOX POLK.
179
they reared upon the great and unchanging principles of jus-
tice and equity, conscious that if administered in tiie spirit in
which they were conceived, they would be felt only by the
benefits which they diffused, and would secure for themselves
a defense in the hearts of the people, more powerful than
standing armies, and all the means and appliances invented to
sustain governments founded on injustice and oppression.
The well-known fact, that the tariff" act of 1842 was passed
by a majority of one vote in the Senate and two in the House
of Representatives, and that some of those who felt them-
selves constrained, under the peculiar circumstances existing
at the time to vote in its favor, proclaimed its defects, and ex-
pressed their determination to aid in its modification on the first
opportunity, affords strong and conclusive evidence that it was
not intended to he permanent, and of the expediency and
necessity of its thorough revision.
In recommending to Congress a reduction of the present
rates of duty, and a revision and modification of the act of
1842, I am far from entertaining opinions unfriendly to the
manufacturers. On the contrary, I desire to see them pros-
perous as far as they can he so, without imposing unequal
burdens on other interests. The advantage under any system
of indirect taxation, even within the revenue standard, must
be in favor of the manufacturing interest; and of this no
other interest will complain.
I recommend to Congress the abolition of the minimum
principle, or assumed, arbitrary, and false values, and of spe-
cific duties, and the substitution in their place of ad valorem
duties, as the fairest and most equitable indirect lax which
can he imposed. By the ad valorem principle all articles are
taxed according to their cost or value, and those which are
of inferior quality, or of small cost, hear only the just propor-
tion of the tax with those which are of superior quality, or
greater cost. The articles consumed by all are taxed at the
same rate. A system of ad valorem revenue duties, with proper
discriminations and proper guards against frauds in collecting
them, it is not doubted, will afford ample incidental advan-
tages to the manufacturers, and enable them to derive as great
profits as can he derived from any other regular business. It
180
LIFE AND TIMES OF
is believed that such a system, strictly within the revenue
standard, will place the manufacturing interests on a stable
footing, and inure to their permanent advantage; while it will,
as nearly as may be practicable, extend to all the great inter-
ests of the country the incidental protection which can be
afforded by our revenue laws. Such a system, when once
firmly established, would be permanent, and not be subject to
the constant complaints, agitations, and changes which must
ever occur, when duties are not laid for revenue but for the
"protection merely" of a favored interest.
In the deliberations of Congress on this subject it is hoped
that a spirit of mutual concession and compromise between
conflicting interests may prevail, and that the result of their
labors may be crowned with the happiest consequences.
By the Constitution of the United States it is provided that
"no money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in conse-
quence of appropriations made by law." A public treasury
was undoubtedly contemplated and intended to be created,
in which the public money should be kept from the period of
collection until needed for public uses. In the collection and
disbursement of the public money no agencies have ever been
employed by law, except such as were appointed by the Gov-
ernment, directly responsible to it, and under its control. The
safe keeping of the public money should be confided to a
public treasury created by law, and under like responsibility
and control. It is not to be imagined that the framers of the
Constitution could have intended that a treasury should be
created as a place of deposit and safe keeping of the public
money which was irresponsible to the Government. The first
Congress under the Constitution, by the act of the 2d Septem-
her, 1789, "to establish the Treasury Department," provided
for the appointment of a Treasurer, and made it his duty "to
receive and keep the moneys of the United States," and "at
all times to submit to the Secretary of the Treasury and the
Comptroller, or either of them, the inspection of the moneys
in his hands."
That banks, national or State, could not have been intended
to be used as a substitute for the Treasury spoken of in the
Constitution, as keepers of the public money, is manifest from
JAMES KNOX POLK.
181
the fact, that at that time there was no aational bank, and but
three or four State banks of limited capital existed in the conn-
try. Their em'ployment as depositories was at first resorted to,
to a limited extent, but with no avowed intention of continu-
ing them permanently, in place of the Treasury of the Consti-
tution. When they were afterwards from time to time em-
ployed, it was from motives of supposed convenience.
Our experience has shown, that when banking corporations
have been the keepers of the public money, and been thereby
made in efiect the Treasury, the Government can have no guar-
anty that it can command the use of its own money for public
purposes. The late Bank of the United States proved to be
faithless. The State banks, which were afterwards employed,
were faithless. But a few years ago, with millions of public
money in their keeping, the Government was brought almost
to bankruptcy, and the public credit seriously impaired, because
of their inability or indisposition to pay, on demand, to the
public creditors, in the only currency recognized by the Con-
stitution. Their failure occurred in a period of peace, and
great inconvenience and loss were suffered by the public from
it. Had the country been involved in a foreign war, that in-
convenience and loss would have been much greater, and might
have resulted in extreme public calamity. The public money
should not be mingled with the private funds of banks or indi-
viduals, or be used for private purposes. When it is placed
in banks for safe-keeping, it is in eflfect loaned to them without
interest, and is loaned by them upon interest to the borrowers
from them. The public money is converted into banking cap-
ital, and is used and loaned out for the private profit of bank
stockholders; and when called for (as was the case in 1837), it
may be in the pockets of the borrowers from the banks, instead
of being in the public Treasury contemplated by the Constitu-
tion. The framers of the Constitution could never have in-
tended that the money paid into the Treasury should be thus
converted to private use, and placed beyond the control of the
Government.
Banks which hold the public money are often tempted, by
a desire to gain, of extend their loans, increase their circula-
tion, and thus stimulate, if not produce a spirit of speculation
182
LIFE AND TIMES OF
and extravagance, which sooner or later must result in ruin to
thousands. If the public money be-not permitted to be thus
used, but be kept in the Treasury and paid out to the public
creditors in gold and silver, the temptation afforded by its de-
posit with banks to an undue expansion of their business,
would be checked, while the amount of the Constitutioial cur-
rency left in circulation would be enlarged, by its employment
in the public collections and disbursements', and the banks them-
selves would, in consequence, be found in a safer and sounder
condition.
At present. State banks are employed as depositories, but
without adequate regulation of law, whereby the public money
can be secured against the casualties and excesses, revulsions,
suspensions, and defalcations, to which, from overissues, over-
trading, an inordinate desire for gain, or other causes, they are
constantly exposed. The Secretary of the Treasury has in all
cases, when it was practicable, taken collateral security for the
amount which they hold, by the pledge of stocks of the United
States, or such of the States as were in good credit. Some of
the deposit banks have given this description of security, and
others have declined to do so.
Entertaining the opinion that " the separation of the moneys
of the Government from banking institutions is indispensable
for the safety of the funds of the Government and the rights
of the people," I recommend to Congress that provision be made
by law for such separation, and that a Constitutional Treasury
be created for the safe-keeping of the public money. The Con-
stitutional Treasury recommended is designed as a secure de-
pository for the public money, without any power to make loans
or discounts, or to issue any paper whatever as a currency or
circulation. I can not doubt that such a Treasury as was cou-
templated by the Constitution, should be independent of all
banking corporations. The money of the people should be kept
in the Treasury of the people created by law, and be in the
custody of agents of the people chosen by themselves, according
to the form of the Constitution; agents who are directly re-
sponsible to the Government, who are under adequate bonds
and oaths, and who are subiect to severe punishments for any
embezzlement, private use, or misapplication of the public funds.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
183
and for any failure in other respects to perform their duties.
To say that the people of their Government are incompetent,
or not to be trusted with the custody of their own money, in
their own Treasury, provided by themselves, but must rely on
the presidents, cashiers, and stockliolders of banking corpora-
tions, not appointed by them, nor responsible to them, would
be to concede that they are incompetent for self-government.
In recommending the establishment of a Constitutional
Treasury, in which the public money shall te kept, I desire that
adequate provision be made by law for its safety, and that all
Executive discretion or control over it shall be removed, ex-
cept such as may be necessary in directing its disbursements in
pursuance of appropriations made by law.
Under our present land system, limiting the minimum price
at which the public lands can be entered to one dollar and
twenty-five cents per acre, large quantities of lands of inferior
quality remain unsold, because they will not command that
price. From the records of the General Land Office it ap-
pears, that, of the public lands remaining unsold in the several
States and Territories in which they are situated, thirty-nine
millions one hundred and five thousand five hundred and sev-
enty-seven acres have been in the market, subject to entry, more
than twenty years; forty-nine millions six hundred and thirty-
eight thousand six hundred and forty-four acres for more than
fifteen years; seventy-three millions seventy-four thousand and
six hundred acres for more than ten years; and one hundred
and six millions one hundred and. seventy-six thousand nine
hundred and sixty-one acres for more than five years. Much
the largest portion of these lands will continue to be unsalable
at the minimum price at which they are permitted to be sold,
so long as large territories of lands from which the more valu-
able portions have not been selected are annually brought into
market by the Government. With the view to the sale and
settlement of these inferior lands, I recommend that the price
be graduated and reduced below the present minimum rate,
confining the sales at the reduced prices to settlers and culti-
vators in limited quantities. If graduated and reduced in price
for a limited term to one dollar per acre, and after the expira-
tion of that period, for a second and third term to lower rates.
184
LIFE AND TIMES OF
a large portion of these lands would be purchased, and many
worthy citizens, who are unable to pay higher rates, could pur-
chase homes for themselves and their families. By adopting
the policy of graduation and reduction of price, these inferior
lands will be sold for their real value, while the States in
which they lie will be freed from the inconvenience, if not in-
justice, to which they are subjected, in consequence of the
United States continuing to own large quantities of public lands
within their borders, not liable to taxation for the support of
their local governments.
I recommend the continuance of the policy of granting pre-
emptions, in its most liberal extent, to all those who have set-
tied, or may hereafter settle, on the public lands, whether sur-
veyed or unsurveyed, to which the Indian title may have been
extinguished at the time of settlement. It has been found by
experience, that in consequence of combinations of purchasers
and other causes, a very small quantity of the public lands,
when sold at public auction, commands a higher price than the
minimum rate established by law. The settlers on the public
lands are, however, but rarely able to secure their homes and
improvements at the public sales at that rate; because these
combinations, by means of the capital they command, and their
superior ability to purchase, render it impossible for the settler
to compete with them in the market. By putting down all
competition, these combinations of capitalists and speculators
are usually enabled to purchase the lands, including the im-
provements of the settlers, at the minimum price of the Gov-
ernment, and either turn them out of their homes, or extort
from them, according to their ability to pay, double or quad-
ruple the amount paid for them to the Government. It is to
the enterprise and perseverance of the hardy pioneers of the
West, who penetrate the wilderness with their families, suffer
the dangers, the privations, and hardships attending the settle-
ment of a new country, and prepare the way for the body of
emigrants who, in the course of a few years, usually follow
them, that we are, in a great degree, indebted for the rapid
extension and aggrandizement of our country.
Experience has proved that no portion of our population
are more patriotic than the hardy and brave men of the frontier.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
185
or more ready to obey the call of their country, and to defend
her rights and her honor, whenever and by whatever enemy
assailed. They should be protected from the grasping specu-
lator, and secured, at the minimum price of the public lands,
in the humble homes which they have improved by their labor.
With this end in view, all vexatious or unnecessary restrictions
imposed upon them by the existing pre-emption laws, should
be repealed or modified. It is the true policy of the Govern-
ment to afford facilities to its citizens to become the owners
of small portions of our vast public domain at low and mod-
erate rates.
The present system of managing the mineral lands of the
United States is believed to be radically defective. More than
a million of acres of the public lands, supposed to contain lead and
other minerals, have been reserved from sale, and numerous
leases upon them have been granted to individuals upon a
stipulated rent. The system of granting leases has proved to
be not only unprofitable to the Government, but unsatisfactory
to the citizens who have gone upon the lands, and must, if
continued, lay the foundation of much future difficulty between
the Government and the lessees. According to the official rec-
ords, the amount of rents received by the Government for the
years 1841, 1842, 1843, and 1844, was $6,854.74, while the
expenses of the system during the same period, including sal-
aries of superintendents, agents, clerks, and incidental expenses,
were twenty-six thousand one hundred and eleven dollars and
eleven cents—the income being less than one-fourth of the ex-
penses. To this pecuniary loss may be added the injury sus-
tained by the public in consequence of the destruction of tim-
her, and the careless and wasteful manner of working the
mines. The system has given rise to much litigation between
the United States and individual citizens, producing irritation
and excitement in the mineral region, and involving the Gov-
ernment in heavy additional expenditures. It is believed that
similar losses and embarrassments will continue to occur, while
the present system of leasing these lands remains unchanged.
These lands are now under the superintendence and care of the
War Department, with the ordinary duties of which they have
no proper or natural connection. I recommend the repeal of
186
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the present system, and that these lands be placed under the
superintendence and management of the General Land Office,
as other public lands, and be brought into market and sold
upon such terms as Congress in their wisdom may prescribe,
reserving to the Government an equitable percentage of the
gross amount of mineral product, and that the pre-emption
principle be extended to resident miners and settlers upon
them, at the minimum price which may be established by
Congress.
I refer you to the accompanying report of the Secretary
of War, for information respecting the present situation of
the army, and its operations during the past year; the state
of our defenses; the condition of tlie public works; and our
relations with the various Indian tribes within our limits or
upon our borders. I invite your attention to the suggestions
contained in that report, in relation to these prominent objects
of national interest.
When orders were given during the past summer for concen-
trating a military force on the western frontier of Texas, our
troops were widely dispersed, and in small detachments, occu-
pying posts remote from each other. The prompt and expedi-
tious manner in which an army, embracing more than half our
peace establishment, was drawn together on an emergency so
sudden, reflects great credit on the officers who were intrusted
with the execution of these orders, as well as upon the discipline
of the army itself.
To be in strength to protect and defend the people and ter-
ritory of Texas, in the event Mexico should commence hostili-
ties, or invade her territories with a large army, which she
threatened, I authorized the general assigned to the command
of the army of occupation to make requisitions for additional
forces from several of the States nearest the Texan territory,
and which could most expeditiously furnish them, if, in his
opinion, a larger force than that under his command, and the
auxiliary aid which, under like circumstances, he was author-
ized to receive from Texas, should be required. The contin-
gency upon which the exercise of this authority depended, has
not occurred. The circumstances under which two companies
of State artillery from the city of New Orleans were sent into
JAMES KNOX POLK.
187
Texas, and mustered into the service of the United States, are
fully stated in the report of the Secretary of War. I recom-
mend to Congress that provision be made for the payment of
these troops, as well as the small number of Texan volunteers,
whom the commanding general thought it necessary to receive
or muster into our service.
During the last summer, the first regiment of dragoons made
extensive excursions through the Indian country on our bor-
ders, a part of them advancing nearly to the possessions of the
Hudson's Bay Company in the north, and a part as far as the
South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, and the head-waters of
the tributary streams of the Colorado of the West. The exhi-
bition of this military force among the Indian tribes in those
distant regions, and the councils held with them by the com-
manders of the expeditions, it is believed, will have a salutary
influence in restraining them from hostilities among themselves,
and maintaining friendly relations between them and the United
States. An interesting account of one of these excursions ac-
companies the report of the Secretary of War. Under the di-
rections of the War Department, Brevet Captain Freinont, of
the corps of topographical engineers, has been employed since
1842 in exploring the country west of the Mississippi, and
beyond the Rocky Mountains. Two expeditions have already
been brought to a close, and the reports of that scientific and
enterprising oflScer have furnished much interesting and valu-
able information. He is now engaged in a third expedition;
but it is not expected that this arduous service will be com-
pleted in season to enable me to communicate the result to
Congress at the present session.
Our relations with the Indian tribes are of a favorable char-
acter. The policy of removing them to a country designed for
their permanent residence west of the Mississippi, and without
the limits of the organized States and Territories, is better ap-
preciated by them than it was a few years ago; while educa-
tion is now attended to, and the habits of civilized life are
gaining ground among them.
Serious difficulties of long standing continue to distract the
several parties into which the Cherokees are unhappily divided.
The efforts of the Government to adjust the difficulties between
188 • LIFE AND TIMES OF
them have heretofore proved unsuccessful; and there remains
no probability that this desirable object can be accomplished
without the aid of further legislation by Congress. I will, at
an early period of your session, present the subject for your
consideration, accompanied with an exposition of the complaints
and claims of the several parties into which the nation is di-
vided, with a view to the adoption of such measures by Con-
gress as may enable the Executive to do justice to them re-
spectively, and to put an end, if possible, to the dissensions
which have long prevailed, and still prevail, among them.
I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Navy for
the present condition of that branch of the national defense,
and for grave suggestions, having for their object the increase
of its efficiency, and a greater economy in its management.
During the past year, the officers and men have performed their
duty in a satisfactory manner. The orders which have been
given, have been executed with promptness and fidelity. A
larger force than has often formed one squadron under our flag,
was readily concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico, and apparently
without unusual effort. It is especially to be observed, that
notwithstanding the union of so considerable a force, no act
was committed that even the jealousy of an irritated power
could construe as an act of aggression; and that the commander
of the squadron, and his officers, in strict conformity to their
instructions, holding themselves ever ready for the most active
duty, have achieved the still purer glory of contributing to the
preservation of peace. It is believed that at all our foreign
stations the honor of our flag has been maintained, and that,
generally, our ships of war have been distinguished for their
good discipline and order. I am happy to add, that the dis-
play of maritime force which was required by the events of the
summer, has been made wholly within the usual appropriations
for the service of the year ; so that no additional appropriations
are required.
The commerce of the United States, and with it the navi-
gating interest, have steadily and rapidly increased since the
organization of our Government, until, it is believed, we are
now second to but one power in the world, and at no distant
day we shall probably be inferior to none. Exposed as they
JAMES KNOX POLK.
189
must be, it has been a wise policy to afford to these important
interests protection with our ships of war, distributed in the
great highways of trade throughout the world. For more than
thirty years appropriations have been made, and annually ex-
pended, for the gradual increase of our naval forces. In peace,
our navy performs the important duty of protecting our com-
merce; and, in the event of war, will be, as it has been, a
most efficient means of defense.
The successful use of steam navigation on the ocean has
been followed by the introduction of war-steamers in great and'
increasing numbers into the navies of the principal maritime
powers of the world. A due regard to our own safety and to
an efficient protection to our large and increasing commerce
demands a corresponding increase on our part. No country has
greater facilities for the construction of vessels of this descrip-
tion than ours, or can promise itself greater advantages from
their employment. They are admirably adapted to the protec-
tion of our commerce, to the rapid transmission of intelligence,
and to the coast defense. In pursuance of the wise policy of a
gradual increase of our navy, large supplies of live-oak timber,
and other materials for ship-building, have been collected, and
are now under shelter and in a state of good preservation,
while iron steamers can be built with great facility in various
parts of the Union.
The use of iron as a material, especially in the construction
of steamers, which can enter with safety many of the harbors
along our coast now inaccessible to vessels of greater draught,
and the practicability of constructing them in the interior,
strongly recommends that liberal appropriations should be made
for this important object. Whatever may have been our, policy
in the earlier stages of the Government, when the Nation was
in its infancy, our shipping interests and commerce corapara-
tively small, our resources limited, our population sparse, and
scarcely extending beyond the limits of the original thirteen
States, that policy must be essentially different now that we have
grown from three to iryore than twenty millions of people—
that our commerce, carried in our own ships, is found in every
sea, and that our territorial boundaries and settlements have
been so greatly expanded. Neither our commerce, nor our
190
LIFE AND TIMES OF
long line of coast on the ocean and on the lakes, can be sue-
cessfully defended against foreign aggression by means of forti-
fications alone. These are essential at important commercial
and military points, but our chief reliance for this object mus-
be on a well-organized, efficient navy. The benefits resulting
from such a navy are not confined to the Atlantic States. The
productions of the interior which seek a market abroad, are di-
rectly dependent on the safety and freedom of our commerce.
The occupation of the Balize below New Orleans by a hostile
force would embarrass, if not stagnate, the whole export trade
of the Mississippi, and affect the value of the agricultural
products of the entire valley of that mighty river and its
tributaries.
It has never been our policy to maintain large standing
armies in time of peace. They are contrary to the genius of
our free institutions, would impose heavy burdens on the people,
and be dangerous to public liberty. Our reliance for protec-
tion and defense on the land must be mainly on our citizen
soldiers, who will be ever ready, as they ever have been ready
in times past, to rush with alacrity, at the call of their country,
to her defense. This description of force, however, can not de-
fend our coasts, harbors, and inland seas, nor protect our com-
merce on the ocean or the lakes. These must be protected by
our navy.
Considering an increased naval force, and especially of steam
vessels, corresponding with our growth and importance as a
nation, and proportioned to the increasing naval force of other
nations, of vast importance as regards our safety, and the great
and growing interests to be protected by it, I recommend the
subject to the favorable consideration of Congress.
The report of the Postmaster-General herewith communi-
cated, contains a detailed statement of the operations of his
Department during the past year. It will be seen that the
income from postages will fall short of the expenditures for the
year between one and two millions of dollars. This deficiency
has been caused by the reduction of the rates of postage, which
was made by the act of the 3d of March last. No principle
has been more generally acquiesced in by the people than that
this Department should sustain itself by limiting its expendi-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
191
tures to its income. Congress has never sought to make it a
source of revenue for general purposes, except for a short period
during the last war with Great Britain, nor should it ever be-
come a charge on the General Treasury. If Congress shall ad-
here to this principle, as I think they ought, it will be necessary
either to curtail the present mail service, so as to reduce the
expenditures, or so to modify the act of the 3d of March last
as to iinprove its revenues. The extension of the maiTservice,
and the additional facilities which will be demanded by the
rapid extension and increase of population on our western fron-
tier, will not admit of such curtailment as will materially re-
duce the present expenditures. In the adjustment of the tariff
of postages, the interest of the people demands that the lowest
rates be adopted which will produce the necessary revenue to
meet the expenditures of the Department. I invite the atten-
tion of Congress to the suggestions of the Postmaster-General
on this subject, under the belief that such a modification of the
late law may be made as will yield sufficient revenue without
further calls on the Treasury, and with very little change in
the present rates of postage.
Proper measures have been taken, in pursuance of the act
of the 3d of March last, for the establishment of lines of
mail steamers between this and foreign countries. The im-
portance of this service commends itself strongly to favorable
consideration.
With the growth of our country, the public business which
devolves on the heads of the several Executive Departments
has greatly increased. In some respects, the distribution of
duties among them seems to be incongruous, and many of
these might be transferred from one to another with advan-
tage to the public interests. A more auspicious time for the
consideration of this subject by Congress, with a view to sys-
tem in the organization of the several Departments, and a
more appropriate division of the public business, will not prob-
ably occur.
The most important duties of the State Department relate
to our foreign affairs. By the great enlargement of the family
of nations, the increase of our commerce, and the corresponding
extension of our consular system, the business of this Department
192
LIFE AJJD TIMES OF
has been greatly increased. In its present organization, many
duties of a domestic nature, and consisting of details, are de-
volved on the Secretary of State, which do not appropriately
belong to the Foreign Department of the Government, and may
properly be transferred to some other Department. One of
these grows out of the present state of the law concerning the
Patent Office, which, a few years since, was a subordinate
clerkship, but has become a distinct bureau of great importance.
With an excellent internal organization, it is still connected
with the State Department. In the transaction of its business,
questions of much importance to inventors, and to the commu-
nity, frequently arise, which, by existing laws, are referred for
decision to a board, of which the Secretary of State is a member.
These questions are legal, and the connection which now exists he-
tween the State Department and Patent Office, may, with great
propriety and advantage, be transferred to the Attorney-General.
In his last annual message to Congress, Mr. Madison in-
vited attention to a proper provision for the Attorney-General,
" as an important improvement in the executive establishment."
This recommendation was repeated by some of his successors.
The official duties of the Attorney-General have been much in-
creased within a few years, and his office has become one of
great importance. His duties may be still further increased
with advantage to the public interests. As an executive officer,
his residence and constant attention at the seat of Government
are required. Legal questions involving important principles,
and large amounts of public money, are constantly referred to
him by the President and Executive Departments for his ex-
amination and decision. The public business under his official
management before the judiciary has been so augmented by the
extension of our territory, and the acts of Congress authorizing
suits against the United States for large bodies of valuable
public lands, as greatly to increase his labors and responsibili-
ties. I therefore recommend that the Attorney-General be
placed on the same footing with the heads of the other Execu-
tive Departments, with such subordinate officers, provided by
law for his Department, as may be required to discharge the
additional duties which have been or may be devolved upon him.
Congress possess the power of exclusive legislation over the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
193
District of Columbia; and I commend the interests of its in-
habitants to your favorable consideration. The people of this
district have no legislative body of their own, and must confide
their local as well as their general interests to representatives in
whose election they have no voice, and over whose official con-
duct they have no control. Each member of the National
Legislature should consider himself as their immediate represen-
tative, and should be the more ready to give attention to their
interests and wants, because he is not responsible to them. I
recommend that a liberal and generous spirit may characterize
your measures in relation to them. 1 shall be ever disposed to
show a proper regard for their wishes, and, within Constitutional
limits, shall at all times cheerfully co-operate with you for the
advancement of their welfare.
I trust it may not be deemed inappropriate to the occasion
for me to dwell for a moment on the memory of the most era-
inent citizen of our country, who, during the summer that is
gone by, has descended to the tomb. The enjoyment of con-
templating, at the advanced age of near fourscore years, the
happy condition of his country, cheered the last hours of An-
drew Jackson, who departed this life in the tranquil hope of a
blessed immortality. His death was happy, as his life had
been eminently useful. He had an unfaltering confidence in
the virtue and capacity of the people, and in the permanence
of that free Government which he had largely contributed to
establish and defend. His great deeds had secured to him the
affections of his fellow-citizens, and it was his happiness to wit-
ness the growth and glory of his country, which he loved so
well. He departed amid the benedictions of millions of free-
men. The Nation paid its tribute to his memory at his tomb.
Coming generations will learn from his example the love of
country and the rights of man. In his language on a similar
occasion to the present, "I now commend you, fellow-citizens,
to the guidance of Almighty God, with a full reliance on his
merciful providence for the maintenance of our free institutions,
and with an earnest supplication, that whatever errors it may be
my lot to commit, in discharging the arduous duties which have
devolved on me, will find a remedy in the harmony and wisdom
of your counsels."
13—K
194
LIFE AND TIMES OF
This long message was, perhaps, not without de-
fects, even from an annexationist's point of view.
The President was quite premature in his enthusiasm
over the bloodless acquisition of Texas. The blood
was yet to come; and enough to make it a dear, and
not even yet a wholly honorable, accession to this
country, in the estimation of many; an achievement
that stands recorded in history, without an entire
unanimity of sentiment, at all events, even in Amer-
ica. In view of the facts that Texas had for eight
or nine years maintained an independence of Mexico,
and that the United States and other nations had
recognized this independence, which they had a right
to do, the absolute right of the United States to ac-
cept and provide for the annexation of Texas to this
country, should, perhaps, not be disputed. But to
say that Mexico could not complain on account of
this course on the part of the United States was
begging the question, as that was the whole burden
of her complaint; and this country had no ground
for expecting that she would not complain. Mexico
yet claimed all of Texas, to the very border of Lou-
isiana, and was at war with Texas, still regarding
her as a revolted province, and if this Government
had the right to annex Texas, she must reasonably
have expected to accept the state of war with
Mexico, which she did at once, by putting her army
and navy in position for that purpose.
The President thought this country had cause for
war with Mexico on account of insults and injuries
committed by authority of that government on our
JAMES KNOX POLK.
195
citizens, and which yet remained mainly unsettled ;
but no declaration of war was recommended by him
owing to the effort Mr. Slidell was then making to
negotiate with Mexico.
The next important matter before the country,
the dispute with Great Britain as to the north-western
boundary, is handled with much plainness, if not
severity, by the President, and the Monroe Doctrine
reasserted forcibly. In the Presidential campaign
of 1844, it had been maintained that Mr. Polk would
defend the American claim to the whole of the ter-
ritory joining Russia on the Pacific in 54° 40', and
in his inaugural address, Mr. Polk asserted the
American right to all of this territory with unneces-
sary stiffness under the circumstances. It now ap-
peared from his message that during recent negotia-
tions he had proposed a settlement of the dispute on
the 49°, but Britain rejecting his terms, he had again
asserted the right of this country to the southern
border of the Russian possessions, and withdrawn
the former offer to England, now asking or recom-
mending Congress to provide for giving that govern-
ment a year's notice with a view of terminating the
joint occupation of the territory on the Pacific.
The message indicates an ill-feeling toward Great
Britain, and suggests the view that war with that
nation was possible, if not desirable. Although there
was a furious assault made upon the President and
his friends for backing down from the campaign
bluster and pretensions concerning all of the disputed
territory, by some of the Whigs and most of the
196
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Democrats, who had made the " canvass " of 1844
on the promise that no settlement would be accepted
which did not recognize 54° 40' of north latitude as
the northern boundary; and although there was gen-
eral surprise in the revelation that this line had been
abandoned for a time, and any doubt thrown on the
" indisputable " right of this country to that line, yet
the President's reasons for the course pursued were
certainly good and honorable, and there can be no
doubt as to his own desire to adhere to his original
announcement and convictions touching the owner-
ship of the territory. Thomas H. Benton and others
opposing the annexation of Texas except by treaty,
held that the United States had no rights on the
Pacific north of the 49°, and President Polk may
subsequently have doubted the correctness of his
position on the subject, but he mainly adhered to the
view that the plan of settlement was a compromise
and involved the usual concessions.
This message contains a very plain statement of
the tariff and revenue question, and maintains the
view of tariff for revenue only as against protection,
but with much more moderation than has usually
marked the division of parties on the subject. The
question of disposing of the public lands is discussed
with care, the independent or Constitutional Treas-
ury of Mr. Van Buren abandoned under Mr. Tyler,
is earnestly advocated, and other important matters
treated with fairness and confidence. This message
is exceedingly valuable as an authentic sketch of the
affairs of the country.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
197
CHAPTER X.
OREGON —54° 40' ABANDONED —BLUSTER ABOUT WAR
WITH ENGLAND—SETTLEMENT ON THE 49TH DEGREE—
THE TREATY—"FIRST MISSTEP" OF PRESI-
DENT POLK.
Many of the Democratic newspapers were open
in their support of a warlike attitude towards
Great Britain, and the demand was loud and deter-
mined in favor of maintaining the claim to the line
of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes of north lati-
tude for the northern boundary of the United States
on the Pacific Coast, according to the pledges and
pretensions of the Presidential campaign of 1844.
The settlement of the Oregon difficulty now became
a matter of the first importance to Congress. The
views of the leading politicians of this country were
greatly divided on the Oregon question, and the
" indisputable" rights of this country in the case,
however much they might have desired the general
acknowledgment of the doctrine that Americans
should control America, as Thomas Jefferson, J. Q.
Adams, and Mr. Monroe had declared. Much of the
intense feeling against the advocates of the 49° for
the northwestern boundary arose, perhaps, from a
want of correct information on the subject. It was,
in fact, involved in a long process of history not by
198
LIFE AND TIMES OF
any means very clear, yet the British settlers on the
northwest and the advocates of the English side in
England seemed at no loss in coming to the conclusion
that the demands of the people of this country were
utterly preposterous.
England claimed Oregon by priority of discovery,
taking formal possession, actual settlement, and con-
tiguity of territory, or, as the pathologist would say,
by continuity of structure. The British asserted
that Sir Francis Drake discovered the Pacific coast
as far north as the forty-third parallel in 1579, and
called the country New Albion. In 1778, they
placed their next date. Captain Cook in that year
reaching the forty-fourth parallel, discovered Nootka
Sound, and explored the coast to some extent to
the Aleutian Islands, not, however, observing the
mouth of the Columbia River, and his voyage amount-
ing to little, as his object was not the discovery of
new countries. In 1792 and 1793 Captain Van-
couver and his lieutenant, Broughton, explored the
Strait of Fuca, Puget Sound, and the Columbia
River, one hundred miles up from its mouth, under
orders of the British Government. Berkeley and
two or three other Englishmen had previously vis-
ited points on this coast. And, in 1793, Alexander
MacKenzie made quite extensive researches on the
coast and its rivers, it is claimed, under authority
of the government.
All this was, perhaps, with the view of perma-
nently settling the country. But the first British
settlement, in form or under authority of any kind.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
199
was made under the North-western Fur Company in
1813, on the Columbia River. From this period
British occupancy of the territory north of that
river has remained unbroken. And England claimed
that her right by contiguity was established by the
fact that her Canadian possessions jutted into this
western coast country. She held that America had
no right to this territory except what she got from
the discoveries of Spain. By the purchase of Lou-
isiana in 1808, they claimed that the territory
added to this country extended on the north to a
line running from the Mississippi from its source
to the Rocky Mountains; on the west, to these
mountains only; and on the south to the Gulf of
Mexico. The British also claimed that the expedi-
tion made by Captain Gray, of Boston, to the
Columbia River in 1792, was that of a private indi-
vidual, and denied that it had any bearing upon the
question of the rights of this Government, and even
denied, or doubted, that Gray did more than enter
the inlet to the river, perhaps knowing nothing of
its existence. They also claimed that the settle-
ment made by one Captain Smith, of Boston, On the
Columbia in 1810, and that of John J. Astor at
Astoria, in 1811, were individual enterpfises, and
that Astor sold out his claims to the North-western
Fur Company; and that the claim of the United
States, as derived from Spain, was of little or no
weight, as Spain had abandoned the country.
England complained, at the beginning of Mr.
Polk's term, of the intemperate and extravagant and
200
LIFE AND TIMES OF
warlike talk and bluster in this country on account
of this boundary dispute, not to say anything of
such gross misrepresentations as that England had,
in 1713, at the treaty of Utrecht, made over to
Spain forever all her title to the northwest coast
of North America, when that treaty makes no refer-
ence to that coast. Up to the Treaty of Florida, in
1819, Spain claimed all of this Oregon territory to
the Russian border, although she Had made no settle-
ments, and had, in treaty with England in 1790, ad-
mitted that country to certain privileges with her on
the Pacific coast north of Nootka Sound. At that
time Great Britain had no intention of permanently
colonizing the Pacific coast, and extending her laws
over it. Hunting, fishing, and trading were her
objects. If Spain bad any right to Oregon, then
the United States acquired it by treaty with her.
Her discoveries on the Pacific coast of North
America certainly antedated those of Great Britain,
even allowing the claims of Sir Francis Drake. For,
as early as 1548, the Spaniards reached the 48°
of north latitude on that coast. In 1592, Juan de
Fuca entered the strait that bears his name. In
1774, Juan Perez discovered and located Nootka
Sound in .49° 80'; and, in the following year, Bruno
Heceta discovered the Columbia River, and called it
Rio de San Rocque. From time to time the Span-
ish navigators made voyages to this north-western
coast after that date, never finally relinquishing
their right to the country till 1819. All of these
explorers were operating directly under the authority
JAMES KNOX POLK,
201
of the Spanish Government. Perez was sent out by
the viceroy of Mexico, and explored much of the
coast from the undisputed Spanish territory in Cali-
fornia, at least to the 54° of north latitude. Mexico
regarded the 42° as the northern boundary of Cali-
fornia. And the United States claimed that Oregon
extended from that parallel to 54° 40' or 61°, and
from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. Russia
claimed from 54° 40' to the frozen zone, and nobody
disputed her claim.
Spain began, in the latter half of the eighteenth
century to feel great repugnance to the appearance
of English adventurers on the Pacific coast of North
America; and well she might, for many of them, as
Drake, Cavendish, and others, had had little else in
view than the robbing and plundering of her unpro-
tected and wealthy settlements and merchantmen.
In 1788, Meares, an Englishman, but without
authority of his government or any other, and sail-
ing under a Portuguese flag, took post at Nootka
Sound, and began trading with the Indians, Mexico
sent Martinez with three armed vessels up there to
drive him from their possessions, which was readily
done. At this time Martinez built a fort at Nootka.
But Martinez seized the Englishmen and their ship,
and thus brought matters to a warlike status be-
tween Spain and England. Spain demanded a satis-
factory recognition of her rights on the Pacific coast,
not considering that any other power had any rights
there south of 54° 40'. England demanded satisfac-
tion for the outrage on Meares and his men. War
202
LIFE AND TIMES OF
was at last prevented by the Convention of the
Escurial, or Nootka Sound Convention, as it was
sometimes termed, in 1790. By this treaty Meares's
property was restored, also the lands he claimed at
Nootka, to the latter of which he had not a shadow
of right, and England was allowed equal rights or
privileges with Spain in fishing, trading, and navigat-
ing the Pacific Ocean, and in making settlements on
unoccupied lands north of the 38° or 42°. It does
not appear in this treaty that England then claimed
any more than a right to navigate, trade, and estab-
lish or hold trading-posts on the coast. Nor does it
appear that Spain relinquished her claim to the sole
proprietorship of the entire coast. It was merely
courtesy on her part to prevent war. As to the
question of contiguity of territory no other claimant
to Oregon stood on a comparative footing with
Spain. This country was but the natural continua-
tion of her California and Mexican territory. Under
her authority most of th« entire coast had been ex-
plored with a view of holding it all as her owii
possessions. But the affairs of Spain becoming more
seriously involved in 1795, she ceased to give her
attention to the Oregon territory, and, although her
war with England in the following year destroyed
the obligations of the Nootka Convention of 1790,
she never again made an effort to settle or defend
the territory which she had always held to be her
own. By the purchase of Louisiana the United
States claimed the right to extend her authority
south of the forty-ninth parallel to the Pacific. And
JAMES KNOX POLK.
203
in 1819, by the Treaty of Florida, all the rights of
Spain, whatever they were north of the 42°, on the
Pacific coast of North America, were ceded to the
United States.
Besides these acquired rights the United States
added the right of discovery by her own citizens.
In 1789 Robert Gray, of Boston, made some explo-
rations on the Oregon coast, and, early in 1792, dis-
covered and entered the Columbia River. From 1789
to 1792, Gray, Kendrick, Ingraham, and other fur-
traders explored a great part of the Oregon coast; but
none of these men operated under the authority of
the United States Government. In 1811 J. J. Astor,
of New York, made the settlement, Astoria, near
the mouth of the Columbia, on its left bank, as a
center for carrying on the operations of the Pacific
Fur Company. In 1813 this company sold out to
the British Northwest Company, and, late in 1818,
a British war vessel captured the American settle-
ment which Astor had planted. In 1805, Mr. Jef-
ferson authorized Lewis and Clark to cross the
Rocky Mountains and explore the head-waters of the
Columbia, and from this time some attention began
to be directed towards the permanent settlement and
occupancy of Oregon. In 1820 Congress made some
recommendations as to its occupation. From the
time Astor established the post of Astoria Amer-
icans began to settle on the Columbia River and in
other parts of Oregon. Quite a number of mission-
aries went over there, and while they taught the
natives Christianity, they located lands and made
•204
LIFE AND TIMES OF
farms as citizens of the United States. In the lat-
ter occupation the British North-western Company
traders thought them much more successful than in
the former, and looked with disgust and chagrin
upon the fact that nothing in America could be held
as clear and safe from the grasp of the ubiqui-
tons Yankee.
When the War of 1812 was ended, England sur-
rendered Astoria to the United States as coming
under the first article of the Treaty of Ghent. In
the "convention" or treaty with England, in 1818,
the following arrangement was entered into:—
" It is agreed that any country that may be claimed by
either party on the northwest coast of America, westward
of the Stony Mountains, shall, together with its harbors,
bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within
the same, be free and open for the term of ten years from
the date of the signature of the present convention, to the
vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two powers; it being
well understood that this agreement is not to be con-
strued to the prejudice of any claim which either of the two
high contracting parties may have to any part of said
country, nor shall it be taken to affect the claims of any
other power or State to any part of the said country, the
only object of the high contracting parties, in that re-
spect, being to prevent disputes and differences among
themselves."
In 1827 this convention was substantially con-
tinned, with the provision that a year's notice should
be given if either contracting party desired to end
it; and this remained in force until 1846. In the
treaty between Russia and this Government in 1824,
JAMES KNOX POLK.
205
the boundary between them on the American Pacific
coast was fixed at 54° 40', as follows:—
" It is, moreover, agreed, that hereafter there shall not
be formed by the citizens of the United States, or under
the authority of the United States, any establishment
upon the northwest coast of America, nor in any of the
islands adjacent to the north of fifty-four degrees and forty
minutes of north latitude; and, in the same manner,
there shall be none formed by Russian subjects, or under
the authority of Russia, south of the same parallel."
To this England not only raised no objection,
but, in 1825, she accepted the same boundary in a
treaty with Russia. By the treaty with France in
1763, England was so far from caring to hold any
claims to the country west of the Mississippi, that she
agreed that "the confines between the dominions of
his Britannic Majesty in that part of the world
(America) shall be fixed irrevocably, by a line drawn
along the middle of the river Mississippi, from its
source to the river Iberville, and from thence by a
line drawn along the middle of this river and the
lakes, Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the sea." The
English found great fault with the American pre-
tensions to the Pacific coast on account of the
explorations of Robert Giray, John Kendrick, and
their companions, and also to the settlements of mis-
sionaries and others in that region, because they
were not under the direct supervision of the Gov-
ernment. But that objection was not well taken, as
no settlement was made by the British on the Pa-
cific coast under governmental support or with the
206
LIFE AND TIMES OF
protection of the law until 1813. And Drake, Caven-
dish, Meares, Berkeley, and most of the earlier
British adventurers to this coast were not only pri-
vate individuals, without the least sanction of gov-
ernment, but were only in search of prey, and had
not, it appears, the least idea of making settlements
for the occupation of the country, nor were they
explorers beyond the necessities of the voyages.
Drake's expedition, besides being so notoriously dis-
reputable as to disgrace the history of the age, had
some remarkable features about it. After going up
to the 42° or 43°, somewhere, he found it becoming
too cold to suit him, and without caring for what he
left behind him, made back, and about the 38° en-
tered a harbor, where he remained some time, allowed
himself to be crowned king by the Indians, and cut
some other capers. Some others of these early
English adventurers on the Pacific coast were merely
in search of plunder, and were little less deserving
of respect than was Drake, and the mark they left
behind them did not merit the consideration ordina-
rily given to respectable private citizens, who are
supposed to carry in themselves the flag and authority
or protection of their government wherever they go.
Even republics are no exception to this general prin-
ciple. But however great the authority of a gov-
ernment over its citizens, it may be a question as to
how far its power extends into their private lives, or
how far the government may lay claim to benefits
derived from the unauthorized acts of its citizens.
The Spanish explorers and navigators on the Pacific
JAMES KNOX POLK.
207
coast were mainly in the service of their country.
Viewing the whole history of the coast question,
President Tyler claimed Oregon as territory of the
United States, and believed this country fully jus-
tified in holding for the line of 54° 40' of north lati-
tude, and under his direction negotiations had been
entered into for a settlement with England with this
claim in view, as set forth in the preceding volume
of this work. The Democratic platform of 1844 had
declared unconditionally for 54° 40' for all of Oregon;
and the campaign which resulted in the election of
Mr, Polk was fought on the part of the Democrats,
with the cry of the whole of Oregon or nothing.
At that time Mr. Polk fully sanctioned the position
of his party, and then in his inaugural address he
had boldly reannounced the claim. He had scarcely
entered upon his administration when Secretary of
State, Mr. Buchanan, found himself face to face with
this Oregon boundary question. The failure of the
negotiations and the conclusion of the President as
to the matter are fully set forth in his first annual
message.
Mr. Benton gives the following description of the
proceedings on the subject under President Polk up
to this juncture :—
" The new President, Mr. Polk, elected under that cry,
came into office on the 4th of March, and acting upon it,
put into his inaugural address a declaration that our title
to the whole of Oregon (meaning up to 54° 40') was
clear and indisputable; and a further declaration that he
meant to maintain that title. It was certainly an unusual
208
LIFE AND TIMES OF
thing, perhaps unprecedented in diplomacy, that, while
negotiations were depending (which was still the case in
this instance, for the last note of Mr. Calhoun in January,
declining the arbitration, gave as a reason for it that he
expected the question to be settled by negotiation), one
of the parties should authoritatively declare its right to
the whole matter in dispute, and show itself ready to
maintain it by arms. The declaration in the inaugural
had its natural effect in Great Britain. It roused the
British spirit as high as that of the American. Their
excited voice came thundering back, to be received with
indignation by the great Democracy; and war, 'inevitable
war' was the cry through the land. The new Adminis-
tration felt itselt to be in a dilemma. To stand upon
54° 40' was to have war in reality; to recede from it might
be to incur the penalty laid down in the Baltimore plat-
form. Mr. Buchanan, the new Secretary of State, did
me the honor to consult me. I answered him promptly
and frankly, that I held 49° to be the right line, and
that, if the Administration made a treaty upon that line,
I should support it. This was early in April. The Sec-
retary seemed to expect some further proposition from
the British Government; but none came. The rebuff in
the inaugural address had been too public and too violent
to admit that government to take the initiative again. It
said nothing; the war cry continued to rage; and at the
end of four months our Government found itself under
the necessity to take the initiative, and recommence nego-
tiations as the means of avoiding war. Accordingly, on
the 22d of July, Mr. Buchanan (the direction of the Presi-
dent being always understood) addressed a note to Mr.
Pakenham, resuming the negotiation at the point at which
it had been left by Mr. Calhoun; and, conforming to the
offer that he had made, and because he had made it,
again proposed the line of 49° to the ocean. The Brit-
ish Minister again refused that line, and inviting a
JAMES KNOX POLK.
209
'fairer' proposition. In the meantime the offer 49° got
wind. The Democracy was in commotion. A storm was
got up (foremost in raising which was the new Adminis-
tration organ, Mr. Ritchie's 'Daily Union'), before which
the Administration quailed, recoiled, and withdrew its offer
of 49°. There was a dead pause in the negotiation again;
and so the affair remained at the meeting of Congress,
which catne together under the loud cry of war, in which
Mr. Cass Was the leader, but followed by the body of the
Democracy, and backed and cheered on by the Democratic
press, some hundreds of papers. "Of course, the Oregon
question occupied a place, and a prominent one, in the
President's Message (which has been noticed), .and, on
communicating the failure of the negotiation to Congress,
he recommended strong measures for the security and
assertion of our title. The delivery of the notice which
was to abrogate the joint occupation of the country by the
citizens of the two powers, was one of these recommenda-
tions, and the debate upon that question brought out the
full expression of the opinions of Congress upon the whole
subject, and took the management of the question into the
hands of the Senate and House of Representatives."
While the debate on the Oregon question was in
progress, it became apparent that the Administration
was disposed to accept .the forty-ninth parallel, and
amicably settle the difference with England, if that
government would make such an offer. To prepare
the Democrats and others who had stood on 54° 40,'
William H. Haywood, Senator from North Carolina,
in a speech before the Senate :—
"Took a view of the course which had been pursued
by the President, approving of the offer of the parallel
of 49° to Great Britain, and maintaining that there was
nothing in the language of the President to render it
14—K
210
LIFE AND TIMES OF
improper in him to negotiate hereafter on that basis, not-
withstanding this rejection. He regarded the negotiation
as still open; and he would not do the President so much
wrong as to suppose that, if we passed the notice, and
thus put into his hand a great moral weapon, that he
could be guilty of so miserable a trick as to use it to the
dishonor of his country on the one hand, or to the reek-
less provocation of a war on the other. Beliaying that
the Administration stood committed to accept an offer of a
division of the territory on the parallel of 49°, or sub-
stantially that, he shotild sustain the Executive in that
position. He expressed his conviction that, whatever
might be his individual opinions, the President, as Gen-
eral Washington did in 1796, would fulfill his obligations
to the country; that, whenever the interests of the country
required it, he would sacrifice his own opinions to the
sense of his offieial duty. He rebuked the cry which had
been set up by some of the friends of the President, which
placed him in the position of being the mere organ of the
Baltimore Convention, and declared that, if he could be-
lieve that the Executive would permit the resolution of
that Convention to overrule his duty to his country, he
would turn his back upon him. Mr. Haywood then pro-
ceeded to deduce, from the language and acts of the Execu-
tive, that he had not put himself in a position which im-
posed on him the necessity of refusing to negotiate on the
parallel of 49°, should negotiation be resumed on that
basis. In this respect, the President did not occupy that
attitude in which some of his friends wished to place him.
It ought to be borne in mind that Great Britain had
held occupancy for above forty years; and it was absurd
to suppose that, if we turn suddenly upon her and tell
her she must quit, that she will not make resistance. And
he asked what our Government would be likely to do if
placed in a similar position and reduced to the same alter-
native. No one could contend for a moment that the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
211
rejection of the offer of 49° by Great Britain released the
President from the obligation to accept that offer when-
ever it should again be made. The question was to be
settled by compromise; and, on this principle, the nego-
tiation was still pending. It was not to be expected that
a negotiation of this kind could be carried through has-
tily. Time must be given for communication with the
British Government, for proper consideration and consul-
tation; and true politeness requires that ample time should
be given for this purpose. It is obvious that Great Britain
does not consider the negotiation terminated, as she would
have recalled her minister; and the President can not
deem it closed, or he would have made a communication
to Congress to that effect. The acts of the President
were not such as to justify any apprehensions of a rup-
ture; and from that, he did not ask fo| the notice in order
that he might draw the sword and throw away the scab-
bard. The falsehood of any such charge is proved by the
fact that he has asked for no enlargement of the annual
appropriations ; on the other hand, his estimates are rather
diminished. Knowing him to be honest, he (Mr. Hay-
wood) would acquit him of any such imputation of moral
treason, which would subject him to the reprobation of
man and the anger of his God. Mr. Haywood then
referred to the divisions which had sprung up in the
Democratic party, the tendency of which is to destroy the
party by cutting off its heads. This question of Oregon
had been turned into a party question for the purpose of
President-making. He repudiated any submission to the
commands of factious meeting.s, got up by demagogues
. for the purpose of dictating to the Senate how to make a
treaty, and felt thankful that North Carolina had never
taken this course. He did not regard such proceedings
as indicative of that true Democracry which, like a potato,
grew at the root, and did not, like the spurious Democ-
racy, show itself from the blossom. The creed of the
212
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Baltimore Convention directs the party to re-annex Texas
and to re-occupy Oregon. Texas had been" re-annexed,
and now we are to go for tbe re-occupation of Oregon.
Now, Old Oregon, embracing all the territory on which
American foot ever trod, comprised merely the valley of
Willamette, which did not extend above 49°; and, conse-
quently, this portion was all which could be contemplated
in the expression ' re-occupation,' as it would involve an
absurdity to speak of re-occupying what we had never
occupied. Referring to the history of the annexation of
Texas, he cited the impossibility of getting Texas through,
until the two questions had been made twin sisters by the
Baltimore Convention. Then Texas passed the House
and came into the Senate, followed so closely by Oregon,
that they seemed to be akin."
This speech of Mr. Haywood's was taken as the
expression of the President's position, which, indeed,
was true, yet with all the eflfbrts of the opponents of
its sentiments Mr. Haywood could not be induced to
divulge this fact. E. A. Hannegan, of Indiana, asked
if Mr. Haywood was speaking the views of the Presi-
dent, and then said :—
" I do not deem it material whether the Senator from
North Carolina gjves a direct answer to my question or
not. It is entirely immaterial. He assumes—no, he says
there is no assumption about it—that there is no meaning
in language, no truth in man, if the President anywhere
commits himself to 54° 40', as his flattering friends assume
for him. Now, sir, there is no truth in man, there is no
meaning in language, if the President is not committed to
64° 40' in as strong language as that which makes up the
Holy Book. From a period antecedent to that in which
he became the nominee of the Baltimore Convention, down
to this moment, to all the world he stands committed for
JAMES KNOX POLK.
213
54° 40'. I go back to his declaration made in 1844, to a
committee of citizens of Cincinnati, who addressed him in
relation to the annexation of Texas, and he there uses this
language, being then before the country as the Democratic
candidate for the chair he now fills."
After showing that the whole Democratic party
stood on the boundary of 54° 40', Mr. Hannegan
said:—
" The Democratic party is thus bound to the whole ot
Oregon, every foot of it; and let the Senator rise in his
place who will tell me in what quarter of this Union, in
what assembly of Democrats in this Union, pending the
Presidential election, the names of Texas and Oregon did
not fly together, side by side, on the Democratic banners.
Everywhere they were twins — everywhere they were
united. Does the Senator from North Carolina suppose
that he, with his appeals to the Democracy, can blind our
eyes, as he thinks he tickled our ears ? He is mistaken.
' Texas and Oregon' can not be divided; they dwell to-
gether in the American heart. Even in Texas, I have
been told the flag of the lone star had inscribed on it the
name of Oregon. Then, it was all Oregon. Now, when
you have got Texas, it means just so much of Oregon as
you in your kindness and condescension think proper to
give us. You little know us, if you think the mighty
West will be trodden on in this way. . . . The Sen-
ator in his defense of the President, put language into his
mouth which I undertake to say the President will repu-
diate, and I am not the President's champion. I wish not
to be his champion. I would not be the champion of
power. I defend the right, and the right only. But, for
the President, I deny the intentions which the Senator
from North Carolina attributes to him—intentions which,
if really entertained by him, would make him an intamoiis
214
LIFE AND TIMES OF
man—aye, an infamous man. He (Mr. Haywood) told
the Senate yesterday—unless I grossly misunderstood him,
along with several friends around me—' that the President
had occasionally stickings-in, parenthetically, to gratify—
what ?—the ultraisms of the country and of party ; whilst
he reposed in the White House with no intentions of carry-
ing out these parenthetical stickings-in,' In plain words,
he represents the President as parenthetically sticking in a
few hollow and false words to cajole the ' ultraisms of the
country ?' What is this, need I ask, but charging upon the
President conduct the most vile and infamous? If this
allegation be true, these intentions of the President must
sooner or later come to light, and when brought to light,
what must follow but irretrievable disgrace? So long as
one human eye remains to linger on the page of history,
the story of his abasement will be read, sending him and
his name together to an infamy so profound, a damnation
so deep, that the hand of resurrection will never be able
to drag him forth. . . . So far as the whole tone,
spirit, and meaning of the remarks of the Senator from
North Carolina are concerned, if they speak the language
of James K. Polk, then James K. Polk has spoken words
of falsehood with the tongue of a serpent."
Wm. Allen, of Ohio, and Lewis Cass, of Michigan,
were among the bitter opponents of surrendering any
of Oregon, and in favor of maintaining the position
to which their party had been unqualifiedly pledged.
Mr. Benton was the leader of the advocates of the
parallel of 49°, and of those who now began to lean
that way, and he came with all his available force to
the support of the new turn in the negotiations. Mr.
Benton had the virtue of consistency to strengthen
him at the outset. He was one of the very few
JAMES KNOX POLK.
215
leading Democrats, who, throughout the Presidential
campaign, and at all times, was not only satisfied with
49°, but also contended that the American claim to
54° 40' was wholly unfounded and the merest
pretense.
While John Quincy Adams was Secretary of State
the question of the north-western boundary became a
serious matter of discussion with the Minister Pleni-
potentiary of England, and in 1823, Mr. Monroe and
his Cabinet would not only have accepted a settle-
ment on the 49th parallel to the Pacific, but really
only claimed that line as belonging to this country,
beyond doubt. Mr. Adams then argued that the
territory rightfully belonged to this country on the
Pacific extending from the 42° to the 49°, by the
Treaty of Florida in 1819, by the discovery of the
Columbia River in 1792, by the discovery and ex-
ploration of its upper parts in 1805 by Lewis and
Clarke, and by its settlement in 1811. In the con-
vention in London in 1818, this boundary had been
contended for, but not 54° 40', and that convention
suspended the extension of that line (49°) to the
Pacific, when it was well established east of the
Rocky Mountains. Mr. Jefferson had also supported
our right to the 49°, as indisputable, in 1807. Yet
many able men in all positions had held ever since
the subject was brought into public notice, on the
grounds heretofore mentioned, that the rights of this
country were good beyond the mere spirit of cavil,
to 54° 40', and, to a great extent, in diplomatic af-
fairs, that claim had been set forward, as a matter
216
LIFE AND TIMES OF
of course, and even England had not made any effort
to remove the impression. The only thing now to be
regretted, perhaps, in the whole matter, is that the
United States did not only not prove or sustain her
title to 54° 40', in the amicable settlement of 1846,
but also that this Government was not able to possess
the whole continent to the North Pole, as England
accused her of wanting to do. Such a disposition of
the British possessions would have been a splendid
compliment to the Monroe Doctrine, and ended the
interminable war-breeding disputes between the old
and the new English-speaking peoples.
The first thing touching this question after the
assembling of Congress in 1845, was a provision for
carrying out the President's recommendation for noti-
fying Great Britian of the desire of this country to end
the joint occupation of Oregon, as provided for in the
"convention" of 1827. Although there was a deter-
mined opposition to any such measure, in both Houses,
the following joint resolution was finally passed:—
" With a view, therefore, that steps be taken for the
abrogation of the said convention of the 6th of August,
1827, in the mode prescribed in its second article, and that
the attention of the governments of both countries may be the
more earnestly directed to the adoption of all proper meas-
ures for a speedy and amicable adjustment of the differ-
ences and disputes in regard to the said territory—
" Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America, in Congress assembled,
That the President of the United States be, and he is
hereby, authorized, at his discretion, to give to the Govern-
ment of Great Britain, the notice required by the second
JAMES KNOX POLK.
217
article of the said convention of the 6th of August, 1827,
for the abrogation of the same.
"C. J. Ingersoll,
" Robert Dale Owen,
" Henry W. Hillyard,
" Committee upon the part of the House.
"John McPherson Berrien,
"Thomas Cor win,
" William H. Haywood, Jr.,
" Committee upon the part of the Senate."
In the Senate there .were 14 votes against this
act, its chief opponents being Lewis Cass, Jesse D.
Bright, E. A. Hannegan, Daniel S. Dickinson, and
William Allen (of Ohio). In the House J. Q. Adams
led the votes for it, an act in which he was perhaps
perfectly consistent, however, it may be held, he was
departing from his usual far-reaching discernment.
President Polk chose, at once, to give notice to
Great Britain, which was done in the following Ian-
guage, through the Minister resident at the English
Court:—
" Now, therefore, after a careful consideration of the
premises, I, James K. Polk, President of the United States,
in the exercise of the authority and discretion vested in
me by the said 'joint resolution concerning the Oregon
Territory,' and in pursuance of the second article of the
convention of the 6th of August, 1827, therein mentioned,
do hereby, in behalf of the United States, give notice to
Her Majesty, the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, that at the end of twelve months
from and after the delivery of these presents by the Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United
States at London to Her Britannic Majesty, or Her Maj-
218
LIFE AND TIMES OF
esty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the
said convention shall be entirely annulled and abrogated.
" In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the
United States to be hereunto affixed, given under my
[l. s.] hand at the City of Washington, this 28th day of
April, A. D. 1846, and of the independence of the
said States the seventieth.
"By the President, James K. Polk.
" James Buchanan, Secretary of State."
Great Britain did not desire to go to war on ac-
count of this Oregon dispute, and Mr. Polk and his
Cabinet, as well as many leading men of both parties,
saw that this country could not afford to precipitate a
war with England while Mexico demanded all her
attention. England renewed the effort to negotiate,
offering now to settle on the 49th parallel, as had
been proposed by the United States. This placed the
President in an unpleasant predicament; and in order
to get him out of it, it was decided to fall back on
the Senate, and ask its advice, and then, contrary to
his own conviction, follow that advice. Accordingly
on the 10th of June, 1846, he sent this message to
the Senate :—.
" To" the Senate of the United States :—I lay
before the Senate a proposal, in the form of a convention,
presented to the Secretary of State on the 6th instant, by
the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of
Her Britannic Majesty, for the adjustment of the Oregon
question, together with a protocol of this proceeding. I
submit this proposal to the consideration of the Senate, and
request their advice as to the action which, in their judg-
ment, it may be proper to take in reference to it.
" In the early periods of the Government, the opinion
JAMES KNOX POLK.
219
and advice of the Senate were often taken in advance upon
important questions of our foreign policy. General Wash-
ington repeatedly consulted the Senate, and asked their
previous advice upon pending negotiations with foreign
powers; and the Senate in every instance responded to
his call by giving their advice, to which he always con-
formed his action. This practice, though rarely resorted
to in later times, was, in my judgment, eminently wise,
and may, on occasions of great importance, be properly re-
vived. The Senate are a branch of the treaty-making
power; and by consulting them in advance of his own ac-
tion upon important measures of foreign policy which may
ultimately come before them for their consideration, the
President secures harmony of action between that body
and himself. The Senate are, moreover, a branch of the
war-making power, and it may be eminently proper for
the Executive to take the opinion and advice of that body
in advance upon any great question which may involve in
its decision the issue of peace or war. On the present oc-
casion, the magnitude of the subject would induce me,
under any circumstances, to desire the previous advice of
the Senate; and that desire is increased by the recent de-
bates and proceedings in Congress, which render il^ in my
judgment, not only respectful to the Senate, but necessary
and proper, if not indispensable, to insure harmonious ac-
tion between that body and the Executive, In conferring
on the Executive the authority to give the notice for the
abrogation of the convention of 1827, the Senate acted
publicly so large a part, that a decision on the proposal
now made by the British Government, without a definite
knowledge of the views of that body in reference to it,
might render the question still more complicated and dif-
ficult of adjustment. For these reasons I invite the con-
sideration of the Senate to the proposal of the British
Government for the settlement of the Oregon question,
and ask their advice on the subject.
220
LIFE AND TIMES OF
"My opinions and my action on the Oregon question
were fully made known to Congress in my annual message
of the 2d of December last; and the opinions therein ex-
pressed remain unchanged.
"Should the Senate, by the Constitutional majority re-
quired for the ratification of treaties, advise the acceptance
of this proposition, or advise it with such modifications as
they may, upon full deliberation, deem proper, I shall con-
form my action to their advice. Should the Senate, how-
ever, decline by such Constitutional majority to give such
advice, or to express an opinion on the subject, I shall
consider it my duty to reject the offer.
" I also communicate herewith an extract from a dis-
patch of the Secretary of State to the Minister of the
United States at London, under the date of the 28th of
April last, directing him, in accordance with the joint
resolution of Congress ' concerning the Oregon territory,'
to deliver the notice to the British Government for the
abrogation of the convention of the 6th of August, 1827;
and also a copy of the notice transmitted to him for that
purpose, together with extracts from a dispatch of that
minister to the Secretary of State, bearing date on the 18th
day of •May last."
This plan was successful. The Senate was, by a
considerable majority, favorable to the terms pro-
posed by England. And by a resolution, carried by
a vote of 38 to 12, the President was advised to
accept the proposal of England. On the 16th of
June, 1846, the President announced the result
of the treaty to the Senate, which was ratified by
that body two days afterwards by a vote of 41
to 14. The following is the treaty finally settling
this old, troublesome, and evil question:—
JAMES KNOX POLK.
221
" oregon treaty.
" Convention between the United States of America and
Her Majesty, the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, concluded at Washington, the 15th
of June, 1846.
"The United States of America and Her Majesty, the
Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
deeming it to be desirable for the future welfare of both
Governments, that the state of doubt and uncertainty which
has hitherto prevailed respecting the sovereignty and gov-
ernment of the territory on the northwest coast of America,
lying westward of the Rocky or Stony Mountains, should
be finally terminated by an amicable compromise of the
rights mutually asserted by the two parties over the said
territory, have respectively named plenipotentiaries to
treat and agree concerning the terms of such settlement ;
that is to say. The President of the United States of
America has, on his part, furnished with full powers James
Buchanan, Secretary of State of the United States, and
Her Majesty, the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, has, on her part, appointed the right
honorable Richard Pakenham, a member of Her Majesty's
most honorable Privy Council, and Her Majesty's Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United
States, who, after having communicated to each other
their respective full powers, found in good and due form,
have agreed upon and concluded the following articles:
"Art. I. From the point on the forty-ninth parallel
of north latitude where the boundary laid down in exist-
ing treaties and conventioRS between the United States
and Great Britain terminates, the line of boundary be-
tween the territories of the United States and those of
Her Britannic Majesty shall be continued westward along
the said forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to the mid-
die of the channel which separates the continent from
Vancouver's Island, and thence southerly through the
222
LIFE AND TIMES OF
middle of the said channel and of Fuca's Straits to the
Pacific Ocean. Provided, however, that the navigation of
the whole of the said channel and straits, south pf the
forth-ninth parallel of north latitude, remain free and
open to both parties.
" Art. II. From the point at which the forty-ninth
parallel of north latitude shall be found to intersect the
great northern branch of the Columbia River, the navi-
gation of the said branch shall be free and open to the
Hudson's Bay Company and to all British subjects trad-
ing with the same, to the point where the said branch
meets the main stream of the Columbia, and thence down
the said main stream to the ocean, with free access into
and through the said river or rivers; it being understood
that all the usual portages along the line thus described
shall in like manner be free and open. In navigating the
said river or rivers, British subjects, with their goods and
produce, shall be treated on the same footing as citizens
of the United States; it being, however, always under-
stood that nothing in this article shall be construed as
preventing, or intending to prevent, the Government of
the United States from making any regulations respecting
the navigation of the said river or rivers not inconsistent
with the present treaty.
"Art. III. In the future appropriation of the terri-
tory south of the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, as
provided in the first article of this treaty, the possessory
rights of the Hudson's Bay Company, and of all British
subjects who may be already in the occupation of land or
other property, lawfully acquired within the said territory,
shall be respected.
"Art. IV. The farms, lands, and other property of
every description, belonging to the Puget's Sound Agri-
cultural Company, on the north side of the Columbia
River, shall be confirmed to the said company. In case,
however, the situation of those farms and lands should be
JAMES KNOX POLK.
223
considered by the United States to be of public and po-
litical importance, and the United States Government
should signify a desire to obtain possession of the whole
or any part thereof, the property so required shall be
transferred to the said Government at. a proper valuation,
to be agreed upon between the parties.
''Art. V. The present treaty shall be ratified by the
President of the United States, by and with the advice
of the Senate thereof, and by Her Britannic Majesty, and
tbe ratifications shall be exchanged at London at the
expiration of six months from the date hereof, or sooner
if possible.
" In witness wbereof, the respective plenipotentiaries
have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals
of their arms.
"Done at Washington the fifteenth day of June, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
[l. s.] "James Buchanan,
[l. s.] "Eichard Pakenham."
The part the President took in this Oregon muss,
from the time he accepted the nomination in 1844
until its settlement in 1846, proved to be very un-
satisfactory to many of his party friends, and their
influence was lost throughout his Administration.
Lucian B. Chase, of Tennessee, who wrote a good
history of President Polk's record in the White House,
plainly states that this was his first fatal error.
224
LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER XI.
GENERAL TAYLOR MARCHES TO THE RIO GRANDE—
BEGINNING OF THE WAR WITH MEXICO—THE
PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE.
HE great work how before the Administration
was the prosecution of the war with Mexico.
General Taylor had first been ordered by Secretary
Marcy to be ready at a moment's notice to move for
the defense of Texas, and then the greater part
of the naval force was rendezvoused in the Gulf of
Mexico, and the army finally landed, re-enforced, and
equipped at Corpus Christi, the United States and
Mexico both claiming all of Texas to the Rio Grande.
The efforts of the Administration to open amicable
relations with Mexico with a view to adjusting
boundaries and difficulties were not likely to be sue-
cessful. On the 20th of December, only fourteen
days after Mr. Slidell arrived at the City of Mexico
for this purpose, he was formally apprised that that
government could not receive a "minister" from the
United States. Of this state of affairs Mr. Slidell
immediately notified his Government, and, on the
13th of January, 1846, only the day after his dis-
patch reached Washington, an order was issued from
the War Department to General Taylor directing
him to move to the Rio Grande. In August of the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
225
preceding summer he had been authorized to call on
Louisiana, Alabama, and, if necessary, Tennessee
and Kentucky, for volunteers; and, during the same
month, the Secretary of War notified the governors
of those States to that effect. Several vessels were
placed in the service during the year for carrying
messages, supplies, and troops; and in the order to
march to the Rio Grande General Taylor had also
been empowered to call on Texas for troops if the
case was pressing. In this order Mr. Marcy notified
General Taylor that he should not dispute with the
Mexicans the right of the United States (a right he
claimed belonged to us) to navigate that river, with-
out further advice from Washington. But still this
order said :—
"It is not designed in our present relations with
Mexico that you should treat her as an enemy; but,
should she assume that character by a declaration of war,
or an open act of hostility towards us, you will act not
merely on the defensive, if your relative means enable
you to do otherwise."
On the 4th of February this instruction was re-
ceived by General Taylor, and on the 8th of March
the advance of the army, consisting of 4,000 officers
and privates, including Ringgold's light artillery,
under Colonel David E. Twiggs, moved toward Mata-
moras. On that day General Taylor also issued an
order or proclamation, copies of which he sent to
various points east of the Rio Grande (or as then
much called, the Rio del Norte, or Rio Bravo del
Norte), notifying the Mexicans that he was taking a
15—K
226
LIFE AND TIMES OF
position on that river in accordance with the order
of his Government, but that the rights of person and
property should be respected, and it was hoped the
movement would be of advantage to all concerned.
With little obstruction the army reached Point Isabel
on the 24th.
At the Colorado some Mexican soldiers or militia
had appeared and threatened to begin hostilities if
he attempted to cross that river, and before reaching
Point Isabel a deputation from the prefect of Tamau-
lipas, Jennes Caudenas, met him with a protest
against his advancing into the country. In this pro-
test it was maintained that the country on the east
of the Rio Grande had not at any time been included
in the territorial claims of Texas, and that the people
of Mexico would consider his invasion of the country
as the beginning of the war. But Taylor established
his depot of supplies at Point Isabel, and on the 28th
of March took position opposite Matamoras on the
Rio Grande with the main part of his army.
It is stated in Mansfield's history of the war with
Mexico, that all this preparation for war, and the
advance of the army to the Rio. Grande had been
made before the United States could have known the
result of Mr. Slidell's negotiations. This is, how-
ever, an error. It was a mistake for the Whig and
other opponents of this war to attempt to find, at
this point, grounds of attack on Mr. Polk. Not
until the day after Mr. Slidell had notified the Ad-
ministration of the absolute refusal of the govern-
ment of Perrera to receive him as Minister from the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
227
United States, was General Taylor ortlered to march
to the Rio Bravo. So far as the Administration
could tell, or there was any reasonable means of de-
termining, it could not be understood otherwise than
that the negotiations were at an end. The object of
the Administration in sending a representative to
Mexico in the capacity of Minister Plenipotentiary,
when Mexico had pointedly stated that she would
receive a commissioner only fo settle the Texas
question, and when it was understood on the 1st of
March, 1845, that Mr. Polk was believed to be
committed to the plan of annexation by negotiation,
will appear, to some extent hereafter, in treating of
the causes, responsibility, and results of the war.
Mexico was in a state of revolution or anarchy, and
three weeks after Mr. Slidell's arrival he saw the
head of the government changed by military revolt,
contrary to the wish of a majority of the people who
had no voice in the matter. This change was made,
as he knew, and had informed his Government was
likely to be the case, by a determination of the
leaders to fight the United States. Notwithstanding,
the President authorized him to renew his efforts for
recognition, under the new revolutionary leader, Pa-
redes. On the 12th of March, only four days after
the advance of General Taylor's army had marched
for the Rio Grande, and before it was possible for
the authorities in the City of Mexico to know of the
movement, or the change in the American plans,
Paredes' Minister of Foreign Affairs notified Mr.
Slidell that the only recourse of Mexico was war.
228
LIFE AND TIMES OF
And thus for a second time ended the efforts of the
Administration for a peaceful settlement with Mexico.
Not until after Mr. Slid ell's first dismissal, was the
army moved to the Rio Grande, and his second at-
tempt was with the hope that this advancement, and
other things, might induce Mexico to open negotiations
or diplomatic relations. Yet it must appear that
there was little foundation for such hope, and the
movement of the army and preparation for resistance
at the boundary of the Rio Grande were evidently
made in the belief that there was no such founda-
tion, and on the strength of the declaration of the
Mexican Minister on the 20th of December, 1845,
that a minister could not be received from the United
States. Although it was well known that Mexico
was in no condition to go to war, it was as well
known that she would do so, and that she was then
trying to unite her discordant elements, and raise an
army, and money to sustain it, with a view of reas-
sorting her rights over the country she still held as
her own to the Sabine River.
On the 26th of April, General Taylor, seeing the
certainty of the approaching conflict, and the inad-
equacy of his own force, requested Texas and Lou-
isiana each to furnish four regiments for immediate
service in his army. Fourteen days previously Pedro
de Ampudia, who had on the 11th taken the chief
command at Matamoras, had ordered Don Z. Taylor
to break camp in twenty-four hours and march back to
the Nueces from whence he came; and again notifying
him that in case he did not comply he should be
JAMES KNOX POLK.
229
responsible for the war which should follow; that
come what may, his goA'ernment " neither can, will,
nor should receive new outrages." This pompous
Spaniard on the 24th gave way to Mariano Arista,
who on the same day wrote to General Taylor in the
name of God and Liberty, that the United States
Government was engaged in a war to enrich itself by
humiliating its neighbor, and that the time had come
to show the stuff of which Mexicans were made.
Notwithstanding this windy display. Arista issued
this address to the soldiers of foreign birth in Gen-
eral Taylor's army, inviting them to desert:—
\
"Head-quarters at Matamoras, April 26, 1846.
"Soldiers!—You have enlisted in time of peace to
serve in that army for a specific term; but your obligation
never implied that you were bound to violate the laws of
God, and the most sacred rights of friends! The United
States Government, contrary to the wishes of a majority
of all honest and honorable Americans, has ordered you
to take forcible possession of the territory of a friendly
neighbor, who has never given her consent to such occu-
pation. In other words, while there exists a treaty of
peace and commerce between Mexico and the United
States, the United States, presuming on her strength and
prosperity, and on our supposed imbecility and cowardice,
attempts to make you the blind instruments of her unholy
and mad ambition, and force you to appear as the hateful
robbers of our dear homes, and the unprovoked violators
of our dearest feelings as men and patriots. Such villainy
and outrage, I know, is perfectly repugnant to the noble
sentiments of any gentleman, and it is base and foul to
rush you on to certain death, in order to aggrandize a few
lawless individuals, in defiance of the laws of God and man!
230
LIFE AND TIMES OF
" It is to no purpose if they tell you, that the law of
the annexation of Texas justifies your occupation of the
Rio Bravo del Norte; for by this act they rob us of a
great part of Tamaulipas, Coahuili, Chihuahua, and New
Mexico; and it is barbarous to send a handful of men on
such an errand against 'a poAverful and warlike nation.
Besides, the most of you are Europeans, and we are the
declared friends of a majority of the nations of Europe.
The North Americans are ambitious, overbearing, and in-
Solent as a nation, and they will only make use of you as
vile tools to carry out their abominable plans of pillage
and rapine.
" I warn you in the name of justice, honor, and your
own interests and self-respect, to abandon their desperate
and unholy cause, and become peaceful Mexican citizens.
I guarantee you, in such case, a half section of land, or
three hundred and twenty acres, to settle upon, gratis. Be
wise, then, and just, and honorable, and take no part in
murdering us, who have no unkind feelings for you. Lands
shall be given to officers, sergeants, and corporals, accord-
ing to rank, privates receiving three hundred and twenty
acres, as stated.
"If in time of action you wish to espouse our cause,
throw away your arms and run to us, and we will embrace
you as true friends and Christians. It is not decent or
prudent to say more. But, should any of you render im-
portant service to Mexico, you shall be accordingly consid-
ered and preferred."
Decency would have required Don Arista to say
much less than he did. On the 2d of April Ampudia
had sent into the American camp a similar address
for the same purpose, to the English, French, Poles,
and Germans, telling them that the Government ex-
isting under the Stars and Stripes was unworthy of
JAMES KNOX POLK.
231
the name of Christian, and asking them to throw
their fortunes with the magnanimous Mexican nation.
A cause is certainly desperate which would need to
be supported by such means. The unmanly insin-
cerity, and utterly shallow pretense and false, pomp-
ous braggadocio of these and many of the official
letters, papers, etc., of the Mexican leaders during
this war, must excite nothing but disgust and con-
tempt, however much the general condition of Mexico
was deserving of sympathy, or however widely men,
intelligent, well-read men, may differ as to the justice
of their charges against this country.
These appeals to the soldiers under General Taylor
were not without effect, as incredible as it would
seem. A number of them did actually desert, and
some of them were shot and killed in attempting to
swim the Rio Grande to accept the adventure and
generous offers of leaders whose promises never
could he made good, and who were themselves, at
all times, liable to become the victims of revolt and
anarchy.
On the 24th of April, hearing that the Mexicans
were crossing the river in force, above his camp,
General Taylor sent Captain Thornton with a com-
pany of dragoons to reconnoiter. Thornton conducted
his observations with more courage than discretion,
and fell into the hands of a large force of Mexicans,
by whom he was beaten and his whole force killed
or captured. This was really the first engagement,
and the beginning of the war, although Captain
Truman Cross, the quartermaster of the army, had
232
LIFE AND TIMES OF
been murdered while riding beyond the camp, and
several other outrages committed by the Mexicans.
Considerable numbers of Mexicans were now
found to be crossing the river, evidently with the
purpose of cutting olF "General Taylor's communica-
tion with his supplies at Point Isabel, and of attack-
ing his position opposite Matamoras. Leaving five
hundred men, infantry and artillery, at the now
nearly completed fort he had been building under
the command of Major Jacob Brown, on the first
day of May, Taylor, with the remainder of his
army, marched for the relief of Point Isabel, with
which all communication had been cut off. This
movement the Mexicans took for a retreat, and be-
lieving themselves on the point of destroying or
driving from the country the whole American army,
they at once set into great rejoicings. Messages
were sent to Paredes, the newspapers abounded
with glowing bombast, and at Matamoras, and on the
border of the Rio Bravo, the people were wild with
excitement.
Under the supposition that the Mexicans were
fighting men, or were really able to contend with
the Americans, even at any reasonable odds, the po-
sition of General Taylor did not appear hopeful at
this period. He had been authorized to act on the
defensive only, and yet there had been no declara-
tion of war on the part of his Government. While
his army was in direct communication with the
Gulf there could be little difficulty in reference to
supplies, but with all the quiet efforts of the Secre-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
233
taries of War and the Navy, the means of land
transportation had not been supplied him as the case
now began to demand. The Administration was not
yet prepared for the war. No direct steps had been
made in that direction by Congress. And although
Mr. Polk was deeply censured for placing Taylor
with an inadequate force, incompletely equipped,
where it was liable to be cut off at any time with-
out the means of succor, yet there was little else
the Administration could do if the army were held
in the disputed territory at all, ^ven after the 13th
of February, when General Taylor had been ordered
to move to the Rio Grande. It is true, that between
that time and the first day of May, a thousand
teams and wagons might have been conveyed with
great ease to Point Isabel. But Mexico had not
formally declared war. No overt act of hostility
had presented the opportunity to the Administration
to declare war. Had a vast army of horses and
wagons been sent at great expense, without authority
and prematurely to the Rio Grande by the Adminis-
tration, that course would have been as unsparingly
censured. When the news reached the United States
that the Mexicans had actually begun hostilities,
and the little that was generally known concerning
the condition of General Taylor's army became
greatly exaggerated, the most intense excitement
prevailed. So soon as information of the beginning
of hostilities on the Rio Grande reached Wash-
ington, on the 11th of May, the President sent the
following message to Congress, explaining the prog-
234
LIFE AND TIMES OF
ress of events, and the motives which had actuated
the Administration, which, as far as it goes, must
be taken as the exact history of the war up to
that date:—
MEXICAN WAK IVfESSAGE,
May 11, I846.
To the Senate and House op Repeesentatives op the United
States:—
The existing state of the relations between the United
States and Mexico renders it proper that I should bring the
subject to the consideration of Congress. In my message at
the commencement of your present session, the state of these
relations, the causes which led to the suspension of diplomatic
intercourse between the two countries in March, 1845, and the
long-continued and unredressed wrongs and injuries committed
by the Mexican government on citizens of the United States,
in their persons and property, were briefly set forth.
As the facts and opinions which were then laid before you
were carefully considered, I can not better express my present
convictions of the condition of affairs up to that time than by
referring you to that communication.
The strong desire to establish peace with Mexico on liberal
and honorable terms, and the readiness of this Government to
regulate and adjust our boundary, and other causes of differ-
ence with that power, on such fair and equitable principles as
would lead to permanent relations of the most friendly nature,
induced me, in September last, to seek the reopening of dip-
lomatic relations between the two countries. Every measure
adopted on our part had for its object the furtherance of these
desired results.
In communicating to Congress a succinct statement of the
injuries which we had suffered from Mexico, and which have
been accumulating during a period of more than twenty years,
every expression that could tend to inflame the people of
Mexico, or defeat or delay a pacific result, was carefully
avoided. An envoy of the United States repaired to Mexico
JAMES KNOX POLK.
235
with full powers to adjust every existing difference. But
though present on the Mexican soil, by agreement between the
two governments, invested with full powers, and bearing evi-
dence of the most friendly dispositions, his mission has been
unavailing. The Mexican government not only refused to
receive him, or listen to his propositions, but, after a long-
continued series of menaces, have at last invaded our territory,
and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil.
It now becomes my duty to state more in detail the origin,
progress, and failure of that mission. In pursuance of the in-
structions given in September last, an inquiry was made on the
13th of October, in 1845, in the most friendly terms, through
our consul in Mexico, of the minister of foreign affairs, whether
the Mexican government "would receive an envoy from the
United States intrusted with full powers to adjust all the ques-
tions in dispute between the two governmentswith the assur-
ance that "should the answer be in the affirmative, such an
envoy would be immediately dispatched to Mexico."
The Mexican Minister, on the 15th of October, gave an af-
firmative answer to this inquiry, requesting, at the same time,
that our naval force at Vera Cruz might be withdrawn, lest
its continued presence might assume the appearance of menace
and coercion pending the negotiations. This force was imme-
diately withdrawn. On the 10th of November, 1845, Mr. John
Slidell, of Louisiana, was commissioned by me as Envoy Ex-
traordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States
to Mexico, and was intrusted with full powers to adjust both
the questions of the Texas boundary and of indemnification to
our citizens.
The redress of the wrongs of our citizens naturally and in-
separably blended itself with the question of boundary. The
settlement of the one question in any correct view of the sub-
ject, involves that of the other. I could not, for a moment,
entertain the idea that the claims of our much-injured and long-
suffering citizens, many of which had existed for more than
twenty years, should be postponed, or separated from the settle-
ment of the boundary question.
Mr. Slidell arrived at Vera Cruz on the 30th of November,
and was courteously received by the authorities of that city.
236
LIFE AND TIMES OF
But the government of General Herrera was then tottering to
its fall. The revolutionary party had seized upon the Texas
question to effect or hasten its overthrow. Its determination
to restore friendly relations with the United States, and to re-
ceive our minister, to negotiate for the settlement of this ques-
tion, was violently assailed, and was made the great theme of
denunciation against it.
The government of General Herrera, there is good reason
to believe, was sincerely desirous to receive our minister; but
it yielded to the storm raised by its enemies, and on the 21st
of December refused to accredit Mr. Slidell, upon the most
frivolous pretexts. These are so fully and ably exposed in the
note of Mr. Slidell of the 24th of December last, to the Mexican
Minister of Foreign Relations, herewith transmitted, that I
deem it unnecessary to enter into further detail on this portion
of the subject.
Five days after the date of Mr. Slidell's note. General Her-
rera yielded the government to General Paredes without a
struggle, and on the 30th of December resigned the presidency.
This revolution was accomplished solely by the army, the people
having taken little part in the contest; and thus the supreme
power of Mexico passed into the hands of a military leader.
Determined to leave no effort untried to effect an amicable
adjustment with Mexico, I directed Mr. Slidell to present his
credentials to the government of General Paredes, and ask to
be officially received by him. There would have been less
ground for taking this step had General Paredes come into
power by a regular constitutional succession. In that event
his administration would have been considered but a mere con-
stitutional continuance of the government of General Herrera,
and the refusal of,the latter to receive our minister would have
been deemed conclusive, unless an intimation had been given
by General Paredes of his desire to reverse the decision of his
predecessor.
But the government of General Paredes owes its existence
to a military revolution, by which the subsisting constitutional
authorities had been subverted. The form of government wa§
entirely changed, as well as all the high functionaries by whom
it was administered.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
237
Under these circumstances, Mr. Slidell, in obedience to my
direction, addressed a note to the Mexican Minister of Foreign
Relations, under date of the 1st of March last, asking to be re-
ceived by that government in the diplomatic character to which
he had been appointed. This minister, in his reply, under date
of the 12th of March, reiterated the arguments of his prede-
cessor, and in terms that may be considered as giving just
grounds of offense to the Government and people of the United
States, denied the application of Mr. Slidell. Nothing, there-
fore, remained for our envoy, but to demand his passports, and
return to his own country.
Thus the government of Mexico, though solemnly pledged
by official acts in October last, to receive and accredit an Amer-
ican envoy, violated their plighted faith, and refused the offer
of a peaceful adjustment of our difficulties. Not only was the
offer rejected, but the indignity of its rejection was enhanced by
the manifest breach of faith in refusing to admit the envoy,
who came because they had bound themselves to receive him.
Nor can it be said that the offer was fruitless from the want of
opportunity of discussing it; our envoy was present on their
own soil.
Nor can it be ascribed to a want of sufficient powers ; our
envoy had full powers to adjust every question of difference.
Nor was there room for complaint that our propositions for set-
tlement were unreasonable; permission was not even given our
envoy to make any proposition whatever. Nor can it be ob-
jected that we, on our part, would not listen to any reasonable
terms of their suggestion ; the Mexican government refused
all negotiation, and have made no proposition of any kind.
In my message at the commencement of the present session,
I informed you that upon the earnest appeal both of the Con-
gress and convention of Texas, I had ordered an efficient mili-
tary force to take a position " between the Nueces and the Del
Norte." This had become necessary to meet a threatened in-
vasion of Texas by the Mexican forces, for which extensive
military preparations had been made. The invasion was threat-
ened- solely because Texas had determined, in accordance with
a solemn resolution of the Congress of the United States, to
annex herself to our Union ; and, under these circumstances, it
238
LIFE AND TIMES OF
■was plainly our duty to extend our protection over her citizens
and soil.
This force was concentrated at Corpus Christi, and remained
there until after I had received such information from Mexico
as rendered it probable, if not certain, that the Mexican Gov-
ernment would refuse to receive our envoy.
Meantime, Texas, by the final action of our Congress, had
become an integral part of our Union. The Congress of Texas,
by its act of December 19,1836, had declared the Rio del Norte
to be the boundary of that republic. Its jurisdiction had been
extended and exercised beyond the Nueces.
The country between that river and the Del Norte bad been
represented in the Congress and in the convention of Texas,
bad thus taken part in the act of annexation itself, and is now
included within one of our Congressional districts. Our own
Congress had, moreover, with great unanimity, by the act of
December 81, 1845, recognized the country beyond the Nueces
as a part of our territory by including it within our own rev-
enue system; and a revenue officer, to reside within that dis-
trict, has been appointed by and with the advice and consent
of the Senate.
It became, therefore, of urgent necessity to provide for the
defense of that portion of our country. Accordingly, on the
13th of January last instructions were issued to the general in
command of these troops to occupy the left bank of the Del
Norte. This river, which is the south-western boundary of the
State of Texas, is an exposed frontier. From this quarter in-
vasion was threatened; upon it and in its immediate vicinity,
in the judgment of high military experience, are the proper
stations for the protecting forces of the Government.
In addition to this important consideration, several others
occurred to induce this movement. Among these are the facil-
ities afforded by the ports at Brazos Santiago and the mouth
of the Del Norte for the reception of supplies by sea, the
stronger and more healthful military positions, the convenience
for obtaining a ready and more abundant supply of provisions,
water, fuel, and forage, and the advantages which are afforded
by the Del Norte in forwarding supplies to such posts as may
be established in the interior and upon the Indian frontier.
JAMES KNOX POLK,
239
The movement of the troops to tlie Del Norte was made by
the commanding general under positive instructions to abstain
from all aggressive acts toward Mexico, or Mexican citizens,
and to regard the relations between that republic and the United
States as peaceful, unless she should declare war, or commit
acts of hostility, indicative of a state of war. He was especially
directed to protect private property and respect personal rights.
The army moved from Corpus Christi on the 11th of March,
and on the 28th of that month arrived on the left bank of the
Del Norte, opposite to Matamoras, where it encamped on a
commanding position, which has since been strengthened by the
erection of field-works. A depot has also been established at
Point Isabel, near the Brazos Santiago, thirty miles in rear of
the encampment. The selection of his position was necessarily
confided to the judgment of the general in command.
The Mexican forces at Matamoras assumed a belligerent at-
titude, and on the 12th of April, General Ampudia, then in
command, notified General Taylor to break up his camp within
twenty-four hours, and to retire beyond the Nueces Kiver, and
in the event of his failure to comply with these demands, an-
nounced that arms, and arms alone, must decide the question.
But no open act of hostility was committed until the 24th of
April. On that day. General Arista, who had succeeded to
the command of the Mexican forces, communicated to General
Taylor that " he considered hostilities commenced, and should
prosecute them." A party of dragoons of sixty-three men and
oflicers were on the same day dispatched from the American
camp up the Rio del Norte, on its left bank, to ascertain whether
the Mexican troops had crossed, or were preparing to cross the
river, " became engaged with a large body of these troops, and
after a short afllair, in which some sixteen were killed and
wounded, appear to have been surrounded and compelled to
surrender."
The grievous wrongs perpetrated by Mexico upon our citi-
zens throughout a long period of years, remain unredressed ;
and solemn treaties, pledging her public faith for this redress,
have been disregarded. A government either unable or un-
willing to enforce the execution of such treaties, fails to perform
one of its plainest duties.
240
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Our commerce with Mexico has been almost annihilated.
It was formerly highly beneficial to both nations; but our mer-
chants have been deterred from prosecuting it by the system
of outrage and extortion which the Mexican authorities have
pursued against them, while their appeals through their own
government for indemnity have been made in vain. Our for-
bearance has gone to such an extreme as to be mistaken in its
character. Had we acted with vigor in repelling the insults
and redressing the injuries inflicted by Mexico at the com-
mencement, we should doubtless have escaped all the difficulties
in which we are now involved.
Instead of this, however, we have been exerting our best
efforts to propitiate her good-will. Upon the pretext that
Texas, a nation as independent as herself, thought proper to
unite its destinies with our own, she has affected to believe
that we have severed her rightful territory, and, in official
proclamations and manifestoes, has repeatedly threatened to
make war upon us for the purpose of reconquering Texas. In
the meantime we have tried every effort at reconciliation. The
cup of forbearance had been exhausted, even before the recent
information from the frontier of the Del Norte. But now,
after reiterated menaces, Mexico has passed the boundary of
the United States, has invaded our territory, and shed Amer-
ican blood upon the American soil. She has proclaimed that
hostilities have commenced, and that the two nations are now
at war.
As war exists, and, notwithstanding all our eflbrts to avoid
it, exists by the act of Mexico herself, we are called upon, by
every consideration of duty and patriotism, to vindicate, with
decision, the honor, the rights, and the interests of our country.
Anticipating the possibility of a crisis like that which has
arrived, instructions were given in August last, "as a precau-
tionary measure" against invasion, or threatened invasion, author-
izing General Taylor, if the emergency required, to accept
volunteers, not from Texas only, but from the States of Louis-
iana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky; and
corresponding letters were addressed to the respective Governors
of those States.
These instructions were repeated; and in January last, soon
t
JAMES KNOX POLK.
241
after the incorporation of " Texas into our Union of States,"
General Taylor was further " authorized by the President to
make a requisition upon the Executive of that State for such
of its militia force as may be needed to repel invasion, or to
secure the country against apprehended invasion." On the 2d
day of March, he was again reminded, " in the event of the
approach of any considerable Mexican force, promptly and effi-
ciently to use the authority with which he was clothed to call
to him such auxiliary force as he might need."
War actually existing, and our territory having been in-
vaded. General Taylor, pursuant to authority vested in him by
my direction, has called on the Governor of Texas for four
regiments of State troops, two to be mounted, and two to serve
on foot, and on the Governor of Louisiana for four regiments
of infantry, to be sent to him as soon as practicable.
In further vindication of our rights and defense of our ter-
ritory, I invoke the prompt action of Congress to recognize the
existence of the war, and to place at the disposition of the Ex-
ecutive the means of prosecuting the war with vigor, and thus
hastening the restoration of peace. To this end I recommend
that authority should be given to call into the public service a
large body of volunteers, to serve for not less than six or twelve
months, unless sooner discharged.
A volunteer force is, beyond question, more efficient than
any other description of citizen soldiers; and it is not to be
doubted that a number far beyond that required would readily
rush to the field upon the call of their country. I further rec-
ommend that a liberal provision be made for sustaining our
entire military force, and furnishing it with supplies and muni-
tions of war.
The most energetic and prompt measures, and the immediate
appearance in arms of a large and overpowering force, are rec-
ommended to Congress as the most certain and efficient means
of bringing the existing collision with Mexico to a speedy and
successful termination.
In making these recommendations, I deem it proper to de-
clare that it is my anxious desire, not only to terminate hos-
tilities speedily, but to bring all matters in dispute between this
Government and Mexico to an early and amicable adjustment;
16—K
242
LIFE AND TIMES OF
and, in this view, I shall be prepared to renew negotiations,
whenever Mexico shall be ready to receive propositions, or to
make propositions of her own.
I transmit herewith a copy of the correspondence between
our Envoy to Mexico and the Mexican Minister for Foreign
Affairs; and so much of the correspondence between that envoy
and the Secretary of State, and between the Secretary of War
and the general in command on the Del Norte, as are neces-
sary to a full understanding of the subject.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
243
CHAPTER XII.
WAR PROCLAIMED—ACTS OF CONGRESS—FRENCH CLAIMS
VETO—TWO MILLION MYSTERY—WILMOT PROVISO—
GENERAL SCOTT AND THE PRESIDENT—PALO
ALTO AND RESACA DE LA PALMA.
CCORDINGLY Congress passed an act on the
13th of May, only two days after receiving
this message, by a vote of 142 to 14 in the House,
and 40 to 2 in the Senate, declaring war with Mexico,
authorizing not exceeding 60,000 volunteers to be
raised for one year, or the war, and making the neces-
sary approp.riations for equipping and supplying the
army. On the same day the President issued his
proclamation declaring war.
Although the measure leading j;o this result was
finally carried by a remarkable display of unanimity,
it had brought out a warm discussion on the origin
and responsibility of the war, and a great deal of
bitterness was manifested. In the Senate, Thomas
Clayton, of Delaware, and John Davis, of Massa-
chusetts, voted against the war measure, and Mr.
Calhoun did not vote, although he was earnestly op-
posed to the war. In the House, John Quincy
Adams headed the list of fourteen noes. But the
wonderful unanimity of Congress in taking this stu-
244 LIFE AND TIMES OF
pendous step did not, by any means, portray the
real views of that body for and against the war or
the course of conduct which had led to it. Many
Democrats even, who voted for the war measure, did
so because they could do no better than support and
make the most of what they could not prevent. Mr.
Benton thus speaks of the case :—
" Early in May the President sent in a message to the
two Houses of Congress, informing them that American
blood had been spilt upon American soil; and requesting
Congress to recognize the existence of war, as a fact, and
to provide for its prosecution. It was, however, an event
determined upon before the spilling of that blood, and the
advance of the troops was a way of bringing it on. The
President in his message at the commencement of the ses-
sion, after an enumeration of Mexican wrongs, had dis-
tinctly intimated that he should have recommended meas-
ures of redress if a minister had not been sent to effect a
a peaceable settlement; but the minister having gone, and
not yet been heard from, ' he should forbear recommend-
ing to Congress such ulterior measures of redress for the
wrong and injuries we have so long borne, as it would
have been proper td make had no such negotiation been
instituted.' This was a declared postponement of war
measures for a contingency which might quickly happen ;
and did. Mr. Slidell, the minister, returned without hav-
ing been received, and denouncing war in his retiring dis-
patch. • The contingency had therefore occurred, on which
the forbearance of the President was to cease, and the ul-
terior measures to be recommended which he had intimated.
All this was independent of the spilt blood; but that
event producing a state of hostilities in fact, fired the
American blood, both in and out of Congress, and inflamed
the country for immediate war. Without that event it
JAMES KNOX POLK.
245
would have been difficult—perhaps impossible—to have
got Congress to vote it; with it the vote was almost
unanimous. Duresse was plead by many members—duresse
in the necessity of aiding our own troops. In the Senate
only two Senators voted against the measure, Mr. Thomas
Clayton, of Delaware, and Mr. John Davis, of Massachu-
setts. In the House there were 14 negative votes: Messrs.
John Quincy Adams, George Ashmun, Henry Y. Cranston,
Erastus D. Culver, Columbus Delano, Joshua R. Giddings,
Joseph Grinnell, Charles Hudson, Daniel P. King, Joseph
M. Root, Luther Severance, John Strohm, Daniel R. Til-
den, and Joseph Vance. Mr. Calhoun spoke against the
bill, but did not vote upon it. He was sincerely opposed to
the war, although his conduct had produced it, always de-
luding himself, even while creating the status belli, with
the belief that money, and her own weakness, would induce
Mexico to submit, and yield to the incorporation of Texas
without forcible resistance; which would certainly have
been the case if the United States had proceeded gently
by negotiation. , He had dispatched a messenger, to offer a
douceur of ten millions of dollars at the time of signing
the treaty of annexation two years before, and he expected
the means, repulsed then, to be successful now when the
incorporation should be effected under an act of Congress.
Had he remained in the Cabinet, to do which he had not
concealed his wish, his labors would have been earnestly
directed to that end; but his associates who had co-oper-
ated with him in getting up the Texas question for the
Presidential election, and to defeat Mr. Van Buren and
/ •
Mr. Clay, had war in view as an object within itself from
the beginning; and these associates were now in the Cab-
inet, and he not; their power increased, his gone. Claims
upon Mexico, and speculations in Texas land and scrip,
were with them (the active managing part of the Cabinet)
an additional motive, and required a war, or a treaty under
the menace of war, or at the end of war, to make these
246
LIFE AND TIMES OF
claims and speculations available. Mr. Robert J. Walker
had the reputation of being at the head of this class.
" Many members of Congress, of the same party with
the Administration, were extremely averse to this war, and
had interviews with the Administration, to see if it was
inevitable, before it was declared. They were found united
for it, and also under the confident belief that there would be
no war—not another gun fired ; and that in ' ninety' or' one
hundred and twenty days,' peace would be signed, and all the
objects gained. This was laid-down as a certainty, and the
President himself declared that Congress would be' respon-
sible if they did not vote the declaration.' Mr. Benton was
struck with this confident calculation, without knowing its
basis; and with these ninety and one hundred and twenty
days, the usual run of a country bill of exchange, and which
was now to become the run of the war. It was enigmatical
and unintelligible, but eventually became comprehensible.
Truth was, an intrigue was laid for a peace before the war was
declared! and this intrigue was even part of the scheme
for making the war. It is impossible to conceive of an
Administration less warlike, or more intriguing, than that
of Mr. Polk. They were men of peace, with objects to be
accomplished by means of war; so that war wag a neces-
sity and an indispensability to their purpose; but they
wanted no more of it than would answer their purposes.
They wanted a small war, just large enough to, require a
treaty of peace, and not large enough to make military
reputations, dangerous for the Presidency. Never were
men at the head of a government less imbued with mili-
tary spirit, or more addicted to intrigue. How to manage
the war was the puzzle. Defeat would be ruin; to con-
quer vicariously, would be dangerous."
Under this act of Congress the President called
on twelve States and the District of Columbia for
23,000 volunteers. The call was responded to with
JAMES KNOX POLK,
247
great alacrity, and if it had asked for four times
that number of men, it would, in like manner, have
been complied with, so general was the desire, es-
pecially among the more adventurous and restless,
to serve a campaign in a war which it was believed
could not last but a few months. The States hon-
ored with this call were Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Ken-
tucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi,
Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Maryland, and the Dis-
trict of Columbia.
There was little hindrance made to the passage
of any measure called for by the Administration for
the prosecution of the war. Provision was made
for enlarging the regular army, and putting the navy
on a war footing, as well as making some important
additions to its force. A loan of ten millions of
dollars was authorized to meet the immediate de-
mands of the Government, and appropriations to the
amount of twenty-two millions were granted with
remarkable unanimity by Congress. During this
busy session the Smithsonian Institute was estab-
lished; provisional acts were passed for the admis-
sion of Wisconsin and Iowa as States; acts ad-
mitting the representatives from Texas to seats in
both Houses of Congress, and a number of other
measures. Two bills were passed, which, at this
early period, called for the Executive veto. One of
these was "an act making appropriations for the
improvements of certain harbors and rivers." The
fate of this measure might have been known before
its construction. It embraced a large number of
248
LIFE AND TIMES OF
items ia several States, and opened up the whole
question of internal improvements by the General
Government. However undecided on this point Mr.
Polk ever had been, he now was clearly opposed to
it as impolitic and unconstitutional, and on the 3d
of August returned the bill with his objections, the
usual arguments of a great majority of his party ^
leaders at that day. The other bill was "an act to
provide for the ascertainment and satisfaction of
claims of American citizens for spoliations com-
mitted by the French prior to the 31st of July, one.
thousand eight hundred and one." France had set-
tied this question of indemnity to Americans in the
treaty of 1803 with the United States, and now
after nearly a half century, in the midst of war.
Congress passed this bill providing for paying these
doubtful old claims to the amount of $5,000,000 in
land scrip or mortgages on the public lands. The
scheme had often been before Congress, but no such
conclusion could be reached, even when the Nation
was out of debt, and the.treasury full, at one time
so full that a foolish provision was made for loaning
it or giving it to the States. On the 8th of August,
two days before the adjournment of Congress, Pres-
ident Polk returned this remarkable bill with his
objections, clearly, simply, and honorably expressed.
The defeat of this scheme was certainly one of the
most admirable and patriotic acts of his Adminis-
tration, if it does, indeed, not outrank in those par-
ticulars all others, and well illustrated the virtue of
the Executive veto provided in the Constitution.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
249
The following is the message throttling this vil-
lainous French Claim scheme:—
To the Senate op the United States:—
I return to the Senate, in which it originated, the bill
entitled " An act to provide for the ascertainment and
satisfaction of claims of American citizens for spoliations
committed by the French prior to the 31st day of July,
one thousand eight hundred and one," which was pre-
sented to me on the 6th instant, with my objections to its
becoming a law.
In attempting to give to the bill the careful examina-
tion that it requires, difficulties presented themselves in
the outset, from the remoteness of the period to which
the claims belong, the complicated nature of the transac-
tions in which they originated, and the protracted nego-
tiations to which they led between France and the United
States,
The short time intervening between the passage of the
bill by Congress and the approaching close of their ses-
sion, as well as the pressure of other official duties, have
not permitted me to extend my examination of the sub-
ject into its minute details. But in the consideration
which I have been able tp give to it, I find objections of
a grave character to its provision^ For the satisfaction
of the claims provided for by the bill, it is proposed to
appropriate five millions of dollars. I can perceive no
legal or equitable ground upon which this large appro-
propriation can rest. A portion of the claims have been
more than half a century before the Government, in its
executive or legislative departments; and all of them had
their origin in events which occurred prior to the year
1800. Since 1802 they have been from time to time
before Congress. No greater necessity of propriety exists
for providing for these claims at this time than has ex-
isted for nearly half a century, during all which period
250
LIFE AND TIMES OF
this questionable measure has never until now received
the favorable consideration of Congress. It is scarcely
probable, if the claim had been regarded as obligatory
upon the Government, or constituting an equitable de-
mand upon the Treasury, that those who were contempo-
raneous with the events which gave rise to it should not
long since have done justice to the claimants. The
Treasury has often been in a condition to enable the Gov-
ernment to do so without inconvenience, if these claims
had been considered just. Mr. Jefferson, who was fully
cognizant of the early dissensions between the govern-
ments of the United States and France out of which the '
claims arose, in his annual message in 1808 adverted to
the large surplus then in the Treasury, and its " probable
accumulation," and inquired whether it should " lie un-
productive in the public vaults;" and yet these claims,
though then before Congress, were not recognized or paid.
Since that time the public debt of the Revolution and of
the War of 1812 has been extinguished; and at several
periods since, the Treasury has been in possession of large
surpluses over the demands upon it. In 1836 the surplus
amounted to many millions of dollars; and for want of
proper objects to which to apply it, it was directed by
Congress to be deposited with the States.
During this extended course of time, embracing pe-
tiods eminently favorable for satisfying all just demands
upon the Government, the claims embraced in this bill
met with no favor in Congress beyond reports of commit-
tees in one or the other branch. These circumstances
alone are calculated to raise strong doubts in respect to
these claims; more especially as all the information neces-
sary to a correct judgment concerning them has been long
before the public. These doubts are strengthened in my
mind by the examination I have been enabled to give
to the transactions in which they originated.
The bill assumes that the United States have become
JAMES KNOX POLK.
251
liable, in these ancient transactions, to make reparation to
the claimants for injuries committed by France. Nothing
was obtained for the claimants by negotiation; and the
bill assumes 'that the Government has become responsible
to them for the aggressions of France. I have not been
able to satisfy myself of the correctness of this assump-
tion, or that the Government has become in any way re-
sponsible for these claims. The limited time allotted me
before your adjournment precludes the possibility of re-
iterating the facts and arguments by which, in preceding
Congresses, these claims have been successfully resisted.
The present is a period peculiarly unfavorable for the
satisfaction of claims of so large an amount, and, to say
the least of them, of so doubtful a character. There is
no surplus in the Treasury. A public debt of several
millions of dollars has been created within the last few
years. We are engaged in a foreign war, uncertain in its
duration and involving heavy expenditures, to prosecute
which. Congress has at its present session authorized a
further loan; so that in effect the Government, should
this bill become a law, borrows money and increases the
public debt to pay these claims.
It is true, that by the provisions of the bill payment
is directed to be made in land scrip instead of money;
but the effect upon the Treasury will be the same. The
public lands constitute one of the sources of public rev-
enue; and if these claims be paid in land scrip, it will
from the date of its issue, to a great extent, cut off from
the Treasury the annual income from the sales of the
public lands, because payments for lands sold by the Gov-
ernment may be expected to be made in scrip until it is
all redeemed. If these claims be just, they ought to be
paid in money, and not in anything less valuable. The
bill provides that they shall be paid in land scrip,
whereby they are made in effect to be a mortgage upon
the public lands in the new States; a mortgage, too, held
252
LIFE AND TIMES OF
in great part, if not wholly, by non-residents of the States
in which the lands lie, who may secure these lands to the
amount of several millions of acres, and then demand for
them exorbitant prices from the citizens of the States who
may desire to purchase them for settlement; or they may
keep them out of the market, and thus retard the pros-
perity and growth of the States in which they are situated.
Why this unusual mode of satisfying demands on the
Treasury has been resorted to, does not appear. It is not
consistent with a sound public policy. If it be done in
this case, it may be done in all others. It would form a
precedent for the satisfaction of all other stale and ques-
tionable claims in the same manner, and would undoubt-
tedly be resorted to by all claimants, who, after successive
trials, shall fail to have their claims recognized and paid
in money by Congress.
This bill proposes to appropriate five millions of dol-
lars to be paid in land scrip, and provides that " no claim
or memorial shall be received by the commissioners"
authorized by the act, " unless accompanied by a release
or discharge of the United States from all other and
further compensation" than the claimant " may be en-
titled to receive under the provisions of this act." These,
claims are estimated to amount to a much larger sum than
five millions of dollars, and yet the claimant is required
to release to the Government all other compensation, and
to accept his share of a fund which is known to be inad-
equate. If the claims be well founded, it would be unjust
to the claimants to repudiate any portion of them, and
the payment of the remaining sum. could not be hereafter
resisted. This bill proposes to pay these claims, not in
the currency known to the Constitution, and not to their
full amount.
Passed, as this bill has been, near the close of the ses-
sion, and when many measures of importance necessarily
claim the attention of Congress, and possibly without that
JAMES KNOX POLK.
253
full and deliberate consideration which the large sum it
appropriates and the existing condition of the Treasury
and of the country demand, I deem it to he my duty to
withhold my approval, that it may hereafter undergo the
revision of Congress. I have come to this conclusion
with regret. In interposing my objections to its becoming
a law, I am fully sensible that it should be an. extreme
case which would make it the duty of the Executive to
withhold his approval of any bill passed by Congress
upon the ground of its inexpediency alone. Such a case
I consider this to be.
On the 4th of August, the President sent this
strange message to the Senate :—
To the Senate of the United States:—
I herewith communicate to the Senate the copy of a
letter, under date of the 27th ultimo, from the Secretary
of State of the United States to the Minister of Foreign
Relations of the Mexican Republic, again proposing to
open negotiations and conclude a treaty of peace, which
shall adjust all the questions in dispute between the two
republics. Considering the relative power of the two
countries, the glorious events which have already signal-
ized our arms, and the distracted condition of Mexico, I
did not conceive that any point of national honor could
exist which ought to prevent me from making this over-
ture. Equally anxious to terminate, by a peace honorable
for both parties, as I was originally to avoid the existing
war, I have deemed it my duty again to extend the olive-
branch to Mexico. Should the government of that re-
public accept the offer in the same friendly spirit by
which it was dictated, negotiations will speedily commence
for the conclusion of a treaty.
The chief difficulty to be anticipated in the negotia-
tion is the adjustment of the boundary between the par-
ties, by a line which shall at once be satisfactory and
254
LIFE AND TIMES OF
convenient to both, and such as neither will hereafter be
inclined to disturb. This is the best mode of securing
perpetual peace and good neighborhood between the two
republics. Should the Mexican Government, in order to
accomplish these objects, be willing to cede any portion
of their territory to the United States, we ought to pay
them a fair equivalent; a just and honorable peace, and
not conquest, being our purpose in the prosecution of
the war.
Under these circumstances, and considering the ex-
hausted and distracted condition of the Mexican Eepub-
lie, it might become necessaiy, in order to restore peace,
that I should have it in my power to advance a portion
of the consideration money for any cession of territory
which may be made. The Mexican Government might
not be willing to wait for the payment of the whole until
the treaty could be ratified by the Senate, and an appro-
priation to carry it into effect be made by Congress;
and the necessity for such a delay might defeat the object
altogether. I would, therefore, suggest whether it might
not be wise for Congress to appropriate a sum such as
they might consider adequate for this purpose, to be paid,
if necessary, immediately upon the ratification of the
treaty by Mexico. This disbursement would of course be
accounted for at the Treasury, not as secret service
money, but like other expenditures.
Two precedents for such a proceeding exist in our past
history, during the Administration of Mr. Jefferson, to
which I would call your attention. On the 26th of Feb-
ruary, 1803, Congress passed an act appropriating two
millions of dollars " for the purpose of defraying any ex-
traordinary expenses which may be incurred in the inter-
course between the United States and foreign nations,"
" to be applied under the direction of the President of the
United States, who shall cause an account of the expen-
diture thereof to be laid before Congress as soon as may
JAMES KNOX POLK.
255
be;" and, on the 13th of February, 1806, an appropria-
tion was made.of the same amount, and in the same terms.
The object, in the first case, was to enable the President
to obtain the cession of Louisiana; and, in the second,
that of the Floridas. In neither case was the money
actually drawn from the Treasury; and I should hope
that the result might be similar, in this respect, on the
present occasion, though the appropriation is deemed ex-
pedient as a precautionary measure.
I refer the whole subject to the Senate in executive
session. If they should concur in opinion with me,
then I recommend the passage of a law appropriating
such a sum as Congress may deem adequate, to be used
by the Executive, if necessary, for the purpose which I
have indicated.
In the two cases to which I have referred, the special
purpose of the appropriation did not appear on the face
of the law, as this might have defeated the object; neither,
for the same reason, in my opinion, ought it now to be
stated.
I also communicate to the Senate the copy of a letter
from the Secretary of State to Commodore Conner of
the 27th ultimo, which was transmitted to him on the day
. it bears date.
Only four days after the appearance of this mes-
sage Mr. Polk sent almost the same communication
to both Houses, urging the appropriation of two
millions of dollars to his private purposes in treating
with Mexico, if the occasion, or a certain occasion,
presented itself. These messages were then myste-
rious and inexplicable, even to many Democratic
Congressmen. Yet a bill was provided in compli-
ance with them, appropriating three millions of dol-
lars for the unknown purpose. David Wilmot, of
256
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Pennsylvania, a supporter of the Administration in
the House, offered the following proviso to the bill:
"That there shall be neither slavery nor involun-
tary servitude in any territory on the continent of
America, which shall hereafter be acquired by, or
annexed to, the United States by virtue of this ap-
propriation, or in any other manner whatsoever, except
for crimes whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted. Provided, always, that any person escap-
ing to such territory, from whom labor or service is
lawfully claimed, in any one of the United States,
such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and con-
veyed out of said territory to the person claiming
his or her labor or service."
This " Wilmot Proviso" started afresh the almost
interminable war of slavery between the two po-
litical sections of the country, but it was incorpo-
rated with the Santa Anna purchase or territorial
acquisition bill, and passed in the House by the
support of nearly all the members from the Free
States. In the Senate the "Proviso" was met by
Mr. CalhoUn and others, and in the midst of the dis-
cussion on the 10th of August, Congress adjourned.
The purpose of the President's equivocal message,
the intrigues connected with it, and the contingent
circumstances and animus of the whole matter will
appear, to some extent, in another chapter. It was
an extraordinary affair, and presents a very remark-
able case in our history. A precedent was, how-
ever, not wanting, and that the President gave, to
some extent, as an apology. It is an interesting
JAMES KNOX POLK,
257
instance of the ease with which even "strict con-
structionists" have been led into practices unknown
to any constitutions but those of political and par-
tisan ambition and intrigue.
A bill in conformity with the President's message
as to the tariff was passed this session, but only one
Whig in each House voted for it. To this act the
Whigs traced the commercial and monetary crash,
which was only delayed until 1857 by the flood of
gold that the adventurous and aggressive spirit of
the period of the Mexican War turned upon the
country. An act favoring the re-establishment of
the Subtreasury system of Mr. Van Buren, and for
establishing revenue collections and disbursements
in specie, became a law at this session.
The work of recruiting the army, and raising and
equipping the large volunteer force, was at once
begun with great spirit, under the direction of Gen-
eral Winfield Scott. On the 15th of May the plan
of the campaign was fixed upon between the Presi-
dent. General Scott, and the Secretary of War. The
main army was to operate from the Rio Grande;
one division was to move from Fort Leavenworth,
under General Stephen W. Kearney, into New Mexico
and California; and the other division was to ren-
dezvous at San Antonio, under General John E.
Wool, subject to the orders of the commander of the
main division on the Rio Grande. This division was
to operate against the adjacent Mexican States.
The whole plan of the campaign looked to the final
capture of the City of Mexico by the way of Vera
17—K
258
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Cruz, or otherwise, as events might indicate. Com-
modore Conner was also assigned the duty of block-
ading Mexican ports in the Gulf, and Commodore
Sloat, then on the Pacific, was authorized to take
possession of that coast as rapidly as his means
would allow. Before the first day of September,
1846, the whole volunteer force called for was in the
field, so great had been the activity of the military
officials and the zeal of the people.
In the meantime some ill-feeling had arisen among
the three leading characters in charge of the military
management, President Polk, Secretary Marcy, and
General Scott. At the outset the President had indi-
cated to General Scott that he was expected to take
the command in Mexico, and a week after this Mr.
Marcy informed the General that there was no little
impatience felt by his absence from the Rio Grande.
But General Scott had his own notions about things.
Provision had been made for the appointment of two
additional major-generals, and the President had the
authority to decide as to the character of the com-
mands. Scott feared that a political general, a parti-
san favorite, might be set over him. Nor were his
fears groundless, as it is not improbable that Mr. Polk
was disposed at one time to appoint Thomas Hart
Benton to be general-in-chief of the army. How-
ever this may have been, Scott rushed into a cor-
respondence with Mr. Marcy, in which he seriously
damaged his own reputation for a time, by declaring
that he suspected things were not all right in Washing-
ton; that his energies were crippled by thinking so;
JAMES KNOX POLK.
259
that he could not operate satisfactorily in the field
until he knew that all Xvas right in his own behalf at
home; that he was not disposed to put himself in
position to receive a fire in his rear from Wash-
ington and in his front from Mexico. The result
was that he was, on the 25th of May, in a letter
from the Secretary of War, notified that his post
would be at Washington. The General answered
back, and said he was ready to take the field when-
ever the President desired. But the President con-
eluded to take his own time. This affair brought
the ridicule of the country temporarily upon Scott,
nor is it easy to see that he did not deserve some
of it. His correspondence with Andrew Jackson
many years before had been greatly to his credit,
and had elevated him in the public esteem, but
this time he had signally let himself down.
In the army of the United States the question of
rank is almost of European importance, and a great
deal of shameless snobbery is the result of it. No
American general has been more exacting than GeA-
eral Scott as to matters of rank and seniority. In
dealing with the stiff old General at this time, no doubt.
President Polk took* into the account the probable fire
there might be in his own rear, as he could not have
forgotten the most exasperating difficulties of Mr.
Monroe and John Quincy Adams over this General,
and his notions of military dignity and priority.
The difficulty with General Scott at this time was
more in a political than military way. In the War
of 1812 he had established his reputation as a
260
LIFE AND TIMES OF
soldier, and since he had become quite an important
figure in public affairs. Before the Whig Conven-
tions he had been favorably presented for the Presi-
dency, and now he considered himself as the very
probable nominee of that party at no distant period.
His whimsical and trifling caper at this time was
unfortunate, and it was only in Mexico that the
splendid old soldier was enabled to recover his lost
ground in the public regard.
In the meantime Taylor had been attacked by
the Mexicans, and had defeated them in the bat-
ties of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and on
the 18th of May, 1846, had crossed the Rio Grande,
and, without opposition, taken possession of Mata-
moras, a series of what were termed brilliant events,
reserved for detailed description in the next sue-
ceeding volume of this work.
A long season of comparative inactivity was now
passed through by the "Army of Occupation," as
the army under General Taylor had hitherto been
called. The causes of this "masterly inactivity"
do not now appear very clear or satisfactory. It
was a war in which it was not desirable to concen-
trate honors too much. Indeed-, it was a part of
the general plan to distribute the honors widely.
It was to be the opportunity of a life-time for acquir-
ing laurels, compensatory for other wants in sub-
sequent political adventures. General Taylor had
received re-enforcements sufficient by the middle of
July to enable him to move upon Monterey, but he
was still on the Rio Grande in September. While
JAMES KNOX POLK.
261
at Corpus Christi and Matamoras his means of trans-
portation were of little consequence, but now he
found himself without facilities for an overland com-
paign. General Taylor laid the cause of his delay
at the door of the supply department, and entered
a formal complaint against it, but not until the 1st
of September. General Thomas S. Jesup, who was
quartermaster-general, with head-quarters at New
Orleans, and who had gained deserved distinction in
the War of 1812, laid the blame on Taylor himself,
and accused him of not making requisitions for
what he wanted, and of depending upon agents
of his own selection. But while Jesup's defense and
charges as to the course of General Taylor in the
matter of supplies must be taken with some grains
of allowance, it is not at all certain that Taylor could
not have bettered his condition by taking more direct
personal interest in it in time, No war in which
the United States had yet been engaged was so much
a political war as this with Mexico, and hence in
none other had there been so much intrigue, so
much management, and so many party and personal
ends to subserve. This fact throws over the events
of the times an air of suspicion and unreliability
which casts its shadow upon .the researches of to-day.
The road to truth, at best, is not unmixed with prob-
ability or doubt.
When hostilities began on the Rio Grande Gen-
eral Edmund P. Gaines was in command at New
Orleans and this old officer helped materially to in-
crease the bluster and confusion of which that place
262
LIFE AND TIMES OF
was one of the chief seats. He not only filled the
requisitions of General Taylor for men, but, with
the best of intentions, over-filled them in every
branch, and much of his recruiting being for three
months' service, gave no little annoyance to the
Administration, as only recruits for twelve months
or the war could be taken into the army. From
this source men were thrown upon Taylor in a way
that led to his complaint. The result was that
Gaines was taken off and stationed away up at New
York, as far from the seat of war as possible.
Notwithstanding the long delay of three months
in busy preparation for the invasion of Mexico from
the Rio Grande, the conduct of the "Army of Occu-
pation" was very satisfactory to the country. Con-
gress advanced Taylor to the rank of major-general,
and, from the former successes, it was the common
sentiment that the new and thoroughly organized
army would soon make an end to the whole busi-
ness. In this feeling the Administration shared,
but President Polk and his council had a secret
additional ground for their belief. Camargo, a town
on the west side of the Rio Grande, nearly two
hundred miles above its mouth, was chosen by Gen-
eral Taylor as his depot of supplies, this being
nearer Monterey, the strong position occupied by the
Mexicans. Here about nine thousand troops were
gathered, and, on the 5th of September, leaving
two thousand at Camargo, and some small garrisons
at other points that had fallen into the hands of the
Americans, with over six thousand troops Taylor
JAMES KNOX POLK.
263
moved towards Monterey. On the 19th the Amer-
can army arrived before this place, which was then
found to be defended by eight or ten thousand
men under Pedro Ampudia. On the 21st the attack
on the place began, and was continued until the
evening of the 23d. On the 24th the Mexicans
capitulated, and the following day General Taylor
took possession of the city, and the military stores
and works of the enemy. The terms of this capitula-
tion were not well received by the people of the
United States nor by the Administration. It granted
an armistice of eight weeks, and had about it some
other remarkable and unheard-of features. Yet
General Taylor considered himself fully sustained by
the circumstances in sanctioning it. His action was
mainly based upon what he had good reasons for
believing to be the wish of the authorities at Wash-
ington. A full examination of this matter, and all
of General Taylor's services in this war may be
found in another volume of this work. With the
surrender of Monterey the conflict on the Rio Grande
was mainly ended.
264 LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER XIII.
JOHN C. FREMONT—CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA—THE
"PATHFINDER'S" BEST ACHIEVEMENT.
JOHN C. FREMONT, a captain by brevet, and an
officer of the engineer corps attached to the regular^
army of the United States, who had made two trips
for exploration beyond the Rocky Mountains, was,
in May, 1845, sent under order from the War De-
partment, on another expedition to the same region.
He was accompanied by a small, but well-equipped
and well-armed force of sixty-two mounted men and
a train of pack-horses. The objects of the expedi-
tion were, apparently, the location of a more south-
erly route to Oregon, and the further exploration of
the mineral or other unknown wealth of that region.
"Not an officer nor soldier of the United States
army accompanied him, and his whole force con-
sisted of sixty-two men, employed by himself for
security against Indians, and for procuring subsist-
ence in the wilderness and (hesert country through
which he was to pass." So said Secretary Marcy
in his exulting report of this important expedition,
in December, 1846. Several Delaware Indians con-
stituted a part of this company, and acted as a sort
of body-guard for Fremont, S,nd the celebrated Kit
JAMES KNOX POLK. 265
Carson was his guide, as he had been in the former
expeditions, made in 1842 and 1843, under the direc-
tion of President Tyler. It was well understood at
Washington that Upper California was in a semi-
revolutionary condition, and that some sort of inde-
pendence would ultimately take place. It was, per-
haps, quite as well known, too, that England had her
eye on California, and .was watching and waiting for
the time for her to take it as her own, or at least
under her protection. Although President Polk and
his Cabinet could not have designed Fremont's expe-
dition as a military one with the direct purpose of
conquest, yet it is not clear that it was not a part
of their purpose to make a display of American in-
terests in that region with a view to future contin-
gencies. The original expeditions under the pre-
vious Admini&tration had a strong tendency towards
the ultimate ownership of a country then in need
of the redeeming hand of American civilization, or
which was about to become a prey to England.
The fact that Captain Fremont had with him no
soldiers of the United States army had little to do
with the case. No regular soldiers taken from the
army could have been equal to his band of chosen
companions, for the service for which they were de-
signed, or the wild warlike one to which they were
willingly turned. No men could have been better
adapted to the scenes through which they were
to pass. This Fremont well knew, although his
thoughts had never, perhaps, been disturbed by vis-
ions of conquest. Great ignorance existed at that
266
LIFE AND TIMES OF
day even, of the geography as well as the mineral
wealth of the trans-Rocky Mountain country. Fre-
mont's ambition was to put a true knowledge of all
this region into IJie possession of the Government.
Yet it is not to be supposed that an intelligent and
adventurous officer, well informed as to the progress
of affairs in America at the time, could have been
ignorant of the benefits which would arise to his
country by the possession of this vast region open-
ing to the Pacific and extending its authority across
the continent from ocean to ocean. The greater part
of the territory he was to traverse then did nomi-
nally belong to another government, and his first
tours, made without the authority of that govern-
ment, were now known to be unfavorably regarded
by it. And why should they not have been ? His
second expedition, although in most respects having
the appearance of being devoted to scientific objects,
more, perhaps, than this one, as it included in its
outfit a refracting telescope, circles, two sextants,
some chronometers, two barometers, thermometers,
and a number of compasses, but it also had a twelve-
pound brass howitzer, and three experienced artil-
lerymen to manage it. His expeditions had become
known to the authorities in Mexico, and it had been
decided to break them up, if they were repeated.
It was the last of January, 1846, when Fremont
and his company halted within a hundred miles of
Monterey in California, and he went forward him-
self to ask permission of the Mexican Governor, De
Castro, to recruit his horses and rest awhile in the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
267
valley of San Joaquin, before renewing his explora-
tions towards the Columbia River, This permission
he received, but early in March, he was apprised
by Thomas 0. Larkin, United States Consul at
Monterey, that De Castro was preparing to attack
him. He at once took a position on Hawk's Peak,
a spur of the Sierra Nevada, and raising the Ameri-
can flag, returned word that they had determined to
ask no quarters and fight to the last man, looking
to their country for revenge. But De Castro con-
eluded it would not be wise, on his part, to make
an attack where there was so much doubt involved
in the event, and sent a proposition to Fremont to
join him in conducting a revolt, against the Govern-
ment of Mexico. Not wishing to involve himself or
his Government, Fremont turned his back on the
Spaniard, and on the 10th of March proceeded on
his way towards Oregon. About the middle of
May, in the neighborhood of Great Tlamath Lake,
in that territory, he was overtaken by a Mr. Gilles-
pie, a messenger direct from Washington City. He
now turned his face towards California. The mes-
senger had said, cultivate the good-will of the peo-
pie, and guard against the interference of foreign
powers. From this moment, at all events, the ob-
ject of Captain Fremont's expedition was changed,
and few more interesting politico-military adventures
are to be found on the pages of modern history.
From the conquest of California now about to be
begun by this brevet captain of engineers, Mr.
Polk's Administration reflected its highest glory. No
268
LIFE AND TIMES OF
territorial acquisition, except that of 1803, has been
so vast in its importance to the United States, and
none have been obtained at so little expense. Fre-
mont, who had in May, been commissioned lieuten-
ant-colonel of the regiment of mounted riflemen,
now found that De Castro was not only determined
to drive him but also the American settlers from
California. Under the conviction that it would now
be necessary for him to fight, he at once concluded
not only to test his ability to cope with De Castro
and the Indians he was exciting to oppose his
peaceable march through the country, but also to
conquer the province and organize in it an inde-
pendent government.
The first conflict in this great adventure occurred
on the 11th of June, when twelve of his men sur-
prised and captured a squad of fifteen Mexicans,
and a train of two hundred horses. At day break on
the 15th Sanoma, a military post, was attacked by
Fremont, and taken with nine brass cannons, two
hundred and fifty stand of muskets, and other mu-
nitions of war, with the small garrison. He then
hastened to the valley of the Sacramento to arouse
and enlist the American settlers in his scheme.
Here he gathered in a day ninety riflemen, the kind
of men he knew how to trust. Twenty of his men
again attacked and defeated seventy of the Mexi-
cans, and by the last of June he had cleared the
country, north of San Francisco Bay of Mexican
authority.
On the 5th of July at Sanoma, he called the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
269
people together, and explained the situation, and ad-
vised them to declare themselves independent of
Mexico. This was immediately done, and he was
himself appointed to take the chief direction of af-
fairs. At this time he knew nothing of the war on
the Rio Grande, or that war had been declared against
Mexico.
On the 6th of July, at the head of 160 mounted
men, Fremont started for Santa Clara in pursuit.of
De Castro. Before reaching that point, he found
that the Mexican General was retreating before him
to Los Angeles, the seat of the Governor-General of
California, Don Pio Pico. At this juncture in his
affairs, he received intelligence of the beginning of
war with Mexico, • and that Commodore John D.
Sloat, of the Pacihc Squadron, had captured Mon-
terey, California, and on the 7th of July raised over
it the Stars and Stripes. The independent flag he
had caused to be hoisted at Sanoma now quickly gave
way for that of his own country. He soon after-
wards joined Sloat at Monterey. About the middle
of July Captain R. F. Stockton, in command of the
frigate Constitution, arrived at Monterey, and soon
after, Sloat desiring to return to the Atlantic, Stock-
ton assumed the command of the entire squadron of
several vessels on the California coast, as well as of
affairs on land. He at once prepared to organize a
battalion to serve on land, composed of Fremont's
men and men from the vessels ; to Fremont he gave
the command, but himself retaining the chief direc-
tion of affairs. They now directed their attention to
270
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the capture of Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Los
Angeles, the latter of which Fremont entered without
opposition on the 13th of August, the Mexican sol-
diers and civil ofl&cers having retreated before him.
Thus, in sixty days had California been conquered,
and added, with its vast wealth of gold, to the
United States. Stockton prepared to . sail against
Lower California, leaving Fremont as Governor of
the conquered territory. But towards the close of
September at Los Angeles an insurrection broke out,
and the Mexicans were found disposed to make an-
other effort to regain the territory they had lost.
In December, in the midst of this insurrection.
General Kearney arrived from New Mexico, and dur-
ing the brief campaign required to put down this out-
break, served, by his own choice, under Stockton,
although that officer had repeatedly proposed to sur-
render all authority to him. Subsequently, however,
Kearney refused to recognize Commodore Stockton's
arrangements for the civil government of California,
and took charge himself. But this change was not
accomplished without some inconvenience to all con-
cerned.' Commodore Stockton refused to recognize
the authority of General Kearney, and ordered him
to relinquish his command of the troops. Fremont
had been appointed military governor by Stockton,
and had pledged himself to serve under Stockton as
long as he had authority on the coast; and he did not
consider that General Kearney had, by his conduct,
in any way proven that Stockton's authority was not
superior to his. Fremont proceeded to act as gov-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
271
ernor under the appointment of Stockton, and the
latter sustained him in his course. This incensed
Kearney, although it appears that he had designed
appointing Fremont governor on his leaving the ter-
ritory. Kearney and Stockton carried on a sharp
correspondence, and Colonel R. B. Mason, whom
Kearney appointed over Fremont, became involved
by his ill-treatment of Fremont. The whole difficulty
came to a sudden stop by the arrival of a messenger
from Washington advising Stockton to turn over all
the* affairs of the Territory to General Kearney.
Kearney's and Mason's treatment of Fremont con-
tinned so notoriously bad, and Fremont continued so
decidedly stubborn and determined, that he finally
challenged Mason to fight him. But somehow the
affair came to Kearney's ear, and he and Commodore
Biddle, who had arrived on the coast, ordered it to be
stopped. Mason kept writing about it to Fremont
promising to fix the day, etc., and the whole affair
on his part looked exceedingly contemptible. Colonel
Benton afterwards asserted that the efforts of Kear-
ney, Biddle, and Mason were simply meant to shield
Mason, and Kearney either did not know the law
governing the conduct of a superior officer in such
case, or did not hesitate to break it. That law re-
quired the immediate arrest of parties to a proposed
duel. Three or four years after this affair Mason,
then living in St. Louis, invited Fremont to come on
there and he would " give him the satisfaction " denied
him in California. Fremont wanted to join his regi-
ment, the " Mounted Rifles," in Mexico under Scott,
272
LIFE AND TIMES OF
but Kearney would not allow him to do so. He then
asked permission to proceed to the States at his own
expense, but this Kearney refused. Here is his re-
ply to Fremont's request, which while being stilF
enough, perhaps, for any straight-laced West Pointer,
was entirely characteristic of the rough old soldier:—
" Camp near New Helvetia, California, \
June 14, 1847. j
" Sir,—The request contained in your communication
to me of this date, to be relieved from all connection with
the topographical party (nineteen men), and be permitted
to return to the United States with a small party made up
by your private meaus, can not be granted.
"I shall leave here on Wednesday, the 16th instant,
and I require of you to be with your topographical party
in my camp (which will probably be fifteen miles from
here) on the evening of that day, and to continue with me
to Missouri."
In Missouri Fremont delivered up the property
belonging to his expedition, and was then sent under
arrest to Washington. Kearney preferred charges
against him, and early in November his trial began
at Washington, continuing until the last of January,
1848. On the last day of January the court con-
eluded the case with a verdict of guilty on the
charges of mutiny, disobedience of the lawful com-
maud of a superior officer, and conduct to the preju-
dice of good order and military discipline, and sen-
tenced him to be dismissed from the service. Two
papers signed by different groups of the members of
the court were sent to the President, recommending
leniency, and Mr. Polk, being unable, perhaps, to see
JAMES KNOX POLK.
2T3
the full force and sting of a military crime, made the
following summary disposition of the case :—
"Upon an inspection of the record, I am not satisfied
that the facts proved in this case constitute the military
crime of mutiny. I am of opinion that the second and
third charges are sustained by the proof, and that the con-
viction upon these charges warrants the sentence of the
court. The sentence of the court is therefore approved;
but, in consideration of the peculiar circumstances of the
case, of the previous meritorious and valuable services of
Lieutenant-Colonel Fremont, and of the foregoing recom-
mendations of a majority of the members of the court, the
penalty of dismissal from the service is remitted.
" Lieutenant-Colonel Fremont will accordingly be re-
leased from arrest, will resume his sword, and report for
duty. James K. Polk."
This was the President's decision, and although
it was as much as he should or could have done
considering the high and mighty arm of the public
service and sovereignty which had been insulted in
the person of a crotchety old soldier, "it was not
enough for Colonel Fremont. He never joined his
regiment, but in February sent in his resignation,
which the President finally accepted in May. Fre-
mont was unwilling to accept more than the clem-
ency of the President, while he did not regard the
decision of the court as true or just. His view of
the whole affair was shared by a vast number of
others who could not see the crime of exalting the
authority of the navy over that of the army, when
there were very good reasons for so doing, and when
in making any choice there would have been the
18—K
274
LIFE AND TIMES OF
same offense, that is, the insult of a powerful hriga-
dier-general, or a captain in the navy.
The army required the punishment of Fremont;
to that demand the President had to listen; popular
opinion and the nature of the case required a dif-
ferent decision; to this the President could not turn
a deaf ear; and his conclusion displayed as much
independence and wisdom as the circumstances
would warrant. A strong effort was made in the
course of the trial by Colonel Benton, the leading
attorney in the defense, to destroy the testimony of
General Kearney as false and unreliable. But in
this he could not have been successful, however
clear it was that the old General was prosecuting
the case, to a great extent, by reason of his wounded
pride and dignity. Fremont was not then a politi-
cian, and party malevolence or ill-will was not
necessarily- an ingredient in the case, although at
no time in the history of military affairs in this
country have political matters and party preferences
assumed much greater importance than they did dur-
ing the Mexican War.
The " Great Pathfinder " made two more explor-
ing expeditions to the Rocky Mountains, where his
name may outlive the spirit of partisan warfare in
the Republic, in " Fremont's Peak;" but these were
not under the direction of the Government. Fre-
mont's greatest services to his country were, per-
haps, rendered in these expeditions, and especially
in that one in which he was diverted from his
original purpose to grasp for it, a vast and grand
JAMES KNOX POLK
275
territory about to slip into the hands of a foreign
nation.
Although Commodore Sloat took Monterey, and
raised the American flag there on the 7th of July,
he had been instigated to this course by hearing of
the performances of Fremont, and with the impres-
sion that he was acting under the authority of the
Administration, or had been apprised of the decla-
ration of war with Mexico. Yet it is true that
Sloat had decided on taking this step at an early
day. For that purpose he slipped, skillfully from
the espionage of the British fleet, and when its com-
mander thought him at the Sandwich Islands, he
was planting the flag of his country at Montery.
This brief sketch of the conquest of California
may now be appropriately ended by the following
extract from a very spirited account given by Gen-
eral Fremont's father-in-law, Mr. Benton, who, if he
was often wrong, was as often right as most of his
political contemporaries:—
" In one of these excursions the Californian horse, so
noted for spirit and docility, showed what he would do at
the bid of his master. Carson's rifle had missed fire at
ten feet distance. The Tlamath long bow, arrow on the
string, was bending to the pull. All the rifles in the
party could not have saved him. A horse and his rider
did it. Mr. Fremont touched his horse; he sprang upon
the savage; and the hatchet of a Delaware completed the
deliverance of Carson. It was a noble horse, an iron
gray, with a most formidable name, el Toro del Sacra-
mento, and which vindicated his title to the name in all
the trials of travel, courage, and performance to which
276
LIFE AND TIMES OF
he was subjected. It was in the midst of such dangers as
these, that science was pursued by Mr. Fremont; that the
telescope was carried to read the heavens; the barometer
to measure the elevations of the earth; the thermometer
to gauge the temperature of the air; the pencil to sketch
the grandeur of mountains, and to paint the beauty of
flowers; the pen to write down whatever was new, oi*
strange, or useful in the works of nature. It was in the
midst of such dangers, and such occupations as these, and
in the wildest regions of the farthest West, that' Mr.
Fremont was pursuing science and shunning war, when
the arrival of Lieutenant Gillespie, and his communica-
tions from Washington, suddenly changed all his plans,
turned him back from Oregon, and opened a new and
splendid field of operations in California itself. He ar-
rived in the valley of the Sacramento in the month of
May, 1846, and found the country alarmingly and crit-
ically situated. Three great operations, fatal to Ameri-
can interests, were then going on, and without remedy,
if not arrested at once. These were: 1. The massacre
of the Americans, and the destruction of their settlements,
in the valley of the Sacramento. 2. The subjection of
California to British protection. 3. The transfer of the
public domain to British subjects. And all this with a
view to anticipate the events of a Mexican War, and to
shelter California from the arms of the United States.
"The American settlers sent a deputation to the camp
of Mr. Fremont, in the valley of the Sacramento, laid all
these dangers before him, and implored him to place him-
self at their head and save them from destruction. Gen-
eral Castro was then in march upon them; the Indians
were incited to attack their families, and burn their wheat-
fields, and were only waiting for the dry season to apply
the torch. Juntas were in session to transfer the country
to Great Britain; the public domain was passing away in
large grants to British subjects; a British fleet was
JAMES KNOX POLK.
277
expected on the coast; the British Vice-Consul, Forbes, and
the emissary priest, Macnamara, ruling and conducting
everything; and all their plans so far advanced as to ren-
der the least delay fatal. It was then the beginning of
June. War had broken out between the United States
and Mexico, but that was unknown in California. Mr.
Fremont had left the two countries at peace when he set
out upon his expedition, and was determined to do noth-
ing to disturb their relations; he had even left California
to avoid giving offense; and to return and take up arms
in so short a time was apparently to discredit his own
previous conduct as well as to implicate his Government.
He felt all the responsibilities of his position; but the
actual approach of Castro, and the immediate danger of
the settlers, left him no alternative. He determined to
put himself at the head of the people, and to save the
country. To repulse Castro was not sufficient; to over-
turn the Mexican government in California, and to estab-
lish Californian independence, was the bold resolve, and
the only measure adequate to the emergency. The re-
solve was taken, and executed with a celerity that gave it
a romantic success. The American settlers rushed to his
camp, brought their arms, horses and ammunition, were
formed into a battalion, and obeyed with zeal and alac-
rity the orders they received. In thirty days all the
northern part of California was freed from Mexican an-
thority, independence proclaimed, the flag of indepen-
dence raised, Castro flying to the south, the American set-
tiers saved from destruction, and the British party in
California counteracted and broken up in all their schemes.
"This movement for independence was the salvation
of California, and snatched it out of the hands of the
British at the moment they were ready to clutch it. For
two hundred years, from the time of the navigator
Drake, who almost claimed it as a discovery, and placed
the English name of New Albion upon it, the eye of
278
LIFE AND TIMES OF
England has been upon California; and the magnificent
Bay of San Francisco, the great sea-port of the North Pa-
cific Ocean, has been surveyed as her own. The approach-
ing war between Mexico and the United States was the
crisis in which she expected to realize the long-deferred
wish for its acquisition; and carefully she took her meas-
ures accordingly. She sent two squadrons to the Pacific
as soon as Texas was incorporated, well seeing the actual
war which was to grow out of that event, a small one
into the 'mouth of the Columbia, an imposing one to
Mazatlan, on the Mexican coast, to watch the United
States squadron there, and to anticipate its movements
upon California."
JAMES KNOX POLK.
279
CHAPTER XIV.
WAR WITH MEXICO—CONQUEST OF NEW MEXICO—GEN-
ERAL KEARNEY SETS UP A GOVERNMENT—STERLING
PRICE.WHIPS THE MEXICANS INTO OBEDIENCE—
DONIPHAN AND WOOL.
IN the plan for the opening campaign against Mexico,
the conquest of California was assigned to the
Army of the West, which was to be commanded by
General Stephen W. Kearney ; but, as already re-
lated, this was mainly done before Kearney, without
an army, reached California. About the middle of
May, 1846, General Kearney received his orders, and
on the 30th of June, marched from Fort Leaven-
worth. His whole force, including a battalion of five
hundred Mormons, numbered about 2,700 men.
After a wonderful march of nearly nine hundred
miles, on the 18th of August, this army reached
Santa Fe. Although the Governor of New Mexico,
Armijo, had assembled a large force and taken an
almost unassailable position near Santa Fe, he finally
concluded to make no defense. And thus General
Kearney found himself in possession of New Mexico
without an opportunity for military renown. But
what.he lost in this way he more than compensated
for, in his ideas and methods of setting up a civil
280 LIFE AND TIMES OF
government. His first feat in this direction was
performed on the 16th of August, at San Miguel.
He called the chief officer and men of the town to-
gether, and after declaring them absolved from their
responsibilities as citizens of Mexico, he required
them to take the following oath : " You swear that
you- will bear true allegiance to the Government of
the United States of America, and that you will de-
fend her against all her enemies and opposers, in the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen."
The Mexicans did not know the obligations of an
oath, or if they did they paid no attention to this
one. It was certainly a remarkable requirement to
be made of these people, especially at that time.
On the 22d of August, General Kearney issued a
proclamation to the people of New Mexico. In this
he declared that New Mexico was now a Territory
of the United States, that a free government was
to be provided for it, agreeable to the spirit of the
United States; that they should then hold their
elections and otherwise comport themselves as free-
men of the United States; and among other remark-
able things, said :—
"The undersigned hereby absolves all persons residing
within the boundary of New Mexico from further allegiance
to the Republic of Mexico, and hereby claims them as
citizens of the United States. Those who remain quiet
and peaceable will be considered as good citizens, and re-
ceive protection; those who are found in arms, or insti-
gating others against the United States, will be considered
as traitors, and treated accordingly."
JAMES KNOX POLK.
281
This was a new and speedy way of making citi-
zens of the United States, unprovided for in the
military or civil codes of modern times, and one that
greatly startled the people of the country, and which
drew from the President a vague special message to
Congress, General Kearney had evidently construed
his instructions, and his authority as a military chief,
with great liberality. But neither his absolution act
nor his attempt to confer political rights on the citi-
zens of New Mexicoj was approved by the Adminis-
tration, or regarded in any other light than that of
overwrought enthusiasm. The General made a trip
with a considerable force for a hundred miles down
the Bio Grande, but found no opposition to his
authority." He also sent out and brought in a num-
her of Apache Indian chiefs, and made a " treaty"
with them. By this time he had- set up his civil
government, and made Charles Bent governor.
Kearney was a brave and patriotic man, and although
he had not acted very wisely here, and did not do
so in all respects subsequently, multiplicity of in-
structions may have embarrassed him considerably.
Secretary Marcy had written to him : " You shall
establish temporary civil governments; continue ex-
isting officers, if they will take the oath of allegiance;
assure them it is the wish and design of the United
States to provide for them a free government; they
will then be called upon to exercise the rights of
freemen." General Scott in his written instructions to
Kearney as to California, said: " You will erect and
garrison durable defenses for holding the bays of
282
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Monterey and San Francisco, together with such
other important points in the same province as you
may deem it necessary to occupy. You will not,
however, formally declare the province to be annexed.
Permanent incorporation of the territory must depend
upon the Government of the United States." His
conduct in New Mexico had evidently been distaste-
ful to General Scott, who in the main drew closely
the line of a soldier's duty, if he did sometimes ex-
hibit a very decided disposition to give a political
importance to his own office.
Leaving General Kearney's legislative and civil
performances in New Mexico to be referred to at
another time, it is now convenient to follow him in
his extraordinary march beyond the Rocky Mount-
ains, and in the final disposition of affairs in Califor-
nia. In August, finding that his force was unneces-
• sarily large for his purposes. General Kearney notified
the Secretary of War that he designed sending
Colonel Doniphan with his regiment to join General
Wool, then engaged, he supposed, in the conquest of
Chihuahua. Having put affairs in New Mexico in a
condition' to suit himself, at all events, on the 25th
of September, with three or four hundred dragoons
under Major Sumner, General Kearney set out for
California. Several hundred miles west of Santa
Fe, early in October, he met Kit Carson and a few
men on their way to Washington City from Commo-
dore Stockton with the report that that country had
already been reduced to submission, and a form of
civil government established. Inducing Carson to
JAMES KNOX POLK.
283
return with him to California, sending the dispatches
to Washington by his own messenger, and allowing
Major Sumner to return to Santa Fe, with one hun-
dred of the dragoons, he continued his march. Not
until the 2d of December did he reach the settle-
ments of California, where he learned that the old
Californians had " revolted " against the new order
of things. Pursuing his way, cautiously, he was
met forty miles from San Diego by a detachment of
troops sent out by Commodore Stockton for that pur-
pose. Before reaching that place, however, he was
destined to have his first brush with the Mexicans.
Captain Gillespie, who had led the small force to
meet Kearney, had on the way heard of a war band
of Mexicans at a place called San Pascual. Kearney
planned an attack on these men, which was carried
into effect with entire success at daybreak on the
morning of the 6th of December. The Mexicans
were quickly routed and put to flight, but in this
spirited engagement three American officers were
killed, four wounded, and sixteen privates killed and
eleven wounded, and Kearney himself was twice
lanced. At San Bernardo, in his way, the Mexicans
again showed a disposition to fight, but Kearney's
advance put them to flight. Now becoming alarmed
for the safety of his small force, with many of them
wounded, Kearney took a position and sent to Stock-
ton for re-enforcements. The Commodore this time
sent out over two hundred men mainly from the
vessel's crews, variously armed, and with this aug-
mentation of his strength Kearney entered San Diego
284
LIFE AND TIMES OF
without further opposition. On his arrival Stockton
proffered the entire charge of affairs on land to him,
but this he refused to accept, apparently preferring
himself, as Fremont had done,, to serve under Stock-
ton. But when Stockton was ready with a force of
about five hundred men to march against Los Angeles,
now in revolt, Kearney demanded to lead that force,
although Stockton had, as he knew, appointed a com-
mander for the expedition. Although Stockton
humored him in this, he now decided to hold the
general direction of affairs himself, which he did,
until ordered by the Government to transfer it to
General Kearney. On the 8th of January, at the
crossing of the San Gabriel near Los Angeles, the
Mexicans met them, six hundred strong, with several
pieces of cannon. But they were soon put to flight,
and on the following day were again driven before
the Americans on the plains before the City of the
Angels, which was taken possession of on the 10th.
The American loss had been but ten or twelve
wounded and one killed.
On the 13th the leaders of the revolt surrendered
to Colonel Fremont at Couenga. And so, for the
second time, and now finally, California was con-
quered. From this time until March Fremont, by
order of Commodore Stockton, acted as governor,
although this course led to great difficulty between
General Kearney and himself and Colonel Fremont,
as has been shown. In February W. B. Shubrick
took the place of Stockton in command of the fleet,
and early in March Commodore James Biddle super-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
285
seded him. In the summer of 1846, a regiment,
raised in New York, and commanded by J. D. Ste-
venson, was especially designed by the Administration
to serve in California. By instructions from the
Secretary of War this regiment was to be made up,
as far as possible, of men of different useful and
regular pursuits, and such as would want to remain
at the end of the war in the country, where they were
to be dismissed from the service. These men arrived
in California by water soon after General Kearney
made his overland trip of a thousand miles from Santa
Fe. They were at once put into garrisons of the
various posts necessary to hold the territory, the
whole constituting a military department which the
General left in charge of Colonel Mason.
Although the conquest of New Mexico had been
attended with little difficulty. General Kearney had
scarcely left its border until the signs of dissatisfac-
tion were apparent. Collisions between the soldiers
and citizens were frequent, and a strong feeling arose
against the new government and its officers. The
ease with which the conquest had been effected, the
climate, and other circumstances had rendered the
discipline of the army less exact than it should have
been, and established a sense of security in the con-
quer.ors that did not exist. It at last came to light
that the Mexicans were preparing for a general re-
volt, about Christmas.
Colonel Sterling Price, who had been left in com-
mand, at once set about an attempt to put down the
insurrectionary spirit, but the supposed leaders dis-
286
LIFE AND TIMES OF
appeared, and for a short time little occurred out of
the ordinary way. About the middle of January,
1847, Governor Bent and other officers of the gov-
ernment visited San Fernando de Taos, where they
were all murdered on the night of the 19th, by
Mexicans and Puebla Indians. On that and the sue-
ceeding day as many as a score more Americans were
murdered in the Spanish settlements within a few
miles of that place. Colonel Price at once began to
gather in his scattered troops, and on the 23d of
January marched at the head of about three hundred
and fifty men, with four twelve-pounder howitzers,
and on the following day found the Mexicans and
Indians, in three or four times his strength, posted
at Covoda, a town on a small stream running into
the Rio Grande. After a sharp and gallant conflict
the Mexicans were defeated with a loss of nearly a
hundred in killed and wounded, while the American
loss was two killed and six wounded. About the
same time Captain Hendley with a few men had an
indecisive fight with the Mexicans in the Moro Val-
ley. On the 29th a part of the force under Colonel
Price again defeated the enemy; and on the morning
of the 4th of February, with less than five hundred
men, he attacked the Mexicans at Puebla de Taos, a
strangely constructed and strong Indian town, near
San Fernando, where the governor had been killed.
His six and twelve pounder guns were actually too
light to break through the walls of the houses in
which the enemy were mainly posted, although they
were wheeled up to within a few yards of them.
4
JAMES KNOX POLK.
287
The church and another large building several stories
high, which were the forts of the Mexicans, were
built of the adobe or sun-dried brick then and now
used in that region, yet axes and picks had to be
brought to the aid of the guns before their walls
were opened for the entrance of Price's soldiers. The
battle continued all day, and on the 5th, the enemy
sued for peace. They had lost one hundred and
fifty in killed, and as many in wounded, while the
American loss was about fifty in killed and wounded.
This brought the insurrection to an end. The leaders
of it were now nearly all dead. One of them had
fallen at Covoda, one at Puebla de Taos, the Indian
leader was shot while a prisoner, during a quarrel
with a soldier, and Price actually hanged one of
them as a traitor, at San Fernando, although he had
not the least right in the world to do so. Yet, labor-
ing under the impression that General Kearney had
really made these people citizens of the United
States, he believed himself authorized to take the
course he did. Under this delusion he had another
Mexican convicted of treason, but President Polk
ordered him to be liberated. After this time there
was comparative quiet in the country until in May,
(1847), when the Mexicans and Indians made an
attempt to destroy the supply trains from Independ-
ence, and break up all connection with that place;
but in this they were also unsuccessful. More troops
were sent to New Mexico, and thereafter little diffi-
culty was experienced by the military in that region.
In February, 1848, Price, who had now become a
288
LIFE AND'TIMES OF
brigadier-general, marched with his immediately
available force to El Paso, where he expected, from
reports, to meet General Urrea with a considerable
Mexican army, marching to recover New Mexico.
But this report proved to be untrue. Unwilling to
return to Santa Fe without accomplishing something,
and hearing that a body of twenty thousand Mexican
soldiers had assembled for some purpose at Santa
Cruz de Resales, more than fifty miles beyond Chi-
huahua and over three hundred miles from El Paso,
he determined to march against that place, with only
four hundred men he then had under him. At Chi-
huahua he was informed that peace had been con-
eluded, and was invited not to despoil the place, but not
believing the report as to peace he entered the city,
and also continued his march to Santa Cruz de Ro-
sales, where he arrived on the evening of the 8th of
March. Here he was again assured that peace had
been declared, but being joined by three hundred
troops and the artillery which had followed after
him, and having waited long enough for the surrender
to no effect, on the 16th of March, he began to can-
nonade the place. The battle continued through the
greater part of the day, when the Mexicans capitu-
lated after suffering a very considerable loss, said to
have been, as usual, vastly disproportionate to that
of the Americans. Two thousand small arms, four-
teen cannons, and other munitions of war here fell
into the hands of the ever-victorious Americans, to-
gether with the Governor, Trias, and other prisoners.
On the 18th of March General Price began his return
JAMES KNOX POLK,
289
march to New Mexico; but, soon afterwards being
convinced of the treaty of peace, he set at liberty
his prisoners, and restored the property he had taken
on this worse than useless expedition. Still Price
had, throughout, exhibited the qualities of a soldier,
and this raid down, into Chihuahua was one of the
many daring performances of the war with Mexico.
The inexplicable ease with which General Kear-
ney made his "bloodless conquest" of New Mexico,
and the foundation of the effort of the Mexicans
subsequently to expel the new masters, the real key
to a part of the secret history of the war, and the
strange and not altogether democratic methods of
the Administration, and the early spirit of conquest
which lay behind its deeds, may be seen, to some
extent, in the following sketch from the pen of Mr.
Benton :—
"This work does not write of military events open to
public history, but only of things less known, and to
show how they were done; and in this point of view the
easy and bloodless conquest of New Mexico, against such
formidable obstacles, becomes an exception, and presents a
proper problem for intimate historical solution. That solu-
tion is this : At the time of the fitting out of that expedi-
tion there was a citizen of the United States, long resident
in New Mexico, on a visit of business at Washington
City. His name was James Magoffin; a man of mind, of
will, of generous temper, patriotic, and rich. He knew
every man in New Mexico and his character, and all the
localities, and could be of infinite service to the invading
force. Mr. Benton proposed to him to go with it; he
agreed. Mr. Benton took him to the President and Sec-
retary of War, who gladly availed themselves of his
19—K
290
LIFE AND TIMES OF
agreement to go with General Kearney. He went; and
approaching New Mexico, was sent ahead with a staff
officer, the officer charged with a mission, himself charged
with his own plan; which was to operate upon Governor
Armijo, and prevent his resistance to the entrance of the
American troops. That was easily done. Armijo prom-
ised not to make a stand at the defile, after which the
invaders would have no difficulty. But his second in
command. Colonel Archuletti, was determined to fight,
and to defend that pass; and if he did, Armijo would have
to do the same. It became indispensable to quiet Archu-
letti. He was of different mold from the governor, and
only accessible to a different class of considerations, those
which addressed themselves to ambition. Magoffin knew
the side on which to approach him. It so happened that
General Kearney had set out to take the left bank of the
Upper Del Norte, the eastern half of New Mexico, as part
of Texas, leaving the western part untouched. Magoffin
explained this to Archuletti, pointed to the western half
of New Mexico as a derelict, not seized by the United
States, and too far off to be protected by the central gov-
ernment, and recommended him to make a pronunciamento,
and take that half to himself. The idea suited the tem-
per of Archuletti. He agreed not to fight, and General
Kearney was informed there would be no resistance at the
defile; and there was none. Some thousands of militia
collected there (and which could have stopped a large
army) retired without firing a gun, and without knowing
why. Armijo fled, and General Kearney occupied his
capital; and the conquest was complete and bloodless;
and this was the secret of that facile success, heralded in
the newspapers as a masterpiece of generalship, but not
so reported by the General.
"But there was an afterclap to make blood flow for
the recovery of a province which had been yielded with-
out resistance. Mr. Magoffin was sincere and veracious
JAMES KNOX POLK.
291
in what he said to Colonel Archuletti; but General
Kearney soon (or before) had other orders, and took
possession of the whole country, and Archuletti, deem-
ing himself cheated, determined on a revolt. Events
soon beeame favorable to him. General Kearney pro-
ceeded to California, leaving General Sterling Price in
command with some Missouri volunteers. Archuletti pre-
pared his insurrection, and having got the upper country
above Santa Fe ready, went below to prepare the lower
part. While absent the plot was detected and broke out,
and led to bloody scenes in which there was severe fight-
ing, and many deaths on both sides. It was in this insur-
rection that Governor Charles Bent, of New Mexico, and
Captain Burgwin, of the United States Army, and many
others were killed. The insurgents fought with courage
and desperation; but without their leader, without com-
bination, without resources, they were soon suppressed,
many being killed in action, and others hung for high
treason, being tried by some sort of a court which had
no jurisdiction of treason. All that were condemned were
hanged, except one, and he recommended to the President
of the United States for pardon. Here was a dilemma
for the Administration. To pardon the man would be to
admit the legality of the condemnation; not to pardon
was to subject him to murder. A middle course was
taken; the officers were directed to turn loose the con-
demned, and let him run. And this was the cause of the
insurrection and its upshot.
" Mr. Magoffin having prepared the way for the entrance
of General Kearney into Santa Fe, proceeded to the execu-
tion of the remaining part of his mission, which was to do
the same by Chihuahua for General Wool, then advancing
upon that ancient capital of the Western Internal Prov-
inces on a lower line. He arrived in that city, became
suspected, was arrested, and" confined. He was a social,
generous-tempered man, a son of Erin; loved company.
292
LIFE AND TIMES OF
spoke Spanish fluently, entertained freely, and where it
was some cost to entertain—claret thirty-six dollars a
dozen, champagne fifty dollars. He became a great fa-
vorite with the Mexican officers. One day the military
judge advocate entered his quarters and told him that
Dr. Connolly, an American, coming from Santa Fe, had
been captured near El Paso del Norte, his papers taken,
and forwarded to Chihuahua, and placed in his hands, to
see if there were any that needed government attention;
and that he had found among the papers a letter addressed
to him (Mr. Magoffin). He had the letter unopened, and
said he did not know what it might be, but being just
ordered to join Santa Anna at San Luis Potosi, and being
unwilling that anything should happen after he was gone
to a gentleman who had been so agreeable to him, he had
brought it to him, that he might destroy it if there was
anything in it to commit him. Magoffin glanced his eyes
over the letter. It was an attestation from General Kear-
ney of his services in New Mexico, recommending him
to the acknowledgments of the American Government in
that invasion; that is to say, it was his death-warrant
if seen by the Mexican authorities. A look was ex-
changed, the letter went into the fire, and Magoffin escaped
being shot.
" But he did not escape suspicion. He remained con-
fined until the approach of Doniphan's expedition, and
was then sent off* to Durango, where he remained a pris-
oner to the end of the war. Returning to the United States
after the peace, he came to Washington in the last days
of Mr. Polk's Administration, and expected remuneration.
He had made no terms, asked nothing, and received noth-
ing, and had expended his own money, and that freely, for
the public service. The Administration had no money ap-
plicable to the object. Mr. Benton stated his case in secret
session in the Senate, and * obtained an appropriation,
couched in general terms, of fifty thousand dollars for
JAMES KNOX POLK.
293
secret services rendered during the war. The appropria-
tion, granted in the last night of the expiring Adminis-
tration, remained to be applied by the new one, to which
the business was unknown, and had to be presented unsup-
ported by a line of writing. Mr. Benton went with Ma-
goffin to President Taylor, who, hearing what he had
done, and what information he had gained for General Kear-
ney, instantly expressed the wish that he had had some
person to do the same for him, observing that he got no
information but what he obtained at the point of the
bayonet. He gave orders to the Secretary of War to
attend to the case as if there had been no change in the
Administration. The Secretary (Mr. Crawford, of Georgia)
higgled, required statements to be filed, almost in the
nature of an account, and, finally, proposed thirty thou-
sand dollars. It barely covered expenses and losses; but,
having undertaken the service patriotically, Magoffin
would not lower its character by standing but for more.
The paper which he filed in the War Office may furnish
some material for history, some insight into the way of
making conquests, if ever examined. This is the secret
history of General Kearney's expedition, and of the insur-
rection, given because it would not be found in the
documents."
Another remarkable expedition of this war may
as well be mentioned here, especially as it origi-
nated under General Kearney, and started from Santa
Fe. Colonel A. W. Doniphan had been ordered
to join General Wool in Mexico, and after having
made a successful expedition into the country of
the Navajo Indians, and formed a treaty with them
in October and November, 1846, Colonel Doniphan,
about the middle of December, began his march
down the Santa Pe from Socorro, on his way to
294
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Chihuahua, where it was supposed he would find
General Wool. On the afternoon of the 25th of
December, while preparing to go into camp on the
Brazito or Bracito, at Temascalitos, Doniphan, with
the advance of his little army, was attacked by the
enemy of twice his own strength. They had first
asked him to a parley, and then shaken the black
flag in his face. The pluck of the Mexicans con-
sisted mainly in the exhibition of the black .flag.
They managed to make a spirited dash on the Amer-
ican lines, however, and were, in a few minutes,
whipped and dispersed with a very considerable loss
in killed and wounded, while the Americans had
only a few men slightly wounded. On the 27th of
December the Americans entered El Paso, a city
of five thousand people. Here Doniphan learned
that General Wool had not entered Chihuahua, but
had turned aside from his original purpose.
What was now to be done became a matter of
great importance; but Doniphan decided to go for-
ward. In almost any other country on the globe his
undertaking would have been disastrous. On the
5th of February, 1847, Major Clark with a small
force and the artillery arrived at El Paso (the- pass
of the Rio Grande). On the 8th, Doniphan set for-
ward, his whole force now amounting to only some-
what more than nine hundred men. On the 28th
of February, 1847, at Rancho Sacramento, on the
Sacramento River, about twenty miles from the city
of Chihuahua, the Mexicans under General Heredia
and Governor Trias were again found in force, and
JAMES KNOX POLK.
295
here one of the most wonderful battles ever occur-
ring on the continent was fought, resulting in the
defeat, and dispersing of the unfortunate and cowardly
Mexicans. Heredia reported his force at 1,575 men,
but Doniphan estimated it at more than three times
that number. It seemed to make very little differ-
ence, any way, how many or few the Mexicans were,
if they had an opportunity to do so, they usually ran
all the same, after the first fire or two. Colonel
Doniphan displayed admirable skill in the conduct
of this affair at the Sacramento, and the American
soldiers began now to consider themselves invincible,
at any odds by these people. On the 1st of March
Doniphan and his little army, which had not been
diminished a half-dozen by this last engagement,
entered Chihuahua, a city of thirty or forty thousand
inhabitants. Here they were treated with great
kindness, and became so attached to the people that
many of the officers even opposed leaving the place.
In April Doniphan sent twelve men to find Gen-
eral Taylor and bring back orders. On the 24th they
returned with the word to join him as soon as pos-
sible at Walnut Springs. In the meantime Doniphan
had held a council of officers to decide upon a course
of action if they did not succeed in getting a word
from General Taylor. He found the council greatly
divided, some in favor of returning to Santa Fe,
some for making their way to General Taylor, and
others for staying where they were. But Doniphan
now saw that he had already staid too long for the
good of his army among these amiable enemies; and
296
LIFE AND TIMES OF
he said for his part he was going home to " Sarah
and the children."
On the 25th of April they bade adieu to Chihua-
hua and started on the march to Monterey, On the
26th of May this little force reached the camp of
General Taylor, and from the Rio Grande they were
carried in a vessel to New Orleans, where all the
men were mustered out of the service and sent home.
Another of these great marches, and like Doni-
phan's, a fruitless one, was made by the "Army of
the Center," as it was called in the plan of the cam-
paign at the outset of the war. This division was to
be commanded by Brigadier-General John E. Wool,
and was to march from San Antonio, Texas. Colonel
Wm. S. Harney, with a part of the regular dragoons
and some Texas Rangers had previously been sent
to this place for the protection of the country. On
the 2d of August, General Wool landed with the 1st
and 2d Illinois regiments of infantry at La Vaca on
Matagorda Bay, and soon after began his march to
San Antonio. By the last of August all the troops
designed for his army had reached this place of ren-
dezvous. This force consisted of five hundred reg-
ular troops, dragoons, artillery, and infantry; and
2,440 volunteers, cavalry and infantry, and was de-
signed to operate at first against the northern States
of Mexico, it was claimed, with a view to establish-
ing their independence. But what good was to be
accomplished by this? The people of these States
did not desire independence of Mexico, and could not
have maintained it, if they had so desired. On the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
297
26th of September the advance of General Wool's
army marched towards Chihuahua. At Presidio, on
the Rio Grande, the whole force crossed into Mexico,
on the 10th of October, on boats constructed at San
Antonio, and conveyed by land to that point, over
one hundred and fifty miles. It was an expensive
and formidable force, and marched quietly through
the country, taking possession of the various towns
on its route without opposition. There was no dis-
position to fight indicated, but on the other hand the
inhabitants treated the Americans with great consid-
eration and kindness. The route of General Wool to
Chihuahua had been fully laid down for him. But
at Santa Rosa he was astonished to find the impass-
able Sierra Gorda Mountains lying across his way.
The geography of the country was evidently not
understood at Washington. Finding no pass to the
west through the Sierra Gorda, Wool was compelled
to turn towards the south, and thus was suddenly
diverted from the original purpose of his expedition.
The equipment of this force had been at an enormous
expense to the country; and Doniphan with a third
or fourth of the force, not long afterwards, effected
what he was designed to do, conquer Chihuahua. On
the 29th of October, 1846, Wool entered Monclova,
one of the principal towns of Coahuila. By the
order of General Taylor, Wool, after remaining some
time at Monclova, marched to Parras, near Saltillo,
from whence his force was led to the famous field
of Buena Vista.
298
LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER XV.
WAR WITH MEXICO—GENERAL SCOTT IN MEXICO—SIEGE
AND CAPTURE OF VERA CRUZ.
Early in October, 1846, there began to be some
talk in Washington about the capture of Vera
Cruz, and the establishment of another base of opera-
tions against the interior of Mexico. In a letter to
Taylor on the 22d of that month. General Scott inti-
mated the probability of this undertaking, and noti-
fied him that in that event it would be necessary to
take four thousand of the troops from Monterey, two
thousand of them to be regulars. On the 27th of
October General Scott presented his first notes to the
War Department concerning this proposed movement.
Shortly afterwards the General made another com-
munication to the Department, in which he intimated
that he would be willing to undertake the capture of
Vera Cruz and the Castle of San Juan de Ulloa with
less than ten thousand men, by the assistance of the
navy. The capture of the city was the principal
feature in the calculations, as the Castle, it was sup-
posed, might hold out for some time, although that
point would dispose of itself after the fall of the
city. The estimates made by Scott of the material
necessary for this expedition were enormous, and
JAMES KNOX POLK. 299
some of them not well founded. As, for instance,
his desire for the provision of pontoons for crossing
rivers, when there were none that his army could not
readily cross without any such aid. General Scott
was clearly of the conviction, too, that he should in
person lead in this campaign, and that the capture of
Vera Cruz should not be undertaken unless it should
be decided to make that the beginning of extensive
operations in the interior, including the capture of the
City of Mexico. About the middle of November he
had made more careful and exact estimates to the
Secretary of War, now placing the number of troops
to operate from Vera Cruz at fourteen thousand; and
on the 18th, greatly to his own delight and gratifica-
tion, he was notified to hold himself in readiness to
take the field to carry out the present plans of the
Administration. He soon after received this letter
from the Secretary of War:—
" Wak Department, Washington, \
" November 23, 1846. /
" Sir,—The President, several days since, communi-
cated in person to you his orders to repair to Mexico, to
take the command of the forces there assembled, and par-
ticularly to organize and set on foot an expedition to
operate on the Gulf coast, if, on arriving at the theater
of action, you shall deem it to be practicable. It is not
proposed to control your operations by definite and posi-
tive instructions, but you are left to prosecute them as
your judgment, under a full view of all the circumstances,
shall dictate. The work is before you, and the means
provided, or to be provided, for accomplishing it, are
committed to you, in the full confidence that you will use
them to the best advantage.
300
LIFE AND TIMES OF
" The objects which it is desirable to obtain have been
indicated, and it is hoped that you will have the requisite
force to accomplish them.
"Of this you must be the judge, when preparations
are made, and the time for action arrived.
" Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"W. L. Maecy, Secretary of War.
"General Winfield Scott."
On the following day Scott left Washington to
embark at New York for New Orleans, with a great
deal of discretionary power, and apparently the full
confidence of the Administration, and yet his powers
were not so fully and freely designated as he de-
sired, and as he was disposed to have the President
make in writing. General Scott was extremely
anxious to take the field now, and had lost his dread
of the " fire in the rear " which had held him back
at the outset. But he had not overestimated this
" fire in his rear," as he found not long after he had
placed several thousand miles between himself and
the seat of Government. He said in a letter to Mr.
Marcy in the spring of 1848: "I left Washington
highly flattered with the confidence and kindness
the President had shown me in many long personal
interviews on military matters. For more than two
months my expressions of gratitude were daily and
fervent, nor were they much less emphatic towards
the head of the War Department." But President
Polk had not full confidence in General Scott, or
rather if he had it did not prevent him making an
attempt to carry out a party or political scheme he
had in view at the time the General left Washington.
JAMES KNOX POLK
301
After stopping at New Orleans a few days to
complete his arrangements with General Jesup, the
quartermaster-general, and sending some spies to
Mexico, he proceeded to the mouth of the Rio
Grande, where he arrived on the 1st of January,
1847. He at once issued orders "to General Taylor
for the four thousand men to serve in his campaign,
and began to push forward the work of collecting
his entire force. The island of Lobos, near the
coast, sixty miles from Tampico and a hundred
miles from Vera Cruz, had been selected as the
place of rendezvous, and for some time Commodore
Conner had been busy in gathering the transports
at that point, as well as in making such other ef-
forts as could be conducted by the blockading squad-
ron. From the time General Taylor appeared at
Corpus Christi, this fine naval officer had been on
the Mexican coast, and while there was no foe to
try his metal on the Gulf, yet he had captured
several towns, and completely blockaded the coast
from Yucatan to Texas, and now when about to
have an opportunity for some more exciting service,
broken in health, he was obliged to retire from the
command, and return home immediately after the
landing of General Scott's army at Vera Cruz.
Commodore Matthew C. Perry, a man of great vigor
and spirit, now took charge of the fleet in these
waters, and figured very honorably in the siege of
Vera Cruz. On the 6th of March, General Scott
arrived at Lobos, and at once completed the organi-
zation of his army. On the following day, in company
302
LIFE AND TIMES OF
with Commodore Conner and other officers, he
reconnoitered the shore in the neighborhood of Vera
Cruz, and decided on a point of landing. On the
9th the fleet with the whole army of twelve thou-
sand men sailed for the place of debarkation on the
sandy coast opposite the island of Sacrificios, pre-
viously having touched at Antonio Lizardo, and
although less than half of the one hundred and
forty-four surf-boats for which Scott had provided
had arrived, the whole force was landed without ac-
cident or loss. Under the impression that the
Mexicans would resist the landing of the troops,
preparations were carefully made for the conflict.
To General Worth was given the honor of leading
the first five thousand troops that were thrown on
the shore. But viewing the grand spectacle from
the walls of Vera Cruz and its castle, the indolent
Mexicans offered no obstruction to the progress of
the Americans. A considerable- part of the material
of the army was landed that night, and on the
morning of the 10th, the work of investing the
place began. At noon on the 22d of March, Gen-
eral Scott summoned the city to surrender, but the
Mexican General, Morales, replied that he had de-
cided to resist to the last, and at quarter past four
o'clock the bombardment of Vera Cruz was begun.
Shortly afterwards Commodore Perry succeeded in
getting seven of his vessels into range behind Point
Harmos, and opened an effective fire upon the city.
On the night of the 23d a battery of six great guns
from the ships, under the direction of Perry, and to
JAMES KNOX POLK.
303
be handled by men from the fleet, was erected, and
on the morning of the 24th this opened with won-
derful effect on the walls of the doomed city. On
the afternoon of the following day the Mexicans
sent a white flag with a proposition for surrender,
and the strange and interesting conflict was really
at an end. Vera Cruz was conquered. Although
the proposition then made was rejected by General
Scott, and some random firing was indulged in on
the morning of the 26th, this was speedily ended
by another white flag. Commissioners were ap-
pointed on both sides, and the terms of capitulation
arranged satisfactorily. On the 29th the Mexican
army, about five thousand strong, marched out and
laid down its arms. The following reports from
General Scott to the Secretary of War, as the siege
progressed, will complete the essential history of
this achievement:—
" Head-quarters of the Army, Camp Washington, "t
" Before Vera Cruz, March 12, 1847. j
" Sir,—The colors of the United States were tri-
umphantly planted ashore, in full view of this city and
castle, and under the distant fire of both, in the afternoon
of the 9th inst. Brevet Brigadier-General Worth's brigade
of regulars led the descent, quickly followed by the di-
vision of United States volunteers under Major-General
Patterson, and Brigadier-General Twiggs's reserve brigade
of regulars. The three lines successively landed in sixty-
seven surf-boats, each boat conducted by a naval officer,
and rowed by sailors from Commodore Conner's squadron,
whose lighter vessels flanked the boats so as to be ready
to protect the operation by their cross-fire. The whole
army reached the shore in fine style, and without direct
304
LIFE AND TIMES OF
opposition (on the beach), accident, or loss, driving the
enemy from the ground to be occupied.
" The line of investment, according to General Orders,
No. 47, was partially taken up the same night; but has
only been completed to-day, owing to the most extraor-
dinary difficulties: 1. The environs of the city, outside
of the fire of its guns and those of the castle, are broken
into innumerable hills of loose sand, from twenty to two
hundred and fifty feet in height, with almost impassable
forests of chaparral between; and, 2. Of all our means
of land-transportation, wagons, carts, pack-saddles, horses,
and mules, expected to join us from Tampico and the
Brazos, weeks ago, but fifteen carts and about one bun-
dred draught-horses have yet arrived. Three hundred
pack-mules are greatly needed to relieve the troops in
taking subsistence alone, along the line of investment of
more than five miles, as, at present our only depot is
south of the city. On the cessation of the present raging
norther, which almost stifles the troops with sand, sweep-
ing away hills and creating new, I hope to establish a
second depot north of the city, which will partially re-
lieve the left wing of the army.
" In extending the line of investment around the city,
the troops for three days have performed the heaviest
labors in getting over the hills and cutting through the
intervening forests, all under the distant fire of the city
and castle, and in the midst of many sharp skirmishes
with the enemy. In these operations we have lost in
killed and wounded several valuable officers and men.
Among the killed I have to report Brevet Captain
Alburtis, of the United States Second Infantry, much dis-
tinguished in the Florida War, and a most excellent of-
ficer. He fell on the 11th inst.; and Lieutenant-Colonel
Dickenson, of the South Carolina Regiment, was badly
wounded in a skirmish the day before. Two privates
have been killed in these operations, and four or five
JAMES KNOX POLK.
305
wounded. As yet I have not been able to obtain their
names.
"As soon as the subsistence of the troops can be as-
sured and their positions are well established, I shall, by an •
organized movement, cause each brigade of regulars and vol-
unteers to send detachments, with supports, to clear its front,
including sub-bourgs, of the enemy's parties, so as to oblige
them to confine themselves within the walls of the city.
"I have heretofore reported that but two-sevenths of
the sieg^-train and ammunition had reached me. The
remainder is yet-unheard of. We shall commence land-
ing the heavy metal as soon as the storm subsides, and
hope that the five-sevenths may be up in time.
"The city being invested, would, no doubt, early sur-
render, but for the fear that if occupied by us, it would
immediately be fired upon by the castle. I am not alto-
gether without hope of finding the means of coming to
some compromise with the city on this subject.
" So far, the principal skirmishing has fallen to the lot
of Brigadier-General Pillow's and Quitman's brigades.
Both old and new volunteer regiments have conducted
themselves admirably. Indeed, the whole army is full of
zeal and confidence, and can not fail to acquire distinction
in the impending operations.
"To Commodore Conner, the officers and sailors of
his squadron, the army is indebted for great and unceas-
ing assistance, promptly and cheerfully rendered. Their
co-operation is the constant theme of our gratitude and
admiration. A handsome detachment of marines, under
Captain Edson, of that corps, landed with the first line,
and is doing duty with the army.
"March 13.—The enemy, at intervals, continues the
fire of heavy ordnance, from the city and castle, upon
our line of investment, both by day and night, but with
little or no effect.
''The norther has ceased, which has renewed our
20—K
306
LIFE AND TIMES OF
communication with the shore-ships at anchor under Sacrifi-
cios. We shall immediately commence landing the few
pieces of heavy ordnance, with ordnance stores, at hand,
• and hope soon to have the necessary draught-mules to
take them to their positions. Any further delay in the
arrival of those means of transportation will be severely
felt in our operations.
■" I have the honor to remain, sir, with high respect,
your most obedient servant, Winfield Scott."
"Hon. William L. Marcy, Secretary of War."
"Head-quarters op the Army, Camp Washington,!
"Before Vera Cruz, March 23, 1847. /
"Sir,—Yesterday, seven of our ten-inch mortars be-
ing in battery, and the labors for planting the remainder
of our heavy metal being in progress, I addressed, at two
o'clock P. M., a summons to the Governor of Vera Cruz,
and within the two hours limited by the bearer of the flag
received the Governor's answer. Copies of the two pa-
pers (marked respectively A and B) are herewith inclosed.
" It will be perceived that the Governor, who, it turns
out, is the commander of both places, chose, against the
plain terms of the summons, to suppo.se me to have de-
manded the surrender of the castle and of the city; when
in fact, from the non-arrival of our heavy metal, princi-
pally mortars, I was in no condition to threaten the former.
" On the return of the flag with that reply, I at once
ordered the seven mortars, in battery, to open upon the
city. In a short time the smaller vessels of Commodore
Perry's squadron, two steamers and five schooners, ac-
cording to previous arrangement with him, approached
the city within about a mile and an eighth, whence, be-
ing partially covered from the castle, an essential condi-
tion to their safety, they also opened a brisk fire upon the
city. This has been continued uninterruptedly by the
mortars, and only with a few intermissions, by the vessels,
up to nine o'clock this morning, when the Commodore,
JAMES KNOX POLK.
307
very properly, called them off from a position too daringly
assumed.
" Our three remaining mortars are now (twelve o'clock,
A. M.) in battery, and the whole ten in activity. To-
morrow, early, if the city should continue obstinate, bat-
teries Nos. 4 and 5 will be ready to add their fire: No.
4, consisting of four twenty-four-pounders and two eight-
inch Paixhan guns, and No. $ (naval battery) of three
thirty-two-pounders, and three eight-inch Paixhans, the
guns, officers, and sailors, landed from the squadron, our
friends of the navy being unremitting in their zealous co-
operation, in every mode and form.
" So far, we know that our fire upon the city has been
highly effective, particularly from the batteries of ten-
inch mortars, planted at about eight hundred yards from
the city. Including the preparation and defense of the
batteries, from the beginning, now many days, and notwith-
standing the heavy fire of the enemy, from city and castle, we
have only had four or five men wounded and one officer and
one man killed, in or near the trenches. That officer was
Captain John R. Vinton, of the United States third ar-
tillery, one of the most talented, accomplished, and
effective members of the army, and who was highly' dis-
tinguished in the brilliant operations at Monterey. He
fell last evening in the trenches, where he was on duty, as
field and commanding officer, universally regretted. I
have just, attended his honored remains to a soldier's
grave, in full view of the enemy and within reach of his guns.
" Thirteen of the long-needed mortars, leaving twenty-
seven, besides heavy guns, behind, have arrived, and two
of them landed. A heavy norther then set in (at merid-
ian) that stopped that operation, and also the landing of
shells. Hence the fire of our mortar batteries has been
slackened, since two o'clock to-day, and can not be rein-
vigorated until we shall again have a smooth sea. In the
meantime I shall leave this report open for journalizing
308
LIFE AND TIMES OF
events that may occur up to the departure of the steam
ship-of-war, the Princeton, with Commodore Conner, who,
I learn, expects to leave the anchorage of Sacrificios, for
the United States, the 25th inst.
" March 24.—The storm having subsided in the night,
we commenced this forenoon, as soon as the sea became a
little smooth, to land shot, shells, and mortars.
" The naval battery No. 5, was opened with great ac-
tivity, under Captain Aulick, the second in rank of the
squadron, at about ten A. M. His fire was continued to
two o'clock, P. M., a little before he was relieved by
Captain Mayo, who landed with a fresh supply of ammuni-
tion. Captain Aulick having exhausted the supply he had
brought with him. He lost four sailors, killed, and had
one officer. Lieutenant Baldwin, slightly hurt.
"The mortar batteries, Nos. 1, 2, and 3, have fired
but languidly during the day for want of shells, which are
now going out from the beach.
" The two reports of Colonel Bankhead, chief of ar-
tillery, both of this date, copies of which I inclose, give
the incidents of those three batteries.
"Battery No. 4, which will mount four twenty-four-
pounders and two eight-inch Paixhan guns, has been much
delayed in the hands of the indefatigable engineers by the
norther that filled up the works with sand nearly as fast
as it could be opened by the half-blinded laborers. It
will, however, doubtless be in full activity early to-mor-
row morning.
" March 25.—The Princeton being about to start for
Philadelphia, I have but a moment to continue this report.
" All the batteries, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, are in awful
activity this morning. The effect is, no doubt, very great,
and I think the city can not hold out beyond to-day.
To-morrow morning many of the new mortars will be in
position to add their fire, when, or after the delay of some
twelve hours, if no proposition to surrender should be
JAMES KNOX POLK.
309
received, I shall organize parties for carrying the city by as-
sault. So far the defense has been spirited and obstinate.
"I inclose a copy of a memorial received last night
signed by the consuls of Great Britain, France, Spain,
and Prussia, within Vera Cruz, asking me to grant a
truce to enable the neutrals, together with Mexican
women and children, to withdraw from the scene of
havoc about them. I shall reply, the moment that an
opportunity may be taken, to say: 1. That a truce can
only be granted on the application of Governor Morales,
with a view to surrender; 2. That in sending safeguards
to the different consuls, beginning so far back as the 13th
inst., I distinctly admonished them, particularly the
French and Spanish consuls, and of course, through the
two, the other consuls, of the dangers that have followed;
3. That although at that date I had already refused to
allow any person whatsoever to pass the line of invest-
ment either way, yet the blockade had been left open to
the consuls and other neutrals to pass out to their respective
ships of war up to the 22d instant; and, 4. I shall in-
close to the memorialists a copy of my summons to the
governor, to show that I had fully considered the impend-
ing hardships and distresses of the place, including those
of women and children, before one gun had been fired in
that direction. The intercourse between the neutral ships
of war and the city was stopped at the last-mentioned date
by Commodore Perry, with my concurrence, which I
placed on the ground that that intercourse could not fail
to give the enemy moral aid and comfort.
"It will be seen from the memorial, that our batteries
have already had a terrible effect on the city (also known
through other sources), and hence the inference that a
surrender must soon be proposed. In haste.
"I have the honor to remain, sir, with respect, your
most obedient servant, "Winpield Scott."
"Hon. William L. Marcy, Secretary of War."
310
LIFE AND TIMES OF
" Head-quaktees of the Army, Vera Cruz, 1
" March 29, 1847. j
"Sir,—The flag of the United States of America floats
triumphantly over the walls of this city and the castle of
San Juan d'Ulloa.
"Our troops have garrisoned both since ten o'clock;
it is now noon. Brigadier-General Worth is iii command
of the two places.
"Articles of capitulation were signed and exchanged
at a late hour night before last. I inclose a copy of the
document.
" I have heretofore reported the principal incidents of
the siege up to the 25th instant. Nothing of striking in-
terest occurred till early in the morning of the next day,
when I received overtures from General Landero, on
whom General Morales had devolved the principal com-
mand. A terrible storm of wind and sand made it diffi-
cult to communicate with the city, and impossible to refer
to Commodore Perry. I was obliged to entertain the
proposition alone, or to continue the fire upon a place that
had shown a disposition to surrender; for the loss of a
day, or perhaps several, could not be permitted. The ac-
companying papers will show the proceedings and results.
"Yesterday, after the norther had abated, and the
commissioners appointed by me early the morning before
had again met those appointed by General Landero, Com-
modore Perry sent ashore his second in command. Captain
Aulick, as a commissioner on the part of the navy. Al-
though not included in my specific arrangement made
with the Mexican commander, I did not hesitate, with
proper courtesy, to desire that Captain Aulick might be
duly introduced and allowed to participate in the discus-
sions and acts of the commissioners who had been recip-
rocally accredited. Hence the preamble to his signature.
The original American commissioners were Brevet Briga-
dier-General Worth, Brigadier-General Pillow, and
JAMES KNOX POLK.
311
Colonel Totten. Four more able or judicious officers
could not have been desired.
" I have to add but little more. The remaining de-
tails of the siege, the able co-operation of the United
States squadron, successively under the command of Com-
modores Conner and Perry, the admirable conduct of the
whole army, regulars and volunteers, I should be happy
to dwell upon as they deserve; but the steamer Princeton,
with Commodore Conner on board, is under way, and I
have commenced organizing an advance into the interior.
This may be delayed a few days, waiting the arrival of
additional means of transportation. In the meantime a
joint operation, by land and water, will be made upon
Alvarado. No lateral expedition, however, shall interfere
with the grand movement towards the capital.
"In consideration of the great services of Colonel
Totten, in the siege that has just terminated most success-
fully, and the importance of his presence at Washington,
as the head of the engineer bureau, I intrust this dispatch
to his personal care, and beg to commend him to the
very favorable consideration of the Department.
" I have the honor to remain, sir, with high respect,
your most obedient servant, Winfield Scott."
"Hon. William L. Marcy, Secretary of War."
The Mexican general, hoping to receive such
favorable terms of surrender as had been accorded
his brethren at Monterey, made a similar proposition
to General Scott, desiring to move out of the be-
leaguered city and castle with all his munitions of
war, and the army, without being regarded as pris-
oners of war. But in this he was deceived. The
following are the terms of the capitulation:—
" Generals W. J. Worth and G. J. Pillow and Colonel
J. G. Totten, Chief Engineer, on the part of Major-General
312
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Scott, General-in-Chief of the armies of the United States;
and Colonel Jose Gutierrez de Villanueva, Lieutenant-
Colonel of the Engineers, Manuel Robles, and Colonel
Pedra de Herrera, commissioners appointed by General
of Brigade, Don Jose Juan Landero, Commander-in-Chief,
Vera Cruz, the Castle of San Juan d'Ulloa, and their de-
pendencies, for the surrender to the arms of the United
States of the said forts, with their armaments, munitions of
war, garrisons, and arms.
" 1. The whole garrison or garrisons to be surrendered
to the arms of the United States as prisoners of war, the
29th inst., at ten o'clock A. M.; the garrisons to be per-
mitted to march out with all the honors of war, and to
lay down their arms to such officers as may be appointed
by the General-in-Chief of the United States, and at a
point to be agreed on by the commissioners.
"2. Mexican officers shall preserve their arms and
private effects, including horse and horse furniture, and
to be allowed, regular and irregular officers, and also to
rank and file, five days to retire to their respective homes,
on parole, as hereinafter prescribed.
"3. Coincident with the surrender, as stipulated in
article one, the Mexican flags of the various forts and
stations shall be struck, saluted by their own batteries;
and, immediately thereafter. Forts Santiago and Concep-
cion and the Castle of San J nan d'Ulloa, occupied by the
forces of the United States.
"4. The rank and file of the regular portion of the
prisoners to be disposed of, after surrender and parole, as
their General-in-Chief may desire, and the irregular to be
permitted to return to their homes. The officers, in
respect to all arms and descriptions of force, giving the
usual parole, that the said rank and file, as well as them-
selves, shall not serve again until duly exchanged.
" All the materiel of war, and all public property
of every description found in the city, the Castle of San
JAMES KNOX POLK.
313
Juan d'Ulloa, and their dependencies, to belong to the
United States; but the armament of the same (not injured
or destroyed in the further prosecution of the actual war)
may be considered as liable to be restored to Mexico by
a definitive treaty of peace.
" 6. The sick and wounded Mexicans to be allowed to
remain in the city, with such medical officers of the army
as may be necessary to their care and ti'eatment.
"7. Absolute protection is solemnly guaranteed to
persons in the city, and property, and it is clearly under-
stood that no private building or property is to be taken
or used by the forces of the United States without pre-
vious arrangement with the owners, and for a fair
equivalent.
" 8. Absolute freedom of religious worship and cere-
monies is solemnly guaranteed."
314
LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER XVI.
WAR WITH MEXICO—THE PRESIDENT'S SECOND ANNUAL
MESSAGE—COLONEL BENTON'S HAND^QUES-
TIONS AND CAUSES.
EAVINGr the seat of carnage in Mexico, it is
now necessary to return to other scenes of con-
tention and strife, not less determined and spirited,
although less bloody, at Washington. Two years
before Mr. Polk had entered upon the administra-
tion of the Government under most exciting cir-
cumstances, and for him there had been no rest
or quiet. For two summers he had not left the
White House except for a few weeks, perhaps, in
1845, while the place was undergoing some repairs.
The preparation of his forthcoming message, occu-
pied much of the President's time towards the close
of the summer of 1846, as it was now necessary to
put the course of the war and Administration before
the country, and some mysterious events were to be
made plain.
On the 7th of December, 1846, that is, the first
Monday, Congress again convened for the short ses-
sion, ending March 3, 1847, and there being no new
organization to be wrangled and fought over, busi-
ness was at once begun. On the 8th the Presi-
dent, sent his second general Message to Congress
JAMES KNOX POLK.
315
which, in some respects, begins the history of his
Administration before the date of his first communi-
cation to that body, and is certainly one of the most
interesting of all the Executive Messages.
SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.
December 8, I846.
Fellow-citizens op the Senate and of the House of Eephesen-
tatives :—
In resuming your labors in the service of the people, it is a
subject of congratulation that there has been no period in our
past history, when all the elements of national prosperity have
been so fully developed. Since your last session, no afflicting
dispensation has visited our country; general good health has
prevailed; abundance has crowned the toil of the husbandman ;
and labor in all its branches is receiving an ample reward,
while education, science, and the arts are rapidly enlarging the
means of social happiness. The progress of our country in her
career of greatness, not only in the vast extension of our terri-
torial limits, and the rapid increase of our population, but in
resources and wealth, and in the happy condition of our people,
is without example in the history of nations.
As the wisdom, strength, and beneficence of our free insti-
tutions are unfolded, every day adds fresh motives to content-
ment, and fresh incentives to patriotism.
Our devout and sincere acknowledgments are due to the
gracious Giver of all good, for the numberless blessings which
our beloved country enjoys.
It is a source of high satisfaction to know that the relations
of the United States with all other nations, with a single ex-
ception, are of the most amicable character. Sincerely attached
to the policy of peace, early adopted and steadily pursued by
this Government, I have anxiously desired to cultivate and
cherish friendship and commerce with every foreign power.
The spirit and habits of the American people are favorable to
the maintenance of such international harmony. In adhering
to this wise policy, a preliminary and paramount duty obviously
316
LIFE AND TIMES OF
consists in the protection of our national interests from encroach-
ment or sacrifice, and our national honor from reproach. These
must be maintained at any hazard. They admit of no com-
promise or neglect, and must be scrupulously and constantly
guarded. In their vigilant vindicatiou, collision and conflict
with foreign powers may sometimes become unavoidable. Such
has been our scrupulous adherence to the dictates of justice, in
all our foreign intercourse, that, though steadily and rapidly
advancing in prosperity and power, we have given no just cause
of complaint to any nation, and have enjoyed the blessings of
peace for more than thirty years. From a policy so sacred to
humanity, and so salutary in its effects upon our political sys-
tem, we should never be induced voluntarily to depart.
The existing war with Mexico was neither desired nor pro-
voked by the United States. On the contrary, all honorable
means were resorted to, to avert it. After years of endurance
of aggravated and unredressed wrongs on our part, Mexico, in
violation of solemn treaty stipulations, and of every principle
of justice recognized by civilized nations, commenced hostilities;
and thus, by her own act, forced the war upon us. Long be-
fore the advance of our army to the left bank of the Rio
Grande, we had ample cause of war against Mexico; and had
the United States resorted to this extremity, we might have
appealed to the whole civilized world for the justice of our
cause.
I deem it to be my duty to present to you, on the present
occasion, a condensed review of the injuries we had sustained,
of the causes which led to the war, and of its progress since its
commencement. This is rendered the more necessary because
of the misapprehensions which have to some extent prevailed as
to its origin and true character. The war has been represented
as unjust and unnecessary, and as one of aggression on our part
upon a weak and injured enemy. Such erroneous views, though
entertained by but few, have been widely and extensively circu-
lated, not only at home, but have been spread throughout
Mexico and the whole world. A more effectual means could
not have been devised to encourage the enemy and protract the
war, than to advocate and adhere to their cause, and thus give
them " aid and comfort."
JAMES KNOX POLK.
«
317
It is a source of national pride and exultation, that the
great body of our people have thrown no such obstacles in the
way of the Government in prosecuting the war successfully,
but have shown themselves to be eminently patriotic, and ready
to vindicate their country's honor and interest at any sacrifice.
The alacrity and promptness with which our volunteer forces
rushed to the field on their country's call, prove not only their
patriotism, but their deep conviction that our cause is just.
The wrongs which we have suffered from Mexico almost
ever since she became an independent power, and the patient
endurance with which we have borne them, are without a par-
allel in the history of modern civilized nations. There is reason
to believe that, if these wrongs had been resented and resisted
in the first instance, the present war might have been avoided.
One outrage, however, permitted to pass with impunity, almost
necessarily encouraged the perpetration of another, until at last
Mexico seemed to attribute to weakness and indecision, on our
part, a forbearance which was the offspring of magnanimity,
and of a sincere desire to preserve friendly relations with a
sister republic.
Scarcely had Mexico achieved her independence, which the
United States were the first among the nations to acknowledge,
when she commenced the system of insult and spoliation, which
she has ever since pursued. Our citizens engaged in lawful
commerce were imprisoned, their vessels seized, and our flag
insulted in her ports. If money was wanted, the lawless seiz-
ure and confiscation of our merchant vessels and their cargoes
was a ready resource; and if, to accomplish their purposes, it
became necessary to imprison the owners, captains, and crew,
it was done. Rulers superseded rulers in Mexico in rapid sue-
cession, but still there was no change in this system of depre-
dation. The Government of the United States made repeated
reclamations on behalf of its citizens, but these were answered
by the perpetration of new outrages. Promises of redress made
by Mexico in the most solemn forms were postponed or evaded.
The files and records of the Department of State contain con-
elusive proofs of numerous lawless acts perpetrated upon the
property and persons of our citizens by Mexico, and of wanton
insult to our national flag. The interposition of our Govern-
318
LIFE AND TIMES OF
ment to obtain redress was again and again invoked under cir-
cumstances which no nation ought to disregard.
It was hoped that these outrages would cease, and that
Mexico would he restrained hy the laws which regulate the con-
duct of civilized nations in their intercourse with each other
after the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, of the
6th of April, 1831, was concluded between two republics; hut
this hope soon proved to he vain. The course of seizure and
confiscation of the property of our citizens, the violation of
their persons, and the insults to our flag, pursued hy Mexico
previous to that time, were scarcely suspended for even a brief
period, although the treaty so clearly defines the rights and
duties of the respective parties, that it is impossible to misun-
derstand or mistake them. In less than seven years after the
conclusion of that treaty our grievances had become so intoler-
able, that, in the opinion of President Jackson, they should no
longer he endured. In his message to Congress in February,
1837, he presented them to the consideration of that body, and
declared that " The length of time since some of the injuries
had been committed, the repeated and unavailing applications
for redress, the wanton character of some of the outrages upon
the property and persons of our citizens, upon the officers and
flag of the United States, independent of recent insults to this
Government and people hy the late extraordinary Mexican
Minister, would justify, in the eyes of all nations, immediate
war." In a spirit of kindness and forbearance, however, he
recommended reprisals as a milder mode of redress. He de-
dared that war should not he used as a remedy " hy just and
generous nations, confiding in their strength, for injuries com-
mitted, if it can he honorably avoided;" and added, "It has
occurred to me that, considering the present embarrassed con-
dition of that country, we should act with both wisdom and
moderation, hy giving to Mexico one more opportunity to atone
for the past, before we take redress into our own hands. To
avoid all misconception on the part of Mexico, as well as to
protect our own national character from reproach, this oppor-
tunity should he given, with the avowed design and full prep-
aration to take immediate satisfaction, if it should not he oh-
tained on a repetition of the demand for it. To this end, I
JAMES KNOX POLK.
319
recommend that an act be passed authorizing reprisals, and the
use of the naval force of the United States, by the Executive,
against Mexico, to enforce them in the event of a refusal by
the Mexican government to come to an amicable adjustment
of the matters in controversy between us, upon another demand
thereof, made from on board one of our vessels of war upon
the coast of Mexico."
Committees of both Houses of Congress, to which this Mes-
sage of this President was referred, fully. sustained his views
of the character of the wrongs which we had suffered from
Mexico, and recommended that another demand for redress
should be made before authorizing war or reprisals. The Com-
mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, in their report,
say: "After such a demand, should prompt justice be refused
by the Mexican government, we may appeal to all nations, not
only for the equity and moderation with which we -shall have
acted toward a sister republic, but for the necessity which will
then compel us to seek redress for our wrongs, either by actual
war or by reprisals. The subject will then be presented before
Congress, at the commencement of the next session, in a clear
and distinct form; and the committee can not doubt but that
such measures will be immediately adopted as may be neces-
sary to vindicate the honor of the country, and insure ample
reparation to our injured citizens."
The Committee on Foreign Aflairs of the House of Repre-
sentatives made a similar recommendation. In their report they
say that "they fully concur with the President, that ample
cause exists for taking redress into our own hands, and believe
that we should be justified in the opinion of other nations for
taking such a step. But they are willing to try the experiment
of another demand, made in the most solemn form, upon the
justice of the Mexican government, before any further pro-
ceedings are adopted."
No difference of opinion upon the subject is believed to
have existed in Congress at that time; the Executive and
legislative departments concurred; and yet such has been our
forbearance and desire to preserve peace with Mexico, that the
wrongs of which" we then complained, and which gave rise to
these solemn proceedings, not only remained unredressed to this
320
LIFE AND TIMES OF
day, but additional causes • of complaint,' of an aggravated
character, have ever since been accumulating.
Shortly after these proceedings a special messenger was
dispatched to Mexico, to make a final demand for redress; and,
on the 20th of July, 1837, the demand was made. The reply
of the Mexican government hears date on the 29th of the same
month, and contains assurances of the "anxious wish" of the
Mexican government "not to delay the moment of that final
and equitable adjustment, which is to terminate the existing
difficulties between the two governments;" that "nothing
should he left undone, which may contribute to the most speedy
and equitable determination of the subjects which have so
seriously engaged the attention of the American Government;"
that the "Mexican government would adopt, as the only guides
for its conduct, the plainest principles of public right, the
sacred obligations imposed by international law and the relig-
ions faith of treaties;" and that "whatever reason and justice
may dictate respecting each case will be done." The assurance
was further given, that the decision of the Mexican govern-
ment upon each cause of complaint for which redress had been
demanded, should be communicated to the Government of the
United States by the Mexican Minister at Washington.
These solemn assurances in answer to our demand for
redress were disregarded. By making them, however, Mexico
obtained further delay. President Van Buren, in his Annual
Message to Congress, of the 5th of December, 1837, states that
"^although the larger number" of our demands for redress, and
"many of them aggravated cases of personal wrongs, have been
now for years before the Mexican government, and some of
the causes of national complaint, and those of the most offensive
character, admitted of immediate, simple, and satisfactory
replies, it is only within a few days past that any specific com-
munication in answer to our last demand, made five months
ago, has been received from the Mexican Minister;" and that
"for not one of our public complaints has satisfaction been
given or offered; that but one of the cases of personal wrong
has been favorably considered, and that but four cases of both
descriptions, out of all of those formally presented, and ear-
nestly pressed, have as yet been decided upon by the Mexican
JAMES KNOX POLK.
321
government." President Van Buren, believing that it would
be vain to make any further attempt to obtain redress by the
ordinary means within the power of the Executive, communi-
cated this opinion to Congress in the Message referred to, in
which he said: "On a careful and deliberate examination of
the contents" (of the correspondence with the Mexican govern-
ment), "and considering the spirit manifested by the Mexican
government, it has become my painful duty to return the sub-
ject, as it now stands, to Congress, to whom it belongs to de-
cide upon the time, the mode, and the measure of redress."
Had the United States at that time adopted compulsory meas-
ures, and taken redress into their own hands, all our difficul-
ties with Mexico would probably have been long since adjusted,
and the existing war have been averted. Magnanimity and
moderation on our part only had the effect to complicate these
difficulties, and render an amicable settlement of them more
embarrassing. That such measures of redress, under similar
provocations, committed by any of the powerful nations of
Europe, would have been promptly resorted to by the United
States, can not be doubted. The national honor, and the
preservation of the national character throughout the world, as
well as our own self-respect and the protection due to our own
citizens, would have rendered such a resort indispensable.
The history of no civilized nation in modern times has pre-
sented within so brief a period so many wanton attacks upon
the honor of its flag, and upon the property and persons of its
citizens as had at that time been borne by the United States
from the Mexican authorities and people. But Mexico was a
sister republic on the North American Continent, occupying a
territory contiguous to our own, and was in a feeble and dis-
tracted condition; and these considerations, it is presumed,
induced Congress to forbear still longer.
Instead of taking redress into our own hands, a new nego-
tiation was entered upon with fair promises on the part of
Mexico, but with the real purpose, as the event has proved,
of indefinitely postponing the reparation which we demanded,
and which was so justly due. This negotiation, after more
than a year's delay, resulted in the convention of the 11th of
April, 1839, "for the adjustment of claims of citizens of the
21—K
322
LIFE AND TIMES OF
United States of America upon the government of the Mexi-
can Republic." The joint Board of Commissioners created by
this convention, to examine and decide upon these claims, was
not organized until the month of August, 1840, and under the
terms of the convention they were to terminate their duties within
eighteen months from that time. Four of the eighteen months
were consumed in preliminary discussions on frivolous and dila-
tory points raised by the Mexican Commissioners; and it was
not until the mouth of December, 1840, that they commenced
the examination of the claims of our citizens upon Mexico.
Fourteen months only remained to examine and decide upon
these numerous and complicated cases. In the month of Feb-
ruary, 1842, the term of the commission expired, leaving many
claims undisposed of for want of time. The claims which were
allowed by the board, and by the umpire authorized by the
convention to decide in case of disagreement between the Mex-
ican and American Commissioners, amounted to two millions
twenty-six thousand one hundred and thirty-nine dollars and
thirty-eight cents. There were pending before the umpire,
when the commission expired, additional claims which had been
examined and awarded by the American Commissioners, and
had not been allowed by the Mexican Commissioners, amount-
ing to nine hundred and twenty-eight thousand six hundred
and twenty-seven dollars and eighty-eight cents, upon which he
did not decide, alleging that his authority had ceased with the
termination of the joint commission. Besides these claims
there were others of American citizens, amounting to three
millions three hundred and thirty-six thousand eight hundred
and thirty-seven dollars and five cents, which had been sub
mitted to the board, and upon which they had not time to
decide before their final adjournment.
The sum of two million twenty-six thousand one hundred
and thirty-nine dollars and sixty-eight cents, which had been
awarded to the claimants, was a liquidated and ascertained
debt due by Mexico, about which there could be no dispute,
and which she was bound to pay according to the terms of the
convention. Soon after the final awards for this amount had
been made, the Mexican government asked for a postponement
of the time of making payment, alleging that it would be incon-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
323
venient to make the payment at the time stipulated. In
the spirit of forbearing kindness toward a sister republic, which
Mexico has so long abused, the United States promptly com-
plied with her request. A second convention was accordingly
concluded between the two governments, on the 80th of Jan-
nary, 1843, which, upon its face, declares that "this new
arrangement is entered into for the accommodation of Mexico."
By the terms of this convention all the interest due on the
awards which had been made in favor of the claimants under
the convention of the 11th of April, 1839, was to be paid to
them on the 30th of April, 1843, and "the principal of the
said awards, and the interest accruing thereon," was stipulated
to "be paid in five years, in equal installments every three
months." Notwithstanding this new convention was entered
into at the request of Mexico, and for the purpose of relieving
her from embarrassment, the claimants have only received the
interest due on the 30th of April, 1843, and three of the
twenty installments. Although the payment of the sum thus
liquidated, and confessedly due by Mexico to our citizens as
indemnity for acknowledged acts of outrage and wrong, was
secured by treaty, the obligations of which are ever held
sacred by all just nations, yet Mexico has violated this solemn
engagement by failing and refusing to make the payment.
The two installments due in April and July, 1844, under the pe-
culiar circumstances connected with them have been assumed by
the United States and discharged to the claimants, but they are
still due by Mexico. But this is not all of which we have
just cause of complaint. To provide a remedy for the claimants
whose cases were not decided by the joint commission under
the convention of April the 11th, 1839, it was expressly stipu-
lated by the sixth article of the convention of the 30th of Jan-
uary, 1843, that "a new convention shall be entered into for
the settlement of all claims of the Government and citizens of
the United States against the republic of Mexico, which were
not finally decided by the late commission, which met in the
City of Washington, and of all claims of the government and
citizens of Mexico against the United States."
In conformity with this stipulation, a third convention was
concluded and signed at the City of Mexico, on the 20th of
324
LIFE AND TIMES OF
November, 1843, by the pleDipotentiarius of the two govern-
ments, by which provision was made for ascertaining and pay-
ing these claims. In January, 1844, this conventioii was rati-
fied by the Senate of the United States with two amendments,
which were manifestly reasonable in their character. Upon a
reference of the amendments proposed to the government of
Mexico, the same evasions, difficulties, and delays were inter-
posed, which have so long marked the policy of that govern-
ment toward the United States. It has not even yet decided
whether it would or would not accede to them, although the
subject has been repeatedly pressed upon its consideration.
Mexico has thus violated a second time the faith of treaties,
by failing or refusing to carry into effect the sixth article of
the Convention of January, 1843.
Such is the history of the wrongs which we have suffered
and patiently endured from Mexico, through a long series of
years. So far from affording reasonable satisfaction for the in-
juries and insults we had borne, a great aggravation of them
consists in the fact, that while the United States, anxious to
preserve a good "understanding with Mexico, have been con-
stantly, but vainly, employed in seeking redress for past wrongs,
new outrages were constantly occurring, which have continued
to increase our causes of complaint, and to swell the amount
of our demands. While the citizens of the United States were
conducting a lawful commerce Avith Mexico, under the guar-
anty of a treaty of "amity, commerce, and navigation," many
of them have suffered all the injuries which would have resulted
from open war. This treaty, instead of affording protection to
our citizens, has been the means of inviting them into the ports
of Mexico, that they might be, as they have been in numerous
instances, plundered of their property and deprived of their
personal liberty, if they dared insist on their rights. Had the
unlawful seizures of American property, and the violation of
the personal liberty of our citizens, to say nothing of the insults
to our flag which have occurred in the ports of Mexico, taken
place on the high seas, they would themselves long since have
constituted a state of actual war between the two countries.
In so long suffering Mexico to violate her most solemn treaty
obligations, plunder our citizens of their property, and imprison
JAMES KNOX POLK.
325
their persons without affording them any redress, we have failed
to perform one of the first and highest duties which every gov-
ernment owes to its citizens; and the consequence has been,
that many of them have been reduced from a state of affluence
to bankruptcy. The proud name of American citizen, which
ought to protect all who bear it from insult and injury through-
out the world, has afforded no such protection to our citizens
in Mexico. We had ample cause of war against Mexico long
before the breaking out of hostilities. But even then we fore-
bore to take redress into our own hands, until Mexico herself
became the aggressor, by invading our soil in hostile array, and
shedding the blood of our citizens.
Such are the grave cau.ses of complaint on the part of the
United States against Mexico—causes which existed long before
the annexation of Texas to the American Union; and yet, an-
imated by the love of peace, and a magnanimous moderation,
we did not adopt those measures of redress which, under such
circumstances, are the justified resort of injured nations.
The annexation of Texas to the United States constituted
no just cause of offense to Mexico. The pretext that it did so
is wholly inconsistent and irreconcilable with well-authenticated
facts connected with the revolution by which Texas became in-
dependent of Mexico. That this may be the more manifest, it
may be proper to advert to the causes and to the history of the
principal events of that revolution.
Texas constituted a portion of the ancient province of Lou-
isiana, ceded to the United States by France in the year 1803.
In the year 1819, the United States, by the Florida treaty,
ceded to Spain all that part of Louisiana within the present
limits of Texas; and Mexico, by the revolution which separated
her from Spain, and rendered her an independent nation, sue-
ceeded to the rights of the mpther country over this territory.
In the year 1824, Mexico established a federal constitution,
under which the Mexican republic was composed of a number
of sovereign States, confederated together in a federal union
similar to our own. Each of these States had its own executive,
legislature, and judiciary, and, for all except federal purposes,
was as independent of the general government, and that of the
other States, as is Pennsylvania or Virginia under our Consti-
326
LIFE AND TIMES OF
tution. Texas and Coahuila united and formed one of these
Mexican States. The State constitution which they adopted,
and which was approved by the Mexican confederacy, asserted
that they were "free and independent of the other Mexican
United States, and of every other power and dominion whatso-
everand proclaimed the great principle of human liberty,
that "the sovereignty of the State resides originally and essen-
tially in the general mass of the individuals who compose it."
To the government under this constitution, as well as to that
under the federal constitution, the people of Texas owed
allegiance.
Emigrants from foreign countries, including the United
States, were invited by the colonization laws of the State and
of the federal government, to settle in Texas. Advantageous
terras were offered to induce them to leave their own country
and become Mexican citizens. This invitation was accepted by
many of our citizens, in the full faith that in their new home
they would be governed by laws enacted by representatives
elected by themselves, and that their lives, liberty, and property
would be protected by constitutional guarantees similar to those
which existed in the republic they had left. Under a govern-
ment thus organized, they continued until the year 1835, when
a military revolution broke out in the City of Mexico, which
entirely subverted the federal and State constitutions, and placed
a military dictator at the head of the government.
By a sweeping decree of a Congress subservient to the will
of the dictator, the several State constitutions were abolished,
and the States themselves converted into mere departments of
the central government. The people of Texas were unwilling
to submit to this usurpation. Resistance to such tyranny be-
came a high duty. Texas was fully absolved from all allegiance
to the central government of Mexico from the moment that
government had abolished her State constitution, and in its
place substituted an arbitrary and despotic central government.
Such were the principal causes of the Texan revolution.
The people of Texas at once determined upon resistance, and
flew to arms. In the midst of these important and exciting
events, however, they did not omit to place their liberties upon
a secure and permanent foundation. They elected members to
JAMES KNOX POLK.
327
a convention, who, in the month of March, 1836, issued a for-
mal declaration that their " political connection with the Mex-
ican nation has forever ended, and that the people of Texas do
now constitute a free, sovereign, and independent republic, and
are fully invested with all the rights and attributes which prop-
erly belong to independent nations." They also adopted for
their government a liberal republican constitution. About the
same time Santa Anna, then the dictator of Mexico, invaded
Texas with a numerous army, for the purpose of subduing the
people, and enforcing obedience to his arbitrary and despotic
government. On the 21st of April, 1836, he was met by the
Texan citizen soldiers, and on that day was achieved by them
the memorable victory of San Jacinto, by which they conquered
their independence. Considering the numbers engaged on the
respective sides, history does not record a more brilliant achieve-
ment. Santa Anna himself was among the captives.
In the month of May, 1836, Santa Anna acknowledged, by
a treaty with the Texan authorities, in the most solemn form,
" the full, entire, and perfect independence of the republic of
Texas." It is true he was then a prisoner of war, but it is
equally true that he had failed to reconquer Texas, and had met
with signal defeat; that his authority had not been revoked, and
that by virtue of tbis treaty he obtained his personal release.
By it hostilities were suspended, and the army which had in-
vaded Texas under his command returned in pursuance of this
arrangement, unmolested, to Mexico.
From the day that the battle of San Jacinto was fought
until the present hour, Mexico has never possessed the power
to reconquer Texas. In the language of the Secretary of State
of the United States,.in a dispatch to our minister in Mexico,
under date of the 8th of July, 1842, " Mexico may have chosen
to consider, and may still choose to consider Texas as having
been at all times since 1835, and as still continuing, a rebellious
province; but the world has been obliged to take a very different
view of the matter. From the time of the battle of San Jacinto,
in April, 1836, to the present moment, Texas has exhibited the
same external signs of national independence as Mexico herself,
and with quite as much stability of government. Practically
free and independent, acknowledged as a political sovereignty
328
LIFE AND TIMES OF
by the principal powers of the world, no hostile foot finding
rest within her territory for six or seven years, and Mexico
herself refraining for all that period from any further attempt
to re-estahlish her own authority over that territory, it can not
hut he surprising to find Mr. De Bocanegra " (the Secretary of
Foreign Affairs of Mexico) "complaining that for that whole
period citizens of the United States, or its Government, have
been favoring the rebels of Texas, and supplying them with
vessels, ammunition, and money, as if the war for the reduction
of the province of Texas had been constantly prosecuted by
Mexico, and her success prevented by these influences from
abroad." In the same dispatch the Secretary of State affirms
that "since 1837 the United States have regarded Texas as an
independent sovereignty, as much as Mexico; and that trade
and commerce with citizens of a government at war with Mex-
ico can not, on that account, he regarded as an intercourse by
which assistance and succor are given to Mexican rebels. The
whole current of Mr. de Bocanegra's remarks runs in the same
direction, as if the independence of Texas had not been ac-
knowledged. It has been acknowledged—it was acknowledged
in 1837', against the remonstrance and protest of Mexico; and
most of the acts, of any importance, of which Mr. de Boca-
negra complains, flow necessarily from that recognition. He
speaks of Texas as still being ' an integral part of the territory
of the Mexican republic;' but he can not but understand that
the United States do not so regard it. The real complaint of
Mexico, therefore, is, in substance, neither more nor less than
a complaint against the recognition of Texan independence. It
may be thought rather late to repeat that complaint, and not
quite just to confine it to the United States, to the exem'ption
of England, France, and Belgium, unless the United States,
having been the first to acknowledge the independence of Mex-
ico herself, are to be blamed for setting an example for the
recognition of that of Texas." And he added, that " the Con-
stitution, public treaties, and the laws oblige the President to
regard Texas as an independent State, and its territory as no
part of the territory of Mexico." Texas had been an inde-
pendent State, with an organized government, defying the power
of Mexico to overthrow or reconquer her, for more than ten
JAMES KNOX POLK.
329
years before Mexico commenced the present war against the
United States. Texas had given such evidence to the world of
her ability to maintain her separate existence as an independent
nation, that she had been formally recognized as such, not only
by the United States but by several of the principal powers of
Europe. These powers had entered into treaties of amity, com-
merce, and navigation with her. They had received and accred-
ited her ministers and other diplomatic agents at their respective
courts, and they had commissioned ministers and diplomatic
agents on their part to the government of Texas. If Mexico,
notwithstanding all this, and her utter inability to subdue or
reconquer Texas, still stubbornly refused to recognize her as an
independent nation, she was none the less so on that account.
Mexico herself had been recognized as an independent nation
by the United States, and by other powers, many years before
Spain, of which, before her revolution, she had been a colony,
would agree to recognize her as such, and yet Mexico was at
that time, in the estimation of the civilized world, and in fact,
none the less an independent power, because Spain still claimed
her as a colony. If Spain had continued until the present
period to assert that Mexico was one of her colonies, in rebellion
against her, this would not have made her so, or changed the
fact of her independent existence. Texas, at the period of her
annexation to the United States, bore the same relation to
Mexico that Mexico had borne to Spain for many years before
Spain acknowledged her independence, with this important dif-
ference—that, before the annexation of Texas to the United
States was consummated, Mexico herself, by a formal act of her
government, had acknowledged the independence of Texas as a
nation. It is true, that in the act of recognition she prescribed
a condition, which she had no power or authority to impose,
that Texas should not annex herself to any other power ; but
this could not detract in any degree from the recognition which
Mexico then made of her actual independence. Upon this plain
statement of facts, it is absurd for Mexico to allege as a pretext
for commencing hostilities against the United States, that Texas
is still a part of her territory.
But there are those who, conceding all this to be true, as-
same the ground that the true western boundary of Texas is
330
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the Nueces instead of the Rio Grande; and that, therefore, in
marching our army to the east bank of the latter river, we
passed the Texan line, and invaded the territory of Mexico,
A simple statement of facts, known to exist, will conclusively
refute such an assumption. Texas, as ceded to the United
States by France, in 1803, has been always claimed as extend-
ing west to the Rio Grande, or Rio Bravo. This fact is estab-
lished by the authority of our most eminent statesmen at a
period when the question was as well if not better understood
than it is at present. During Mr. Jefferson's Administration,
Messrs. Monroe and Pinckney, who had been sent on a special
mission to Madrid, charged, among other things, with the ad-
justment of boundary between the two countries, in a note
addressed to the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, under
date of the 28th of January, 1805, assert that the boundaries
of Louisiana, as ceded to the United States by France, "are
the river Perdido on the east, and the river Bravo on the
west;" and they add, that "the. facts and principles which
justify this conclusion are so satisfactory to our government
as to convince it that the United States have not a better right
to the Island of. New Orleans, under the cession referred to,
than they have to the whole district of territory which is above
described."
Down to the conclusion of the Florida treaty, in February,
1819, by which this territory was ceded to Spain, the United
States asserted and maintained their territorial rights to this
extent. In the month of June, 1818, during Mr. Monroe's
Administration, information having been received that a num-
her of foreign adventurers had landed at Galveston, with the
avowed purpose of forming a settlement in that vicinity, a
special messenger was dispatched by the Government of the
United States, with instructions from the Secretary of State to
warn them to desist, should they be found there " or any other
place north of the Rio Bravo, and within the territory claimed
by the United States." He was instructed, should they be
found in the country north of that river, to make known to
them "the surprise with which the President has seen posses-
sion thus taken, without authority from the United States, of
a place within their territorial limits, and upon which no lawful
JAMES KNOX POLK.
331
settlement can be made without their sanction." He was in-
structed to call upon them to " avow under what national
authority they profess to act," and to give them due warning
"that the place is within the United States, who will suffer
no permanent settlement to be made there, under any authority
other than their own." As late as the 8th of July, 1842, the
Secretary of State of the United States, in a note addressed to
our minister in Mexico, maintains that, by the Florida treaty
of 1819, the territory as far west as the Rio Grande was con-
firmed to Spain. In that note he states that, " by the treaty
of the 22d of February, 1819, between the United States and
Spain, the Sabine was adopted as the line of boundary between
the two powers. Up to that period, no considerable coloniza-
tion had been effected in Texas; but the territory between the
Sabine and the Rio Grande being confirmed to Spain by the
treaty, applications were made to that power for grants of land,
and such grants, or permissions of settlement, were in fact
made by the Spanish authorities in favor of citizens of the
United States proposing to emigrate to Texas in numerous
families, before the declaration of independence by Mexico."
The Texas which was ceded to Spain by the Florida treaty
of 1819 embraced all the country now claimed by the State of
Texas between the Nueces and the Rio Grande. The republic
of Texas always claimed this river as her western boundary,
and in her treaty made with Santa Anna, in May, 1836, he
recognized it as such.
By the constitution which Texas adopted in March, 1886,
senatorial and representative districts were organized extending
west of the Nueces. The Congress of Texas, on the 19th of
December, 1886, passed an " Act to define the boundaries of
the Republic of Texas," in which they declared the Rio Grande
from its mouth to its source to be their boundary, and by the
said act they extended their "civil and political jurisdiction"
over the country up to that boundary. During a period of
more than nine years, which intervened between the adoption
of her constitution and her annexation as one of the States of
our Union, Texas asserted and exercised many acts of sover-
eignty and jurisdiction over the territory and inhabitants west
of the Nueces. She organized and defined the limits of
332
LIFE AND TIMES OF
counties extending to the Eio Grande. She established courts
of justice, and extended her judicial system over the territory.
She established a custom-house, and collected duties, and also
post-offices and post-roads in it. She established a land office,
and issued numerous grants for land within its limits. A Sen-
ator and Representative residing in it were elected to the Con-
gress of the republic, and served as such before the act of an-
nexation took place. In both the Congress and Convention
of Texas, which gave their assent to the terms of annexation
to the United States, proposed by our Congress, were repre-
sentatives residing west of the Nueces, who took part in the
act of annexation itself. This was the Texas which, by the act
of our Congress of the 29th of December, 1845, was admitted
as one of the States of our Union. That the Congress of the
United States understood the State of Texas which they ad-
mitted into the Union to extend beyond the Nueces is ap-
parent from the fact, that on the 31st day of December, 1845,
only two days after the act of admission, they passed a law
"to establish a collection district in the State of Texas," by
which they created a port of delivery at Corpus Christi, sit-
uated west of the Nueces, and being the same point at which the
Texas custom-house, under the laws of that republic, had been
located, and directed that a surveyor to collect the revenue
should be appointed for that port by the President, by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate. A surveyor was
accordingly nominated, and confirmed by the Senate, and has
been ever since in the performance of his duties. All these
acts of the Republic of Texas, and of our Congress, preceded
the orders for the advance of our army to the east bank of the
Rio Grande. Subsequently, Congress passed an act "establish-
ing certain post routes," extending west of the Nueees. The
country west of that river now constitutes a part of one of the
Congressional districts of Texas, and is represented in the
House of Representatives. The Senators from that State were
chosen by a Legislature in which the country west of that river
was represented. In view of all these facts, it is difficult to
conceive upon what grounds it can be maintained that, in oc-
cupying the country west of the Nueces with our army, with
a view solely to its security and defense, we invaded the
JAMES KNOX POLK
333
territory of Mexico. But it would have been still more difficult
to justify the Executive, whose duty it is to see that the law
be faithfully executed, if, in the face of all these proceedings,
both of the Congress of Texas and of the United States, he
had assumed the responsibility of yielding up the territory west
of the Nueces to Mexico, or of refusing to protect and defend
this territory and its inhabitants, including Corpus Christi, as
well as the remainder of Texas, against the threatened Mexi-
can invasion.
But Mexico herself has never placed the war which she has
waged upon the ground that our army occupied the interme-
diate territory between the Niieces and the Rio Grande. Her
refuted pretension, that Texas was not an independent State,
but a rebellious province, was obstinately persevered in; and
her avowed purpose jn commencing a war with the United
States was to reconquer Texas, and to restore Mexican au-
thority over the whole territory, not to the Nueces alone, but
to the Sabine. In view of the proclaimed menaces of Mexico
to this effect, I deemed it my duty, as a measure of precaution
and defense, to order our army to occupy a position on our
frontier as a military post, from which our troops could best
resist and repel any attempted invasion which Mexico might
make.
Our army had occupied a position at Corpus Christi, west
of the Nueces, as early as August, 1845, without complaint
from any quarter. Had the Nueces been regarded as the true
western boundary of Texas, that boundary had been passed by
our army many months before it advanced to the eastern bank
of the Rio Grande. In my annual message of December last,
I informed Congress that, upon the invitation of both the
Congress and Convention of Texas, I had deemed it proper to
order a strong squadron to the coast of Mexico, and to concen-
trate an efficient military force on the* western frontier of
Texas, to protect and defend the inhabitants against the men-
aced invasion of Mexico. In that message I informed Congress
that the moment the terms of annexation offered by the
United States were accepted by Texas, the latter became so far
a part of our own country as to make it our duty to afford
such protection and defense; and that for that purpose our
334
LIFE AND TIMES OF
squadron had been ordered to the Gulf, and our army to
" take a position between the Nueces and the Del Norte," or
Kio Grande, and "to repel any invasion of the Texan terri-
tory which might be attempted by the Mexican forces."
It was deemed proper to issue this order, because soon after
the President of Texas, in April, 1845, had issued his procla-
mation convening the Congress of that Republic, for the pur-
pose of submitting to that body the terms of annexation pro-
posed by the United States, the Government of Mexico made
serious threats of invading the Texan territory.
These threats became more imposing as it became more
apparent, in the progress of the question, that the people of
Texas would decide in favor of accepting the terms of annexa-
tion; and, finally, they had assumed such a formidable charac-
ter, as induced both the Congress and Convention of Texas to
request that a military force should be sent by the United ^
States into her territory, for the purpose of protection and de-
fending her against the threatened invasion. It would have
been a violation of good, faith toward the people of Texas to
have refused to afford the aid which they desired against a
threatened invasion, to which they had been exposed by their,
free determination to annex themselves to our Union, in com-
pliance with the overture made to them by the joint resolution
of our Congress.
Accordingly, a portion of the army was ordered to advance
into Texas. Corpus Christi was the position selected by Gen-
eral Taylor. He encamped at that place in August, 1845, and
the army remained in that position until the 11th of March,
1846, when it moved westward, and oh the 28th of that
month, reached the east bank of the Rio Grande, opposite to
Matamoras. This movement was made in pursuance of orders
from the War Department, issued on the 13th of January,
1846. Before these orders were issued, the dispatch of our
minister in Mexico, transmitting the decision of the council
of government of Mexico, advising that he should not be re-
ceived, and also the dispatch of our consul residing in the city
of Mexico, the former bearing date on the 17th, and the latter
on the 18th of December, 1845, copies of both of which ac-
companied my Message to Congress of the 11th of May last,
JAMES KNOX POLK.
335
were received at the Department of State. These communica-
tions rendered it highly probable, if not absolutely certain,
that our minister would not be received by the government of
General Herrera. It was also well known that but little hope
could be entertained of a different result from General Paredes,
in case the revolutionary movement which he was prosecuting
should prove successful, as was highly probable. The parti-
sans of Paredes, as our minister, in the dispatch referred to,
states, breathed the fiercest hostility against the United States,
denounced the proposed negotiation as treason, and openly
called upon the troops and the people to put down the gov-
ernment of Herrera by force. The reconquest of Texas and
war with the United States were openly threatened. These
were the circumstances existing, when it was deemed proper to
order the army under the command of General Taylor to ad-
vance to the western frontier of Texas, and occupy a position
on or near the Rio Grande.
The apprehensions of a contemplated Mexican invasion
have been since fully justified by the event. The determina-
tion of Mexico to rush into hostilities with the United States
was afterward manifested, from the whole tenor of the note of
the Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs to our minister, bear-
ing date on the 12th of March, 1846. Paredes had then
revolutionized the government, and his minister, after referring
to the resolution for the annexation of Texas, which had been
adopted by our Congress in March, 1845, proceeds to declare
that "a fact such as this, or, to speak with greater exactness,
so notable an act of usurpation, created an imperious necessity
that Mexico, for her own honor, should repel it with proper
firmness and dignity. The supreme government had before-
hand declared that it would look upon such an act as a casus
belli, and, as a consequence of this declaration, negotiation was,
by its very nature, at an end, and war was the only recourse
of the Mexican government."
It appears, also, that on the 4th of April following. Gen-
eral Paredes, through his Minister of War, issued orders to
the Mexican general in command on the Texan frontier to
"attack" our army " by every means which war permits." To
this General Paredes had been pledged to the army and people
336
LIFE AND TIMES OF
of Mexico during the military revolution which had brought
him into power. On the 18th of April, 1846, General Paredes
addressed a letter to the commander on that frontier, in which
he stated to him, "At the present date I suppose you at the
head of that valiant army, either fighting already or preparing
for the operations of a campaign;" and, "Supposing you
already on the theater of operations, and with all the forces
assembled, it is indispensable that hostilities be commenced,
yourself taking the initiative against the enemy."
The movement of our army to the Kio Grande was made
by the commanding general, under positive orders to abstain
from all aggressive acts towards Mexico, or Mexican citizens,
and to regard the relations between the two countries as peace-
ful, unless Mexico should declare war, or commit acts of hos-
tility indicative of a state of war; and these orders he faith-
fully executed. Whilst occupying his position on the east bank
of the Rio Grande, within the limits of Texas, then recently
admitted as one of the States of our Union, the commanding
general of the Mexican forces, who, in pursuance of the orders
of his government, had collected a large army on the opposite
shore of the Rio Grande, crossed the river, invaded our terri-
tory, and commenced hostilities by attacking our forces.
Thus, after all the injuries which we had received and
borne from Mexico, and after she had insultingly rejected a
minister sent to her on a mission of peace, and whom she had
solemnly agreed to receive, she consummated her long course
of outrage against our country by commencing an offensive war,
and shedding the blood of our own citizens on our own soil.
The United States never attempted to acquire Texas by
conquest. On the contrary, at an early period after the people
of Texas had achieved their independence, they sought to be
annexed to the United States; At a general election in Sep-
tember, 1835, they decided, with great unanimity, in favor of
" annexation;" and, in November following, the Congress of
the republic authorized the appointment of a minister to bear
their request to this Government. The Government, however,
having remained neutral between Texas and Mexico during the
war between them, and considering it due to the honor of our
country and our fair fame among the nations of the earth,
JAMES KNOX POLK.
337
that we should not at this early period consent to annexation,
nor until it should be manifest to the whole world that the re-
conquest of Texas by Mexico was impossible, refused to accede
to the overtures made by Texas. On the 12th of April, 1844,
and after more than seven years had elapsed since Texas had
established her independence, a treaty was concluded for tne
annexation of that republic to the United States, which was re-
jected by the Senate. Finally, on the 1st of March, 1845, Con-
gress passed a joint resolution for annexing her to the United
States, upon certain preliminary conditions to which her assent
was required. The solemnities which characterized the delib-
erations and conduct of the government and people of Texas,
on the deeply interesting questions presented by these resolu-
tions, are known to the world. The Congress, the Executive,
and the people of Texas, in a convention elected for that pur-
pose, accepted with great unanimity the proposed terms of an-
nexation; and thus consummated on her part the great act of
restoring to our Federal Union a vast territory which had been
ceded to Spain by the Florida treaty, more than a quarter of a
century before.
After the joint resolution for the annexation of Texas to the
United States had been passed by our Congress, the Mexican
Minister at Washington addressed a note to the Secretary of
State, bearing date on the 6th of March, 1845, protesting
against it as "an act of aggression, the most unjust which can
be found recorded in the annals of modern history; namely,
that of despoiling a friendly nation, like Mexico, of a consid-
erable portion of her territory;" and protesting against the
resolution of annexation, as being an act "whereby the prov-
ince of Texas, an integral portion of the Mexican territory, is
agreed and admitted into the American Union;" and he an-
nounced that, as a consequence, his mission to the United
States haditerminated, and demanded his passports, which were
granted. It was upon the absurd .pretext made by Mexico
(herself indebted for her independence to a successful revolu-
tion), that the Republic of Texas still continued to be, notwith-
standing all that had passed, a province of Mexico, that this
step was taken by the Mexican Minister.
Every honorable effort has been used by me to avoid the
22—K
338
LIFE AND TIMES OF
war which followed, hut all have proved vain. All our
attempts to preserve peace have been met by insult and resist-
ance on the part of Mexico. My efforts to this end com-
menced in the note of the Secretary of State, of the 10th of
March, 1845, in answer to that of the Mexican Minister.
Whilst declining to reopen a discussion which had already been
exhausted, and proving again what was known to the whole
world, that Texas had long since achieved her independence,
the Secretary of State expressed the regret of this Government
that Mexico should have takeu offense at the resolution of an-
nexation passed by Congress, and gave assurance that our "most
strenuous efforts shall be devoted to the amicable adjustment
of every cause of complaint between the two governments, and
to the cultivation of the kindest and most friendly relations
between the sister republics."
That I have acted in the spirit of this assurance, will ap-
pear from the events which have since occurred. Notwith-
standing Mexico had abruptly terminated all diplomatic inter-
course with the United States, and ought, therefore, to have
been the first to ask for its resumption, yet, waiving all cere-
mony, I embraced the earliest favorable opportunity "to
ascertain from the Mexican government whether they would
receive an envoy from the United States intrusted with full
power to adj.ust all the questions in dispute between the two
governments." In September, 1845, I believed the propitious
moment for such an overture had arrived. Texas, by the en-
thusiastic and almost unanimous will of ber people, had pro-
nounced in favor of annexation. Mexico herself had agreed
to acknowledge the independence of Texas, subject to a condi-
tion, it is true, which she had no right to impose, and no
power to enforce. The last lingering hope of Mexico, if she
still could have retained any, that Texas would ever again
become one of her provinces, must have been abandoned.
The consul of the United States at the City of Mexico was,
therefore, instructed by the Secretary of State on the 15th of
September, 1845, to make the inquiry of the Mexican govern-
ment. The inquiry was made, and on the 15th of October,
1845, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of th4 Mexican govern-
ment, in a note addressed to our consul, gave a favorable
JAMES KNOX POLK.
339
response, requesting, at the same time, that our naval force
might be withdrawn from Vera Cruz while negotiations should
he pending. Upon the receipt of this note, our naval force
was promptly withdrawn from Vera Cruz. A minister was
immediately appointed, and departed to Mexico. Everything
bore a promising aspect for a speedy and peaceful adjustment
of all our difficulties. At the date of my annual message to
Congress, in December last, no doubt was entertained but that
he would be received by the Mexican government, and the
hope was cherished that all cause of misunderstanding between
the two countries would be speedily removed. In the confi-
dent hope that such would he the result of his mission, I in-
formed Congress that I fbrbore at that time to " recommend
such ulterior measures of redress for the wrongs and injuries
we had so long borne, as it would have, been proper to make
had no such negotiation been instituted." To my surprise and
regret, the Mexican government, though solemnly pledged to
do so upon the arrival of our minister in Mexico, refused to
receive and accredit him.- When he reached Vera Cruz, on
the 13th of November, 1845, he found that the aspect of af-
fairs had undergone an unhappy change. The government of
General Herrera, who was at that time President of the repub-
lie, was tottering to its fall. General Paredes (a military
leader) had manifested his determination to overthrow the gov-
ernment of Herrera by a military revolution; and one of the
principal means which he employed to effect his purpose, and
render the government of Herrera odious to the army and the peo-
pie of Mexico, was by loudly condemning its determination to
receive a minister of peace from the United States, alleging that
it was the intention of Herrera, by a treaty with the United
States, to dismember the territory of Mexico, by ceding away
the department of Texas. The government of Herrera is
believed to have been well disposed to a pacific adjustment of
existing difllculties; hut, probably alarmed for its own se-
curity, and in order to ward off the danger of the revolution
led by Paredes, violated its solemn agreement, and refused to
receive or accredit our minister; and this, although informed
that he had been invested with full power to adjust all ques-
tions in dispute between the two governments. Among the
340
LIFE AND TIMES OF
frivolous pretexts for this refusal, the principal one was that
our minister had not gone upon a special mission, confined to the
question of Texas alone, leaving all the outrages upon our flag
and our citizens unredressed. The Mexican government well
knew that both our national honor and the protection due to our
citizens imperatively required that the two questions of boun-
dary and indemnity should be treated of together, as naturally
and inseparably blended, and they ought to have seen that
this course was best calculated to enable the United States to
extend to them the most liberal justice. On the 30th of De-
cember, 1845, General Herrera resigned the Presidency, and
yieded up the government to General Paredes without a strug-
gle. Thus a revolution was accomplished solely by the army
commanded by Paredes, and the supreme power in Mexico
passed into the hands of a military usurper, who was known to
be bitterly hostile to the United States.
Although the prospect of a pacific adjustment with the new
government was unpromising, from the known hostility of its
head to the United States, yet, determined that nothing should
be left undone on our part to restore friendly relations between
the two countries, our minister was instructed to present his
credentials to the new government, and ask to be accredited
by it in the diplomatic character in which he had been commis-
sioned. These instructions he executed by his note of the 1st
of March, 1846, addressed to the Mexican Minister of Foreign
Affairs, but his request was insultingly refused by that minis-
ter in his answer of the 12th of the same month. No alterna-
tive remained for our minister but to demand his passports,
and return to the United States.
Thus was the extraordinary spectacle presented to the civ-
ilized world, of a government, in violation of its own express
agreement, having twice rejected a minister of peace, invested
with full powers to adjust all the existing differences between
the two countries in a manner just and honorable to both. I
am not aware that modern history presents a parallel case, in
which, in time of peace, one nation has refused even to hear
propositions from another for terminating existing difficulties
between them. Scarcely a hope of adjusting our difficulties,
even at a remote day, or of preserving peace with Mexico,
JAMES KNOX POLK,
341
could be cberisbed while Paredes remained at the head of the
government. He had acquired the supreme power by a mili-
tary revolution, and upon the most solemn pledges to wage war
against the United States, and to reconquer Texas, which he
claimed as a revolted province of Mexico. He had denounced
as guilty of treason, all those Mexicans who considered Texas
as no longer constituting a part of the territory of Mexico, and
who were friendly to the cause of peace. The duration of the
war which he waged against the United States was indefinite,
because the end which he proposed, of the reconquest of Texas,
was hopeless. Besides, there was good reason to believe, from
all his conduct, that it was his intention to convert the republic
of Mexico into a monarchy, and to call a foreign European
prince to the throne. Preparatory to this end, he had, during
his short rule, destroyed the liberty of the press, tolerating that
portion of it only which openly advocated the establishment of
a monarchy. The better to secure the success of his ultimate
designs, he had, by an arbitrary decree, convoked a Congress—
not to be elected by the free voice of the people, but to be
chosen in a manner to make them subservient to his will, and
to give him absolute control over their deliberations.
Under all these circumstapces, it was believed that any
revolution in Mexico, founded upon opposition to the ambitious
projects of Paredes, would tend to promote the cause of peace
as well as to prevent any attempted European interference in
the aflTairs of the North American Continent—both objects of
deep interest to the United States. Any such foreign interfer-
ence, if attempted, must have been resisted by the United
States. My views upon that subject were fully communicated
to Congress in my last annual message. In any event, it was
certain that no change whatever in the government of Mexico
which would deprive Paredes of power could be for the worse,
so far as the United States were concerned, while it was highly
probable that any change must be for the better. This was the
state of afiTairs existing when Congress on the 13th of May last,
recognized the existence of the war which had been commenced
by the government of Paredes, and it became an object o,f much
importance, with a view to a speedy settlement of our difiicult-
ies and the restoration of an honorable peace, that Paredes
should not retain power in Mexico.
342
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Before that time there were symptoms of a revolution in
Mexico, favored, as it was understood to be, by the more lib-
eral party, and especially by those who were opposed to foreign
interference and to the monarchical form of government. Santa
Anna was then in exile in Havana, having been expelled from
power and banished from his country by a revolution which oc-
curred in December, 1844; but it was known that he had still
a considerable party in his favor in Mexico. It was also equally
well known that no vigilance which could be exerted by our
squadron would, in all probability, have prevented him from
effecting a landing somewhere on the extensive Gulf coast of
Mexico, if he desired to return to his country. He had openly
professed an entire change of policy; had expressed his regret
that he had subverted the federal constitution of 1824, and
avowed that he was now in favor of its restoration. He had
publicly declared his hostility, in the strongest terms, to the
establishment of a monarchy, and to European interference in
the affairs of his country.
Information to this effect had been received, from sources
believed to be reliable, at the date of the recognition of the ex-
istence of the war by Congress, and was afterwards fully con-
firmed by the receipt of the dispatch of our consul in the City
of Mexico, with the accompanying documents, which are here-
with transmitted. Besides, it was reasonable to suppose that
he must see the ruinous consequences to Mexico of a war with
the United States, and that it would be his interest to favor
peace.
It was under these circumstances and upon these considera-
tions that it was deemed expedient not to obstruct his return
to Mexico, should he attempt to do so. Our object was the
restoration of peace, and with that view, no reason was per-
ceived why we should take part with Paredes, and aid him, by
means of our blockade, in preventing the return of his rival to
Mexico. On the contrary, it was believed that the intestine di-
visions which ordinary sagacity could not but anticipate as the
fruit of Santa Anna's return to Mexico, and his contest with
Paredes, might strongly tend to produce a disposition with both
parties to restore and preserve peace with the United States.
Paredes was a soldier by profession, and a monarchist in prin-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
343
ciple. He had but recently before been successful in a military
revolution, by which he had obtained power. He was the sworn
enemy of the United States, with which he had involved his
country in the existing war. Santa Anna had been expelled
from power by the army, was known to be in open hostility to
Paredes, and publicly pledged against foreign intervention and
the restoration of monarchy in Mexico. In view of these facts
and circumstances it was, that, when orders were issued to the
commander of our naval forces in the Gulf, on the 15th day of
May last, only two days after the existence of the war had been
recognized by Congress, to place the coasts of Mexico under
blockade, he was directed not to obstruct the passage of Santa
Anna to Mexico, should he attempt to return.
A revolution took place in Mexico in the early part of
August following, by which the power of Paredes was over-
thrown, and he has since been banished from the country, and
is now in exile. Shortly afterwards Santa Anna returned.
It remains to be seen whether his return may not yet prove to
be favorable to a pacific adjustment of the existing difficulties,
it being manifestly his interest not to persevere in the prosecu-
tion of a war commenced by Paredes, to accomplish a purpose
so absurd as the reconquest of Texas to the Sabine. Had
Paredes remained in power, it is morally certain that any pacific
adjustment would have been hopeless.
Upon the commencement of hostilities by Mexico against
the United States, the indignant spirit of the Nation was at
once roused. Congress promptly responded to the expecta-
tions of the country, and, by the act of the 18th of May last,
recognized the fact that war existed by the act of Mexico
between the United States and that republic, and granted the
means necessary for its vigorous prosecution. Being involved
in a war thus commenced by Mexico, and for the justice of
which on our part we may confidently appeal to the whole
world, I resolved to prosecute it with the utmost vigor. Ac-
cordingly the ports of Mexico, on the Gulf and on the Pacific,
have been placed under blockade, and her territory invaded at
several important points. The report from the Departments
of War and the Navy will inform you more in detail of the
measures adopted in the emergency iij which our country
344
LIFE AND TIMES OF
■was placed, and of the gratifying results which have been
accomplished.
The various columns of the army have performed their duty
under great disadvantages, with the most distinguished skill
and courage. The victories of Palo Alto and Resaca de la
Palma, and of Monterey, won against greatly superior num-
hers, and against most decided advantages in other respects on
the part of the enemy, were brilliant in their execution, and
entitle our brave oflScers and soldiers to the grateful thanks
of their country. The Nation deplores the loss of the brave
officers and men who have gallantly fallen while vindicating
and defending their country's rights and honor.
It is a subject of pride and satisfaction that our volunteer
citizen soldiers, who so promptly responded to their country's
call, with an experience of the discipline of a camp of only a
few weeks, have borne their part in the hard-fought battle of
Monterey with a constancy and courage equal to that of vet-
eran troops, and worthy of the highest admiration. The priva-
tions of long marches through the enemy's country, and through
a wilderness, have been borne without a murmur. By rapid
movements the province of New Mexico, with Santa Fe, its
capital, has been captured without bloodshed. The navy has
co-operated with the army, and rendered important services;
if not so brilliant, it is because the enemy had no force to meet
theip on their own element, and because of the defenses which
nature has interposed in the difficulties of the navigation on
the Mexican coast. Our squadron in the Pacific, with the co-
operation of a gallant officer of the army, and a small force
hastily collected in that distant country, have acquired blood-
less possession of the Californias, and the American flag has
been raised at every important point in that province.
I congratulate you on the success which has thus attended
our military and naval operations. In less than seven months
after Mexico commenced hostilities, at a time selected by her-
self, we have taken possession of many of her principal ports,
driven back and pursued her invading army, and acquired
military possession of the Mexican provinces of New Mexico,
New Leon, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, and the Californias, a terri-
tory larger in extent than that embraced in the original thir-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
345
teen States of the Union, inhabited hy a considerable population,
and much of it more than a thousand miles from the points at
which we had to collect our forces and commence our move-
ments. By the blockade the import and export trade of the
enemy has been cut off. Well may the American people be
proud of the energy and gallantry of our regular and volun-
teer officers and soldiers. The events of these few months
afford a gratifying proof that our country can, under any
emergency, confidently rely for the maintenance of her honor
and the defense of her rights, on an effective force, ready at
all times voluntarily to relinquish the comforts of home for the
perils and privations of the camp. And though such a force
may be for the time expensive, it is, in the end, economical, as
the ability to command it removes the necessity of employing a
large standing army in time of peace, and proves that our
people love their institutions, and are ever ready to defend
and protect them.
Whilst the war was in a course of vigorous and successful
prosecution, being-still anxious to arrest its evils, and consid-
ering that, after the brilliant victories of our arms on the 8th
and 9th of May last, the national honor could not 'be compro-
mitted by it, another overture was made to Mexico, by my
direction, on the 27th of July last, to terminate hostilities by a
peace just and honorable to both countries. On the 31st of
August following the Mexican government declined to accept
this friendly overture, but referred it to the decision of a
Mexican Congress, to be assembled in the early part of the
present month. I communicate to you herewith a copy of the
letter of the Secretary of State proposing to reopen negotia-
tions, of the answer of the Mexican government, and of the
reply thereto of the Secretary of State.
The war will continue to be prosecuted with vigor, as the
best means of securing peace. It is hoped that the decision of
the Mexican Congress, to which our last overture has been re-
ferred, may result in a speedy and honorable peace. With our
experience, however, of the unreasonable "course of the Mexican
authorities, it is the part of wisdom not to relax in the energy
of our military operations until the result is made known. In
this view, it is deemed important to hold.military possession of
346
LIFE AND TIMES OF
all the provinces which have been taken, until a definitive treaty
of peace shall have been concluded and ratified by the two
countries.
The war has not been waged with a view to conquest; but
having been commenced by Mexico, it has been carried into
the enemy's country, and will be vigorously prosecuted there,
with a view to obtain an honorable peace, and thereby secure
ample indemnity for the expenses of the war, as well as to our
much-injured citizens, who hold large pecuniary demands
against Mexico.
By the laws of nations a conquered territory is subject to
be governed by the conqueror during his military possession,
and until there is either a treaty of peace, or he shall volun-
tarily withdraw from it. The old civil government being neces-
sarily superseded, it is the right and duty of the conqueror to
secure his conquest, and to provide for the maintenance of civil
order and the rights of the inhabitants. This right has been
exercised, and this duty performed, by our military and naval
commanders, by the establishment of temporary governments
in some of the conquered provinces in Mexico, assimilating them
as far as practicable to the free institutions of our own country.
In the provinces of New Mexico, and of the Californias, little
if any further resistance is apprehended from the inhabitants to
the temporary governments which have thus, from the necessity
of the case, and according to the laws of war, been established.
It may be proper to provide for the security of these important
conquests by making an adequate appropriation for the purpose
of erecting fortifications, and defraying the expenses necessarily
incident to the maintenance of our possession and authority
over them.
Near the close of your last session, for reasons communi-
cated to Congress, I deemed it important, as a measure for
securing a speedy peace with Mexico, that a sum of money
should be appropriated, and placed in the power of the Exec-
utive, similar to that which had been made upon two fornier
occasions, during the 'Administration of President Jefferson.
On the 26th of February, 1803, an appropriation of two
millions of dollars was made, and placed at the disposal of the
President. Its object, is well known. It was at that time in
JAMES KNOX POLK.
347
contemplation to acquire Louisiana from France, and it was in-
tended to be applied as a part of the consideration which might
he paid for that territory. On the 13th of February, 1806,
the same sum was in like manner appropriated, with a view to
the purchase of the Floridas from Spain. These appropriations
were made to facilitate negotiations, and as a means to enable
the President to accomplish the important objects in view.
Though it did not become necessary for the President to use
these appropriations, yet a state of things might have arisen in
which it would have been highly important for him to do so,
and the wisdom of making them can not he doubted. It is he-
lieved that the measure recommended at your last session met
with the approbation of decided majorities in both houses of
Congress. Indeed, in different forms, a hill making an appro-
priation of two millions of dollars passed each House, and it is
much to he regretted that it did not become a law. The rea-
sons which induced me to recommend the measure at that time
still exist; and I again submit the subject for your considera-
tion, and suggest the importance of early action upon it.
Should the appropriation he made, and he not needed, it will
remain in the Treasury; should it he deemed proper to apply
it in whole or in part, it will he accounted for as other public
expenditures.
Immediately after Congress had recognized the existence of
the war with Mexico, my attention was directed to the danger
that privateers might he fitted out in the ports of Cuba and
Porto Rico to prey upon the commerce of the United States;
and I invited the special attention of the Spanish government
to the fourteenth article of our treaty with that power of the
20th of October, 1795, under which the citizens and subjects of
either nation who shall take commissions or letters of marque
to act as privateers against the other "shall he punished as
pirates."
It affords me pleasure to inform you that I have received
assurances from the Spanish government that this article of the
treaty shall he faithfully observed on its part. Orders for this
purpose were immediately transmitted from that government to
the authorities of Cuba and Porto Rico to exert their utmost
vigilance in preventing any attempts to fit out privateers in
348
LIFE AND TIMES OF
those islands against the United States. From the good faith
of Spain I am fully satisfied that this treaty will be executed in
its spirit as well as its letter; whilst the United States will, on
their part, faithfully perform all the obligations which it im-
poses on them.
Information has been recently received at the Department
of State that the Mexican government has sent to Havana
blank commissions to privateers, and blank certificates of
naturalization, signed by General Salas, the present head of
the Mexican government. There is also reason to apprehend
that similar documents have been transmitted to other parts of
the world. Copies of these papers, in translation, are here-
with transmitted.
As the preliminaries respecting the practice of civilized
nations commissioning privateers and regulating their conduct
appear not to have been observed, and as these commissions
are in blank to be filled up with the names of citizens and
subjects of all nations who may be willing to purchase them,
the whole proceeding can only be construed as an invitation to
all the freebooters upon earth, who are willing to pay for the
privilege, to cruise against American commerce. It will be
for onr courts of justice to decide whether, under such circum-
stances, these Mexican letters of marque and reprisal shall
protect those who accept them, and commit robberies upon
the high seas under their authority, from the pains and penal-
ties of piracy.
If the certificates of naturalization thus granted be intended
by Mexico to shield Spanish subjects from the guilt and pun-
ishment of pirates, under our treaty with Spain, they will cer-
tainly prove unavailing. Such a subterfuge would be but a
weak device to defeat the provisions of a solemn treaty.
I recommend that Congress should immediately provide by
law for the trial and punishment, as pirates, of Spanish sub-
jects who, escaping the vigilance of their government, shall be
found guilty of privateering against the United States. I do
not apprehend serious danger from these privateers. Our navy
will be constantly on the alert to protect onr commerce.
Besides, in case prizes should be made of American vessels,
the utmost vigilance will be exerted by our blockading squadron.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
349
to prevent the captors from taking them into Mexican
ports, and it is not apprehended that any nation will violate
its neutrality by suffering such prizes to he condemned and
sold within its jurisdiction.
I recommend that Congress should immediately provide by
law for granting letters of marque and reprisal against vessels
under the Mexican flag. It is true that there are but few, if
any, commercial vessels of Mexico upon the high seas; and it is,
therefore, not probable that many American privateers would
be fitted out, in case a law should pass authorizing this mode
of warfare. It is, notwithstanding, certain that such privateers
may render good service to the commercial interests of the
country by recapturing our merchant ships, should any be
taken by armed vessels under the Mexican flag, as well as by
capturing these vessels themselves. Every means within our
power should be rendered available for the protection of our
commerce.
The annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury will
exhibit a detailed statement of the condition of the finances.
The imports for the fiscal year ending on the 13th of June
last, were of the value of one hundred and twenty-one million
six hundred and ninety-one thousand seven hundred and
ninety-seven dollars ; of which the amount exported was eleven
million three hundred and forty-six thousand six hundred and
twenty-three dollars, leaving the amount retained in the
country for domestic consumption one hundred and ten million
three hundred and forty-five thousand one hundred and
seventy-four dollars. The value of the exports for the same
period was one hundred and thirteen million four hundred and
eighty-eight thousand five hundred and sixteen dollars; of
which one hundred and two million one hundred and forty-
one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three dollars consisted
of domestic productions, and eleven million three hundred and
forty-six thousand six hundred and twenty-three dollars of
foreign articles.
The receipts into the Treasury for the same year were
twenty-nine million four hundred and ninety-nine thousand
two hundred and forty-seven dollars and six cents; of which
there was derived from customs twenty-six million seven
350
LIFE AND TIMES OF
hundred and twelve thousand six hundred and sixty-seven dollars
and eighty-seven cents; from sales of public lands, two mill-
ion six hundred and ninety-five thousand four hundred and
fifty-two dollars and forty-eight cents, and from incidental and
miscellaneous resources ninety-two thousand one hundred and
twenty-six dollars and seventy-one cents. The expenditures for
the same period were twenty-eight million thirty-one thousand
eight hundred and fourteen dollars and twenty cents, and the
balance in the Treasury on the 1st day of July last was nine
million one hundred and twenty-six thousand four hundred
and thirty-nine dollars and eight cents. •
The amount of the public debt, including treasury notes,
on the 1st of the present month, was twenty-four million two
hundred and fifty-six thousand four hundred and ninety-four •
dollars and sixty cents; of which the sum of seventeen million
seven hundred and eighty-eight thousand seven hundred and
ninety-nine dollars and sixty-two cents was outstanding on the
4th of March, 1845, leaving the amount incurred since that
time, six million four hundred and sixty-seven thousand six
hundred and ninety-four dollars and ninety-eight cents.
In order to prosecute the war with Mexico with vigor and
energy, as the best means of bringing it to a speedy and hon-
orable termination, a further loan will be necessary, to meet
the expenditures for the present and the next fiscal years. If the
war should be continued until the 30th of June, 1848, being
the end of the next fiscal year, it is estimated that an addi-
tional loan of twenty-three millions of dollars will be required.
This estimate is made upon the assumption that it will be neces-
sary to retain constantly in the Treasury four millions of dol-
lars, to guard against contingencies. If such surplus were not
required to be retained, then a loan of nineteen millions of dol-
lars would be sufficient. If, however. Congress should, at the
present session, impose a revenue duty on the principal articles
now embraced in the free list, it is estimated that an additional
annual revenue of about two millions and a half, amounting,
it is estimated, on the 80th of June, 1848, to four millions of
dollars, jvould be derived from that source; and the loan re-
quired would be reduced by that amount. It is estimated,
also, that should Congress graduate and reduce the price of
JAMES KNOX POLK.
351
such of the public lands as have been long in the market, the
additional revenue derived from that source would be annually,
for several years to come, between half a million and a mill-
ion of dollars; and the loan required may be reduced by that
amount also. Should these measures be adopted, the loan re-
quired would not probably exceed eighteen or nineteen millions
of dollars, leaving in the Treasury a constant surplus of four
millions of dollars. The loan proposed, it is estimated, will be
sufficient to cover the necessary expenditures, both for the war
and for all other purposes, up to the 30th of June, 1848; and
an amount of this loan, not exceeding one-half, may be re-
quired during the present fiscal year, and the greater part of
the remainder during the first half of the fiscal year succeeding.
In order that timely notice may be given, and proper meas-
ures taken to effect the loan, or such portion of it as may be
required, it is important that the authority of Congress to make
it be given at an early period of your present session. It is
suggested that the loan should be contracted for a period of
twenty years, with authority to purchase the stock and pay it-
off, at an earlier period, at its market value, out of any surplus
which may at any time be in the Treasury applicable to that
purpose. After the establishment of peace with Mexico, it is
supposed that a consideraljle surplus will exist, and that the
debt may be extinguished in a much shorter period than that
for which it may be contracted. The period of twenty years as
that for which the proposed loan may be contracted, in prefer-
ence to a shorter period, is suggested, because all experience,
both at home and abroad, has shown that loans are effected
upon much better terms upon long time than when they are
reimbursed at short dates.
Necessary as this measure is, to sustain the honor and inter-
est of the country engaged in a foreign war, it is not doubted
but that Congress will promptly authorize it.
The balance in the Treasury on the 1st of July last exceeded
nine millions of dollars, notwithstanding considerable expendi-
tures had been made for the war during the months of May
and June preceding. But for the war, the whole public debt
could and would have been extinguished within a short period;
and it was a part of my settled policy to do so, and thus relieve
352
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the people from its burden, and place the Government in a
position which would enable it to reduce the public expendi-
tures to that economical standard which is most consistent with
the general welfare and the pure and wholesome progress of
our institutions.
Among our just causes of complaint against Mexico, arising
out of her refusal to treat for peace, as well before as since the
war so unjustly commenced on her part, are the extraordinary
expenditures in which we have been involved. Justice to our
own people will make it proper that Mexico should be held
responsible for these expenditures.
Economy in the public expenditures is at all times a high
duty which all public functionaries of the Government owe to
the people. This duty becomes the more imperative in a period
of war, when large and extraordinary expenditures become un-
avoidable. During the existence of the war with Mexico all
our resources should be husbanded, and no appropriations made
except such as are absolutely necessary for its vigorous prosecu-
tion and the due administration of the Government. Objects
of appropriation which in peace may be deemed useful or proper,
but which are not indispensable for the public service, may,
when the country is engaged in a foreign war^ be well post-
poned to a future period. By the observance of this policy at
our present session, large amounts may be saved to the Treasury,
and applied to objects of pressing and urgent necessity, and
tbus the creation of a corresponding amount of public debt may
be avoided. ■
It is not meant to recommend that the ordinary and neces-
sary appropriations for the support of Government should'
be withheld, but it is well known that at every session of Con-
gress, appropriations are proposed for numerous objects, which
may or may not be made without materially affecting the
public interests; and these it is recommended should not be
granted.
The act passed at your last session, "reducing the duties on
imports," not having gone into operation until the first of the
present month, there has not been time for its practical effect
upon the revenue and the business of the country, to be de-
veloped. It is not doubted, however, that the just policy which
JAMES KNOX POLK.
363
it adopts will add largely to our foreign trade, and promote the
general prosperity. Although it can not be certainly foreseen
what amount of revenue it will yield, it is estimated that it,will
exceed that produced by the act of 1842, which it superseded.
The leading principles established by it are, to levy the taxes
with a view to raise revenue, and to impose them upon the
articles imported according to their actual value.
The Act of 1842, by the excessive rates of duty which it im-
posed on many articles, either totally excluded them from impor-
tation, or greatly reduced the amount imported, and thus dimin-
ished instead of producing revenue. By it the taxes were
imposed, not for the legitimate purpose of raising revenue, but
to afford advantages to favored classes at the expense of a
large majority of their fellow-citizens. Those employed in
agriculture, mechanical pursuits, commerce, and navigation,
were compelled to contribute from their substance to swell the
profits and overgrown wealth of the comparatively few who
had invested their capital in manufactures. The taxes were
not levied in proportion to the value of the articles upon which
they were imposed, but, widely departing from this just rule,
the lighter taxes were, in many cases, levied upon articles of
luxury and high price, and the heavier taxes on those of neces-
sity and low price, consumed by the great mass of the people.
It was a system, the inevitable effect of which was to relieve
favored classes and the wealthy few from contributing their
just proportion for the support of Government, and to lay the
burden on the labor of the many engaged in other pursuits
than manufactures.
A system so unequal and unjust has been superseded by the
existing law, which imposes duties not for the benefit or injury
of classes or pursuits, but distributes, and, as far as practicable,
equalizes the public burdens among all classes and occupations.
The favored classes who, under the unequal and unjust sys-
tem which has been repealed, have heretofore realized large
profits, and many of them amassed large fortunes at the ex-
pense of many who have been made tributary to them, will
have no reason to complain if they shall be required to bear
their just proportion of the taxes necessary for the support of
Government. So far from it, it will be perceived, by an exam-
23—K
354
LIFE AND TIMES OF
ination of the existing law, that discriminations in the rates
of duty imposed, within the revenue principle, have been
retained in their favor.
The incidental aid against foreign competition which they
still enjoy gives them an advantage which no other pursuits
possess ,* but of this none others will complain, because the du-
ties levied are necessary for revenue. These revenue duties,
including freights and charges, which the importer must pay
before he can come in competition with the home manufac-
turer in our markets, amount, on nearly all our leading branches
of manufacture, to more than one-third of the value of the
imported article, and, in some cases, to almost one-half its
value. With such advantages it is not doubted tbat our
domestic manufacturers will continue to prosper, realizing in
well-conducted establishments even greater profits than can be
derived from any other regular business. Indeed, so far from
requiring the protection of even incidental revenue duties, our
manufacturers in several leading branches are extending their
business, giving evidence of great ingenuity and skill, and of
their ability to compete, with increased prospect of success, for
the open market of the world. Domestic manufactures, to the
value of several millions of dollars, which can not find a mar-
ket at home, are annually exported to foreign countries. With
such rates of duty as those established by tbe existing law, the
system will probably be permanent; and capitalists, who have
made, or shall hereafter make, their investments in manufac-
tures, will know upon what to rely. The country will be sat-
isfied with these rates, because the advantages which the
manufacturers still enjoy result necessarily from the collection
of revenue for the support of Government. High protective
duties, from their unjust operation upon the masses of the
people, can not fail to give rise to extensive dissatisfaction and
complaint, and to constant efforts to change or repeal them,
rendering all investments in manufactures uncertain and pre-
carious. Lower and more permanent rates of duty, at the
same time that they will yield to the manufacturer fair and
remunerating profits, will secure him against the danger of
frequent changes in the system, which can not fail to ruinously
afiect his interest.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
355
Simultaneously ■with the relaxation of the restrictive policy
by the United States, Great Britain, from whose example we
derived the system, has relaxed hers. She has modified her
corn laws, and reduced many other duties to moderate revenue
rates. After ages of experience, the statesmen of that country
have been constrained by a stern necessity, and by a public
opinion having its deep foundation in the sufferings and wants
of impoverished millions, to abandon a system, the effect of
which was to build up immense fortunes in the hands of the
few, and to reduce the laboring millions to pauperism and
misery. Nearly in the same ratio ,that labor was depressed
capital was increased and concentrated by the British pro-
tective policy.
The evils of the system in Great Britain were at length
rendered intolerable, and it has been abandoned, but not with-
out a severe struggle on the part of the protected and favored
classes to retain the unjust advantages which they have so long
enjoyed. It was to be expected that a similar struggle would
be made by the same classes in the United States, whenever an
attempt was made to modify or abolish the same unjust system
here. The protective policy had been in operation in the
United States for a much shorter period, and its pernicious
effects were not, therefore, so clearly perceived and felt.
Enough, however, was known of these effects to induce its
repeal.
It would be strange if, in the face of the example of Great
Britain, our principal foreign customer, and of the evils of a
system rendered manifest in that country by long and painful
experience, and in the face of the immense advantages which,
under a more liberal commercial policy we are already deriv-
ing, and must continue to derive, by supplying her starving
population with food, the United States should restore a policy
which she has been compelled to abandon, and thus diminish
her ability to purchase from us the food and other articles
which she so much needs, and we so much desire to sell. By
the simultaneous abandonment of the protective policy by
Great Britain and the United States, new and important mar-
kets have already been opened for our agricultural and other
products; commerce and navigation have received a new
356
LIFE AND TIMES OF
impulse; labor and trade have been released from the artificial
trammels which have so long fettered them; and to a great
extent reciprocity, in the exchange of commodities, has been
introduced at the same time by both countries, and greatly for
the benefit of both. Great Britain has been forced, by the
pressure of circumstances at home, to abandon a policy which
has been upheld for ages, and to open her markets for our
immense surplus of breadstuff's; and it is confidently believed
that other powers of Europe will ultimately see the wisdom, if
they be not compelled by the pauperism and suflTeriugs of their
crowded population, to pursue a similar policy.
Our farmers are more deeply interested in maintaining the
just and liberal policy of the existing law than any other class
of our citizens. They constitute a large majority of our popu-
lation; and it is well known that when they prosper, all other
pursuits prosper also. They have heretofore not only received
none of the bounties or favors of Government, but by the
unequaled operations of the protective policy, have been made,
by the burdens of taxation which it imposed, to contribute to
the bounties which have enriched others.
When a foreign as well as a home market is opened to
them, they must receive, as they are now receiving, increased
prices for their products. They will find a readier sale, and at
better prices, for their wheat,- flour, rice, Indian corn, beef,
pork, lard, butter, cheese, and other articles, which they pro-
duce. The home market alone is inadequate to enable them to
dispose of the immense surplus of food and other articles
which they are capable of producing, even at the most re-
duced prices, for the manifest reason that they can not be con-
sumed in the country. The United States can, from their
immense surplus, supply not only the home demand, but the
deficiencies of food required by the whole world.
That the reduced production of some of the chief articles
of food in Great Britain, and other parts of Europe, may have
contributed to increase the demand for our breadstuff's and pro-
visions, is not doubted; but that the great and efficient cause
of this increased demand, and of increased prices, consists in
the removal of artificial restrictions heretofore imposed, is
deemed to be equally certain. That our exports of food.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
357
already increased and increasing beyond former example,
under the more liberal policy which has been adopted, will he
still vastly enlarged, unless they he checked or prevented by
a restoration of the protective policy, can not he doubted.
That our commercial and navigating interests will he enlarged
in a corresponding ratio with the increase of our trade is equally
certain; while our manufacturing interests will still he the favored
interests of the country, and receive the incidental protection
afforded them by revenue duties; and more than this they can
not justly demand.
In my annual message of December last a tariff of revenue
duties, based upon the principles of the existing law, was recom-
mended, and I have seen no reason to change the opinions
then expressed. In view of the probable beneficial effects of
that law, I recommend that the policy established by it be
maintained. It has but just commenced to operate; and to
abandon or modify it without giving it a fair trial, would be
inexpedient and unwise. Should defects in any of its details
be ascertained by actual experience to exist, these may be here-
after corrected; but until such defects shall become manifest,
the act should be fairly tested.
It is submitted for your consideration whether it may not be
proper, as a war measure, to impose revenue duties on some
of the articles now embraced in the free list. Should it be
deemed proper to impose such duties, with a view to raise
revenue to meet the expenses of the war with Mexico, or to
avoid to that extent the creation of a public debt, they may
be repealed when the emergency which gave rise to them shall
cease to exist, and constitute no part of the permanent policy
of the country.
The act of the 6th of August last, "to provide for the
better organization of the Treasury, and for the collection, safe-
keeping, transfer, and disbursement of the public revenue,"
has been carried into execution as rapidly as the delay neces-
sarily arising out of the appointment of new officers, taking
and approving their bonds, and preparing and securing proper
places for the safe keeping of the public money, would per-
mit. It is not proposed to depart in any respect from the
principles or policy on which this great measure is founded.
358
LIFE AND TIMES OF
There are, however, defects iu the details of the measure, de-
veloped by its practical operation, which are fully set forth in
the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, to which the
attention of Congress is invited. These defects would impair,
to sopae extent, the successful operation of the law at all times,
but are especially embarrassing when the country is engaged in
a war, when the expenditures are greatly increased, when loans
are to be effected, and tbe disbursements are to be made at
points many hundred miles distant, in some cases, from any
depository, and a large portion of them in a foreign country.
The modifications suggested in the report of the Secretary of
the Treasury are recommended to your favorable consideration.
In connection with this subject, I invite your attention to
the importance of establishing a branch of the Mint of the
United States at New York. Two thirds of the revenue derived
from customs being collected at that point, the demand for
specie to pay the duties will be large; and a branch mint,
where foreign coin and bullion could be immediately converted
into American coin, would greatly facilitate the transaction of
the public business, enlarge the circulation of gold and silver,
and be, at the same time, a safe depository of the public
money.
The importance of graduating and reducing the price of
such of the public lands as have been long offered in tbe mar-
ket, at the minimum rate authorized by existing laws, and re-
main unsold, induces me again to recommend the subject to
your favorable consideration. Many millions of acres of tbese
lands have been offered in the market for more than thirty
years, and large quantities for more than ten- or twenty years;
and being of an inferior quality, th'ey must remain unsalable for
an indefinite period, unless the price at which tbey may be pur-
chased shall be reduced. To place a price upon them above their
real value is not only to prevent their sale, and thereby deprive
the Treasury of any income from that source, but is unjust tp
the States in which they lie, because it retards their growth
and increase of population, and because they have no power to
levy a tax upon them as upon other lands within their limits,
held by other proprietors than the United States, for the support
of their local governments.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
359
The beneficial effects of the graduation principle have been
realized by some of the States owning the lands within their
limits, in which it has been adopted. They have been demon-
strated also by the United States acting as the trustee of the
Chickasaw tribe of Indians in the sale of their lands lying
within the States of Mississippi and Alabama. The Chickasaw
lands, which would not command in the market the minimum
price established by the laws of the United States for the sale
of their lands, were, in pursuance of the treaty of 1834 with
that tribe, subsequently offered for sale at graduated and re-
duced rates for limited periods. The result was, that large
quantities of these lands were purchased, which would otherwise
have remained unsold. The lands were disposed of at their
real value, and many persons of limited means were enabled "to
purchase small tracts, upon which they have settled with their
families. That similar results would be produced by the adop-
tion of the graduation policy by the United States, in all the
States in which they are the owners of large bodies of lands
which have been long in the market, can not he doubted. It
can not be a sound policy to withhold large quantities of the
public lands from the use and occupation of our citizens, by
fixing upon them prices which experience has shown they will
not command. On the contrary, it is a wise policy to afford
facilities to our citizens to become the owners at low and inod-
erate rates, of freeholds of their own, instead of being the ten-
ants and dependents of others. If it be apprehended that these
lands, if reduced in price, would be secured in large quantities
by speculators or capitalists, the sales may be restricted, in
limited quantities, to actual settlers or persons purchasing for
purposes of cultivation.
In my last annual message, I submitted for the consideration
of Congress, the present system of managing the mineral lands
of the United States, and recommended that they should be
brought into market and sold, upon such terms and under such
restrictions as Congress might prescribe. By the act of the
11th of July last, " the reserved lead-mines and contiguous
lands in the States of Illinois and Arkansas, and Territories of
Wisconsin and Iowa," were authorized to be sold. The act is
confined, in its operation, to " lead-mines and contiguous lands."
360
LIFE AND TIMES OF
A large portion of the public lands containing copper and
other ores is represented to be very valuable; and I recommend
that provision be made authorizing the sale of these lands, upon
such terms and conditions as their supposed value may, in the
judgment of Congress, be deemed advisable, having due re-
gard to the interests of such of our citizens as may be located
upon them.
It will be important, durin'g your present session, to estab-
lish a territorial government, and to extend the jurisdiction and
laws of the United States over the Territory of Oregon. Our
laws regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes
east of the Rocky Mountains should be extended to the Pacific
Ocean; and for the purpose of executing them, and preserving
friendly relations with the Indian tribes within our limits, an
additional number of Indian agencies will be required, and
should be authorized by law. The establishment of custom-
houses, and of post-offices and post-roads, and provisioj;i for the
transportation of the mail on such routes as the public con-
venience will suggest, require legislative authority. It will be
proper, also, to establish a surveyor-general's office in that Ter-
ritory, and to make the necessary provision for surveying the
public lands, and bringing them into market. As our citizens
who now reside in that distant region have been subjected to
many hardships, privations, and sacrifices in their emigration,
and by their improvements have enhanced the value of the
public lands in the neighborhood of their settlements, it is rec-
ommended that liberal grants be made to them, of such portions
of these lands as they may occupy, and that similar grants or
rights of pre-emption be made to all who may emigrate thither
within a limited period, to be prescribed by law.
The report of the Secretary of War contains detailed infor-
mation relative to the several branches of the public service
connected with that Department. The operations of the army
have been of a satisfactory and highly gratifying character.
I recommend to your early and favorable consideration the
measures proposed by the Secretary of War for speedily filling
up the rank and file of the regular army, for its greater eflS-
ciency in the field, and for raising an additional force to serve
during the war with Mexico.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
361
Embarrassment is likely to arise for want of legal provision
authorizing compensation to be made to the agents employed in
the several States and Territories to pay the Eevolutionary and
other pensioners the amounts allowed them by law. Your at-
tention is invited to the recommendations of the Secretary of
War on this subject. These agents incur heavy responsibilities
and perform important duties, and no reason exists why they
should not be placed on the same footing, as to compensation,
with other disbursing ofBcers.
Our relations with the various Indian tribes continue to be
of a pacific character. The unhappy dissensions which have
existed among the Cherokees for many years past have been
healed. Since my last annual message important treaties have
been negotiated with some of the tribes, by which the Indian
title to large tracts of valuable land within the limits of the
States and Territories has been extinguished, and arrangements
made for removing them to the country west of the Mississippi.
Between three and four thousand, of different tribes, have been
removed to the country provided for them by treaty stipulations,
and arrangements have been made for others to follow.
In our intercourse with the several tribes, particular attention
has been given to the important subject of education. The
number of schools established among them has been increased,
and additional means provided, not only for teaching them the
rudiments of education, but of instructing them in agriculture
and the mechanic arts.
I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Navy for a
satisfactory view'of the operations of the Department under his
charge during the past year. It is gratifying to perceive, that
while the war with Mexico has rendered it necessary to employ
an unusual number of our armed vessels on her coasts, the pro-
tection due to our commerce in other quarters of the world has
not proved insufficient. No means will be spared to give effi-
ciency to the naval service in the prosecution of the war; and
I am happy to know that the officers and men anxiously desire
to devote themselves to the service of their country in any en-
terprise, however difficult of execution.
I recommend to your favorable consideration the proposition
to add to each of our foreign squadrons an efficient sea steamer,
362
LIFE AND TIMES OF
and, as especially demanding attention, the establishment at
Pensacola of the necessary means of repairing and refitting the
vessels of the navy employed in the Gulf of Mexico.
There are other suggestions in the report which- deserve,
and, I doubt not, will receive your consideration.
The progress and condition of the mail service for the past
year are fully presented in the report of the Postmaster-Gen-
eral. The revenue for .the year ending on the 30th of June
last amounted to three million four hundred and eighty-seven
thousand one hundred and ninety-nine dollars, which is eight
hundred and two thousand six hundred and forty-two dollars
and forty-five cents less than that of the preceding year. The
payments for that Department during the same time amounted
to four million- eighty-four thousand two hundred and ninety-
seven dollars and twenty-two cents! Of this sum five hundred
and ninety-seven thousand and ninety-seven dollars and eighty
cents have been drawn from the Treasury. The disbursements
for the year were two hundred and thirty-six thousand four
hundred and thirty-four dollars and seventy-seven cents less
than those of the preceding year. While the disbursements
have been thus diminished, the mail facilities have been en-
larged by new mail routes of five thousand seven hundred and
and thirty-nine miles; an increase of transportation of one mill-
ion seven hundred and sixty-four thousand one hundred and
forty-five miles, and the establishment of four hundred and
eighteen new post-oflSces. Contractors, postmasters, and others,
engaged in this branch of the service, have performed their
duties with energy and faithfulness deserving commendation.
For many interesting details connected with the operations of
this establishment, you are referred to the report of the Post-
master-General; and his suggestions for improving its revenues
are recommended to your favorable consideration. I repeat the
opinion expressed in my last annual message, that the business
of this Department should be so regulated that the revenues de-
rived from it should be made to equal the expenditures; and it
is believed that this may be done by proper modifications of the
present laws, as suggested in the report of the Postmaster-Gen-
eral, without changing the present rates of postage.
With full reliance upon the wisdom and patriotism of your
JAMES KNOX POLK.
363
deliberations, it will be my duty, as it will be my anxious
desire, to co-operate with you in every Constitutional effort
to promote the welfare and maintain the honor of our com-
mon country.
•
About all there is on the Administration side, at
all events, as to the causes and responsibility of the
war with Mexico, is found clearly set forth in this
message. The statement that Mexico by her own
act had inaugurated the war is many times re-
iterated here; and the proof set forth as to how
she had deliberately invaded the soil of the United
States to begin the war, as well as a partial presen-
tation of the question of boundary in the Nueces or
the Rio Grande. But on these points there was
then great diversity of opinion, even many of the
President's friends not supporting him in his views
touching them, and many of them giving their voice
to the various war measures with great reluctance.
One of the most notable of the opponents of all the
ideas of the President as to the mode of the an-
nexation of Texas, the boundary line, and the re-
sponsibility of the war, and yet one of the most
energetic supporters and advisers as to the war
when it had begun was the " Senator for Thirty
Years," as he pompously called himself.
Of the President's position in this message, Mr.
Benton has left this record:—
"The war was assumed, and argued to have been
made by her, and its existence only recognized by us after
'American blood had been spilled upon American soil.'
History is bound to pronounce her judgment upon these
364
LIFE AND TIMES OF
assumptions, and to say that they are unfounded. In the
first place, the legal state, of war, the status belli, was pro-
duced by the incorporation of Texas, with which Mexico
was at war. In the next place, the United States Gov-
ernment understood that acl to be the assumption of the
war in fact, as well as in law, by the immediate advance
of the army to the frontier of Texas, and of the navy to
the Gulf of Mexico, to take the war off the hands of the
Texans. In the third place, the actual collision of arms
was brought on by the further advance of the American
troops to the left bank of the Lower Kio Grande, then
and always in the possession of Mexico, and erecting field
works on the bank of the river, and pointing cannon at
the town of Matamoras on the opposite side, the seat of
a Mexican population, and the head-quarters of their army
of observation. It was under these circumstances that the
Mexican troops crossed the river, and commenced the
attack. And this is what is called spilling American
•blood on American soil. The laws of nations and the
law of self-defense, justify that spilling of blood; and
such will be the judgment of history."
However, no great number of the Democratic
party at that time or since went to the same length
as did Mr. Benton in giving aid and comfort to
Mexico in her attempts to prove the war just on
her part. In this volume and the following one,
facts and papers may be found which certainly do
not sustain the President's view that Mexico did not
claim the movement of General Taylor's army from
the Nueces to the Rio Grande as the immediate cause
of the clash of arms. The President here brings for-
ward the additional argument that before the arrival
of General Scott at the seat of war another attempt
JAMES KNOX POLK.
365
had been made, on his part, to stop the war by
negotiation. California and New Mexico had then
been conquered, and a considerable territory west of
the Rio Grande had come under the protection of
the American army. The Mexican response to the
proposition to treat at this time involved the aban-
donment of all this territory, and, of course, the loss
of all that had been gained, and hence could not be
entertained by the President. Too much had already
been staked and accomplished, and the President had
private reasons to hope for greater advantages.
The secret scheme of the Cabinet from which
the President still hoped much in settling the diffi-
culties and arresting the war is again presented in
this message. That is, an appropriation of two or
three millions for some emergency that might at any
time arise in obtaining peace. The substance of his
special messages of August 4th and 8th, 1846, is
repeated, and the appropriation asked. The secret
of this strange and unusual affair will be seen far-
ther on. The tariff and revenue questions are again
presented with the usual faith of his party, and the
interminable Indian question, yet unsettled to the
satisfaction of the American people, and never, per-
haps, to be so until the red race has become extinct
on the continent.
This message as prepared and ready for Congress
presented quite a different appearance a few days
before the assembling of that body, in one or two
respects. It is again deemed advisable to let Mr.
Benton, the most important witness on record, speak
366
LIFE AND TIMES OF
of this matter, in the following very satisfactory
manner:—
"Arriving at Washington before the commencement
of the session of '46-'47, Mr. Benton was requested by
the President to look over the draught of his proposed
message to Congress (then in manuscript), and to make
the remarks upon it which he might think it required;
and in writing. Mr. Benton did so, and found a part to
which he objected, and thought ought to be omitted. It
was a recommendation to Congress to cease the active
prosecution of the war, to occupy the conquered part of
the country (General Taylor had then taken Monterey)
with troops in forts and stations, and to pass an act estab-
lishing a temporary government in the occupied part; and
to retain possession until the peace was made. This rec-
ommendation, and the argument in support of it, spread
over four pages of the message, from 101 to 105. Mr. Ben-
ton objected to the whole plan, and answered to it in an
equal, or greater number of pages, and to the entire con-
viction and satisfaction of the President. 1. The seden-
tary occupation was objected to as being entirely contrary
to the temper of the American people, which was active,
and required continual ' going ahead' until their work
was finished. 2. It was the mode of warfare suited to
the Spanish temper, which loved procrastination, and
could beat the world at it, and had out-set the Moors
seven hundred years in the south of Spain and the Visi-
goths three hundred years in the north of it; and would
certainly out-set us in Mexico. 3. That he could govern
the conquered country under the laws of nations, without
applying to Congress, to be worried upon the details of
the act, and rousing the question of annexation by con-
quest, and that beyond the Rio Grande; for the proposed
line was to cover Monterey, and to run east and west
entirely across the country. These objections, pursued
JAMES KNOX POLK
367
through their illustrations, were entirely convincing to
the President, and he frankly gave up the sedentary
project.
" But it was a project which had been passed upon in
the Cabinet, and not only adopted, but began to be ex-
ecnted. The Secretary of War, Mr. Marcy, had officially
refused to accept proffered volunteers from the governors
of several States, saying to them, ' A sufficient amount
of force for the prosecution of the war had already been
called into service,' and a premium of two dollars a head
had been offered to all persons who could bring in a re-
emit to the regular army, the regulars being the reliance
for the sedentary occupation. The Cabinet adhered to
their policy. The President convoked them again, and
had Mr. Benton present to enforce his objections; but
without much effect. The abaudonment of the sedentary
policy required the adoption of an active one, and for
that purpose the immediate calling out of ten regiments
of volunteers had been recommended by Mr. Benton; and
this call would result at once from the abandonment of
the sedentary scheme. Here the pride of consistency
came in to play its part. The Secretary of War said he
had just refused to accept any more volunteers, and in-
formed the governors of two States that the Government
' had troops enough to prosecute the war; and urged that
it would be contradictory now to call out ten regiments.
The majority of the Cabinet sided with him; but the
President retained Mr. Benton to a private interview,
talked the subject all over, and finally came to the reso-
lution to act for himself, regardless of the opposition of
the major part of his Cabinet. It was then in the night,
and the President said he would send the order to the Secre-
tary of War in the morning to call out the ten regiments,
which he did; but the Secretary, higgling to the last, got
one regiment abated, so that nine instead of ten were
called out; but these nine were enough. They enabled
368 LIFE AND TIMES OF
Scott to go to Mexico, and Taylor to conquer at Buena
Vista, and to finish the war victoriously.
"A comic mistake grew out of this change in the
President's message, which caused the ridicule of the
sedentary line to be fastened on Mr. Calhoun, who in fact
had counseled it. When the message was read in the
Senate, Mr. Westcott, of Florida, believing it remained as
it had been drawn up, and induced by Mr. Calhoun, with
whose views he was acquainted, made some motion upon
it, significant of approbatory action. Mr. Benton asked
for the reading of the part of the message referred to.
Mr. Westcott searched, but could not find it; Mr. Cal-
houn did the same. Neither could find the passage". In-
quiring and despairing looks were exchanged, and the
search for the present was adjourned. Of course it was
never found. Afterwards Mr. Westcott said to Mr. Ben-
ton that the President had deceived Mr. Calhoun; had
told him that the sedentary line was recommended in the
message, when it was not. Mr. Benton told him there
was no deception, that the recommendation was in the
message when he said so, but had been taken out (and
he explained how) and replaced by an urgent recommen- "
dation for a vigorous prosecution of the war. But the secret
was kept for the time. The Administration stood before
the country vehement for war, and loaded with applause *
for their spirit. Mr. Calhoun remained mystified, and
adhered to the line, and incurred the censure of opposing
the Administration which he professed to support. He
brought forward his plan in all its details, the line marked
out, the number of forts and stations necessary, and the
number of troops necessary to garrison them, and spoke
often and earnestly in its support, but t© no purpose.
His plan was entirely rejected, nor did I ever hear of any
one of the Cabinet offering to share with him in the ridicule
which he brought upon himself for advocating a plan so
preposterous in itself, and so utterly unsuited to the temper
JAMES KNOX POLK.
369
of our people. It was in this debate, and in support of
this sedentary occupation that Mr. Calhoun characterized
that proposed inaction as ' a masterly inactivity,' a fine
expression of the Earl of Chatham, and which Mr. Cal-
houn had previously used in the Oregon debate in recom-
mending us to do nothing there, and leave it to time to
perfect our title."
24—K
370
LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER XVII.
A GRAND PLAN FAILS!—MR. BENTON DISAPPOINTED—SOME
SECRETS—SANTA ANNA AND THE THREE MILLIONS
FOR THE SECRET SERVICE — LAWS FOR
NEW MEXICO—GENERAL KEARNEY'S
THEORY OF A REPUBLIC.
Besides opposing the cessation of hostilities and
the "sedentary plan," of holding what they
already occupied, very wisely, Mr. Benton proposed
a plan for a decisive campaign, which the President
mainly adopted. This was to place twenty-five
thousand men under Taylor, who was to march from
Monterey through the interior by San Luis Potosi to
the City of Mexico, garrisoning the country as he
went; and fifteen thousand were to be placed under
Scott who should march, from some place on the Gulf,
to the same point, each general having at any time a
ready available effective force of ten thousand men,
which Mr. Benton and the President both concluded
would be enough to whip any force the Mexicans
could bring against it, no matter how great it might
be. To crown this plan a new office was to be
created, that of lieutenant-general, having chief com-
mand in the field during the continuance of the
war, and that office was to be filled by a political
general. This political chief was to have the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
371
authority to negotiate as to boundaries, for peace
and other things, and was to be no other than the
" Senator for Thirty Years," the wise, egotistic Ben-
ton himself. There was no trouble in passing a bill
through the House to put this fine plan into opera-
tion, but in the Senate it was defeated. Mr. Madi-
son seriously thought of making Henry Clay gen-
eral-in-chief of the army at the beginning of the
War of 1812, and that such a step would have been
unwise is mere conjecture. And although the ne-
cessity for placing an able political leader at the
head of affairs in the field did not exist in 1846, as
there were at least two able military chiefs, tried
and in whom the country had confidence, yet per-
hap.s no citizen of the day could have filled the re-
quirements of the office better than Thomas Hart
Benton, who had seen some service under Jackson.
Mr. Benton greatly desired the success of this
scheme, more perhaps than he ever desired to be-
come President, and he always believed the bill was
defeated in,the Senate by the secret influence of
James Buchanan, William L. Marcy, and Robert J.
Walker, on account of political aspirations.
Mexico lifted General Taylor into the Presiden-
tial chair, and brought General Scott as near to it
as he ever got, and what might it not have done for
Mr. Benton ?
In the last hours of Mr. Tyler's Administration,
the incoming President committed himself to the
plan of negotiating for Texas, or if he did not many
Congressmen were wheedled into the belief that he
372
LIFE AND TIMES OF
had done so. About all there is now known on this
point has been substantially told. One thing is cer-
tain, this mild little blue-eyed Tennessee President
was soon found to be vehemently in favor of war,
and at last when he had recommended it, declared
tjjat Congress should be held responsible if it did not
authorize the declaration. He had a secret scheme.
That made him enthusiastic for the war. He be-
lieved the scheme would be successful, and confi-
dently asserted, as did his advisers, that the war
and all the difficulties would be over in three or four
months. There was a mystery about this confidence
and exactness which gave spirit to some of his doubt-
ing friends. Mr. Polk was no soldier, and his Cab-
inet was composed of extremely unwarlike men.
What the Administration lacked in this direction, it
hoped to compensate for by a fussy pretense and in-
trigue. A declaration of war was necessary, and
perhaps some little fighting would have to be done.
But the leaders of the Administration were wily
politicians, and from the outset, determined that no
political reputations should be made by the war, how-
ever it might be drawn out. Nobody knew this better
than did General Scott, unless, indeed, did Colonel
Benton, the lieutenant-general " that was to be."
The territory must be secured, further acquisitions
must be made, the old indemnity difficulties must be
settled on a satisfastory basis, and all this must be
done in a manner to reflect honor on the Administra-
tion only. If the country got the benefit, it was
little enough for the Administration to get the glory.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
373
Much war would shift the glory to the wrong shoul-
ders. And although the scheme required a little
fighting in order to be able to make the right kind
of peace, this really peace-liking and timid Adminis-
tration had no idea of carrying on a great war with
Mexico. This is apparent, in part, from the repeated
efforts of the President to open negotiations, but
with a wider range of purposes than merely fixing
the Texas boundary"; and, in part, from the fixed de-
sign of the Administration to recommend the cessa-
tion of hostilities, and the occupation of the vast
territory already under military control with a view
to finishing the work for which the army had laid the
foundation, by skillful diplomacy, in keeping with
that which preceded General Kearney to New Mex-
ico. The way the President was diverted from this
course, and the warlike tone of the second message
substituted, has already been shown. The army had
done enough, and it was hoped that the great slices
cut off the two sides of Mexico, could be made per-
manent acquisitions. But this could not be done with-
out money, without bribe and corruption somewhere.
Two years before Santa Anna had been banished
from Mexico, and was living in retirement, near
Havana, where he had become quite distinguished in
the two noble pursuits of gambling and cock-fighting.
It was understood that he was opposed to the war
with the United States, and inclined to a favorable
peace, and before the declaration of war the Admin-
istration had fixed upon him as the certain way to a
speedy peace and about all of Mexico it wanted.
374
LIFE AND TIMES OF
This was the secret of the President's anxiety for the
declaration of war, and also for his mysterious mes-
sages at the close of the last session of Congress, and
the urgent repetition of the demand in the last gen-
eral message for an appropriation of $2,000,000 for
secret service connected with the purposes and chances
of negotiation. The bill for this apptopriation was
defeated at the last session by the " Wilmot Proviso,"
but it was again brought forward and passed without
that proviso in this short session, and $3,000,000
appropriated for the purposes of negotiation. The
object to which it was to be applied, if occasion pre-
sented, was now to some extent known, or suspected.
And the President was obliged to make some apology
in the annual message at this time for the return of
Santa Anna. It may be said here that the Adminis-
tration was deceived in the pretensions of Santa
Anna, and it became unnecessary to use this money
to buy him into the scheme of a peace on the basis
of a large land acquisition. But that fact was not
fully known when Congress convened in December.
Santa Anna had returned to Mexico through our
blockading squadron, and not long afterwards it was
charged that Mr. Polk and his Cabinet had something
to do with the designs of Santa Anna on the Mexican
government. The intrigue began to leak out. Still
notwithstanding the fact that some very indiscreet
persons had been involved in the execution of the
scheme, it had been held with extraordinary success
as an Administration secret. " The Union," the
Administration organ at Washington, took up the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
375
case, and without being in the secret, made this
authoritative statement:—
."We deem it our duty to state in the most positive
terms, that our Government has no sort of connection with
any scheme of Santa Anna for the revolution of Mexico,
or for any sort of purpose. Some three months ago some
adventurer was in Washington, who wished to obtain their
countenance and aid in some scheme or other connected
with Santa Anna. They declined all sort of connection,
co-operation, or participation in any effort for the purpose.
The Government of this country declines all such intrigues
or bargains. They have made war openly in the face of
the world. They mean to prosecute it with all their vigor.
They mean to force Mexico to do us justice at the point
of the sword. This, then, is their design—this is their
plan; and it is worthy of a bold, high-minded, and ener-
getic people."
But this was a mistake, at least, and that became
apparent, to some extent, in that part of the Presi-
dent's message in December, 1846, referring to the re-
turn of Santa Anna to Mexico. The American Consul
at Havana, Mr. Campbell, had discovered, he thought,
that Santa Anna might be of great service to this
Government, if his own ambition could be consulted,
and these views he placed before the Administration;
and to further test the matter, a secret agent was
sent by Mr. Polk to Havana. This agent was Cap-
tain Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, who had become
notorious a few years before in the most wonderful
delusion, if not crime, that has ever marred the his-
tory of the American navy. Mackenzie sought no-
toriety. The Administration desired secrecy both for
376
LIFE AND TIMES OF
its own'honor and the success of the scheme. Mac-
kenzie, it was said, was repugnant to Santa Anna.
His selection was not fortunate, at all events, and it
was left for another to complete the no very formal
or well-defined scheme with the exiled aspirant to
leadership in Mexico. It was found that Santa Anna
favored peace with the United States; that he also
wanted power. The United States should aid in put-
ting him again at the head of Mexican affairs, and for
this he would be ready to make a peace which would
please that country, and greatly exalt the Adminis-
tration. But Santa Anna would have a money con-
sideration for his good services to the United States,
and for this the President wanted the command of
a few millions. This was the agreement with Santa
Anna, entered into and relied upon before the decla-
ration of war. Upon this very intrigue, the existence
of which " The Union " positively denied, the Presi-
dent founded all his hopes for a speedy peace, and
based his anxiety for war. On the very day on
which the President was authorized by Congress to
c&.11 for volunteers, and enter upon the war, the fol-
lowing order, marked private and confidential, was
sent to Commodore Conner, in command of the fleet
blockading the Mexican coast:—
" United States Navy Department, \
" May 13, 1846. /
" Commodore,—If Santa Anna endeavors to enter the
Mexican ports, you will allow him to pass freely.
"George Bancroft.
" Commodore David Conner, Commanding Home Squadron."
JAMES KNOX POLK,
377
The following extract from " The Campaign of
General Scott" by the graphic pen of Raphael Semmes,
of the navy, will close the real history of this alfair :—
" Early in August, while the squadron was lying at
anchor under Green Island, keeping watch and ward over
the enemy's city and castle of Vera Cruz, the seamen on
the lookout, at the mast-head of the St. Mary's, then
cruising on the blockade, descried the smoke of a
steamer. As this was not the regular day for the appear-
ance of any of the English mail-steamers—which had been
permitted to pass in and out of the beleaguered port with-
out question, the English government pledging itself for
their faithful conduct as neutrals—the smoke of a steamer
was a novelty, in this now lonely deserted part of the
Mexican Gulf. The St. Mary's, in due time, placed her-
self in a position to intercept the stranger, in her approach
to the city; and as the latter came up within hailing dis-
tance, she ordered her to ' heave to,' while a boat was be-
ing sent on board of her. The boat being in readiness in
a few minutes, a lieutenant jumped into her, and with a
few strokes of his oars from the sinewy arms of his sea-
men, placed himself alongside the steamer. The steamer
being evidently a merchant vessel, the lieutenant was sur-
prised to find himself received with much ceremony and
courtesy, at the gangway. Making his way on deck, and
explaining the object of his visit to the captain, he was
conducted to the cabin, where he was ushered into the
society of a circle of gentlemen, evidently Spaniards or
Mexicans, from their olive complexions, black hair and
eyes, and pointed and curled mustachios. It was obvious,
also, at the first'glance, that most, if not all of these gentle-
men, although dressed in plain or citizens' clothes, were
military men, and persons of bearing and distinction.
After a moment's pause, the captain, as though he had pur-
posely prepared a surprise for the boarding officer, turned
378
LIFE AND TIMES OF
toward him, and making a graceful motion with his right
hand, at the same time, in the direction of one of the gentle-
men, who, though of the ordinary height and figure, seemed
by his commanding air and manner, to be the chief of the
party, said, ' Allow me to present you, sir, to General An-
tonio Lopez de Santa Anna.' The officer started back at
first in a little surprise, but soon recovering himself, ad-
vanned cordially toward the general, and extending his
hand, a mutual interchange of civilities took place. In a
few moments, Senora Santa Anna (a second wife), a hand-
some blonde, with deep blue, eyes and auburn hair, and
still in the bloom of early womanhood, joined the party,
and'was presented to the officer, who saluted her in turn,
with becoming gallantry and respect. General Almonte,
late Minister to the United States, was also present as one
of the general's suite; and speaking our language well,
acted as interpreter on the occasion. General Santa Anna
having explained briefly who he was—although such ex-
planation was entirely unnecessary—and that he purposed
going into Vera Cruz, with the permission of the commo-
dore, the boarding officer after sitting as long as courtesy
required, and perhaps a little longer than a strict regard
to duty permitted, in homage to the ladies' charms—a
petticoat being an unusual sight to us rough blockaders,
about this time—withdrew to report ' progress,'to his com-
manding officer, and to ask for orders in the novel case
which had occurred. The commander, who had been pre-
pared by the commodore for the contingency, forthwith
dispatched the boat back again, and directed the officer
at the same time, that he should present his compliments
to General Santa Anna, to say to him on, the part of the
commodore, that' he could proceed to Vera Cruz, with his
suite, as he desired;' whereupon the steamer Arab shot
boldly out from under the lee of the blockading vessel,
and in an hour or two more, landed her distinguished
passenger, ' big with the fate' of Mexico, safely in the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
379
desired haven. That night, the roar of cannon and the
bursting of rockets in the air testified the joy of the fickle
Vera Cruzanos at the return of their lost Coriolanus; and
it soon transpired, that the wily peace-maker who had so
handsomely duped our Cabinet at Washington, had put
himself at the head of the ultra war party, and proclaimed,
in common with Acting-President Salas, whom he has-
tened to join, ' no quarter to the Yankees.'"
Three months had passed after the arrival and
restoration of Santa Anna to power, before the. con-
vening of Congress, and yet the President's message,
but for the interference of Thomas H. Benton, would
have advised a cessation of hostilities on the strength
of the benefits hoped to be derived from his return
to the head of affairs, and he did, under that expec-
tation, ask the appropriation for negotiations. Yet
all of Santa Anna's conduct had been, from the day
of his landing at Vera Cruz, wholly opposed to this
idea. A " revolution" had just occurred in Mexico,
it is true, and the war President, Paredes, deposed
and banished ; but from the moment Santa Anna
took charge until the 8th of December, when the
President's message went to Congress, he had dis-
played no disposition towards peace, and had already
infused a new and determined war spirit into the
people of Mexico, immediately subject to his influ-
ence. Still there were several circumstances justify-
ing the President's reliance upon the success of the
agreement with Santa Anna. The bill to appropriate
three millions to his scheme of negotiation did not
finally become a law until the last day of the session.
*
380 LIFE AND TIMES OF
March 3, 1847. The Wilmot Proviso had been at-
tached to it, and passed in that shape in the House,
but the Senate rejected the proviso, and at last this
position was sustained in the branch where it orig-
inated. This proviso started afresh the agitation of
the slavery question in Congress and throughout the
country, and during the remainder of Mr. Polk's
term the fierce conflicts of 1885 were re-enacted in
the Halls of Congress. The business brought before
Congress at this session was of no marked impor-
tance. A bill for the improvement of certain rivers
and harbors again passed both Houses, but this was
left unsigned in the President's hands at the close
of the session, and did not become a law. A few
days after the opening of the session, the President
was called upon by the House of Representatives for
the instructions to military and naval commanders
touching the establishment of governments in the
conquered territory. In the President's brief message
in reply, are these words:—
" Among the documents accompanying the report of
the Secretary of War will be found a ' form of govern-
ment' 'established and organized' by the military com-
mander who conquered and occupied with his forces the
. Territory of New Mexico. This document was received
at the War Department in the latter part of the last
month, and, as will be perceived by the report of the Sec-
retary of War, was not, for the reasons stated by that
officer, brought to my notice until after my annual message
of the 8th instant was communicated to Congress.
" It is declared on its face to be a ' temporary govern-
ment of the said Territorybut there are portions of it
JAMES KNOX POLK.
381
which purport to 'establish and organize' a permanent
territorial government of the United States over the Ter-
ritory, and to impart to its inhabitants political rights
which, under the Constitution of the United States, can be
enjoyed permanently only by citizens of the United States.
These have not been ' approved and recognized' by me.
Such.organized regulations as have been established in any
of the conquered Territories for the security of our con-
quest, for the preservation of order, for the protection of
the rights of the inhabitants, and for depriving the enemy
of the advantages of these Territories while the military
possession of them by the forces of the United States con-
tinues, will be recognized and approved."
This brought to the attention of Congress the
most wonderful achievement ever performed by an
American general, and distinctly showed that the
Administration did not sanction the legislative work
of General Kearney in New Mexico. Under the
supervision of General Kearney a vast system of
laws was prepared at Santa Fe for the government
of New Mexico. It was compiled from organic forms
of States and Territories of the United States, and
left little or nothing to trouble Congress, or to be
contended over by the people of the Territory, as-
suming the acquisition as a fact not subject to after
consideration. Some of the friends of the President,
and those who admired the enterprise of General
Kearney, pretended to believe the whole affair was
a joke. But it brought upon the President no little
censure, the Whigs making it the foundation for the
most direct and positive attacks against many of his
acts, which they claimed were beyond his authority
382
LIFE AND TIMES OF
as commander-in-chief of the army. In the following
strain Garret Davis, of Kentucky, in the House,
referred to the President's course as to the civil
proceedings of the commanders in the conquered
Territories:—
" But when he saw foreign countries occupied by our army
and navy; when he heard officers of our Government pro-
claiming themselves governors of provinces, appointing sub-
ordinate officers, fixing their salaries and the duration of
their offices—establishing, in a word, the whole machine of
civil government, he demanded of the President his author-
ity for permitting and sanctioning such a course of proceed-
ings. What! was our American President an emperor,
sending forth his Agrippa and his Marcellus, his procoh-
suls, to establish and to govern the provinces they might
conquer by force of arms? Was the President of the
United States, an officer deriving his breath and being
from the Constitution of the United States, to authorize
his satraps and his tetrarchs to set up govfernments at their
pleasure, and prescribe to them laws and regulations at
their discretion ? If he could, Mr. D. wanted to know
under what grant of the Constitution he exercised such a
power? The President, he admitted, was made by the
Constitution commander-in-chief of the army and navy
of the United States, and he could do, in time of war,
whatever pertained to that authority. He could do noth-
ing, however, in relation to the conduct of either army or
navy, but what grew out of, and was immediately connected
with, that authority. But for the express grant of the
Constitution, he could do nothing in conducting the war at
all. The whole duty would, in that case, devolve upon
Congress, and such agents as Congress might be pleased
to appoint. The President could discharge no function in
relation to the war, but such as resided in him as com-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
383
mander-in-chief of the army and navy of the country. ,
As President, he could legitimately take no part in a war
of conquest—none whatever—none, none. Then Mr. D.
wanted to know from the President, and from his partisans,
by what imperial or regal authority his majesty undertook
to act in the premises referred to in the resolution of
inquiry."
The following articles, copied from Kearney's
" Organic Law" of New Mexico, will sufficiently
apprise the reader of the character of the whole
performance:—
"ARTICLE I.
"Section 1. The country heretofore known as New
Mexico, shall be known hereafter, and designated as the
Territory of New Mexico, in the United States of America,
and the temporary government of the said territory shall
be organized and administered in the manner herein
prescribed.
"ARTICLE II—Executive Power.
" Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in
a governor, who shall reside in the said territory, and
hold his office for two years, unless sooner removed by the
President of the United States.
"ARTICLE III—LEGISIiativb power.
"Section 1. The legislative power shall be vested in
a General Assembly, which shall consist of the Legisla-
tive Council and a House of Representatives.
" Section 8. All free male citizens of the Territory
of New Mexico, who then are, and for three months next
preceding the election shall have been, residents of the
county or district in which they shall offer to vote, shall
be entitled to vote for a delegate to the Congress of the
United States, and for members of the General Assem-
bly, and for all other officers elected by the people.
384
LIFE AND TIMES OF
"ARTICLE IV—Jttdiciai, Power.
"Section 1. The judicial power shall be vested in a
Superior Court; and inferior tribunals to be established
by law."
The entire "Organic Law" was prefaced with
these words: " The Government of the United
States of America ordains and establishes the follow-
ing Organic Law for the Territory of New Mexico,
which has become a territory of the said Govern-
ment," and followed by this statement and signature:—
"Done in the Government House, in the City of Santa
Fe, in the Territory of New Mexico, by Brigadier-Gen-
eral Stephen W. Kearney, by virtue of the power and
authority conferred upon him by the Government of the
United States, this twenty-second day of September, 1846.
" S. W. Kearney,
"Brigadier-General U. S, A."
JAMES KNOX POLK.
385
CHAPTER XVIII.
WAR WITH MEXICO—CERRO GORDO—A PROCLAMATION
TO THE MEXICANS—TRICKS OF NEGOTIATION—
SCOTT AND HIS GENERALS —THE
HAND OF MR. TRIST.
SOON after the capture of Vera Cruz Commodore
Perry took up his quarters at that point, and
General Worth was made temporary governor of the
place. Order was soon restored, and a feeling of
safety established among the citizens. The port
was opened, and traders, especially English and
American, rushed in. It now became the depot of
supplies to the army of General Scott; the activity
and enterprise of the conquerors and the host of
every sort that came in their wake, were soon ap-
parent on every hand; and, perhaps. Vera Cruz
never before had worn such an aspect of business
thrift and warlike stir. The ruins of the bombard-
ment soon disappeared, and an age of improvement
seemed to have set in under the Anglo-Ameri-
can race.
One great object of the commander of the army
in the earliest possible attack on Vera Cruz was that
he might be able to enter the interior of the coun-
try before the season of vomito, or Yellow Fever.
25—K
386
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Accordingly the advance of the American army
moved on the national road towards the City of
Mexico on the 6th of April, 1847. Three days
afterwards General Scott received information that
Santa Anna, having recovered from his defeat by
General Taylor at Buena Vista, was at Jalapa to
dispute his march. On the 12th Scott left Vera
Cruz, and the next day all of his effective force of
ten thousand men was moving rapidly toward the
new scene of conflict. At the bridge across the Rio
del Plan, fifty miles from Vera Cruz and twenty
or thirty from the beautiful city of Jalapa, the
American army was brought to a halt. Four miles
from the plain on the north side of this rio was the
Pass of Cerro Gordo. Here the road wound through
one of the many wonderful passes which abound in
this country, and render it easily defensible against
almost any force. On the ridge and hill of Cerro
Gordo, eight or ten hundred feet high, with the river
on one side, Santa Anna, with a force about equal to
that of General Scott's, had taken his position.
Two Ways were left for the American army, the
road and the right flank of the Mexicans, gained by
scaling the ridge. On the other side of the heights
of Cerro Gordo the Rio del Plan secured the ene-
my's position. The main Mexican force lay on the
* road, and the ridge and the hill of Cerro Gordo
were planted with batteries and infantry defenses or
parapets. General Twiggs reached the Plan del
Rio on the 11th of April, and on the following day
began his reconnoissance, and before the arrival of
JAMES KNOX POLK.
387
the general-in-chief had decided on the course mainly
adopted by him for the attack.
On the 14th General Scott came up, and the re-
connoissances were renewed with great exactness;
resulting, however, only in confirming in the material
points, the view taken of the situation two days be-
fore by Twiggs. On the morning of the 17th the
following general order of battle was issued >—
" Head-quarters of the Army, \
" Plan del Eio, April 7, 1847. j
"The enemy's whole line of intrenchments and bat-
teries will be atacked in front, and at the same time
turned, early in the day to-morrow, probably before ten
o'clock A. M.
"The second (Twiggs) division of regulars is already
advanced within easy turning distance towards the enemy's
left; that division has instructions to move forward before
daylight to-morrow, and take up position towards Jalapa.
It may be re-enforced to-day if unexpectedly attacked in
force, by regiments, one or two, taken from Shields's
brigade of volunteers. If not, the two volunteer regi-
ments will march for that purpose at daylight to-morrow
morning, under Brigadier-General Shields, who will re-
port to Brigadier-General Twiggs, on getting up with him,
or to the general-in-chief, if he be in advance.
"The remaining regiment of that volunteer brigade
will receive instructions in the course of this day.
"The first division of regulars (Worth's) will follow
the movement against the enemy's left at sunrise to-mor-
row morning.
" As already arranged, Brigadier-General Pillow's
brigade will march at six o'clock to-morrow morning
along the route he has carefully reconnoitered, and stand
ready, as soon as he hears the report of arms on our right,
or sooner if circumstances should favor him, to pierce the
388
LIFE AND TIMES OF
enemy's line of batteries at such point, the nearer to the
river the better, as he may select. Once in the rear of
that line, he will turn to the right or left, or both, and
attack the batteries in reverse, or if abandoned, he will
pursue the enemy with vigor until further orders.
"Wall's field battery and the cavalry will he held in
reserve on the national road, a little out of view and
range of the enemy's batteries. They will take up that
position at nine o'clock in the morning.
" The enemy's batteries being carried or abandoned,
all our divisions and.corps will pursue with vigor.
" This pursuit may be continued many miles, until
stopped by darkness or fortified positions towards Jalapa.
Consequently the body of the army will not return to this
encampment, but be followed to-morrow afternoon, or
early the next morning, by the baggage-trains of the
several corps. For this purpose the feebler officers and
men of each corps will be left to guard its camp and
effects, and to load up the latter in the wagons of the
corps. A commander of the present encampment will be
designated in the course of this day.
" As soon as it shall be known that the enemy's works
have been carried, or that the general pursuit has been
commenced, one wagon for each regiment and battery
and one for the cavalry will follow the movement, to
receive under the direction of medical officers, the
wounded and disabled, who will be brought back to this
place for treatment in general hospital.
"The surgeon-general will organize this important
service, and designate that hospital as well as the medical
officers to be left at it.
" Every man who marches out to attack or pursue the
enemy will take the usual allowance of ammunition and
subsistence for at least two days.
"By command of Major-General Scott.
"H. L. Scott, A. A. A. General."
JAMES KNOX POLK.
389
On this day the Americans began the execution
of their plan of turning the Mexican left, over the
hills, and the engineer corps began opening the road
for that purpose. Some sharp skirmishing occurred,
and the Mexicans were driven from several advanced
positions on the lower range of hills. The greater
part of the night was spent by a large detailed force
in dragging several guns up the rugged heights,
which, although commanded by Cerro Gordo, were
yet in condition to do great service on the next day.
A sixty-three pound howitzer was also placed in
position on the opposite side of the river. In the
fighting of this day, it does not appear that Santa
Anna became aware of the intention of the Ameri-
can General to turn his extreme left by a route
over the ridge, which he deemed it improbable any
commander would undertake, and believing or pre-
tending to believe that the main attack had already
been made against him, he started a messenger on
the night of the 17th with cheering news to the
Capital.
Early on the morning of the 18th the American
army was in motion, with the divisions of Twiggs and
Worth ascending the ridge to fall upon the left of
Cerro Gordo and the main force of the enemy under
General Canalize on the national road, and the
division of General Pillow continuing his line taken
the day and night before on the hills to the left of
the road. Before the middle of the afternoon the
great victory had been won, and the shattered army
of Santa Anna was driven far on the road to Jalapa.
390
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Santa Anna had made every possible attempt to
infuse the courage he claimed for himself into his
men, and on the 18th he was in all parts of the
field giving orders and urging resistance to the last.
He beheld the capture of Cerro Gordo, the point
he thought impregnable, and after seeing General
Canalize refuse to obey his orders, and knowing
the day was lost, he was one of the first to leave
the field, in the flight that soon became general.
The following is General Scott's report of this
battle :—
" Head-quartees of the Army, "j
"Plan del Rio, 50 miles from Vera Cruz, }■
" April 19, 1847. )
" Sir,—The plan of attack, sketched in General Orders,
No. Ill, forwarded herewith, was finely executed by this
gallant army, before two o'clock P. M. yesterday. We are
quite embarrassed with the results of victory—prisoners
of war, heavy ordnance, field batteries, small arms, and
accouterments.
" About three thousand men laid down their arms, with
the usual proportion of field and company officers, besides
five generals, several of them of great distinction—Pinson,
Jarrero, La Vega, Noriega, and Obando. A sixth general,
Vasquez, was killed in defending the battery (tower) in
the rear of the whole Mexican army, the capture of which
gave us those glorious results.
" Our loss, though comparatively small in numbers, has
been serious. Brigadier-General Shields, a commander of
activity, zeal, and talent, is, I fear, if not dead, mortally
wounded. He is some five miles from me at the moment.
The field of operations covered many miles broken by
mountains and deep chasms, and I have not a report, as yet,
from any division or brigade.
" Twiggs's division, followed by Shields's (now Colonel
JAMES KNOX POLK.
391
Baker's) brigade, are now at or near Xalapa, and Worth's
division is in route thither, all pursuing, with good re-
suits, as I learn, that part of the Mexican army—perhaps
six or seven thousand men—who had fled before our right
had carried the tower, and gained the Xalapa road.
"Pillow's brigade alone is near me at this depot of
wounded, sick, and prisoners; and I have time only to
give from him the names of First Lieutenant F. B. Nel-
son, and Second Lieutenant C. G. Hill, both of the 2d
Tennessee foot (Haskell's regiment), among the killed, and
in the brigade one hundred and six, of all ranks, killed
or wounded.
" Among the latter, the gallant Brigadier-General him-
self has a smart wound in the arm, but not disabled; and
Major R. Farqueson, 2d Tennessee, Captain H. F. Mur-
ray. Second Lieutenant G. T. Sutherland, First Lieutenant
W. P. Hale, Adjutant, all of the same regiment, severely,
and First Lieutenant W. Yearwood, mortally wounded.
And I know, from personal observation on the ground, that
First Lieutenant Ewell, of the Rifles, if not now dead, was
mortally wounded in entering, sword in hand, the intrench-
ments around the captured tower.
" Second Lieutenant Derby, topographical engineers, I
also saw, at the same place, severely wounded, and Captain
Patten, 2d United States Infantry, lost his right hand.
Major Sumner, 2d United States dragoons, was slightly
wounded the day before, and Captain Johnston, topo-
graphical engineers (now lieutenant-colonel of infantry),
was very severely wounded some days earlier while recon-
noitering. I must not omit to add that Captain Mason and
Second Lieutenant Davis, both of the Rifles, were among
the very severely wounded in storming the same tower.
" I estimate our total loss, in killed and wounded, may
be about two hundred and fifty, and that of the enemy at
three hundred and fifty. In the pursuit towards Xalapa
(twenty-five miles hence) I learn we have added much to
392
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the enemy's loss in prisoners, killed, and wounded. In
fact, I suppose his retreating army to be nearly disorgan-
ized, and hence my haste to follow, in an hour or two, to
profit by events.
" In this hurried and imperfect report I must not omit
to say that Brigadier-General Twiggs, in passing the mount-
ain range beyond Cerro Gordo, crowned with the tower,
detached from his division, as I suggested the day before,
a strong force to carry that height, which commanded the
Xalapa road at the foot, and could not fail, if carried, to
cut off the whole, or any part of the enemy's forces, from
a retreat in any direction.
"A portion of the 1st Artillery;, under the often-dis-
tinguished Brevet-Colonel Childs, the 3d Infantry, under
Captain Alexander, the 7th Infantry, under Lieutenant-
Colonel Plymton, and the Rifles, under Major Loring, all
under the temporary command of Colonel Harney, 2d
Dragoons, during the conflnement to his bed of Brevet-
Brigadier-General P. F. Smith, composed that detachment.
The style of execution, which I had the pleasure to wit-
ness, was most brilliant and decisive.
" The brigade ascended the long and difficult slope of
Cerro Gordo, without shelter, and under the tremendous
fire of artillery and musketry with the utmost stead-
iness, reached the breastworks, drove the enemy from
them, planted the colors of the 1st Artillery, 3d and
7th Infantry—the enemy's flag still flying—and, after
some minutes' sharp firing, finished the conquest with
the bayonet.
" It is a most pleasing duty to say that the highest praise
is due to Harney, Childs, Plymton, Loring, Alexander,
their gallant officers and men, for this brilliant service,
independent of the great results which soon followed.
" Worth's division of regulars coming up at this time,
he detached Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel C. F. Smith, with
his light battalion, to support the assault, but not in time.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
393
The general, reaching the tower a few minutes before me,
and observing a white flag displayed from the nearest por-
tion of the enemy towards the batteries below, sent out
Colonels Harney and Childs to hold a parley. The sur-
render followed in an hour or two.
" Major-General Patterson left a sick-bed to share in
the dangers and fatigues of the day; and after the sur-
render went forward to command the advanced forces
towards Xalapa.
" Brigadier-General Pillow and his brigade twice
assaulted with great daring the enemy's line of batteries on
our left; and though without success, they contributed
much to distract and dismay their immediate oj)ponents.
"President Santa Anna, with Generals Canalize and
Almonte, and some six or eight thousand men, escaped
towards Xalapa just before Cerro Gordo was carried, and
before Twiggs's division reached the national road above.
" I have determined to parole the prisoners—officers
and men—as I have not the means of feeding them here
beyond to-day, and can not afford to detach a heavy body
of horse and foot, with wagons, to accompany them to Vera
Cruz. Our baggage-train, though increasing, is not half
large enough to give an assured progress to this army.
" Besides, a greater number of prisoners would, probably,
escape from the escort in the long and deep sandy road,
without subsistence—ten to one—than we shall find again,
out of the same body of men, in the ranks opposed to us.
Not one of the Vera Cruz prisoners is believed to have been
in the lines of Cerro 'Gordo. Some six of the officers,
highest in rank, refuse to give their paroles, except to
go to Vera Cruz, and thence,»perhaps, to the United
States.
" The small arms and accouterments, being of no value
to our army here or at home, I have ordered them to be
destroyed ; for we have not the means of transporting them.
I am, also, somewhat embarrassed with the pieces of
394
LIFE AND TIMES OF
artillery, all bronze, which we have captured. It would
take a brigade, and half the mules of our army, to trans-
port them fifty miles.
" A field battery I shall take for service with the army;
but the heavy metal must be collected, and left here for
the present. We have our own siege-train and the proper
carriages with us.
" Being much occupied with the prisoners, and all the
details of a forward movement, besides looking to the sup-
plies which are to follow from Vera Cruz, I have time to
add no more—intending to be at Xalapa early to-morrow.
We shall not, probably, again meet with serious opposition
this side of Perote—certainly not, unless delayed by the
want of the means of transportation.
"I have the honor to remain, sir, with high respect,
" Your most obedient servant,
" WiNFiELD Scott.
"Hon. Wm. L. Marcy, Secretary of War."
Four hundred and thirty-one Americans were killed
and wounded in the two days' engagement at Cerro
Gordo, and of these thirty-three were officers, seven
of whom were killed or mortally wounded. The
Mexican loss was supposed to be much greater, hut
it was never certainly known. Some letters from
correspondents accompanying the army, placed the
Mexican losses very high, and represented the chase
to Jalapa as wonderfully destructive to the Mexicans,
the road being literally lined with their dead bodies.
But little stress could *be put upon these statements.
On the day after the battle the American army en-
tered Jalapa. General Worth continued the pursuit
of the flying Mexicans to La Hoya, another strong
pass, where he met no resistance, and on the 22d took
JAMES KNOX POLK.
395
possession^ of the strongly fortified castle of Perote,
which Canalizo had ordered to be surrendered. Here,
too, an immense amount of heavy cannons and other
war material fell into the hands of the Americans.
General Scott now took up his head-quarters at Ja-
lapa, and here on the 4th of May over three thou-
sand of his men whose time, of service was about ex-
piring, were dismissed and sent home. These men
had over a month to serve from the battle of Cerro
Gordo, and General Scott was censured greatly for
not, at that time, when he said himself that Mexico
was without an army, pushing on to the City of
Mexico, and at once completing the war. It is not
easy to see that this censure was not well founded.
The general rested his course mainly on the benev-
olent desire to save volunteers from the dreaded
vomito. In his general order at this time he said :—
" The general-in-chief regrets to learn, through a great
number of undoubted channels, that, in all probability,
not one man in ten of tho.se regiments, will be inclined to
volunteer for the war. This predetermination offers, in his
opinion, no ground for reproach, considering the long, ar-
duous, faithful, and gallant services of those corps, how-
ever deeply all will regret the consequent and unavoidable
delay in the prosecution of this war to an early and hon-
orable peace; for the general-in-chief can not, in humanity
and good faith, cause regiments entitled, in a few weeks,
to an honorable discharge, to advance further from the
coast in pursuit of the enemy, and thereby throw them ^
upon the necessity of returning to embark at Vera Cruz,
at the season known to be, at that place, the most fatal
to life."
396
LIFE AND TIMES OF
But there was undoubtedly another obstacle to
his immediate march to the Capital. It was the old
question of transportation and supplies, the ever-
ready way of escape, and the constant source of
complaint with all American generals from Bunker's
Hill to Richmond. General Scott was seriously im-
peded at this time by a determination of the Admin-
istration to have the army draw subsistence from
the country. In March, 1847, an order to that ef-
feet had gone forth from Washington. Money to
supply the army was to be obtained by a tariff on
duties at Mexican posts, and the country was to be
forced to contribute supplies. Scott opposed this
project, as he opposed anything else he considered
impolitic and impracticable, no matter whence it
originated, and wrote a sharp letter to Mr. Marcy to
the effect that if the army was to be supplied in
that manner, the time would be consumed in gather-
ing the supplies, and no progress would be made.
Although General Scott notified the governors of
Tampico and Vera Cruz of the plan of the Govern-
ment as to the revenues, and it was put in opera-
tion and carried out to the end of the war, he gave
little or no heed to the feature requiring him to
gather his supplies from the country without a price,
and continued to purchase the products of the land
at the usual rates. The slowness with which his
demands for money were met by the War Depart-
ment seriously annoyed the General, and in his
usual way he made his feelings fully known in
Washington. While at Jalapa, the General was still
JAMES KNOX POLK
397
further exasperated by the arrival of N. P. Trist,
the chief clerk of the State Department, with au-
thority to negotiate for peace.
Early in April General Scott had himself notified
the Secretary of War that it was quite probable a
commissioner with the army might soon find the
Mexicans disposed to treat on favorable terms. The
Administration, acting upon this suggestion, sent
Mr. Trist, who had married a daughter of Thomas
Jefferson's daughter, Martha. The manner in which
Mr. Trist presented himself and his business to Gen-
eral Scott was not fortunate, and the letter of the
Secretary of War to the General on the subject was
not clear and frank, and the General was not only in-
suited, but came to the, conclusion that the design of
the Administration was to disgrace him. A war at once
began between him and Mr. Trist, which became loud
and open, but without great injury to the army or any
persons but themselves. The selection of Mr. Trist
was not wise, and, perhaps, Mr. Polk knew it, but
the Secretary of State had his own objects to sat-
isfy in urging him for the mission. Mr. Trist had
some good qualifications, or at least one, he could
speak the Spanish language, learned while serving
as consul at Havana, and he knew something of the
Mexican character. But Mr. Buchanan desired to"
appear as important a figure as possible in the case,
and hence, too, a wise and distinguished person
could not be selected.
The General wrote to Mr. Trist that it was
simply meant to degrade him by being required to
398
LIFE AND TIMES OF
defer to the opinions of the chief clerk of the State
Department as to suspending operations in the army.
And Mr. Trist assumed the following airs as ex-
pressed in his letter of the 9th of May, in reply:
"You will now, sir, I trust, understand, when the
communication referred to shall again be placed in
your hands, that greatly deficient in wisdom as the
present (and indeed any Democratic) Administration
of the Government must necessarily be, it has not,
in this particular instance, fallen into so egregious a
blunder as to make the transmission and delivery
of that communicalion dependent upon the amiable
affability and gracious condescension of General
Winfield Scott."
Nothing could have been more indiscreet and
uncalled for than such language, and the effort to
bring partisan politics into the case was without
apology, had it not been somewhat after the common
spirit of the times. Mr. Trist was vain and de-
fective in judgment. And few soldiers were ever
vainer or more intolerant than General Scott. His
conduct was unworthy of his position, and if the
whole case did not show a total want of genuine
patriotism in both Trist and himself, it certainly did
show that self-interest and self-glorification were
for the moment of paramount importance. But a
remarkable feature of the affair was that before
reaching the City of Mexico General Scott and Mr.
Trist had be§n reconciled some way, although the
way is not very clear, and towards the last of July
Scott actually wrote to the Secretary of War that
JAMES KNOX POLK. 399
his relations with Mr. Trist were very cordial, and
that he was a very amiable and proper person. No
right-minded man can read the correspondence be-
tween General Scott and Nicholas P. Trist, and the
history of the whole subject of the Mexican nego-
tiation, with any great degree of satisfaction, or
equanimity, at this day. A man who renders a
service to his country to gratify some personal am-
bition or with a view to a personal reward is not a
true patriot. The true friend to his country forgets
himself both in his motive and in his act. So, too,
that personal friendship which is founded upon
present personal gratitude, or the hope of future re-
turn or recompense, is unsafe and unworthy of the
name. Mr. Trist and General Scott were not the
only sinners in this case, although they were the
only persons sinned against. Mr. Trist's commission
from the President (who was really unfavorable to
his appointment) styled him " plenipotentiary," and
the mere fact of his being a clerk in the Depart-
ment of State had nothing whatever to do with his
fitness or appropriateness for such a service. The
ground on which General Scott and many others
objected to Mr. Trist, that of his being merely an
unknown, undistinguished employe of a Depart-
ment, was one of the disgusting features of the
whole affair. Had the President taken him from
the streets, if he were able and honorable, the se-
lection would have been appropriate between repub-
lies. In its own affairs a true republic can make no
distinction between its citizens, only on the gx-ound
400 LIFE AND TIMES OF
•
of honor and ability, great virtue and wisdom, or
the tried services of these qualities. General Scott
finally acknowledged that Mr. Trist was discreet and
able. That he was able there need be no doubt.
He was devoted to the Administration, a thing con-
sidered great during the Mexican War, and, indeed,
almost paramount to every other quality in a public
officer from the day John Quincy Adams stepped
down and out of the Presidential Chair until this
time. Still Mr. Prist's devotion was not appro-
elated, and no man whose name was connected with
the Mexican War had more cause to complain of his
treatment than had he.
On the 11th of May General Scott issued a
proclamation to the people of Mexico, which, in
some respects, was one of his most doubtful per-
formances while in that country. In this paper the
General set forth a cause for the war on the part
of the United States which was wholly opposed to
that maintained by the Administration, and, of
course, did not meet the approbation of the Presi-.
dent, in that particular. With the exception of this
very important consideration, this remarkable proc-
lamation was received with decided favor in Wash-
ington. Scott did not issue this proclamation until
after he had been urged to do so by Mexicans
within his line who* were favorable to peace. It was
translated into Spanish by one of these Mexicans,
and the part these men took in the matter greatly
offended and incensed Santa Anna. It is very
doubtful whether it accomplished anything in the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
401
direction for which it was designed, and for a time,
it had just the opposite effect, greatly stimulating the
Mexicans to resistance. Although it was highly
praised as a well-worded and appropriate paper, it is
somewhat difficult to-day to see any grounds for re-
affirming so favorable an estimate of it. The Ian-
guage, besides having about it a great air of im-
portance, is certainly unfortunate in its insulting
tone, to a people not altogether dead to feelings of
respect for their country, and confidence in their
public men.
The following is a part of this wonderful
proclamation:—
"The hardest heart would be moved to grief in con-
templating the battle-fields of Mexico a moment after the
last struggle. Those generals whom the nation has, with-
out service rendered, paid for so many years, with some
honorable exceptions, have in the day of need betrayed it
by their example of unskillfulness. On that field, among
the dead and dying, are seen no proofs of military honor,
for they are reduced to the sad fate of the soldier, the
same on every occasion, from Palo Alto to Cerro Gordo,
the dead to remain unburied, and the wounded abandoned
to the charity and clemency of the conqueror. Soldiers
who go to fight expecting such a recompense, deserve to
be classed among the best in the world, since they are
stimulated by no hope of ephemeral glory, of regret, of
remembrance, or even of a grave.
" Again, Mexicans of honorable pride, contemplate the
lot of peaceful and laborious citizens in all classes of your
society. The possessions of the Church menaced and
held out as an incitement to revolution and anarchy; the
fortune of the rich proprietors pointed out for plunder to
26—K
402
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the ill-disposed; the merchant and the artisan, the laborer
and the manufacturer, burdened with contributions, ex-
cises, monopolies, taxes upon consumption, surrounded
with restrictions and charged with odious internal cus-
toms; the man of letters and the statesman, the man of
liberal knowledge who dares to speak, persecuted without
trial by some factions or by the rulers who abuse their
power; criminals unpunished and set at liberty, as were
those of Perote. Is this, then, Mexicans, the liberty
which you enjoy?
" I will not believe that the Mexicans of the present
day are wanting in courage to confess errors which do not
dishonor them, and to adopt a system of true liberty, of
peace, and union with their brethren and neighbors of the
North; neither will I believe that they are ignorant of
the falsity of the calumnies of the press, intended to ex-
cite hostility. No! pu4)lic sentiment is not to be created
or animated by falsehood. We have not profaned your
temples, nor abused your women, nor seized your prop-
erty, as they would have you believe.
"We say this with pride, and we confirm it by your
own bishops, and by the clergy of Tampico, Tuspan,
Matamoras, Monterey, Vera Cruz, and Jalapa, and by all
the authorities, civil and religious, and the inhabitants of
every town we have occupied. We adore the same God, and
a large portion of our army, as well as of the population
of the United States, are Catholics, like yourselves. We
punish crime wherever we find it, and reward merit and
virtue.
"The army of the United States respects, and will
always respect, private property of every description, and
the property of the Mexican Church.
"Mexicans! the past can not be remedied, but the
future may be provided for. Repeatedly have I shown
you that the Government and people of the United States
desire peace, desire your sincere friendship.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
403
"Abandon, then, rancorous prejudices, cease to be the
sport of individual ambition, and conduct yourselves like
a great American nation; leave off at once colonial habits,
and learn to be truly free, truly republican, and you will
become prosperous and happy, for you possess all the ele-
ments to be so. Remember that you are Americans,
and that your happiness is not to come from Europe.
"I desire, in conclusion, to declare, and with equal
frankness, that, if necessary, an army of one hundred
thousand could promptly be brought, and that the United
States would not terminate their differences with Mexico
(if compelled to do so.by force of arms) in any manner
uncertain, precarious, or dishonoring to yourselves. I
should insult the intelligent of this country if I had any
doubt of their acquaintance with this truth.
" The order to form guerrilla parties to attack us, I as-
sure you, can procure nothing but evil to your couutry,
and no evil to our army, which will know how to proceed
against them; and if, so far from conciliating, you succeed
in irritating, you will impose upon us the hard necessity
of retaliation, and then you can not blame us for the con-
sequences which will fall upon yourselves.
"I am marching with my army upon Puebla and
Mexico; I do not conceal it. From those capitals I
shall again address you. I desire peace, friendship, and
union; it is for you to select whether you prefer war;
under any circumstances, be assured I shall not fail my
word. WiNFIELD SOTT."
A spirited Mexican made a reply in pamphlet
form to this pompous address, a performance on the
part of General Scott about as worthless as that of
William Hull to the people of Canada in 1812,
and as ridiculous as some of those made along the
northern border and in the Department of the
404
LIFE AND TIMES OF
South during the same war. The Mexican pam-
phlet contained this bitter assault on Scott:—
"Has the North American General properly appro-
elated the magnitude of the insult which he has offered
to Mexicans, and which we will remember in the day of
our vengeance?
"Did the chief of the invading army propose to him-
self, to blind some, to divide others, and to deceive all,
with his false promises,' and untrue protestations? If so,
he has produced a contrary result; he has aroused in all
hearts a holy indignation; he has made us feel the neces-
sity of union, in order that we may revenge so many out-
rages; and, finally, he has inspired us with a noble reso-
lution, of never treating with an enemy as cruel, as
perfidious. Fortunately we are . not as imbecile as Gen-
eral Scott supposes us, nor as degraded as it would be
necessary for us to be, to listen with a serene front, to his
insults and his threats, in that language of protection and
of pity, in which he addresses us. But let us descend to
a reply to that defamatory libel upon our name; let us
say something concerning that celebrated document, which
certainly neither displays the practiced diplomatist, the
distinguished military chief, nor the astute and dexterous
politician, but the man of conquest, who, to the scandal
of the civilized, world, enters our territory at the head of
a horde of immoral adventurers, like an Alaric, or an
Attila."
At last the nine new regiments which had been
provided for at the last session of Congress, began to
arrive in the field. On the 15th of May General
Worth at the head of his division, about four thou-
sand strong, entered the city of Puebla (Puebla de
los Angeles), a city of seventy-five thousand people.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
405
Here, as at Jalapa, the more wealthy classes who
had not been able to flee from their homes, at first shut
themselves in their houses, wholly avoiding even a
sight of the hated northern horde, but after a time
this feeling wore away, and the officers were admitted
to their houses on the most agreeable terms. With
all the insignificance of the Mexicans, the Pueblans
were disappointed in the appearance of Worth's reg-
ulars. They were not giants. Nor did they make
that display expected in a conquering army, yet
having stopped at no obstruction. On the 21st of
May General Scott broke up head-quarters at Jalapa,
and on the 28th reached Puebla. Here he remained
until joined by new recruits under George Cadwalla-
der. Franklin Pierce, and Gideon J. Pillow, and on
the 6th of August, began his march for the City of
Mexico.
In the meantime the Mexicans had not been idle.
After the defeat at Cerro Gordo, Santa Anna for a
time made his head-quarters at Orizaba. From that
point he wrote the following letter to the acting or
substitute President, General Anaya :—
"Orizaba, April 22,'1847.
" My Esteemed Friend,—The dispatch which I have
forwarded to the Minister of War, will already have
informed you of the events which occurred on the 18th
inst. The enemy made extraordinary effort to force the
pass, and attacked me with his whole force (which was
not less than twelve thousand men), exasperated by the
repulse he had received the day before, and because he
knew his ruin was inevitable unless he succeeded. He
put everything on the hazard of the die ; and the cast has
406
LIFE AND TIMES OF
been favorable to him. Nevertheless, I do not regard the
cause of the nation as hopeless, if it will sustain its honor
and independence as circumstances require. I presume
that you have taken all proper measures for the public
safety; and first of all, for that of the capital. I shall be
able to aid the capital very soon, if it will defend itself.
At present I have with me fifteen hundred men and three
pieces of artillery; and there is no doubt that I shall col-
lect, in a few days more, a force equal to that which I
rallied at Cerro Gordo. I only require that you should
send me some money, through the medium of bills of ex-
change, as I find it impossible to raise a dollar here. It
is necessary, my friend, not to give ourselves up as lost;
and, before God! you shall see, that I will make no treaty
with the enemy, which will dishonor us, or put us in" a
worse condition. Write to me when convenient, and reckon
always upon the poor services of your most affectionate
friend, who wishes you every happiness.
"A. L. De Santa Anna."
The Mexican Congress was in session when the
news of the defeat at Cerro Gordo reached the capital,
and while a great outcry was raised against Santa
Anna, the most determined spirit of resistance was
manifested in the government. Greater temporary
powers were conferred upon the Executive, and a
strong declaration made against any kind of treaty
with the United States, and it was declared that any
one commencing negotiations should be treated as a
traitor. Guerrilla warfare was sanctioned, and au-
thorized, and preparations made for calling upon the
people in mass, and the whole country was declared
to be in a state of siege. But this temporary spirit
of patriotism soon ended, and the danger of being
JAMES KNOX POLK.
407
conquered by a " Vandal army " did not greatly cool
partisan feuds and strife. On his way from Orizaba
to the City of Mexico, Santa Anna had made an
attempt to arouse the Poblanos to resist the entrance
of Worth into their city. His own force was larger
than Worth's, and although he made some show of
fight at Amozoque, near Puebla, his whole force was
put to flight by a few shots from the American guns.
On the 19th of May he arrived in the City of Mex-
ico, and without a general support, entered upon the
discharge of the Presidency.
A few days previously there had been an unsuc-
cessful attempt to elect a new President, and this art-
ful chief now began to regain his lost standing.
Many of his former friends had deserted him, but he
soon began to exert the power bestowed by the Con-
gress on his substitute (it not being lawful for the
President to serve in the field at the head of the
army), and one of his first acts was to get rid of the
immediate presence of some of the intriguing leaders,
as Ampudia, Arista, Almonte, and Bustamente. Al-
monte who had intrigued to get him back from Cuba,
he cast into prison. On the 29th of May, he offered
his resignation as President, but Congress did not act
on it at once, and on the 2d of the following month,
he withdrew this proffered resignation. Santa Anna
made quite a virtue and display of this performance.
He said in making his withdrawal:—
" I desired, with impatience, that some other person
should succeed me, as the invading army did not intend
moving immediately upon the capital, and the new chief
408
LIFE AND TIMES OF
of the State would have had ample time to prepare for the
public defense; but I learn now that the enemy's forces are
about to march, and may be expected from one moment to
another. We should thus suffer an invasion of the capital,
at the same time that we changed the government, which
would be hazardous, and might decide the fate of the war.
The news of my withdrawal from the supreme power has,
as I have understood, caused this movement of the enemy.
This is an affair of much importance, and demands of me
a prompt decision, that I may save the capital."
He withdrew his resignation, he said, as a painful
sacrifice of himself to the public good. But that is
extremely doubtful, and it was wholly untrue that
the American army was then marching upon the city,
or that the American commander cared anything as
to whether he resigned the Presidency or not. In
the meantime, Mr. Trist had been looking after the
business of his mission, and in the absence of friendly
terms with General Scott, he determined to send Mr.
Buchanan's letter, which he carried, to the City of
Mexico, through the British Minister. This matter
was easily arranged, and the letter, purporting to be
an answer to the Mexican unacceptable terms of ne-
gotiation made months before, was forwarded to the
Mexican Minister from Puebla.
On the 22d of June, Mr. Trist received answer
from the minister that the communication had been
referred to the Mexican Congress, and that was the
end of the matter for the time. The guerrillas au-
thorized by the Mexican government now infested the
country from Vera Cruz to Puebla. The troops
marching, to re-enforce General Scott were reminded
JAMES KNOX POLK.
409
at every favorable point that they were in an enemy's
country. A severe engagement took place between
Colonel M'Intire and these guerrillas at the National
Bridge; and near the pass of Cerro Gordo, M'Intire
was compelled to take a strong position and await
the arrival of re-enforcements under General Cad-
wallader. Colonel Childs, who had been left to hold
Jalapa as an American post on the line of supplies,
was now withdrawn to Puebla. General Scott find-
ing it impossible to keep open this long line to Vera
Cruz, at last determined to draw his support from the
country. While at Puebla he also organized a guer-
rilla band. These men were called spies, and were
composed of Mexican outcasts, headed by Dominquez,
who was a notorious land-pirate. This uncalled-for
and strange performance of Scott brought neither
advantage nor credit to the American army.
The new troops, so fast as they arrived at Puebla,
were put into a thorough system of drilling, and by
the time the order was given to march on the old
City of Mexico, the greater part of them had the
appearance of regulars. Much of the time was spent
at Puebla in manufacturing clothing for the army, a
work which the General made the ground of some
plain language to the Secretary of War. And al-
though he became reconciled to Mr. Trist, Scott did
not cease to reflect that he had made the declaration
that the Administration meant to degrade him; and
during this long delay he asked the War Department
to provide a successor for him, as he wished to with-
draw from a service so unfavorable to him. But his
410
LIFE AND TIMES OF
messengers were now greatly delayed in reaching
Washington, and no action was taken on his com-
plaints and demands until the war was virtually
closed, and serious charges had been made against
him. Towards the end of July, Santa Anna sent a
secret agent to General Scott with a proposition to
favor the appointment of commissioners to treat for
peace. In this proposition the Mexican general fixed
his own bribe at ten thousand to be paid at the
outset, and one million in the event of a favorable
or satisfactory peace. General Scott and Mr. Trist
received the proposition favorably, and the former
especially argued earnestly for its acceptance. Gen-
eral Pillow, who had been taken as an advisory com-
missioner, by recommendation from Washington, as-
sented, and the ten thousand dollars were paid by
General Scott from the scant funds he could command.
Santa Anna then suggested that it would be neces-
sary for the American army to move toward the City
of Mexico, and perhaps make an attack upon some
of the defensive points around it, in order to render
the circumstances favorable to negotiations. To a
certain extent Scott fell in with the cunning and in-
sincere propositions and suggestions of Santa Anna.
Scott called a meeting of his general officers, and
placed before them the proposal of Santa Anna, and
also asked their opinions as to marching at once to-
wards Mexico, or waiting the arrival of General
Pierce then on his way from Vera Cruz with three
thousand troops. Cadwalader and Twiggs gave no
opinion on the offers of Santa Anna; Smith and Pillow
JAMES KNOX POLK.
411
were favorable to it; Quitman and Shields were
decidedly opposed to it, and the opinion of one of
them was not asked; but all that met in the council
advised waiting at Puebla until the whole probable
strength of the army was ascertained by the arrival
of General Pierce. This was another of the remark-
able affairs of the Mexican War, and was founded
upon the understanding both of Santa Anna and
General Scott that the Congress of the United States
had made an appropriation of $3,000,000 to be used
in this very business of bribing Santa Anna to a
favorable treaty. But both General Scott and Mr.
Trist were anxious for a treaty to be concluded from
motives not altogether unconnected with their per-
sonal interests. Mr. Trist hoped to receive some
honor from the negotiation, and General Scott, per-
haps, designed it to help him to the nomination by
the Whigs to the Presidency. He had sufficient mili-
tary reputation, and was anxious that the part he
would take in the final settling of the difficulties be-
tween the two countries should establish his standing
politically. But whatever else General Scott was, it can
hardly be claimed that he was a discreet and skillful
diplomatist. In this respect Santa Anna was his su-
perior. The Mexican political leaders, as a class, were
men of great cunning, and their utter disregard of all
honorable considerations enabled them to deceive the
President and his Cabinet so completely as to induce
them to fall, with alacrity, into the trap of sending
Santa Anna from Cuba to prolong their struggle
against the United States at great expense to both
412
LIFE AND TIMES OF
countries. They egregiously deceived General Taylor
into a ridiculous armistice at Monterey to enable
them to regain their broken organization. And Santa
Anna, perhaps, one of the most notoriously unprin-
cipled men in Mexico, was now most shamefully mis-
leading the " North American" General, who would
again allow himself to be scandalously humbugged by
him before the walls of Mexico.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
413
CHAPTBF^ XIX.
WAR WITH MEXICO—GENERAL SCO TT IN THE HEART,OF '
THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY WITHOUT CHANCE OF SUC-
COR—BATTLE OF CONTRERAS—VALLEY OF
THE WONDERFUL CITY—A MEPHITIC
BASIN IN THE CORDILLERAS.
ON the 7th of August the American army began
its march from Puebla towards the City of
Mexico. It had been formed into four divisions, the
first under William Jenkins Worth; the second, under
David E. Twiggs ; the third, under Gideon J. Pillow,
a Tennessee lawyer and political general, but really
a brave and able man; and the fourth, under John
A. Quitman, also an able political general. The
whole force on the way to the Mexican capital by the
10th of August, numbered about eleven thousand
men of all kinds. On the 10th, the second division
leading the advance, entered the valley of the City
of Mexico, and soon afterwards General Scott fixed
his head-quarters at Ayotla, ten miles from the first
defenses of the enemy. Before leaving Puebla Scott
had made every possible exertion to have accurate
maps of the Mexican position made, but in this he
had not been very successful, and now entered upon
the campaign without a thorough knowledge of the
country over which he was to fight his way into the
414
LIFE AND TIMES OF
enemy's capital. Much of the information he had oh-
tained was from wholly unreliable, and little or none
of it from military, sources. It was well known that
the main route, the national road, on which he had
marched from Vera Cruz, passed between El Penon,
an impregnably fortified hill where Santa Anna had
his head-quarters, and Lake Tezcuco; and that the
intervening country from El Penon to Lakes Chalco
and Xochimilco was defended by the equally impas-
sable fortifications, wet ditches, and marshes of Mex-
icalcingo. From all the information the General could
obtain, he was driven to the conclusion that it would
be impossible to pass to the east and south of Lake
Chalco, and thus avoiding the great obstructions, here
mentioned, approach the city by its more southerly
entrances. The road to the north of Lake Tezcuco
was long, and the approaches to the city on the west
of that lake were believed to be extremely difficult.
Although General Scott had undoubtedly hoped to
make a passage between the mountains and Lake
Chalco, when he sat down at Ayotla there seemed to
be but one way to the City of Mexico, and that by
the impracticable fortifications mentioned, unless, in-
deed, he still had faith in the pretensions of Santa
Anna, and believed a peace yet possible without
further loss of life. Scott's report to the Secretary
of War, dated August 19th, conveys the idea that he
had not abandoned all hope of getting around Lake
Chalco. However this may have been, it was cer-
tainly understood that he had done so, and it being
generally believed among the officers that he was
JAMES KNOX POLK.
415
about to order an advance by way of Mexicalcingo,
Worth on his own responsibility and without advice
sent Lieutenant-Colonel James Duncan with three
hundred and fifty men, supported by six hundred
others, to examine the absolute practicability of the
route around that lake, which it was well known had
been used years, perhaps a hundred years or more,
before.
Lieutenant Raphael Semmes, of the navy, says
Worth was so pleased with the result of this expe-
dition, that he sent Colonel Duncan in person to Gen-
eral Scott with this spirited and soldierly letter:—
" Head-quartkbs 1st Division, Chalco, \
"August. 14,1847. /
"General,—I have the honor to submit the report
of Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan, whom I selected to con-
duct an important reconnoissance, and to solicit for it
your own particular examination; and in doing so, I feel
assured you will kindly excuse a few suggestions. This
report solves all doubts as to the practicability of the
southern route (or that around Lake Chalco), and demon-
strates the facility of reversing the enemy's main positions,
where they have bestowed their principal labor, and placed
their principal armament, before the latter can be shifted
to the quarter in the neighborhood of Tacubaya. Secondly,
that this route will give you elbow room, a large field of
supplies, and keep your force, numerically so inferior, in-
tact, a point, it appears to my mind, of first importance,
until a paralyzing blow shall have been struck, and an
important and commanding position attained. Once with
your entire force at San Augustine, or still better, Tacu-
baya, and you have the game in your own hands, freed
from all the doubts and anxieties of detached and isolated
corps, in a word, taking and keeping the initiative. Opposed
416
LIFE AND TIMES OF
to these views I can only imagine one, of consideration,
viz.: that we abandon our line, and enable the enemy to
place himself in the rear. To which I answer, that we are
not in circumstances to entertain the question of the rear.
This army has crossed the Rubicon, and has no resource
but victory, which, in my judgment, will be assured by
united action. Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan bears this, and
will be at hand, to give any further explanations of his
reconnoissance.
" I have the honor to be, with much respect,
" Your obedient servant, W. J. Worth.
"Maj.-Gen. Win. Scott, Com'd'r-in-Chief, U. S. A. in Mexico."
It has been quite generally claimed that Scott
ordered this reconnoissance to be made, or authorized
Worth to make it on account of the desire of Worth
and Duncan to do so. But this letter clearly shows
that General Scott knew nothing of Worth's design
whatever, further than that he had ordered a general
reconnoitering by all the division commanders.
On the very morning (the 14th) of the day in
which this reconnoissance was made, Genera! Scott
had decided to move the following day on Mexical-
cingo, and Worth understood that he was to attempt
the passage around Lake Chalco alone with his divis-
ion with a view of finding his way to the rear of
Mexicalcingo, or rendering such service as he could
to the main point of attack.
Worth believing the plan of the General-in-chief
to divide the small army would lead to fatal disaster,
and opposing the idea of attacking Mexicalcingo, with
a view of changing the designs of General Scott,
undertook the examination of this passage. Scott
JAMES KNOX POLK.
417
gladly accepted the newly discovered route, although
even that was not without hazard, as the character
of the country on the south of the lakes was not
well understood. If General Scott contemplated di-
viding his army, and sending a detachment into an
unknown region without even a definite supposition
as to its ability to render him assistance, he was
about to do one of the most suicidal things ever per-
petrated by a soldier. It was well for his reputa-
tion that the reconnoissance was made, even at the
risk of bearing the charge of having abandoned the
southern route without sufficient examination. At
all events, on the night of the 14th, the plan was
changed, and on the following morning the army be-
. gan to move around Lake Chalco, Worth in the lead.
On the 17th Worth arrived at San Augustine, and the
other divisions came up on the following day. Santa
Anna was aware of the change of General Scott's
course almost as soon as it was made, and at once
began to remove his troops from the main fortifica-
tions at El Pe'non and Mexicalcingo, and prepare to
resist him on the new line. He took up his quarters
at San Antonio, about six miles from the City of
Mexico. Two miles in the rear of San Antonio, on
the main route, at the village and bridge of Churu-
busco, another strong position was taken. Beyond
this the way was open to the gates of the capital.
To the left and south of this route by the way of
Contreras and the village of San Angel, there was
still another, and an unobstructed route to the city.
To reach the Contreras road it was necessary to pass
27—K
418
LIFE AND TIMES OF
around and over the Pedregal, a stony, rent, and
roadless lava-bed, the undisturbed remains of a long
ago extinct volcano. J. L. Mason, of the engineers
attached to General Worth's division, and Captain
Robert E. Lee, of the engineer corps, attached to the
head-quarters of the General-in-chief, and several
other engineers, explored this lava-bed, but arrived
at different conclusions as to the practicability of the
route. Lee not only considered it practicable, but
regarded that as the way to reach the capital. Gen-
eral Scott determined to make a lodgment on the
southern road, and also hold to the main line by
Churubusco. Reconnoissances were at once ordered
on both routes, and on the evening of the 18th, it
was found that the enemy with a force equal to the
whole American army had taken position in advance
of Contreras, on the hills of Padierna, under General
Valencia, one of the most unreliable of all the Mex-
ican leaders. On the morning of the 19th of August
Pillow's division was sent to open the way for artillery
across the lava-bed, and the division of Twiggs was
moved forward to the protection of Pillow. Night, the
usually rainy night, came on, with the position of the
American army not very well defined, and a great deal of
confusion among the various commanders. The Mex-
ican general was disposed to believe that he had
gained some advantages, and sent to Santa Anna,
who had made a fruitless attempt to re-enforce him,
a report that he only waited for morning to finish
the destruction of the invaders.
But the morning brought with it quite a different
JAMES KNOX POLK.
419
story. General Persifer F. Smith, who, with Shields,
Colonel Bennet Riley, and Cadwalkder, was on the
field in the neighborhood of Contreras, determined
to move upon the enemy's rear or flank in the night,
and sent word to General Scott that he would march at
three o'clock, and asked that some diversion might
be made in his favor. Colonel Ransom was sent
forward with his (Morgan's) regiment, the 9th In-
fantry, under the guidance of Captain Lee. At
three o'clock the movement began and was con-
ducted without the knowledge of the Mexicans.
Each brigade was led by an engineer. Brooks,
Beauregard, and Tower, besides Lee being on the
the field for that purpose. Colonel Bennet Riley
led, Cadwallader with his own, and Major Dimick
with Smith's men following in the same route.
Shields was posted near the San Angel road to
watch any movement to re-enforce Valencia. The
difficulties of the route greatly delayed the advance
of the troops, and day had dawned before Riley had
gained the flank and rear of the hills on which
Valencia was camped.
At daylight the Mexicans had begun cannonading
Shields without observing the position of the other
troops. Smith now closed up the long columns of
Riley's and Cadwallader's brigades, and began to
ascend the hills. The attack was made" in fine
spirit, and from the outset the Mexicans were thrown
into great confusion, which was wonderfully in-
creased by the arrival of Ransom, who opened a
murderous fire from the other side and approaching
420
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the San Angel road, their only chance of escape
except to the mountains. Soon after the attack
Valencia disappeared, and the rout became general.
It was the work of a few minutes. The mass of the
cowardly fugitives rushed along the San Angel road,
but Smith ordered his own brigade under Dimick to
fall upon their flank; and Shields now seeing the
course of affairs did the same with his brigade,
finally succeeding in placing his own men across the
road, when the remaining Mexicans threw down
their arms and surrendered. It was a splendid
morning's work, with little loss, comparatively, to
the Americans, who now, more than ever, felt them-
selves invincible by any Mexican force. The Mex-
ican loss was about seventeen hundred in killed and
wounded, and nearly one thousand in prisoners,
among the latter being Generals Salas, Garcia, Men-
doza, and Blanco. A large quantity of military
stores and twenty-two cannons fell into the hands
of the Americans. And among these spoils were
the guns captured by Santa Anna at Buena Bista
(Angostura). The whole American loss-was about
seventy-five men in killed and wounded. The great
Valencia disappeared from public notice after the
battle of Contreras or Padierna.
The Mexican force in the battle of the 20th was
more than six thousand and that of the Americans
not more than four thousand all told. The promi-
nant figure in this splendid victory was evidently
Persifer F. Smith, as he planned the night attack
which was successful, although not carried out fully
JAMES KNOX POLK,
421
until six o'clock in the morning, and he commanded
the troops in the main engagement. Under him,
perhaps, the most interesting character was Colonel
(after this General) Bennet Riley, who led the ad-
vance. He was a soldier by profession, a brave and
noble man, and although he succeeded poorly in
gaining military honors and rank, he never failed
on the field of battle. Of him and the ground of
Contreras Wilson wrote in his "Mexico and its
Religion ":—
"What sort of a victory has it proved to the hero of
this battle? He had spent the best portion of his life in
the Indian Territory, arranging difficulties, appeasing
strifes, overawing the turbulent, and restraining the law-
lessness of white intruders. And now he had become an
old man, with the rank only of major, as he had no kind
friend at court. But the Mexican War opened to him the
prospect of winning a sash, or being brought home in a
coffin.
" The sash was won, but the coffin was near at hand;
for while he was gaining his laurels he contracted a can-
cer, which in a short time after his return from a distant
command, consigned him to the home prepared for all
living. Forty long years had he followed the profession
of arms, and endured its hardships without a murmur;
yet, when he laid down his sword to die, he had nothing
to leave to his children but the commissions Congress had
awarded him on his California revenues. War is a hard
trade for the bravest of the brave, and with very few
prizes except to political favorites, who, with high-sound-
ing titles, but without military experience, ride by the
side of some brave subaltern, gather his laurels, and enjoy
the fruits of his experience.
"A slight breastwork and a heap of bones and skulls
422
LIFE AND TIMES OF
mark the site of this gallant exploit of General Riley.
And we fancied that we could select the American skulls
from the common mass, as they clearly belonged to two
distinct races of men; one set of skulls being thin and
firm, while the other was thick and porous."
One of the most romantic spots on the face of
the earth is supposed to be the Valley of the City
of Mexico, and certain it is that few parts of the
world in modern times have been so beclouded with
fiction, which the unsuspecting and even many of
the most thoughtful and penetrating have taken for
truth. Few have dared or cared to break through
the fabrications of mist and falsehood which have
hung over all Mexico since the conquest. The little
Valley of the City of Mexico, seventy-five hundred
feet above the level of the Pacific in the center of
the Anahuac Cordillera, has for three hundred and
fifty years been the seat of these wonderful histor-
ical delusions. When the army of General Scott
caught their first glimpse of the City of Mexico
from near Rio Frio, it was to behold it with much of
the false light in which it had been invested through
all these centuries. These republican soldiers, like
Cortez and his Spanish pirates, were hurrying on in
their imaginations to revel amidst a civilization and
glories that never existed. Subsequently as they
beheld the despised descendants of the ancient
Toltecs and their successors, the Aztecs, living in
their one-story adobe " palaces," still rude and super-
stitious, it might have been suggested with what
ease Cortez, a robber chief, in the best of all possible
JAMES KNOX POLK. 423
positions, to immortalize himself in a nation where
fiction and falsehood had made a great part of
history since the days of Charlemagne and the
Moorish invasion, had invented the tale of a vast
people, untold grandeur and wealth, and a barbaric
civilization which startled the wonder, admiration,
and cupidity even of southern Europe. But now in
the light of a better and wiser age, and in the hands
of an independent and intellectual people, this old
fiction of the Conquistadors is slowly passing away.
At Rio Frio the national road reaches a height
of ten thousand four hundred feet above the sea, and
five miles from this point the descent into the valley
begins, but the city remains hidden for a time,
owing to a chain of hills across this (the eastern)
side of the basin. The valley is an irregular oval
plateau or basin of porphyritic rock extending in a
south-easterly and north-westerly direction, almost
entirely surrounded by the mountain in which it lies.
It contains about fifteen hundred square miles,
of which a hundred and fifty square miles are lake
and marsh, and is thirty-two by forty-two miles in
length and width, with a circumference of about
one hundred and seventy-five miles. The great
object of attraction in this valley is Mexico City.
The original old city of Tenochtitlan or Mexico,
built by the Aztecs stood, in Lake Tezcuco, and was
represented by Cortez as being another Venice, part
of its streets being water, and as having been
founded in 1325. This great city of mud "palaces "
was easily pulled down by its own people and it
424
LIFE AND TIMES OF
and all its wealth thrown into the ditches before the
advance of the conqueror, in 1519.
Although Cortez began to rebuild the " city" in
1521, the present City of Mexico really dates from
1634. For five years preceding that time there
had been a flood in the valley, and the water had so
rotted and destroyed the foundations of the houses,
that they gave way entirely to new structures and
a new city. If this city was ever surrounded by
water the water has greatly receded, as it is now
two or three miles from the nearest lake or pond,
Tezcuco. This valley is really divided into two
parts, an upper and a lower valley, the lower being
that in which the city is. In the upper or higher
plane lie lakes Zumpango and San Cristobel, the
latter being twelve feet above the level of Tezcuco,
and the other still more elevated, and the " Grand
Plaza " is but three or four feet above the level of
the salt lake, Tezcuco. This is the lowest water in
the basin. To the south-east are the two other
lakes or marshes, Xochimilco and Chalco, being
fresh water and lying several feet above Tezcuco,
and nearly on a level with the Grand Plaza of the
city. Notwithstanding the descriptions of Cortez
and Diaz, there was, perhaps, little greater volume
of water in this valley three hundred and fifty years
ago than when the North American army entered it
in 1847. There was no natural outlet to the waters
of this valley, and all excesses from the mountains
and rains were disposed of only by evaporization.
Only so much evaporation could take place in a
JAMES KNOX POLK.
425
given time. The reputed flood came in 1629, but
it was five years in evaporating to the former
standard. It must be borne in mind, too, that it is
an indisputable part of the religious history of the
country that this excess of water was got rid of by
the merciful intervention of " Our Lady of Guada-
lupe" or the "Virgin of Remedies," who caused the
ground to open and swallow the superabundant water.
Chalco is connected with the shallow marsh or
lake Xochimilco, and from that a canal passing the
eastern side of the city empties into Tezcuco.
Chalco is fifteen or twenty miles from the city.
Small ditch-like streams run into all of these lakes,
and shallow irrigating ditches and canals in a kind
of net-work mark the level plain stretching around
the city. Around these lakes and among these ditches
Cortez found (or at least he said he found) cities of
from five thousand to three hundred thousand peo-
pie; and General Scott found villages and hamlets
of mud huts with a few ignorant and immoral and
brutish inhabitants. Here, too, on the last named
lakes and the channels leading from them Cortez
sailed in his brigantines among the fabulous floating
gardens more rich, beautiful, and real than all the
dreams of "Araby the blessed;" and General Scott
found in their places gardens, well and securely
sunken in the mud, but rich and beautiful all the
same. On the shallow water passages, the Indians
in their canoes and small scows still carry the pro-
ductions of these rich gardens to the markets of
Mexico, while they themselves feed on black beans,
426
LIFE AND TIMES OF
red pepper, and corn cakes. One of the prettiest
parts of all this old fable was that relating to the
floating gardens, which never did exist. The Aztec
Indians were unable to make water-tight boats for
floating little islands, and with rafts and any other
structures, two natural laws, specific gravity and
capillary attraction, would soon have done away with
floating gardens. Another bit of luxuriant grandeur
which the old Spaniard humbugged the world into
believing that he enjoyed was reveling in the " Halls
of the Montezumas." American writers on the war
with Mexico, even the most respectable of them,
have rounded out their sentences with this meaning-
less metaphor, " the Halls of the Montezumasand
General Scott and his gallant little army have been
made, over and over again, to "revel in the Halls of
the Montezumas." It is hoped that some one will be
kind enough to consider it a small virtue in this work
that it scrupulously avoids this groundless and foolish
fiction.
When the American army entered this valley.
General Scott found himself undecided as to the re-
mainder of his route to the City of Mexico. The
National Road lay near Lake Tezcuco, and the rocky
elevation called El Penon fortified with great strength,
guarded it and much of the surrounding country, and
here the Monte chief had fixed his head-quarters.
Mexicalcingo (Little Mexico), a mud village, as old
as Tenochtitlan itself, occupied some dry and elevated
ground near the Lake Xochimilco, and this was well
defended by parapets and ditches, and the country
JAMES KNOX POLK.
427
lying between El Penon and this one of the Con-
quistador's great cities was an almost impassable
marsh. The national road itself was flanked by
ditches. A century before a route to the south
around Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco had been
known, but now Santa Anna did not suppose even
the enterprising Yankee would attempt that passage.
Yet, this was precisely what he did. Before him
went as daring and competent a set of engineers,
men just entering the prime of life, as ever led an,
adventurous army to conquest. The Mexican saw
that he was outgeneraled. El Penon, Mexicalcingo,
impregnable works, swamps, dikes, ditches, lakes, all
were now worth nothing. He must hunt a new base.
But before General Scott had reached San Augustine,
he was fortifying at San Antonio and Churubusco.
To gain time for this, he had gathered up the spirit-
less and tractable Indians of Chalco, and sent them
forward to obstruct the narrow passage the American
army was pursuing. These poor non-belligerents
were able to see-the ludicrousness of their own po-
sition a few hours later when they were gathered up
and made to work vigorously to remove the obstruc-
tions they had thrown in the way of the invaders.
The Americans were now very near the City of
Mexico, but the flat plain before them was unknown,
to a great extent. On their right lay Xochimilco,
and back to the right was Chalco. The great cause-
way of San Antonio extended from San Augustine
directly to the city ten miles away. At the bridge
of the Churubusco (a rio with great moles on each
428
LIFE AND TIMES OF
side of it), Santa Anna was preparing his most im-
portant defenses. Here and about the old convent,
and among the corn-fields, marshes, and dikes was
fought the first great battle of the valley, and that,
too, after the position had been flanked by the brill-
iant achievement of Contreras, or Pedierna. To the
left of the American position and stretching back to
the foot of the mountain spurs, lay the Pedregal,
interpersed with patches of cultivatable land and vol-
canic hills. This was a vast lava-bed, the result of
some explosion ages before, and its cracked, ragged,
and jagged surface was now not known to be pass-
able, especially for artillery, or any kind of organized
military movement. When Contreras was gained a
new route was opened to the city by roads and
causeways, from San Angel to the southern gates,
and intersecting the great causeway of San Antonio.
After the battle of Contreras, had the American gen-
eral pushed forward on the same day there would
have been only the running battles of the causeways
and gates, and these had to be fought eventually.
And even when he had fought and gained the bloody
battle of Churubusco, which did not appear necessary
otherwise than to open the supply depot to the army,
the Pedregal being impracticable for the great gun-
carriages, and the half a thousand wagons, the cattle
and horses, no more than these battles remained be-
tween him and the possession of the city, had he
chosen to press forward. In the seventeen days of
fruitless armistice, Molino del Hey (mill of the king)
and Chapultepec rose in the way, but still not consti-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
429
tuting a necessary part of the key to the city.
Twelve ■ thousand Mexicans were busy during the
armistice in completing the outer fortifications of the
walled capital, and flooding the low flat country.
In this way they were aided by the great rains, it
being then the midst of the rainy season, extending
from June to October.
General Scott was greatly deceived about Molino
del Rey, and of the great unnecessary battle fought
here he made no use. He persisted in thinking the
Molino a foundry. It had, indeed, been a powder-
mill, and after the war, was again put into use, a
wheel in it being turned by water brought in a canal
from one of the lakes. This was an unfortunate
battle, unwisely fought without cannon mainly against
masked batteries and impenetrable stone walls. Be-
tween the Molino and Chapultepee was an old cypress
grove, centuries and centuries old; old, perhaps, be-
fore the coming of the Spanish invaders. Chapul-
tepee was itself a rocky protuberance, now surrounded
by dry land, but once, it is claimed, standing in sol-
itary grandeur in the expanded lakes. About this
are springs of pure fresh water which remain always
unatfected by their surrounding circumstances. The
Chapultepec and the San Cosme (San Cosmo) cause-
ways are divided in the middle by aqueducts lead-
ing to the city, and here the causeways make two
roads, one on each side of the aqueducts. In this
interesting valley grow the willow, the cypress, the
Lombardy poplar, and on the borders of the ditches,
canals, and " rios" grew, in old thick masses, the
430
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Agave Americano, furnishing everywhere a natural
hiding place for the Mexican soldier. From what
has been written here and what is interspersed in
the course of the narrative of events the reader will
be able to gain some idea of the valley of the City
of Mexico, and of the difficulties before the American
army. He will also be enabled, to some extent, to
see why more of the invading army were falling
from disease than by the sword of a cowardly foe,
cowardly to the last, cowardly even at*the gates of
his capital and the door of his own home, cowardly
in the last ditch.
It must be remembered that about all the outlet
of the accumulations of this great city and valley
was by the sun. Evaporation only takes water, pure
water. In the ditches, marshes, lakes, all animal
and vegetable matters were left to stagnate and pu-
trefy. The work of evaporation became now more
difficult from the almost daily rains, which sometimes
in the evening and night came down in torrents; and
the malarial accumulations became greater by the
destructive effects of excessive humidity. Still this
season in this valley has its advantages, for in the
winter or dry season, the ditches and ponds are cov-
ered with a mephitic green scum! By the labor of
more than a hundred years, the Mexicans made a
tunnel and then an open cut by which it was under-
taken to turn a part of the water out of the valley.
Although the causes of the 'great saltness of the
water of Tezcuco and San Cristobal may not very
fully appear, the fact that it is salt, perhaps, alone
JAMES KNOX POLK.
431
renders this wonderful valley at all inhabitable.
Mainly from the ditches, marshes, and fresh water
lakes come the decompositions which so materially
increase the death rate at Mexico in the summer or
rainy season, a death rate always large. This chapter
must be ended by the reflection, in nowise reassuring,
that in this contracted valley have decomposed the
bodies of many generations of its strange and unde-
sirable inhabitants. Thousands of foreigners for
several hundred years have laid their bones here to
increase the volume of noxious matter. And hear
Chapultepec is the American cemetery, formed since
the war. Here are buried the bodies of our country-
men who die in Mexico, and here were collected the
remains of seven hundred and fifty of them who fell
in the war. A plain, neat monument erected by
order of the United States Government tells this
story.
432
LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER XX.
BATTLE OF CHURUBUSCO —A LONG EVIL ARMISTICE—
BATTLE OF MOLING DEL REY.
LTHOUGH seven hundred Mexicans had been
killed, more than twice that number wounded
and captured, and a great victory gained, the greatest
advantage to the Americans from the battle of Con-
treras, perhaps, should have been the opening of a
new route to the City of Mexico. Our troops im-
mediately pushed on to San Angel, and were there
far in the rear of San Antonio, and a mile and a half
to the left flank of Churubusco. From the point
then occupied two roads, at least, were open to the
capital without touching either San Antonio or
Churubusco, the latter being four miles from the city,
and of no more apparent consequence to the Amer-
icans than were El Peiion and Mexicalcingo. Why
then did General Scott fight the battles of San An-
tonio and Churubusco ? If it was to open a passage
for his trains, that could have been avoided, for this
was not impossible over the lava-bed to Contreras.
These strong positions were completely turned, and
the American army had now no reference to its own
rear. Santa Anna who had reached San Angel on
the evening of the 19th on his way to the aid of
JAMES KNOX POLK.
433
Valencia, now returned to Churubusco, followed by
Twiggs and Pillow, who took the cross-road or cause-
way from San Angel to Coyacan on the Mexican
right flank to the strong position of Churubusco.
Scott now came forward over the Pedregal and took
his position with this part of the army. From Goya-
can two roads approached the causeway of San An-
tonio. Twiggs moved on one of these, with a view
of operating on the Mexican flank, and Pillow on the
other, to gain the causeway in rear of the enemy.
Worth was on the direct route, his original position,
approaching San Antonio. Between him and General
Scott there was no communication, the latter having
taken his position of observation at Coyacan, where
he remained during the greater part of the day.
Worth, who had been ordered with a part of his
division to Contreras, finding that his services were
not needed, returned to Coapa, and immediately moved
on San Antonio, as he had been directed to do. He
sent Clarke and Duncan over the almost impassable
Pedregal and morass cut with ditches to gain the
causeway between San Antonio and Churubusco, and
with the main force, he pushed forward on the road.
But General Bravo, who held San Antonio, knowing
the result of Contreras, and seeing that the main part
of the American army was closing in on his rear from
Coyacan, began a hurried retreat. Most of his army
had passed on to Churubusco before Clarke reached
the causeway. But Bravo himself, and many of his
officers and men were too late to escape Clarke, and in
order to save themselves from capture left the cause-
28—K
434
LIFE AND TIMES OF
way and retired through the swamps and ditches to-
wards Mexicalcingo. General Perdigon Garay was
taken prisoner with a number of others, in this affair,
and several Mexicans killed or wounded. The Hex-
icans were now in three positions, with about twenty-
five thousand men, in the neighborhood of the village
of Churubusco. At the bridge across the Rio de
Churubusco were strong and scientifically made de-
fenses, supported by large bodies of infantry. These
were on the causeway directly in front of Worth.
The Churubusco was a canal-like creek opening into
Lake Xochimilcho, and having high banks on each
side to prevent overflowing. Behind these banks the
Mexican infantry was strongly posted. The next
position was south of the Churubusco canal or creek,
and several hundred yards from it to the left of the
main causeway on which Worth was advancing, and
in the village. This was a convent and church with
holes cut in the walls and defended by a strong bat-
tery, and having a garrison of three thousand troops
commanded by the old Mexican General, Rincon.
Besides these, there was a strong reserve force of
cavalry and infantry on the main causeway some
distance in the rear of the Churubusco bridge. Pil-
low, who had been ordered to gain the causeway in
rear of San Antonio, finding that Worth had taken
that place and was moving rapidly toward Churu-
busco, directed his course across the fields, marshes,
and ditches, and gained the causeway, marching with
Worth's division to Churubusco. In the meantime
Twiggs's division had engaged in fearful conflict, by
JAMES KNOX POLK.
435
way of the swamps and fields, with the convent.
Cadwallader's brigade of Pillow's division was also
engaged. Pierce's brigade of this division, and
Shields's, of Quitman's, were now sent from Coyacan
to fall upon the Mexican rear on the main causeway
beyond the bridge of Churubusco. Pierce was now
on the field again, although he had been suffering
greatly by the falling of his horse in the chasms of
the infernal Pedregal the day before. The battle now
became general, the Americans fighting to great dis-
advantage, more from a total want of knowledge as to
the positions occupied by the enemy and the nature
of the land and approaches, than from the vast num-
her of the Mexicans, the latter fact, indeed, making
little or no difference, no matter what the odds if the
opportunities of attack were at all equal. The bridge
of Churubusco was carried after a desperate struggle.
Rincon seeing he could not long hold out now, hung
out a white flag ; a part of his garrison attempting to
escape was captured or killed, and he with the rest
surrendered. The Mexicans were again whipped
when Worth took the Puente de Churubusco. The
rout was now general, and Worth and Pillow rushed
on towards the gates of the City of Mexico, which
Harney's cavalry were on the point of entering, when
the bugles called a retreat. The great battle was
over. And why did not General Scott press on and
take the city at once? It was within his grasp. Was
all this work to be done over again at such a vast
cost of life ? Yes, the folly of negotiation, some
political policy, was destined to give the treacherous
436 LIFE AND TIMES OF
Santa Anna time to prepare Molino del Rey and Cha-
pultepec. At the close of this day's work, General
Scott returned to San Augustine, where Quitman had
remained with a part of his division in charge of the
depot of supplies. The American loss in killed and
wounded in the battle of Churubusco was over one
thousand, and seventy-six of these were officers. It
had been a fierce struggle, and in it the Mexican
soldiers had fought with unusual bravery for them.
Their loss was very considerable, reaching nearly four
thousand. in killed and wounded, and about three
thousand in prisoners.
At the close of this day (August 20th) the
American army was composed of less than nine
thousand effective men. General Scott was anxious
at this point for something to be done in the way
of negotiating a peace, and although he had no
doubt as to his ability to conquer one even with his
small army, he was now ready to favor any over-
tures which might come from Mexico. He had not
long to wait. On the same night of the great bat-
ties the British Minister, a very officious personage
with a very definite leaning towards the Mexicans,
and no remarkably high sense of sincerity, with the
Mexican General Mora, visited General Scott at San
Augustine. The British Minister thought it quite
probable that peace could be made at this time, that
the Mexicans were very sensitive, that the position
of Santa Anna was embarrassing and delicate, that
it would have to be managed with great care, that
Santa Anna could not appear to take the initiative.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
437
Congress had declared a penalty against such a
step, that the capital should be spared, that if the
people were humiliated and the "government"
driven from the city all hope of peace might be
abandoned. On the following day as Scott was on
the way to Tacubaya he was met at Coyacan by a
deputation from Santa Anna proposing an armistice.
Upon which he sent the following note to Santa
Anna:—
" Coyacan, August 21, 1847.
" To his Excellency, the Pbesident and General-in-ciiiep of the
Republic of Mexico;—
" Sir,—Too much blood has already been shed in this
unnatural war between the two great republics of this
continent. It is time that the diflPerences between them
should be amicably and honorably settled; and it is
known to your excellency, that a commission on the
part of the United States, clothed with full powers to that
end, is with this army. To enable the two republics to
enter on negotiation, I am willing to sign, on reasonable
terms, a short armistice. I shall wait with impatience
until to-morrow morning for a direct answer to this com-
munication; but shall, in the meantime, seize and occupy
such positions outside of the capital as I may deem
necessary to the shelter and comfort of this army.
"I have the honor to remain, with high consideration,
etc., your excellency's most obedient servant,
"winfied Scott."
«
The answer to this letter, made on the same day,
was especially framed so as to put into disagreeable
prominence General Scott's unfortunate expression
" unnatural war," and to make it appear that the
American General was not only suing for an armis-
tice, but also for peace; and throughout the worse
438
LIFE AND TIMES OF
than fruitless negotiations that followed, that idea
was carefully put forward, and the Americans hum-
bugged into admitting it so to appear in history,
that the Mexicans did not seek the armistice, and
that all overtures came from their enemy. This was
claimed as a necessity to shield Santa Anna against
the strong opposition to peace and prevent his entire
loss of power among his people at the critical period,
when, through him, a peace could be effected.
Peace, it was claimed, was his secret object. And.
so this matter went into history, when it was wholly
false. General Scott, as a Christian man, desired
the war to cease, and as a soldier and politician he
also had sufEcient motives for the same desire, but
the overtures came from Santa Anna for the armis-
tice. First, through the underhanded insincerity of
the " intelligent neutral," and then directly; and the
matter of negotiating for peace was merely meant to
satisfy Scott, and was a pretense without foundation
in truth from the outset. Santa Anna had but one
object in view and that was to gain time to reor-
ganize his army and prepare for resistance, and at
the same time, was so cunning,as to make it all appear
at the expense of the American General. In this
perfidious scoundrel, Scott still had confidence, and
for it, the battles before the City of Mexico had to
be fought over again, and hundreds of his little
army, his,own countrymen, whom he was bound to
consider before himself, before everything else, were
to be sacrificed. There is no doubt, however, that he
did consider the consequences both far and near. His
JAMES KNOX POLK
439
judgment was at fault, certainly not his motives and ♦
feelings. Yet there is no. consolation, and little
apology in the fact that a misfortune or an error
originates in a defective judgment. General Scott
■ himself wrote:—
"After so many victories, we might, with but little
additional loss, have occupied the capital the same even-
ing. But Mr. Trist, commissioner, etc., as well as myself,
had been admonished by the best friends of peace, intel-
ligent neutrals, and some American residents, against pre-
cipitation, lest by wantonly driving away the government
and others, dishonored, we might scatter the elements of
peace, excite a spirit of national desperation, and thus in-
definitely postpone the hope of accommodation. Deeply
impressed with this danger, and remembering our mission,
to conquer a peace, the army very cheerfully sacrificed to
patriotism, to the great wish and want of our country,
. the eclat that would have followed an entrance, sword in
hand, into a great capital. Willing to leave something
to this republic, of no immediate value to us, on which
to rest her pride, and to recover temper, I halted our '
victorious corps at the gates of the city (at least for a
time), and have them now cantoned in the neighboring
villages, where they are well sheltered and supplied with
all necessaries."
The following letter, first published by Raphael
Semmes, from Santa Anna, will sufficiently show his
' aims and character, were anything out of the ordi-
nary events and ways of his life necessary for that
purpose:—
" Mexico, August 31, 1847.
" To Don Manuel Rejon, Queretaro :—
" My Esteemed Friend,—I have received your giati-
fying favor of the 29th inst., and in reply, I have to say
440
LIFE AND TIMES OF
• to you, that I have read with the most bitter regret the
charges you have made against the government for the
course it has pursued since the unfortunate affairs of arms
of the 19th and 20th inst. After the defeat sustained by
General Valencia at Padierna, I was under the necessity
of falling back upon the last line of fortification of the
capital; first having encountered all the enemy's force,
at the Puente de Churubusco. On the day after this af-
fair, when I was preparing to renew the combat, the
enemy solicited an armistice, in order that the commis-
sioner of the United States, Mr. Trist, might be heard,
which I granted; because the suspension of hostilities
would give my troops rest, re-establish their morale, and
enable me to collect the dispersed, and adopt other meas-
ures to insure a reaction. I wished, besides, to strengthen
the justice of our cause, by listening to the propositions
of the United States; because, to speak frankly, our
obstinacy in refusing to receive these overtures from the
United States, placed them in the right in continuing the
war. The negotiations have commenced, but I assure
you, in the name of a true Mexican, which I have the
• honor to bear, that my government will not accept any
propositions of peace, which shall detract from the dignity
of the nation. If our honor can not be saved, the war
continues, and shall continue with obstinacy and energy,
until the United States recognize the justice qf our
cause, and make reparation for the insults they have
offered us. This is my purpose; so you may at once set
yourself at rest, and continue your efforts to keep public
opinion in the proper channel, and to encourage all good
Mexicans to co-operate with loyalty and confidence, in the
defense of the common cause.
"Aktonio Lopez de Santa Anna."
In arranging the articles of the armistice it was
clearly apparent that the Mexicans only meant to
JAMES KNOX POLK.
441
gain time, and that they were preparing for renewing
hostilities. Through the solicitation of Generals
Worth and Pillow, especially the latter. General
Scott was induced to ask, in the arrangement for an
armistice, that the castle and rock or hill of Chapul-
tepee should be evacuated by the Mexican troops,
the only fortified place held by them on the ap-
preaches to the city. This the commissioners refused
to do under the plea that it was a. humiliation which
would cause suspicion to be cast upon their purposes
by the people. Scott submitted, and learned to his
cost, after a time, the object they had in view in
holding Chapultepec. On the 25th of August Mr.
Trist began negotiations. He had brought a com-
plete outline of treaty from Washington. This
fixed the boundary at the Rio Grande, and included
New Mexico and Upper and Lower California, the
latter territories to be paid for at a rate to be fixed
by the commissioners. There was very little in the
Administration formula that the Mexicans were
willing to accept, and as to Texas, they still held to
the Nueces as the boundary. Mr. Trist certainly
knew that the United States, after all the war,
would never submit to the Nueces as the south-
western boundary of Texas, yet he offered to con-
tinue the armistice forty-five days until he could
submit the proposition to the Administration. The
Mexicans refused to wait. They would be ready to
fight long before that time. The negotiations con-
tinned with less and less prospect of success, until
the 6th of September, when Mr. Trist broke off any
442
LIFE AND miES OF
further attempts, and- on the following day General
Scott began to prepare to move upon the city. The
armistice had lasted seventeen days, and in that time,
although no reconnoissances had been made, and no
additional knowledge of the country had been
obtained by the Americans, they had not been idle.
The army with all its appliances had been put in
the best possible condition for active operations.
On the 7th various reconnoissances were made,
and General Scott issued an order for a movement
upon the city. The only obstruction of consequence
to the advance of the army seemed to be the strong
•position of Chapultepec, and it did not at all appear
necessary to storm that more than it did El Penon
or Churubusco. A thousand yards or so from Cha-
pultepec stood an old stone building four or five
hundred yards long, and most formidably built,
called Molino del Rey (Mill of the' King). Four or
five hundred yards from this was another long and
strongly constructed stone building called Casa de
Mata, and all connected with the inclosure of
the grounds of Chapultepec. On the 7th many
Mexicans were seen working about Molino del Rey,
and before the close of that day Santa Anna had
thrown an army of ten thousand men into and
around it. Yet General Scott believed this was an
iron foundry, and with all that Worth could do, he
could not induce him to believe anything else, or to
entertain the idea that a battle would have to be
fought for its possession. He said Worth must
brush them away, and then they would move on to
JAMES KNOX POLK.
443
take the city. And with a view to doing nothing
more there, Worth was forbidden to occupy the
grove between Molino del Rey and Chapultepec, as
a preparatory step to the assault of that place after
the Molino had fallen into his hands. Before day-
light on the morning of the 8th of September Worth
who was at Tacubaya, only a mile distant, moved
to execute the order which he believed would lead
to a great battle. Worth marched against Molino
del Bey with about thirty-five hundred men, and
before the break of day began the assault. He soon
found that he had not been mistaken as to the task
he had before him. When the morning broke Scott
saw from his position near Tacubaya that he had
been deceived, and sent for Pillow to move with
part of his division to the assistance of Worth.
His messenger found this spirited and wide-awake
general had anticipated the order, and was already
rapidly moving toward the scene of conflict from his
post at San Borja. But when Pillow came on the
ground the battle was over. Worth had without
assistance fought and gained the most bloody battle
of the war. The war spirit of the old soldier was
up, and he was in a humor.to disobey the orders of
the General-in-chief. He, accordingly, notified Pil-
low to take a position with a View to assaulting
Chapultepec, while the Mexicans were fleeing and
the Americans were in the tide of victory, the very
time, indeed, when it should have been done, but
Pillow refused to obey his order when he knew it
to conflict with that of the commander-in-chief.
444
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Worth then sent Cadwallader to Scott to get his per-
mission to occupy the Chapultepec grove as he had
requested to do before the battle, but Scott objected,
and ordered an immediate retreat to the positions
formerly occupied by the troops. This order Worth
did not obey until he had gathered up all his dead
and wounded, secured the prisoners, and munitions
of war possible, of which there was a large quan-
tity within the walls of Casa Mata. Nearly eight
hundred of Worth's men were killed or wounded in
this desperate engagement. Fifty-nine of them were
officers, many of whom had distinguished them-
selves before. But little had been gained. It is
true that between one and two thousand of the
enemy had fallen on the field, a vast number had
subsequently deserted on account of the battle, and
nearly a thousand were captured, but the strange
mistake was made by General Scott (against the
judgment of Worth, who was unoubtedly right in
his opinion) of giving up the ground, the strong
position, obtained at such a cost, and of losing the
opportunity of making a lodgment against Chapulte-
pec, if not its immediate capture, and the capture
of the city.
The 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th were spent in re-
connoissances, and in removing the main depot of
the army. In this time the American advance was
pushed forward to La Piedad, and from this point it
was believed by many of the officers that the south-
ern entrances to the city could be reached. Indeed
this was certain until the 10th, when the Mexican lines
JAMES KNOX POLK,
445
were fortified and the whole intervening region flooded
from the aqueduct and irrigating ditches. Twelve
thousand Mexicans had been allowed to work for
three days, undisturbed, in full sight of the Ameri-
can army, when it was well known that every lick
they made rendered the approach to the city more
difficult.
On the 11th Scott called a council of all the
chief officers, omitting Worth, and laid his plans
before them, and asked their opinions. In this
council it became very evident that Scott had, after
all, concluded that Chapultepec would have to be
taken. The delay after the great battle of the 8th,
and the utter absence of any effort to turn it to any
advantage, had much broken the spirit of the troops,
and dissatisfaction among the officers was apparent.
However, in the excitement and activity that fol-
lowed, the annoyances of the moment were lost
sight of. General Scott gave his orders for the tak-
ing of Chapultepec, and much of the night of the
11th was spent in placing batteries and taking posi-
tions for the coming conflict, which would decide
the fate of the small army before Mexico. Chapul-
tepee was the name given to a considerable inclosure
of land within two miles of the City of Mexico.
It was mainly surrounded by high irregular walls
of masonry, not proof against heavy guns.
Through and around it ran several ditches. A
small cultivated field or two lay within it; much of
the land was soft and marshy; and an old cypress
grove stood in it towards Molino del Hey. Within
446
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the inclosure was the Mexican Military School, in a
strong stone building now well fortified. But the
most important object was a hill rising a hundred
and fifty feet above the marsh level, with its sides
mainly almost impassably steep and rocky. On the
summit of this rock was a castle of irregular form
but considerable military pretensions. This was
the rock and castle of Chapultepec, which was now
considered by General Scott the key to the Capital
of Mexico.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
447
CHAPTER XXI.
WAR WITH MEXICO—CAPTURE OF CHAPULTEPEC—THE
CITY OF MEXICO IN THE HANDS OF THE INVA-
DERS —GENERAL SCOTT'S REPORT —
SANTA ANNA WHIPPED AND
DRIVEN INTO RETIRE-
MENT.
N the night of the llth four batteries were
placed in favorable positions, and early on the
morning of the 12th these opened on Chapultepec.
Molino del Rey was also reoccupied by the Ameri-
cans, Santa Anna strangely enough, having entirely
neglected it after the defeat of his army there on
the 8th. This day was mainly spent in cannonad-
ing the fortified hill, but little was accomplished by
it, more than to show that it would have to be
stormed. During the night storming parties were
formed and scaling ladders prepared for the purpose.
By noon on the 13th, after one of the most won-
derful battles on record, the stars and stripes waved
from the Castle of Chapultepec. A running battle
on the causeways and before the walls of the city
then ensued until night closed upon the dreadful
scene, with Quitman before the Citadel at the gate of
Belen, and Worth actually within the city at the
San Cosme gate a few squares from the great plaza.
448 LIFE AND TIMES OF
Before midnight Santa Anna with his army quietly
withdrew from the city, and at one o'clock the city
council sent to General Scott to notify him that the
way was open into the great city, and asking some
privileges which he refused to grant. On the morn-
ing of the 14th Quitman took possession of the
Citadel, and moved on to the Plaza, where he
hoisted the flag of the United States on the presi-
dent's house and the public building. Before leav-
ing the capital Santa Anna had caused all the pris-
oners of every kind to be set loose. The American
army suffered from this criminal horde for several
days, and only after the severest discipline had
been established, and some of the houses giving
shelter to these cut-throats had been battered down
and other steps taken to bring the city to order and
safety, was there any relief.
The following is General Scott's report to the
Secretary of War touching most important general
points since the army entered the valley of the
great city:—
" Head-quaktkrs of the Army, "t
" National Palace of Mexico, Sept. 18, 1847. j
"Sir,—At the end of another series of arduous and brilliant
operations of more than forty-eight hours* continuance, this
glorious army hoisted, on the morning of the 14th, the colors
of the United States on the walls of this palace.
"The victory of the 8th, at the Molino del Eey, was fol-
lowed by daring reconnoissances on the part of our distin-
guished engineers—Captain Lee, Lieutenants Beauregard, Ste-
vens, and Tower—Major Smith, senior, being sick, and Captain
Mason, third in rank, wounded. Their operations were directed
principally to the south—towards the gates of the Piedad,
JAMES KNOX POLK.
449
San Angel (Nino Perdido), San Antonio, and the Paseo de
la Viga.
" This city stands on a slight swell of ground, near the cen-
ter of an irregular basin, and is girdled with a ditch in its
greater extent—a navigable canal of great breadth and depth—
very difficult to bridge in the presence of an enemy, and serv-
ing at once for drainage, custom-house purposes, and military
defense; leaving eight entrances or gates, over arches, each of
which we found defended by a system of strong works, that
seemed to require nothing but some men and guns to be
impregnable.
" Outside and within the cross-fires of those gates, we found
to the south other obstacles but little less formidable. All the
approaches near the city are over elevated causeways, cut in
many places (to oppose us), and flanked on both sides by ditches,
also of unusual dimensions. The numerous cross-roads are
flanked in like manner, having bridges at the intersections, re-
cently broken. The meadows thus checkered are, moreover,
in many spots, under water or marshy; for, it will be re-
membered, we were in the midst of the wet season, though with
less 'rain than usual, and we could not wait for the fall of the
neighboring lakes and the consequent drainage of the wet
grounds at the edge of the city—the lowest in the whole basin.
" After a close personal survey of the southern gates, cov-
ered by Pillow's division and Kile/s brigade of Twiggs's—with
four times our numbers concentrated in our immediate front—
I determined on the 11th to avoid that net-work of obstacles,
and to seek, by a sudden diversion, to the southwest and west,
less unfavorable approaches.
"To economize the lives of our gallant officers and men, as
well as to insure success, it became indispensable that this reso-
lution should be long masked from the enemy; and again,
that the new movement, when discovered, should be mistaken
for a feint, and the old as indicating our true and ultimate point
of attack.
"Accordingly, on the spot, the 11th, I ordered Quitman's
division from Coyacan, to join Pillow by daylight, before the
southern gates, and then that the two major-generals, with their
divisions, should, by night, proceed (two miles) to join me at
29—K
450
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Taciibaya, where I was quartered with Worth's division.
Twiggs, with Riley's brigade and Captains Taylor's and Steptoe's
field batteries—the latter of twelve-pounders—was left in front
of those gates, to maneuver, to threaten, or to make false at-
tacks, in order to occupy and deceive the enemy. Twiggs's
other brigade (Smith's) was left at supporting distance, in the
rear, at San Angel, till the morning of the 13th, and also to
support our general depot at Miscoac. The stratagem against
the south was admirably executed throughout the 12 th and
down to the afternoon of -the 13th, when it was too late for the
enemy to recover from the effects of his delusion.
"The first step in the new movement was to carry Chapul-
tepee, a natural and isolated mound, of great elevation, strongly
fortified at its base, on its acclivities, and heights. Besides a
numerous garrison, here was the military college of the repub-
lie, with a large number of sub-lieutenants and otber students.
Those works were within direct gunshot of the village of
Tacubaya, and, until carried, we could not approach the city
on the west, without making a circuit too wide and too hazardous.
"In the course of the same night (that of the 11th) heavy
batteries, within easy ranges, were established; No. 1, on our
right, under the command of Captain Drum, 4lh Artillery (re-
lieved late next day, for some hours, by Lieutenant Andrews,
of the 3d), and No. 2, commanded by Lieutenant Hagner,
ordnance—both supported by Quitman's division. Nos. 3 and
4 on the opposite side, supported by Pillow's division, were
commanded, the former by Captain Brooks and Lieutenant S.
S. Anderson, 2d Artillery, alternately, and the latter by Lieu-
tenant Stone, ordnance. The batteries were traced by Captain
Huger and Captain Lee, engineer, and constructed by them
with the able assistance of the young officers of those corps and
the artillery.
"To prepare for an assault, it was foreseen that the play
of the batteries might run into the second day ; but recent
captures had not only trebled our siege pieces, but also our
ammunition; and we knew that we should greatly augment
both by carrying the place. I was, therefore, in no haste in
ordering an assault before the works were well crippled by
our missiles.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
451
"The bombardment and cannonade, under the direction of
Captain Huger, were commenced early in the morning of the
12th. Before nightfall, which necessarily stopped our batteries,
we had perceived that a good impression had been made on the
castle and its outworks, and that a large body of the enemy
had remained outside, towards the city, from an early hour to
avoid.our fire, and to be at hand on its cessation, in order to
re-enforce the garrison against an assault. The same outside
force was discovered the next morning, after our batteries had
reopened upon the castle, by which we again reduced its gar-
rison to the minimum needed for the guns.
" Pillow and Quitman had been in position since early in the
night of the 11th. Major-General Worth was now ordered to
hold his division in reserve, near the foundry, to support Fil-
low; and Brigadier-General Smith, of Twiggs's division, had
just arrived with his brigade from Piedad (two miles), to sup-
port Quitman. Twiggs's guns, before the southern gates, again
reminded us, as the day before, that he, with Riley's brigade
and Taylor's and Steptoe's batteries, was in activity, threaten-
ing the southern gates, and there holding a great part of the
Mexican army on the defensive.
" Worth's division furnished Pillow's attack with an assault-
ing party of some two hundred and fifty volunteer officers and
men, under Captain McKenzie, of the 2d Artillery; and
Twiggs's division supplied a similar one, commanded by Captain
Casey, 2d Infantry, to Quitman. Each of those little columns
was furnished with scaling ladders.
"The signal I had appointed for the attackwasthe momen-
tary cessation of fire on the part of our heavy batteries.
About 8 o'clock in the morning of the 13th, judging that the
time had arrived by the effect of the missiles we had thrown, I
sent an aid-de-camp to Pillow, and another to Quitman, with
notice that the concerted signal was about to be given. Both
columns now advanced with an alacrity that gave assurance of
prompt success. The batteries, seizing opportunities, threw
shots and shells upon the enemy over the heads of our men,
with good effect, particularly at every attempt to re-enforce the
works from without to meet our assault.
"Major-General Pillow's approach, on the west side, lay
452
LIFE AND TIMES OF
through an open grove, filled with sharp-shooters, who were
speedily dislodged; when being up with the front of the at-
tack, and emerging into open space, at the foot of a tocky ac-
clivity, that gallant leader was struck down by an agonizing
wound. The immediate command devolved on Brigadier-Gen-
eralCaclwallader, in the absence of the senior brigadier (Pierce)
of the same division—an invalid since the events of August
19th. On a previous call of Pillow, AVorth had just sent him a
re-enforcement—Colonel Clarke's brigade.
"The broken acclivity was still to be ascended, and a strong
redoubt, midway, to be carried, before reaching the castle on
the heights. The advance of our brave men, led by brave
officers, though necessarily slow, was unwavering, over rocks,
chasms, and mines, and under the hottest fire of cannon and
musketry. The redoubt now yielded to resistless valor, and
the shouts that followed announced to the castle the fate that
impended. The enemy were steadily driven from shelter to
shelter. The retreat allowed not time to fire a single mine,
without the certainty of blowing up friend and foe. Those
who at a distance attempted to apply matches to the long
trains, were shot down by our men. There was death below,
^ well as above ground. At length the ditch and wall of the
main work were reached; the scaling ladders were brought up
and planted by the storming parties ; some of the daring spirits
first in the assault were cast down, killed or wounded ; but a
lodgment was soon made; streams of heroes followed; all op-
position was overcome, and several of our regimental colors
flung out from the upper walls, amidst long-continued shouts
and cheers, which sent dismay into the capital. No scene could
have been more animating or glorious.
"Major-General Quitman, nobly supported by Brigadier-
Generals Shields and Smith (P. F.), his other officers and men,
was up with the part assigned him. Simultaneously with the
movement on the west, he had gallantly approached the south-
east of the same works, over a causeway with cuts and batteries,
and defended by an army strongly posted outside, to the east
of the works. Those formidable obstacles Quitman had to face,
with but little shelter for his troops or space for maneuvering.
Deep ditches flanking the causeway, made it difficult to cross
JAMES KNOX POLK.
453
on either side into the adjoining meadows, and these again were
intersected by other ditches. Smith and his brigade had been
early thrown out to make a sweep to the right, in order to pre-
sent a front against the enemy's line (outside), and to turn two
intervening batteries near the foot of Chapultepec. This move-
ment was also intended to support Quitman's storming parties,
both on the causeway. The first of these, furnished by Twiggs's
division, was commanded in succession by Captain Casey, 2d
Infantry, and Captain Paul, 7th Infantry, after Casey had been
severely wounded; and the second, originally under the gallant
Major Twiggs, marine corps, killed, and then Captain Miller,
2d Pennsylvania Volunteers. The storming party, now com-
manded by Captain Paul, seconded by Captain Roberts, of the
Rifles, Lieutenant Stewart and others of the same regiment,
Smith's brigade,, carried the two batteries in the road, took some
guns, with many prisoners, and drove the enemy posted behind
in support. The New York and South Carolina Volunteers
(Shields's brigade) and the 2d Pennsylvania Volunteers, all on
the left of Quitman's line, together with portions of his storm-
ing parties, crossed the meadows in front, under a heavy fire,
and entered the outer inclosure of Chapultepec just in time to
join in the final assault from the west.
"Besides Major-Generals Pillow and Quitman, Brigadier-
Generals Shields, Smith, and Cadwallader, the following are
the officers and corps most distinguished in those brilliant
operations: The voltigeur regiment in two detachments, com-
manded respectively by Colonel Andrews and Lieutenant-
Colonel Johnston, the latter mostly in the lead, accompanied
by Major Caldwell; Captains Barnard and Biddle, of the
same regiment, the former the first to plant a regimental color,
and the latter among the first in the assault; the storming
party of Worth's division, under Captain McKenzie, 2d Artil-
lery, with Lieutenant Seldon, 8th Infantry, early on the ladder
and badly wounded; Lieutenant Armistead, 6th Infantry, the
first to leap into the ditch to plant a ladder; Lieutenants
Rodgers of the 4th, and J. P. Smith of the 5th Infantry, both
mortally wounded; the 9th Infantry, under Colonel Ransom,
who was killed while gallantly leading that gallant regiment;
the 15th Infantry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Howard and
454
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Major "Woods, with Captain Chase, whose company gallantly
carried the redoubt, midway up the acclivity; Colonel Clarke's
brigade (Worth's division), consisting of the 5th, 8th, and part
of the 6th Regiments of Infantry, commanded respectively by
Captain Chapman, Major Montgomery, and Lieutenant Edward
Johnson, the latter specially noticed; A^ith Lieutenant Long-
street (badly wounded, advancing, colors in hand), Pickett,
and Merchant, the last three of the 8th Infantry; portions of
the United States marines. New York, South Carolina, and 2d
Pennsylvania volunteers, which, delayed with their division
(Quitman's) by the hot engagement below, arrived just in
time to participate in the assault of the heights; particularly
a detachment under Lieutenant Reid, NCw York volunteers,
consisting of a company of the same, with one of marines;
and another detachment, a portion of the storming party
(Twiggs's division, serving with Quitman), under Lieutenant
Steele, 2d Infantry, after the fall of Lieutenant Gantt, 7th
Infantry.
" In this connection, it is but just to recall the decisive ef-
feet of the heavy batteries, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, commanded
by those excellent ofBcers, Captain Drum, 4th Artillery, as-
sisted by Lieutenants Benjamin and Porter, of his own com-
pany; Captain Brooks and Lieutenant Anderson, 2d Artillery,
assisted by Lieutenant Russell, 4th Infantry, a volunteer;
Lieutenants Hagner and Stone of the ordnance, and Lieu-
tenant Andrews, 8d Artillery; the whole superintended by
Captain Huger, chief of ordnance with this army, an officer
distinguished by every kind of merit. The mountain howitzer
battery, under Lieutenant Reno, of the ordnance, deserves,
also, to be particularly mentioned. Attached to the voltigeurs,
it followed the movements of that regiment, and again won
applause.
" In adding to the list of individuals of conspicuous merit,
I must limit myself to a few of the many names which might
be enumerated: Captain Hooker, assistant adjutant-general,
who won special applause, successively, in the staff of Pillow
and Cadwallader; Lieutenant Lovell, 4th Artillery (wounded),
chief of Quitman's staff; Captain Page, assistant adjutant-
general (wounded), and Lieutenant Hammond, 8d Artillery,
JAMES KNOX POLK,
455
both of Shields's staff, and Lieutenant Van Dorn, 7th In-
fantry, aid-de-cainp to Brigadier-General Smith.
" Those operations all occurred on the west, south-east, and
heights of Chapultepec. To the north and at the base of the
mound, inaccessible on that side, the 11th Infantry, under
Lieutenant-Colonel Hebert, the 14th, under Colonel Trousdale,
and Captain Magruder's field battery, 1st Artillery, one section
advanced under Lieutenant Jackson,- all of Pillow's division,
had, at the same time, some spirited affairs against superior
numbers, driving the enemy from a battery in the road, and
capturing a gun. In these, the officers and corps gained
merited praise. Colonel Trousdale, the commander, though
twice wounded, continued on duty until the heights were
carried.
" Early in the morning of the 13th, I repeated the orders
of the night before to Major-General Worth, to be with his
division at hand, to support the movement of Major-General
Pillow from our left. The latter .seems soon to have called for
that entire division, standing momentarily in reserve, and
Worth sent him Colonel Clarke's brigade. The call, if not un-
necessary, was at least, from the circumstances, unknown to me
at the time; for, soon observing that the very large body of
the enemy, in the road in front of Major-General Quitman's
right, was receiving re-enforcements from the city, less than a
mile and a half to the east, I sent instructions to Worth, on
our opposite flank, to turn Chapultepec with his division, and
to proceed, cautiously, by the road at its northern base, in
order, if not met by very superior numbers, to threaten or to
attack, in rear, that body of the enemy. The movement, it
was'also believed, could not fail to distract and to intimidate
the enemy generally.
" Worth promptly advanced with his remaining brigade.
Colonel Garland's, Lieutenant-Colonel C. F. Smith's light
battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan's field battery, all of his
division, and three squadrons of dragoons, under Major Sum-
ner, which I had just ordered up to join in the movement.
"Having turned the forest on the west, and arriving op-
posite to the north center of Chapultepec, Worth came up
with the troops in the road, under Colonel Trousdale, and
456
LIFE AND TIMES OF
aided by a flank movement of a part of Garland's brigade, in
taking tbe one-gun breastwork, then under the fire of Lieu-
tenant Jackson's section of Captain Magruder's field battery.
Continuing to advance, this division passed Chapultepec, at-
tacking the right of the enemy's line, resting on that road,
about the moment of the general retreat consequent upon the
capture of the formidable castle and its outworks.
" Arriving some minutes later, and mounting to tbe top
of the castle, the whole field, to the east, lay plainly under
my view.
" There are two routes from Chapultepec to the capital—
the one on the right entering the same gate, Beleu, with the
road from the south via Piedad; and the other obliquing to the
left, to intersect the great western or San Cosmo road, in a
suburb outside of the gate of San Cosmo.
" Each of these routes (an elevated causeway) presents a
double roadway on tbe sides of an aqueduct of strong masonry
and great height, resting on open arches and massive pillars,
which together afford fine points both for attack and defense.
The sideways of both aqueducts are, moreover, defended by
many strong breastworks at the gates, and before reaching them.
As we had expected, we found the four tracks unusually dry
and solid for the season. ^
" Worth and Quitman were prompt in pursuing the retreat-
ing enemy—the former by the San Cosmo aqueduct, and the
latter along that of Belen. Each had now advanced some
hundred yards.
" Deeming it all-important to profit by our successes, and the
consequent dismay of the enemy, which could not be otherwise
than general, I hastened to dispatch from Chapultepec—^first
Clarke's brigade, and then Cadwallader's, to the support of
Worth, and gave orders that the necessary heavy guns should
follow. Pierce's brigade was, at the same time, sent to Quit-
man, and in the course of the afternoon, I caused some addi-
tional siege pieces to be added to his train. Then, after desig-
nating the 15th Infantry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Howard—
Morgan, the colonel, had been disabled by a wound at Churu-
busco—as the garrison of Chapultepec, and giving directions
for the care of the prisoners of war, the captured ordnance.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
457
and ordnance stores, I proceeded to join the advance of Worth,
within the suburb, and beyond the turn at the junction of the
aqueduct with the great highway from the west to the gate of
San Cosmo.
"At this junction of roads, we first passed one of those
formidable systems of city defenses, spoken of above, and it
had not a gun!—a strong proof, 1. That the enemy had ex-
pected us to fail in the attack upon Chapultepec, even if we
meant any thing more than a feint; 2. That in either case, we
designed, in his belief, to return and double our forces against
the southern gates—a delusion kept up by the active demon-
strations of Twiggs and the forces posted on that side; and,
3. That advancing rapidly from the reduction of Chapultepec,
the enemy had not time to shift guns—our'previous captures
had left him, comparatively, but few—from the southern
gates.
" Within those disgarnished works, I found our troops engaged
in a street fight against the enemy posted in gardens, at win-
dows, and on house-tops, all flat, with parapets. Worth ordered
forward the mountain howitzers of Cadwallader's brigade, pre-
ceded by skirmishers and pioneers, with pickaxes and crowbars,
to force windows and doors, or to burrow through walls.
The assailants were soon in an equality of position fatal to the
enemy. By eight o'clock in the evening. Worth had carried
two batteries in this suburb. According to my instructions, he
here posted guards and sentinels, and placed his troops under
shelter for the night. There was but one more obstacle—the
San Cosmo gate (custom-house), between him and the great
square in front of the cathedral and palace, the heart of the
city; and that barrier, it was known, could not, by daylight, re-
sist our siege-guns thirty minutes.
" I had gone back to the foot of Chapultepec, the point
from which the two aqueducts begin to diverge, some hours
earlier, in order to be near that new depot, and in easy com-
munication with Quitman and Twiggs, as well as with Worth.
" From this point I ordered all detachments and stragglers
to their respective corps, then in advance; sent to Quitman ad-
ditional siege-guns, ammunition, intrenching tools; directed
Twiggs's remaining brigade (Riley's) from Piedad, to support
458
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Worth, and Captain Steptoe's field-battery, also at Piedad, to
rejoin Quitman's division.
" I had been, from the'first, well aware that the western, or
San Cosmo, was the less difficult route to the center, and con-
quest of the capital, and therefore intended that Quitman
should only maneuver and threaten the Belen or south-western
gate, in order to favor the main attack by Wortb, knowing
that the strong defenses at the Belen were directly under the
guns of the much stronger fortress, called the Citadel, just
within. Both of these defenses of the enemy were also within
easy supporting distance from the San Angel (or Nino Ferdido)
and San Antonio gates. Hence the greater support, in num-
hers, given to Worth's movement as the main attack.
" These views'I repeatedly, in the course of the day, com-
municated to Major-General Quitman; but being in hot pur-
suit—gallant himself, and ably supported by Brigadier-Generals
Shields and Smith, Shields badly wounded before Chapultepec,
and refusing to retire^ as well as by all tbe officers and men of
the column—Quitman continued to press forward, under fiank
and direct fires, carried an intermediate battery of two guns,
and then the gate, before two o'clock in tbe afternoon, but not
without proportionate loss, increased by his steady maintenance
of that position.
" Here, of the heavy battery (4th Artillery), Captain Drum
and Lieutenant Benjamin were mortally wounded, and Lieu-
tenant Porter, its third in rank, slightly. The loss of those
two most distinguished officers the army will long mourn.
Lieutenants J. B. Morange and William Canty, of the South
Carolina Volunteers, also of high merit, fell on the same occa-
sion, besides many of our bravest non-commissioned officers
and men, particularly in Captain Drum's veteran company. I
can not, in this place, give names or numbers; but full returns
of the killed and wounded, of all corps, in their recent opera-
tions, will accompany this report.
"Quitnjan within the city—adding several new defenses to
the position he had won, and sheltering his corps as well as
practicable—now awaited the return of daylight under the
guns of the formidable Citadel yet to be subdued.
"About 4 o'clock next morning (September 14th), a depu-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
459
tation of the ayuntamiento (city council) waited upon me to re-
port that the federal government and the army of Mexico had
fled from the capital some three hours before; and to demand
terms of capitulation in favor of the church, the citizens, and
the municipal authorities. I promptly replied, that I would
sign no capitulation ; that the city had been virtually in our
possession from the time of the lodgments effected by Worth
and Quitman the day before; that I regretted the silent escape
of the Mexican army; that I should levy upon the city a mod-
erate contribution, for special purposes ; and that the American
army should come under no terms not self-imposed; such only
as its own honor, the dignity of the United States, and the
spirit of the age, should, in my opinion, imperiously demand
and impose.
"For the terms, so imposed, I refer the Department to
subsequent General Orders, Nos. 287 and 289 (paragraphs 7,
8, and 9 of the latter), copies of which are herewith inclosed.
" At the termination of the interview with the city deputa-
tion, I communicated, about daylight, orders to Worth and
Quitman to advance slowly and cautiously (to guard against
treachery)^ towards the heart of the city, and to occupy its
stronger and more commanding points. Quitman proceeded to
the great plaza or square, planted guards, and hoisted the colors
of the United States on the national palace, containing the
halls of Congress and executive departments of federal Mexico.
In this grateful service, Quitman might have been anticipated
by Worth, but for my express orders, halting the latter at the
head of the Alameda (a green park), within three squares of
that goal of general ambition. The capital, however, was not
taken by any one or two corps, but by the talent, the science,
the gallantry, the prowess of this entire army. In the glorious
conquest, all had contributed, early and powerfully, the killed,
the wounded, and the fit for duty, at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo,
Contreras, San Antonio, Churubusco (three battles), the Molino
del Rey, and Chapultepec, as much as those who fought at the
gates of Belen and San Cosmo.
"Soon after we had entered, and were in the act of occu-
pying the city, a fire was opened upon us from the flat roofs
of the houses, from windows, and corners of streets, by some
460
LIFE AND TIMES OF
two thousand convicts, liberated the night before by the flying
government, joined by, perhaps, as many Mexican soldiers,
who had disbanded themselves, and thrown off their uniforms.
This unlawful war lasted more than twenty-four hours, in
spite of the exertions of the municipal authorities, and was
not pnt down till we had lost many men, including several
officers, killed and wounded, and had punished the miscreants.
Their objects were to gratify national hatred, and in the gen-
eral alarm and confusion, to plunder the wealthy inhabitants,
particularly the deserted houses. But families are now gen-
erally returning; business of every kind has been resumed, and
the city is already tranquil and cheerful, under the admirable con-
duct (with exceptions very few and trifling) of our gallant
troops.
"This army has been more disgusted than surprised, that
by some sinister process on the part of certain individuals at
home, its numbers have been, generally, almost trebled in our
public papers, beginning at Washington.
"Leaving, as we all feared, inadequate garrisons at Vera
Cruz, Perote, and Puebla, with much larger hospitals; and
being obliged, most reluctantly, from the same cause (general
paucity of numbers) to abandon Jalapa, we marched (August
T-IO)* from Puebla with only 10,738 rank and file. This num-
ber includes the garrison of Jalapa, and the 2,429 men brought
up by Brigadier-General Pierce, August 6th.
" At Contreras, Churubusco, etc. [August 20th], we had
but 8,497 men engaged, after deducting the garrison of San
Augustine (onr general depot), the intermediate sick and the
dead; at the Molino del Bey (September 8th), but three
brigades, with some cavalry and artillery, making in all 3,251
men, were in the battle; in the two days, September 12th and
13th, our whole operating force, after deducting, again, the
recent killed, wounded, and sick, together with the garrison
of Miscoac (the then general depot) and that of Tacubaya,
.was but 7,180; and, finally, after deducting the new garrison
of Chapultepec, with the killed and wounded of the two days,
we took possession (September 14th) of this great capital
with less than 6,000 men. And I re-assert, upon accumu-
lated and unquestionable evidence, that, in not one of those
JAMES KNOX POLK
461
conflicts was this army opposed by fewer than three-and-a-half
times its numbers; in several of them, by a yet greater excess.
" I recapitulate our losses since we arrived in the basin of
Mexico:—
"August 19th, 20th. Killed, 137,- including 14 oflficers.
Wounded, 877, including 62 officers. Missing (probably
killed), 38 rank and file. Total, 1,052.
"September8th. Killed, 116,includingOofiicers. Wounded,
665, including 49 officers. Missing, 18 rank and file. Total, 789.
"September 12th, 13th, 14th. Killed, 130, including 10
officers. Wounded, 703, including 68 officers. Missing, 29
rank and file. Total, 862.
" Grand total of losses, 2,703, including 383 officers.
"Ou the other hand, this small force has beaten on the
same occasions in view of their capital, the whole Mexican
army, of (at the beginning) thirty-odd thousand men, posted,
always, in chosen positions, behind intrenchments, or more for-
midable defenses of nature and art; killed or wounded, of that
number, more than 7,000 officers and men; taken 3,730' pris-
oners, one-seventh officers, including 13 generals, of whom 3
had been presidents of this republic; captured more than 20
colors and standards, 75 pieces of ordnance, besides 57 wall-
pieces, 20,000 small-arms, an immense quantity of shots,
shells, powder, etc.
" Of that enemy, once so formidable in numbers, appoint-
ments, artillery, etc., twenty-odd thousand have disbanded
themselves in despair, leaving, as is known, not more than
three fragments, the largest about 2,500, now wandering in
different directions, without magazines or a military chest, and
living at free quarters upon their own people.
"General Santa Anna, himself a fugitive, islbelieved to be
on the point of resigning the chief magistracy, and escaping to
neutral Guatemala. A new President, no doubt, will soon be
declared, and the federal Congress is expected to reassemble
• at Queretaro, one hundred and twenty-five miles north of this,
on the Zacatecas road, some time in October. I have seen
and given safe conduct through this city to several of its
members. The government will find itself without resources;
no army, no arsenals, no magazines, and but little revenue.
462
LIFE AND TIMES OF
internal or external. Still, such is the obstinacy, or rather
infatuation, of this people, that it is very doubtful whether
the new authorities will dare to sue for peace on the term's
which in the recent negotiations, were made known by our
minister. ...
" In conclusion, I beg to enumerate, once more, with due
commendation and thanks, the distinguished staff officers, gen-
eral and personal, who, in our last operations in front of the
enemy, accompanied me, and communicated orders to every
point and through every danger. Lieutenant-Colonel Hitch-
cock, acting inspector-general; Major Turnbull and Lieutenant
Hardcastle, topographical engineers; Major Kirby, chief pay-
master; Captain Irwin, chief quartermaster; Captain Grayson,
chief commissary; Captain H. L. Scott, chief in the adjutant-
general's department; Lieutenant Williams, aid-de-camp;
Lieutenant Lay, military secretary; and Major J. P. Gaines,
Kentucky Cavalry, volunteer aid-de-camp; Captain Lee,
engineer, so constantly distinguished, also bore important
orders from me (September 13th), until he fainted from
a wound and the loss of two nights' sleep at the batteries.
Lieutenants Beauregard, Stevens, and Tower, all wounded,
were employed with the divisions, and Lieutenants G. W.
Smith and G. B. McClellan, with the company of sap-
pers and miners. Those five lieutenants of engineers, like
their captain, won tlie admiration of all about them. The
ordnance officers. Captain Huger, Lieutenants Hagner, Stone,
and Reno, were highly effective, and distinguished at the
several batteries; and I must add that Captain McKinstry,
assistant quartermaster, at the close of the operations, executed
several important commissions for me as a special volunteer.
" Surgeon-General Lawson, and the medical staff generally,
were skillful and untiring, in and out of fire, in ministering to
the numerous wounded.
" To illustrate the operations in this basin, I inclose two
beautiful drawings, prepared under the directions of hlajor.
Turnbull, mostly from actual survey.
" I have the honor to be, sir, with high, respect, your most
obedient servant, Winfield Scott."
"The Hon. William L. Marcy, Secretary of War."
JAMES KNOX POLK.
463
It appears from this report that Worth had not
yet entered the city on the night of the 13th. But
here General Scott had fallen into an error, strange,
perhaps, when Worth's report of that day's opera-
tions was before him. The fact is that Worth en-
tered the City of Mexico before dark on the night
of the 18th, and from his position in the city on the
San Antonio road, threw some shells into the neigh-
borhood of the grand plaza, between eight and nine
o'clock, and slept with his troops in the houses, from
the tops of which they had been fighting.
Santa Anna retired to Guadalupe Hidalgo. From
this place, with several thousand troops, he marched
to Puebla, with a view of capturing the garrison of
five hundred men left there under Colonel Childs.
Eighteen hundred sick and wounded had been left at
that place. And soon after the army marched for the
City of Mexico, Childs had actually been held in a
comparative state of siege. Santa Anna appeared at
Puebla on the 22d of September, and although he
called on Childs to surrender, and made every effort
in his power to beat him into submission, the siege
was abandoned on the 12th of October, and the Mex-
ican army marched towards Jalapa. With five hun-
dred effective men for one month Childs had held out
against a city of seventy-five thousand people,
swarms of guerrillas, and an army of four or five
thousand men, and then restored his authority in the
city. At this time, with twenty-five thousand men,
Scott could have conquered and held all of Mexico,
and made it a part of the United States. Better
464 . LIFE AND TIMES OF
for Mexico would it be to-day, if he had possessed
the means and inclination to do so. In August
Major Lally set out from Vera Cruz with a thousand
men, and fought his way over the national road to
Jalapa; and about the 20th of September, twenty-
five hundred troops, under General Joseph Lane,
started over the same route to re-enforce Scott.
With a view of intercepting him, Santa Anna with-
drew from the " City of the Angels." At Huamantla,
on the 9th of October, General Lone, united with-
Major Lally, turned aside to give him battle. But
what was this one-legged pretentious soldier, with
four or five thousand Mexican guerrillas and robbers,
to even this spirited and sagacious North American
political general from Indiana ? Lane had no doubt
as to the result of his meeting with Santa Anna;
and in a few minutes the conflict was over, the brave
defenders of their own soil dispersed and the greater
part of their munitions of war, what little they had,
was captured. Mexico was now without a reliable
leader, although Santa Anna was undoubtedly her
most able soldier, without an army and without
money, and worst of all, without harmony and genuine
patriotism among her people. Notwithstanding her
wretched condition, hersoldiers and politicians sought
the * gratification of their- own ambitious schemes.
Modern history does not present a more pitiable and
melancholy picture of political and social corruption
and depravity than was at that time to be found in
Mexico. Santa Anna resigned the Presidency, and
Pena y Pena, chief of the Supreme Court, became by
JAMES KNOX POLK.
465
law, the chief executive for the time. Don Luis de
la Rosa became his minister of internal and foreign
atfairs, and General Mora, of war and marine. All
of these men were favorable to peace, and were of the
purest class of Mexican Federalists.
In October, Rosa addressed a letter to Santa Anna
taking from him all further command, preferring
charges against him, and ordering him to retire to
some point to await his trial, having first turned over
the army he had, to old Manuel Rincon, or the cav-
airy officer, Don Juan Alvarez. On the 16th of
October Santa Anna left the army, and took up his
residence at Tehuacan. The Mexican government
was now trying to reorganize its affairs at Quere-
tare. Old Bustamente, with evil designs upon the
government, was approaching from the west with the
most respectable body of soldiers now under organi-
zation; Paredes and Almonte were in the north,
stirring up the people against any growing disposition
for peace; Santa Anna and his partisans were
scheming for his advancement or the ruin of the
country; the factions were in great ferment, and Con-
gross timid and inactive. By the skill and wisdom
of Pena y Pena the moderate party succeeded in
electing General Anaya President for the remaining
part of the term to January 8, 1848. Pena y Pena
had called the governors of the States together to
hear their opinions and advise with them, and a bet-
ter spirit began to prevail. Bustamente was ap-
pointed to command the army in order to quiet him.
Rosa and Mr. Trist held a correspondence as to
30—K
466
LIFE AND TIMES OF
opening negotiations, and Anaya actually appointed
commissioners. But things were in a bad condition.
Pronunciamentos were the order of the day. Santa
Anna sent out his manifesto. War was still the cry
among men who would be ruined by peace. Death
to the Yankee was yet everywhere heard.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
i
467
CHAPTER XXII.
THE ARMY IN MEXICO—THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER—
BEGINNING OF THE END—THE GENERAL OF THE
ARMY ON TRIAI AN EXTRAORDINARY
SPECTACLE—THE NAVY.
Look now for a moment, comparatively, at affairs
in the American army and in Washington City.
For a considerable time the army had been cut from
all communication with Vera Cruz, and hence with
the Government, and not until the 13th of October
was it certainly known in the City of Mexico that re-
enforcements were on the way. General Scott had
been without the means to keep open the National
Road to Vera Cruz, and soon after establishing his
hospital and garrison at Perote, and reaching Puebla
with his army, he made no attempt to communicate
with the Administration. Little was known in the
United States of the great battles in the valley of
Mexico, except from Mexican sources, until after
General Lane opened the way to the Gulf. After
taking possession of the Mexican capital, Scott's first
attention was devoted to the interests of his small
army, now reduced to between six and seven thou-
sand effective men. A part of them was located at
Chapultepec, and the others quartered in the city.
General Quitman first, and subsequently Persifer F.
468
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Smith acted as governor of the place, and with no
great amount of annoyance the Americans, this hand-
ful of " fierce North Americans," held the wonderful
old city of 200,000 people in subjection. But Scott's
rule in Mexico was mild, indeed, for a time. So con-
ciliatory were his tendencies that Generals Rincon and
Anaya, two of his prisoners, were set at liberty with-
out parole. They were both members of the Mex-
lean Congress, and Scott was very anxious to have
that body reorganized. It was quite evident now
that his great desire was to make peace. But one
of his first matters of concern was to look after his
own interest in arranging the reports of his recent
important operations. This proved to be a serious
afiair. When he came to examine the reports of his
division and other commanders there appeared some
vast differences between them, and to his own views
some of these differences proved to be wholly irrec-
oncilable. The General was now laboring under the
impression that his division commanders wanted to
rob him of the honors of the campaign, which he
thought should belong to him mainly. Pillow's re-
port virtually left him out of the achievements of
the 13th of September. Some points in the report
Pillow modified to suit him, contrary to his own judg-
ment, but Scott closed with him in an unfriendly
manner, and finally had him arrested. He also
quarreled with Quitman, and this officer left for Vera
Cruz with the first train when the way was opened.
His rupture with Worth became still more vexatious
and scandalous. And Twiggs was the only division
JAMES KNOX POLK.
469
commander, who, at the end of one month from the
fall of Mexico, was on good terms with the General-
in-chief. In the first mails that came with Lane, and
subsequently, were letters and newspapers teeming
with all kinds of reports of the battles. SeA'^eral of
the letters attracted the attention of General Scott,
and one, published in a Tampico paper, brought from
him an order to the army whicii opened the whole scan-
dal in a most unfortunate manner. This letter was so
much to the benefit of Worth and Pillow that he
deemed it due to himself to issue this order in an
unmanly and trifling spirit, to prevent letter-writing
for publication from the army descriptive of its opera-
tions. This General Order, No. 349, is one of the
most objectionable and ungracious of all the publio
and official papers it has been my disagreeable task
to examine. It so unmistakably referred to Worth
and Pillow as the instigators of the objectionable
letter, that they both immediately sent letters to
Scott demanding explanations. But he gave no def-
inite replies. This brought out Colonel James Dun-
can, one of the most worthy and able officers in the
army, and the author of the Tampico letter. He
simply stated that he had written the letter to a friend
without thought or design of publication, and that
General Worth or no other person had anything to
do with bringing it into existence, that he was alone
responsible for it. This caused his immediate arrest.
On the 16th of November Worth wrote a letter to
the Secretary of War, accusing General Scott of con-
duct " unbecoming an officer and a gentleman." Also
470
LIFE AND TIMES OF
accusing him of falsehooci, and setting forth the
grounds of charges he would formally make against
him. This letter had to pass through the hands of
General Scott, and this and other things at last led
to the arrest of Worth. It may now be, to some
extent, apparent why Worth was absent from many
councils of officers in the Valley of Mexico, and in
the last one at Puebla in August, 1847. The fact
has not been mentioned, however, that the quarrel
between Worth and General Scott began soon after
the latter reached Puebla. The terms on which
Worth had taken possession of that city did not please
Scott, although he had copied after Scott's own course
at Vera Cruz. A discussion of this matter destroyed
their friendly relations, which were never afterwards
restored. On the .arrival of Scott at Puebla Worth
had received him with great consideration, and made
a banquet in his honor. But General Scott never
could stand Worth's deserved promotion. He was
hardly able to stand the advancement of any officer
who had served under him. These soldiers had been
fast friends. Henceforth they were enemies. In
Scott's army there was no great amount of Presi-
dential material, but there was too much talent for
a chief who could not forget that the course of events
in Mexico would greatly influence his own probabili-
ties in that direction. Worth was one of the most
able of all the American generals, and in this great
campaign his soldierly judgment on several occasions
shone above that of the General-in-chief.
Twiggs, Pillow, and Quitman were able as soldiers,
JAMES KNOX POLK.
471
and men of fine talents otherwise. Pierce, Shields,
Riley, Cadwallader, and Smith were brave and tal-
ented men. A score or more of younger men as
Duncan, Garland, Wm. S. Harney, Clarke, and Trous-
dale, were unquestionably able, as were Lieutenant-
Colonel Martin Scott, Colonel Butler, Lieutenant-
Colonel M'Intosh, Lieutenant-Colonel Graham, Colonel
Ransom, and other noble fellows, who fell before
Mexico; as well as many engineers, as Robert E.
Lee, J. L. Mason, Brooks, Towers, Drum, Beaure-
gard, and a host of splendid younger officers, as
Hooker, Kearney, Mackenzie, Grant, Magruder, and
Heintzelman. An army officered by such men might
well be invincible, while the authority no less than
the laurels of the commanding general would at any
time be in jeopardy.
The disgraceful Mexicanized condition of the
army left it without the necessary general officers.
But this state of affairs was not destined to continue
long. Besides the troops under General Lane, already
mentioned, on the 1st of November General Robert
Patterson left Vera Cruz for the City of Mexico with
three thousand men; soon afterwards General Wm.
0. Butler with over five thousand troops followed
over the same road to Mexico; and by the 20th of
December, the army under General Scott had been
increased to fifteen thousand men, besides the line
of posts on the national road to Vera Cruz. While
all these things were taking place in Mexico, the
Administration at Washington was not idle, was
much of the time in a great ferment, indeed. Mr.
472
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Trist had been recalled in the first mails to the City
of Mexico, and when his report of his course in the
negotiations during the seventeen days' armistice,
reached Washington it threw the President and his
Cabinet into a great fit of indignation. His recall
was repeated, and it was peremptorily stated that if
he had made a treaty, he could bring it with him,
and if he were in the midst of negotiations he must
break them off and start home at once, not even
carry a proposition with him. General Scott was
authorized to receive what the Mexicans had to pro-
pose and forward it to Washington. Scott was also
directed to pursue hostilities, and very pointedly no-
tified to levy on the country for the support of his
army. To some extent he had done this at all times,
and soon after entering the City of Mexico he had
levied on the wealthy for $150,000 for the immediate
wants of his army. On this subject the Secretary
of War (Mr. Mason acting at the time) wrote to
Scott:—
" The obstinate persistence of the Mexicans in refusing
to treat, their utter disregard of the rules of civilized war-
fare, and the large expenditures which we are compelled
to make, has impressed on the President the firm convic-
tion that those rights of exacting contributions from the
enemy, which are conferred on a belligerent by the ac-
knowledged law of nations, should be exercised. Your
remarks in your dispatch. No. 28, dated at Jalapa, May
20, 1847, have been carefully observed. Your circum-
stances are since materially changed ; and if, as we doubt
not, you have triumphantly entered the City of Mexico,
the President directs me again to call your attention to the
JAMES KNQX POLK.
473
dispatch to this Department of the 3d of April last, a copy
of which is here inclosed. The property-holders of Mex-
ico have no claim to find in the market aflForded by sales
to our army, an actual pecuniary benefit resulting from the
war. They must be made to feel its evils, and it is ear-
nestly hoped and expected that you will not find, in your
present circumstances, a necessity to adhere to your opin-
ion, expressed in your dispatch referred to, that a resort
to forced contributions will exasperate and ruin the in-
habitants, and starve the army. Contributions may be
exacted from cities, or States, or wealthy individuals, and
payment made for provisions and Other supplies brought
to the camp, or collected in kind. It is not improbable
that men of wealth and means may profe.ssto belong mainly
to the peace party; and it may be apprehended that they
will be driven from their pacific position by coercive pro-
ceedings. But however such an effect may be apprehended,
it is more probable that their exertions to promote a ter-
mination of the war will be made more serious and effi-
cient when they feel the oppressive evils of the state
of war."
Mr. Marcy subsequently positively repeated the
same instructions. And these the General proceeded
to carry out as fast as he deemed it practicable. But
as to continuing hostilities, although Scott took some
preliminary steps toward gaining possession of various
valuable points .in the country, such as notifying the
Secretary of War that he had the movements in con-
temptation, he really did very little. And Mr. Trist
absolutely refused to leave Mexico, although General
Scott had written to the Secretary of War that about
the 1st of December he should be sent down to Vera
Cruz with the next train. But instead of Ncholas
474
LIFE AND TIMES OF
«
P. Trist there went a letter from him praising him-
self, and praising Greneral Scott, in a most wonderful
manner abusing Pillow, and his torrespondence as-
sumed the air of a man who had made up his mind
to do as he pleased. Mr. Trist had no notion of
obeying the command of the President. How far
General Scott was concerned in his conduct it is
hardly necessary to discuss here. Scott believed the
time to make a favorable treaty was at hand, and
caring little himself for anybody's command or an-
thority, his example, at least, was before Mr. Trist.
As during a great part of this wonderful campaign
the Administration had been necessarily cut off from
communicating with the head of the army and the
peace commissioner, so now for other reasons it was
kept in ignorance of what Mr. Trist was doing, and
General Scott's letters to the Secretary of War be-
came somewhat silent or vague ort the subject, the
General dwelling more on his own difficulties, the
usual hindrances among great military chiefs for in-
activity. One source of his complaints at this time
was the character of many of the new recruits that
were flowing into Mexico. They broke up the dis-
cipline of the army, and enough of them were of
such evil morals as to infect the whole. It is true
that a large proportion of both officers and privates
were adventurers; in other words, were out on a
grand frolic. It was then believed that the Mex-
icans were in no way a match for the Americans on
the field, and that but little else than honor, " glory,"
and spoils awaited the invincible invader. From the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
475
outset it was the field of compensation and " glory,"
for politicians and party followers, both great and
small, in the army and in all the contract and sup-
ply departments, and now when the hard work had
been done a fresh, vigorous lot of these ambitious
and patriotic people rushed upon the scene, carrying
swords and wearing epaulets, many of them, but their
greatest qualifications were their valorous deeds in
the wars of the ballot-boxes. Yet it was ridiculous
to talk of immorality being brought by any noticeable
number of these men from their homes to infect the
army in Mexico, a country in which morality in
church. State, or society was hardly known, and into
a life which has been commonly understood through-
out all time to be a school of loose, unreliable, and
• unfortunate habits. Great armies and great wars have
never reflected back upon the homes of the people
high moral standards, nor filled private and individual
life with pure and ennobling virtues. • Society, at its
best, is found in its more limited and cautious forms
in the home, and in the lone individual struggle for
the supremacy of true principles and wise uses. In
the mass, the individual goes down with his inde-
pendent, self-imposed, manly, and honorable principles,
virtues for which he would suffer at the stake, and
become an example to his race. In the army absolute
obedience is the greatest virtue. So in general so-
ciety the restraints and promptings of individual
principle and conscience give way before the neces-
sities of mere animal congenialities and custom.
This fact it was that led Emerson to cry, with
476
LIFE AND TIMES OF
justice, " Down with the masses and up with indi-
vidual men."
At this time Mexico was more than ever in her
piratic history infested with plunderers, robbers, and
cut-throats. Her Congress had given open license to
a guerrilla warfare, which soon degenerated into the
most degrading and insufferable system of rapine and
anarchy. Man and beast stood at the peril of life
everywhere. Nothing was safe or sacred but the
shrines of a formal religion; and even in the name
of these outrage was sanctioned. Three thousand
criminals at one time had been turned loose upon the
City of Mexico, and the prison doors generally stood
open throughout the land. These people and the na-
tive leperos flooded the country. Many of the most
notorious of the guerrilla bands were led by priests.
One of these scoundrels, actually called "Father"
Jaranta, applied to Gieneral Patterson, when that
general was passing up the national road, to know if
he would be left undisturbed if he should quit his
present profession and return to his flock, but finding
that Patterson could not definitely vouch for his
safety, he again took the head of his robber band to
become more a terror to the country than ever be-
fore. The government of the City of Mexico under
the direction of General Scott was not such as to
strike even Mexicans with the superior virtue of the
North American. The various hells of this immoral
old city were the constant resort of the soldiers,
and a great revenue, even from the gaming-tables
(with a license of a thousand dollars a month), was
JAMES KNOX POLK.
477
brought to the support of the array. The inactive
policy of the array contrary to or in disobedience of
orders from a most spirited and wise War Depart-
raent, fed the corruption of rust. A newspaper and
printing-office that followed the array head-quarters
and was allowed most unjustly and unwisely by
General Scott to join in the official quarrels, on the
side of the General, did its part in demoralizing the
army and leading to the very things of which he com-
plained to Mr. Marcy. Contemplate this moderate
picture, and find, if you can, order, harmony, and
right only on the American side; and anarchy, cor-
ruption, and evil only on the side of the Mexicans.
A part of the army was now occupied in collect-
ing the duties and taxes imposed upon the Mexicans,
in occupying some towns, and in expeditions against
the guerrillas. Mr. Trist was engaged in negotiating
by the authority of General Scott and contrary to
the command of his Government, and as a matter of
course the Mexican army about Queretaro was left
undisturbed. General Lane made an attempt to
capture Santa Anna, and although he failed, of his
own accord Santa Anna left the country in February,
1848. Everj'body seemed glad to get rid of him, and
with his disappearance faction began to die out. The
guerrillas began to be less active and troublesome.
Late in February General Lane, a dashing new officer,
a kind of Francis Marion or Kilpatrick, made an ex-
pedition with a few. hundred men to the mountain
town of Sequalteplan for the purpose of meeting
" Father " Jaranta, who was trying to make his last
478
LIFE AND TIMES OF
days worse than his first. The guerrilla determined
to risk a battle. But it was the same old story.
The old padre was badly whipped, and disappeared
from notice. The war was, indeed, at an end. A
few things only are left to be told here, when the
scene may as well be shifted to Washington City.
Between the 1st of December and the 1st of
March a great many pronunciamentos were issued in
Mexico. The political and military hunibugs gave
up the struggle slowly. But the administration had
fortunately fallen into the wisest and best hands,
and as it pushed its policy with great skill, re-
sistance gave way. The course of the administra-
tion was wisest and best, notwithstanding it sub-
mitted to the boundary of the Rio Grande, and
allowed New Mexico and California to be cut from
the domain of the republic. All this and more
would have been cut off had the war continued, be-
sides the loss of life, destruction of the country,
if not the total dissolution and ruin of the Mexican
government. Anaya's short administration had ter-
minated by limitation on the 8th of January, 1848,
having continued the policy begun by Pena y Pena;
and his successor not yet being chosen, Pena y
Pena, as Chief Justice, again took charge of affairs,
with Anaya himself as Minister of War. During
the armistice that followed the signature of the
treaty, Herrera, who had been forced to resign at the
beginning of the war, was r^-elected President.
The armistice went into effect on the 5th of
February.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
479
On the second day of February, 1848, General
Scott dispatched a letter to the Secretary of War
which contained these words ;—
" I write in haste, by the express who carries the pro-
jeet of a treaty that Mr. Trist has, at the moment, signed
with the Mexican commissioners. In about forty days I
may receive an acknowledgment of this report. By that
time, if the treaty be not accepted, I hope to be suffi-
ciently re-enforced to open the commercial line between
Zacatecas and Tampico."
But General Scott's connection with the army in
Mexico was destined to terminate before that time.
His conduct had been aggravating to the Administra-
tion at times from the outset; then were added his
final disobedience as to Mr. Trist, and the scandalous
state of his affairs in the army, with Worth, Pillow,
and Duncan under arrest, Quitman driven out of the
country, and the last of his old division commanders,
Twiggs, at his own request, to get out of the "fuss
and feathers," made governor of Vera Cruz. Gen-
eral Scott desired to be President of the United
States, and notwithstanding his effort and wish to
have everything make to his advantrge, he was not,
by any means, a politic man. Few aspiring pub-
lie men had less of this quality really. The least
thing ofiended him; his feelings and honor were
always in jeopardy; the sense of his station was
always in his way; he allowed no unbecoming ad-
vances upon the General of the army; and when he
considered his dignity or right infringed upon he
would resist, no matter what the consequences; and
480
LIFE AND TIMES OF
when his sentiments and whims were at stake he
seemed neither to care for anybody, nor indeed, the
security of his own present or future position.
While it is unnecessary at this remote day to ad-
vance the idea that Scott had no part in the disobe-
dience of Mr. Trist and the course pursued by him,
it may be said here that one certain and great cause
of the conduct of both of these men was the fact
that while Mr. Polk and his Cabinet required prop-
ositions from Mexico to be sent to Washington, the
Mexican government would not submit to anything
of the kind. They would only negotiate on the
ground, and in their own country. This principle they
had gone on from the first, and no other had been
successful with them. In it Scott had humored
them. Then it required a month and a half for a
messenger to go to Washington and return. Scott
could see that the time had come to make peace
with Mexico, and that it must be done then. The
Mexican authorities were disposed to treat with Mr.
Trist, although they knew he had been recalled.
And General Scott knew that the treaty made by
them would be binding so far as Mexico was con-
cerned. He believed the case required immediate
action; and when he and Mr. Trist had determined
to disobey the President, but two ways were left to
him. One was to notify the Administration boldly
that such action had been determined upon, and the
other was to proceed quietly to carry out the pur-
pose without such notice. The latter course was
chosen, and it is now immaterial to decide between
JAMES KNOX POLK.
481
them. The result reached was satisfactory, and
there the matter may rest so far as General Scott
was concerned.
On the 13th of January, 1848, the Secretary of
War wrote to General Scott:—
" Sir,—In view of the present state of things in the
army under your immediate command, and in compliance
with the assurance contained in my reply to your letter
of the 4th of June, wherein you ask to be recalled, the
President has determined to relieve you from further duty
as commanding general in Mexico.
"Desirous to secure a full examination into all the
matters embraced in the several charges which you have
presented against Major-General Pillow and Brevet-
Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan, as well as the charges or
grounds of complaint presented against you by Brevet-
Major-General Worth, and deeming your presence before
the court of inquiry which has been organized to investi-
gate these matters, indispensably necessary for this -pur-
pose, you are directed by the President to attend the said
court of inquiry wherever it may hold its sittings."
On the 18th of February, 1848, General William
0. Butler, a brave soldier, belonging to a race of
soldiers, but of limited service, took command of the
army. The court for the trial of Scott, Pillow,
Duncan, and others, met at Puebla towards the
close of February. About the middle of March it
adjourned to the City of Mexico.
Worth soon afterwards withdrew his charges
against Scott, and the latter concluded to withdraw
his against all concerned. The offer was accepted
by all but Pillow, who determined that his should
31—K
482
LIFE AND TIMES OF
go on. This trial, founded on the distribution of
the honors of Chapultepec, and which never could
have brought good to anybody, was continued for
some time in the City of Mexico, and subsequently
at various cities in the United States, until July,
1849, when it ended in the acquittal of Pillow.
The war with Mexico afforded little opportunity
for naval adventure, and hence little need be said
of that branch of the national power. When war
was declared Commodore David Conner was ordered
to blockade the Mexican ports on the Gulf, and
otherwise further the cause of his country as oppor-
tunity afforded. The Mexicans had no navy, and
little fell in the way of Conner's squadron during
the summer of 1846. He made an attempt to cap-
ture Alvarado early in August, but failed for want
of light-draught vessels. During the same month
he planned the capture of Tuspan, but here again
failed with the loss of the brig, Truxton, which was
grounded on the bar and abandoned. A part of the
crew was compelled to surrender to the Mexicans,
and the Truxtons guns were immediately turned to
advantage by the Mexicans in constructing the de-
fenses of their town. Expeditions, with considerable
success, were made by Conner's direction against
Tabasco and Yucatan, and other parts of the coast,
but few of these operations had any material effect
on the country or the war, further than was con-
nected with the effectual blockading of the coast.
Early in December the brig, Somers, commanded by
Lieutenant Raphael Semmes, was caught in a fierce
JAJ^IES KNOX POLK.
483
" norther" while in pursuit of a blockade-runner,
and was sunk, taking down with her about half of
her crew of eighty men. This vessel had acquired
an unenviable reputation as being that on which
Commander A. S. Mackenzie had hanged young
Spencer and two of his companions in 1842. On
the 14th of November 'Commodore Conner took pos-
session of Tampico. Soon after the landing of Scott's
army at Vera Cruz, the command of the squadron in
the Gulf fell to Commodore Matthew C. Perry, who
took a prominent part in the siege and capture of
that place. Alvarado and other towns subsequently
fell into his hands; and in April, 1847, he took
Tuspan, or one of his lieutenants did prematurely.
Throughout the remainder of the war, the Commo-
dore made his head-quarters at Vera Cruz, and lost
no opportunity to let the Mexicans know that he
was ready for any emergency on the coast. The
stagnation in this line of the service led to adven-
tures into the country, and detachments from the
squadron appeared in the operations of the army on
the national road, and a few of the more fortunate
among the officers participated with Scott's army in
the great campaign before the City of Mexico.
The operations of the squadron on the Pacific
under Sloat, Stockton, Biddle, and others have been
referred to in a general way. Later in the war
Commodores Shubrick and Selfridge, in attempting
to hold Lower California, fell into serious difficulties
with the Mexicans and Californians. Shubrick cap-
tured Acapulco, Mazatlan, and La Paz, the latter on
484
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the California Peninsula; and although the Ameri-
cans lost but few men in this small and useless coast
war, the Mexicans were always exhibiting their
great faculty for pronunciamentos, and risings, and
a town was scarcely captured and abandoned until it
had to be captured again. Commodore Shubrick
was, of course, under the impression that the Ad-
ministration meant to retain Lower California at
least; and that it might as well have done. As for
the old unhealthy volcanic city of Acapulco, the
United States had little use for that unless all
Mexico was to be annexed.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
485
CHAPTER XXIII.
PRESIDENT POLK'S THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE—A PLEA
FOR THE UNION—THE TERRITORY OF ORE-
GON—BENTON AND CALHOUN.
ONGRESS convened on the 6th of December,
1847 ("First session of the 30th Congress"),
and continued in session until August 14th, 1848,
being 253 days, and passing 187 acts. The first
session of Congress under Mr. Polk's Administration
had also lasted exactly the same number of days,
and at that time 185 acts were passed. The last
session under this Administration, ending March 3,
1849, was only 90 days in length, and in that time
201 acts were passed. But the next session, the
first under President Taylor, continued 302 days,
and was the longest time that body had ever sat.
It is a fact worthy of some note, perhaps, that up to
the end of President Polk's term. Congress had sat
9,262 days from the beginning of the Government,
in April, 1789, or an average of 154 days to the
year; and in that time passed 7,526 acts. The
elections of 1846 and 1847 in New York, Pennsyl-
vania, and some other parts of the country had re-
suited favorably to the Whigs. In New York, Silas
Wright, whose election in 1844, as governor, had
actually made Mr. Polk President, was now defeated
486
LIFE AND TIMES OF
in a race for re-election. The House of Representa-
tives had a Whig majority, and its organization was
completely Whig in character, Robert C. Winthrop,
of Massachusetts, being elected Speaker by 110
votes against 108 Democratic and scattering Whig
votes in the opposition, A Whig clerk was also
elected. The Senate was still Democratic. The fol-
lowing is Mr. Polk's
THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.
December 7, ISJfl.
Fellow-citizens of the Senate, and of the House of Representa-
tives:—
The annual meeting of Congress is always an interesting
event. The Representatives of the States and of the people
come fresh from their constituents to take counsel together for
the common good. After an existence of near three-fourths
of a century as a free and independent republic, the problem
no longer remains to be solved whether man is capable of self-
government. The success of our admirable system is a conclu-
sive refutation of the theories of those in other countries who
maintain that " a favored few" are born to rule, and that the
mass of mankind must be governed by force. Subject to no
arbitrary or hereditary authority, the people are the only sov-
ereigns recognized by our Constitution. Numerous emigrants
of every lineage and language, attracted by the civil and re-
ligious freedom we enjoy, and by our happy condition, annually
crowd to our shores, and transfer their hearts, not less than
their allegiance, to the country whose dominion belongs alone
to the people. '
No country has been so much favored, or should acknowl-
edge with deeper reverence manifestations of the Divine protec-
tion. An all-wise Creator directed and guarded us in our
infant struggle for freedom, and has constantly watched over
our surprising progress, until we have become one of the great
nations of the earth.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
487
It is in a country thus favored, and under a government in
which the Executive and Legislative branches, hold their au-
thority for limited periods, alike from the people, and where
all are responsible to their respective constituencies, that it is
again my duty to communicate with Congress upon the state
of the Union, and the present condition of public affairs.
During the past year the most gratifying proofs are pre-
sented that our country has been blessed with a wide-spread
and universal prosperity. There has been no period since the
Government was founded, when all the industrial pursuits of
our people have been more successful, or when labor in all
branches of business has received a fairer or better reward.
From our abundance we have been enabled to perform the
pleasing duty of furnishing food for the starving millions of
less-favored countries.
In the enjoyment of the bounties of Providence at home,
such as have rarely fallen to the lot of any people, it is
cause of congratulation, that our intercourse with all the
powers of the earth, except Mexico, continues to be of an ami-
cable character.
It has ever been our cherished policy to cultivate peace and
good-will with all nations; and this policy has been steadily
pursued by me.
No change has taken place in our relations with Mexico
since the adjournment of the last Congress. The war in which
the United States were forced to engage with the government
of that country still continues.
I deem it unnecessary, after the full exposition of them
contained in my message of the 11th of May, 1846, and in
my annual message at the commencement of the session of
Congress in December last, to reiterate the serious causes of
complaint which we had against Mexico before she commenced
hostilities.
It is sufficient on the present occasion to say, that the
wanton violation of the rights of person and property of our
citizens committed by Mexico, her repeated acts of bad faitli,
through a long series of years, and her disregard of solemn
treaties, stipulating for indemnity to our injured citizens, not
only constituted ample cause of war on our part, but were of
488
LIFE AND TIMES OF
such an aggravated character as would have justified us before
the whole world, in resorting to this extreme remedy. With
an anxious desire to avoid a rupture between the two countries,
we forbore for years to assert our clear rights by force, and
continued to seek redress for the wrongs we had suffered by
amicable negotiation, in the hope that Mexico might yield to
pacific counsels and the demands of justice. In this hope we
were disappointed. Our minister of peace sent to Mexico was
insultingly rejected. The Mexican government refused even
to hear the terms of adjustment which he was authorized to
propose; and finally, under wholly unjustifiable pretexts, in-
volved the two countries in war, by invading the territory of
the State of Texas, striking the first blow, and shedding the
blood of our citizens on our own soil.
Though the United States were the aggrieved nation,
Mexico commenced the war, and we were compelled, in self-
defense, to repel the invader, and to vindicate the national
honor and interests by prosecuting it with vigor until we could
obtain a just and honorable peace.
In learning that hostilities had been commenced by Mexico,
I promptly communicated that fact, accompanied with a sue-
cinct statement of our other causes of complaint against
Mexico, to Congress; and that body, by the act of the 13th
of May, 1846, declared that, "by the act of the Eepublic of
Mexico, a state of war exists between that government and the
United States," this act declaring " the war to exist by tbe act
of the Eepublic of Mexico," and making provision for its pros-
ecution "to a speedy and successful termination," was passed
with great unanimity by Congress, there being but two nega-
tive votes in the Senate and but fourteen in the House of
Eepresentatives.
The existence of the war having thus been declared by Con-
gress, it became my duty, under the Constitution and the laws,
to conduct and prosecute it. This duty has been performed;
and though, at every stage of its progress, I have manifested
a willingness to terminate it by a just peace, Mexico has
refused to accede to any terms which could be accepted by the
United States, consistently with the national honor and interest.
The rapid and brilliant successes of our arms, and the vast
JAMES KNOX POLK.
489
extent of the enemy's territory which had been overrun and
conquered, before the close of the last session of Congress,
were fully known to that body. Since that time, the war has
been prosecuted with increased energy, and, I am gratified to
state, with a success which commands universal admiration.
History presents no parallel of so many glorious victories
achieved by any nation within so short a period. Our army,
regulars and volunteers, have covered themselves with imper-
ishable honors. Whenever and wherever our forces have en-
countered the enemy, though he was in vastly superior num-
hers, and often intrenched in fortified positions of his own
selection, and of great strength, he has been defeated. Too
much praise can not be bestowed upon our officers and men,
regulars and volunteers, for their gallantry, discipline, indomi-
table courage and perseverance, all seeking the post of danger,
and vying with each other in deeds of noble daring.
While every patriot's heart must exult, and a just national
pride animate every bosom, in beholding the high proofs of
courage, consummate military skill, steady discipline, and hu- „
manity to the vanquished enemy, exhibited by our gallant
army, the nation is called to mourn over the loss of many
brave officers and soldiers who have fallen in defense of
their country's honor and interests. The brave dead met their
melancholy fate in a foreign land, nobly discharging their
duty, and with their country's flag waving triumphantly in the
face of the foe. Their patriotic deeds are justly appreciated,
and will long be remembered by their grateful countrymen.
The parental care of the Government they loved and served
should be extended to their surviving families.
Shortly after the adjournment of the last session of Con-
gress, the gratifying intelligence was received of the signal
victory of Buena Vista, and of the fall of the city of Vera
Cruz, and with it the strong castle of San Juan de Ulloa, by
which it was defended. Believing that after these and other
successes, so honorable to our arms and so disastrous to Mexico,
the period was propitious to afford her another opportunity, if
she thought proper to embrace it, to enter into negotiations
for peace, a commissioner was appointed to proceed to the
head-quarters of our army, with full powers to enter upon
490
LIFE AND TIMES OF
negotiations, and to conclude a just and honorable treaty of
peace. He was not directed to make any new overtures of
peace, but was the bearer of a dispatch from the Secretary of
State of the United States to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
of Mexico, in reply to one received from the latter of the
22d of February, 1847, in which the Mexican government was
informed of his appointment, and of his presence at the head-
quarters of our army, and that he was invested with full
powers to conclude a definitive treaty of peace, whenever the
Mexican government might signify a desire to do so. While I
was unwilling to subject the United States to another indig-
nant refusal, I, was yet resolved that the evils of the war
should not be protracted a day longer than might be rendered
absolutely necessary by the Mexican government.
Care was taken to give no instructions to the commissioner
which could in any way interfere with our military operations,
or relax our energies in the prosecution of the war. He pos-
sessed no authority in any manner to control these operations.
He was authorized to exhibit his instructions to the general in
command of the army; and in the event of a treaty being
concluded and ratified on the part of Mexico, he was directed
to give him notice of that fact. On the happening of such
contingency, and on receiving notice thereof, the general in
command was instructed by the Secretary of War to suspend
further active military operations until further orders. These
instructions were given with a view to intermit hostilities until
the treaty thus ratified by Mexico could be transmitted to
Washington, and receive the action of the Government of the
United States.
The commissioner was also directed, on reaching the army,
to deliver to the general in command the dispatch which he
bore from the Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign
Affairs of Mexico, and, on receiving it, the general was in-
structed by the Secretary of War to cause it to be transmitted
to the commander of the Mexican forces, with a request that
it might be communicated to his government.
The commissioner did not reach the head-quarters of the
army until after another brilliant victory had crowned our
arms at Cerro Gordo.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
491
The dispatch which he bore from the Secretary of War to
the General in command of the army was received by that
officer, then at Jalapa, on the 7th of May, 1847, together
with the dispatch from the Secretary of State to the Minister
of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, having been transmitted to him
from Vera Cruz. The commissioner arrived at the head-quar-
ters of the army a few days afterward. His presence with the
army and his diplomatic character were made known to the
Mexican government, from Puebla, on the 12th of June, 1847,
by the transmission of the dispatch from the Secretary of State
to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.
Many weeks elapsed after its receipt, and no overtures were
made, nor was any desire expressed by the Mexican govern-
ment, to enter into negotiations for peace.
Our army pursued its march upon the capital, and, as it
approached it, was met by formidable resistance. Our forces
first encountered the enemy, and achieved signal victories in
the severely-contested battles of Contreras and Churubusco. It
was not until after these actions had resulted in decisive vie-
tories, and the capital of the enemy was within our power, that
the Mexican government' manifested any disposition to enter
into negotiationsibr peace, and even then, as events have proved,
there is too much reason to believe, they were insincere, and
that in agreeing to go through the forms of negotiation, the
object was to gain time to strengthen the defenses of their cap-
ital, and to prepare for fresh resistance.
The General in command of the army deemed it expedient
to suspend hostilities temporarily, by entering into an armistice
with a view to the opening of negotiations. Commissioners
were appointed on the part of Mexico to meet the commissioner
on the part of the United States. The result of the conferences
which took place between these functionaries of the two govern-
ments was a failure to conclude a treaty of peace.
The commissioner of the United States took with him the
project of a treaty already prepared, by the terms of which
the indemnity required by the United States was a cession of
territory.
It is well known that the only indemnity which it is in the
power of Mexico to make, in satisfaction of the just and long-
492
LIFE AND TIMES OF
deferred claims of our citizens against her, and the only means
by which she can reimburse the United States for the expenses
of the war, is a cession to the United States of a portion of her
territory. Mexico has no money to pay, and no other means
of making the required indemnity. If we refuse this, we can
obtain nothing else. To reject indemnity, by refusing to accept
a cession of territory, would be to abandon all our just demands,
and to wage the war, bearing all its expenses, without a pur-
pose or definite object.
A state of war abrogates treaties previously existing between
the belligerents, and a treaty of peace puts an end to all claims
for indemnity for tortuous acts committed under the authority
of one government against the citizens or subjects of another,
unless they are provided for in its stipulations. A treaty of
peace which would terminate the existing war, without pro-
viding for indemnity, would enable Mexico—the acknowledged
debtor, and herself the aggressor in the war—to relieve herself
from her just liabilities. By such a treaty, our citizens who
hold just demands against her would have no remedy against
either Mexico or their own Government. Our duty to these
citizens must forever prevent such a peace, and no treaty
which does not provide ample means of discharging these de-
mands can receive my sanction.
A treaty of peace should settle all existing difierences be-
tween the two countries. If an adequate cession of territory
should be made by such a treaty, the United States should re-
lease Mexico from all her liabilities, and assume their payment
to our own citizens. If, instead of this, the United States were
to consent to a treaty by which Mexico should again engage to
pay the heavy amount of indebtedness which a just indemnity
to our Government and our citizens would impose on her, it is
notorious that she does not possess the means to meet such an
undertaking. From such a treaty no result could be antici-
pated, but the same irritating disappointments which have here-
tofore attended the violations of similar treaty stipulations on
the parj; of Mexico. Such a treaty would be but a temporary
cessation of hostilities, without the restoration of the friendship
and good understanding which should characterize the future
intercourse between the two countries.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
493
That Congress contemplated the acquisition of territorial in-
demnity when that body made provision for the prosecution of
the war, is obvious. Congress could not have meant—when,
in May, 1846, they appropriated ten millions of dollars, and
authorized the President to employ the militia and naval and
military forces of the United States, and to accept the services
of fifty thousand volunteers, to enable him to prosecute the
war; and when, at their last session, and after our army had
invaded Mexico, they made additional appropriations, and au-
thorized the raising of additional troops for the same purpose—
that no indemnity was to he obtained from Mexico at the con-
elusion of the war; and yet it was certain that, if no Mexican
territory was acquired, no indemnity could he obtained.
It is further manifest that Congress contemplated territorial
indemnity, from the fact that at their last session an act was
passed, upon the Executive recommendation, appropriating
three millions of dollars with that express object. This appro-
priation was made " to enable the President to conclude a treaty
of peace, limits, and boundaries, with the republic of Mexico,
to be used by him in the event that said treaty, when signed
by the authorized agents of the two governments, and duly
ratified by Mexico, shall call for the expenditure of the same,
or any part thereof." The object of asking this appropriation
was distinctly stated in the several messages on the subject
which I communicated to Congress. Similar appropriations
made in 1803 and 1806, which were referred to, were intended
to be applied in part consideration for the cession of Louisiana
and the Floridas. In like manner it was anticipated that, in
settling the terms of a treaty of " limits and boundaries" with
Mexico, a cession of territory estimated to be of greater value
than the amount of our demands against her might be obtained,
and that the prompt payment of this sum—in part considera-
tion for the territory ceded—on the conclusion of a treaty, and
its ratification on her part, might be an inducement with her to
make such a cession of territory as would be satisfactory to the
United States. And although the failure to conclude such a
treaty has rendered it unnecessary to use any part of the three
millions of dollars appropriated by that act, and the entire sum
remains in the Treasury, it is still applicable to that object,
494
LIFE AND TIMES OF
should the contingency occur making such application proper.
The doctrine of no territory is the doctrine of no indemnity,
and, if sanctioned, would be a public acknowledgment that our
country was wrong, and that the war declared by Congress with
extraordinary unanimity was unjust, and should be abandoned;
an admission unfounded in fact, and degrading to the national
character.
The terms of the treaty proposed by the United States were
not only just to Mexico, but, considering the character and
amount of our claims, the unjustifiable and unprovoked com-
mencement of hostilities by her, the expenses of the war to
which we have been subjected, and the success which had at-
tended our arms, were deemed to be of a most liberal character.
The commissioner of the United States was authorized to
agree to the establishment of the Rio Grande as the boundary,
from its entrance into the Gulf to its intersection with the
southern boundary of New Mexico, in north latitude about
thirty-two degrees, and to obtain a cession to the United States
of the provinces of New Mexico and tiie Californias, and the
privilege of the right of way across tiie Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
The boundary of the Rio Grande, and the cession to the United
States of New Mexico and Upper California, constituted an ul-
timatum which our commissioner was, under no circumstances,
to yield.
That it might be manifest, not only to Mexico, but to all
other nations, that the United States were not disposed to take
advantage of a feeble power, by insisting upon wresting from
her all the other provinces, including many of her principal
towns and cities, which we had conquered and held in our
military occupation, but were willing to conclude a treaty in a
spirit of liberality, our commissioner was authorized to stipulate
for the restoration to Mexico of all our other conquests.
As the territory to be acquired by the boundary proposed
might be estimated to be of greater value than a fair equivalent
for our just demands, our commissioner was authorized to stipu-
late for the payment of such additional pecuniary consideration
as was deemed reasonable.
The terms of a treaty proposed by the Mexican commissioners
■were wholly inadmissible. They negotiated as if Mexico were
JAMES KNOX POLK.
495
the victorious, and not the vanquished party. They must have
known that their ultimatum could never be accepted. It re-
quired the United States to dismember Texas, by surrendering
to Mexico that part of the territory of that State lying between
the Nueces and the Rio Grande, included within her limits by
her laws when she was an independent republic, and when she
was annexed to the United States and admitted by Congress as
one of the States of our Union. It contained no provision for
the payment by Mexico of the just claims of our citizens.. It
required indemnity to Mexican citizens for injuries they may
have sustained by our troops in the prosecution of the war. It
demanded the right for Mexico to levy and collect the Mexican
tarilf of duties on goods imported into her ports while in our
military occupation during the war, and the owners of which
had paid to officers of the United States the military contribu-
tions which had been levied upon them; and it offered to cede ^
to the United States, for a pecuniary consideration, that part
of Upper California lying north of latitude thirty-seven degrees.
Such were the unreasonable terms proposed by the Mexican
commissioners.
The cession to the United States by Mexico, of the provinces
of New Mexico and the Californias, as proposed by the com-
missioner of the United States, it was believed, would be more
in accordance with the convenience and interests of both na-
tions, than any other cession of territory which it was probable
Mexico could be induced to make.
It is manifest to all who have observed the actual condition
of the Mexican government, for some years past, and at present,
that if these provinces should be retained by her, she could not
long continue to hold and govern them. Mexico is too feeble
a power to govern these provinces, lying as they do at a dis-
tance of more than a thousand miles from her capital, and if
attempted to be retained by her, they would constitute but for
a short time, even nominally, a part of her dominions.
This would be especially the case with Upper California.
The sagacity of powerful European nations has long since di-
rected their attention to the commercial importance of that prov-
ince, and there can be little doubt that the moment the United
States shall relinquish their present occupation of it, and their
496
LIFE AND TIMES OF
claim to it as indemuity, an effort would be made by some for-
eign power to possess it, either by conquest or by purchase. If
no foreign government should acquire it in either of these
modes, an independent revolutionary government would prob-
ably be established by the inhabitants, and such foreigners as
may remain in or remove to the country, as soon as it shall be
known that the United States h^ve abandoned it. Such a gov-
ernment would be too feeble long to maintain its separate inde-
pendent existence, and would finally become annexed to, or be
a dependent colony of some more powerful State.
Should any foreign government attempt to possess it as a
colony, or otherwise to incorporate it with itself, the principle
avowed by President Monroe, in 1824, and reaffirmed in my
first annual message, that no foreign power shall, with our con-
sent, be permitted to plant or establish any new colony or do-
minion on any part of the North American continent, must be
maintained. In maintaining this principle, and in resisting its
invasion by any foreign power, we might be involved in other
wars more expensive and more difficult than that in which we
are now engaged.
The provinces of New Mexico and the Californias are con-
tiguous to the territories of the United States, and if brought
under the government of our laws, their resources—mineral,
agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial—would soon be
developed.
Upper California is bounded on the north by our Oregon
possessions; and if held by the United States, would soon be
settled by a hardy, enterprising, and intelligent portion of our
population. The Bay of San Francisco, and other harbors along
the California coast, would afford shelter for our navy, for our
numerous whale-ships, and other merchant-vessels employed in
the Pacific Ocean, and would in a short period become the
marts of an extensive and profitable commerce with China and
other countries of the East.
These advantages, in which the whole commercial world
would participate, - would at once be secured to the United
States by the cession of this territory; while it is certain that
as long as it remains a part of the Mexican dominions, they can
be enjoyed neither by Mexico hersell nor by any other nation.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
497
New Mexico is a frontier province, and has never been of
any considerable value to Mexico. From its locality, it is nat-
urally connected with our western settlements. The territorial
limits of the State of Texas, too, as defined by her laws, before
her admission into our Union, embrace all that portion of New
Mexico l}'ing east of the Rio Grande, while Mexico still claims
to hold this territory as a part of her dominions. The adj ustment
of this question of boundary is important.
There is another consideration which induced the belief that
the Mexican government might even desire to place this prov-
ince under the protection of the Government of the United
States. Numerous bands of fierce and warlike savages wander
over it, and upon its borders. Mexico has been, and must con-
tinue to be, too feeble to restrain them from committing depre-
dations, robberies, and murders, not only upon the inhabitants
of New Mexico itself, but upon those of the other northern
States of Mexico. It would be a blessing to all these northern
States to have their citizens protected against them by the power
of the United States. At this moment many Mexicans, prin-
cipally females and children, are in captivity among them. If
New Mexico were held and governed by the United States, we
could effectually prevent these tribes from committing such out-
rages, and compel them to release these captives, and restore
them to their families and friends.
In proposing to acquire New Mexico and the Californias,
it was known that but an inconsiderable portion of the Mexi-
can people would be transferred with them, the country em-
braced within these provinces being chiefly an uninhabited
region.
These were the leading considerations which induced me to
authorize the terms of peace which were proposed to Mexico.
They were rejected; and, negotiations being at an end, hos-
tilities were renewed. An assault was made by our gallant
army upon the strongly fortified places near the gates of the
City of Mexico, and upon the city itself; and after several
days of severe confiict, the Mexican forces, vastly superior in
number to ours, were driven from the city, and it was occu-
pied by our troops.
Immediatelv after information was received of the unfa-
• 32—K
498
LIFE AND TIMES OF
vorable result of the negotiations, believing that his continued
presence with the army could be productive of no good, I de-
termined to recall our commissioner. A dispatch to this effect
was transmitted to him on the 6th of October last. The
Mexican government will be informed of his recall; and that,
in the existing state of things, I shall not deem it proper to
make any further overtures of peace, but shall be at all times
ready to receive and consider any proposals which may be
made by Mexico.
Since the liberal proposition of the United States was au-
thorized to be made in April last, large expenditures have
been incurred, and the precious blood of many of our patriotic
fellow-citizens has been shed in the prosecution of the war.
This consideration, and the obstinate perseverance of Mexico
in protracting the war, must influence the terms of peace
which it may be deemed proper hereafter to accept.
Our arms having been everywhere victorious, having sub-
jected to our military occupation a large portion of the
enemy's country, including his capital, and negotiations for
peace having failed, the important questions arise, in what
manner the war ought to be prosecuted, and what should be
our future policy. I can not doubt that we should secure and
render available the conquests which we have already made;
and that, with this view, we should hold and occupy, by our
naval and military forces, all the ports, towns, cities, and
provinces, now in our occupation, or which may hereafter fall
into our possession; that we should press forward our military
operations, and levy such military contributions on the enemy,
as may as far as practicable, defray the future expenses of
the war.
Had the government of IMexico acceded to the equitable
and liberal terms proposed, that mode of adjustment would
have been preferred. Mexico having declined to do this, and
failed to offer any other terms which could be accepted by the
United States, the national honor, no less than the public in-
terests, requires that the war should be prosecuted with
increased energy and power, until a just and satisfactory peace
can be obtained. In the meantime, as Mexico refuses all in-
demnity, we should adopt measures to indemnify ourselves, by
JAMES KNOX POLK
499
appropriating permanently a portion of her territory. Early
after the commencement of the war, New Mexico and the Califor-
nias were taken possession of by our forces. Our military and
naval commanders were ordered to conquer and hold them,
subject to be disposed of by a treaty of peace.
These provinces are now in our undisputed occupation, and
have been so for many months; all resistance on the part of
Mexico having ceased within their limits. I am satisfied that
they never should be surrendered to Mexico. Should Congress
concur with me iu this opinion, and that they should be re-
tained by the United States as indemnity, I can perceive no
good reason why the civil jurisdiction and laws of the United
States should not at once be extended over them. To wait for
a treaty of peace, such as we are willing to make, by which
our relations towards them would not be changed, can not be
good policy; while our own interests, and that of the people
inhabiting them, require that a stable, responsible, and free
government under our authority should, as soon as possible, be
established over them. Sliould Congress, therefore, determinq
to hold these provinces permanently, and that they shall here-
after be considered as constituent parts of our country, the
early establishment of territorial government over them will
be important for the more perfect protection of persons and
property; and I recommend that such territorial governments
be established. It will promote peace and tranquillity among
the inhabitants, by allaying all apprehension that they may
still entertain of being again subjected to the jurisdiction of
Mexico. I invite the early and favorable consideration of
Congress to this important subject.
Besides New Mexico and the Californias, there are other
Mexican provinces which have been reduced to our possession
by conquest. These other Mexican provinces are now gov-
erned by our military and naval commanders, under the gen-
eral authority which is conferred upon a Conqueror by the
laws of war. They should continue to be held as a means of
coercing Mexico to accede to just terms of peace. Civil as
well as military officers are required to conduct such a govern-
ment. Adequate compensation to be drawn from contributions
J levied on the enemy should be fixed by law for such officers as
500
LIFE AND TIMES OF
may be thus employed. What further provision may become
necessary, and what final disposition it may he proper to make
of them, must depend on the future progress of the war, and
the course which Mexico may think proper hereafter to pursue.
With the views I entertain, I can not favor the policy
which has been suggested, either to withdraw our army alto-
gether, or retire to a designated line, and simply hold and
defend it. To withdraw our army altogether from the con-
quests they have made by deeds of unparalleled bravery, and
at the expense of so much blood and treasury, in a just war
on our part, and one which, by the act of the enemy, we could
not honorably have avoided, would he to degrade the nation
in its own estimation and in that of the world.
To retire to a line, and simply hold and defend it, would
not terminate the war. On the contrary it would encourage
Mexico to persevere, and tend to protract it indefinitely. It
is not to he expected that Mexico, after refusing to establish
such a line as a permanent boundary, when our victorious
^rmy are in possession of her capital, and in the heart of her
country, would permit us to hold it without resistance. That
she would continue the war, and in the most harassing and
annoying forms, there can he no doubt. A border warfare of
the most savage character, extending over a long line, would
be unceasingly waged. It would require a large army to be
kept constantly in the field, stationed at posts and garrisons
along such a line, to protect and defend it. The enemy, re-
lieved from the pressure of our arms on his coasts and in the
populous parts of the interior, would direct his attention to
this line, and, selecting an isolated post for attack, would con-
centrate his forces upon it. This would be a condition of
affairs which the Mexicans, pursuing their favorite system of
guerrilla warfare, would probably prefer to any other. AVere
we to assume a defensive attitude on such a line, all the
advantages of such a state of war would be on the side of the
enemy. We could levy no contributions upon him, oi'in any
other way make him feel the pressure of the war, but must
remain inactive and await his approach, being in constant un-
certainty at what point on the line, or at what time, he
might make an assault. He may assemble and organize an
JAMES KNOX POLK.
501
overwhelming force in the interior, on his own side of the line,
and, concealing his purpose, make a sudden assault upon some one
of our posts so distant from any other as to prevent the possi-
bility of timely succor or re-enforcements; and in this way our
gallant army would be exposed^to the danger of heing cut off
in detail; or if, by their uuequaled bravery and prowess
everywhere exhibited during this war, they should repulse the
enemy, their numbers stationed at any one post may be too
small to pursue him. If the enemy be repulsed in one attack, '
he would have nothing to do but to retreat to his own side of
the line, and, being in no fear of a pursuing army, may re-
enforce himself at leisure, for another attack on the same or
some other post. He may, too, cross the line between our
posts, make rapid incursions into the country which we hold,
murder the inhabitants, commit depredations on them, and
then retreat to the interior before a sufficient force can be con-
centrated to pursue him. Such would probably be the harass-
ing character of a mere defensive war on our part. If our
forces, when attacked, or threatened with attack, be per-
mitted to cross the line, drive back the enemy, and conquer
him, this would be again to invade the enemy's country, after
having lost all the advantages of the conquests we have
already made, by having voluntarily abandoned them. To
hold such a line successfully and in security, it is far from
being certain that it would not require as large an army as
would be necessary to hold all the conquests we have already
made, and to continue the prosecution of the war in the heart
of the enemy's country. It is also far from being certain
that the expenses of the war would be diminished by such a
policy.
I am persuaded that the best means of vindicating the na-
tional honor and interest, and of bringing the war to an hon-
orable close, will be to prosecute it with increased energy and
power in the vital parts of the enemy's country.
In my annual message to Congress of December last, I de-
dared that "the waj* has not been waged with a view to con-
quest; but having been commenced by Mexico, it has been
carried into the enemy's country, and will be vigorously pros-
ecuted there, with a view to obtain an honorable peace, and
502
LIFE AND TIMES OF
thereby secure ample indemnity for the expenses of the war,
as well as to our much-injured citizens, who hold large pecuniary
demands against Mexico." Such, in my judgment, continues
to be our true policy—indeed, the only policy which will prob-
ably secure a permanent peace.
It has never been contemplated by me, as an object of the
war, to make a permanent conquest of the Republic of Mexico,
or to annihilate her separate existence as an independent na-
tion. On the contrary, it has ever been my desire that she
should maintain her nationality, and, under a good government
adapted to her condition, be a free, independent, and prosperous
republic. The United States were the first among the nations
to recognize her independence, and have always desired to be
on terms of amity and good neighborhood with her. This she
would not suffer. By her own conduct we have been compelled
to engage in the present war. In its prosecution, we seek not
her overthrow as a nation; but in vindicating our national
honor, we seek to obtain redress for the wrongs she has done
us, and indemnity for our just demands against her. We de-
mand an honorable peace; and that peace must bring with it
indemnity for the past and security for the future. Hitherto
Mexico has refused all accommodation by which such a peace
could be obtained.
While our armies have advanced from victory to victory,
from the commencement of the war, it has always been with
the olive-branch of peace in their hands; and it has been in
the power of Mexico, at every step, to arrest hostilities by ac-
cepting it.
One great obstacle to the attainment of peace has, undoubt-
edly, arisen from the fact, that Mexico has been so long held in
subjection by one faction or military usurper after another, and
such has been the condition of insecurity in which their succes-
sive governments have been placed, that each has been deterred
from making peace, lest, for this very cause, a rival faction
might expel it from power. Such was the fate of President Her-
rera's administration in 1845, for being disposed even to listen
to the overtures of the United States to prevent the war, as is
fully confirmed by an ofllcial correspondence which took place
in the month of August last, between him and his government,
JAMES KNOX POLK.
503
a copy of which is herewith communicated. " For this cause
aloue, the revolution which displaced him from power was set
on foot" by General Paredes. Such may he the condition of
insecurity of the present government.
There can be no doubt that the peaceable and well-disposed
inhabitants of Mexico are convinced that it is the true interest
of their country to conclude an honorable peace with the United
States; but the apprehension of becoming the victims of some
military faction or usurper may have prevented them from
manifesting their feelings by any public act. The removal of
any such apprehension would probably cause them to speak their
sentiments freely, and to adopt the measures necessary for the
restoration of peace. With a people distracted and divided by
contending factions, and a government subject to constant
changes, by successive revolutions, the continued successes of
our arms may fail to secure a satisfactor)' peace. In such event,
it may become proper for our commanding generals in the field
to give encouragement and assurances of protection to the
friends of peace in Mexico in the establishment and mainte-
nance of a free republican government of their own choice, able
and willing to conclude a peace which would be just to them,
and secure to us the indemnity we demand. This may become
the only mode of obtaining such a peace. Should such be the
result, the war which Mexico has forced upon us would thus be
converted into an enduring blessing to herself. After finding
her torn and distracted by factions, and ruled by military
usurpers, we should then leave her with a republican govern-
ment, in the enjoyment of real independence, and domestic
peace and prosperity, performing all her relative duties in the
great family of nations, and promoting her own happiness by
wise laws and their faithful execution.
If, after affording this encouragement and protection, and
after all the persevering and sincere efibrts we have made, from
the moment Mexico commenced the war, and prior to that time,
to adjust our differences with her, we shall ultimately fail, then
we shall have exhausted all honorable means in pursuit of
peace, and must continue to occupy her country with our
troops, taking the full measure of indemnity into our own
hands, and must enforce the terms which our honor demands.
504
LIFE AND TIMES OF
To act otherwise, in the existing state of things in Mexico,
and to withdraw our army without a peace, would not only
leave all the wrongs of which we complain unredressed, hut
would be the signal for new and fierce civil dissensions and new
revolutions—all alike hostile to peaceful relations with the
United States.
Besides, there is danger, if our troops were withdrawn be-
fore a peace was concluded, that the Mexican people, wearied
with successive revolutions, and deprived of protection for their
persons and property, might at length be inclined to yield to
foreign influences, and to cast themselves into the arms of some
European monarch for protection from the anarchy and suflhr-
ing which would ensue. This, for our own safety, and in pur-
suance of our established policy, we should be compelled to
resist. We could never consent that Mexico should be thus
converted into a monarchy governed by a foreign prince.
Mexico is our near neighbor, and her boundaries are con-
terminous with our own, through the whole extent across the
North American continent, from ocean to ocean. Both politic-
ally and commercially, we have the deepest interest in her re-
generation and prosperity. Indeed, it is impossible that, with
any just regard to our own safety, we can ever become indif-
ferent to her fate.
It may be that the Mexican government and people have
misconstrued or misunderstood our forbearance, and our objects,
in desiring to conclude an amicable adjustment of the existing
differences between the two countries. They may have sup-
posed that we would submit to terms degrading to the nation;
or they may have drawn false inferences from the supposed di-
vision of opinion in the United States on the subject of the war,
and may have calculated to gain much by protracting it; and,
indeed, that we might ultimately abandon it altogether, with-
out insisting on any indemnity, territorial or otherwise. What-
ever may be the false impressions under which they have acted,
the adoption and prosecution of the energetic policy proposed
must soon undeceive them.
In the future prosecution of the war, the enemy must be
made to feel its pressure more than they have heretofore done.
At its commencement it was deemed proper to conduct it in a
JAMES KNOX POLK.
505
spirit of forbearance and liberality. With this end in view,
early measures were adopted to conciliate, as far as a state of
war would permit, the mass of the Mexican population; to
convince them that the war was waged, not against the peaceful
inhabitants of Mexico, hut against their faithless government,
which had commenced hostilities; to remove from their minds
the false impressions which their designing and interested rulers
had artfully attempted to make., that the war on our part was
one of conquest; that it was a war against their religion and
their churches, which were to he desecrated and overthrown;
and that their rights of person and private property would he
violated. To remove these false impressions, our commanders
in the field were directed scrupulously to respect their religion,
their churches, and their church property, which were in no
manner to he violated; they were directed also to respect the
rights of persons and property of all who should not take up
arms against us.
Assurances to this effect were given to the Mexican people
by Major-General Taylor, in a proclamation issued in pursuance
of instructions from the Secretary of War, in the month of
June, 1846, and again by Major-General Scott, who acted upon
his own convictions of the propriety of issuing it in a proclama-
tion of the 11th of May, 1847.
In this spirit of liberality and conciliation, and with a view
to prevent the body of the Mexican population from taking up
arms against us, was the war conducted on our part. Provisions
and other supplies furnished to our army by Mexican citizens
were paid for at fair and liberal prices agreed upon by the
parties. After the lapse of a few months, it became apparent
that these assurances, and this mild treatment, had failed to
produce the desired effect upon the Mexican population. While
the war had been conducted on our part according to the most
humane and liberal principles observed by civilized nations, it
was waged in a far different spirit on the part of Mexico. Not
appreciating our forbearance, the Mexican people generally be-
came hostile to the United States, and availed themselves of
every opportunity to commit the most savage excesses upon our
troops. Large numbers of the population took up arms, and,
engaging in guerrilla warfare, robbed and murdered, in the
506
LIFE AND TIMES OF
most cruel manner, individual soldiers, or small parties, whom
accident or other causes had separated from the main body of
our army; bands of guerilleros and robbers infested the roads,
harassed our trains, and, whenever it was in their power, cutoff
our supplies.
The Mexicans having thus shown themselves to be wholly
incapable of appreciating our forbearance and liberality, it was
deemed proper to change the manner of conducting the war,
by making tbem feel its pressure according to the usages
observed under similar circumstances by all otber civilized
nations.
Accordingly as early as tbe 22d of September, 1846, in-
structions were given by the Secretary of War to Major-General
Taylor to "draw supplies" for our army "from the enemy,
without paying for them, and to require contributions for its
support, if in that way he was satisfied he could get abundant
supplies for his forces." In directing the execution of these in-
structions, much was necessarily left to the discretion of the
commanding officer, who was be.ot acquainted with the circum-
stances by which he was surrouuded, the wants of the army,
and the practicability of enforcing tbe measure.
General Taylor, on the 26th of October, 1846, replied from
Monterey, that "it would have been impossible hitherto, and is
so now, to sustain the army to any extent by forced contribu-
tions of money or supplies." For the reasons assigned by him,
he did not adopt the policy of his instructions, but declared his
readiness to do so, "should the army, in its future operations,
reach a portion of the country which may be made to supply
the troops with advantage." He continued to pay for the ar-
tides of supply which were drawn from the enemy's country.
Similar instructions were sent to Major-General Scott on the
3d of April, 1847, who replied from Jalapa, on the 20th of
May, 1847, that if it be expected "that the army is to support
itself by forced contributions levied upon tbe country, we may
ruin and exasperate the inhabitants, and starve ourselves."
The same discretion was given to him that had been given to
General Taylor in this respect. General Scott, for the reasons
assigned by him, also continued to pay for the articles of sup-
ply for the army which were drawn from the enemy.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
507
After the army bad reached the heart of the most wealthy
portion of Mexico, it was supposed that the obstacles which had
before that time prevented it would not be such as to render
impracticable the levy of forced contributions for its support;
and on the 1st of September, and again on the 6th of October,
1847, the order was repeated in dispatches addressed by the
Secretary of War to General Scott, and his attention was again
called to the importance of making the enemy bear the burdens
of the war by requiring them to furnish the means of support-
ing our army; and he was directed to adopt this policy, unless,
by doing so, there was danger of depriving the army of the
necessary supplies. Copies of these dispatches were forwarded
to General Taylor for his government.
On the 31st of March last, I caused an order to he issued
to our military and naval commanders to levy and collect a
military contribution upon all vessels and merchandise which
might enter any of the ports of Mexico in our military occu-
pation, and to apply such contributions toward defraying the
expenses of the war. By virtue of the right of conquest and
the laws of war, the conqueror, consulting his own safety or
convenience, may either exclude foreign commerce altogether
from all such ports, or permit it upon such terms and condi-
tions as he may prescribe. Before the principal ports of
Mexico were blockaded by our navy, the revenue derived from
impost duties, under the laws of Mexico, was paid into the
Mexican treasury. After these ports had fallen into our mill-
tary possession, the blockade was raised, and commerce with
them permitted upon prescribed terms and conditions. They
were opened to the trade of all nations upon the payment of
duties more moderate in their amount than those which had
been previously levied by Mexico; and the revenue, which
was formerly paid into the Mexican treasury, was directed to
be collected by our naval and military officers, and applied to
the use of our army and navy. Care was taken that the offi-
cers, soldiers, and sailors, of our army and navy should be
exempted from the operations of the order; and as the mer-
chandise imported upon which the order operated inust oe
consumed by Mexican citizens, the contributions exacted were,
in effect, the seizure of the public revenues of Mexico, and
508
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the application of them to our own use. In directing this meas-
ure, the object was to compel the enemy to contribute, as far as
practicable, toward the expenses of the war.
For the amount of contributions which have bfeen levied in
this form, I refer you to the accompanying reports of the Sec-
retary of War and of the Secretary of the Navy, by which it
appears that a sum exceeding half a million of dollars has
been collected.
This amount would undoubtedly have been much larger,
but for the difficulty of-keeping open communications between
the coast and the interior, so as to enable the owners of the
merchandise imported to transport and vend it to the inhabi-
tants of the country. It is confidently expected that this dif-
ficulty will, to a great extent, be soon removed by our in-
creased forces which have been sent to the field.-
Measures have recently been adopted by which the internal
as well as the external revenues of Mexico, in all places in our
military occupation, will be seized and appropriated to the use
of our army and navy.
The policy of levying upon the enemy contributions in
every form, consistently with the laws of nations, which it may
be practicable for our military commanders to adopt, should, in
my judgment, be rigidly enforced, and orders to this effect have
accordingly been given. By such a policy, at the same time
that our own Treasury will be relieved from a heavy drain,
the Mexican people will be made to feel the burdens of the
war, and, consulting their own interests, may be induced tbe
more readily to require their rulers to accede to a just peace.
After the adjournment of the last session of Congress,
events transpired in the prosecution of the war which, in my
judgment, required a greater number of troops in the field than
had been anticipated. The strength of the army was accord-
ingly increased by " accepting " the services of all the volun-
teer forces authorized by the act of the 13th of May, 1846,
without putting a construction on that act, the correctness of
which was seriously questioned. The volunteer foroes now in
the field, with those which had been "accepted," to "serve
for twelve months," and were discharged at the end of their
term of service, exhaust the fifty thousand men authorized by
JAMES KNOX POLK.
509
that act. Had it been clear that a proper construction of the
act warranted it, the services of an additional number would
have been called for and accepted; but doubts existing upon
this point, the power was not exercised.
It is deemed important that Congress should, at an early
period of their session, confer the authority to raise an addi-
tional regular force to serve during the war with Mexico, and
to be discharged upon the conclusion and ratification of a
treaty of peace. I invite the attention of Congress to the
views presented by the Secretary of War in his report upon
the subject.
I recommend, also, that authority be given by law to call
for and accept the services of an additional number of volun-
teers, to be exercised at such time and to such extent as the
emergencies of the service may require.
In prosecuting the war with Mexico, while the utmost care
has been taken to avoid every just cause of complaint on the
part of neutral nations, and none has been given, liberal privi-
leges have been granted to their commerce in the ports of the
enemy in our military occupation.
The difficulty with the Brazilian government, which at
one time threatened to interrupt the friendly relations between
the two countries, will, I trust, be speedily adjusted. I have
received information that an envoy extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary to the United States will shortly be appointed
by his imperial majesty; and it is hoped that he will come in-
structed and prepared to adjust all remaining differences be-
tween the two governments in a manner acceptable and hon-
orable to both. In the meantime, I have every reason to
believe that nothing will occur to interrupt our amicable rela-
tions with Brazil.
It has been my constant effort to maintain and cultivate
the most intimate relations of friendship with all the inde-
pendent powers of South America; and this policy has been
attended with the happiest results. It is true, that the settle-
ment and payment of many just claims of American citizens
against these nations have been long delayed. The peculiar
position in which they have been placed, and the desire on the
part of my predecessors, as well as myself, to grant them the
510
LIFE AND TIMES OF
utmost indulgence, have hitherto prevented these claims from
being urged in a manner demanded by strict justice. The
time has arrived when they ought to be finally adjusted and
liquidated, and efibrts are now making for that purpose.
It is proper to inform you that the government of Peru
has in good faith paid the first two installments of the indem-
nity of thirty thousand dollars each, and the greater portion
of the interest due thereon, in execution of the convention
between that government and the United States, the ratifica-
tions of which were exchanged at Lima, on the 31st of October,
1846. The Attorney-General of the United States, early in
August last, completed the adjudication of the claims under
this convention, and made his report thereon, in pursuance of
the act of the 8th of August, 1846. The sums to which the
claimants are respectively entitled will be paid on demand at
the Treasury.
I invite the early attention of Congress to the present con-
dition of our citizens in China. Under our treaty with that
power, American citizens are withdrawn from the jurisdiction,
whether civil or criminal, of the Chinese government, and
placed under that of our public functionaries in that country.
By these alone can our citizens be tried and punished for the
commission of any crime; by these alone can questions be de-
cided between them, involving the rights of persons and prop-
erty; and by these alone can contracts be enforced, into which
they may have entered with the citizens or subjects of foreign
powers. The merchant-vessels of the United States lying in
the waters of the five ports of China open to foreign commerce
are under the exclusive jurisdiction of officers of their own gov-
ernment. Until Congress shall establish competent tribunals to
try and punish crimes, and to exercise jurisdiction in civil cases
in China, American citizens there are subject to no law what-
ever. Crimes may be committed with impunity, and debts may
be contracted without any means to enforce their payment.
Inconveniences have already resulted from the omission of Con-
gress to legislate upon the subject, and still greater are appre-
bended. The British authorities in China have already com-
plained that this Government has not provided for the punish-
ment of crimes, or the enforcement of contracts against American
JAMES KNOX POLK.
511
citizens in tliat country, while their government has established
tribunals by which an American citizen can recover debts due
from British subjects.
Accustomed as the Chinese are to summary justice, they
could not be made to comprehend why criminals who are citi-
zens of the United States should escape with impunity, in viola-
lation of treaty obligations, while the punishment of a Chinese,
who had committed any crime against an American citizen,
would be rigorously exacted. Indeed, the consequences might
be fatal to American citizens in China, should a flagrant crime
be committed by any one of them upon a Chinese, and should
trial and punishment not follow according to the requisitions
of the treaty. . This might disturb, if not destroy, our friendly
relations with that empire, and cause an interruption of our
valuable commerce.
Our treaties with the Sublime Porte, Tripoli, Tunis, Mo-
rocco, and Muscat, also require the legislation of Congress to
carry them into execution, though the necessity for immediate
action may not be so urgent as in regard to China.
The Secretary of State has submitted an estimate to defray
the expense of opening diplomatic relations with the papal
States. The interesting political events now in progress in
these States, as well as a just regard to our commercial inter-
ests, have, in my opinion, rendered such a measure highly
expedient.
Estimates have also been submitted for the outfits and sal-
aries of charges d'affaires to the republics of Bolivia, Guatemala,
and Ecuador. The manifest importance of cultivating the most
friendly relations with all the independent States upon this con-
tinent has induced me to recommend appropriations necessary
for the maintenance of these missions.
I recommend to Congress that an appropriation be made, to
be paid to the Spanish government for the purpose of distribu-
tion among the claimants in "the Amistad case." I entertain
the conviction that this is due to Spain under the treaty of the
20th of October, 1795; and moreover, that, from the earnest
manner in which the claim continues to be urged, so long as it
shall remain unsettled, it will be a source of irritation and dis-
cord between the two countries, which may prove highly preju-
512
LIFE AND TIMES OF
dicial to the interests of the United States. Good policy, no
less than a faithful compliance with our treaty obligations, re-
quires that the inconsiderable appropriation demanded should
be made.
A detailed statement of the condition of the finances will be
presented in the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury.
The imports for the last fiscal year, ending on the 30th of June,
1847, were of the value of one hundred and forty-six millions
five hundred and forty-five thousand six hundred and thirty-
eight dollars; of which the amount exported was eight millions
eleven thousand one hundred and fifty-eight dollars, leaving
one hundred and thirty-eight millions five hundred and thirty-
four thousand four hundred and eighty dollars in the country
for domestic use. The value of the exports for the same period
was one hundred and fifty-eight millions six hundred and forty-
eight thousand six hundred and twenty-two dollars; of which
one hundred and fifty millions six hundred and thirty-seven
thousand four hundred and sixty-four dollars consisted of do-
mestic productions, and eight millions eleven thousand one
hundred and fifty-eight dollars of foreign articles.
The receipts into the Treasury for the same period amounted
to twenty-six millions three hundred and forty-six thousand
seven hundred and ninety dollars and thirty-seven cents, of
which there was derived from customs twenty-three millions
seven hundred and forty-seven thousand eight hundred and
sixty-four dollars and sixty-six cents; from sales of public lands,
two millions four hundred and ninety-eight thousand three hun-
dred and thirty-five dollars and twenty cents; and from inci-
dental and miscellaneous sources, one hundred thousand five
hundred and seventy dollars and fifty-one cents. The last fiscal
year during which this amount was received embraced five
months under the operation of the tariff act of 1842, and seven
months during which the tariff act of 1846 was in force. Dur-
ing the five months under the act of 1842, the amount received
from customs was seven millions eight hundred and forty-two
thousand three hundred and six dollars and ninety cents, and
during the seven months under the act of 1846, the amount
received was fifteen millions, nine hundred and five thousand
five hundred and fifty-seven dollars and seventy-six cents.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
513
The net revenue from customs during the year ending on
the 1st of December, 1846, being the last year under the op-
eration of the tariff act of 1842, was twenty-two millions nine
hundred and seventy-one thousand four hundred and three
dollars and ten cents; and the net revenue from customs during
the year ending on the 1st of December, 1847, being the first
year under the operation-of the tariflT act of 1846, was about
thirty-one millions five hundred thousand dollars; being an in-
crease of revenue for the first year under the tariff of 1846 of
more than eight millions five hundred thousand dollars over that
of the last year under the tariff of 1842.
The expenditures during the fiscal year ending on the 30th
of June last, were fifty-nine millions four hundred and fifty-one
thousand one hundred and seventy-seven dollars and sixty-five
cents; of which three millions five hundred and twenty-two
thousand and eighty-two dollars and thirty-seven cents was on
account of payment of principal and interest of the public debt,
including Treasury-notes redeemed and not funded. The ex-
penditures, exclusive of payment of public debt, were fifty-five
millions nine hundred and twenty-nine thousand and ninety-
five dollars and twenty-eight cents.
It is estimated that the receipts into the Treasury for the
fiscal year ending on the 80th of June, 1848, including the
balance in the Treasury on the 1st of July last, will amount
to forty-two millions eight hundred and eighty-six thousand
five hundred and forty-five dollars and eighty cents, of which
thirty-one millions, it is estimated, will be derived from cus-
toras; three millions five hundred thousand from the sale of
the public lands; four hundred thousand from incidental
sources, including sales made by the solicitor of the Treasury;
and six millions two hundred and eighty-five thousand two
hundred and ninety-four dollars and fifty-five cents from loans
already authorized by law, which, together with the balance
in the Treasury on the 1st of July last, make the sum
estimated.
The expenditures for the same period, if the peace with
Mexico shall not be concluded, and the army shall be increased
as is proposed, will amount, including the necessary payments
on account of principal and interest of the public debt and
33—K
514
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Treasury-notes, to fifty-eight millions six hundred and fifteen
thousand six hundred and sixty dollars and seven cents.
On the 1st of the present month, the amount of the pub-
lie debt actually incurred, including treasury-notes, was forty-
five millions six hundred and fifty-nine thousand six hundred
and fifty-nine dollars and forty cents. The public debt due
on the 4th of March, 1845, including treasury-notes, was
seventeen millions seven hundred and eighty-eight thousand
seven hundred and ninety-nine dollars and sixty-two cents;
and consequently the addition made to the public debt since
that time is twenty-seven millions eight hundred and seventy
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine dollars and seventy-
eight cents.
Of the loan of twenty-three millions, authorized by the act
of the 28th of January, 1847, the sum of five millions was
paid out to the public creditors, or exchanged at par for
specie; the remaining eighteen millions was offered for specie
to the highest bidder not below par, by an advertisement issued
by the Secretary of the Treasury, and published from the 9th
of February until the 10th of April, 1847, when it was
awarded to the several highest bidders, at premiums varying
from one-eighth of one per cent to two per cent above par.
The premium has been paid into the Treasury, and the sums
awarded deposited in specie in the Treasury as fast as it was
required by the wants of the Government.
To meet the expenditures for the remainder of the present
and for the next fiscal year, ending on the 30th of June, 1849,
a further loan, in aid of the ordinary revenues of the Goveim-
ment, will be necessary. Eetaining a sufficient surplus in the
Treasury, the loan required for the remainder of the present
fiscal year will be about eighteen millions five hundred thou-
sand dollars. If the duty on tea and coffee be imposed, and
the-graduation of the price of the public lands shall be made
at an early period of your session, as recommended, the loan
for the present fiscal year may be reduced to seventeen millions
of dollars. The loan may be further reduced by whatever
amount of expenditures can be saved by military contributions
collected in Mexico. The most vigorous measures for the aug-
mentation of these contributions have been directed, and a
JAMES KNOX POLK,
515
very considerable sum is expected from that source. Its
amount can not, however, be calculated with any certainty.
It is recommended that the loan to be made be authorized
upon the same terms, and for the same time, as that which
was authorized under the provisions of the act of the 28th of
January, 1847.
Should the war with Mexico be continued until the 30th
of June, 1849, it is estimated that a further loan of twenty
millions five hundred thousand dollars will be required for the
fiscal year ending on that day, in case no duty be imposed on
tea and cofiee, and the public lands be not reduced and grad-
uated in price, and no military contributions shall be collected
in Mexico. If the duty on tea and coffee be imposed, and
the lands' be reduced and graduated in price as proposed, the
loan may be reduced to seventeen millions of dollars, and
will be subject to be still further reduced by the amount of the
military contributions which may be collected in Mexico. It
is not proposed, however, at present, to ask Congress for
authority to negotiate this loan for the next fiscal year, as it is
hoped that the loan asked for the remainder of the present fiscal
year, aided by military contributions which may be collected
in Mexico, may be suflScient. If, contrary to my expecta-
tion, there should be a necessity for it, the fact will be com-
municated to Congress in time for their action during the
present session. In no event will a sum exceeding six mil-
lions of dollars of this amount be needed before the meeting
of the session of Congress in December, 1848.
The act of the 30th of July, 1846, '* reducing duties on
imports," has been in force since the 1st of December last; and
I am gratified to state, that all the beneficial effects which
were anticipated from its operation have been fully realized.
The public revenue derived from customs during the year
ending on the 1st of December, 1847, exceeds by more than
eight millions of dollars the amount received in the preceding
year, under the operation of the act of 1842, which was super-
seded and repealed by it. Its effects are visible in the great
and almost unexampled prosperity which prevails in every
branch of business.
While the repeal of the prohibitory and restrictive duties
616
LIFE AND TIMES OF
of the act of 1842, and the substitution in their place of
reasonable revenue rates levied on articles imported according
to their actual value, have increased the revenue and aug-
mented our foreign trade, all the great interests of the country
have been advanced and promoted.
The great and important interests of agriculture, which had
been not only too much neglected, but actually taxed under
the protective policy for the benefit of other interests, have
been relieved of the burdens which that policy imposed on
them; and our farmers and planters, under a more just and
liberal commercial policy, are finding new and profitable mar-
kets abroad for their augmented products.
Our commerce is rapidly increasing, and is extending more
widely the circle of international exchanges. Great as has
been the increase of our imports during the past year, our
exports of domestic products sold in foreign markets have been
still greater.
Our navigating interest is eminently prosperous. The
number of vessels built in the United States has been greater
than during any preceding period of equal length. Large
profits have been derived by those who have constructed, as
well as by those who have navigated them. Should the ratio
of increase in the number of our merchant-vessels be progres-
sive, and be as great for the future as during the past year,
the time is not distant when our tonnage and commercial
marine will be larger than that of any other nation in the
world.
While the interests of agriculture, of commerce, and of
navigation have been enlarged and invigorated, it is highly
gratifying to observe that our manufactures are also in a pros-
perous condition. None of the ruinous effects upon this inter-
est, which were apprehended by some, as the result of the op-
eration of the revenue system established by the act of 1846,
have been expferienced. On the contrary, the number of
manufactories, and the amount of capital invested in them, is
steadily and rapidly increasing, affording gratifying proofs that
American enterprise and skill employed in this branch of do-
mestic industry, with no other advantages than those fairly and
incidentally accruing from a just system of revenue duties, are
JAMES KNOX POLK,
517
abundantly able to meet successfully all competition from abroad,
and still derive fair and remunerating profits.
While capital invested in manufactures is yielding adequate
and fair profits under the new system, the wages of labor,
whether employed in manufactures, agriculture, commerce, or
navigation, have been augmented. The toiling millions, whose
daily labor furnishes the supply of food and raiment, and all
the necessaries and comforts of life, are receiving higher wages,
and more steady and permanent employment, than in any other
country, or at any previous period of our own history.
So successful have been all branches of our industry, that a
foreign war which generally diminishes the resources of a na-
tion, has in no essential degree retarded our onward progress,
or checked our general prosperity.
With such gratifying evidences of prosperity, and of the
successful operation of the revenue act of 1846, every consid-
• eration of public policy recommends that it shall remain un-
changed. It is hoped that the system of impost duties which
it established may be regarded as the permanent policy of the
country, and that the great interests affected by it may not
again be subject to be injuriously disturbed, as they have here-
tofore been, by frequent and sometimes sudden changes.
For the purpose of increasing the revenue, and without
changing or modifying the rates imposed by the act of 1846,
on the dutiable articles embraced by its provisions, I again rec-
ommend to your favorable consideration the expediency of
levying a revenue duty on tea and coffee. The policy which
exempted these articles from duty during peace, and when the
revenue to be derived from them was not needed, ceases to ex-
ist when the country is engaged in war, and requires the use
of all of its available resources. It is a tax which would be so
generally diffused among the people, that it would be felt op-
pressively by none, and be complained of by none. It is be-
lieved that there are not, in the list of imported articles, any
which are more properly the subject of war-duties than tea
and coffee.
It is estimated that three millions of dollars would be de-
rived annually by a moderate duty imposed on these articles.
Should Congress avajl itself of this additional source of rev-
518
LIFE AND TIMES OF
enue, not only would the amount of the public loan rendered
necessary by the war with Mexico be diminished to that extent,
but the public credit, and the public confidence in the ability
and determination of the Government to meet all its engage-
ments promptly, would be more firmly established, and the re-
duced amount of the loan which it may be necessary to nego-
tiate could probably be obtained at cheaper rates.
Congress is, therefore, called upon to determine whether it
is wiser to impose the war-duties recommended, or, by omitting
to do so, increase the public debt annually three millions of
dollars so long as loans shall be required to prosecute the war,
and afterward provide, in some other form, to pay the semi-
annual interest upon it, and ultimately to extinguish the prin-
cipal. If, in addition to these duties, Congress should graduate
and reduce the price of such of the public lands as experience
has proved will not command the price placed upon them by
the Government, an additional annual income to the Treasury
of between half a million and a million of dollars, it is estimated
would be derived from this source. Should both measures re-
ceive the sanction of Congress, the annual amount of public
debt necessary to be contracted during the continuance of the
war would be reduced near four millions of dollars. The duties
recommended to be levied on tea and cofiee, it is proposed, shall
be limited in their duration to the end of the war, and until
the public debt rendered necessary to be contracted by it shall
be discharged. The amount of the public debt to be contracted
should be limited to the lowest practicable sum, and should be
extinguished as early after the conclusion of the war as the
means of the Treasury will permit.
With this view, it is recommended that as soon as the war
shall be over, all the surplus in the Treasury, not needed for
other indispensable objects, shall constitute a sinking fund, and
be applied to the purchase of the funded debt, and that authority
be conferred by law for that purpose.
The act of the 6th of August, 1846, "to establish a ware-
housing system," has been in operation more than a year, and
has proved to be an important auxiliary to the tariff act of
1846, in augmenting the revenue and extending the commerce
of the country. While it has tended to enlarge commerce, it
JAMES KNOX POLK.
519
has been beneficial to our manufactures, by diminishing forced
sales at auction of foreign goods at low prices, to raise the duties
to be advanced on tbem, and by checking fluctuations in the
market. The system, although sanctioned by the experience of
other countries, was entirely new in the United States, and is
susceptible of improvement in some of its provisions. The
Secretary of the Treasury, upon whom was devolved large dis-
cretionary powers in carrying this measure into effect, has col-
lected, and is now collating, the practical results of the system
in other countries, where it has long been established, and will
report at an early period of your session such further regula-
tions suggested by the investigation as may render it still more
effective and beneficial.
By the act " to provide for the better organization of the
Treasury, and for the collection, safe-keeping, and disbursement
of the public revenue," all banks were discontinued as fiscal
agents of the Government, and the paper currency issued by
them was no longer permitted to be received in payment of
public dues.
The Constitutional Treasury created by this act went into
operation on the first day of January last. Under the system
established by it, the public moneys have been collected, safely
kept, and disbursed, by the direct agency of officers of the
Government in gold and silver ; and transfers of large amounts
have been made from points' of collection to points of disburse-
ment, without loss to the Treasury, or injury or inconvenience
to the trade of the country.
While the fiscal operations of the Government have been
conducted with regularity and ease under this system, it has had
a salutary effect in checking and preventing an undue inflation
of the paper currency issued by the banks which exist under
State charters. Requiring, as it does, all dues to the Govern-
ment to be paid in gold and silver, its effect is to restrain exces-
sive issues of bank paper by the banks disproportioned to the
specie in their vaults, for the reason that they are at all times
liable to be called on by the holders of their notes for their re-
demption, in order to obtain specie for the payment of duties
and other public dues. The banks, therefore, must keep their
business within pirudeut limits, and be always in a condition to
520
LIFE AND TIMES OF
* meet such calls, or run the hazard of being compelled to sus-
pend specie payments, and be thereby discredited. The amount
of specie imported into the United States during the last fiscal
year was twenty-four millions one hundred and twenty-one
thousand two hundred and eighty-nine dollars; of which there
was retained in the country twenty-two millions two hundred
and seventy-six thousand one hundred and seventy dollars.
Had the former financial system prevailed, and the public
moneys been placed on deposit in the banks, nearly the whole
of this amount would have gone into their vaults, not to be
thrown into circulation by them, but to be withheld from the
hands of the people as a currency, and made the basis of new
and enorfnous issues of bank paper. A large proportion of the
specie imported has been paid into the Treasury for public
dues; and after having been, to a great extent,,recoined at the
mint, has been paid out to the public creditors and gone into
circulation as a currency among the people. The amount of
gold and silver coin now in circulation in the country is larger
than at any former period.
The financial system established by the Constitutional Treas-
ury has been, thus far, eminently successful in its operations,
and I recommend an adherence to all its "essential provisions,
and especially to that vital provision which wholly separates
the Government from all connection with banks, and excludes
bank paper from all revenue receipts.
In some of its details, not involving its general principles,
the system is defective, and will require modification. These
defects, and such amendments as are deemed important, were
set forth in the last annual report of the Secretary of the
Treasury. These amendments are again recommended to the
early and favorable consideration of Congress.
During the past year, the coinage at the mint and its
branches has exceeded twenty millions of dollars. This has
consisted chiefly in converting the coins of foreign countries
into American coin.
The largest amount of foreign coin imported has been re-
ceived at New York; and if a branch mint were established at
that city, all the foreign coin received at that port could at
once be converted into our own coin, without the expense, risk.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
521
and delay, of transporting it to the mint for that purpose, and
the amount recoined would be much larger.
Experience has proved that foreign coin, and especially for-
eign gold coin, will not circulate extensively as a currency
among the people. The important measure of extending our
specie circulation, of both gold and silver, and of diffusing it
among the people, can only be effected by converting such for-
eign coin into American coin. I repeat the recommendation
contained in my last annual message for the establishment of
a branch of the mint of the United States at the city of New
York.
All the public lands which had been surveyed and were
ready for market have been proclaimed for sale during the past
year. The quantity offered and to be offered for sale, under
proclamations issued since the first of January last, amounts to
nine millions one hundred and thirty-eight thousand five hun-
dred and thirty-one acres. The prosperity of the western States
and Territories in which these lands lie will be advanced by
their speedy sale. By withholding them from market, their
growth and increase of population would be retarded, while
thousands of our enterprising and meritorious frontier popula-
tion would be deprived of the opportunity of securing freeholds
for themselves and their families. But in addition to the gen-
eral considerations which rendered the early sale of these lands
proper, it was a leading object at this time to derive as large a
sum as possible from this source, and thus diminish by that
amount, the public loan rendered necessary by the existence of
a foreign war.
It is estimated that not less than ten millions of acres of the
public lands will be surveyed and be in a condition to be pro-
claimed for sale during the year 1848.
In my last annual message, I presented the reasons which,
in my judgment, rendered it proper to graduate and reduce
the price of such of the public lands as have remained unsold
for long periods after they had been offered for sale at public
auction.
Many millions of acres of public lands lying within the lim-
its of several of the western States have been offered in the
market, and been subject to sale at private entry for more than
522
LIFE AND TIMES OF
twenty years, and large quantities for more than thirty years,
at the lowest price prescribed by the existing laws, and it has
been found that they will not command that price. They must
remain unsold and uncultivated for an indefinite period, unless
the price demanded for them by the Government shall be re-
duced. No satisfactory reason is perceived why they should be
longer held at rates above their real value. At the present
period an additional reason exists for adopting the measure rec-
ommendecl. When the country is engaged in a foreign war,
and we must necessarily resort to loans, it would seem to be
the dictate of wisdom that we should avail ourselves of all our
resources, and thus limit the amount of the public indebtedness
to the lowest possible sum.
I recommend that the existing laws on the subject of pre-
emption rights be* amended and modified so as to operate pro-
spectively and to embrace all who may settle upon the public
lands and make improvements upon them, before they are sur-
veyed as well as afterward, in all cases where such settle-
ments may be made after the Indian title shall have been
extinguished.
If the right of pre-emption be thus extended, it will embrace
a large and meritorious class of our citizens. It will increase
the number of small freeholders upon our borders, who will be
enabled thereby to educate their children and otherwise improve
their condition, while they will be found at all times, as they
have ever proved themselves to be, in the hour of danger to
their country, among our hardiest and best volunteer soldiers,
ever ready to tender their services in cases of emergency, and
among the last to leave the field as long as an enemy remains
to be encountered. Such a policy will also impress these patri-
otic pioneer emigrants with deeper feelings of gratitude for the
parental care of their Government, when they find their dearest
interests secured to them by the permanent laws of the land,
and that they are no longer in danger of losing their homes
and hard-earned improvements by being brought into compe-
tition with a more wealthy class of purchasers at the land sales.
The attention of Congress was invited, at their last and the
preceding session, to the importance of establishing a territorial
government over our possessions in Oregon; and it is to be
JAMES KNOX POLK.
523
regretted that there was no legislation on the subject. Our citi-
zens who inhabit that distant region of country are still left
without the protection of our laws, or any regularly organized
government. Before the question of limits and boundaries of
the territory of Oregon was definitely settled, from the necessity
of their condition, the inhabitants had established a temporary
government of their own. Besides the want of legal authority
for continuing such a government, it is wholly inadequate to
protect them in their rights of person and property, or to secure
to them the enjoyment of the privileges of other citizens, to
which they are entitled under the Constitution of the United
States. They should have the right of suffrage, be represented
in a territorial legislature, and by a delegate in Congress; and
possess all the rights and privileges which citizens of other por-
tions of the territories of the United States have heretofore en-
joyed or may now enjoy.
Our judicial system, revenue laws, laws regulating trade and
intercourse with the Indian tribes, and the protection of our
laws generally, should be extended over them.
In addition to the inhabitants in that territory who had pre-
viously emigrated to it, large numbers of our citizens have fol-
lowed them during the present year; and it is not doubted th.at
during the next and subsequent years their numbers will be
greatly increased.
Congress, at its last session, established post-routes leading
to Oregon, and between different points within that territory,
and authorized the establishment of post-offices at" Astoria and
such other places on the coasts of the Pacific, within the terri-
tory of the United States, as the public interests may require."
Post-offices have accordingly been established, deputy post-
masters appointed, and provision made for the transportation
of the mails.
The preservation of peace with the Indian tribes residing
west of the Rocky Mountains will render it proper that authority
should be given by law for the appointment of an adequate
number of Indian agents to reside among them.
I recommend that a surveyor-general's office be established
in that territory, and that the public lands be surveyed and
brought into market at an early period.
524
LIFE AND TIMES OF
I recommend, also, that grants, upon liberal terms, of limited
quantities of the public lands be made to all citizens of the
United States who have emigrated, or may hereafter within a
prescribed period emigrate, to Oregon, and settle upon them.
These hardy and adventurous citizens, who have encountered the
dangers and privations of a long and toilsome journey, and have
at length found an abiding place for themselves and their
families upon the utmost verge of our western limits, should
be secured in the homes which they have improved by their
labor.
I refer you to the accompanying report of the Secretary of
War for a detailed account of the operations of the various
branches of the public service connected with the Department
under his charge. The duties devolving on this Department
have been unusually onerous and responsible during the past
year, and have been discharged with ability and success.
Pacific relations continue to exist with the various Indian
tribes, and most of them manifest a strong friendship for the
United States. Some depredations were committed during the
past year upon our trains transporting supplies for the army, on
the road between the western border of Missouri and Santa Fe.
These depredations, which are supposed to have been committed
by bands from the region of New Mexico, have been arrested
by the presence of a military force, ordered out for that purpose.
Some outrages have been perpetrated by a portion of the north-
western bands upon the weaker and comparatively defenseless
neighboring tribes. Prompt measures were taken to prevent
such occurrences in future.
Between one and two thousand Indians, belonging to several
tribes, have been removed during the past year, from the east
of the Mississippi, to the country allotted to them west of that
river, as their permanent home; and arrangements have been
made for others to follow.
Since the treaty of 1846 with the Cherokees, the feuds among
them appear to have subsided, and they have become more
united and contented than they have been for many years past.
The commissioners appointed in pursuance of the act of June
27, 1846, to settle claims arising under the treaty of 1835-36,
with that tribe, have executed their duties; and after a patient
JAMES KNOX POLK.
525
investigation, and a full and fair examination of all the cases
brought before them, closed their labors in the month of July
last. This is the fourth board of commissioners which has been
organized under this treaty. Ample opportunity has been af-
forded to all those interested to bring forward their claims. No
doubt is entertained that impartial justice has been done by the
late board, and that all valid claims embraced by the treaty
have been considered and allowed. This result and the final
settlement to be made with this tribe, under the treaty of 1846,
which will be completed and laid before you during your session,
will adjust all questions of controverey between them and the
United States, and produce a state of relations with them, simple,
well-defined, and satisfactory.
Under the discretionary authority conferred by the act of
the 3d of March last, the annuities due to the various tribes
have been paid during the present 3'ear to the heads of families
instead of to their chiefs, or such persons as they might desig-
nate, as required by the law previously existing. This mode
of payment has given general satisfaction to the great body of
the Indians. Justice has been done to them, and they are
grateful to the Government for it. A few chiefs and interested
persons may object to this mode of payment, but it is believed
to be the only mode of preventing fraud and imposition from
being practiced upon the great body of common Indians, con-
stituting a majority of all the tribes.
It is gratifying to perceive that a number of the tribes have
recently manifested an increased interest in the establishment
of schools among them, and are making rapid advances in agri-
culture—some of them producing a sufficient quantity of food
for their support, and in some cases a surplus to dispose of to
their neighbors. The comforts by which those who have received
even a very limited education, and have engaged in agriculture,
are surrounded, tend gradually to draw off their less civilized
brethren from the precarious means of subsistence by the chase,
to habits of labor and civilization.
The accompanying report of the Secretary of the Navy pre-
sents a satisfactory and gratifying account of the condition and
operations of the naval service during the past year. Our com-
merce has been pursued with increased activity, and with safety
526
LIFE AND TIMES OF
and success, in every quarter of the globe under the protection
of our flag, which the navy has caused to be respected in the
most distant seas.
In the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Pacific, the officers and
men of our squadrons have displayed distinguished gallantry,
and performed valuable services. In the early stages of the
war with Mexico, her ports on both coasts were blockaded, and
more recently many of them have been captured and held by
the navy." When acting in co-operation with the land forces,
the naval officers and men have performed gallant and distin-
guished services on land as well as on water, and deserve the
high commendation of the country.
While other maritime powers are adding to their navies
large numbers of war-steamers, it was a wise policy on our part
to make similar additions to our navy. The four war-steamers
authorized by the act of the 3d of March, 1847, are in course
of construction.
In addition to the four war-steamers authorized by this act,
the Secretary of the Navy has, in pursuance of its provisions,
entered into contracts for the construction of five steamers to
be employed in the transportation of the United States mail
" from New York to New Orleans, touching at Charleston,
Savannah, and Havana, and from Havana to Chagres;" for
three steamers to be employed in like manner from Panama to
Oregon, "so as to connect with the mail from Havana to
Chagres across the isthmusand for five steamers to be emr
ployed in like manner from New York to Liverpool. These
steamers will be the property of the contractors, but are to be
built " under the superintendence and direction of a naval
constructor in the employ of the Navy Department, and to be
so constructed as to render them convertible, at the least pos-
sible expense, into war-steamers of the first class."
A prescribed number of naval officers, as well as a post-
office agent, are to be on board of them; and authority is re-
served to the Navy Department at all times to "exercise con-
trol over said steamships," and " to have the right to take them
for the exclusive use and service of the United States upon
making proper compensation to the contractors therefor."
While these steamships will be employed in transporting the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
527
mails of the United States coastwise, and to foreign countries,
upon an annual compensation to be paid to the owners, they
will be always ready, upon an emergency requiring it, to be
converted into war-steamers; and the right reserved to take
them for public use will add greatly to the efficiency and
strength of this description of our naval force. To the steamers
thus authorized under contracts made by the Secretary of the
Navy, should be added five other steamers authorized under
contracts made in pursuance of law by the Postmaster-General;
making an addition, in the whole, of eighteen war-steamers,
subject to be taken for public use. As further contracts for
the transportation of the mail to foreign countries may
be authorized by Congress, this number may be enlarged in-
definitely.
The enlightened policy by which a rapid communication
with the various distant parts of the globe is established, by
means of American-built sea-steamers, would find an ample re-
ward in the increase of our commerce, and in making our
country and its resources more favorably known abroad ; but
the national advantage is still greater—of having our naval
officers made familiar with steam navigation, and of having the
privilege of taking the ships already equipped for immediate
service at a moment's notice; and will be cheaply purchased by
the compensation to be paid for the transportation of the mail in
them over and above the postages received.
A just and national pride, no less than our commercial inter-
ests, would seem to favor the policy of augmenting the number
of this description of vessels. They can be built in our coun-
try cheaper and in greater numbers than in any other in the
world. '
I refer you to the accompanying report of the Postmaster-
General for a detailed and satisfactory account of the condition
and operations of that Department during the past year. It is
gratifying to find that, within so short a period after the reduc-
tion in the rates of postage, and notwithstanding the great in-
crease of mail service, the revenue received for the year will be
sufficient to defray all the expenses, and that no further aid
will be required from the Treasury for that purpose.
The first of the American mail-steamers authorized by the
628
LIFE AND TIMES OF
act of the 3d of March, 1845, was completed and entered upon
the service on the 1st of June last, and is now on her third
voyage to Bremen, and other intermediate ports. The other
vessels authorized under the provisions of that act are in course
of construction, and will he put upon the line as soon as com-
pleted. Contracts have also been made for the transportation
of the mail in a steamer from Charleston to Havana.
A reciprocal and satisfactory postal arrangement has been
made by the Postmaster-General with the authorities of Bremen,
and no difficulty is apprehended in making similar arrangements
with all other powers with which we may have communications
by mail-steamers, except" with Great Britain.
On the arrival of the first .of the American steamers, hound
to Bremen, at Southampton, in the mouth of June last, the
British post-office directed the collection of discriminating post-
ages on all letters and other mailable matter, which she took out
to Great Britain, or which went into the British post-office on
their way to France and other parts of Europe. The effect of
the order of the British post-office is to subject all letters and
other matter transported by American steamers to double
postage, one postage having been previously paid on them to
the United States, while letters transported in British steamers
are subject to pay but a single postage. This measure was
adopted with the avowed object of protecting the British line
of mail-steamers now running between Boston and Liverpool,
and if permitted to continue, must speedily put an end to the
transportation of all letters and other matter by American
steamers, and give to British steamers a monopoly of the busi-
ness. A just and fair reciprocity is all that we desire, and on
this we must' insist. By our laws, no such discrimination is
made against British steamers bringing letters into our ports,
but all letters arriving in the United States are subject to the
same rate of postage, whether brought in British or American
vessels. I refer you to the report of the Postmaster-General for
a full statement of the facts of the case, and of the steps taken
by him to correct this inequality. He has exerted all the power
conferred upon him by the existing laws.
The Minister of the United States at London has brought
the subject to the attention of the British government, and is
JAMES KNOX POLK.
529
now engaged in negotiations for the purpose of adjusting recip-
rocal postal arrangements, which shall be equally just to both
countries. Should he fail in concluding such arrangements,
and should Great Britain insist on enforcing the unequal and
unjust measure she has adopted, it will become necessary to
confer additional powers on the Postmaster-General, in order to
enable him to meet the emergency, and to put our own steamers
on an equal footing with British steamers engaged in transport-
ing the mails between the two countries; and I recommend that
such powers be conferred.
In view of the existing state of our country, I trust it may
not be inappropriate, in closing this communication, to call to
mind the words of wisdom and admonition of the first and most
illustrious of my predecessors, in his farewell address to his
countrymen.
That greatest and best of men, who served his country so
long, and loved it so much, foresaw, with "serious concern,"
the danger to our Union " of characterizing parties by geo-
graphical discriminations—northern and southern, Atlantic and
western—whence designing men may endeavor to excite a be-
lief that there is a real difference of local interests and views,"
and warned his countrymen against it.
So deep and solemn was his conviction of the importance of
the Union and of preserving harmony between its different
parts, that he declared to his countrymen in that address, " it
is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the im-
mense value of your National Union to your collective and
individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual,
and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to
think and to speak of it as a palladium of your political safety
and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous
anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a sus-
picion that it can in any event be abandoned ; and indignantly
frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate
any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the
sacred ties which now link together the various parts."
After the lapse of half a century, these admonitions of
Washington fall upon us with all the force of truth. It is dif-
ficult to estimate the "immense value" of our glorious Union
34—K
530 LIFE AND TIMES OF
of confederated States, to which we are so much indebted for
our growth in population and wealth, and for all that consti-
tutes us a great and happy Nation. How unimportant are
all our differences of opinion upon minor questions of public
policy, compared with its preservation; and how scrupulously
should we avoid all agitating topics which may tend to distract
and divide us into contending parties, separated by geograph-
ical lines, whereby it may be weakened or endangered 1
Invoking the blessing of the Almighty Ruler of the Universe
upon your deliberations, it will be my highest duty, no less than
my sincere pleasure, to co-operate with you in all measures
which may tend to promote the honor and enduring welfare of
our common country.
A great part of this message is occupied with af-
fairs relating to Mexico, indicating in general terms
the course and conduct of the Administration. The
President here again takes occasion to impress upon
Congress and the country the position he had at first
occupied, and Congress had sanctioned, that Mexico
had begun the war, and was responsible for it.
The question of indemnity is handled with great
care, the President assuming that Mexico having
nothing but land to give, the country should at once
be aware that only by accession of territory could
this Nation ever be indemnified for Mexican spolia-
tions, and the expenses of the war; and recom-
mended that steps be taken to organize permanent
governments in California and New Mexico, with a
view to holding them as a part of the United States
without reference to the treaty. But he takes occa-
sion to clear himself of any connection with the
scheme to absorb all Mexico, in the interest of the
slave-holding section of the Union. This he deemed
JAMES KNOX POLK.
631
necessary • on account of extensive charges to this
effect throughout the country. Mr. Polk was not
in sympathy with any such designs. How far his
secret views differed from those even of the regular
mass of his party was never known during his life.
The position of Mr. Polk as to slavery is for the
first time fully set forth in another part of this vol-
ume. With this knowledge the true meaning of
such appeals to the country as are made in the
closing page of this message can readily be seen.
On the first day . of 1847, the new independent
treasury had gone into effect, and the message in the
most exultant manner sets forth its beneficial results.
The only wonder at this day is that an apology or
argument was necessary for the United States Treas-
ury, and that there were so many men of mind, not
mentioning a whole party, then opposed to its estab-
lishment. The war with Mexico still absorbed most
other interests, and few important measures were
brought before Congress at this long session. An
appropriation was made authorizing the purchase of
the remaining letters and writings of President Mad-
ison. A loan of $16,000,000 was also authorized.
A bill for organizing a territorial government in
Oregon brought out in the discussions of Congress
all the bitterness, formerly started afresh on the. sub-
jectof slavery, by the Wilmot Proviso. The laws of
Mexico inimical to slavery were now discussed as to
their supposed bearing upon territory ceded to the
United States. Mr. Calhoun now bent all his ener-
gies to the defense and extension of slavery, as if
632
LIFE AND TIMES OF
this had become the only purpose and ambition of
his life. Toward the close of the last session he
had introduced his positive slavery resolutions as
follows:—
"Resolved, That the territories of the United States be-
long to the several States composing this Union, and are
held by them as their joint and common property.
"Resolved, That Congress, as the joint agent and rep-
resentative of the States of this Union, has no right to
make any law, or do any act whatever, that shall directly,
or by its effects, make any discrimination between the
States of this Union, by which any of them shall be de-
prived of its full and equal right in any territory of the
United States acquired or to be acquired.
" Resolved, That the enactment of any law which should
directly, or by its effects, deprive the citizens of any of the
States of this Union from emigrating, with their property,
into any of the territories of the United States, will make
such discrimination, and would, therefore, be a violation
of the Constitution, and the rights of the States from
which such citizens emigrated, and in derogation of that
perfect equality which belongs to them as members of this
Union, and would tend directly to subvert the Union itself.
"Resolved, That it is a fundamental principle in our
political creed, that a people, in forming a constitution,
have the unconditional right to form and adopt the govern-
ment which they may think best calculated to secure their
liberty, prosperity, and happiness; and that, in conformity
thereto, no other condition is imposed by the Federal Con-
stitution on a State, in order to be admitted into this
Union, except that its constitution shall be republican;
and that the imposition of any other by Congress would
not only be in violation of tbe Constitution, but in direct
conflict with the principle on which our political system
rests."
JAMES KNOX POLK.
533
The day of compromise on this question had
passed with him. But notwithstanding all Mr.
Calhoun's efforts, these resolutions were never acted
upon. In 1820, as a member of the Cabinet of
James Monroe he had given his support to the Mis-
souri Compromise, and strange to say, that now when
a motion was made by Stephen A. Douglas, a Senator
from Illinois, to add an amendment to the Oregon bill
to extend the compromise line, the slavery line, to the
Pacific Ocean, he voted for the amendment. But he
did not vote for the whole bill. This had the old
anti-slavery clause of the territorial ordinance of 1787,
excluding slavery from the North-western Territory,
in it. Upon the strength of this measure Mr. Cal-
houn, in his place in the Senate, declared the Union
to be at an end. He said :—
" The great strife between the North and the South is
ended. The North is determined to exclude the property
of the slaveholder, and of course the slaveholder himself,
from its territory. On this point there seems to be no di-
vision in the North. In the South, he regretted to say
there was some division of sentiment. The effect of this
determination of the North was to convert all the Southern
population into slaves; and he would never consent to en-
tail that disgrace on his posterity. He denounced any
Southern man who would not take the same course. Gen-
tlemen were greatly mistaken if they supposed the Presi-
dential question in the South would override this more
important one. The separation of the North and the South
is completed. The South has now a most solemn obligation
to perform—to herself—to the Constitution—to the Union.
She is bound to come to a decision not to permit this to
go on any further, but to show that, dearly as she prizes
534
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the Union, there are questions which she regards as of
greater importance than the Union. She is bound to ful-
fill her obligations as she may best understand them. This
is not a question of territorial government, but a question
involving the continuance of the Union. Perhaps it was
better that this question should come to an end, in order
that some new point should be taken."
The President signed the Oregon bill, and with it
made an appeal to Congress in support of the Mis-
souri Compromise, the Texas reaffirmation of it, and
the general spirit of conciliation, placing the benefits
of the Union above these considerations. In the
discussion on the Oregon bill, Mr. ■ Calhoun made this
statement:—
" But I deny that the laws of Mexico can have the ef-
feet attributed to them (that of keeping slavery out of
New Mexico and California). As soon as the treaty be-
tween the two countries is ratified, the sovereignty and
authority of Mexico in the territory acquired by it become
extinct, and that of the United States is substituted in its
place, carrying with it the Constitution, with its overriding
control over all the laws and institutions of Mexico incon-
sistent with it."
Of this speech Mr. Benton wrote :—
" History can not class higher than as a vagary of a dis-
eased imagination this imputed self-acting and self-exten-
sion of the Constitution. The Constitution does nothing
of itself—not even in the States, for which it was made.
Every part of it requires a law to put it into operation. No
part of it can reach a territory unless imparted to it by act
of Congress. Slavery, as a local institution, can only be
established by a local legislative authority. It can not
JAMES KNOX POLK.
535
transmigrate—can not carry along with it the law which
protects it j and if it could, what law would it carry ? .The
code of the State from which the emigrant went ? Then
there would be as many slavery codes in the territory as
States furnishing emigrants, and these codes all varying
more or less; and some of them in the essential nature of
the property—the slave, in many States, being only a chat-
tel interest, governed by the laws applicable to chattels—in
others, as in Louisiana and Kentucky, a real estate in-
terest, governed by the laws which apply to landed prop-
erty. In a word, this dogma of the self-extension of the
slavery part of the Constitution to a territory is imprac-
ticable and preposterous, and as novel as unfounded."
536
LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER XXIV.
END OF THE WAR—THE TREATY—THE ACQUISITION—ITS
COST-^THE TRIALS—GENERAL BUTLER LEADS THE
ARMY OUT OF MEXICO.
ON the 22d of February, the President sent the
, treaty signed on the part of Mr. Trist with
Mexico, to Congress, and in his short message took
occasion to say:—
"It was not expected that Mr. Trist would remain in
Mexico, or continue in the exercise of the functions of
the office of commissioner, after he received his letter of
recall. He has, however, done so, and the plenipotentiaries
of the government of Mexico, with a knowledge of the
fact, have concluded with him this treaty. I have exam-
ined it with a full sense of the extraneous circumstances
attending its conclusion and signature, which might be oh-
jected to; but, conforming as it does, substantially, on the
main questions of boundary and indemnity, to the terms
which our commissioner, when he left the United States
in April last, was authorized to offer, and animated, as I
am, by the spirit which has governed all my official con-
duct toward Mexico, I have felt it to be my duty to submit
it to the Senate for their consideration, with a view to its
ratification.
"To the tenth article of the treaty there are serious
objections, and no instructions given to Mr. Trist contem-
plated or authorized its insertion. The public lands within
the limits of Texas belong to that State, and this Govern-
ment has no power to dispose of them, or to change the
JAMES KNOX POLK. 537
conditions of grants already made. All valid titles to
lands within the other territories ceded to the United
States will remain unaflPected by the change of sovereignty;
and I therefore submit that this article should not be ratified
as a part of the treaty."
After a sharp debate lasting until the 10th of
March, and striking out the tenth article relating to
Texas land titles, and making a few amendments,
the Senate ratified the treaty by a vote of 38 to 14.
Ambrose H. Sevier, of Arkansas, and Nathan Clifford,
of Maine, afterwards a justice of the Supreme Court,
were appointed to carry the treaty to Mexico for the
approval of that government. Among those who
voted against the treaty were Thomas Corwin and
William Allen, of Ohio, John M. Berrien, Daniel
Webster, Stephen A. Douglas, and Thomas H. Benton.
On the 24th of May, 1848, Sevier and Clifford
reached Queretaro, where they found the Mexican
Congress in session. On the same day the treaty
was accepted by a vote of 83 to 4, and on the 30th
finally ratified by the Senate. On the 19th of June
the President issued his proclamation to the people
of the United States, stating the result of the nego-
tiations and declaring peace.
TREATY OF PEACE, FRIENDSHIP, LIMITS, AND
SETTLEMENT,
Between the United States of Auerica and the Mexican Republic.
ARTICLE I.
There shall be firm and universal peace between the United
States of America and the Mexican Republic, and between their
respective countries, territories, cities, towns, and people, with-
out exception of places or persons.
538
LIFE AND TIMES OF
ARTICLE II.
Immediately upon the signature of this treaty, a convention
shall be entered into between a commissioner or commissioners
appointed by the General-in-chief of the forces of the United
States, and such as may be appointed by the Mexican govern-
ment, to the end that a provisional suspension of hostilities shall
take place, and that, in the places occupied by the said forces,
constitutional order may be re-established, as regards the po-
litical, administrative, and judicial branches, so far as this shall
be permitted by the circumstances of military occupation.
ARTICLE III.
Immediately upon the ratification of the present treaty by
the Government of the United States, orders shall be trans-
mitted to the commanders of their land and naval forces, re-
quiring the latter (provided this treaty shall then have been
ratified by the government of the Mexican Republic, and the
ratifications exchanged) immediately to desist from blockading
any Mexican ports; and requiring the former (under the same
condition) to commence, at the earliest moment practicable,
withdrawing all troops of the United States then in the interior
of the Mexican Republic, to points that shall be selected by
common agreement, at a distance from the seaports not exceed-
ing thirty leagues; and such evacuation of the interior of the
Republic shall be completed with the least possible delay; the
Mexican government hereby binding itself to afford every facil-
ity in its power for rendering the same convenient to the troops
on their march and in their new positions, and for promoting a
good understanding between them and the inhabitants. In like
manner, orders shall be dispatched to the persons in charge of
the custom-houses at all ports occupied by the forces of the
United States, requiring them (under the same conditions) im-
mediately to deliver possession of the same to the persons au-
thorized by the Mexican government to receive it, together with
all bonds and evidences of debt for duties on importations and
on exportations not yet fallen due. Moreover, a faithful and
exact account shall be made out, showing the entire amount of
all duties on imports and on exports collected at such custom-
houses or elsewhere in Mexico by authority of the United States,
JAMES KNOX POLK.
539
from and after the day of ratification of this treaty by the gov-
ernment of the Mexican republic; and also an account of the
cost of collection ; and such entire amount, deducting only the
cost of collection, shall he delivered to the Mexican govern-
ment, at the City of Mexico, within three months after the ex-
change of ratifications.
The evacuation of the capital of the Mexican Republic by
the troops of the United States, in virtue of the above stipula-
tion, shall he completed in one month aftet the orders there
stipulated for shall have been received by the commander of
said troops, or sooner if possible.
ARTICLE IV.
Immediately after the exchange of ratifications of the present
treaty, all castles, forts, territories, places, and possessions,
which have been taken or occupied by the fdrces of the United
States during the present war, within the limits of the Mexican
Republic, as about to he established by the following article,
shall he definitively restored to the said Republic, together with
all the artillery, arms, apparatus of war, munitions, a,nd other
public property, which were in the said castles and forts when
captured, and which shall remain there at the time when this
treaty shall he duly ratified by the government of the Mexican
Republic. To this end, immediately upon the signature of this
treaty, orders shall he dispatched to the American officers com-
mandlng such castles and forts, securing against the removal or
destruction of any such artillery, arms, apparatus of war, mu-
nitions, or other public property. The City of Mexico, within
the inner line of intrenchments surrounding the said city, is
comprehended in the above stipulations, as regards the restora-
tion of artillery, apparatus of war, etc.
The final evacuation of the territory of the Mexican repuh-
lie, by the forces of the United States, shall he completed in
three months from the said exchange of ratifications, or sooner
if possible; the Mexican government hereby engaging, as in
the foregoing article, to use all means in its power for facili-
tating such evacuation, pnd rendering it convenient to the troops,
and for promoting a good understanding between them and the
inhabitants.
540
LIFE AND TIMES OF
If, however, the ratification of this treaty by both parties
should not take place in time to allow the embarkation of the
troops of the United States to be completed Before the com-
mencement of the sickly season at the Mexican ports on the
Gulf of Mexico, in such case a friendly arrangement shall be
entered into between the General-in-chief of the said troops and
the Mexican government, whereby healthy and otherwise suit-
able places at a distance from the ports not exceeding thirty
leagues shall be designated for the residence of such troops as
may not yet have embarked, until the return of the healthy
season. And the space of time here referred to as compre-
bending the sickly season shall be understood to extend from
the first day of May to the first day of November.
All prisoners of war taken on either side, on land or on
sea, shall be restored as soon as practicable after the exchange
of ratifications of this treaty. It is also agreed that if any
Mexicans should now be held as captives by any savage tribe
within the limits of the United States, as about to be established
by the following article, the Government of the said United
States will exact the release of such captives, and cause them
to be restored to their country.
ARTICLE V.
The boundary line between the two republics shall com-
mence in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from land, oppo-
site the mouth of the Rio Grande, otherwise called Rio Bravo
del Norte, or opposite the mouth of its deepest branch, if it
should have more than one branch emptying directly into the
sea; from thence up the middle of that river, following the
deepest channel, where it has more than one, to the point
where it strikes the southern boundary of New Mexico; thence,
westwardly, along the whole southern boundary of New
Mexico (which runs north of the town called Paso) to its
western termination; thence, northward, along the western
line of New Mexico, until it intersects the first branch of the
river Gila (or, if it should not intersect any branch of that
river, then to the point on the said line nearest to such branch,
and thence in a direct line to the same); thence down the
middle of the said branch and of the said river, until it
JAMES KNOX POLK.
541
empties into the Rio Colorado; thence across the Rio Colorado,
following the division line between Upper and Lower Cali-
fornia, to the Pacific Ocean.
The southern and western limits of New Mexico, mentioned
in this article, are those laid down in the map entitled : " Map
of the United Mexican States, as organized and defined hy
various acts of the Congress of said Republic, and constructed
according to the best authorities. Revised edition. Published
at New York in 1847, by J. Disturnell;" of which map a
copy is added to this treaty, bearing the signatures and seals
of the undersigned plenipotentiaries. And, in order to pre-
elude all difficulty in tracing upon the ground the limit sepa-
rating Upper from Lower California, it is agreed that the said
limit shall consist of a straight line drawn from the middle of
the Rio Gila, where it unites with the Colorado, to a point on
the coast of the Pacific Ocean distant one marine league due
south of the southernmost point of the port of San Diego, ac-
cording to the plan of said port made in the year 1782 by Don
Juan Fantoja, second sailing-master of the Spanish fleet, and
published at Madrid in the year 1802, in the Atlas to the voy-
age of the schooners SutU and Mexieana, of which plan a
copy is hereunto added, signed and sealed by the respective
plenipotentiaries.
In order to designate the boundary line with due precision,
upon authoritative maps, and to establish upon the ground
landmarks which shall show the limits of both republics, as
described in the present article, the two governments shall each
appoint a commissioner and a surveyor, who, before the ex-
piration of one year from the date of the exchange of ratifica-
tions of this treaty, shall meet at the port of San Diego, and
proceed to run and mark the said boundary in its whole course
to the mouth of the Rio Bravo del Norte. They shall keep
journals and mark out plans of their operations; and the
result agreed upon by them shall be deemed a part of this
treaty, and shall have the same force as if it were inserted
therein. The two governments will amicably agree regarding
what may be necessary to these persons, and also as to their
respective escorts, should such be necessary.
The boundary line established by this article shall be
642
LIFE AND TIMES OF
religiously respected by each of the two republics, and no
change shall ever he made therein, except by the express
and free consent of both nations, lawfully given by the
general government of each, in conformity with its own
constitution.
ARTICLE VI.
The vessels and citizens of the United States shall, in all
time, have a free and uninterrupted passage by the Gulf of
California, and by the River Colorado below its confluence with
the Gila, to and from their possessions situated north of the
boundary line defined in the preceding article; it being un-
derstood that this passage is to he by navigating the Gulf of
California and the River Colorado, and not by land, without
the express consent of the Mexican government.
If, by the examinations which may he made, it should he
ascertained to he practicable and advantageous to construct a
road, canal, or railway, which should, in whole or in part, run
ppon the River Gila, or upon its right or its left hank, within
the space of one marine league from either margin of the
river, the governments of both republics will form an agree-
ment regarding its construction, in order that it may serve
equally for the use and advantage of both countries.
ARTICLE VII.
The River Gila, and the part of the Rio.-Bravo del Norte
lying below the southern boundary of New Mexico, being,
agreeably to the fifth article, divided in the middle, between
the two republics, the navigation of the Gila and of the Bravo
below said boundary shall he free and common to the vessels
and citizens of both countries; and neither shall, without the
consent of the other, construct any work that may impede or
interrupt, in whole or in part, the exercise of this right; not
even for the purpose of favoring new methods of navigation.
Nor shall any tax or contribution, under any denomination or
title, he levied upon vessels or persons navigating the same, or
upon merchandise or effects transported thereon, except in the
case of landing upon one of their shores. If, for the purpose
of making the said rivers navigable, or for maintaining them
in such state, it should he necessary or advantageous to
JAMES KNOX POLK.
543
establish any tax or contribution, this shall not be done with-
out the consent of both governments.
The stipulations contained in the present article shall not
impair the territorial rights of either republic within its estab-
lished limits.
ARTICLE viir.
Mexicans now established in territories previously belonging
to Mexico, and which remain for the future within the limits
of the United States, as defined by the present treaty, shall be
free to continue where they now reside, or to remove at any
time to the Mexican Republic, retaining the property which
they possess in the said territories, or disposing thereof, and re-
moving the proceeds wherever they please, without their being
subjected, on this account, to any contribution, tax, or charge
whatever.
Those who shall prefer to remain in the said territories, may
either retain the title and rights of Mexican citizens, or acquire
those of citizens of the United States. But they shall be under
the obligation to make their election within one year from the
date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty; and those
who shall remain in the said territories after the expiration of
that year, without having declared their intention to retain the
character of Mexicans, shall be considered to have elected to
become citizens of the United States.
In the said territories, property of every kind, now belong-
ing to Mexicans not established there, shall be inviolably re-
spected. The present owners, the heirs of these, and all Mex-
icans who may hereafter acquire said property by contract, shall
enjoy with respect to it guarantees equally ample, as if the
same belonged to citizens of the United States.
ARTICLE IX.
Mexicans who, in the territories aforesaid, shall not preserve
the character of citizens of the Mexican Republic, conformably
with what is stipulated in the preceding article, shall be incor-
porated into the Union of the United States, and be admitted
at the proper time (to be judged of by the Congress of the
United States) to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of
the United States, according to the principles of the Constitu-
544
LIFE AND TIMES OF
tion; and in the meantime shall be maintained and protected
in the enjoyment of their liberty and property, and secured in
the free exercise of their religion without restriction.
ARTICLE X.
[Stricken out.]
ARTICLE XI.
Considering that a great part of the territories which, by
the present treaty, are to be comprehended for the future within
the limits of the United States, is now occupied by savage tribes,
who will hereafter be under the exclusive control of the Gov-
ernment of the United States, and whose incursions within the
territory of Mexico would be prejudicial in the extreme, it is
solemnly agreed that all such incursions shall be forcibly re-
strained by the Government of the United States whensoever
this may be necessary; and that when they can not be pre-
vented, they shall be punished by the said Government, and
satisfaction for the same shall be exacted—all in the same way,
and with equal diligence and energy, as if the same incursions
were meditated or committed within its own territory against its
own citizens.
It shall not be lawful, under any pretext whatever, for any
inhabitant of the United States to purchase or acquire any Mex-
ican, or any foreigner residing in Mexico, who may have been
captured by Indians inhabiting the territory of either of the two
republics, nor to purchase or acquire horses, mules, cattle, or
property of any kind, stolen within Mexican territory by such
Indians.
And in the event of any person or persons, captured within
Mexican territory by Indians, being carried into the territory
of the United States, the Government of the latter engages and
binds itself, in the most solemn manner, so soon as it shall
know of such captives being within its territory, and shall be
able so to do, through the faithful exercise of its influence and
power, to rescue them and return them to their country, or de-
liver them to the agent or representative of the Mexican gov-
ernment. The Mexican authorities will, as far as practicable,
give to the Government of the United States notice of such
captures; and its agent shall pay the expenses incurred in the
JAMES KNOX POLK. 545
maintenance and transmission of the rescued captives; who, in
the meantime, shall be treated with the utmost hospitality by
the American authorities at the place where they may be. But
if the Government of the United States, before receiving such
notice from Mexico, should obtain intelligence, through any
other channel, of the existence of Mexican captives within its
territory, it will proceed forthwith to effect their release and
delivery to the Mexican agent as above stipulated.
For the purpose of giving to these stipulations the fullest
possible efficacy, thereby affording the security and redress de-
manded by their true spirit and intent, the Government of the
United States will now and hereafter pass, without unnecessary
delay, and always vigilantly enforce, such laws as the nature
of the subject may require. And finally, the sacredness of this
obligation shall never be lost sight of by the said Government
when providing for the removal of the Indians from any por-
tion of the said territories, or for its being settled by citizens of
the United States; but, on the contrary, special care shall then
be taken not to place its Indian occupants under the necessity
of seeking new homes, by committing those invasions which
the United States have solemnly obliged themselves to restrain.
ARTICLE XII.
In consideration of the extension acquired by the bounda-
ries of the United States, as defined in the fifth article of the
present treaty, the Government of the United States engages
to pay to that of the Mexican Republic the sum of fifteen
millions of dollars.
Immediately after this treaty shall have been duly ratified
by the government of the Mexican Republic, the sum of three
millions of dollars shall be paid to the said government Iby
that of the United States, at the City of Mexico, in the gold
or silver coin of Mexico. The remaining twelve millions of
dollars shall be paid at the same place, and in the same coin,
in annual installments of three millions of dollars each,
together with interest on the same at the rate of six per centum
per annum. This interest shall begin to run upon the whole
sum of twelve millions from the day of the ratification of the
present treaty by the Mexican government, and the first of the
546
LIFE AND TIMES OF
installments shall be paid at the expiration of one year from
the same day. Together with each annual installment, as it
falls due, the whole interest accruing on such installment from
the beginning shall also be paid.
ARTICLE XIII.
The United States engage, moreover, to assume and pay to
the claimants all the amounts now due them, and those here-
after to become due, by reason of the claims already liquidated
and decided against the Mexican Republic, under the conven-
tions between the two republics severally concluded on the
eleventh day of April, eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, and
on the thirtieth day of January, eighteen hundred and forty-
three; so that the Mexican Republic shall be absolutely ex-
empt, for the future, from all expense whatever on account of
the said claims.
ARTICLE XIV.
The United States do furthermore discharge the Mexican
Republic from all claims of citizens of the United States not
heretofore decided against the Mexican government, which
may have arisen previously to the date of the signature of this
treaty; which discharge shall he final and perpetual, whether
the said claims be rejected or be allowed by the board of com-
missioners provided for in the following article, and whatever
shall be the total amount of those allowed.
ARTICLE XV.
The United States, exonerating Mexico from all demands
on account of the claims of their citizens mentioned in the pre-
ceding article, and considering them entirely and forever can-
celed, whatever their amount may be, undertake to make
satisfaction for the same, to an amount not exceeding three
and one-quarter millions of dollars. To ascertain the validity
and amount of those claims, a board of commissioners shall be
established by the Government of the United States, whose
awards shall be final and conclusive; provided, that in decid-
ing upon the validity of each claim, the board shall be guided
and governed by the principles and rules of decision prescribed
by the first and fifth articles of the unratified convention.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
547
concluded at the City of Mexico on the twentieth day of Novem-
her, one thousand eight hundred and forty-three; and in no
case shall an award be made in favor of any claim not em-
braced by these principles and rules.
If, in the opinion of the said board of commissioners, or
of the claimants, any books, records, or documents in the pos-
session or power of the government of the Mexican Republic,
shall be deemed necessary to the just decision of any claim,
the commissioners, or the claimants through them, shall, within
such period as Congress may designate, make an application
in writing for the same, addressed to the Mexican Minister of
Foreign Affairs, to be transmitted by the Secretary of State
of the United States; and the Mexican government engages,
at the earliest possible moment after the receipt of such de-
mand, to cause any of the books, records, or documents, so
specified, which shall be in their possession or power (or
authenticated copies or extracts of the same), to be transmitted
to the said Secretary of State, who shall immediately deliver
them over to the said board of commissioners: Provided, That no
such application shall be made by, or at the instance of, any
claimant, until the facts which it is expected to prove by such
books, records, or documents, shall have been stated under oath
or affirmation.
ARTICLE XVI.
Each of the contracting parties reserves to itself the entire
right to fortify whatever point within its territory it may judge
proper so to fortify for its security.
ARTICLE XVII.
The treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, concluded
at the City of Mexico on the fifth day of April, A. D. 1831,
between the United States of America and the United Mexi-
can States, except the additional article, and except so far as
the stipulations of the said treaty may be incompatible with
any stipulation contained in the present treaty, is hereby re-
vived for the period of eight years from the day of the
exchange of ratifications of this treaty, with the same force and
virtue as if incorporated therein, it being understood that each
of the contracting parties reserves to itself the right, at any
648
LIFE AND TIMES OF
time after the said period of eight years shall have expired,
to terminate the same by giving one year's notice of such in-
tention to the other party.
ARTICLE XVIII.
All supplies whatever for troops of the United States in
Mexico, arriving at ports in the occupation of such troops
previous to the final evacuation thereof, although subsequently
to the restoration of the custom-houses at such ports, shall be
entirely exempt from duties and charges of any kind, the
Government of the United States hereby engaging and pledg-
ing its faith to establish, and vigilantly to enforce, all possible
guards for securing the revenue of Mexico, by preventing the
importation, under cover of this stipulation, of any articles
other than such, both in kind and in quantity, as shall really
be wanted for the use and consumption of the forces of the
United States during the time they may remain in Mexico.
To this end it shall be the duty of all officers and agents of
the United States to denounce to the Mexican authorities at
the respective ports any attempts at a fraudulent abuse of this
stipulation which they may know of, or may have reason to
suspect, and to give to such authorities all the aid in their
power with regard thereto; and every such attempt, when
duly proved and established by sentence of a competent tribu-
nal, shall be punished by the confiscation of the property so
attempted to be fraudulently introduced.
ARTICLE XIX.
With respect to all merchandise, eflects, and property what-
soever, imported into ports of Mexico whilst in the occupation
of the forces of the United States, whether by citizens of
either Republic, or by citizens or subjects of any neutral
nation, the following rules shall be observed:—
1. All such merchandise, effects, and property, if imported
previously to the restoration of the custom-houses to the
Mexican authorities, as stipulated for in the third article of
this treaty, shall be exempt from confiscation, although the im-
portation of the same be prohibited by the Mexican tariff.
2. The same perfect exemption shall be enjoyed by all
JAMES KNOX POLK
549
such merchandise, effects, and property, imported subsequently
to the restoration of the custom-houses, and previously to the
sixty days fixed in the following article for the coming into
force of the Mexican tariff at such ports respectively ; the said
merchandise, effects, and property being, however, at the time
of .their importation, subject to the payment of duties, as pro-
vided for in the said following article.
3. All merchandise, effects, and property described in the
two rules foregoing, shall, during their continuance at the place
of importation, and upon their leaving such place for the in-
terior, be exempt from all duty, tax, or impost of every kind,
under whatsoever title or denomination. Nor shall they be
there subjected to any charge whatsoever upon the sale
thereof.
4. All merchandise, effects, and property described in the
first and second rules, which shall have been removed to any
place in the interior whilst such place was in the occupation of
the forces of the United States, shall, during their continuance
therein, be exempt from all tax upon the sale or consumption
thereof, and from every kind of impost or contribution, under
whatsoever title or denomination.
5. But if any merchandise, effects, or property, described
in the first and second rules, shall be removed to any place not
occupied at the time by the forces of the United States, they
shall, upon their introduction into such place, or upon their
sale or consumption there, be subject to the same duties which,
under the Mexican laws, they would be required to pay in
such cases if they had been imported in time of peace, through
the maritime custom-houses, and had there paid the duties con-
formably with the Mexican tariff.
6. The owners of all merchandise, effects, or property,
described in the first and second rules, and existing in any
port of Mexico, shall have the right to re-ship the same, ex-
empt from all tax, impost, or contribution whatever.
With respect to the metals, or other property, exported
from any Mexican port whilst in the occupation of the forces
of the United States, and previously to the restoration of the
custom-house at such port, no person shall be required by
the Mexican authorities, whether general or State, to pay
550
LIFE AND TIMES OF
any tax, duty, or contribution upon any such exportation, or
in any manner to account for the same to the said authorities.
ARTICLE XX.
Through consideration for the interests of commerce gen-
erally, it is agreed, that if less than sixty days should elapse
between the date of the signature of this treaty and the resto-
ration of the custom-houses, conformably with the stipulation
in the third article, in such case all merchandise, effects, and
property whatsoever, arriving at the Mexican ports after the
restoration of the said custom-houses, and previously to the
expiration of sixty days after the day of the signature of this
treaty, shall he admitted to entry; and no other duties shall he
levied thereon than the duties established by the tariff found
in force at such custom-houses at the time of the restoration
of the same. And to all such merchandise, effects, and
property, the rules established by the preceding article shall
apply.
ARTICLE XXI.
If unhappily any disagreement should hereafter arise he-
tween the governments of the two Republics, whether with
respect to the interpretation of any stipulation in this treaty,
or with respect to any other particular concerning the political
or commercial relations of the two nations, the said govern-
ments, in the name of those nations, do promise to each other
that they will endeavor, in the most sincere and earnest man-
ner, to settle the differences so arising, and to preserve the
state of peace and friendship in which the two countries are
now placing themselves, using, for this end, mutual represen-
tations and pacific negotiations. And if, by these means, they
should not he enabled to come to an agreement, a resort shall
not, on this account, he had to reprisals, aggression, or hos-
tility of any kind, by the one Republic against the other, until
the government of that which deems itself aggrieved shall
have maturely considered, in the spirit of peace and good
neighborship, whether it would not be better that such differ-
ence should be settled by the arbitration of commissioners ap-
pointed on each side, or by that of a friendly nation. And
should such course be proposed by either party, it shall be
JAMES KNOX POLK.
551
acceded to by the other, unless deemed by it altogether
incompatible with the nature of the difference, or the circum-
stances of the case.
ARTICLE XXII.
If (which is not to be expected, and which God forbid!)
war shall unhappily breakout between the two Republics, they
do now, with a view to such calamity, solemnly -pledge them-
selves to each other and to the world, to observe the following
rules: absolutely, where the nature of the subject permits, and
as closely as possible in all cases where such absolute observance
shall be impossible:—
1. The merchants of either republic then residing in the
other, shall be allowed to remain twelve months (for those
dwelling in the interior), and six months (for those dwelling at
the sea-ports) to collect their debts and settle their affairs; dur-
ing which periods they shall enjoy the same protection, and be
on the same footing, in all respects, as the citizens or subjects
of the most friendly nations; and, at the expiration thereof, or
at any time before, they shall have full liberty to depart, car-
rying off all their effects without molestation or hindrance;
conforming therein to the same laws which the citizens or sub-
jects of the most friendly nations are required to conform to.
Upon the entrance of the armies of either nation into the ter-
ritories of the other, women and children, ecclesiastics, scholars
of every faculty, cultivators of the earth, merchants, artisans,
manufacturers, and fishermen, unarmed and inhabiting the un-
fortified towns, villages, or places, and in general all persons
whose occupations are for the common subsistence and benefit
of mankind, shall be allowed to continue their respective em-
ploymenta unmolested in their persons. Nor shall their houses
or goods be, burnt or otherwise destroyed, nor their cattle taken,
nor their fields wasted, by the armed force into whose power,
by the events of war, they may happen to fall; but if the
necessity arise to take any thing from them for the use of such
armed force, the same shall be paid for at an equitable price.
All churches, hospitals, schools, colleges, libraries, and other
establishments, for charitable and beneficent purposes, shall be
respected, and all persons connected with the same protected in
the discharge of their duties, and the pursuit of their vocations.
552
LIFE AND TIMES OF
2." In order that the fate of prisoners of war may he alle-
viated, all such practices as those of sending them into distant,
inclement, or unwholesome districts, or crowding them into
close and noxious places, shall be studiously avoided. They
shall not be confined in dungeons, prison-ships, or prisons; nor
he put in irons, or bound, or otherwise restrained in the use of
their limbs. The officers shall enjoy liberty on their paroles,
within convenient districts, and have comfortable quarters ; and
the common soldiers shall be disposed in cantonments, open and
extensive enough for air and exercise, and lodged in barracks
as roomy and good as are provided by the party in whose power
they are, for its own troops. But if any officer shall break his
parole by leaving the district so assigned him, or any other
prisoner shall escape from the limits of his cantonment, after
they shall have been designated to him, such individual, officer,
or other prisoner, shall forfeit so much of the benefit of this
article as provides for his liberty on parole or in cantonment.
And if any officer so breaking his parole, or any common soldier
so escaping from the limits assigned him, shall afterwards he
found in arms, previously to bis being regularly exchanged, the
person so ofiending shall be dealt with according to the estab-
lished laws of war. The officers shall be daily furnished by the
party in whose power they are, with as many rations, and of
the same articles as are allowed, either in kind or by commuta-
tion, to officers of equal rank in its own army; and all others
shall be daily furnished with such ration as is allowed to a com-
mon soldier in its own service; the value of all which supplies
shall, at the close of the war, or at periods to be agreed upon
between the respective commanders, be paid by the other party,
on a mutual adjustment of accounts for the subsistence of pris-
oners; and such accounts shall not be mingled with or set off
against any others, nor the balance due on them be withheld as
a compensation or reprisal for any cause whatever, real or pre-
tended. Each party shall be allowed to keep a commissary of
prisoners, appointed by itself, with every cantonment of pris-
oners in possession of the other; which commissary shall see
the prisoners as often as he pleases; shall be allowed to receive,
exempt from all duties or taxes, and to distribute whatever
comforts may be sent to them by their friends; and shall be
JAMES KNOX POLK.
553
free to transmit his reports in open letters to the party by whom
he is employed.
And it is declared that neither the pretense that war dissolves
all treaties, nor any other whatever, shall be considered as an-
nulling or suspending the solemn covenant contained in this
article. On the contrary, ti>e state of war is precisely that for
which it is provided, and during which its stipulations are to be
as sacredly observed as the most acknowledged obligations under
the law of nature or nations.
article xxiii.
This treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United
States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate thereof; and by the President of the Mexican Republic,
with the previous approbation of its general Congress; and the
ratification shall be exchanged in the City of Washington, or at
the seat of government of Mexico, in four months from the date
of the signature hereof, or sooner if practicable.
In faith whereof, we, the respective plenipotentiaries, have
signed this treaty of peace, friendship, limits, and settlement;
and have hereunto affixed our seals respectively. Done in
quintuplicate, at the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo, on the second
day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and forty-eight.
N. P. Trist, [l. s.]
Luis G. Cuevas, [l. s.]
Berxardo Couto, [l, s.]
Migl. Atristain. [l. s.]
And whereas the said treaty, as amended, has been duly
ratified on both parts, and the respective ratifications of the same
were exchanged at Queretaro, on the thirtieth day of May last,
by Ambrose H. Sevier and Natban Clifford, commissioners on
the part of the Government of the United States, and by Seiior
Don Luis de la Rosa, Minister of Relations of the Mexican Re-
public, on the part of that government:
Now, therefore, be it known, that I, James K. Polk, Presi-
dent of the United States of America, have caused the said
treaty to be made public, to the end that the same, and every
554
LIFE AND TIMES OF
clause and article thereof, may be observed and fulfilled with
good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused
the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this fourth day of July,
one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, and of .
[l. s.] the Independence of the United States the seventy-
third.
By the President; James K. Polk.
James Buchanan, Secretary of State.
Considering that the value of California was then
unknown, and that by this treaty the Government
of the United States took upon itself the function
of a police force on the northern border of Mexico,
and became responsible for the damages of Indian
depredations, the price for the ceded territory was
a good one, especially when to this is added the
cost of the war and the loss of life on the battle-
field, and from diseases of the climate. To this
must also be added the three and a quarter millions
to be allowed as indemnity to citizens of the United
States on account of Mexican spoliations, now as-
sumed by this Government.
All Mexican obligations were to be canceled, and <
the United States became the debtor of Mexico to
the amount of fifteen millions of dollars on six
per cent interest.
It appeared to be a good bargain for Mexico.
She was better off when the war ended than when
it began, her debts canceled, and a strong power
sworn to keep her secure and comfortable on her
northern border from incursions from the savages.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
555
To this all must be added the secret gratification to
Mexico that the money to be paid by the United
States is made to appear on account of the cession
of territory; that is, establishing new boundaries
between the two countries, and one of these bound-
aries being the middle of the Rio Grande; therefore,
after all having the moral force, at least, of includ-
ing Texas in the ceded territory.
On the 29th of May General Butler announced
to the army the end of the war; on the following
day began the evacuation of the City of Mexico;
on the 12th of June the Stars and Stripes gave
place to the Mexican flag on the Capitol and Palace,
and the last troops marched towards Vera Cruz;
and by the last of July all the fierce North Ameri-
cans had withdrawn from the territory of Mexico.
The honor of closing up the affairs of the army and
leading it from Mexico fell to General Butler.
Although this was in itself a thing that might have
been done by many another, it singularly enough,
gave Butler an immediate political prominence. It
would have been just and honorable for General
Scott to have the pleasure of winding up the affairs
of his great camgaign and leading towards home an
army much attached to him, notwithstanding his
disposition to quarrel with those who came in the
way of privileges he held for himself. The Gen-
eral's manner towards the Administration was at
times irritating, there is no doubt, but his character
and method of dealing were well understood before,
and his removal from the command of the army in
556
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Mexico was uncalled for and inconsiderate, if not
founded on partisan considerations, and a wish, as
he had claimed, of degrading him before the country.
The letter of the 13th of January from the Secre-
tary of War notifying him that, " In view of the
present state of things in the army under your im-
mediate command, and in compliance with the as-
surance contained in my reply to your letter of the
4th of June, wherein you ask to be recalled, the
President has determined to relieve you from fur-
ther duty as commanding general in Mexico," has
hardly the ring of sincerity about it. Although his
contention with Worth and Pillow and others was
not admirable in the General-in-chief, and the whole
squabble about the honors may not appear to the
unmilitary reader as the highest display of patriot-
ism, yet Scott's suspension from the command of
the army, and the organization of a court for his
trial on the very scene of his magnificent successes
as a military leader, present, by no means, an
agreeable picture. It was a humiliating spectacle
which might have been spared him to the credit of
the Administration, however well founded its cause
of complaint against him. Nothing good to anybody
came of the arrests and trials, and indeed, as in all
other such cases, it was a foregone conclusion that
nothing would come of them. They subserved the
purpose of making more unpopular a war that has
never been an especial cause of pride to Americans,
save in the apparently splendid achievements of their
armies.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
557
The territorial acquisitions of this war were very
great, and although their cost in blood and money
was enormous, it would be difficult now to estimate
their value, especially that of California, to this
country. It is inestimable. For this over fifteen
thousand men were actually killed in battle, or died
of wounds received in battle before the first of Jan- '
uary, 1848. At that date six thousand had died of
diseases contracted in Mexico; five thousand five
hundred were discharged by reason of disabilities
contracted in the service, many of whom died on
their way home, or afterwards; and two or three
thousand died of disease after the 1st day of Jan-
uary, 1848. Of the enormous number of deserters
(about five thousand) many died of disease and
were killed in battle, to say nothing of the large
number General Scott hanged in the Valley of
Mexico. During the war about one hundred thou-
sand men including the old regulars were called into
the service, although some of these never reached the
scene of action, and some of them did not even
leave their homes. More than seventy-five thousand
actually saw service of some kind in Mexico. The
number mustered out of service fell several thousands
short of the number enrolled, and these never were
accounted for. They were among the unknown
dead and missing. Besides the fifteen or twenty
thousand lives estimated as lost, in this war, of the
fifty or sixty thousand that returned home, a vast
number brought with them the seeds of diseases from
which they never recovered, and from which many
658
LIFE AND TIMES OF
died, or lived wretched lives. Had the advice of
Thomas H. Benton and some other leading Demo-
crats been followed, or had Martin Van Buren or
Henry Clay been elected President, it is quite cer-
tain there would have been no war with Mexico, and
it is equally certain, perhaps, that the annexation
■ of Texas would have been accomplished peaceably
I in the course of time. But it is needless to specu-
late about what might have been, or, indeed, what
should have been. And from this date looking back
over the events of a third of a century few men
would care to say that the present would be better
had the affairs of that day fallen under the guidance
of other hands. The history of the past ever car-
ries with it the extraordinary and unsatisfactory
problem of what might have been. But one great
lesson of history undoubtedly is, that the affairs of
this earth even, have resulted more beneficially than
could have been provided for in the wisdom of men.
JAMES KNOX POLK,
559
CHAPTER XXV.
territory of the united states —treaties and
boundaries—"re-annexation" of texas
a party cry.
HE treaty of peace providing for the independ-
ence of this country was signed at Paris on
the last day of September, 1782. In that treaty
are the following articles, covering the matter of
boundaries:—
" Article I.—His 'Britannic Majesty acknowledges
the said United States, viz.; New Hampshire, Massacbu-
setts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Con-
necticut. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Dela-
ware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro-
lina, and Georgia, to be free, sovereign, and independent
States; that he treats with them as such; and for him-
self, his heirs, and successors, relinquishes all claims to
the government, proprietary, and territorial rights of the
same, and every part thereof. And that all disputes
which might arise in future on the subject of the bound-
aries of the said United States may be prevented, it is
hereby agreed and declared, that the following are and
shall be their boundaries, viz.:—
"Article II.—From the north-west angle of Nova
Scotia, viz.: That angle which is formed by a line drawn
due north from the source of St. Croix River to the
Highlands; along the Highlands which divide those
rivers that empty themselves into the River St. Lawrence
560
LIFE AND TIMES OF
from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the
north-westernmost head of Connecticut River; thence
down along the middle of that river to the forty-fifth
degree of north latitude; thence by a line due west on
said latitude until it strikes the River Iroquois or Catara-
quy; thence along the middle of said river into Lake
Ontario, through the middle of said lake until it strikes
the communication by water between that lake and Lake
Erie; thence along the middle of said communication into
Lake Erie, through the middle of said lake until it ar-
rives at the water communication between that lake and
Lake Huron; thence through the middle of said lake to
the water communication between that lake and Lake
Superior; thence through Lake Superior northward of the
isles Royal and Phelippeaux to the Long Lake; thence
through the middle of said Long Lake and the water
communication between it and the Lake of the Woods;
thence thi'ough the said lake to the most north-western
point thereof, and thence on a due west course to the
River Mississippi; thence by a line to be drawn along the
middle of said River Mississippi until it shall intersect
the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree of north
latitude. South by a line to be drawn due east from the
determination of the line last mentioned, in the latitude
of thirty-one degrees north of the equator, to the middle
of the River Appalachicola or Catahouchi; thence along
the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint River;
thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River; and
thence down along the middle of St. Mary's River to the
Atlantic Ocean. East by a line to be drawn along the
middle of the River St. Croix, from its mouth in the Bay
of Fundy to its source, and from its source directly north
to the aforesaid Highlands which divide the rivers that
fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the
River St. Lawrence; comprehending all islands within
twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United
JAMES KNOX POLK. 561
State.s, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from
the points where the aforesaid boundaries, between Nova
Scotia on the one part, and East Florida on the other,
shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the
Atlantic Ocean; excepting such islands as now are, or
heretofore have been, within the limits of the said prov-
ince of Nova Scotia."
Some difficulties arose concerning* the boundary,
here somewhat vaguely fixed, on the St. Croix River.
In Mr. Jay's celebrated and wise treaty of 1794, a
provision was made for the appointment of commis-
sioners by this country and England to settle the
true meaning and character of the St. Croix River
line. But the affair was troublesome, and in 1798,
an explanatory clause was added to this treaty by
Lord Grenville on the part of England, and Rufus
King, then minister to Britain, on the part of this
Government. Still nothing was accomplished in the
adjustment of the difficulty, and years of ill-feeling
passed from bad to worse between the two nations.
In the meantime other doubts and misunderstandings
arose as to other parts of the northern boundary
among the great lakes and their water communica-
tions. The Treaty of Ghent again made provision
for the appointment of commissioners and the final
settlement of the whole question of boundaries. On"
the 24th of November, 1817, the commissioners de-
cided that
" Moose Island, Dudley Island, and Frederick Island,
in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part of the Bay of
Fundy, do, and each of them does, belong to the United
36—K
562
LIFE AND TIMES OF
States of America; and we have also decided, and do do-
cide, that all the other islands, and each and every of
them, in the said Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part
of the Bay of Fund^, do belong to his Britannic Majesty,
in conformity with the true intent of the said second ar-
tide of said treaty of one thousand seven hundred and
eighty-three."
Iq the convention concluded October 20, 1818,
at London, by the ministers of the United States
and the government of England, touching the fish-
eries, boundaries, etc., it is said :—
" Article II.—It is agreed that a line drawn from the
most north-western point of the Lake of the Woods, along
the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, or if the said
point shall not be in the forty-ninth parallel of north lati-
tude, then that a line drawn from the said point due north
or south, as the case may be, until the said line shall in-
tersect the said parallel of north latitude, and from the
point of such intersection due west along and with said
parallel, shall be the line of demarkation between the ter-
ritories of the United States and those of his Britannic
Majesty, and that the said line shall form the northern
boundary of the said territories of the United States, and
the southern boundary of the territories of his Britannic
Majesty, from the Lake of the Woods to the Stony (Rocky)
Mountains.
"Article III.—It is agreed, that any country that
may be claimed by either party on the northwest coast of
America, westward of the Stony Mountains, shall, together
with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of
all rivers within the same, be free and open for the term of
ten years from the date of the signature of the present con-
vention, to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two
powers; it being well understood that this agreement is not
JAMES KNOX POLK.
563
to be construed to the prejudice of any claim which either
of the two high contracting parties may have to any part
of the said country; the only object of the high contract-
ing parties, in that respect, being to prevent disputes and
differences among themselves."
In another convention ratified April 2, 1828,
bearing upon and continuing the former convention,
it was declared :—
"Article II.—It shall be competent, however, to
either of the contracting parties, in case either should think
fit, at any time after the 20th of October, 1828, on giving
due notice of twelve months to the other contracting party,
to annul and abrogate this convention ; and it shall, in
such case, be accordingly entirely annulled and abrogated,
after the expiration of the said term of notice.
"Article III.—Nothing contained in this convention,
or in the third article of the convention of the 20th of
October, 1818, hereby continued in force, shall be con-
strued to impair, or in any manner affect the claims which
either of the contracting parties may have to any part of
the country westward of the Stony or Rocky Mountains."
Provision was also made at this time for referring
the differences which had arisen between the bound-
ary commissioners to friendly arbitration. On the
18th of June, 1832, at Utica, New York, the commis-
sioners at last reached an apparently final decision
concerning the disputed boundary between England
and this country on the northern rivers and lakes,
carefully and elaborately itemizing every, point then
in doubt or dispute, and every one liable to be a mat-
ter of contention in the future. The treaty signed
at Paris, April 30, 1803, between France and the
564
LIFE AND TIMES OF
United States, for the purchase of Louisiana, contains
only this vague statement concerning the boundaries
of the acquired territory :—
"Article I.—Whereas by the article the third of the
treaty concluded at St. Ildefonso, the 9th Vendemiaire,
an. 9 (1st October, 1800,) between the first consul of the
French Republic and his Catholic Majesty, it was agreed
as follows : ' His Catholic Majesty promises and engages
on his part to cede to the French Republic, six months
after the full' and entire execution of the conditions and
stipulations herein relative to his royal highness, the Duke
of Parma, the colony or province of Louisiana, with the
same extent that it now has in the hands of Spain, and
that it had when France possessed it; and such as it should
be after the treaties subsequently entered into between
Spain and other States.' And whereas, in pursuance of
the treaty, and particularly of the third article, the French
Republic has an incontestable title to the domain and to the
possession of the said territory : The first consul of the
French Republic desiring to give to the United States a
strong proof of his friendship, doth hereby cede to the said
United States, in the name of the French Republic, for-
ever and in full sovereignty, the said territory with all its
rights and appurtenances, as fully and in the same manner
as they have been acquired by the French Republic, in
virtue of the above mentioned treaty, concluded with his
Catholic Majesty.
"Article II.—In the cession made by the preceding
article are included the adjacent islands belonging to Lou-
isiana, all public lots and squares, vacant lands, and all
public buildings, fortifications, barracks, and other edifices
which are not private property."
The treaty with Spain, signed at Washington,
February 22, 1818, ratified by Spain, October 24,
JAMES KNOX POLK.
565
1820, and finally by the United States, February
19, 1821, the main object of which was the acqui-
sition of Florida, territory entirely east of the Mis-
sissippi, fixed the boundary of the territory west of
that river, acquired from France in 1803.; and which
lay against the possessions of Spain west of Louis-
iana, the boundary of which had not been settled
upon definitely, and which had been more or less
vague and unimportant in the treaties of France and
Spain. The Florida Treaty says :—
"Article II.—His Catholic Majesty cedes to the
United States in full property and sovereignty, all the ter-
ritories which belong to him, situated to the east of the
Mississippi, known by the name of East and West Florida.
The adjacent islands dependent on said provinces, all pub-
lie lots and squares, vacant lands, public edifices, fortifica-
tions, barracks, and other buildings which are not private
property, archives and documents, which relate directly to
the property and sovereignty of said provinces, are in-
eluded in this article. The said archives and documents
shall be left in possession of the commissaries or officers
of the United States, duly authorized to receive them.
"Article III.-—The boundary line between the two
countries west of the Mississippi, shall begin on the Gulf
of Mexico, at the mouth of the River Sabine, in the sea,
continuing north along the western bank of that river, to
the 32d degree of latitude; thence by a line due north to
the degree of latitude where it strikes the Rio Roxo of
Natchitoches, or Red River; then following the course of
the Rio Roxo westward, to the degrees of longitude 100°
west from London and 23° from Washington; thence
crossing the said Red River, and running thence by a line
due north to the River 'Arkansas; thence following the
course of the southern bank of the Arkansa.s, to its source,
566
LIFE AND TIMES OF
in latitude 42 north; and thence by that parallel of lati-
tude to the South Sea (Pacific Ocean). . The whole being
as laid down in Melish's map of the United States, pub-
lished at Philadelphia, improved to the 1st of January,
1818. But, if the source of the Arkansas River shall be
found to fall north or south of latitude 42 north, then the
line shall run from the said source, due south or north, as
the case may be, till it meets the said parallel of latitude
42, and thence, along the said parallel to the South Sea.
All the islands in the Sabine, and the said Red and Arkan-
sas Rivers, throughout the course thus described, to belong
to the United States; but the use of the waters, and the
navigation of the Sabine to the sea, and of the said rivers
Roxo and Arkansas, throughout the extent of the said
boundary, on their respective banks, shall be common to
the respective inhabitants of both nations. The two high
contracting parties agree to cede and renounce all their
rights, claims, and pretensions to the territories described
by the said line; that is to say: the United States hereby
cede to his Catholic Majesty, and renounce forever all their
rights, claims, and pretensions to the territories lying west
and south of the above-described line, and, in like manner,
his Catholic Majesty cedes to the said United States, all
his rights, claims, and pretensions, to any territories east
and north of the said line; and for himself, his heirs, and
successors, renounces all claim to the said territories
forever.
"Article IV.—To fix this line with more precision,
and to place the landmarks which shall designate exactly
the limits of both nations, each of the contracting parties
shall appoint a commissioner and a surveyor, who shall
meet before the termination of one year, from the date of
the ratification of this treaty, at Natchitoches, on the Red
River, and proceed to run and mark the said line, from
the mouth of the Sabine to the Red River, and from the
Red River to the River Arkansas, and to ascertain the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
567
latitude of the source of said River Arkansas, in conformity
to what is above agreed upon and stipulated, and the line
of latitude 42° to the South Sea; they shall make out plans
and keep journals of their proceedings, and the result
agreed upon by them shall be considered as part of this
treaty, and shall have the same force as if it were inserted
therein. The two governments will amicably agree re-
specting the necessary articles to be furnished to those per-
sons, and also as to their respective escorts, should such be
deemed necessary."
In the "convention" with Russia, signed April
17, 1824, and ratified on the 11th of January,
1825, is found this agreement:—
"Article III.—It is moreover agreed that, hereafter,
there shall not be formed by the citizens of the United
States, or under the authority of said States, any establish-
men! upon the northwest coast of America, nor in any of
the islands adjacent to the north of fifty-four degrees and
forty minutes of north latitude; and that in the same man-
ner, there shall be none formed by Russian subjects, or
under the authority of Russia, south of the same parallel."
On the 12th of January, 1828, a treaty was signed
in the City of Mexico, and ratified at Washington,
April 15, 1832, reaffirming the line of the Spanish
treaty of 1819, between Mexico (now independent
of Spain) and the United States. After the Mexican
province of Texas.declared its independence of Mex-
ico, it reaffirmed the boundary treaty between Mexico
and the United States, and in a convention ratified
at Washington, October 12, 1888, provision was made
for better marking the boundary of the Sabine
to the Red River. Misunderstandings and varying
568
LIFE AND TIMES OF
' interpretfitions existed concerning the boundaries
fixed by the treaty of peace, treaty of Gaudalupe
Hidalgo; with Mexico in 1848, which led to another
treaty, ratified at Washington, June 30, 1854, re-
arranging the boundary to the benefit of the United
States, at a consideration of ten millions of dollars.
The main part of the first article of this treaty
of 1854, reads :—
" The Mexican Republic agrees to designate the follow-
ing as her true limits with the United States, for the fu-
ture : retaining the same dividing line between the two
Californias as already defined and established, according to
the fifth article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the
limits between the two Republics shall be as follows: Be-
ginning in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from laud,
opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande, as provided in the
fifth article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; thence,
as defined in the said article, up the middle of that river
to the point where the parallel of thirty-one degrees, forty-
seven minutes, north latitude, crosses the same; thence
due west one hundred miles; thence south to the parallel
of thirty-one degrees, twenty minutes, north latitude;
thence, along the said j)arallel of thirty-one degrees, twenty
minutes, to the one hundred and eleventh meridian of
longitude west from Greenwich; thence in a straight line
to a point on the Colorado River, twenty English miles
below the junction of the Gila and Colorado Rivers;
thence up the middle of the said River Colorado until it
intersects the present line between the United States and
Mexico."
In a former chapter in this volume may be found
the treaty with Great Britain in 1846, fixing the
boundary between that government and this on the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
569
Pacific in the forty-ninth degree of north latitude;
and in the next preceding volume of this work may
be seen the Tyler, or Webster and Ashburton Treaty,
ratified August 22, 1842, and finally disposing of
the long standing question of boundaries on the lakes
and rivers of the north between the United States
and the British possessions. The territory of the
United States, therefore, comprises :—
First. That within the limits described in the
Treaty of Paris, the Treaty of Independence, defi-
nitely signed September 3, 1788.
Second. That within the territories of Orleans and
Louisiana, acquired from France in 1803, which in-
eluded parts of Alabama and Mississippi, all of Ar-
kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Iowa, that part of Min-
nesota west of the Mississippi River and the British
line of 1783, the Indian Territory, Kansas, Nebraska,
Dakota, a part of Wyoming, and all of Montana,
Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.
Third. That within the State of Florida, added
by the treaty of 1819.
Fourth. That added by the treaties of 1848 and
1854 with Mexico, including Colorado, New Mexico,
Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and California.
Fifth. The Territory of Alaska purchased from
Russia in 1867.
For the first ten or twelve years after the acqui-
sition of Louisiana there was no claim set up in this
country to the ownership of the Mexican (Spanish)
territory of Texas. Indeed, so far was this country
from claiming that territory under the purchase of
670
LIFE AND TIMES OF
1803, although Mr. Jefferson believed in our right
to it, that during the disputes and difficulties with
Spain about Florida, while Mr. Madison was Presi-
dent a proposition was made to Spain to exchange a
part of Louisiana, bordering on Texas, for the Flor-
idas, thus more, completely consolidating the Spanish
territory, and removing the cause of contention be-
tween the two nations. At this time, too, Spain
complained of the disposition of citizens of the United
States to foment the spirit of rebellion then mani-
fested in her Mexican provinces. At the close of
the war there was a decided tendency in the South
to filibuster in that direction.
In the summer of 1815 steps were taken, espe-
cially in Louisiana, to wrest Texas from the Spanish
government. So unjust and dangerous did President
Madison regard the movement, that he issued a proc-
lamation against it, dated at Washington, September
1, 1815, in which are these words :—
" Whereas, information has been received that sundry
persons, citizens of the United States, or residents within
the same, and especially within the State of Louisiana, are
conspiring together to begin and set on foot, provide and
prepare the means for, a military expedition or enterprise
against the dominions of Spain, with which the United
States are happily at peace; that for this purpose they are
collecting arms, military stores, provisions, vessels, and
other means; are deceiving and seducing honest and well-
meaning citizens to engage in their unlawful enterprises;
are organizing, offieering, and arming themselves for the
same, contrary to the laws in such cases made and provided:
I have therefore thought to issue this, my proclamation.
JAMES KNOX rOLK.
571
warning and enjoining all faithful citizens, who have been
led, without due knowledge or consideration, to participate
in the said unlawful enterprises, to withdraw from the same
without delay; and commanding all persons who are en-
gaged or concerned in the same, to cease all further pro-
ceedings therein, as they will answer the contrary at their
peril."
572
LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE PRESIDENT VISITS NEW ENGLAND—PRESIDENTIAL
ELECTION—" ROUGH AND READY."
CONGRESS adjourned, as has been said, on the
l4th of August, 1848, when the presidential cam-
paign was in full blast. Two remarkable men, " des-
tined " to perform conspicuous parts in public affairs,
appeared in Congress at the beginning of this long
session, Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley.
Little did any member of that body then suspect that
one of them would become President, and that the
other, who was then ridiculed as the editor of a news-
paper, and an Abolition one, at that, and considered
a disgrace to the House of Representatives, because
he was an editor of a newspaper, would be himself
supported for the Presidency by the very men who
were then unwilling to recognize him. Mr. Polk was
not a candidate for re-election. His original assertion
to that effect was not a mere farce. He was broken
down, and yearned for rest and retirement. The task
had been too much for him, although he never shrank
from its duties and obligations. When his friends,
some of them, proposed again bringing him before
the Baltimore convention in May, he wrote to one of
JAMES KNOX POLK.
573
the members from his own State, J. Gr. M. Ramsey,
this letter :—
"Washington City, May 19, 1848.
" Dear Sir,—Frem speculations which have appeared
in some of the public journals, and from frequent in-
quiries which have been made of me, by many political
friends, some of them delegates to the Democratic
National Convention, which will assemble at Baltimore on
the '22d instant, I am induced to suppose that it may be
the desire of some of my friends to propose my renomi-
nation, as the candidate of the Democratic party, for the
office of President of the United States. Should you
ascertain that such is the intention of any of the dele-
gates, I desire, through you, to communicate to the con-
vention that I am not a candidate for the nomination, and
that any use of my name with that view, which may be
contemplated, is without any agency or desire on my part.
"The purpose declared in my letter of the 12th of
June, 1844, in accepting the nomination tendered to me
by the Democratic National Convention of that year, re-
mains unchanged; and to relieve the convention from
any possible embarrassment which 'the suggestion of my
name might produce in making a free selection of a sue-
cesser who may be best calculated to give effect to- their
will, and guard all the interests of our beloved country,'
I deem it proper to reiterate the sentiments contained in
that letter, ^ince my election, I have often expressed the
sincere desire, which I still feel, to retire to private life
at the close of my present term.
"I entertain the confident hope and belief that my
Democratic friends of the convention will unite in the
harmonious nomination of some citizen to succeed me,
who, if elected, will firmly maintain and carry out the
great political principles introduced in the resolutions
adopted by the Democratic National Convention in 1844;
principles which it has been the earnest endeavor and
574
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the constant aim of my Administration to preserve and
pursue, and upon the observance of which, in my opinion,
mainly depend the prosperity and permanent welfare of
our country.
" If, on reviewing the history of my Administration,
and the remarkable' events, foreign and domestic, which
have attended it, it shall be the judgment of my country-
men that I have adhered to these principles and faithfully
performed my duty, the measure of my ambition is full,
and I am deeply compensated for all the labors, cares,
and anxieties, which are inseparable from the high station
which I have been called to fill.
" I shall ever cherish sentiments of deep gratitude to
my fellow-citizens for the confidence they reposed in me,
in elevating me to the most distinguished and responsible
public trust on earth.
" It is scarcely necessary that I should add, that it will
be no less my duty than it will be my sincere pleasure,
as a citizen, to unite with my Democratic friends in the
support of the nominees of the convention for the offices
of President and Vice-President of the United States.
With great respect, I am your obedient servant,
"James K. Polk.,
"To Dr. J. G. M. Ramsey."
The great events of Mr. Polk's Administration
having been disposed of, it only becomes necessary
to follow him to the end in other matters of some
general worth. Early in June, 1847, notwithstand-
ing the exciting state of public affairs, Mr. Polk,
with Mr. Mason, went down to North Carolina and
delivered a speech at the University, technically, or
youthfully termed, his "Alma Mater" where he had
"completed" his literary education.
On the 22d of June, 1847, President Polk set
JAMES KNOX POLK. 675
out from Washington for a tour to New England,
accompanied by the Attorney-General, Mr. Clifford,
and several others. He could not be accused of
undertaking this journey from political motives, for
his aspirations in that way were gone. He was
determined to withdraw to private life in a few
months, and was making this trip to gratify his
desire merely to know personally of the people and
country.' At Baltimore Mrs. Polk and her niece.
Miss Rucker, left the company to go to Tennessee.
Before leaving the Capital the route, mode of con-
veyance, kind of receptions, etc., were arranged and
expenses provided for by party friends. The chief
clerk of the Naval Department, John Appleton, who
accompanied the President for the purpose, wrote
an account of the trip, and presented it to Mrs.
Polk, who still has some notions of having it printed.
The manuscript covered only about one hundred and
fifty well written pages and was bound^ in morocco.
Appleton says they dashed off in grand style
from Washington, but were really insignificant with
all their greatness, as compared with the telegraph
which. flashed off the news of their coming. The
reception in Baltimore was very satisfactory to the
President, and there he made the following speech
at the hotel, in reply to Mayor Davis:—
" I acknowledge gratefully the kind reception I have
met with to-day among the people of Baltimore, and the
tender of the hospitalities of the city, which you have
now made as the organ of the municipal authorities. I
have, indeed, been welcomed in the most gratifying manner,
576
LIFE AND TIMES OF
to one of the most beautiful and interesting cities in
our whole country, renowned as it has been in our his-
tory, by the memorials of the gallant achievements of her
sons. In the presence of so much hospitality and court-
esy I feel myself in the society of my countrymen, and
in the home of friends. I have long desired to visit you,
but it has not before been convenient for me to do so.
After more than two years of almost constant confinement,
and of unremitting attention to my responsible public
duties, I have availed myself of the present occasion
when I have reason to suppose I can without detriment
to the public service be absent for a few days from the
Seat of Government. The purpose of my brief visit is to
pay my respects to my fellow-citizens of Baltimore and
of the northern section of this country. Had I postponed
it beyond the present summer, it is not probable that any
other convenient opportunity to make it would have oc-
curred during the period of my terra, of official service,
at the close of which I shall retire to private life. And
I hope, sir, to retire leaving the Administration of my
country in the hands of a worthy successor, and that
country which had honored me so much I trust to com-
mit to that successor prosperous and happy."
All Baltimore, with its association of " Defenders,"
schools, etc., called on the President, and his recep-
tion was no doubt extremely gratifying to him. On'
the 23d he continued his journey. From Wilming-
ton, Delaware, where he had another flattering recep-
tion, he went in the steamer George Washington, which
had brought^ the committee from Philadelphia for
him, to that city.
They ate at Wilmington and also took dinner on
the boat on the way to Philadelphia; in fact, on the
whole route the President was treated as a vulgar
JAMES KNOX POLK.
577
eating machine, and no wonder that he had the diar-
rhoea, and was so reduced and weak that he contem-
plated, at different times, giving up and returning to
Washington. Reaching Philadelphia in the after-
noon, he was received as ceremoniously as if he had
been an emperor, and marched through the streets
with a magnificent procession, and that night lodged
at the residence of Mr. Dallas, the Vice-President.
On the 24th, he visited Girard College, the public
buildings of interest, and the mint, and at the mint
some medals bearing his face were struck. He re-
ceived the people and made a little speech at the
Old State House, in Independence Square, and at
night had a grand levee at General Robert Pat-
terson's.
On the morning of the 25th, he started for New
York, taking the steamer at South Amboy. On this
boat he had to listen to an address in his behalf, and
he himself made quite a long speech. He sailed up
the Bay in grand style, and at three o'clock landed
at Castle Garden, where the mayor received him in a
pompous speech, and he made a short reply. His re-
ception in New York was on a magnificent scale. A
procession of two or three miles in length accom-
panied him through some of the principal streets to
the Astor House, where rooms were provided for him.
In New York he was shown all the objects of inter-
est; at the asylum for the blind, was addressed in
poetry by a pupil, made a speech at Tammany Hall,
visited Brooklyn, on Sunday attended church three
times, and on Monday morning, June 28th, started
37—K
578
LIFE AND TIMES OF
for New Haven. This plac6 he entered under a flag
bearing the inscription, " Welcome to New England."
On the outskirts of the city of Hartford, the
Presidential company halted at the residence of Mrs.
Sigourney while the poet gave the principal travelers
a drink of water. At Boston, Mayor Josiah Quincy,
Jr., received the visitor in a neat speech, to which he
briefly replied. The chronicler says that, " On the
whole Boston acquitted itself very handsomely in its
reception of the President," in spite of the rainy
weather and the opposition of one of the leading
newspapers.
Mr. Polk visited Harvard College, but the degree
of LL. D. was not conferred upon him, as it had been
upon one of his predecessors, greatly to the disgust
of John Quincy Adams.
In a speech at Concord, New Hampshire, the
President said:—
" In observing the diffused intelligence and robust in-
dustry of their people, I" have felt more than ever my
great responsibilities to my country, and deeper has become
my anxiety to study its welfare. But I rejoice to know
that these responsibilities, weighty as they are, are not mine
alone, but are shared with you, and with all our fellow-
citizens; for here it is not with the rulers, hut with the
people, that abide the strength and glory of our free insti-
tutions, the stability and permanence of our happy
Union. . .
" To sustain my country's interests and preserve her
honor unimpaired, has, also, been my effort in the station
I have been called to occupy, at a momentous period of
public affairs. In this period, great questions have arisen.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
579
and been (Jecided, whose final results must excite the most
earnest interest of the whole Union. Whatever they may
be, I have the consciousness to rest on, of having en-
deavored to discharge my duty, always humbly relying
upon the providence of Him in whose hands are the des-
tinies of men and of nations."
The reception of the President in Maine was of
the most extensive and cordial character. He was
the first President to enter that State after its admis-
sion to the Union, and the people were glad to make
it a notable occasion. Governor Dana and the State
Legislature received him at the State Capital, and at
Portland, Portsmouth, and other towns he was treated
with distinguished attentions. In this State he made
(at Augusta and Portland) the most considerable
speeches of the tour. In his speech at Augusta,
he said :—
" In other countries the monarch rules, and the people
are required to obey; but in this country, thank God,
there is no monarch but the people themselves, no alle-
giance but. to the Constitution and laws which they ap-
prove, and no power which they do not give and can not
take away. . . .
" To the Constitution, then, and the union of the States
which it establishes, let us all look, as to the pole-star of
our country's hopes, and the surest safeguard of human
liberty throughout the world. He who would inflict a
blow upon a frame of society, thus glorious alike in its
formation and its results, would hazard a calamity which
no patriot and no lover of his race can contemplate with-
out alarm. Let the Union be dissolved, and instead of
the spectacles which we now present to the world, of a
united confederacy of happy and prosperous States, we
580
LIFE AND TIMES OF
shall exhibit as the mournful fruit of (suicidal) councils,
an extended series of petty principalities, without har-
mony in either, and wasting their resources and their en-
ergies by worrying among themselves. Dissolve the
Union and the last example of freedom to the oppressed
will at once be destroyed, and the only hope of man for
well regulated government will be lost forever from the
earth. In comparison with the vast importance and the
sacred duty of maintaining such a Union, how poor and
insignificant are all of our little local jealousies, and all
our divisions of individual opinion! In support of the
Constitution, however we may differ on other and minor
subjects, all sects and all parties may freely and cordially
unite, and before the altar of the Union, bow down in a
common worship, as citizens of one country, and brethren
of the same great family."
These are noble words, and there need be no
doubt that Mr. Polk would have sustained them in
his life had he lived twenty-five years longer.
The President returned through Newburyport,
Salem, Lynn, etc., and at Fall River took steamer
for New York. His second Sunday, which was the
4th of July, was spent at Portland, and there he
attended Church twice, and in the evening quietly
received a few friends. On the 6th he left New
York on his return to Washington, the journey, in
the main, having been without unpleasant incidents,
and on the whole quite gratifying to him.
The Presidential election came off in November,
1848, and resulted in the success of General Taylor
and Millard Fillmore, the Whigs, and the defeat of
Lewis Cass and William 0. Butler. The Demo-
cratic candidates were not President Polk's first
JAMES KNOX POLK.
581
choice, but he gave himself no uneasiness as to his
successor. He was greatly attached to Franklin
Pierce, and he much desired to advance the political
interests of Thomas H. Benton, although Mr. Benton
did not sustain the principle on which he was
elected, nor did he support with any warmth some
features of his official course, and opposed his treaty
of peace with Mexico, and mucJi of his conduct, and,
indeed, among all the Democratic politicians of the
country none looked so unfavorably on Mr, Polk's
Administration throughout, as did Mr. Benton.
582
LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER XXVII.
PRESIDENT POLK'S LAST ANNUAL MESSAGE—ANOTHER
APPEAL FOR THE UNION—HUMAN
SLAVERY.
CONGRESS convened on the 4th of December,
1848, and continued in session till the 3d of
March, 1849. On the following day President Polk
sent in his last annual message.
FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
December 5, 1848.
Fellow-citizens of the Senate and of the House of Befresbnta-
tives:—
Under the benignant providence of Almighty God, the
Representatives of the States and of the people are again
brought together to deliberate for the public good. The grati-
tude of the Nation to the sovereign arbiter of all human
events, should be commensurate with the boundless blessings
which we enjoy.
Peace, plenty, and contentment, reign throughout our bor-
ders, and our beloved country presents a sublime moral spec-
tacle to the world.
The troubled and unsettled condition of some of the prin-
cipal European powers has had a necessary tendency to check
and embarrass trade, and to depress prices throughout all com-
mercial nations; but notwithstanding these causes, the United
States, with their abundant products, have felt their effects
less severely than any other country, and all our great inter-
ests are still prosperous and successful.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
583
In reviewing the great events of the past year, and con-
trasting the agitated and disturbed state of other countries
with our own tranquil and happy condition, we may congratu-
late ourselves that we are the most favored people on the face
of the earth. While the people of other countries are strug-
gling to establish free institutions, under which man may gov-
ern himself, we are in the actual enjoyment of them, a rich
inheritance from our fathers. While enlightened nations of
Europe are convulsed and distracted by civil war or intestine
strife, we settle all our political controversies by the peaceful
exercise of the rights of freemen at the ballot-box. The great
republican maxim so deeply engraven on the hearts of our
people, that the will of the majority, constitutionally expressed,
shall prevail, is our sure safeguard against force and violence.
It is the subject of just pride, that our fame and character as
a nation continue rapidly to advance in the estimation of the
civilized world. To our wise and free institutions it is to be
attributed, that while other nations have achieved glory at the
price of the suffering, distress, and impoverishment of their
people, we have won our honorable position in the midst of an
uninterrupted prosperity, and of an increasing individual com-
fort and happiness. I am happy to inform you that our rela-
tions with all nations are friendly and pacific. Advantageous
treaties of commerce have been concluded within the last four
years with New Grenada, Peru, the Two Sicilies, Belgium,
Hanover, Oldenburg, and Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Pursuing
our example, the restrictive system of Great Britain, our prin-
cipal foreign customer, has been relaxed; a more liberal com--
mercial policy has been adopted by other enlightened nations,
and our trade has been greatly enlarged and extended. Our
country stands higher in the respect of the world than at any
former period. To continue to occupy this proud position, it
is only necessary to preserve peace, and faithfully adhere to
the great and fundamental principles of our foreign policy, of
non-iuterference in the domestic concerns of other nations. We
recognize in all nations the right which we enjoy ourselves, to
change and reform their political institutions according to their
own will and pleasure. Hence we do not look behind existing
governments, capable of maintaining their own authority. We
584
LIFE AND TIMES OF
recognize all such actual governments, not only from the die-
tates of true policy, but from a sacred regard for the inde-
pendence of nations.
While this is our settled policy, it does not follow that we
can ever be indifferent spectators of the progress of liberal
principles. The Government and people of the United States
hailed with enthusiasm and delight the establishment of the
French Republic, as we now hail the efforts in progress to
unite the States of Germany in a confederation, similar in
many respects to our own Federal Union. If the great and
enlightened German States, occupying, as they do, a central
and commanding position in Europe, shall succeed in establish-
ing such a confederated government, securing at the same time
to the citizens of each State local governments adapted to the
peculiar condition of each, with unrestricted trade and inter-
course with each other, it will be an important era in the his-
tory of human events. While it will consolidate and strengthen
the power of Germany, it must essentially promote the cause
of peace, commerce, civilization, and constitutional liberty,
throughout the world.
With all the governments on this continent our relations,
it is believed, are now on a more friendly and satisfactory
footing than they have ever been at any former period.
Since the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace
with Mexico, our intercourse with the government of that
Republic has been of the most friendly character. The envoy
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United
States to Mexico has been received and accredited, and a
diplomatic representative from Mexico of similar rank has
been received and accredited by this government. The ami-
cable relations between the two countries which had been sus-
pended have been happily restored, and are destined, I trust,
to be long preserved. The two Republics, both situated on
this continent, and with coterminous territories, have every
motive of sympathy and of interest to bind them together in
perpetual amity.
This gratifying condition of our foreign relations renders it
unnecessary for me to call your attention more specifically to
them.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
585
It has been my constant aim and desire to cultivate peace
and commerce with all nations. Tranquillity at home and
peaceful relations abroad constitute the true permanent policy
of our country. War, the scourge of nations, sometimes
becomes inevitable, but is always to be avoided when it can be
done consistently with the rights and honor of a nation.
One of the most important results of the war into which
we were recently forced with a neighboring nation, is the
demonstration it has aflTorded of the military strength of our
country. Before the late war with Mexico, European and other
foreign powers entertained imperfect and erroneous views of
our physical strength as a nation, and of our ability to prose-
cute war, and especially a war waged out of our own country.
They saw that our standing army on the peace establishment
did not exceed ten thousand men. Accustomed themselves to
maintain in peace large standing armies for the protection of
thrones against their own subjects, as well as against foreign
enemies, they had not conceived that it was possible for a
nation without such an army, well disciplined and of long
service, to wage war successfully. They held in low repute
our militia, and were far from regarding them as an effective
force, unless it might be for temporary defensive operations
when invaded on our own soil. The events of the late war
with Mexico have not only undeceived them, but have re-
moved erroneous impressions which prevailed to some extent
even among a portion of our own counttymen. That war has
demonstrated, that upon the breaking out of hostilities notantici-
pated, and for which no previous preparation had been made,
a volunteer army of citizen-soldiers equal to veteran troops,
and in numbers equal to any emergency, can in a short period
be brought into the field. Unlike what would have occurred
in any other country, we were under no necessity of resorting
to draughts or conscriptions. On the contrary, such was the
number of volunteers who patriotically tendered their services,
that the chief difficulty was in making selections and deter-
mining who should be disappointed and compelled to remain
at home. Our citizen-soldiers are unlike those drawn from the
population of any other country. They are composed indis-
criminately of all professions and pursuits, of farmers, lawyers.
686
LIFE AND TIMES OF
physicians, merchants, manufacturers, mechanics, and laborers;
and this, not only among the officers, but the private soldiers
in the ranks. Our citizen-soldiers are unlike those of any
other country in other respects. They are armed, and have
been accustomed from their youth up to handle and use fire-
arms; and a large proportion of them, especially in the western
and more newly settled States, are expert marksmen. They
are men who have-a reputation to maintain at home by their
good conduct in the field. They are intelligent, and there is
an individuality of character which is found in the ranks of
no other army. In battle, each private man, as well as every
officer, fights not only for his country, but for glory and distinction
among his fellow-citizens when he shall return to civil life.
The war with Mexico has demonstrated not only the ability
of the Government to organize a numerous army upon a sud-
den call, but also to provide it with all the munitions and
necessary supplies with dispatch, convenience, and ease, and
to direct its operations with efliciency. The strength of our
institutions has not only been displayed in the valor and skill
of our troops engaged in active service in the field, but in the
organization of those executive branches which were charged
with the general direction and conduct of the war. While
too great praise can not be bestowed upon the oflBcers and men
who fought our battles, it would be unjust to withhold from
those officers necessarily stationed at home, who were charged
with the duty of furnishing the army, in proper time and at
proper places, with all the munitions of war and other supplies
so necessary to make it efficient, the commendation to which
they are entitled. The credit due to this class of our officers
is the greater, when it is considered that no army in ancient
or modern times was ever better appointed or provided than
our army in Mexico. Operating in an enemy's country, re-
moved two thousand miles from the seat of the Federal Gov-
ernment, its difierent corps spread over a vast extent of
territory, hundreds, and even thousands of miles apart from
each other, nothing short of the untiring vigilance and extraor-
dinary energy of these officers could have enabled them to
provide the army at all points, and in proper season, with all
that was required for the most efficient service.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
587
It is but an act of justice to declare that the officers in charge
of the several executive bureaus, all under the immediate eye
and supervision of the Secretary of War, performed their re-
spective duties with ability, energy, and efficiency. They have
reaped less of the glory of the war, not having been person-
ally exposed to its perils in battle, than their companions in
arms; but, without their forecast, efficient aid, and co-opera-
tion, those in the field would not have been .provided with the
ample means they possessed of achieving for themselves and
their country the unfading honors which they have won for
both.
When all these facts are considered, it may cease to be a
matter of so much amazement abroad how it happened that our
noble army in Mexico, regulars and volunteers, were victorious
upon every battle-field, however fearful the odds against them.
The war with Mexico has thus fully developed the capacity
of republican governments to prosecute successfully a just and
necessary foreign war with all the vigor usually attributed to
more arbitrary forms of government. It has been usual for
writers on public law to impute to republics a want of that
unity, concentration of purpose, and vigor of execution which
are generally admitted to belong to the monarchical and aristo-
cratic forms; and this feature of popular government has been
supposed to display itself more particularly in the conduct of a
war carried on in an enemy's territory. The war with Great
Britain, in 1812, was to a great extent confined within our own
limits, and shed but little light on this subject. But the war
which we have just closed by an honorable peace evinces, be-
yond all doubt, that a popular representative government is
equal to any emergency which is likely to arise in the afiairs
of a nation.
The war with Mexico has developed most strikingly and con-
spicuously another feature in our institutions. It is that, with-
out cost to the Government or danger to our liberties, we have
in the bosom of our society of freemen, available in a just and
necessary war, virtually a standing army of two millions of
armed citizen-soldiers, such as fought the battles of Mexico.
But our military strength does not consist alone in our ca-
pacity for extended and successful operations on land. The
588
LIFE AND TIMES OF
navy is an important arm of the national defense. If the serv-
ices of the navy were not so brilliant as those of the army in
the late war with Mexico, it was because they had no enemy
to meet on their own element. While the army had opportunity
of performing more conspicuous service, the navy largely par-
ticipated in the conduct of the war. Both branches of the
service performed their whole duty to the country. For the
able and gallant services of the officers and men of the navy—
acting independently and as well as in co-operation with our
troops—in the conquest of the Californias, the capture of Vera
Cruz, and the seizure and occupation of other important posi-
tions on the Gulf and Pacific coasts, the highest praise is due.
Their vigilance, energy, and skill, rendered the most eflfective
service in excluding munitions of war and other supplies from
the enemy, while they secured a safe entrance for abundant
supplies for our own army. Our extended commerce was no-
where interrupted ; and for this immunity from the evils of war,
the country is indebted to. the navy.
High praise is due to the officers of the several executive
bureaus, navy-yards, and stations connected with the service,
all under the immediate direction of the Secretary of the Navy,
for the industry, foresight, and energy, with which everything
was directed and furnished to give efficiency to that branch of
the service. The same vigilance existed in directing the opera-
tions of the navy as of the army. There was concert between
the heads of the two arms of the service. By the orders which
were from time to time issued, our vessels of war on the Pacific
and the Gulf of Mexico were stationed in proper time and in
proper positions to co-operate efficiently with the army. By
this means their combined power was brought to bear success-
fully on the enemy.
The great results which have been developed and brought to
light by this war will be of immeasurable importance in the fu-
ture progress of our country. They will tend powerfully to
preserve us from foreign collisions, and to enable us to pursue
uninterruptedly our cherished policy of " peace with aU nations,
entangling alliances with none."
Occupying, as we do, a more commanding position among
nations than at any former period, our duties and our respon-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
589
sibilities to ourselves and to posterity are correspondingly in-
creased. This will be the more obvious when we consider the
vast additions which have been recently made to our territorial
possessions, and their great importance and value.
Within less than four years the annexation of Texas to the
Union has been consummated; all conflicting title to the Oregon
territory south of the forty-ninth degree of north latitude, being
all that was insisted on by any of my predecessors, has been
adjusted; and New Mexico and Upper California have been ac-
quired by treaty. The area of these several territories, accord-
ing to a report carefully prepared by the Commissioner of the
General Land Office, from the most authentic information iq his
possession, and' which is herewith transmitted, contains one mill-
ion one hundred and ninety-three thousand and sixty-one square
miles, or seven hundred and sixty-three millions five hundred
and fifty-nine thousand and forty acres; while the area of the
remaining twenty-nine States, and the territory not yet organ-
ized into States east of the Rocky Mountains, contains two
millions fifty-nine thousand five hundred and thirteen square
miles, or thirteen hundred and eighteen millions one hundred
and twenty-six thousand and fifty-eight acres. These estimates
show that the territories recently acquired, and over which our
exclusive jurisdiction and dominion have been extended, consti-
tute a country more than half as large as all that which was
held by the United States before their acquisition. If Oregon
be excluded from the estimate, there will still remain within the
limits of Texas, New Mexico, and California, eight hundred and
fifty-one thousand five hundred and ninety-eight square miles,
or five hundred and forty-five millions twelve thousand seven
hundred and twenty acres; being an addition equal to more
than one-third of all the territory owned by the United States
before their acquisition; and including Oregon, nearly as
great an extent of territory as the whole of Europe, Russia
only excepted. The Mississippi, so lately the frontier of our
country, is now only its center. With the addition of the late
acquisitions, the United States are now estimated to be nearly
as large as the whole of Europe. It is estimated by the Super-
intendent of the Coast Survey, in the accompanying report, that
the extent of the sea-coast of Texas on the Gulf of Mexico is
590
.LIFE AND TIMES OF
upward of four hundred miles; of the coast of Upper Califor-
nia, on the Pacific, of nine hundred and seventy miles; and of
Oregon, including the Straits of Fuca, of six hundred and fifty
miles; making the whole extent of sea-coast on the Pacific one
thousand six hundred and twenty miles, and the whole extent
on both the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, two thousand and
twenty miles. The length of the coast on the Atlantic, from
the northern limits of the United States, around the capes of
Florida to the Sabine, on the eastern boundary of Texas, is es-
timated to be three thousand one hundred miles; so that the
addition of sea-coast, including Oregon, is very nearly two-
thirds as great as all we possessed before; and excluding Oregon,
is an addition of one thousand three hundred and seventy miles;
being nearly equal to one half of the extent of coast which we
possessed before these acquisitions. We have now three great
maritime fronts—on the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the
Pacific—making in the whole an extent of sea-coast exceeding
five thousand miles. This is the extent of the sea-coast of the
United States, not including bays, sounds, and small irregulari-
ties of the main shore, and of the sea islands. If these be in-
eluded, the length of the shore-line of coast, as estimated by
the Superintendent of the Coast Survey in his report, would be
thirty-three thousand and sixty-three miles.
It would be difficult to calculate the value of these immense
additions to our territorial possessions. Texas, lying contiguous
to the western boundary of Louisiana, embracing within its limits
a part of the navigable tributary waters of the Mississippi and
an extensive sea-coast, could not long have remained in the
hands of a foreign power without endangering the peace of our
south-western frontier. Her products in the vicinity of the
tributaries of the Mississippi must have sought a market through
these streams, running into and through our territory; and the
danger of irritation and collision of interests between Texas as
a foreign State and ourselves would have been imminent, while
the embarrassments in the commercial intercourse between them
must have been constant and unavoidable. Had Texas fallen
into the hands, or under the influence and control of a strong
maritime or military foreign power, as she might have done,
these dangers would have been still greater. They have been
JAMES KNOX POLK,
591
avoided by her voluntary and peaceful annexation to the United
States. Texas, from her position, was a natural and almost
indispensable part of our territories. Fortunately, she has been
restored to our country, and now constitutes one of the States
of our confederacy, " upon an equal footing with the original
States." The salubrity of climate, the fertility of soil, peculiarly
adapted to the production of some of our most valuable staple
commodities, and her commercial advantages, musb soon make
her one of our most populous States. "
New Mexico, though situated in the interior, and without a
sea-coast, is known to contain much fertile land, to abound in
rich mines of the precious metals, and to he capable of sustain-
ing a large population. From its position, it is the intermediate
and connecting territory between our settlements and our pos-
sessions in Texas and those on the Pacific Coast.
Upper California, irrespective of the vast mineral wealth
recently developed there, holds at this day, in point of value
and importance to the rest of the Union, the same relation that
Louisiana did when that fine territory was acquired from
France forty-five years ago. Extending nearly ten degrees of
latitude along the Pacific, and embracing the only safe and
commodious harbors on that coast for many hundred miles,
with a temperate climate, and an extensive interior of fertile
lands, it is scarcely possible to estimate its wealth until it shall
he brought under the government of our laws, and its resources
fully developed. From its position, it must command the rich
commerce of China, of Asia, of^the islands of the Pacific, of
Western Mexico, of Central America, the South American
' States, and of the Russian possessions bordering on that ocean.
A great emporium will doubtless speedily arise on the Californian
coast, which may he destined to rival in importance New Or-
leans itself. The depot of the vast commerce which must exist
on the Pacific will probably he at some point on the Bay of
San Francisco, and will occupy the same relation to the whole
western coast of that ocean as New Orleans does to the Valley
of the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. To this depot our
numerous whale-ships will resort with their cargoes, to trade,
refit, and obtain supplies. This of itself will largely contribute
to build up a city which would soon become the center of a
592
LIFE AND TIMES OF
great and rapidly increasing commerce. Situated on a safe
harbor, sufficiently capacious for all the navies as well as the
marine of the world, and convenient to excellent timber for
ship-building, owned by the United States, it must become our
great western naval depot.
It was known that mines of the precious metals existed to a
considerable extent in California at the time of its acquisition.
Becent discoveries render it probable that these mines are more
extensive and valuable than was anticipated. The accounts of
the abundance of gold in that territory are of such an extraor-
dinary character as would scarcely command belief were they
not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the pub-
lie service, who have visited the mineral district, and derived
the facts which they detail from personal observation. Reluc-
tant to credit the reports in general circulation as to the quan-
tity of gold, the officer commanding our forces in California
visited the mineral district in July last, for the purpose of ob-
taining accurate information on the subject. His report to the
War Department of the result of his examination, and the facts
obtained on the spot, is herewith laid before Congress. When
he visited the country there were about four thousand persons
engaged in collecting gold. There is every reason to believe
that the number of persons so employed has since been aug-
mented. The explorations already made warrant the belief
that the supply is very large, and that gold is found at various
places in an extensive district of country.
Information received from^ officers of the navy and other
sources, though not so full and minute, confirm the accounts
of the commander of our military force in California. It ap-
pears, also, from these reports, that mines of quicksilver are
found in the vicinity of the gold region. One of them is now
being worked, and is believed to be among the most productive
in the world.
The effects produced by the discovery of these rich mineral
deposits, and the success which has attended the labors of those
who have resorted to them, have produced a surprising change
in the state of affairs in California. Labor commands a most
exorbitant price, and all other pursuits but that of searching
for the precious metals, are abandoned. Nearly the whole of
JAMES KNOX POLK,
593
the male population of the country have gone to the gold dis-
tricts. Ships arriving on the coast are deserted by their crews,
and their voyages suspended for want of sailors. Our com-
mandiog officer there entertains apprehensions that soldiers can
not be kept in the public service without a large increase of
pay. Desertions in his command have become frequent, and he
recommends that those who shall withstand the strong tempta-
tion, and remain faithful, should be rewarded.
This abundance of gold, and the all-engrossing pursuit of
it, have already caused in California an unprecedented rise in
the price of all the necessaries of life.
That-we may the more speedily and fully avail ourselves
of the undeveloped wealth of these mines, it is deemed of vast
importance that a branch of the mint of the United States be
authorized to be established, at your present session, in Cali-
fornia. Among other signal advantages which would result
from such an establishment would be that of raising the gold
to its par value in that territory. A branch mint of the United
.States at the great commercial depot on the west coast would
convert into our own coin not only the gold derived from our
own rich mines, but also the bullion and specie which our com-
merce may bring from the whole west coast of Central and
South America. The west coast of America and the adjacent
interior embrace the richest and best mines in Mexico, New
Grenada, Central America, Chili, and Peru. The bullion and
specie drawn from these countries, and especially from those of
Western Mexico and Peru, to an amount in value of many mill-
ions of dollars, are now annually diverted and carried by the
ships of Great Britain to her own ports, to be recoined or used
to sustain her national bank, and thus contribute to increase her
ability to command so much of the commerce of the world. If
a branch mint be established at the great commercial point
upon that coast, a vast amount of bullion and specie would flow
thither to be recoined, and pass thence to New Orleans, New
York, and other Atlantic cities. The amount of our Constitu-
tional currency at home would be greatly increased, while its
circulation abroad would be promoted. It is well known to our
merchants trading to China and the west coast of America, that
great inconvenience and loss are experienced from the
38—K
594 LIFE AND TIMES OF
fact that our coins are not current at their par value in those
countries.
The powers of Europe far removed from the west coast of
America by the Atlantic Ocean which intervenes, and by a
tedious and dangerous navigation around the southern cape of
the continent of America, can never successfully compete with
the United States in the rich and extensive commerce which
is opened to us at so much less cost by the acquisition of
California.
The vast importance and commercial advantages of Cali-
fornia have heretofore remained undeveloped by the govern-
ment of the country of which it constituted a part. Now that
this fine province is a part of our country, all the States of the
Union, some more immediately and directly than others, are
deeply interested in the speedy development of its wealth and
resources. No section of our country is more interested, or
will be more benefited, than the commercial, navigating, and
manufacturing interests of the Eastern States. Our planting
and farming interests, in every part of the Union, will be
greatly benefited by it. As our commerce and navigation are
enlarged and extended, our exports of agricultural products
and of manufactures will be increased; and in the new markets
thus opened they can not fail to command remunerating and
profitable prices.
The acquisition of California and New Mexico, the settle-
ment of the Oregon boundary, and the annexation of Texas,
extending to the E,io Grande, are results which, combined, are
of greater consequence, and will add more to the strength and
wealth of the Nation, than any which have preceded them since
the adoption of the Constitution.
But to efiect these great results, not only California, but
New Mexico, must be brought under the control of regularly
organized governments. The existing condition of California,
and of that part of New Mexico lying west of the Kio Grande,
and without the limits of Texas, imperiously demand that Con-
gress should, at its present session, organize territorial govern-
ments over them.
Upon the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace
with Mexico, on the 30th of May last, the temporary
JAMES KNOX POLK.
595
governments which had been established over New Mexico and
California by our military and naval commanders, by virtue
of the rights of war, ceased to derive any obligatory force
from that source of authority; and having been ceded to the
United States, all government and control over them under
the authority of Mexico had ceased to exist. Impressed with
the necessity of establishing territorial governments over them,
I recommended the subject to the favorable consideration of
Congress in my message communicating the ratified treaty of
peace, on the 6th of July last, and invoked their action at that
session. Congress adjourned without making any provision for
their government. The inhabitants, by the transfer of their
country, had become entitled to the benefits of our laws and
Constitution, and yet were left without any regularly organized
government. Since that time, the very limited power pes-
sessed by the Executive has been exercised to preserve and
protect them from the inevitable consequences of a state of
anarchy. The only government which remained was that estab-
lished by the military authority during the war. Regarding
this to be a de facto government, and that by the presumed
consent of the inhabitants it might be continued temporarily,
they were advised to conform and submit to it for the short
intervening period before Congress would again assemble and
could legislate on the subject. The views entertained by the
Executive on this point are contained in a communication of
the Secretary of State, dated the 7th of October last, which
was forwarded for publication to California and New Mexico,
a copy of which is herewith transmitted.
The small military force of the regular army, which was
serving within the limits of the acquired territories at the close
of the war, was retained in them, and additional forces have
been ordered there for the protection of the inhabitants, and
to preserve and secure the rights and interests of the United
States.
No revenue has been or could be collected at the ports in
California, because Congress failed to authorize the establish-
ment of custom-houses, or the appointment of officers for that
purpose.
The Secretary of the Treasury, by a circular letter
596
LIFE AND TIMES OF
addressed to collectors of the customs, on the 7th day of Octo-
her last, a copy of which is herewith transmitted, exercised all
the power with which he was invested by law.
In pursuance of the act of the 14th of August last, ex-
tending the benefit of our post-ofllce laws to the people of
California, the Postmaster-General has appointed two agents,
who have proceeded, the one to California and the other to
Oregon, with authority to make the necessary arrangements
for carrying its provisions into effect.
The monthly line of mail-steamers from Panama to Astoria
has been required to " stop, and deliver and take mails, at
San Diego, Monterey, and San Francisco." These mail-
steamers, connected by the Isthmus of Panama with the line
of mail-steamers on the Atlantic between New York and
Chagres, will establish a regular mail communication with
California.
It is our solemn duty to provide, with the least practicable
delay, for New Mexico and California, regularly organized ter-
ritorial governments. The causes of the failure to do this at
the last session of Congress are well known, and deeply to be
regretted. With the opening prospects of increased prosperity
and national greatness which the acquisition of these rich and
extensive territorial possessions affords, how irrational it would
be to forego or to reject these advantages, by the agitation of
a domestic question which is coeval with the exist^ce of our
Government itself, and to endanger, by internal strifes, geo-
graphical divisions, and heated contests for political power,.or
for any other cause, the harmony of the glorious Union of our
confederated States; that Union which binds us together as one
people, and which for sixty years has been our shield and pro-
tection against every danger. In the eyes of the world, and of
posterity, how trivial and insignificant will be all our internal
divisions and struggles, compared with the preservation of this
Union of the States in all its vigor and with all its countless
blessings! No patriot would foment and excite geographical
and sectional divisions. No lover of his country would de-
liberately calculate the value of the Union. Future genera-
tions would look in amazement upon the folly of such a
course. Other nations at the present day would look upon it with
JAMES KNOX POLK
597
astonishment; and such of them as desire to maintain and
perpetuate thrones and monarchical or aristocratical principles,
will view it with exultation and delight, because in it they
will see the elements of faction, which they hope must ulti-
mately overturn our system. Ours is the great example of a
prosperous and free self-governed Republic, commanding the
admiration and the imitation of all the lovers of freedom
throughout the world. How solemn, therefore, is the duty;
how impressive the call upon us, and upon all parts of our
country to cultivate a patriotic spirit of harmony, of good
fellowship, of compromise and mutual concession, in the admin-
istration of the incomparable system of government formed by
our fathers in the midst of almost insuperable difficulties, and
transmitted to us, with the injunction that we should enjoy
its blessings and hand it down unimpaired to those who may
come after us!
In view of the high and responsible duties which we owe
to ourselves and to mankind, I trust you may be able, at your
present session, to approach the adjustment of the only
domestic question which seriously threatens, or probably ever
can threaten, to disturb the harmony and successful operations
of our system.
The immensely valuable possessions of New Mexico and
California are already inhabited by a considerable population.
Attracted by their great fertility, their mineral wealth, their
commercial advantages, and the salubrity of the climate, emi-
grants from the older States, in great numbers, are already
preparing to seek new homes in these inviting regions.
Shall the dissimilarity of the domestic institutions in the
different States prevent us from providing for them suitable
governments? These institutions existed at the adoption of
the Constitution; but the obstacles which they interposed were
overcome by that spirit of compromise which is now invoked.
In a conflict of opinions or of interests, real or imaginary, be-
tween different sections of our country, neither can justly
demand aU which it might desire to obtain. Each, in the true
spirit of our institutions, should concede something to the other.
Our gallant forces in the Mexican War, by whose patriotism
and unparalleled deeds of arms we obtained those possessions
598
LIFE AND TIMES OF
as an indemnity for our just demands against Mexico,
were composed of citizens who belonged to no one State or
section of our Union. They were men from slaveholding
and non-slaveholding States, from the north and the south,
from the east and the west. They were all companions-in-
arms, and fellow-citizens of the same common country, en-
gaged in the same common cause. When prosecuting that
war, they were brethren and friends, and shared alike
with each other common toils, dangers, and sufferings.
Now, when their work is ended, when peace is restored,
and they return again to their homes, put off the habili-
ments of war, take their places in society, and resume their
pursuits in civil life, surely a spirit of harmony and con-
cession, and of equal regard for the rights of all, and of all
sections of the Union, ought to prevail in providing govern-
ments for the acquired territories, the fruits of their common
service. The whole people of the United States, and of every
State, contributed to defray the expenses of that war; and it
would not be just for any one section to exclude another from
all participation in the acquired territory. This would not be
in consonance with the just system of Government which the
framers of the Constitution adopted.
The question is believed to be rather abstract than practi-
cal, whether slavery ever can or would exist in any portion of
the acquired territory, even if it were left to the option of
the slaveholding States themselves. From the nature of the
climate and productions, in much the larger portion of it, it is
certain it could never exist; and in the remainder, the probabilities
are it would not. But, however this may be, the question,
involving as it does a principle of equality of rights of the
separate and several States, as equal co-partners in the Con-
federacy, should not be disregarded.
In organizing governments over these territories, no duty
imposed on Congress by the Constitution, requires that they
should legislate on the subject of slavery, while their power
to do so is not only seriously questioned, but denied by many
of the soundest expounders of that instrument. Whether
Congress shall legislate or not, the people of the acquired ter-
ritories, when assembled in convention to form State constitu-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
599
tions, will possess the sole and exclusive power to determine
for themselves whether slavery shall or shall not exist within
their limits. If Congress shall abstain from interfering with
the question, the people of these territories will be left free to
adjust it as they may think proper, when they apply for admis-
sion as States into the Union. No enactment of Congress could
restrain the people of any of the sovereign States of the
Union, old or new, north or south, slaveholding or non-slave-
holding, from determining the character of their own domestic
institutions as they may deem wise and proper. Any and all
the States possess this right, and Congress can not deprive
them of it. The people of Georgia might, if they chose, so
alter their constitution as to abolish slavery within its limits;
and the people of Vermont might so alter their constitution as
to admit slavery within its limits. Both States would pos-
sess the right; though, as all know, it is not probable that
either would exert it.
It is fortunate for the peace and harmony of the Union
that this question is in its nature temporary; and can only con-
tinue for the brief period which will intervene before California
and New Mexico may be admitted as States into the Union.
From the tide of population now flowing into them, it is
highly probable that this will soon occur.
Considering the several States and the citizens of the sev-
eral States as equals, and entitled to equal rights under the
Constitution, if this were an original question, it might well be
insisted on that the principle of non-interference is the true
doctrine, and that Congress could not, in the absence of any
express grant of power, interfere with their relative rights.
Upon a great emergency, however, and under menacing dan-
gers to the Union, the Missouri Compromise line in respect to
slavery was adopted. The same line was extended further
west in the acquisition of Texas. After an acquiescence of
nearly thirty years in the principle of compromise recognized
and established by these acts, and to avoid the danger to the
Union which might follow if it were now disregarded, I have
heretofore expressed the opinion that that line of compromise
should be extended on the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty
minutes from the western boundary of Texas, where it now
600
LIFE AND TIMES OF
terminates, to the Pacific Ocean. This is the' middle ground
of compromise, upon which the different sections of the Union
may meet, as they have heretofore met. If this be done, it is
confidently believed a large majority of the people of every
section of the country, however widely their abstract opinions
on the subject of slavery may difier, would cheerfully and
patriotically acquiesce in it, and peace and harmony would
again fill our borders.
The restriction north of the line was only yielded, to in
the case of Missouri and Texas upon a f)rinciple of compro-
mise, made necessary for the sake of preserving the harmony,
and, possibly, the existence of the Union.
It was upon these considerations that, at the close of your
last session, I gave my sanction to the principle of the Mis-
souri Compromise line, by approving and signing the bill to
establish "the territorial government of Oregon." From a
sincere desire to preserve the harmony of the Union, and in
deference to the acts of my predecessbrs, I felt constrained to
yield my acquiescence to the extent to which they had gone
in compromising this delicate and dangerous question. But if
Congress shall now reverse the decision by which the Missouri
Compromise was efiected, and shall propose to extend the re-
striction over the whole territory, south as well as north of
the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, it will cease
to be a compromise, and must be* regarded as an original
question.
If Congress, instead of observing the course of non-inter-
ference, leaving the adoption of their own domestic institutions
to the people who may inhabit these territories; or if, instead
of extending the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific, shall
prefer to submit the legal and constitutional questions which
may arise to the decision of the judicial tribunals, as was pro-
posed in a bill which passed the Senate at your last session, an
adjustment may be effected in this mode. If the whole sub-
ject be referred to the judiciary, all parts of the Union should
cheerfully acquiesce in the final decision of the tribunal created by
the Constitution for the settlement of all questions which may
arise under the Constitution, treaties, and laws of the United
States.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
601
Congress is earnestly invoked, for the sake of the Union,
its harmony, and our continued prosperity as a Nation, to
adjust at its present session this, the only dangerous question
which lies in our path, if not in some one of the modes sug-
gested, in some other which may be satisfactory.
In anticipation of the establishment of regular governments
over the acquired territories, a joint Commission of officers of
the army and navy has been ordered to proceed tb the coast
of California and Oregon, for the purpose of making reconnois-
sances and a report as to the proper sites for the erection of
fortifications or other defensive works on land, and of suitable
situations for naval stations. The information which may be
expected from a scientific and skillful examination of the whole
face of the coast will be eminently useful to Congress, when
they come to consider the propriety of making appropriations
for these great national objects. Proper defenses on land will
be necessary for the security and protection of our possessions;
and the establishment of navy-yards, and a dock for the repair
and construction of vessels, will be important alike to our navy
and commercial marine. Without such establishments, every ,
vessel, whether of the navy or of the merchant service, re-
quiring repair, must, at great expense, come round Cape Horn
to one of our Atlantic yards for that purpose. With such
establishments, vessels, it is believed, may be built or repaired
as cheaply in California as upon the Atlantic coast. They
would give employment to may of our enterprising ship-
builders and mechanics, and greatly facilitate and enlarge our
commerce in the Pacific.
As it is ascertained that mines of gold, silyer, copper, and
quicksilver, exist in New Mexico and California, and that
nearly all the lands where they are found belong to the United
States, it is deemed important to the public interests that pro-
vision should be made for a geological and mineralogical ex-
amination of these regions. Measures should be adopted to
preserve the mineral lands, especially such as contain the pre-
cious metals, for the use of the United States; or, if brought
into market, to separate them from the farming lands, and
dispose of them in such manner as to secure a large return
of money to the Treasury, and at the same time lead to the
602
LIFE AND TIMES OF
development of their wealth by individual proprietors and
purchasers. To do this, it will be necessary to provide for an
immediate survey aud location of the lots. If Congress should
deem it proper to dispose of the mineral lands they should be
sold in small quantities, aud at a fixed minimum price.
I recommend that surveyor-generals' ofl&ces be authorized to
be established in New Mexico and California, and provision
made for surveying and bringing the public lands into market
at the earliest practicable period. In disposing of these lands,
I recommend that the right of pre-emption be secured, and
liberal grants made, to the early emigrants who have settled or
may settle upon them.
It will be important to extend our revenue laws over these
territories, and especially over California, at an early period.
There is already a considerable commerce with California; and
until ports of entry shall be established and collectors ap-
pointed, no revenue can be received.
If these and other necessary and proper measures be
adopted for the development of the wealth and resources of
New Mexico and California, and regular territorial govern-
ments be established over them, such will probably be the
rapid enlargement of our commerce and navigation, and such
the addition to the national wealth, that the present generation
may live to witness the controlling commercial and monetary
power of the world transferred frorp London and other Eu-
ropean emporiums to the city of New York.
The apprehensions which were entertained by some of our
statesmen, in the earlier periods of the Government, that our
system was incapable of operating with suflBcient energy and
success over largely extended territorial limits, and that if this
were attempted it would fall to pieces by its own weakness,
have been dissipated by our experience. By the division of
power between the States and Federal Government, the latter
is found to operate with aS much energy in the extremes as in
the center. It is as efficient in the remotest of the thirty
States which now compose the Union, as it was in the thirteen
States which formed our Constitution. Indeed, it may well be
doubted, whether, if our present population had been confined
within the limits of the original thirteen States, the tendencies
JAMES KNOX POLK.
603
to centralization and consolidation would not have been
such as to have encroached upon.the essential reserved rights
of the States, and thus to have made the Federal Government
a widely different one, practically, from what it is in theory,
and was intended to be by its framers. So far from entertain-
ing apprehensions of the safety of our system by the extension of
our territory, the belief is confidently entertained that each
new State gives strength and an additional guaranty for the
preservation of the Union itself.
In pursuance of the provisions of the thirteenth article of
the treaty of peace, friendship, limits, and settlement, with the
Republic of Mexico, and of the act of July 29, 1848, claims
of our citizens which had been "already liquidated and de-
cided against the Mexican Republic," amounting, with the
interest thereon, to two millions twenty-three thousand eight
hundred and thirty-two dollars and fifty-one cents, have been
liquidated and paid. There remain to be paid of these claims,
seventy-four thousand one hundred and ninety-two dollars and
twenty-six cents.
Congress at its last session having made no provision for
executing the fifteenth article of the treaty, by which the
United States assume to make satisfaction for the " unliqui-
dated claims" of our citizens against Mexico, to "an amount
not exceeding three and a quarter millions of dollars," the sub-
ject is again recommended to your favorable consideration.
The exchange of ratifications of the treaty with Mexico
took place on the 30th of May, 1848. Within one year after
that time, the commissioner and surveyor which each govern-
ment stipulates to appoint, are required to meet " at the port
of San Diego, and proceed to run and mark the said boundary
in its whole course to the mouth of the Rio Bravo del Norte."
It will be seen from this provision, that the period within
which a commissioner and surveyor of the respective govern-
ments are to meet at San Diego, will expire on the 30th of
May, 1849. Congress, at the close of its last session, made
an appropriation for " the expenses of running and marking
the boundary line " between the two countries, but did not fix
the amount of salary which should be paid to the commis-
sioner and surveyor to be appointed on the part of the United
604
LIFE AND TIMES OF
States. It is desirable that the amount of compensation which
they shall receive should he .prescribed by law, and not left,
as at present, to Executive discretion.
Measures were adopted at the earliest practicable period to
organize the " territorial government of Oregon," as authorized
by the act of the 14th of August last. The governor and
marshal of the territory, accompanied by a small military
escort, left the frontier of Missouri in September last, and took
the southern route, by the way of Santa Fe and the River
Gila, to California, with the intention of proceeding thence in
one of our vessels-of-war to their destination. The governor
was fully advised of the great importance of his early arrival
in the country, and it is confidently believed he may reach
Oregon in the latter part'of the present month, or early in
the next. The other ofllcers for the territory have proceeded
by sea.
In the month of May last, I communicated information to.
Congress that an Indian war had broken out in Oregon, and
recommended tbat authority be given to raise an adequate
number of volunteers to proceed without delay to the assistance
of our fellow-citizens in that territory. The authority to raise
such a force not having been granted by Congress, as soon as
tbeir services could be dispensed with in Mexico orders were
issued to the regiment of mounted riflemen to proceed to Jef-
ferson barracks, in Missouri, and to prepare to march to
Oregon as soon as the necessary provision could be made.
Shortly before it was ready to march, it was arrested by the
provision of the act passed by Congress on 'the last day of the
last session, which directed that all the non-commissioned offi-
cers, musicians, and privates of that regiment, who had been
in service in Mexico, should, upon their application, be enti-
tied to be discharged. The effect of this provision was to dis-
band the rank and file of the regiment; and before their
places could be filled by recruits, the season had so far ad-
vanced that it was impracticable for it to proceed until the
opening of the next spring.
In the month of October last, the accompanying communi-
cation was received from the governor of the temporary gov-
ernment of Oregon, giving information of the continuance of
JAMES KNOX POLK.
605
the lodian disturbances, and of the destitution and defenseless
condition of the inhabitants. Orders were immediately trans-
mitted to the commander of the squadron in the Pacific, to
dispatch to their assistance a part of the naval forces on that
station, to furnish them with arms and ammunition, and to
continue to give them such aid and protection as the navy
could afibrd, until the army could reach the country.
It is the policy of humanity, and one which has always
been pursued by the United States, to cultivate the good-will
of the aboriginal tribes of this continent, and to restrain them
from making war and indulging in excesses, by mild means,
rather than by force. That this could have been done
with the tribes in Oregon had that territory been brought
under the government of our laws at an earlier period, and
had suitable measures been adopted by Congress, such as now
exist in our intercourse with the other Indian tribes within our
limits, can not be doubted. Indeed, the immediate and only
cause of the existing hostility of the Indians of Oregon is
represented to have been, the long delay of the United States
in making to them some trifling compensation, in such articles
as they wanted, for the country now occupied by our emi-
grants, which the Indians claimed, and over which they for-
merly roamed. This compensation had been promised them by
the temporary government established in Oregon, but its ful-
fillment had been postponed from time to time, for nearly two
years, while those who made it had been anxiously waiting for
Congress to establish a territorial government over the country.
The Indians became at length distrustful of their good faith,
and sought redress by plunder and massacre, which finally led
to the present difficulties. A few thousand dollars in suitable
presents, as a compensation for the country which had been
taken possession of by our citizens, would have satisfied the
Indians, and have prevented the war. A small amount prop-
erly distributed, it is confidently believed, would soon restore
quiet. In this Indian war our fellow-citizens of Oregon have
been compelled to take the field in their own defense, have
performed valuable military services, and been subjected to
expenses which have fallen heavily upon them. Justice de-
mauds that provision should be made by Congress to compensate
606 LIFE AND TIMES OF
them for their services, and to refund to them the necessary
expenses which they have incurred.
I repeat the recommendation heretofore made to Congress,
that provision be made for the appointment of a suitable
number of Indian agents to reside among tlie tribes of Oregon,
and that a small sum be appropriated to enable these agents to
cultivate friendly relations with them. If this be done, tbe
presence of a small military force will be all that is necessary
to keep them in check, and preserve peace.
I recommend that similar provision be made as regards the
tribes inhabiting Northern Texas, New Mexico, California, and
the extensive region lying between our settlements in Missouri
and these possessions, as the most effective means of preserv-
ing peace upon our borders, and within the recently acquired
territories.
The Secretary of the Treasury will present, in his annual
report, a highly satisfactory statement of the condition of the
finances.
The imports for the fiscal year ending on the 30th of June
last, were of the value of one hundred and fifty-four millions
nine hundred and seventy-seven thousand eight hundred and
seventy-six dollars; of which the amount exported was twenty-
one millions one hundred and twenty-eight thousand and ten
dollars; leaving one hundred and thirty-three millions eight
hundred and forty-nine thousand eight hundred and sixty-six
dollars in the country, for domestic use.
The value of the exports for the same period was one hun-
dred and fifty-four millions thirty-two thousand one hundred
and thirty-one dollars; consisting of domestic productions
amounting to one hundred and thirty-two millions nine hundred
and four thousand one hundred and twenty-one dollars, and
twenty-one millions one hundred and twenty-eight thousand
and ten dollars of foreign articles.
The receipts into the Treasury for the same period, exclu-
sive of loans, amounted to thirty-five millions four hundred
and thirty-six thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars and
fifty-nine cents; of which there was derived from customs,
thirty-one millions seven hundred and fifty-seven thousand and
seventy dollars and ninety-six cents; from sales of public
JAMES KNOX POLK.
607
lands, three millions three hundred and twenty-eight thousand
six hundred and forty-two dollars and fifty-six cents; and from
miscellaneous and incidental sources, three hundred and fifty-
one thousand aud thirty-seven dollars and seven cents.
It will be perceived that the revenue from customs for the
last fiscal year exceeded, by seven hundred and fifty-seven
thousand and seventy dollars and ninety-six cents, the estimate
of the Secretary of the Treasury in his last annual report; and
that the aggregate receipts during the same period, from cus-
toms, lands, and miscellaneous sources, also exceeded the esti-
mate by the sum of five hundred and thirty-six thousand
seven hundred and fifty dollars and fifty-nine cents; indicat-
ing, however, a very near approach in the estimate to the
actual result.
The expenditures during the fiscal year ending on the 30th
of June last, including those for the war, and exclusive of
payments of original and interest for the public debt, were
forty-two millions eight hundred and eleven thousand nine
hundred and seventy dollars and three cents.
It is estimated that the receipts into the Treasury for the
fiscal year ending on the 80th of June, 1849, including the
balance in the Treasury on the 1st of July last, will amount
to the sum of fifty-seven millions forty-eight thousand nine
hundred and sixty-nine dollars and ninety cents; of which
thirty-two millions of dollars, it is estimated, will be derived
from customs; three millions of dollars from the sales of the
public lands; and one million two hundred thousand dollars
from miscellaneous and incidental sources, including the pre-
mium upon the loan, and the amount paid and to be paid
into the Treasury on account of military contributions in
Mexico, and the sales of arms and vessels and other public
property rendered unnecessary for the use of the Government
by the termination of the war; and twenty millions six hun-
dred and ninety-five thousand four hundred and thirty-five
dollars and thirty cents from loans already negotiated, in-
eluding treasury-notes funded, which, together with the bal-
ance in the. Treasury on the 1st of July last, make the sum
estimated.
The expenditures for the same period, including the necessary
608
LIFE AND TIMES OF
payment on account of the principal and interest of the
public debt,' and the principal and interek of the first install-
ment due to Mexico on the 30th of May next, and other ex-
penditures growing out of the war, to be paid during the
present year, will amount, including the reimbursement of
treasury-notes, to the sum of fifty-four millions one hundred
and ninety-five thousand two hundred and seventy-five dollars
and six cents; leaving an estimated balance in the Treasury
on the 1st of July, 1849, of two millions eight hundred and
fifty-three thousand six hundred and ninety-four dollars and
eighty-four cents.
The Secretary of the Treasury will present, as required by
law, the estimates of the receipts and expenditures for the next
fiscal year. The expenditures as estimated for that year are
thirty-three millions two hundred and thirteen thousand one
hundred and fifty-two dollars and seventy-three cents, includ-
ing three millions seven hundred and ninety-nine thousand one
hundred and two dollars and eighteen cents for the interest on
the public debt, and three millions five hundred and forty
thousand dollars for the principal and interest due to ' Mexico
on the 30th of May, 1850; leaving the sum of twenty-five
millions eight hundred and seventy-four thousand- and fifty
dollars and thirty-five cents; which, it is believed, will be
ample for the ordinary peace expenditures.
The operations of the tariff act of 1846 have been such
during the past year as fully to meet the public expectation,
and to confirm the opinion heretofore expressed of the wisdom
of the change in our revenue system which was effected by it.
The receipts under it into the Treasury for the first fiscal year
after its enactment exceeded by the sum of five millions forty-
four thousand four hundred and three dollars and nine cents,
the amount collected during the last fiscal year under the tariff
act of 1842, ending the 30th of June, 1846. The total reve-
nue realized from the commencement of its operation, on the
1st of December, 1846, until the close of the last quarter, on
the 30th of September last, being twenty-two months, was
fifty-six millions six hundred and fifty-four thousand five bun-
dred and sixty-three dollars and seventy-nine cents, being a
much larger sum than was ever before received from duties
JAMES KNOX POLK.
609
during any equal period under the tariff acts of 1824, 1828,
1832, and 1842. While by the repeal of highly protective
and prohibitory duties the revenue has been increased, the
taxes on the people have been diminished. They have been
relieved from the heavy amounts with which they were bur-
dened under former laws in the form of increased prices or
bounties paid to favored classes and pursuits.
The predictions which were made, that the tariff act of
1846 would reduce the amount of revenue below that collected
under the act of 1842, and would prostrate the business and
destroy the prosperity of the country, have not been verified.
With an increased and increasing revenue, the finances are in
a highly flourishing condition. Agriculture, commerce, and
navigation are prosperous; the prices of manufactured fabrics,
and of other products, are much less injuriously affected than
was to have been anticipated, from the unprecedented revul-
sions, which, during the last and the present year, have over-
whelmed the industry and paralyzed the credit and commerce
of so many great and enlightened nations of Europe.
Severe commercial revulsions abroad have always heretofore
operated to depress, and often to affect disastrously, almost
every branch of American industry. The temporary depres-
sion of a portion of our manufacturing interests is the effect
of foreign causes, and is far less severe than has prevailed on
all former similar occasions.
It is believed that, looking to the great aggregate of all
our interests, the whole country was never more prosperous
than at the present period, and never more rapidly advancing
in wealth and population. Neither the foreign war in which
we have been involved, nor the loans which have absorbed so
large a portion of our capital, nor the commercial revulsion
in Great Britain in 1847, nor the paralysis of credit and com-
merce throughout Europe in 1848, has affected injuriously to
any considerable extent any of the great interests of the
country, or arrested our onward march to greatness, wealth,
and power.
Had the disturbances in Europe not occurred, our commerce
would undoubtedly have been still more extended, and would
have added still more to the national wealth and public
39-K
610
LIFE AND TIMES OF
prosperity. But notwithstanding these disturbances, the opera-
tions of the revenue system established by the tariff act of 1846,
have been so generally beneficial to the Government and the
business of the country, that no change in its provisions is de-
manded by a wise public policy, and none is recommended.
The operations of the Constitutional Treasury, established
by the act of the 6th of August, 1846, in the receipt, custody,
and disbursement of the public money, have continued to be
successful. Under this system the public finances have been
carried through a foreign war, involving the necessity of loans
and extraordinary expenditures, and requiring distant transfers
and disbursements, without embarrassment, and no loss has oc-
curred of any of the public money deposited under its pro-
visions. While it has proved to be safe and useful to the Gov-
ernment, its effects have been most beneficial upon the business
of the country. It has tended powerfully to secure an exemp-
tion from that inflation and fluctuation of the paper currency,
so injurious to domestic industry, and rendering so uncertain the
rewards of labor, and it is believed has largely contributed to
preserve the whole country from a serious commercial revulsion,
such as often occurred under the bank deposit system. In the
year 1847, there was a revulsion in the business of Great Britain
of great extent and intensity, which was followed by failures in
that kingdom unprecedented in number and amount of losses.
This is believed to be the first instance when such disastrous
bankruptcies, occurring ,in a country with which we have such
extensive commerce, produced little or no injurious effect upon
our trade or currency. We remained but little affected in our
money market, and our business and industry were still prosper-
ous and progressive.
During the present year, nearly the whole continent of
Europe has been convulsed by civil war and revolutions, at-
tended by numerous bankruptcies, by an unprecedented fall in
their public securities, and an almost universal paralysis of com-
merce and industry; and yet, although our trade and the price
of our products must have been somewhat unfavorably affected
by these causes, we have escaped a revulsion, our money market
is comparatively easy, and public and private credit have ad-
vanced and improved.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
611
It is confidently believed that we have been saved from their
efiect by the salutary operation of the Constitutional Treasury.
It is certain, that if the twenty-four millions of specie imported
into the country during the fiscal year ending on the 30th of
June, 1847, had gone into the banks, as to a great extent it
must have done, it would, in the absence of this system, have
been made the basis of augmented bank paper issues, probably
to an amount not less than sixty or seventy millions of dollars,
producing, as an inevitable consequence of an inflated currency,
extravagant prices for a time, and wild speculation, which must
have been followed, on the reflux to Europe, the succeeding
year, of so much of that specie, by the prostration of the busi-
ness of the country, the suspension of the banks, and most ex-
tensive bankruptcies. Occurring, as this would have done, at a
period when the country was engaged in a foreign war; when
considerable loans of specie were required for distant disburse-
ments; and when the banks, the fiscal agents of the Govern-
ment, and the depositories of its money, were suspended—the
public credit must have sunk, and many millions of dollars, as
was the case during the war of 1812, must have been sacrificed
in discounts upon loans, and upon the depreciated paper cur-
rency which the Government would have been compelled
to use.
Under the operations of the Constitutional Treasury, not a
dollar has been lost by the depreciation of the currency. The
loans required to prosecute the war with Mexico were negotiated
by the Secretary of the Treasury above par, realizing a large
premium to the Government, The restraining eflect of the
system upon the tendencies to excessive paper issues by banks
has saved the Government from heavy losses, and thousands of
our business men from bankruptcy and ruin. The wisdom of
the system has been tested by the experience of the last two
years, and it is the dictate of sound policy that it should remain
undisturbed. The modifications in some of the details of this
measure, involving none of its essential principles, heretofore
recommended, are again presented for your favorable con-
sideration.
In my message of the 6th of July last, transmitting to Con-
gress the ratified treaty of peace with Mexico, I recommended
612
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the adoption of measures for the speedy payment of the public
debt. In reiterating that recommendation, I refer you to the
considerations presented in that message in its support. The
public debt, including that authorized to be negotiated, in pur-
suance of existinglaws, and including Treasury-notes, amounted
at that time to sixty-five millions seven hundred and seventy-
eight thousand four hundred and fifty dollars and forty-one
cents.
Funded stock of the United States, amounting to about half
a million of dollars, has been purchased, as authorized by law,
since that period, and the public debt has thus been reduced;
the details of which will be presented in the annual report of
the Secretary of the Treasury.
The estimates of expenditures for the next fiscal year, sub-
mitted by the Secretary of the Treasury, it is believed will be
ample for all necessary purposes. If the appropriations made
by Congress shall not exceed the amount estimated, the means
in the Treasury will be sufficient to defray all the expenses of
the Government; to pay off the next installment of three mill-
ions of dollars to Mexico, which will fall due on the 30th of
May next; and still a considerable surplus will remain, which
should be applied to the further purchase of the public stock
and reduction of the debt. Should enlarged appropriations be
made, the necessary consequence will be to postpone the payment
of the debt. Though our debt, as compared with that of most
other nations, is small, it is our true policy, and in harmony
with the genius of our institutions, that we should present to the
world the rare spectacle of a great republic, possessing vast re-
sources and wealth, wholly exempt from public indebtedness.
This would add still more to our strength, and give to us a still
more commanding position among the nations of the earth.
The public expenditures should be economical, and be con-
fined to such necessary objects as are clearly within the powers
of Congress. All such as are not absolutely demanded should
be postponed, and the payment of the public debt, at the earliest
practicable period, should be a cardinal principle of our public
policy.
For the reason assigned in my last annual message, I repeat
the recommendation that a branch of the mint of the United
JAMES KNOX POLK.
613
States be established at the city of New York. The importance
of this measure is greatly increased by the acquisition of the
rich mines of the precious metals in New Mexico and California,
and especially in the latter.
I repeat the recommendation, heretofore made, in favor of
the graduation and reduction of the price of such of the public
lands as have been long offered in the market and have re-
mained unsold, and in favor of extending the rights of pre-
emption to actual settlers on the unsurveyed as well the sur-
veyed lauds.
The condition and operations of the army, and the state of
other branches of the public service under the supervision of
the War Department, are satisfactorily presented in the accom-
panying report of the Secretary of War.
On the return of peace, our forces were withdrawn from
Mexico, and the volunteers and that portion of, the regular
army engaged for the war were disbanded. Orders have been
issued for stationing the forces of our permanent establishment
at various positions in our extended country, where troops may
be required. Owing to the remoteness of some of these posi-
tions, the detachments have not yet reached their destination.
Notwithstanding the extension of the limits of our country, and
the forces required in the new territories, it is confidently be-
lieved that our present military establishment is sufficient for
all exigencies, so long as our peaceful relations remain un-
disturbed.
Of the amount of military contrihntions collected in Mexico,
the sum of seven hundred and sixty-nine thousand six hundred
and fifty dollars was applied toward the payment of the first
installment due under the treaty with Mexico. The further
sum of three hundred and forty-six thousand three hundred and
sixty-nine dollars and thirty cents has been paid into the Treas-
ury, and unexpended balances still remain in the hands of dis-
bursing officers and those who were engaged in the collection of
these moneys. After the proclamation of peace, no further dis-
bursements were made of any unexpended moneys arising from
this source. The balances on hand were directed to be paid
into the Treasury, and individual claims on the fund will re-
main unadjusted until Congress shall authorize their settlement
614
LIFE AND TIMES OF
and payment. These claims are not considerable in number or
amount.
I recommend to your favorable consideration the suggestions
of the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy in re-
gard to legislation on this subject.
Our Indian relations are presented in a most favorable view
in the report from the War Department. The wisdom of our
policy in regard to the tribes within our limits, is clearly mani-
fested by their improved and rapidly improving condition.
A most important treaty with the Menomonies has been
recently negotiated by the Commissioner of Indian, Affairs in
person, by which all their land in the State of Wisconsin—be-
ing about four millions of acres—has been' ceded to the United
States. This treaty will be submitted to the Senate for ratifica-
tiou at an early period of your present session.
Within the last four years, eight important' treaties have
been negotiated with different Indian tribes, and at a cost of one
million eight hundred* and forty-two thousand dollars; Indian
lands to the amount of more than eighteen million five hundred
thousand acres, have been ceded to the United States; and pro-
vision has been made for settling in the country west of the
Mississippi the tribes which occupied this large extent of the
public domain. The title to all the Indian lands within the
several States of our Union, with the exception of a few small
reservations, is now extinguished, and a vast region opened for
settlement and cultivation.
The accompanying report of the Secretary of the Navy gives
a satisfactory exhibit of the operations and condition of that
branch of the public service.
A number of small vessels suitable for entering the mouths
of rivers were judiciously purchased during the war, and gave
great efficiency to the squadron in the Gulf of Mexico. On
the return of peace, when no longer valuable for naval pur-
poses, and liable to constant deterioration, they were sold, and
the money placed in the Treasury.
The number of men in the naval service, authorized by law,
during the war, has been reduced by discharges below the
maximum fixed for the peace establishment. Adequate squad-
pons are maintained in the several quarters of the globe where
JAMES KNOX POLK.
615
experience has shown their services may be most usefully em-
ployed; and the naval service was never in a condition of higher
discipline or greater efficiency.
I invite attention to the recommendation of the Secretary
of the Navy on the subject of the marine corps. The reduction
of the corps at the end of the war required that four officers of
each of the three lower grades should be dropped from the rolls.
A board of officers made the selection; and those designated
were necessarily dismissed, but without any alleged fault. I
concur in opinion with the Secretary, that the service would be
improved by reducing the number of landsmen, and increasing
the marines. Such a measure would justify an increase of the
number of officers to the extent of the reduction by dismissal,
and still the corps would have fewer officers than a correspond-
ing number of men in the army.
The contracts for the transportation of the mail in steam-
ships, convertible into war-steamers, promise to realize all the
benefits to our commerce and to the navy which were anticipated.
The first steamer thus secured to the Government was launched
in January, 1847. There are now seven ; and in another year
there will, probably, be not less than seventeen afloat. While
this great national advantage is secured, our social and com-
mercial intercourse is increased and promoted with Germany,
Great Britain, and other parts of Europe, with all the countries
on the west coast of our continent, especially with Oregon and
California, and between the northern and southern sections of
the United States. Considerable revenue may be expected from
postages; but the connected line from New York to Chagres,
and thence across the isthmus to Oregon, can not fail to exert a
beneficial influence, not now to be estimated, on the interests of
the manufactures, commerce, navigation, and currency of the
United States. As an important part of the system, I recom-
mend to your favorable consideration the establishment of the
proposed line of steamers between New Orleans and Vera Cruz.
It promises the most happy results in cementing friendship be-
tween the two republics, and extending reciprocal benefits to
the trade and manufactures of both.
The report of the Postmaster-General will make known to
you the operations of that Department for the past year.
616
LIFE AND TIMES OF
It is gratifying to find the revenues of the Department,
under the rates of postage now established by law, so rapidly
increasing. The gross amount of postage during the last fiscal
year amounted to four millions three hundred and seventy-one
thousand and seventy-seven dollars, exceeding the annual aver-
age received for the nine years immediately preceding the pas-
sage of the act of the 3d of March, 1845, by the sum of six
thousand four hundred and fifty-three dollars, and exceeding the
amount received for the year ending the 80th of June, 1847, by
the sum of four hundred and twenty-five thousand one hundred
and eighty-four dollars.
The expenditures for the year, excluding the sum of ninety-
four thousand six hundred and seventy-two dollars, allowed by
Congress at its last session to individual claimants, and includ-
ing the sum of one hundred thousand five hundred dollars,
paid for the services of the line of steamers between Bremen
and New York, amounted to four millions one hundred and
ninety-eight thousand eight hundred and forty-five dollars,
which is less than the annual average for the nine years pre-
vious to the act of 1845, by three hundred thousand seven
hundred and forty-eight dollars.
The mail-routes on the 30th day of June last, were one
hundred and sixty-three tho.usand two hundred and eight miles
in extent, being an increase during the last year of nine
thousand three hundred and ninety miles. The mails were
transported over them, during the same time, forty-one mill-
ions twelve thousand five hundred and seventy-nine miles;
making an increase of transportation for the year of two mill-
ions one hundred and twenty-four thousand six hundred and
eighty miles, while the expense was less than that of the pre-
vious year by four thousand two hundred and thirty-five
dollars.
The increase in the mail transportation within the last
three years, has been five millions three hundred and seventy-
eight thousand three hundred and ten miles, while the ex-
penses were reduced four hundred and fifty-six thousand seven
hundred and thirty<-eight dollars, making an increase of service
at the rate of fifteen per cent, and a reduction in the expenses
of more than fifteen per cent.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
617
During the past year there have been employed, under con-
tracts with the Post-office Department, two ocean-steamers in
conveying the mails monthly between New York and Bremen,
and one, since October last, peforming semi-monthly service
between Charleston and Havana; and a contract has been
made for the transportation of the Pacific mails across the
isthmus from Chagres to Panama.
Under the authority given to the Secretary of the Navy,
three ocean-steamers have been constructed and sent to the
Pacific, and are expected to enter upon the mail service
between Panama and Oregon, and the intermediate ports,
on the 1st of January next, and a fourth has been engaged
by him for the service between Havana and Chagres; so that
a regular monthly mail line will be kept up after that time
between the United States and our territories on the Pacific.
Notwithstanding this great increase in the mail service,
should the revenue continue to increase the present year as it
did in the last, there will be received near four hundred and
fifty thousand dollars more than the expenditures.
These considerations have satisfied the Postmaster-General
that, with certain modifications of the act of 1845, the reve-
nue may be still further increased, and a reduction of postage
made to a uniform rate of five cents, without an interference
with the principle, which has been constantly and properly
enforced, of making that department sustain itself.
A well-digested cheap postage system is the best means of
diflTusing intelligence among the people, and is of so much im-
portance in a country so extensive as that of the United
States, that I recommend to your favorable consideration' the
suggestions of the Postmaster-General for its improvement.
Nothing can retard the onward progress of our country,
and prevent us from assuming and maintaining the first rank
among nations, but a disregard of the experience of the past,
and a recurrence to an unwise public policy. We have just
closed a foreign war by an honorable peace, a war rendered
necessary and unavoidable in the vindication of the national
rights and honor.- The present condition of the country is
similar in some respects to that which existed immediately
after the close of the war with Great Britain in 1815, and the
618
LIFE AND TIMES OF
occasion is deemed to be a proper one to take a retrospect of
the measures of public policy which followed that war. There
was at that period of our history a departure from our earlier
policy. The enlargement of the powers of the Federal Gov-
emment by construction, which obtained, was not warranted
by any just interpretation of the Constitution. A few years
after the close of that war, a series of measures was adopted
which, united and combined, constituted what was termed by
their authors and advocates the "American system."
The introduction of the new policy was for a time favored
by the condition of the country; by the heavy debt which
had been contracted during the war; by the depression of the
public credit; by the deranged state of the finances and the
currency; and by the commercial and pecuniary embarrassment
which extensively prevailed. These were not the only causes
which led to its establishment. The events of the war with
Great Britain, and the embarrassments which had attended its
prosecution, had left on the minds of many of our statesmen
the impression that our Government was not strong enough,
and that, to wield its resources successfully in great emergen-
cies, and especially in war, more power should be concentrated
in its hands. This increased power they did not seek to obtain
by the legitimate and prescribed mode, an amendment of the
Constitution, but by construction. They saw governments in
the Old World based upon different orders of society, and so
constituted as to throw the whole power of nations into the
hands of a few, who taxed and controlled the many without
responsibility or restraint. In that arrangement they conceived
the strength of nations in war consisted. There was also
something fascinating in the ease, luxury, and display, of the
higher orders, who drew their wealth from the toil of the
laboring millions. The authors of the system drew their ideas
of political economy from what they had witnessed in Europe,
and particularly in Great Britain. They had viewed the
enormous wealth concentrated in few hands, and had seen the
splendor of the overgrown establishments of an aristocracy
which was upheld by the restrictive policy. They forgot to
look down upon the poorer classes of the English population,
upon whose daily and yearly labor the great establishments
JAMES KNOX POLK.
619
tbey so much admired were sustained and supported. They
failed to perceive that the scantily fed and half-clad operatives
were not only in abject poverty, but were bound in chains of
oppressive servitude for the benefit of favored classes, who
were the exclusive objects of the care of the government.
It was not possible to reconstruct society in the United
States upon the European plan. Here there was a written
Constitution, by which orders and titles were not recognized or
tolerated. A system of measures was therefore devised, calcu-
lated, if not intended, to withdraw power gradually and
silently from the States and the mass of the people, and by
construction to approximate our Government to the European
models, substituting an aristocracy of wealth for that of orders
and titles.
Without reflecting upon the dissimilarity of our institu-
tions, and of the condition of our people and those of Europe,
they conceived the vain idea of building up in the United
States a system similar to that which they admired abroad.
Great Britain had a national bank of large capital, in whose
hands was concentrated the controlling monetary and financial
power of the nation; an institution wielding almost kingly
power, and exercising vast influence upon all the operations of
trade, and upon the policy of the government itself. Great
Britain had an enormous public debt, and it had become a part of
her public policy to regard this as a " public blessing." Great
Britain had also a restrictive policy which placed fetters and bur-
dens on trade, and trammeled the productive industry of the mass
of the nation. By her combined system of policy, the landlords
and other property-holders were protected and enriched by the
enormous taxes which were levied upon the labor of the
country for their advantage.
Imitating this foreign policy, the first step in establishing
the new system in the United States was the creation of a
National Bank. Not foreseeing the dangerous power and count-
less evils which such an institution might entail on the country,
nor perceiving the connection which it was designed to form
between the bank and the other branches of the miscalled
"American system," but feeling the embarrassments of the
Treasury, and of the business of the country, consequent upon
620
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the war, some of our statesmen who had held different and
sounder views were induced to yield their scruples, and, indeed,
settled convictions of its unconstitutionality, and to give it
their sanction, as an expedient which they vainly hoped might
produce relief. It was a most unfortunate error, as the subse-
quent history and final catastrophe of that dangerous and cor-
rupt institution have abundantly proved. The bank, with its
numerous branches ramified into the States, soon brought many
of the active political and commercial men in different sections
of the country into the relation of debtors to it, and dependents
upon it for pecuniary favors; thus diffusing throughout the
mass of society a great number of individuals of power and in-
fluence to give tone to public opinion, and to act in concert in
cases of emergency. The corrupt power of such a political en-
gine is no longer a matter of speculation, having been displayed
in numerous instances, but most signally in the political struggles
of 1832-33-34, in opposition to the public will represented by
a fearless and patriotic President.
But the bank was but one branch of the new system. A
public debt of more than one hundred and twenty millions of
dollars existed; and it is not to be disguised that many of the
authors of the new system did not regard its speedy payment
as essential to the public prosperity, but looked upon its con-
tinuance as no national evil. While the debt existed, it fur-
nished aliment to the National Bank, and rendered increased
taxation necessary to the amount of the interest, exceeding seven
millions of dollars annually.
This operated in harmony with the next branch of the new
system, which was a high protective tariff. This was to afford
bounties to favored classes and particular pursuits, at the ex-
pense of all others. A proposition to tax the whole people for
the purpose of enriching a few, was too monstrous to be openly
made. The scheme was, therefore, veiled under the plausible
but delusive pretext of a measure to protect " home industry
and many of our people were, for a time, led to believe that a
tax, which in the main fell upon labor, was for the benefit of
the laborer who paid it. • This branch of the system involved a
partnership between the Government and the favored classes—
the former receiving the proceeds of the tax imposed on articles
JAMES KNOX POLK.
621
imported, and the latter the increased price of similar articles
produced at home, caused hy such tax. It is obvious that the
portion to be received by the favored classes would, as a gen-
eral rule, be increased in proportion to the increase of the rates
of tax imposed, and diminished as those rates were reduced to
the revenue standard required by the wants of the Government.
The rates required to produce a sufficient revenue for the or-
dinary expenditures of Government, for necessary purposes,
were not likely to give to the private partners in this scheme
profits sufficient to satisfy their cupidity ; and hence a variety
of expedients and pretexts were resorted to for the purpose of
enlarging the expenditures, and thereby creating a necessity
for keeping up a high protective tariff. The effect of this policy
was to interpose artificial restrictions upon the natural course of
the business and trade of the country, and to advance the in-
terests of large capitalists and monopolists, at the expense of
the great mass of the people, who were taxed to increase their
wealth.
Another branch of this system was a comprehensive scheme
of internal improvements, capable of indefinite enlargement,
and sufficient to swallow up as many millions annually as could
be exacted from the foreign commerce of the country. This
was a convenient and necessary adjunct of the protective tariff.
It was to be the great absorbent of any surplus which might at
any time accumulate in the Treasury, and of the taxes levied
on the people, not for necessary revenue purposes, but for the
avowed object of affording protection to the favored classes.
Auxiliary to the same end, if it was not an essential part of
the system itself, was the scheme, which at a later period oh-
tained, for distributing the proceeds of the sales of the public
lands among the States. Other expedients were devised to take
money out of the Treasury, and prevent its coming in from any
other source than the protective tariff. The authors and sup-
porters of the system were the advocates of the largest expen-
ditures, whether for necessary or useful purposes or not, because
the larger the expenditures, the greater was the pretext for
high taxes in the form of protective duties.
These several measures were sustained by popular names
and plausible arguments, by which thousands were deluded.
622
LIFE AND TIMES OF
The bank was represented to be an indispensable fiscal agent
for the Government; was to equalize exchanges, and to regulate
and furnish a sound currency, always and everywhere of uni-
form value. The protective tariff was to give employment to
"American labor" at advanced prices; was to protect "home
industry," and furnish a steady market for the farmer. Inter-
nal improvements were to bring trade into every neigiiborhood,
and enhance the value of every man's property. The distribu-
tion of the land money was to enrich the States, finish their
public works, plant schools throughout their borders, and relieve
them from taxation. But the fact that, for every dollar taken
out of the Treasury for these objects, a much larger sum was
transferrM from the pockets of the people to the favored classes,
was carefully concealed, as was also the tendency if not the
ultimate design of the system to build up an aristocracy of
wealth, to control the masses of society, and monopolize the
political power of the country.
The several branches of this system were so intimately
blended together, that, in their operation, each sustained and
strengthened the others. Their joint operation was, to add new
burdens of taxation and to encourage a largely increased and
wasteful expenditure of public money. It was the interest of
the bank that the revenue collected and the disbursements made
by the Government should be large, because, being the deposi-
tory of the public money, the larger the amount, the greater
would be the bank profits by its use. It was the interest of
the favored classes, who were enriched by the protective tariff,
to have the rates of that protection as high as possible; for the
higher those rates, the greater would be their advantage. It
was the interest of the people of all those sections and localities
who expected to be benefited by expenditures for internal im-
provements, that the amount collected should be as large as
possible, to the end that the sum disbursed might also be the
larger. The States being the beneficiaries in the distribution
of the land money, had an interest in having the rates of tax
imposed by the protective tarifi" large enough to yield a suffi-
cient revenue from that source to meet the wants of the Gov-
ernment, without disturbing or taking from them the land fund ;
so that each of the branches constituting the system had a com-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
623
mon interest in swelling the public expenditures. They had a
direct interest in maintaining the public debt unpaid, and in-
creasing its amount, because this would produce an annual
increased drain upon the Treasury, to the amount of tlje inter-
est, and render augmented taxes necessary. The operation and
necessary effect of the whole system were to encourage large
and extravagant expenditures, and thereby to increase the pub-
lie patronage, and maintain a rich and splendid Government at
the expense of a taxed and impoverished people.
It is manifest that this scheme of enlarged taxation and
expenditures had it continued to prevail, must soon have con-
verted the Government of the Union, intended by its framers
to be a plain, cheap, and simple confederation of States,
united together for common protection, and charged with a
few specific duties, relating chiefly to our foreign affairs, into
a consolidated empire, depriving the States of their reserved
rights, and the people of their just power and control in the
administration of their government. In this manner the whole
form and character of the Government would be changed, not
by an amendment of the Constitution, but by resorting to an
unwarrantable and unauthorized construction of that instrument.
The indirect mode of levying the taxes by a duty on im-
ports prevents tbe mass of the people from readily perceiving
the amount they pay, and has enabled the few who are thus
enriched, and who seek to wield the political power of the
country, to deceive and delude them. Were the taxes col-
lected by a direct levy upon the people, as is the case in the
States, this could not occur.
The whole system was resisted from its inception by many
of our ablest statesmen, some of whom doubted its Constitu-
tionality and its expediency, while others believed it was, in
all its branches, a flagrant and dangerous infraction of the
Constitution.
That a National Bank, a protective tariff", levied not to raise
tbe revenue needed, but for protection merely, internal im-
provements, and the distribution of the proceeds of the sales
of the public lands, are measures without the warrant of the
Constitution, would, upon the maturest consideration, seem to
be clear. It is remarkable that no one of these measures,
624
LIFE AND TIMES OF
involving such momentous consequences, is authorized by any
express grant of power in the Constitution, No one of them
is " incident to, as being necessary and proper for the execu-
tion of .the specific powers" granted by the Constitution. The
authority under which it has been attempted to justify each
of them is derived from inferences and constructions of the
Constitution which its letter and its whole object and design do
not warrant. Is it to be conceived that such immense powers
would have been left by the framers of the Constitution to
mere inferences and doubtful constructions? Had it been in-
tended to confer them on the Federal Government, it is but
reasonable to conclude that it would have been done by plain
and unequivocal grants. This was not done; but the whole
structure of which the "American system" consisted was
reared on no other or better foundation than forced implica-
tions and inferences of power, which its authors assumed might
be deduced by construction from the Constitution.
But it has been urged that the National Bank, which con-
stituted so essential a branch of this combined system of
measures, was not a new measure, and that its Constitutionality
had been previously sanctioned, because a bank had been
chartered in 1791, and had received the ofiScial signature of
President Washington. A few facts will show the just weight
to which this precedent should be entitled, as bearing upon
the question of Constitutionality.
Great division of opinion upon the subject existed in Con-
gress. It is well known that President Washington entertained
serious doubts both as to the Constitutionality and expediency
of the measure; and while the bill was before him for his ofiS-
cial approval or disapproval, so great were these doubts, that
he required "the opinion in writing" of the members of his
Cabinet to aid him in arriving at a decision. His Cabinet
gave their opinions, and were divided upon the subject. Gen-
eral Hamilton being in favor of, and Mr. Jefferson and Mr.
Bandolph being opposed to, the Constitutionality and expedi-
ency of the bank. It is well known, also, that President
Washington retained the bill from Monday, the 14th, when it
was presented to him, until Friday, the 25th day of February,
being the last moment permitted him by the Constitution to
JAMES KNOX POLK.
625
deliberate, when he finally yielded to it his reluctant assent, and
gave it his signature. It is certain that, as late as the 23d of
February, being the ninth day after the bill was presented to
him, he had arrived at no satisfactory conclusion; for on that
day he addressed a note to General Hamilton, in which he in-
forms him that •" this bill was presented to me by the joint
committee of Congress at twelve o'clock on Monday, the 14th
instantand he requested his opinion " to what precise period,
by legal interpretation of the Constitution, can the President
retain it in his possession, before it becomes a law by the lapse
of ten days." If the proper construction was, that the day
on which the bill was presented to the President, and the day
on which his action was had upon it| were both to be counted
inclusive, then the time allowed him, within which it would be
competent for him to return it to the House in which it
originated, with his objections, Avould expire on Thursday, the
24th of February. General Hamilton on the same day re-
turned an answer, in which he states: "I give it as my
opinion that you have ten days exclusive of that on which the
bill was delivered to you, and Sundays; hence, in the present
case, if it is returned on Friday, it will be in time." By this
construction, which the President adopted, he gained another
day for deliberation, and it was not until the 25th of February
that he signed the bill; thus affording conclusive proof that
he had at last obtained his own consent to sign it, not without
great and almost insuperable difficulty. Additional light has
been recently shed upon the serious-doubts which he had upon
the subject, amounting at one time to a conviction that it was
his duty to withhold his approval from the bill. This is found
among the manuscript papers of Mr. Madison, authorized to
be purchased for the use of the Government, by an act of the
last session of Congress, and now for the first time accessible
to the public. From these papers, it appears that President
Washington, while he yet held the bank bill in his hands,
actually requested Mr. Madison, at that time a member of the
House of Representatives, to prepare the draught of a veto
message for him. Mr. Madison, at his request, did prepare
the draught of such a message, and sent it to him on the 21st
of February, 1791. A copy of this original draught, in Mr.
40—K
626
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Madison's own handwriting, was carefully preserved by him,
and is among the papers lately purchased by Congress. It is
preceded by a note, written on the same sheet, which is also in
Mr. Madison's handwriting, and is as follows:—
" February 21, 1791. Copy of a paper made out and sent
to the President, at his request, to be ready, in case his judg-
ment should finally decide against the bill for incorporating a
national bank, the bill being then before him."
. Among the objections assigned in this paper to the bill, and
which were submitted for the consideration of the President,
are the following:—
"I object to the bill, because it is an essential principle of
the Government that powers not delegated by the Constitution
can not be rightfully exercised ; because the power proposed by
the bill to be exercised is not expressly delegated, and because
I can not satisfy myself that it results from any express power
by fair and safe rules of interpretation."
The weight of the precedent of the bank of 1791, and the
sanction of the great name of Washington, which has been so
often invoked in its support, are greatly weakened by the devel-
opment of these facts. The experiment of that bank satisfied
the country that it ought not to be continued, and at the end
of twenty years Congress refused to recharter it. It would have
been fortunate for the country, and saved thousands from bank-
ruptcy and ruin, had our public men of 1816 resisted the tem-
porary pressure of the times upon our financial and pecuniary
interests, and refused to charter the second bank. Of this the
country became abundantly satisfied, and, at the close of its
twenty years' duration, as in the case o,f the first bank, it also
ceased to exist. Under the repeated blows of President Jack-
son, it reeled and fell, and a subsequent attempt to charter a
similar institution was arrested by the veto of President Tyler.
Mr. Madison, in yielding his signature to the charter of 1816,
did so upon the ground of the respect due to precedents; and,
as he subsequently declared, " the Bank of the United States,
though, on the original question, held to be unconstitutional,
received the Executive signature."
It is probable that neither the bank of 1791 nor that of
1816 would have been chartered but for the embarrassments
JAMES KNOX POLK.
627
of the Government in its finances, the derangement of the cur-
rency, and the pecuniary pressure which existed ; the first the
consequence of the War of the Revolution, and the second the
consequence of the War of 1812. Both were resorted to in the
delusive hope that they would restore pul)lic credit, and afford
relief to the Government and to the business of the country.
Those of our public men who opposed the whole "American
system " at its commencement, and throughout its progress, fore-
saw and predicted that it was fraught with incalculable mis-
chiefs, and must result in serious injury to the best interests of
the country. For a series of years their wise counsels were un-
heeded, and the system was established. It was soon apparent
that its practical operation was unequal and unjust upon different
portions of the country, and upon the people engaged in diflferent
pursuits. All were equally entitled to the favor and protection
of the Government. It fostered and elevated the money power,
and enriched the favored few by taxing labor, and at the expense
of the many. Its eflfect was to " make the rich richer, and the
poor poorer." Its tendency was to create distinctions in society
based on wealth, and to give to the favored classes undue con-
trol and sway in our Government. It was an organized nioney
power, which resisted the popular will, and sought to shape and
control the public policy.
Under the pernicious workings of this combined system of
measures, the country witnessed alternate seasons of temporary
apparent prosperity; of sudden and disastrous commercial re-
vulsions; of unprecedented fluctuation of prices, and depression
of the great interests of agriculture, navigation, and commerce;
of general pecuniary suffering, and of final bankruptcy of
thousands. After a severe struggle of more than a quarter of
a century, the system was overthrown.
The bank has been succeeded by a practical system of finance,
conducted and controlled solely by the Government. The Con-
stitutional currency has been restored; the public credit main-
tained unimpaired, even in a period of foreign war; and the
whole country has become satisfied that banks, national or
State, are not necessary as fiscal agents of the Government.
Revenue duties have taken the place of the protective tariff".
The distribution of the money derived from the sale of the public
628
LIFE AND TIMES OF
lands has been abandoned, and the corrupting system of inter-
nal improvements, it is hoped, has been effectually checked.
It is not doubted, that if this whole train of measures, de-
signed to take wealth from the many and bestow it upon the
few, were to prevail, the effect would be to change the entire^
character of the Government. One only danger remains. It
is the seductions of that branch of the system which consists in
internal improvements, holding out, as it does, inducements to
the people of particular sections and localities to embark the
Government in them without stopping to calculate the inevitable
consequences. This branch of the system is so intimately com-
bined and linked with the others, that as surely as an effect is
produced by an adequate cause, if it be resuscitated and re-
vived and firmly established, it requires no sagacity to foresee
that it will necessarily and speedily draw after it the re-estab-
lishraent of a national bank, the revival of a protective tariff,
the distribution of the land money, and not only the postpone-
ment to the distant future of the payment of the present national
debt, but its annual increase.
I entertain the solemn conviction, that if the internal im-
prov^ment branch of the "American system" be not firmly re-
sisted at this time, the whole series of measures composing it
will be speedily re-established, and the country he thrown back
from its present high state of prosperity, which the existing
policy has produced, and be destined again to witness all the
evils, commercial revulsions, depression of prices, and pecuniary
embarrassments, through which we have passed during the last
twenty-five years.
To guard against consequences so ruinous is an object of
high national importance, involving, in my judgment, the con-
tinned prosperity of the country. <
I have felt it to be an imperative obligation to withhold my
Constitutional sanction from two bills which had passed the two
Houses of Congress, involving the principle of the internal im-
prOvement branch of the "American system," and conflicting in
their provisions with the views here expressed.
This power conferred upon the President by the Constitu-
tion, I have on three occasions, during my administration of
the Executive Department of the Government, deemed it my
JAMES KNOX POLK.
629
duty to exercise; and on this last occasion of making to Con-
gress an annual communication "of the state of the Union,"it
is not deemed inappropriate to review the principles and consid-
erations which have governed my action. I deem this the more
necessary, because, after the lapse of nearly sixty years since
the adoption of the Constitution, the propriety of the exercise
of this undoubted Constitutional power by the President has for
the first time been drawn seriously in question by a portion of
my fellow-citizens.
The Constitution provides that " every bill which shall have
passed the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, be-
fore it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the
United States; if he approve, he shall sign it, but if not, he
shall return it, with his objections, to that House in which it
shall have originated,* who shall enter the objections at large on
their journal, and proceed to reconsider it."
The preservation of tlie Constitution from infraction is the
President's highest duty. He is bound to discharge that duty,
at whatever hazard of incurring the displeasure of those who
may differ with him in opinion. He is bound to discharge it,
as well by his obligations to the people who have clothed him
with his exalted trust as by his oath of office, which he may
not disregard. Nor are the obligations of the President in any
degree lessened by the prevalence of views different from his
own in one or both Houses of Congress. It is not alone hasty
and inconsiderate legislation that he is required to check; but
if at any time Congress shall, after apparently full deliberation,
resolve on measures which he deems subversive of the Constitu-
tion or of the vital interests of the country, it is his solemn
duty to stand in the breach and resist them. The President is
bound to approve, or disapprove, every bill which passes Con-
gress and is presented to him for his signature. The Constitu-
tion makes this his duty, and he can not escape it if he would.
He has no election. In deciding upon any bill presented to him,
he must exercise his own hest judgment. If he can not approve,
the Constitution commands him to return the bill to the hous'e
in which it originated, with his objections; and if he fail to do
this within ten days (Sundays excepted), it shall become a law
without his signature. Right or wrong, he may be overruled by
630
LIFE AND TIMES OF
a vote of two-thirds of each House; and, in that event, the hill
becomes a law without his sanction. If his objections be not
thus overruled, the subject is only postponed, and is referred to
the States and the people for their consideration and decision.
The President's power is negative merely, and not affirmative.
He can enact no law. The only effect, therefore, of his with-
holding his approval of a bill passed by Congress, is to suffer
the existing laws to remain unchanged, and the delay occasioned
is only that required to enable the States and the people to con-
sider and act upon the subject in the election of public agents
who will carry out their wishes and instructions. Any attempt
to coerce the President to yield his sanction to measures which
he can not approve, would be a violation of the spirit of the
Constitution, palpable and flagrant; and if successful, would
break down the independence of the Executive Department,
and make the President, elected by the people, and clothed by
the Constitution with power to defend their rights, the mere in-
strument of a majority of Congress. A surrender, on his part,
of the powers with which the Constitution has invested his office,
would effect a practical alteration of that instrument, without
resorting to the prescribed process of amendment.
With the motives and considerations which may induce
Congress to pass any bill, the President can have nothing to do.
He must presume them to be as pure as his own, and look only
to the practical effect of their measures when compared with the
Constitution or the public good. *
But it has been urged by those who object to the exercise
of this undoubted Constitutional power, that it assails the rep-
resentative principle and the capacity of the people to govern
themselves; that there is greater safety in a numerous repre-
sentative body than in the single Executive created by the
Constitution, and that the Executive veto is a " one man
power," despotic in its character. To expose the fallacy of this
objection, it is only necessary to consider the frame and true
character of our system. Ours is not a consolidated empire,
but a confederated Union. The States, before the adoption of
the Constitution, were co-ordinate, coequal, and separate inde-
pendent sovereignties, and by its adoption they did not lose
that character. They clothed the Federal Government with
JAMES KNOX POLK.
631
certain powers, and reserved all others, including their own
sovereignty, to themselves. They guarded their own rights as
States and the rights of the people, by the very limitations
which they incorporated into the Federal Constitution, whereby
the different departments of the General Government were
checks upon each other. That the majority should govern is a
general principle, controverted by none; but they must govern
according to the Constitution, and not according to an undefined
and unrestrained discretion, whereby they may oppress the
minority.
The people of the United States are not blind to the fact
that they may be temporarily misled, and that their represen-
tatives, legislative and executive, may be mistaken or influ-
enced in their action by improper motives. They have, there-
fore, interposed between themselves and the laws which may be
passed by their public agents various representations, such as
assemblies, senates, and governors, in their several States; a
House of Representatives, a Senate, and a President, of the
United States. The people can by their own direct agency
make no law; nor can the House of Representatives, immedi-
ately elected by them; nor can the Senate; nor can both
together without the concurrence of the President, or a vote of
two-thirds of both houses.
Happily for themselves, the people, in framing our admirable
system of Government, were conscious of the infirmities of their
representatives; and, in delegating to them the power of legis-
lation, they have fenced them around with checks, to guard
against the effects of hasty action, of error, of combination, and
of possible corruption. Error, selfishness, and faction, have
often sought to rend asunder this web of checks, and subject the
Government to the control of fanatic and sinister influences;
but these efforts have only satisfied the people of the wisdom
of the checks which they have imposed, and of the necessity of
preserving them unimpaired.
The true theory of our system is not to govern by the acts
or decrees of any one set of representatives. The Constitution
interposes checks upon all branches of the Government, in order
to give time for error to be corrected and delusion to pass away ;
but if the people settle down into a firm conviction different
632
LIFE AND TIMES OF
from that of their representatives, they give effect to their
opinions by changing their public servants. The checks which
the people imposed on their public servants in the adoption of
the Constitution, are the best evidence of their capacity for
self-government. They know that the men whom they elect to
public stations are of like infirmities and passions with them-
selves, and not to be trusted without being restricted by co-or-
dinate authorities and Constitutional limitations. Who that has
witnessed the legislation of Congress for the last thirty years
will say that he knows of no instance in which measures not
demanded by the public good have been carried? Who will
deny that in the State governments, by combinations of indi-
viduals and sections, in derogation of the general interest, banks
have been chartered, systems of internal improvement adopted,
and debts entailed upon the people, repressing their growth and
impairing their energies for years to come.
After so much experience, it can not be said that absolute
unchecked power is safe in the hands of any one set of Rep-
presentatives, or that the capacity of the people for self-gov-
ernment, which is admitted in its broadest extent, is a conclu-
sive argument to prove the prudence, wisdom, and integrity
of their Representatives.
The people, by the Constitution, have commanded the
President, as much as they have commanded the legislative
branch of the Government, to execute their will. .They have
said to him in the Constitution, which they require he shall
take a solemn oath to support, that if Congress pass any bill
which he can not approve, " he shall return it to the House in
which it originated, with his objections." In withholding from
it his approval and signature, he is executing the will of the
people Constitutionally expressed, as much as the Congress that
passed it. No bill is presumed to be in accordance with the
popular will until it shall have passed through all the branches
of the Government required by the Constitution to make it a
law. A bill which passes the House of Representatives may
be rejected by the Senate; and so a bill passed by the Senate
may be rejected by the House. In each case the respective
Houses exercise the veto power on the other.
Congress, and each House of Congress, hold, under the
JAMES KNOX POLK. 633
Constitution, a check upon the President, and he, by the
power of the qualified veto, a check upon Congresl When
the President recommends measures to Congress, he avows, in
the most solemn form, his opinions, gives his voice in their
favor, and pledges himself in advance to approve them if
passed by Congress. If he acts without due consideration, or
has been influenced by improper or corrupt motives or if,
ft'om any other cause. Congress, or either House of Congress,
shall differ with him in opinion, they exercise their veto upon
his recommendations, and reject them; and there is no appeal
from their decision but to the people at the ballot-box.
These are proper checks upon the Executive, wisely interposed
by the Constitution. None will be found to object to them, or
to wish them repealed. It is equally important that the Con-
stitutional checks of the Executive upon the legislative branch
should be preserved. * ,
If it be said that the Representatives in the popular branch
of Congress are chosen directly by the people, it is answered,
the people elect the President. If both Houses represent the
States and the people, so does the President. The President
represents in the Executive Department the whole people of the
United States, as each member of the legislative department
represents portions of them.
The doctrine of restriction upon legislative and Executive
power, while a well-settled public opinion is enabled within a
reasonable time to accomplish its ends, has made our country
what it is; and has opened to us a career of glory and happi-
ness to which all other nations have been strangers.
In the exercise of the power of the veto, the President is
responsible not only to an enlightened public opinion, but to
the people of the whole Union, who elected him, as the Rep-
resentatives in the legislative branches, who difier with him in
opinion, are responsible to the people of particular States, or
districts, who compose their respective constituencies. To deny
to the President the exercise of this power, would be to repeal
that provision of the Constitution which confers it upon him.
To charge that its exercise unduly controls the legislative will,
is to complain of the Constitution itself.
If the Presidential veto be objected to upon the ground
634
LIFE AND TIMES OF
that it checks and thwarts the popular will, upon the same
principle the equality of representation of the States in the
Senate should be stricken out of the Constitution. The vote
of a Senator from Delaware has equal weight in deciding upon
the most important measures with the vote of a Senator from
New York; and yet the one represents a State containing, ac-
cording to the existing apportionment of Representatives in the
House of Representatives, but one thirty-fourth part of the
population of the other. By the Constitutional composition of
the Senate, a majority of that body from the smaller States
represent less than one-fourth of the people of the Union.
There are thirty States; and, under the existing apportionment
of Representatives, there are two hundred and thirty members
in the House of Representatives. Sixteen of the smaller
States are represented in that house by but fifty members; and
yet the Senators from these States constitute a majority of the
Senate. So that the President may recommend a measure to
Congress, and it may receive the sanction and approval of
more than three-fourths of the House of Representatives, and
of all the Senators from the large States, containing more than
three-fourths of the whole population of the United States;
and yet the measure may be defeated by the votes of the Sen-
ators from the smaller States. None, it is presumed, can be
found ready to change the organization of the Senate on this
account, or to strike that body practically out of existence, by
requiring that its action shall be conformed to the will of the
more numerous branch.
Upon the same principle that the veto of the President
should be practically abolished, the power of the Vice-Presi-
dent to give the casting Vote upon an equal division of the
Senate should be abolished also. The Vice-President exercises
the veto power as effectually by rejecting a bill by his casting
vote as the President does by refusing to approve and sign it.
This power has been exercised by the Vice-President in a few
instances, the most important of which was the rejection of the
bill to recharter the Bank of the United States in 1811. It
may happen that a bill may be passed by a large majority of
the House of Representatives, and may be supported by the
Senators from the larger States, and the Vice-President may
JAMES KNOX POLK
635
reject it by giving his vote with the Senators from the smaller
States; and yet none, it is presumed, are prepared to deny to
him the exercise of this power under the Constitution.
But it is, in point of fact, untrue that an act passed by
Congress is conclusive evidence that it is an emanation of the
popular will. A majority of the whole number elected to
each House of Congress constitutes a quorum, and a majority
of that quorum is competent to pass laws. It might happen
that a quorum of the House of Representatives, consisting of
a single member more than half of the whole number elected
to that House, might pass a bill by a majority of a single vote,
and in that case, a fraction more than one-fourth of the people
of the United States would be represented by those who voted
for it. It might happen that the same bill might be passed
by a majority of one of a quorum of the Senate, composed of
Senators from the fifteen smaller States, and a single Senator
from a sixteenth State, and if the Senators voting for it hap-
pened to be from the eight of the smallest of these States, it
would be passed by the votes of Senators from States having
but fourteen Representatives in the House of Representatives,
and containing less than one-sixteenth of the whole population
of the United States. This extreme case is stated to illustrate
the fact, that the mere passage of a bill by Congress is no
conclusive evidence that those who passed it represent the
majority of the people of the United States, or truly reflect
their will. If such an extreme case is not likely to happen,
cases that approximate it are of constant occurrence. It is
believed that not a single law has been passed since the adop-
tion of the Constitution, upon which all the members elected
to both Houses have been present and voted. Many of the
most important acts which have passed Congress have been
carried by a close vote in thin houses. Many instances of
this might be given. Indeed, our experience proves that many
of the most important acts of Congress are postponed to the
last days, and often the last hours, of a session, when they are
disposed of in haste, and by Houses but little exceeding the
number necessary to form a quorum.
Besides, in most of the States, the members of the House
of Representatives are chosen by pluralities, and not by
636
LIFE AND TIMES OF
majorities of all the voters in their respective districts; and it may
happen that a majority of that House may be returned by a less
aggregate vote of the people than that received by the minority.
If the principle insisted on be sound, then the Constitution
should be so changed that no bill shall become a law unless it
is voted for by members representing in each House a majority
of the whole people of the United States. We must remodel
our whole system, strike down and aboli.sh not only the salu-
tary checks lodged in the Executive branch, but must strike
out and abolish those lodged in the Senate also, and thus
practically invest the whole power of the Government in the
majority of a single assembly, a majority uncontrolled and
absolute, and which may become despotic. To conform to
this doctrine of the right of majorities to rule, independent of
the checks and limitations of the Constitution, we must revolu-
tionize our whole system. We must destroy the Constitutional
compact by which the several States agreed to form a Federal
Union, and rush into consolidation, which must end in mon-
archy or despotism. No one advocates such a proposition;
and yet the doctrine maintained, if carried out, must lead to
this result.
One great object of the Constitution in conferring tipon
the President a qualified negative upon the legislation of Com-
gress, was to protect minorities from injustice and oppression
by majorities. The equality of their representation in the
Senate, and the veto power of the President, are the Consti-
tutional guarantees which the smaller States have that their
rights will be respected. Without these guarantees all their
interests would be at the mercy of majorities in Congress
representing the larger States. To the smaller and weaker
States, therefore, the preservation of this power, and its ex-
ercise upon proper occasions demanding it, is of vital im-
portance. They ratified the Constitution, and entered into the
Union, securing to themselves an equal representation with the
larger States in the Senate; and they agreed to be bound by
all laws passed by Congress, upon the express condition, and
none other, that they should be approved by the President, or
passed, his objections to the contrary notwithstanding, by a
vote of two-thirds of both Houses. Upon this condition they
JAMES KNOX POLK.
637
have a right to insist, as a part of the compact to which they
gave their assent.
A bill might be passed by Congress against the will of the
whole people of a particular State, and against the votes of its
Senators and all its Representatives. However prejudicial it
might be to the interests of such States, it would be bound by
it if the President shall approve jt, or it shall be passed by a
vote of two-thirds of both Houses; but it has a right to demand
that the President shall exercise his Constitutional power and
arrest it, if his judgment is against it. If he surrender this
power, or fail to exercise it in a case where he can not ap-
prove, it would make his formal approval a mere mockery,
and would be itself a violation of the Constitution, and the
dissenting State would become bound by a law which bad not
been passed according to the sanction of the Constitution.
The objection to the exercise of the veto power is founded
upon an idea respecting the popular will, which, if carried
out, would annihilate State sovereignty, and substitute for the
present Federal Government a consolidation, directed by a
supposed numerical majority. A revolution of the Govern-
ment would be silently effected, and the States would be sub-
jected to laws to which they had never given their Constitu-
tional consent. .
The supreme court of the United States is invested with
the power to declare, and has declared, acts of Congress passed
with the concurrence of the Senate and the House of Repre-
sentatives, and the approval of the President, to be unconsti-
tutional and void; and yet none, it is presumed, can be found,
who will be disposed to strip this highest judicial tribunal
under the Constitution of this acknowledged power, a power
necessary alike to its independence and the rights of individuals.
For the same reason that the Executive veto should, ac-
cording to the doctrine maintained, be rendered nugatory, and
be practically expunged from the Constitution, this power of
the court should also be rendered nugatory and be expunged,
because.it restrains the legislative and Executive will, and
because the exercise of such a power by the court may be re-
garded as being in conflict with the capacity of the people to
govern themselves. Indeed, there is more reason for striking
638 LIFE AND TIMES OF
this power of the court from the Constitution than there is that
of the qualified veto of the President; because the decision of
the court is final, and can never be reversed, even though both
Houses of Congress and the President should be unanimous in
opposition to it; whereas a veto of the President may be over-
ruled by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses of Congress, or
by the people at the polls.
It is obvious that to preserve the system established by the
Constitution, each of the co-ordinate branches of the Govern-
ment, the Executive, legislative, and judicial, must be left in
the exercise of its appropriate powers. If the Executive or the
judicial branch be deprived of powers conferred upon either
as checks on the legislative, the preponderance of the latter
will become disproportionate and absorbing, and the others impo-
tent for the accomplishment of the great objects for which
they were established. Organized as they are by the Consti-
tution, they work together harmoniously for the public good.
If the Executive and the judiciary shall be deprived of the
Constitutional powers invested in them, and of their due pro-
portions, the equilibrium of the system must be destroyed, and
consolidation, with the most pernicious results, must ensue, a
consolidation of unchecked, despotic power, exercised by
majorities of the legislative branch.
The Executive, legislative, and judicial, each constitutes a
separate co-ordinate department of the Government, and each
is independent of the others. In the performance of their
respective duties under the Constitution, neither can, in its
legitimate action, control the others. They each act upon
their several responsibilities in their respective spheres; but if
the doctrines now maintained be correct, the Executive must
become practically subordinate to the legislative, and the
judiciary must become subordinate to both the legislative and
the Executive; and thus the whole power of the Government
would be merged in a single department. Whenever, if ever,
this shall occur, our glorious system of well-regulated self-
government will crumble into ruins, to be succeeded,- first by
anarchy, and finally by monarchy or despotism. I am far
from believing that this doctrine is the sentiment of the American
people; and during the short period which remains in which
JAMES KNOX POLK.
639
it will be my duty to administer the Executive Depart-
ment, it will be my aim to maintain its independence, and
discharge its duties, without infringing upon the powers or
duties of either of the other departments of the Government.
The power of the Executive veto was exercised by the first
and most illustrious of my predecessors, and by four of his sue-
cessors who preceded me in the administration of the Govern-
ment, and, it is believed, in no instance prejudicially to the pub-
lie interests. It has never been, and there is but little danger
that it ever can be, abused. No President will ever desire un-
necessarily, to place his opinion in opposition to that of Congress.
He must always exercise the power reluctantly, and only in
cases where his convictions make it a matter of stern duty,
which he can not escape. Indeed, there is more danger that
the President, from the repugnance he must always feel to
come in collision with Congress, may fail to exercise it in cases
where the preservation of the Constitution from infraction, or
the public good, may demand it, than that he will ever exercise
it unnecessarily or wantonly.
During the period I have administered the Executive De-
partment of the Government, great and important questions of
public policy, foreign and domestic, have arisen, upon which it'
was my duty to act. It may, indeed, be truly said that my
administration has fallen upon eventful times. I have felt
most sensibly the weight of the high responsibilities devolved
upon me. With no other object than the public good, the en-
during fame, and permanent prosperity of my country, I have
pursued the convictions of my own best judgment. The im-
partial arbitrament of enlightened public opinion, present and
future, will determine how far the public policy I have main-
tained, and the measures I have from time to time recom-
mended, may have tended to advance or retard the public pros-
perity at home, and to elevate or depress the estimate of our
national character abroad.
Invoking the blessings of the Almighty upon your delibera-
tions at your present important session, my ardent hope is, that
in a spirit of harmony and concord you may be guided to wise
results, and such as may redound to the happiness, the honor,
and the glory of our beloved country.
640
LIFE AND TIMES OF
In this message the President appeals to the
purity of his motives, and makes the strongest pos-
sible apology for the exercise of the veto power, and
sets forth the general work and results of his Ad-
ministration without any great effort to defend any
of its measures. The message carries the genernl
impression that Mr. Polk felt his Administration to
be in no need of defense, that a little time would
determine its value to the country beyond all chance
of dispute. He again takes occasion to hold up to
the country the paramount importance of the Union
undivided, above all other considerations ; and urges
Congress to support the Missouri Compromise in dis-
posing of the territorial questions before it.
The message also shows the great success of the
new independent Treasury (Van Buren Sub-Treasury).
The extraordinary test of war on the Treasury and
the specie currency had di.sappointed the remaining
advocates of the old bank and paper system. War
with Mexico was hardly necessary, however, to pre-
vent the re-enactment of the former banking system
of the Government.
The question of providing governments for the
newly acquired territory became the most important
and difficult work before Congress at this session.
Here again the slavery issue took a new form, and
the contest became fierce and alarming. This ex-
treme movement did not, however, arise until the last
of February. The now common filibustering trick
of attaching some incongruous and mischievous ap-
pendage to appropriation bills was then not in vogue,
JAMES KNOX POLK.
641
nor was it considered reputable legislation. When
the civil and diplomatic or general appropriation bill
came to the Senate, Isaac P. Walker, of Wisconsin,
moved that what he termed an amendment, having
nothing whatever to do with the subject of the bill,
should be attached to the bill providing for a form
of government for the acquired territory, and for
" extending the Constitution over" that territory.
It appeared that Walker was only the instrument of
Mr. Calhoun in regard to this new doctrine and the
novel way of bringing it forward. At all events Mr.
Calhoun, at once, stood out as its champion and de-
fender. Mr. Webster led in combating the doctrine
and the mode of presenting it.
Of this new turn in Mr. Calhoun's tactics Mr.
Benton has made this statement:—
" The question took a regular slavery turn, Mr. Calhoun
avowing his intent to be to carry slavery into the terri-
tories under the wing of the Constitution, and openly treated
as enemies to the South all that opposed it. Having taken
the turn of a slavery question, it gave rise to all the dis-
sension of which that subject had become the parent since
the year 1835. By a close vote, and before the object had
been understood by all the Senators, the amendment was
agreed to in the Senate, but immediately disagreed to in
the House, and a contest brought on between the two
Houses by which the great appropriation bill, on which
the existence of the Government depended, was not passed
until after the Constitutional expiration of the Congress at
midnight of the 3d of March, and was signed by Mr. Polk
(after he had ceased to be President) on the 4th of March,
the law and his approval being antedated of the 3d, to
prevent its invalidity from appearing on the face of the
41—K
642
LIFE AND TIMES OF
act. Great was the heat which manifested itself, and im-
minent the danger that Congress would break up without
passing the general appropriation bill; and that the Gov-
ernment would stop until a new Congress could be as-
sembled—many of the members of which remained still to
be elected. Many members refused to vote after midnight,
which it then was. . . .
" The House of Representatives had ceased to act, and
sent to the Senate the customary message of adjournment.
The President who, according to the usage, had remained
in the Capitol till midnight to sign bills, had gone home.
It was four o'clock in the morning of the 4th, and the
greatest confusion and disordef prevailed. Finally, Mr.
Webster succeeded in getting a vote, by which the Senate
receded from the amendment it had adopted, extending the
Constitution to the territories; and that recession leaving
the appropriation bill free from the incumbrance of the
slavery question, it was immediately passed.
"This attempt, pushed to the verge of breaking up
the Government in pursuit of a newly invented slavery
dogma, was founded in errors too gross for misapprehen-
sion. In the first place, as fully shown by Mr. Webster,
the Constitution was not made for territories, but for States.
In the second place, it can not operate anywhere, not even
in the States for which it was made, without acts of Con-
gress to enforce it. This is true of the Constitution in
every particular. Every part of it is inoperative until put
into action by a statute of Congress."
The sequel to this matter was the production of
an address in secret meeting of Southern members
of Congress, an address written by Mr. Calhoun
mainly, setting forth the paramount importance of the
slavery issue to that section of the Union. All,
of course, only serving to continue the excitement.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
643
and widen the chasm opening between these two
great sections.
Amidst these scenes of sectional strife closed the
Administration of Mr. Polk. It had been an exciting
and interesting period in the country's history, al-
though the people were greatly divided as to the
benefits of its measures and events, and the South
was disappointed as to the results of territorial ac-
quisition in the establishment and extension of
slavery.
644
LIFE AND TIMES OF
CHAPTER XXVIII.
GREAT EVENTS OF POLK'S ADMINISTRATION—A BRIEF
VIEW—MR, POLK'S PUBLIC CAREER—RELIGIOUS
CHARACTER—DEATH—THE MAN AND
HIS DEEDS.
Most of the Whigs, and not a few Dem-
ocrats, believed the war with Mexico unjust
and unnecessary on the part of the United States.
Most Whigs and many Democrats believed that all
that was gained in the way of territory, etc., by the
war, would in the course of time, have come by per-
sistent, friendly negotiation. They believed, too,
that the President had entered upon a war unconsti-
tutionally, in sending an army into Mexico, or into
disputed territory, and, therefore, bringing on hos-
tilities without the sanction of Congress. It was not
necessary to station the army west of the Nueces, if
it was necessary to send an army to Texas at all.
With all the bluster of the Mexicans, it is clear enough
that they never would have ventured into a conflict with
this country, if the " army of occupation " had been
kept to the east of the Nueces River. But perhaps sev-
eral of the sixteen Congressmen who voted against
the declaration of war, when war had actually begun,
would not have done so, had it not been for the pre-
amble in the bill, that war existed "by the act of
JAMES KNOX POLK.
645
the Republic of Mexico." This pretext was an in-
vention of the Administration. The Whigs, to say
nothing of many others, believed the charge to be
wholly untrue, and that the President and his ad-
visers had begun the war, and without just grounds.
Some who did vote for the war measure, did so under
protest, and others did so because there was no help
for the case, and in any emergency, right or wrong,
they could not desert the country. The Mexicans
did cross the Rio 'Grande and attack the Americans,
but General Taylor had disregarded their repeated
warnings, and finally, as they believed and notified
him, began the war by marching his army into the
territory which they held to be no part of Texas.
If they had first shed blood, they had done, so in an
attempt to drive an invader from their soil.
Garrett Davis, of Kentucky, who declined to
vote on the war bill, said the preamble to the bill was
a falsehood, and that instead of the Mexicans being
the aggressors, the President had himself begun the
war by a series of acts in which he was not justi-
fied, and he now desired Congress to sanction a
wrong for which he was wholly responsible himself.
But these were the general sentiments of the op-
ponents of the war, who were not, however, all
agreed as to the seat of the responsibility. Mr.
Benton, especially, held, from the outset, that Mr.
Calhoun was responsible, and not the new Adminis-
tration. Mr. John Quincy Adams was not long in
detecting the willingness with which Mr. Calhoun
and his friends gave up the extreme line at the
646
LIFE AND TIMES OF
north on the Pacific, and how eager they were to
get all of Mexico they possibly could. The chances
of slavery now altered the circumstances, however
little the "institution" could have influenced the
designs of the Louisiana filibusters in 1815. Al-
though Mr. Polk had earnestly favored the annexa-
tion of Texas to this country in 1844, he had as
earnestly advocated the maintenance of the Ameri-
can claim to the line of fifty-four degrees and forty
minutes of north latitude on the Pacific Ocean.
Whatever may be charged to the motives of the
Southern politicians, the view can not be sustained
that Mr. Polk really desired the extension of slavery,
or the acquisition of territory that room might be
made for the expansion of slavery and the political
power resting upon it. However he failed to give
shape to his better motives and sentiments in the
struggles for. political preferment and success, one
thing is certain, Mr. Polk was not a friend of slav-
ery, as may be seen in another chapter of this
volume.
Besides the Oregon question, Texas annexa-
tion, and the Mexican war, the three important mat-
ters before Mr. Polk's Administration, there were
the continued and bitter agitations of the slavery
issue; the continuance of the tariff and internal
improvement struggles, and the provision of an ad
valorem system of duties; and the establishment of
the national or independent Government Treasury
system, collecting the revenues in treasury-notes
and specie, and conducting the entire financial
JAMES KNOX POLK.
647
concerns of the Government under the control of
the Treasury Department without the use of banks.
In his Cabinet Mr. Polk was fortunate. Although
not always united in the support of measures, the
general harmony in it was never disturbed. In 1846,
a vacancy occurring in the diplomatic corps, Mr.
Bancroft was sent as Minister to England. Mr.
Polk knew how to provide for his friends, and to
gratify Mr. Bancroft and furnish him this rare op-
portunity to gather material for his history of the
colonial and early days of the United States, with-
out expense to himself, he was appointed to this
foreign mission. John Young Mason, the Attorney-
General, took the position at the head of the Navy
Department, and Nathan Clifford, of Maine, entered
the Cabinet as Attorney-General. In 1848, Mr.
Clifford was sent with the Trist or Guadalupe
Hidalgo Treaty to Mexico, and Isaac Toucey, of
Connecticut, succeeded him in the office of Attorney-
General.
In the Presidential race of 1844, one of the
prominent issues was on the tariff question. Yet so
fortunately or artfully was the matter conducted on
the part of Mr. Polk and his friends that the con-
test assumed a degree of moderation which the case
in no way justified. • Still, while Mr. Clay was un-
doubtedly a strong tariff man and protectionist, he
had, two years before, partially pledged his party
and himself to favor a nearer approach of the tariff
legislation to a mere revenue standard. And Mr.
Polk's Kane letter so beclouded the case that in
648
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Pennsylvania and other high tariff and protectionist
regions, they said there was no difference between
the candidates, that Mr. Polk was about as good a
tariff man as Henry Clay. On this point they were
undeceived in Mr. Polk's first annual message.
There the American language was more efficient in
making known his views on this important issue
than it had been in the Kane letter. Exactly how
this came about, may be matter of varied conjecture,
and not always to the credit of Mr. Polk. Still he
was the instrument of his party, which must share
with him the sin of taking false advantage of an
opportunity. The peculiar circumstances tempted
him and also forced him to construct the Kane letter
as he did, and the Northern people, especially, were
deceived by it. They then chose to keep them-
selves deceived. As President, Mr. Polk could say
what he could not have said as a candidate for the
Presidency. His first annual message, accordingly,
laid open the case as it really always had been with
him. The moderate, cautious, and ambiguous terms
of the Kane letter are not to be found in the mes-
sage, which was a forcible argument in favor of
free trade. The tariff of 1842 was bitterly and
plainly decried, and Congress was urged to proceed
in the work of substituting ad valorem for specific
duties.
This message was followed by the report of the
Secretary of the Treasury, setting forth, in an
elaborate manner, the views which were to be main-
tained by the Administration; and about the middle
JAMES KNOX POLK.
649
of June, 1846, the House of Representatives began
the consideration of a bill for the repeal of the oh-
noxious tarilf of 1842. The discussion of the sub-
ject continued for two or three weeks, and the
manufacturers from various parts of the country
exerted every possible means, by their presence in
Washington, and through their agents, to prevent an
unfavorable result to their interests; but on the 3d
of July, the bill was passed in the House by a strict
party vote of 114 against 95, but one Whig voting
for the measure. Still the bill had to be tested in
the Senate, a body more evenly divided, and there
its fate was doubtful. During the contest a Senator
from North Carolina resigned his seat, and a Whig
from Tennessee refusing against the instructions of
his State to vote, it was found that the Senate was
equally divided on the subject, and the vote of Mr.
Dallas, the Vice-President, became necessary for a
decision. On the 28th of July the bill passed the
Senate with a slight amendment, which was accepted,
and finally passed in the House by a vote of 115 to
92. President Polk signed the bill at once, but the
tariff of 1846 came no nearer settling the great aiid
poorly understood subject of protection and free
trade than had its predecessors, or than have all the
subsequent experiments, discussions, and theories
bearing upon the same matter. But the tariff" of
1846 subserved the purposes of the country, even
in times of war, and the experiences of time have
not proven that it was one of the evils of Mr. Polk's
Administration, although it was deeply and loudly
650
LIFE AND TIMES OF
complained of in the manufacturing regions, and had
no small influence on the Presidential race in 1848.
A bill was passed late in the first session of Con-
gress under Mr. Polk, greatly modifying the ware-
housing system of the country, and this was held as
a wise feature of the policy of the party in power.
Early in the session of 1845, an attempt was made
to establish a treasury on the general plan under-
taken by Mr. Van Buren, but the bill did not pass
the House until April 2, 1846, and then hung in the
Senate until the first day of August, when it was
passed by a vote of 28 to 25. This measure was an
important step forward in the long series of efforts
to establish an independent, safe United States
Treasury. And although the Democrats had taken
the initiative in this wise measure, a time came in
the progress of events when they mistrusted the vir-
tues of the engine they had created, and shifted
places with the political heirs and successors of the
Whigs.
A very decided majority in Congress at the begin-
ning of Mr. Polk's Administration favored a thorough-
going system of internal improvements by the Gen-
eral Government, and the chronic struggle on this
topic at once began. A bill for the improvement of
harbors and rivers was passed in the Senate on the
24th of July, 1846, by a vote of 34 to 16, having
previously passed in the House by a majority of 19
votes. On the 3d of August, President Polk vetoed
this bill, and in his long message reviewed the course
of this subject from the foundation of the Govern-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
651
ment, taking the -position mainly occupied by his
Democratic predecessors. But Congress did not give
up the struggle with this fairly tested defeat. At
the next session another bill was passed in both
Houses, in the Senate on the last day of the session,
March 3d, appropriating $600,000 for the same pur-
pose, but this the President proceeded to veto in an-
other message on the 15th of December, 1847.
Other attempts were made, but there was no chance
to harmonize the President and his friends, and the
contest ended, as it had always done before, with the
contestants more firmly fixed in the correctness of
their own views and policy.
The 4th of March, 1849, being Sunday, that day
was without a President, General Taylor being in-
augurated on the 5th. Mr. Polk accompanied his
successor in the inauguration ceremony, and on the
following day left Washington on his way to Tennes-
see. He was barely able to endure the fatigues of
this long and ceremonious journey. All the arrange-
ments were made at the expense of his party friends
before he started down the Potomac. The route lay
through Richmond, Charleston, and other principal
cities of the South, including New Orleans. In a
speech at Richmond, he urged the necessity of " pre-
serving this Union," and in the brief replies to ad-
dresses of welcome at various points, feelings of
patriotism and general kindness were uppermost in
his thoughts. In the last four years he had become
gray-headed; and his " constitution," never strong,
had broken down. Before reaching Nashville he
652
LIFE AND TIMES OF
was greatly reduced by an attack of illness, with him
long chronic, from which he never really recovered.
During his Presidency he had bought, through his
friends, the old home of Felix Grundy, in the center
of Nashville, and in this he took up his residence, a
few days after his return. Here he hoped to recover
his health, and live in quiet for many years. It does
not appear that he had any design of re-entering his
profession, or again seeking public place. Like most
other retiring Presidents of the United States, he
was simply to become another of the quiet shrines
not repugnant to political leaders in this Republic,
no matter how radically democratic the platforms on
which they have ridden into power. He had planned
a tour to Europe; and with a view of writing a
" history of his times," had, during his last year in
Washington, kept a daily record of thoughts and
events. And one thing is evident, that when he
reached his home in Nashville, although greatly
broken in health, he had not the remotest idea that
his life was so near its end. He had, however, often
told Mrs. Polk that she would outlive him. The
following to one of his warmest flatterers, was among
his last letters, but has in it only signs of relief and
hope:—
"Nashville, Tennessee, May 9, 1849.
" My Deab Sir,—On my arrival at my residence early
in the last month, I received your note of the 12th of
March, inclosing to me, as I had requested you to do, the
nine articles on the Oregon question, "which originally ap-
peared in the columns of the ' Pennsylvanian.'
" I thank you for them, and beg, through you, to make
JAMES KNOX POLK,
653
my acknowledgments to the beautiful lady, by whom, you
inform me, one of them', was copied from your files. As
you inform me she is 6ne of my best friends, I will be
careful to preserve the copy.
" Now that I am a private citizen, relieved from all
public responsibilities, I am quietly at home, enjoying the
repose which I so much needed. I was seriously indisposed
during the latter part of my return journey home from
Washington, but my health is entirely restored.
" I desire that you will consider me a subscriber to the
' Pennsylvanian,' and have the paper forwarded to me.
" I am, with great respect,
" Your friend and ob'dt serv't,
"James K. Polk.
" John "W. Foknby, Esq., Philadelphia."
His old affliction (diarrhoea) soon returned, how-
ever, and this time he was unable to regain the
mastery. He slowly went down, and at twenty
minutes before five o'clock on the 15th of June,
1849, died.
With Masonic and other ceremonies, amidst a
large gathering of the people, at four o'clock on the
16th, his funeral took place, the body being her-
metically sealed in a copper coffin, and deposited
temporarily in a vault in the cemetery. By his side
at his death were his brother, Wm. H. Polk, his
wife, and his mother. His mother expected him to
be baptized by a Presbyterian clergyman, but he as-
sured her that in this at that late date he must have
his own way, although he had never refused before to
obey her. He was, therefore, baptized and received
into the Methodist Church.
654
LIFE AND TIMES OF
For several weeks after his death, commemora-
tive ceremonies were held, and eulogies delivered in
honor of Mr. Polk; and the usual tokens of respect
were shown in other countries. In speaking of his
character and services, a political opponent writing
from Paris said: " One thing is certain, that the
American Republican Union and character rose more
in Europe during Mr. Polk's Administration than
under any other since the era of Washington. The
conquest of Mexico was at the same time a -victory
over the European mind and spirit as to the United
States."
" The Evening Bulletin," of Philadelphia, in com-
menting on the character and Administration of
Polk, June 19, 1849, said :—
" The ex-President was a man of considerable talent,
of honest purposes, and of a calm, dispassionate nature.
"Without exactly enjoying abilities of the first, or even
second order, he possessed an industry which frequently
placed him along-side of men vastly his superior in
natural gifts. . . . His nomination by the Baltimore
Convention was the result of his consistency as a partisan,
and of his character for honesty, rather than for any
opinion entertained of him as a brilliant orator, an orig-
inal thinker, or a great statesman. His Administration, by
a peculiar train of circumstances, partly the result of his
own wishes, partly accidental, became one of the most
eventful in the annals of this country, and will furnish a
fruitful source of debate to future historians."
Mr. J. B. McFerrin, a Methodist Episcopal clergy-
man, of Nashville, who attended Mr. Polk in his
last illness, made a statement, dated July 26, 1849,
JAMES. KNOX POLK
655
in a Nashville paper, concerning the Christian char-
acter of Mr. Polk, and to settle some unnecessary
controversy on that subject. In this paper Mr.
McFerrin says:—
"Of Mr. Polk's morality many commendatory things
have been said, and said truly. A more just, upright,
and honest man in all his dealings with his fellow-men
our beloved country could never boast. . . . Nothing
profane, vulgar, nor unseemly fell from his lips; no mark
or sign of dissipation ever blotted or stained his character,
but temperance and moderation were exhibited in all his
public and private walks. So discreet, grave, and uniform
was his deportment, that it has often been remarked that
he had more the appearance of a staid clergyman than
that of the politician. Indeed, the writer has often in
Mr. Polk's younger days heard him denominated ' parson,'
because of the gravity of his manners. . . . Mr. Polk
was a firm believer in the Christian religion, and a con-
stant reader of the .Holy Scriptures, which he fully be-
lieved were of divine origin. . . .
" The Sabbath-day he regarded as holy, and was a
regular attendant at the house of worship, where he
always demeaned himself more in the character of a devout
worshiper than as one who merely listened attentively to
the ministrations of the pulpit. ...
" He was purely evangelical in his sentiments, as the
writer believes, and strongly Methodistic in his views,
and here was the point on which his preference for the
Methodist Church turned. Not that he esteemed lightly
Christians of other Churches, or doubted their true piety,
but because he had those strong and peculiar views of the
spirituality of religion taken by the Wesleyans. . . .
He was thoroughly satisfied that to be a Christian he must
be one in experience and practice, as well as in theory;
hence he lamented in his last sickness that he had not given
656
LIFE AND TIMES OF
himself wholly to the work of his salvation, so that he
might, in his eventful life, have honored the institutions
of the Christian religion. . . .
" For more than twenty years he had entertained the
fixed purpose of uniting himself with the Church, and all
the preliminaries had been settled previous to his last
sickness. . . .
" The idea of a ' death-bed repentance' was, to use his
own language, ' most humiliating to his mind.' It seemed
to say to the world that he had not been willing to honor
the institutions of the Gospel in his best and strongest
days. . . .
"After several days of private meditation a\^d prayer,
and full and unreserved conversation with his pious wife,
he determined to avail himself of the counsel and special
prayers of the ministers of the Gospel. . . . He ac-
cordiugly sent for three of the ministers of the city, his
old acquaintances and personal friends, and to two of
them, one being absent, he unreservedly opened his mind;
and finally, after mature deliberation and much prepara-
tion, he was admitted into the Church of his choice, by
baptism, and received the holy Eucharist. . . .
"A short time previous to baptism he called his
brother. Major William H. Polk, to his bedside, and in
the presence of the ministers said: ' My brother, you are
my only surviving brother, and I now wish to state to
you what is the wish of my heart. For more than twenty
years I have entertained the determination to unite with
the Church of God, and of consecrating myself to his
service; but this I have strangely, and by a course of
folly, neglected; but I am now resolved to consummate my
purpose, and have therefore requested my reverend friend,
Mr. McFerrin, to administer to me the sacraments of the
Church; and this I.do aftei^ much thought and mature
deliberation, and proceed with self-distrust, but firmly re-
lying upon the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . .
JAMES KNOX POLK.
657
Soon after he received the sacraments of the Church, he
expressed peculiar satisfaction in what he had done. . . .
"This occurred eight days before his death. . . .
" A few hours before he died, his wife said to him,
'We will meet in Eternity.' 'Yes,' said he, 'a happy
Eternity.' These are the last words he uttered in refer-
ence to his future hopes. He soon after began rapidly to
sink, and without a struggle he fell asleep, as a weary
man would resign himself to sleep after the toils of a
summer day. ...
"He was a Methodist in faith and feeling, and had
determined to be one in name and by actual membership.
Hence his friends and enemies, if enemies he had, may
rest quietly and calmly on the matter of his religious
opinions, or cease to ask the question, ' Why he joined
the Methodist Church.' He was a Methodist from sol-
emn convictions of the truth of the doctrines of that
Church, and of the beauty and efficiency of its government."
Thus died James Knox Polk, a President of the
United States, having neglected till his dying hour
what he had been on the point of doing for nearly
half his short life. It was humiliating to this con-
scientious, just, and sensible man to think that now
at the last hour, when weak and helpless, and hope-
less, he was compelled to seek the friendship, with-
out which he felt himself lost, and unable to pass
through the " valley and the shadow," when in the
days of his manly vigor he did not feel its need, and
shrank from proclaiming such relationship. In pri-
vate he had been more careful in preserving his
purity and the teachings of Christianity than his
public life ever indicated. He had always searched
the Scriptures, and actually felt that in them was
42—K
658
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the way to eternal life. But he put off acknowledg-
ing this fact before men, until he himself was an
object of pity, and the force of a brave, manly ex-
ample was lost to the world.
At last he could say no more than others had
done, " Here I am." But what might that avail, and
how unwise! The whitened sepulcher could say
that much. And who could tell that the natural
answer would not be, "I know you not." Well
might this dying President be ashamed of his late
hour. It was not wise, not safe, not reputable. But
this one thing was his crime. Virtually in his charac-
ter, where Christianity only dwells, he had been a
Christian, and it was really, perhaps, not presumption
or over-enthusiasm on his part which induced him to
say toward the last, "I am ready for dissolution."
Death-bed religion alone is the poorest and most
deplorably mean and worthless thing that has ever
been invented in this world. If there is anything
in the friendship of Heaven, it would not take much
of a philosopher to see that it should be early, old,
and permanent. It would have been better for this
earth, perhaps, if the good old poet had never sung
that unreasonable, unnatural, unphilosophical, and
extremely doubtful sentiment:
"While the lamp of life holds out to burn,
The vilest sinner may return."
JAMES KNOX POLK.
659
CHAPTER XXIX.
A WONDERFUL WILL—RESIDENCE AND TOMB IN THE
HEART OF NASHVILLE—MR. POLK AN EMANCIPA-
TIONIST—THE POLKS IN THE WHITE HOUSE—
PORTRAITS—GENERAL JACKSON AND AUNT
RACHEL—A PLEASING STUDY.
The following extracts are taken from Mr. Polk's
will, one of the most remarkable documents
ever written by an American lawyer:—
"And as my beloved wife, Sarah Polk, and myself
have mutually agreed with each other, that at our re-
spective deaths, it is desired by us, that our bodies may
be interred on the said premises, which I have denomi-
nated the Polk Place, and as it is also our desire that
the said house, lot, and premises, shall never pass into
the hands of strangers, who are not related to me by
consanguinity, I do hereby, with a view to prevent
such contingency, devise, bequeath, and give, the said
house, lots, and premises and all the appurtenances there-
unto belonging, or appertaining, from and after the death
of my said wife, to the State of Tennessee, but to be held
by the said State of Tennessee in trust, for the following
uses, objects, and purposes, and none other, that is to
say: the said State of Tennessee, through its Governor
for the time being, or if he should decline to assume the
obligation of the trust, then through such other person as
the Legislature of the said State may from time to time
empower and authorize for the purpose, shall permit the
660
LIFE AND TIMES OF
said house, lots and premises to be occupied and enjoyed
by such one of my blood relations having the name of
Polk, as may be designated by the said State, or its au-
thorized agent, preferring always my nearest of kin of
the name of Polk, if there be such a person, who shall be
deemed worthy, and a proper person to occupy the same;
but if at any time there shall be no blood relation bearing
the name of Polk, then the said house, lots, and premises
shall be occupied and enjoyed by such other of my blood
relations as may be designated by the said State to execute
the trust. Whichever of my blood relations shall after
the death of my said beloved wife, Sarah Polk, use, oc-
cupy, and enjoy the said house, lots, and premises, shall
be required to keep the same in repair, so as to prevent
therefrom dilapidating or falling into decay; shall pay the
public taxes thereon, and shall preserve and keep in repair
the tomb which may be placed or erected over the mortal
remains of my beloved wife and myself, and shall not
permit to be removed, nor shall any buildings or im-
provements be placed or ordered over the spot where the
said tomb may be. I request the public authorities of
the State of Tennessee, whose people I have so long
served in various public stations, and to whom I am
under so many obligations of gratitude, at the death of
my beloved wife, Sarah Polk, to accept and execute the
trust specified in this demise. . . .
"Should I survive her (Mrs. Polk), unless influenced
by circumstances which I do not now foresee, it is my in-
tention to emancipate all -my slaves, and I have full con-
fidence, that if at her death she shall deem it proper, she
will emancipate them."
This remarkable will is likely to give the State a
great deal of trouble after the death of Mrs. Polk.
The extraordinary feature, that of the entail of the
" house, lots, and premises^' where he lived and where
JAMES KNOX POLK.
661
he is buried in Nashville, is unwise and unrepublican,
and contrary to the spirit of the country. It would
seem amazing that a Democratic President would at-
tempt to perpetrate such an act. What would Thomas
Jefferson, after his conquest and destruction of primo-
geniture in Virginia, the most aristocratic and Angli-
can of the original Colonies, have thought of the effort
to re-establish tlie principle in Tennessee? And for
what ? To please and patronize the oldest and most
worthy consanguineous Polk would not be adequate.
Eventually it might become a serious matter for the
Legislature of Tennessee to determine the most
worthy. To carry this provision out for a few gen-
erations might become a very intricate, delicate, and
unsatisfactory trust. It must be confessed that this
bears the appearance of an unworthy act in the life
of James K. Polk. An attempt, that must prove abor-
tive, to establish an eternal shrine for himself in the
heart of a great city. To impose such a trust upon
the community, willing to do justice, of its own ac-
cord, to his memory, was not unmixed with extreme
selfishness; to desire his tomb to be separated from
those of the men with whom he lived was not repub-
lican, was too aristocratic and exclusive to become a
matter of admiration in America. The only pallia-
tion there is in the case, if such thing could have any
apology, may be found in the tendency of most of
the Presidents who preceded him to do the same
thing.
It is not necessary or pleasing to enlarge on a
subject that can have few supporters. This will has
662
LIFE AND TIMES OF
never been made public. I found it among tKe
records of the county in the office of the County
Clerk at Nashville.
On the 22d of May, 1850, the remains of Presi-
dent Polk, which had been, at his death, deposited
in the vault of a friend in the cemetery of Nash-
ville, were removed with Masonic and other cere-
monies, to the vault prepared for them in front of
his former residence. Bishop Otey, an old friend
of Mr. Polk, was the orator of the occasion, and al-
though well acquainted with Mr. Polk, his estimate
of his Christian character was hardly correct, nor was
it fully approved by the now venerable widow. On
that day a Nashville paper contained this remark,
among other things, concerning Mr. Polk:—
"Whatever difference of opinion there may be upon
the policy of his Administration, there is none as to the
blameless purity of the man, his unswerving fidelity to his
country, and his ceaseless devotion to the extraordinary
labors of his term; more burdensome than of any other in
our history. He had hardly time, after returning again to
private life and its comforts, to which be had been so long
a stranger, to look hack upon the stormy scenes in which
he had displayed so distinguished a part, before he was cut
down."
The yard in front of the Polk residence is set in
shrubbery, and in the midst of this stands the tomb
under which lie the remains of the eleventh President
of the United States, although on the front face of
the structjire, in the frieze, is an inscription which
strangely reads: " James Knox Polk, 10th President
JAMES KNOX POLK.
663
of the U. S., Born 2d Nov. 1795, Died June 15th,
1849."
On the east face of the monument is this inscrip-
tion : " The mortal remains of James Knox Polk are
resting in the vault beneath. He was born in Meek-
lenburg Co., North Carolina, and emigrated with his
father, Samuel Polk, to Tennessee in 1806. The
beauty of virtue was illustrated in his life. The ex-
cellence of Christianity was exemplified in his death."
On the south side are these words: " By his public
policy he defined, established, and extended the bound-
aries of his country. He planted the laws of the
Americjin Union on the shores of the Pacific. His
influence and his counsel tended to organize the
National Treasury on the principles of the Constitu-
tion, and to apply the rule of Freedom to Navigation,
Trade and Industry."
And on the north face are the following words:
" His life was devoted to the public service. He was
elevated successively to the first places in the State
and Federal Governments. A member of the Gen-
eral Assembly; a member of Congress, and Chairman
of the most important Congressional Committees;
Speaker of the House of Representatives; Governor
of Tennessee and President of the United States."
The west face is without writing of any kind, and
is designed for the epitaph of the widow. Part of
this inscription was evidently taken from George Ban-
croft's notice in England of Mr. Polk's death.
The estate of President Polk and his wife, at the
time of his death, amounted to between seventy-five
664
LIFE AND TIMES OF
and one hundred thousand dollars; but this included
a few slaves. From his legal practice he derived a
support, but his fortune was mainly inherited by him-
self and Mrs. Polk, both of them also inheriting
slaves. Mr. Polk was charged with being an emanci-
pationist at an early time in his political contests in
Tennessee, by his Whig opponents. He or his friends
denied this electioneering charge, and the Whigs
themselves did not believe it to be true. But it was
true. That Mr. Polk was an emancipationist is
clearly enough seen in his " will." While he was a
Southern man, and his political views were in har-
mony with the purposes of his section as to territorial
and other privileges for the South, he was never sat-
isfied as to the very existence of the institution of
slavery, and believed that it must some day fall.
While it was natural enough for Freesoilers, Northern
Whigs, and others to charge that Mr. Polk slipped
away from his former position as to the Oregon
boundary with the Southern policy of preventing
territorial expansion north of the slave or Missouri
Compromise line, yet this was a mistake, and in that
mistake have labored all the writers on his Adminis-
tration. He was not, at heart, in sympathy with the
extension of slavery. With Washington, Jefferson,
Madison, Clay, Andrew Johnson, and many other
Southern men, he was an emancipationist, and his
wife, unlike those of other Presidents from the South,
earnestly and fully shared with him in this senti-
ment. This matter is now plain, however much it may
startle many of his political friends and opponents.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
665
The widow of President Polk was Sarah Child-
ress, daughter of Joel Childress and his wife, Eliza-
beth Whitsitt. She was born September 4, 1803, in
or near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and was married to
Mr. Polk, September 1, 1824. Joel Childress was ti
Virginian, and his wife a native of North Carolina.
He early became a citizen of Tennessee, where he
was known as an enterprising and upright merchant.
He died in 1819 at the age of forty-four; and his
wife died in 1862 in her eightieth year.
They were both Presbyterians, and like the great
mass of people in that, and even this, age of this
country, possessed of little of what is commonly re-
garded as education. But they were numbered
among the good and valuable people of the commu-
nity. Two of their four children are yet living.
One of them, John W. Childress, at an advanced
age, is living at Murfreesboro, and has a large family.
The other living child is Mrs. Sarah Polk. .
Mrs. Polk was* sent, in 1818, to "complete her
education" at the old Moravian Institute, at Salem,
North Carolina, where she remained for two years.
During the fourteen years Mr. Polk was in Congress
she usually spent the winters with him in Wash-
ington, where she was soon recognized as one of the
leading "society women," much to the satisfaction
of Mr. Polk, who caring little for society himself
was very willing to have a faithful, representative
in the fickle world. She and her husband both in-
herited " easy circumstances," and were able, with-
out risk, to conform to the demands of fashion in
666
LIFE AND TIMES OF
" Congressional circles." But at that day life in Wash-
ington was less expensive than it is now. The
aristocratic mess system of that time long since ter-
minated. Then a few congenial members and their
families forming select sets were accustomed to rent
rooms in some of the many boarding-housesj and
have a parlor in common, but excluding all persons
not invited or authorized by some member of the
set. For a time Mrs. Polk and her husband made
a part of one of these "sets."
Mr. Polk was not himself a society man, while
not being at all indifferent to the demands of so-
ciety upon public men. He was a student, and
when in Washington gave himself to business and
the duties of his position rather than to fashionable
folly and pastime. He was in this conscientious, as "
he was, perhaps, in everything he did from his
college days to the end of his life. He was very
favorable to the society tendencies of his wife.
Recognizing what he believed to'be the obligations,
and certainly the policy, of aspiring men to society,
he hoped by her course himself to be relieved from
much of the drudgery and harassment from that
source. He was accustomed to say that she had
nothing else to do, which was unfortunately often
true, and that her presence would go far towards re-
lieving him, and thus he would be enabled to satisfy
the demands .upon himself by the least possible
draft upon his feelings and employments. Mostly
at the dinners and receptions he appeared with Mrs.
Polk, but usually occupied himself with matters of
JAMES KNOX POLK.
667
more interest than flirtations and gossip. He was
in no sense a beau, and unlike many of his contem-
poraries avoided disgusting pretensions in that way.
Soon after her marriage Mrs. Polk took up her
residence with her husband at Columbia. At this
place they made their home until after returning
from Washington in 1849, and here they usually
spent their time during the vacations of Congress,
occasionally visiting Mr. Polk's little plantation near
Grenada, Mississippi. And here, in 1834, Mrs.
Polk united with the Presbyterian Church, in which
she had been reared. Yet this step in her life made
no perceivable change in her social interests, and
especially not in those relating to the position of
her husband. When Mr. Polk became Governor of
the State she went with him to Nashville, where
her house became the center of the "fashionable
elegance," as well as of the political diplomacy of
the old Capital. Mrs. Polk accompanied her hus-
band to Washington in February, 1845j and on the
long route shared with him a great part of the at-
tention of the people, especially of the women.
Coming from the South, it was supposed that the
President and his wife would have an army of serv-
ants at their heels, but in this the curious were dis-
appointed. Only two attendants of this description
accompanied them, and these were to become "help"
about the White House. On arriving in Washington
they took rooms at Coleman's Hotel, where they re-
mained until the 4th of March.
At Coleman's Mrs. Polk had her parlor, as had
668
LIFE AND TIMES OF
the President his, and here the stream of friends,
flatterers, and office-seekers set in from the day of
their arrival. General Wool, an old acquaintance of
Mrs. Polk, came to Washington in February, es-
pecially to be her escort at the inauguration, and
with him. Judge Brown, of Tennessee, and Mrs.
Judge Catron, she attended the ceremonies at the
Capitol.
It had become at this time the convenient and
proper thing for the outgoing President and his
family to vacate the White House on the evening
of the 3d of March. This Mr. Tyler's family had
done, and immediately after the inauguration on the
4th President Polk and his family took possession.
Mrs. Polk never attended a theater, nor did the
President, while they were at the White House,
although they were both, like most of its occupants,
at other times addicted to the folly of theater-going.
At the time President Polk entered the White
House he had a home at Columbia, Tennessee, and
his plantation in Mississippi. From the latter and
his profession he received his support. Then, the
affairs at the White House were in some respects
quite different from what they are at the present
day. The President paid from his salary most of
the expenses of the White House. The fifteen or
twenty servants, including the steward, cooks, house-
keeper, etc., were paid out of his salary, and even
the expense of light and fuel was borne by him.
The general control of the furniture and affairs of
the residence was under the commissioner of public
JAMES KNOX POLK.
669
buildings, appointed by Congress. It may readily
be seen under these circumstances how it was that
none of these earlier Presidents made any money,
and that some of them left the office with debts
hanging over them from which they were never re-
lieved. President Polk accumulated nothing. Mrs.
Polk states that they had not saved enough .at the
end of the term to support them a year in their
quiet home at Nashville. With a salary of $50,000
and everything furnished the case is different. The
furniture then, as now, was supplied by Congres-
sional appropriations. Over this Mr. Polk exercised
a conscientious control, although at some of the din-
ners the destruction was very considerable.
As " Lady of the White House," Mrs. Polk made
no visits or calls. Although at first she had de-
cided on this course, she was confirmed in it by a
little event that happened early after her occupancy
of the Presidential Mansion. Mrs. Dolly Payne
Madison was then^ a resident of Washington, and by
the assistance of Payne Todd, her son, having man-
aged greatly to reduce her circumstances, Mrs. Polk
was accustomed to call when riding out to take Mrs.
Madison with her. On one of these excursions she
found Mrs. Madison surrounded with company, and
on going out of her carriage to wait for her, was at
once met by Mrs. Madison's visitors with the ques-
tion as to whether she would not, as Mrs. Madison
had done, return calls, and visit her friends, and not
remain pompous and exclusive at the White House.
Mrs. Polk at once appealed to Mrs. Madison and
670
LIFE AND TIMES OF
said she would be subject to ber .decision in the
case. Upon which Mrs. Madison very promptly
stated that the times bad greatly changed since her
day at the Executive Mansion; that one parlor then
held all the visitors, that now the whole house
would not hold them; that Washington had become
too populous to make it desirable for the plan she
had pursued to be satisfactorily carried out.
Mrs. Polk held two regular evening receptions
every week, and one on every Saturday morning
during the sessions of Congress. This Saturday
morning reception, it is believed, was started under
her auspices, and was at the instigation of the mem-
hers of Congress, who had leisure on that day, both
houses usually adjourning on Friday evening.
While in tTie White House Mrs. Polk attended
with great regularity the Presbyterian Church on
4i Street, and was one of its most charitable sup-
porters. Her departure from Washington, in 1849,
was made the occasion of considerable " fuss and
«
feathers" in this Church. It was regarded as her
final leave-taking, and so it turned out to be, as she
has never since visited Washington City.
During Mr. Polk's Administration the Mexican
war absorbed almost every other interest, yet it was
so much a one-sided affair, and contractors and every-
body and everything else in the United States were
in such a flourishing condition that there was little
diminution in social gayeties at the Capital, especially
in the "court circles." One of the events so doted
on by this class of people was the marriage of the
JAMES KNOX POLK.
671
sister of Secretary Walker at his residence. This
was made quite a grand affair; as was the mar-
riage of Commodore Shubrick's daughter. Colonel
Benton also, in 1848, gave his daughter Sarah to
Richard Taylor Jacob, afterwards Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor of Kentucky, arid an excellent man he was,
too. Colonel Jacob is still living, but now with a
second wife, near the Ohio River, in Kentucky. At
this wedding was Henry Clay, one of the most gal-
lant men of his age. He led Mrs. Jacob to the
supper-table. I confess it is annoying to me to be
obliged to speak of eating and drinking in connec-
tion with the highest and best deeds of men's hearts
and lives; and were it not for the privilege of saying
something of this kind, I do not think I should
mention that there is ever such a thing as eating
and drinking, mere animal necessities, which are
made less fuss over as men go up in the scale of re-
finement and intelligence.
Of the Southern women who have held the po-
si tion of " Mistress of the White House," Mrs. Polk
was, perhaps, best suited to the task by her long
training in Washington society. Strictly speaking,
besides "Lady Washington," the wife of Abraham
Lincoln, Mrs. A. J. Donelson, Mrs. John Tyler,
and the wife and daughter of President Johnson,
she is the only Southern woman who has occupied
that station. Mrs. Monroe and Dolly Madison were
really not Southern women. Mrs. Madison carried
the prize for universal popularity among all of the
"Ladies of the White House." Yet she was not
672
LIFE AND TIMES OF
possessed of the educational advantages of Mrs,
Polk. In the old regal pomp of the Colonies, Mrs.
Washington stands alone, and nobody compares with
her; but for social, diplomatic, and attractive traits,
from a republican point of view, most of them pre-
ceded her. Mrs. Polk was very dignified and ex-
elusive in the White House, and since she left it
she has very successfully adhered to the same course.
On the 3d of March (Saturday evening), 1849,
President and Mrs. Polk left the White House and
took quarters at a hotel. From his hotel on Mon-
day, the 5th, Mr. Polk joined General Taylor, and
attended him through his inaugural ceremonies at
the Capital. On the next day, with his wife, he
left on his long journey home, and with him Mrs.
Polk shared the " honors " of the trip more decidedly
than she had done on their tour to the Capital four
years before. Her Administration at the White
House, in some respects, had been more popular
than his notwithstanding her courage in shutting
dancing and card-playing out of the President's
Mansion, as being unbecoming and unsuited to the
dignity of the. place and office. Mrs. Polk's early
training at the Moravian Institute doubtless had an
influence on her after life. Her education was good
for that day, and at the time of her marriage she
was, to some extent, cultured in music, both vocal
and instrumental, but this she gave up during the
Congressional days of her husband, and now, al-
though a piano stands in one of her parlors, it is
quite certain that she does not use it. She is a
JAMES KNOX POLK
673
reader, and is well informed in the affairs of the
day. No doubt her association with distinguished
men led her to read more solid reading than is cus-
tomary with men, saying nothing about women.
But the peculiar circumstances of Mrs. Polk's life
make her in a great degree a woman of the past.
Indeed, this fact she not only recognizes but also
conducts herself in a way to lead others to take the
same view of her. No old ex-President of the
United States ever made more of a shrine of him-
self than does Mrs. Polk of herself ; and, perhaps,
none ever felt that he had more right to do so, or
that it was more proper to do so. She sits in her
old palace, rides out in the good weather of the
summer, but rarely in the winters; does not even
visit her friends, calls on nobody, accepts no invita-
tions, and waits for the curious, the formal, the flat-
tering, the friepdly and true "to call to do her
homage, or rather her husband in her. No woman,
perhaps, was ever truer to her husband and his
honor, and none ever took a greater pride and pleas-
ure in regarding and representing herself as the
work of his hands, and the bearer and inheritor of
his fame. She is one of the most fortunate women
who has ever lived in this country, in many respects.
It would be a mistake to think that she was, in any
sense, the architect of her good fortune. By her
parents she was cared for at every step and act, and
by the side of her husband, who was himself con-
cerned about little things, she was hardly allowed
to put one foot before the other without his care
43—K
674
LIFE AND TIMES OF
and direction, and after his death, his honors, to
some extent, settled upon her shoulders, and she
bears them along without vanity, perhaps, as if she
were the last possible gift of a great man to an ever
grateful country. It is a mere fantasy to suppose
that the duties of the "Lady" of the White Man-
sion, on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, are ever
onerous. No woman, at all tinctured with a sense
of flattery and attention with fashion, dress, and
gay and grand life, does not, would not, take her
life as President's wife as the center around which all
the glories of being in this world gathered. Mrs. Polk
so regarded it. For such women, so circumstanced,
Washington is the American Mecca. Beautiful
Washington! Charming Washington! Words can
hardly depict its delights. The Congressional days
of Mr. Polk were to Mrs. Polk glorious, indeed, and
those at the White House only finished for her the
ineffable charms of life. To her, life there was ah-
solutely without a care. She looked after nothing,
not even the chair on which she sat, let alone those
for others to occupy. When the day came for her
to go in, she went, and hardly did the gold spoon go
to her mouth by her own direction, or the foot to the
soft floors; when the time came for her to go out,
she went, knowing that it was not even necessary
for her to stop to think that her successor would be
provided for, as she had been, by unseen hands and
influences, and like her be the pampered model and
idol of the devotee of fashion and politics, as well as
of poor common patriotism.
JAMES KNOX POLK.
675
Mrs. Polk is by no means a politician, nor was
she ever so in the most intense days of her husband's
public life, strictly speaking. His successes were
assured without her interference, and her line of duty
lay in the direction of social diplomacy. Still even
that is a hard term to use in her case. For art and
cunning in speech she never could have used, as she
is wholly free from such qualities now. She was
well acquainted with the public men of her husband's
official times, but she hardly went below or above
their social qualities. Men and names were more
than principles on the social plane. Yet she was bet-
ter informed than it was her disposition to make
known. Mrs. Polk early learned to be silent where
anything was at stake. She never told more than
she knew, and seldom made an effort to display what
she said as wisdom. She lived behind her husband,
as a politician, and now thinks that women then, as
now, were apt to talk too much. A misfortune, how-
ever, not at any period in human events especially
confined to "the sex." To-day Mrs. Polk, as much
as at any point in her long life, rejects the idea of
being called a politician, and manifests considerable
aversion to women giving themselves political airs.
After thirty years, standing alone, with great modesty
and firmness, she occupies her old position of com-
parative quiet in the shadow of her distinguished
deceased husband. Mr. Polk once had occasion dur-
ing a heated campaign in Tennessee to say, when she
had come to his rescue without his knowledge: "None
but Sarah knew so intimately my private affairs."
676
LIFE AND TIMES OF
This statement was at once a mark of his wisdom
and of hers, and a demonstration of the fact that the
one, fit above all others to be intrusted with his
honor, and the minutest knowledge of his life, actu-
ally held that place with him.
During the Rebellion Mrs. Polk was, perhaps,
somewhat misrepresented as to her position in the
great conflict. But she was not a talker, and her
sentiments were seldom made known. It was, no
doubt, her constant effort and her pride to feel that
she was national in her character, and was not to be
considered as in any way connected with a war which
she believed was all wrong, and never should have
been. When told that while she took this lofty
position, and fully sanctioned her husband's views as
to the ultimate end of slavery, during the great con-
flict, her sympathies may have, in spite of her, taken
a certain shape. "Yes," said she, "when it came to
actual conflict, and the lives of the people with whom
I had always lived, and whose ways were my ways,
were at stake, my sympathies were with them; but
my sympathies did not involve my principles, and I
always have belonged, and do now belong, to the
whole country. I repeat again that Mr. Polk was an
emancipationist, and I concurred with him fully, and
would have carried out his views to the last if I
could. But the end came sooner than he expected,
sooner than I expected, and settled all for us. It
was the work of Providence. The question is dead.
It is not even necessary to talk of it. And I have
no complaints to make. I am content."
JAMES KNOX POLK.
677
Mrs. Polk is full medium in height, appears larger
than she is, weighs about one hundred and thirty-
five pounds; face is rounder and fuller than when
younger; has high, broad forehead; dark, not blue,
eyes; long, large nose; large mouth; lips usually
open showing long upper teeth, some of which are
artificial, lacking some teeth where they ought to be;
hair hardly gray, kept in ringlets in front; always
wears a little turban or bandeau of white and black
crape, trimmed in black ribbon, and wears a black
gown relieved by streaks of white at the neck
and breast. After the death of her husband, Mrs.
Polk adopted her niece. Miss Sarah Polk Jetton,
who now lives with her in the old Grundy-Polk
mansion, and is the wife of George W. Fall, a mer-
chant of Nashville.
The diary prepared by the President during his
last year in the White House, and many of his other
writings and papers, all of them in fact, are scrupu-
lously held by Mrs. Polk, with the view of their
finally becoming a part of the history of the country.
It is the design, at all events it is Mrs. Polk's design,
at her death that all of this shall make some sort of
history of Mr. Polk's times. Mrs. Polk is in pos-
session of very few of her husband's letters. But
Mr. Polk retained the letters of his friends and polit-
ical associates, etc., and these she has preserved.
They are in an old case in the room used by Mr.
Polk as his office, and are as he labeled them him-
self. These constitute a considerable part of his re-
maining papers.
678
LIFE AND TIMES OF
The old house in which Mr. Polk died, and in
which his widow now lives, is brick, unpainted, two
stories high, and consists of twelve rooms, and two
great halls opening into the center of the house on
both floors, to both fronts and porches, and is located
on Vine and Union Streets, but stands far back in
the yard, and the yard and outbuildings extend to
Spruce Street on the west side of the property.
The main, long front, faces Vine Street on the east,
and the other front is to the south, opening into
Polk Avenue, beginning against the Polk Place and
opening and terminating on Church Street. The
two big yards stretching out from each front, are
filled with mulberry and poplar trees mainly, and
various small shrubs, no effort being made to orna-
ment the grounds, or more than to keep them and
the house from positive decay and dilapidation, with
a view of maintaining the same general appearance
as at the death of Mr. Polk. In the great hall on
the second floor (which is covered with straw mat-
ting) there are several old book-cases which have
solid doors, and look as if they were made by a
neighborhood carpenter, in which are the books that
belonged to Mr. Polk's law library, dusty and poorly
kept. Every thing here is dreary enough. In the
southeast corner on the second floor, with the great
hall on two sides cutting it from all other rooms, is
a large square room which was occupied by Mr.
Polk as his office. Like the rooms on the first floor,
the ceiling is very high. The musty and dusty paper
peeled off, and in places falling from the wall, a drear-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
679
looking old fire-place on one side (next the hall), a
long office table in the center of the room on which
are some of Mr. Polk's manuscript covered with
newspapers and sprinkled with tobacco, to keep off
dust and moth. Two or three of the book-cases
similar to those in the hall are in this room; boxes,
demijohns, trunks, etc., surround the wall, most of
them having been used to convey presents to the
President. An old black leather trunk, not miich
the worse of the wear, with the letters J. K. P. on
its 6nd,. stands against the wall, the whole presenting
as uninviting and cold an appearance on a cold day as
any one would desire to see. In one of the parlors,
in a case with glass doors, is a little fancy case con-
taining a number of mementos of the great days of
Mr. Polk, and among them more than a half-dozen
canes of different kinds, presented by admiring
friends. In the library room there is a pair of
boots made as a present by some shoe-maker in
North Carolina, and William, the colored boy, said
they were a hundred-dollar pair, but the Presi-
dent never wore them, of course. They have ex-
ceedingly long flat toes, and look as if they were
designed for a minstrel, notwithstanding the gilt
stamped and stitched uppers and legs.
In one of the parlors are portraits of Jefferson
(flattering him greatly, and making him look much
superior to " little Jim Madison ") and Madison, also
Old Hickory, and Healy's portrait of Mr. Polk, made
while he was President, in 1848, the best picture of
him extant. And here also is a portrait of Mrs.
680
LIFE AND TIMES OF
Polk, taken by Healy at the same time. All these
are bust pictures. No full lengths are found in the
house. Healy's picture of Mrs. Polk is wholly un-
like any others of her, at any stage of her life. It
represents a dark. Southern women, with long raven
curls and bangs, with a determined, if not a daring
and adventurous will, a strange and attractive picture.
The fine neck and round and beautiful shoulders and
breast are bare, the whole presenting a wild, fiery-
eyed ideal kind of woman of great strength, and a
style of character and beauty which very improbahly
ever belonged to Mrs. Polk.
In the common parlor, on the southeast corner
of the Polk residence, are several interesting pic-
tures, and some other objects worthy of note
connected with President Polk. On the large man-
tel-piece are several of his first valuable public docu-
ments, printed and framed, and one of the specimens
of needlework done on canvas by Mrs. Polk, when
she was a pupil in the Salem Institute. But in this
room is the finest portrait ever made of Mrs. Polk,
executed a few years ago by a Nashville artist.
Although taken twenty-five years later than the
others, it exhibits a fuller and more handsome face,
and a head and general contour of much more char-
acter and force. Here, too, is found a picture of
her taken in the earlier days, by Earl, the compan-
ion and friend of Jackson, whose bones now molder
near those of the old hero in the garden at the Her-
mitage. This picture, like that of Healy's best, the
strange, weird picture in the other parlor, does not
JAMES KNOX POLK.
681
show an open mouth with exposed upper teeth. It
represents a young woman of a high forehead, an
exceedingly long and pointed nose, and sharp,
pointed chin, dark hair and skin, and a beautiful
neck and shoulders, which are entirely clear of cov-
ering or ornament. This picture conveys no idea
whatever of the Mrs. Polk of to-day. Earl's por-
trait of Mr. Polk, taken at the same time, is prob-
ably accurate, and is a good piece of work. A copy
of Healy's picture of Polk is in the State Library
at the Capitol, in Nashville.
Here (in the State Library) is found quite a
valuable collection of portraits. All the governors
of the State, except two or three; a very fine full-
length portrait of W. G. Brownlow, with his long
projecting white cuffs, and loose, slip-shod clothing.
Also a fine full-length picture of General Geo. H.
Thomas. Also full-length portraits of Felix Grundy
and Cave Johnson. Here, too, is a f\ne picture of
David Crocket, one of the rare geniuses in which
Tennessee has been so fruitful; and Crocket's tall,
side-board, white collars are as conspicuous • as
Brownlow's cufifs. The picture of Andrew Johnson
in this collection is the finest of him in existence,
and those of H. L. White, John Bell, and many
others, are very good. There is here a very fair
portrait of Abraham Lincoln. But the most no-
ticeable and interesting portraits in the lot, to me,
are two by Earl, of Andrew Jackson and his wife.
They hang side by side over the entrance to the
Law Library. The General's is a full side view.
682
LIFE AND TIMES OF
and no copies of it, perhaps, have ever been taken.
His chin appears much drawn in and shortened, and
his nose apparently greatly lengthened and sharp-
ened. His lips are primped and drawn close with
a perpendicular aspect; his spectacles are on, and
the frame is red; he holds a book, evidently the
Bible, in his hands (both hands), the whole face
and attitude presenting a most pious, Sunday morn-
ing air. He is reading to "Aunt Rachel," and he is
saying, it is reasonable to suppose : " Ye—have—
heard — it — said—by—them—of—old-time,—an—
eye — for — an — eye, — and—a— tooth—for—a—
tooth." The dress of the General is scrupulously ■»
neat, and the head well " stocked" up according to
the fashion of the times. The picture of " Old Mis-
tus" presents a very opposite idea in every respect,
and, if these pictures were believed, it would be
hard to come to any other conclusion than that the
weight of pie^ was mainly on the General's side,
that he was the dear, good Dr. Philanthropus him-
self. Rachel has a kind of fat, easy, don't-care ap-
pearance about her, and a decided sparkle from her
eyes, which says very evidently : " That is all right.
Father Prim, Honey, but look at me!" Her ap-
pearance and garb take all solemnity from the scene.
She has a coral strand around her fat, thick, short
neck, and her fat breasts are mainly bare. Her
great flabby, double chin, and wide mouth suggest
the air of perfect contentment; her full upper lip
looks dirty with its sprinkling of black hair; her
great arms, thick as lamp-posts, are folded, and bare
JAMES KNOX POLX.
683
away up nearly to the shoulders; and it certainly
would be difficult for anybody to look at these two
pictures, and take a second thought, without being
startled by the sense of the ridiculous, and ridicu-
lously true, which lights up the whole scene. These
two remarkable and interesting subjects the faithful
Earl always had before him, and it may not be
wondered at that the spirit of truthful caricature
sometimes guided his artistic hand.
INDKX.
A
Abolitionists—nominate candi-
dates for the Presidency and
Vice-Presidency, 68.
Adams, J. Q.—gives his opinion
of Mr. Polk, 37—his Florida
treaty, 67—describes Mr. Polk's
inauguration, 102 — his claims
for the United States on the
Pacific, 215—votes for notifying
England as to Oregon, 217—
opposes the declaration of war
with Mexico, 243.
Administration—Mr. Polk's im-
mediately sets about the work
to which it was pledged, 138,
139—prepares to send an army
to Texas, 139, 140—efforts at
negotiation with Mexico, 141,
142, 143, 224—considers the Or-
egon question, 144 — did not
want war with England, 218—
prepares for war with Mexico,
claims to the Eio Grande, at-
tempts negotiation, 224—sup-
ported by Congress, 247, 248—
its purposes in sending Fremont
to California, 265, 266—how it
secures the easy conquest of
New Mexico, 289, 296—in a fer-
ment, 471 — recalls Mr. Trist,
472—end of Mr. Polk's, 643—
events of, 644, 645, 646, 647.
Allen, William, of Ohio—opposes
the surrender of Oregon, favors
maintaining the party prom-
ises, 214, 217.
Ampudia, General Pedro—orders
Taylor to march back to the
Nueces, 228.
Arista, General Mariano—issues
an address to the American sol-
diers, 229, 230—effects of his
address, 230.
Army of Occupation—name for
Taylor's force in Texas, 260—
at Matamoras, 262—at Monte-
rey, 263.
B
Bancroft, George—^becomes Sec-
retary of the Navy, 118—his or-
der to pass Santa Anna, 376—
becomes Minister to England,
object of his appointment, 647.
Battles—first of the Mexican
War, 231—of Palo Alto and Re-
saca de la Palma, 260—of Mon-
terey, 263 — in California, 267-
275—of Covoda, of Puehla de
Taos, 286,287—of Santa Cruz de
Resales, 288—Vera Cruz, 302,
303—of Cerro Gordo, 387-395—
of Contreras, 419,420—of Chur-
ubusco, 433, 434, 435, 436—of
Molino del Rey, 443, 444—of
Chapultepec, of the City of
Mexico, 447, 448, 449-463.
Beauregard, Captain P. G. T.—an
engineer at Contreras, 419—
wounded in battle before the
City of Mexico, 462.
Bell, John—enters Congress, 31—
defeats Polk for Speaker, 38—
685
686
INDEX.
his unfriendly contest with
Polk, 39—defeated for Speaker,
41.
Benton, Thomas H.—opposed the
scheme to annex Texas, 63—
describes the convention of
1844, 70—his views on the elec-
tion of 1844, 99—he describes
"The Globe" intrigue, 124,
125—his resolutions for nego-
tiating, not fighting, for Texas,
137—he claims the boundary
of 49°, 196—describes the Ore-
gon muddle, 207—leads for 49°,
214—describes the steps to the
declaration of war, 244—de-
scribes Fremont's conquest of
California, 275, 276—gives the
key to the bloodless conquest
of New Mexico, 289, 290 291,
292—his opinion on Mr. Polk's
view of the causes of the war,
363, 364—his hand in the sec-
ond annual message of Mr.
Polk, 366,367—proposes a plan,
370—fails to become General-
in-chief, 371—his views of the
course of Mr. Calhoun on slav-
ery, 534, 641.
Bent, Charles—appointed Gover-
nor of New Mexico, 281—mur-
dered by the Mexicans, 286.
Birney, James G.—nominated for
the Presidency, 68—vote he re-
ceived, 98.
Blair, Francis P.—commended to
President Polk, 121—his oppo-
sition to President Tyler, 122—
sells "The Globe," 123, 124—
source of the purchase money,
125,126—sympathy he received
from General Jackson, 127,128,
129,130.
Brown, Aaron Vail—draws out
General Jackson, 63.
Buchanan, James—receives votes
for the Presidency, 69—becomes
Secretary of State, 118—his as-
surances to the Mexican Min-
ister, 141—notifies Texas of the
disposition of the Administra-
tion to protect her, 142.
Butler, Wm. 0.—taken to Wash-
ington to be made Secretary of
War, 120—enters Mexico with
an army, 471—takes chief com-
mand in Mexico, 481—leads the
army out of Mexico, 555.
Butler, Benj. F.—how he missed
being a member of the Cabinet,
120.
C
Cabinet—Mr. Polk's, 117—organ-
ized, members of, 118—diflScul-
ties in the way of its organiza-
tion, 120,121—its secret scheme
for easy conquest, 365, 375,376—
Mr. Polk's, 647.
Cadwallader, General George—
reaches Puebla, 405—at Centre-
ras, 419—at Churubusco, 435—
at the City of Mexico, 456.
California—a revolutionary Hex-
ican pro-vince, 265—entered by
an exploring company from the
United States, 266—story of its
conquest, 267-278.
Calhoun, J. C.—his prospects for
the Presidency revive, 62—his
Texas annexation Auews, 62—re-
ceives votes ior the Presidential
nomination, 69—his opposition
to conventions, 80 — his final
failure, 79,83—desired to go into
% the new Cabinet, 121—^the story
of his trade with Mr. Polk,
123, 124, 125—his course as to
slavery, Mr. Benton's view of,
531, 532, 533, 534, 641, 642.
INDEX.
687
Cannon, Newton — defeated by
Mr. Polk for Governor of Ten-
nessee, 45.
Cass, General Lewis — receives
votes for the Presidential nom-
ination, 69, 70.
City of Mexico—its location, its
ancient history, its natural san-
itary conditions, its social evils
and depravity, the fables con-
cerning it and the wonderful
valley, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426,
427, 428, 429, 430, 431—its cap-
tare by the Americans, 448—its
condition at the time, 476.
Clay, Henry—nominated for the
i^esidency, 61, 62, 67, 68—his
position on the annexation of
Texas, 64—his defeat, 91, 92,
96, 97, 98.
Congress — provides for the ad-
mission of Texas, the Senate
hoodwinked, 136,137—meets in
1845, organizes, 145, 151—an-
thorizes the President to end
the joint occupation of Oregon
with England, 216—its Senate
recommends a settlement on
the forty-ninth parallel and rati-
fies the Oregon Treaty, 220—
passes the act declaring war
with Mexico, provides for the
army, 243,247—its acts, 247,248,
256, 257—its tariff of 1846, 257—
passes an act to re-establish the
Snb-Treasury, 257—convenes in
1846, 314—its acts, bill for the
secret service, 379, 380—con-
venes in 1847, its acts, its long
sessions, length of its sessions
for fifty years or more, 485—
its acts in the session of 1847,
531, 532, 533, 534—the Senate
accepts the Mexican Treaty,
537—convenes in 1848, 582—
fierce conflict in, on slavery,
640, 641—its acts, 640.
Conner, Captain David—assigned
the task of blockading the Mex-
ican coast, 258,482—superseded,
301—his part in the prepara-
tions against Vera Cruz, 305.
Convention—^the Whig, in 1844,
62, 67, 68—Liberty party, in
1843, 68—Democratic, in 1844,
69,70—Mr.Benton's description
of, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74,- 79—Mr.
Calhoun's arguments against,
80, 83.
Crockett, David—^becomes a Con-
gressman, 31, 32—sent again to
Congress, his enmity to Mr.
Van Buren and ridicule of
General Jackson, 36—^his char-
acter, his death, 37—his por-
trait, 681.
Cross, Captain Truman — mur-
dered by the Mexicans, 231.
D
Dallas, George M.—nominated
for the Vice-Presidency, 70—
his election, 97—sketch of, 145,
146, 147, 148, 149, 150.
Davis, Garrett—assails the Ad-
ministration for its course in
Mexico, 382.
Democrats—make the Texas ques-
tion the great issue of 1844,
62—meet in convention, the
contest for nominations, 69, 70,
71—their platform in 1844, 85,
86—effect of their convention,
88, 89—their canvass in 1844,
89, 90, 92, 93, 94—their claims
and pledges as to Oregon, 88,115,
138, 195,197, 207—support war-
like views toward England,
197—many of them support the
688
INDEX.
Mexican war with reluctance,
244.
De Tocqueville—gives his opin-
ion of Congress, 32.
Donelson, A. J.—represents the
United States in Texas, 139—
advises General Taylor, 140—
thinks war inevitable, 142.
Doniphan, Colonel A. W.—^begins
his extraordinary expedition
from New Mexico, 293 — his
achievement, 294,295, 296.
Duncan, Colonel James—carries
a letter to General Scott, 415—
at Churubusco, 423—^is arrested
for writing a letter, 469.
E
Election—in 1844, 89, 90, 91, 92,
93, 94—count in the House, 96,
97—popular vote in that of 1844,
97, 98—cry of fraud in, 97, 98,
99—in 1848, 580, 581.
England accused of designs on
Texas, 62, 63—disposition to
fight her on the Oregon bound-
ary, 197 — foundations of her
claims on the Pacific, 198, 199,
200, 201, 202, 204, 205, 206,
215—notified as to the occupa-
tionof Oregon, 216,217—renews
her efibrt to settle the Oregon
dispute, 218—wants the 49°,
218—gets the 49°, 220, 221—the
suspicious conduct of her rep-
resentative in Mexico, 436.
F
Pbbhnghuysen,Theodore—nom-
inated for the Vice-Presidency,
68.
Free-soilers—their candidates in
1844, 68—their popular vote,
98.
Fremont, John C.—a captain in
the engineer corps, his trips of
exploration, starts on his grand
trip to California, 264—objects
of his expedition, 265, 266—
history of his conquest of Cali-
fornia, 267-284—his trial and
pardon, 272, 273.
Foote, Henry S.—gives his opin-
ion of Polk, 25.
G
Gaines, General E. P.—recruit-
ing officer at New Orleans,
261—sent to New York to get
him out of the way, 262.
Gilmer, Thpfiias W.—his trick
for the defeat of Mr. VanBuren,
62, 63, 64—the Virginia nulli-
fication leader, 63.
Globe, The—the organ of General
Jackson, 121—the wa.y of dis-
posing of, 122, 123 — its sale,
124—Mr. Benton's story of its
fate, 124, 125.
Greeley, Horace—his support of
Mr. Clay, 91, 92—his appear-
ance in Congress, 572.
Grundy, Felix—takes James K.
Polk as a law student, 24—^be-
comes a United States senator,
37. '
«
Hannegan, E. a.—arraigns the
Administration party, 212, 213.
Haywood, Wm. H.—speaks for
the President on Oregon, 209,
210, 212.
Harney, General William H.—at
Cerro Gordo, 392—in the valley
of the City of Mexico, 435.
House, White—vacated by Mr.
Tj'ler, its afiairs years ago,
668 — its occupants make no
visits, 669—the way it was con-
INDEX.
689
ducted under the Polks, 670,
671, 672—the American Mecca,
674.
J
Jackson, General—attends the
inauguration of Mr. Polk as
Governor of Tennessee, 46—his
deification, 60—agrees to the
Sabine Eiver boundary, 67—
advises Mr. Polk, his advice
not heeded, 120,121—his feel-
ing for Mr. Blair and "The
Globe," his letters to Blair,
128, 129,130, 131, 132.
Jackson, Aunt Hannah — her
views of General Jackson's re-
ligion and hereafter, 60.
Jefierson, Thomas—his claims on
the Pacific, 215.
Jesup, General Thomas S.—ac-
cused of mismanagement, his
charges against General Taylor,
261.
Johnson, Richard Mentor—re-
ceives votes for the Vice-Presi-
dency, 69, 70.
Johnson, Cave—^becomes a mem-
her of Congress, 31, 39—be-
comes Postmaster-General, 118.
Jones, James C. — defeats Mr.
Polk in a race for governor, 59—
again defeats Mr. Polk, 60.
K
Kearney, General Stephen W.—
to lead an army into New Mexico
and California, 257—arrives in
California, his troubles, arrests
Fremont, 270, 271, 272—takes
possession of New Mexico, sets
up a new government, 279,280,
381—his course not appproved
at Washington, 281, 282—his
conduct and achievements in
California, 282-293—his won-
derful "Organic Law," 383.
L
Lane, General Jo.sEfti—sets out
from Vera Cruz for the City of
Mexico, whips Santa Anna,
464—whips Father Jaranta, 477,
478.
Lee, Captain Robert E.—an en-
gineer at Contreras, his judg-
ment, 418, 419—wounded in the
battles before the City of Mex-
ico, 462.
Lincoln, Abraham—first appears
in Congress, 572.
M
Mansfield, E. D.—his mistake,
226.
Marcy, William L.—receives votes
for the nomination for the Vice-
Presidency, 70—becomes Secre-
tary of War, 118—notifies Gen-
eral Taylor not to dispute about
boundaries, 225—^begins his dif-
ficulties with General Scott,
258, 259—his instructions to
General Kearney, 281—his let-
ter to Scott, 299.
Mason, John Y.—becomes Attor-
ney-General, 118.
McClellan, George B.—in the bat-
ties before the City of Mexico,
462.
McFerrin, J. B.—describes Mr.
Polk's religion and last hours,
655, 656.
Mexico—^thought to be too poor
and riotous to go to war, 138—
regards the course of the United
States as ground for war, state-
ment of'her Minister to that
effect, 139, 140—her territorial
claim, 139, 140, 224—declines
690
INDEX.
to hold diplomatic relations
with the United States, 140,
143, 144, 227—prepares for war,
140, 194—demands all the at-
tention <st the United States,
218—in a state of revolution,
prepares to fight, 227, 228—
character of her people and
leaders, 229,231,232—her troops
cross the Rio Grande, strike the
first blow of the war, 231, 232—
her condition and resistance in
California, 266-278—conduct of
her citizens, their treatment of
the enemy in their midst, 294,
295, 206, 405—her troops at
Cerro Gordo, 389, 394—one of
her citizens replies to Scott's
pompous proclamation, 403,
404—her determination to fight,
406—her governmental difllcul-
ties, 406, 407—authorizes guer-
rilla warfare, 408 — her army
whipped at Contreras, 419,420—
her army whipped in all the
battles of the valley of the City,
her Capital falls, her fate and
government, 447-466—her con-
dition, 476.
Message—Mr. Polk's first annual,
151, 194—Mr. Polk's, to the
Senate on the 49°, 218—Mr.
Polk's Mexican War, 234—Mr.
Polk's French veto, 249 — Mr.
Polk's Santa Anna two million
message, 253—Mr. Polk's second
annual, 315—Mr. Polk's third
annual, 486—Mr. Polk's fourth
annual, 582.
Morris, Thomas—Nominated for
the Vice-Presidency, 68.
N ,
New Mexico—taken possession of
by troops of the United States,
279—her citizens take an oath
to the new master, 280—secret
of her easy conquest, 289, 290,
291, 292—laws set up in, 381,
382, 383.
Nicholson, Judge A. O. P.—his
judgment in his eulogy on
Polk, 9—quoted, 18 — receives
Mr. Polk in a speech, 94.
O
Oregon—54°, 40^, the Democratic
claim to in the platform of 1844,
88—the claim to reafiirmed in
Mr. Polk's inaugural address,
115—the party pledged to, 138,
195, 207—war threatened on ac-
count of, 197 — history of the
claims to, 198-216—its joint oc-
cupancy, 216, 217 — Treaty of,
with England, 221.
P
Patterson, General Robert —
at Cerro Gordo, 393—on the
National Road, 476.
Perry, Captain Matthew C.—takes
command of the fleet at Vera
Cruz, 301—his part in the cap-
ture of that place, 302, 309,
311—his head-quarters at Vera
Cruz, 385.
Pierce, Franklin—reaches Puebla,
405—at Contreras, 435—at Chur-
ubusco, 435.
Pillow, General Gideon J.—takes
part in the capture of Vera
Cruz, 305 — at Cerro Gordo
389 — favors the Santa Anna
bribe, 410—in command of a
division, 413—at Churubusco,
433, 435—at the City of Mexico,
455—under arrest, 468—pushes
his trial and difficulty with
Scott, his acquittal, 481, 482..
INDEX.
691
Polk—history of the name and
word, 11.
Polk, Robert—American progeni-
itor, 11 — settles in Maryland,
his descendants in North Caro-
lina, Kentucky, and other parts,
12, 13, 14.
Polk, Colonel W. H.—furnishes
a genealogical sketch of the
Polk family for this work, 14.
Polk, Samuel — son of Ezekiel
Polk, father of James K. Polk,
15 — emigrates to Tennessee,
17—his family, his death, 18—
his character and conduct,
course with his son, 20, 21, 22.
Polk, Jane (Knox)—wife of Sam-
uel Polk, 15—mother of James
K. Polk, 17—her death, story
of her second marriage, her
character, 18, 19.
Polk, James Knox—birth, 17—
his literary education, 19, 20,
21, 22, 23, 24—his early strug-
gle against disease, 20, 21—
Bishop Otey's view of his col-
lege life, 23—begins the study
of the law, 24—becomes ac-
quainted with General Jackson,
25—locates at Columbia, 25—
as a lawyer, 25, 26, 27—begins
his political career, enters the
Legislature, advances the cause
of General Jackson, 28—his
early political views, introduces
a bill to suppress dueling, 29—
elected to Congress, 29—takes
his seat, 30—opposes Mr. Ad-
ams's Administration, 30, 31—
re-elected, 31—takes a new po-
sition on internal improve-
ments, defends General Jack-
son, his work in Congress, 32,
33, 34, 35—defeated for Speaker,
38—his conduct in supporting
the regular nominee in 1836,
39 — begins his quarrel with
John Bell, 39 — re-elected to
Congress, 39—elected Speaker,
his services as Speaker, 41, 42—
his address to the House on
retiring from Congress, 43 —
elected governor, his inaugural
address, 45, 46, 57—put forward
for the Vice-Presidency, acts as
governor, 58, defeated for gov-
ernor, resumes his profession^
59, 61—again defeated for gov-
ernor, 60—his views on the
Texas question, 65, 66—his er-
rors as to Mr. Adams and the
Florida Treaty, 66, 67 — nomi-
nated for the Presidency, 70—
his letter of acceptance, 84—
his surprise at his own success,
88—his Kane Tariff letter, 93,
94—vote for, 96,97—goes to the
Capital, 101, 102—his inaugura-
tion, his address, 102, 103,104,
117—his Cabinet, 118,120,121—
visits General Jackson, how
influenced by him, 119, 120—
making his Cabinet 120, 121—
his way of disposing of "The
Globe" and Mr. Blair, 121,122,
123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129,
130, 131, 132,133—consulted as
to the last steps of Mr. Tyler
in the Texas project, 136, 137—
sanctions the proposition for
negotiation, and secures the ac-
tion of the Senate, 137,138—his
immediate course looking to
war, 138, 139, 140—Dallas's eu-
logy on, 149—his first annual
message, 151, 194, 195, 196—his
views as to Mexico, Oregon,
tariff, and revenue, Constitu-
tional Treasury, 195, 196 —
reasserts the Monroe Doctrine,
692
INDEX.
196—notifies England to quit
the joint occupancy of Oregon,
216, 217—begins to favor the
49°, sends a mes-sage to the
Senate for its consent before
hand, 218—settles with England
on the 49°, 220—his attempts to
negotiate with Mexico, 226, 227,
228, 373—censured for the first
steps, proposes to Congress a
declaration of war, 233 — his
Mexican War message, 234—
calls for volunteers, 246—vetoes
the internal improvement bill,
247, 248 — vetoes the French
spoliation bill, 248, 249—his
message on the Santa Anna
secret appropriation, 253, 255—
cause of his anxiety for war,
255, 256, 373, 374—approves and
sets aside the sentence of the
court in the trial of Fremont,
273—fails to approve the course
of General Kearney in New
Mexico, 281—the diflBculties of
his position, sets out to defend
his course with Mexico, 314—
his second annual message, 315,
363, 364, 365, 366, 387—accepts
Mr. Benton's plan for the cam-
paign, meditates making Mr.
Benton Lieutenant-General,370,
371—commits himself to nego-
tiation, not war, before Mr. Ty-
ler stepped out, 371—at once
favors war, a little war and
much glory, 372, 373—apolo-
gizes for the return of Santa
Anna, 374 — his view of Gen-
eral Kearney's course in New
Mexico, 380—his third annual
message, 486, 530—has no inter-
est in the extension of slavery,
530, 531 — sends the Mexican
Treaty to Congress, 536, 537—
did not desire re-election, his
letter on the subject, 572, 573—
he visits North Carolina, 574—
his trip to New England 575-
581—his fourth annual message,
582, 640—his principles and ad-
ministration, 644, 645, 646, 647,
648, 649, 650, 651, 654, 655—
quits .the White House, 651,
672 — his trip to Nashville,
writes hopefully to Forney,
652 — his death, 653 —honors
paid him, 654—his religion, 655,
656, 657, 658—extracts from his
will, 659, 660—his extraordi-
nary desires as to his earthly
remains, 661 — his tomb, its lo-
cation, the inscriptions it bears,
662, 663 — an emancipationist,
664—his habits and character,
666, 677—his literary and other
remains, 678, 679, 660—his por-
traits, 679, 680, 681.
Polk, President—his letter to Cin-
cinnati politicians, 65—to Judge
Kane, 93—to John W. Forney,
652—his letter to Dr. Ramsey
declining to run again for the
Presidency, 573.
Polk, Mrs. President—her stand-
ing among the wives of the
State Executive, 59—her family
and birth, her education, 665—
her first experiences at the Na-
tional Capital, 665, 666—her life
in Tennessee, becomes mistress
of the White House, 667 — her
course as wife of the President,
668, 669, 670, 671,672—her char-
acter and home in Nashville,
672, 673, 674, 675, 676, 677—
portraits of her, 679, 680, 681.
Portraits—of President Polk, Mrs.,
Polk, David Crocket, and others
at Nashville, 679, 680, 681 —
INDEX.
693
extraordinary, of General Jack-
son and his wife, 681, 682, 683.
Prentice, George D.—his support
of Mr. Clay, 91.
Price, Colonel Sterling—^in com-
mand in New Mexico, 285—
conquers the revolting Mexi-
cans, makes a daring march
into the enemy's country, 286,
287, 288, 289.
Professions, The — who enter
them, who are best suited to
them, 20, 21, 22—the road to
greatness, 20.
Proviso, Wilmot—text of, its pur-
pose, its fate, 256, 380 — starts
afresh the slavery conflict, 380.
Q
Quitman, General John A.—
takes part in the capture of
Vera Cruz, 305—opposes. the
Santa Anna bribe, 411—in com-
mand of a division, 413—before
the City of Mexico, 447, 448—
acts as governor of the City of
Mexico, 467—quits the army,
468.
R
Ransom, Colonel T.—at Contre-
ras, 419.
Riley, General Bennet—at Con-
treras, 419, 421—Wilson's opin-
ion of, 421.
S
Santa Anna, Antonia Lopez
de—Scheme to purchase his
friendship, 256, 373—his char-
acter, 373, 390, 406, 407, 412—
returns to Mexico, 374, 376—
his false conduct, 379—whipped
at Cerro Gordo, 389, 390—
writes a letter, 405—attempts
to arouse the people, 407—
reaches the City of Mexico,
serves as President, 407—in-
trigues with Scott and gets ten
ten thousand dollars, 410, 411—
his appearance at Churubusco,
432, 433 — seeks an armistice,
436, 437—gains his point, 438,
439, 440, 441—driven from the
City of Mexico, 442, 448 — his
flnal acts and expulsion, 463,
464, 465, 466, 477.
Scptt, General Winfleld—to have
the general direction of the
war, aids in determining the
plan of the war, 257—fails to
agree with the President and
Secretary Marcy, suspects the
• appointment of a political gen-
eral over him, 258, 259—^his bad
conduct, his political aspira-
tions, 259, 260—his instructions
to Kearney, 281 — prepares to
capture Vera Cruz, 298, 299—or-
dered to sail for Mexico, 299—
takes Vera Cruz, history of his
achievement, 300, 301, 302, 303,
304, 305, 312, 313—sets out for
the City of Mexico, at Cerro
Gordo, 385, 386—whips Santa
Anna, his reports on the battle
of Cerro Gordo, 387, 388, 389,
390,391, 392—sends home a part
of his army, 395—his supply
difficulties, 396—his difficulties
with Mr. Trist, 397, 398, 399—
issues a proclamation to the
Mexicans, 400,401,403—reaches
Puebla, 405—organizes a guer-
rilla band, 409—his army at
Puebla, 409—gets a proposition
from Santa Anna, calls a coun-
cil, pays tbe Mexican ten thou-
sand dollars, 410, 411—beaten
by Santa Anna, 411, 412—re-
news his march to the City of
694
INDEX.
Mexico, organization of his
army, 413—his army in the
valley of the City, 414 — his
plans, 415, 416—takes a new
route, outgenerals Santa Anna,
417, 418—fights the battle of
Contreras, 418, 419, 420, 421—
■ his situation in the valley of
the City of Mexico, 426, 427,
428, 429—why did he fight the
battles of San Antonio and
t Churubusco ? 432—why did he
not push on to the City of
Mexico ? 435 — listens to false
overtures for an armistice,
436—his letter to Santa Anna
as to the armistice, 437 — de-
ceived again by Santa Anna,
438, 439, 440, 441—prepares to
renew the conflict, 442—sends
Worth to take the Molino del
Key, 443 — his mistakes, 442,
444—prepares to take Chapul-
tepee, 445 — enters the City of
Mexico, his reports, 448-462—
his course in the City of Mex-
ico with his army and the Mex-
icans, his quarrel with Worth
and others, his course with Mr.
Trist in the negotiation, disre-
gards the will of the President,
put on trial himself, 467-481—
his case in Mexico, his treat-
ment by the Administration,
555, 556.
Secret, Cabinet—253, 255,256,372,
373—begins to appear, 374—
denied by the "Organ," veri-
fled and explained, 375, 376,
377—^bill to carry out, 379, 380.
Semmes, Raphael—gives an ac-
count of the return of Santa
Anna, 377—his authority, 415,
439—^loses his vessel, 482, 483.
Shields, General James—at Cerro
Gordo, 387—wounded, 390—op-
posed to the Santa Anna bribe,
411 — at Contreras, 419, 420—at
the City of Mexico, 453.
Slavery—revival of the conflict
over, 380, 531—Mr. Calhoun's
resolutions on, 532, 533, 534—
the day of compromise on at an
end, 533.
Slidell, John—sent as Minister to
Mexico, 143—Mexico declines
to communicate with him, 144,
224.
Sloat, Captain John D.—raises the
Stars and Stripes in California,
269, 275.
Smith, Colpnel C. F. — at Cerro
Gordo, 392.
Smith, General P. F.—at Cerro
Gordo, 392—plans the battle of
Contreras, 419,420—at the City
of Mexico, 455—acts as Gover-
nor of the City of Mexico, 467.
Stockton, Captain R. F. — takes
command of affairs on the Pa-
cific Slope, 269 — his conduct
and course, 283, 284.
Sumner, Major E. V.—at Cerro
Gordo, 391—at the City of Mex-
ico, 453.
T
Taylor, General Zachary —
watches the movement of Mex-
ico, 139 — lands his army at
Corpus Christi, 140—directed to
move to the Rio Grande, 224—
calls for volunteers, marches
for the Rio Grande, 225 —
issues a proclamation to the
Mexicans, warned against his
invasion, takes post opposite
Matamoras, 226 — ordered to
quit Mexico 228, 229 — builds
Fort Brown, marches to Point
INDEX.
695
Isabel, his doubtful prospects,
232, 233—whips the Mexicans
in two battles, takes Matamoras,
260—causes of his delays, 261,
262 — fights the Mexicans at
Monterey, 263.
Tennessee—her Legislature puts
out a candidate, 58—has no
Governor's residence, 59—never
favorable to Mr. Van Buren, 60.
Texas—steps for its acquisition,
62—it becomes the central fig-
ure in the contest of 1844, 62,
92—continues to be the great
question before the country,
136—accepts the conditions of
annexation, calls on the United
States for military protection,
139—invaded, 140—prospects of
war on account of, 194—to be
treated for, 196—her territory
in dispute, 224.
Thornton, Captain Seth B.—sent
on an expedition, is defeated,
231.
Tower, Captain — at Contreras,
419.
Treaty—the Mexican, 537—char-
acter of the Mexican, 554—ter-
ritory of the United States as
determined by, 559, 561, 562,
563, 564, 565, 567, 569, 570—
fragments of treaties, 559-570.
Trist, Nicholas P.—chief clerk in
the State Department, sent to
Mexico to negotiate, 397—his
course with General Scott, 397,
398, 399—abused by the Admin-
istration, 399, 400 — sends Mr.
Buchanan's letter to the Mexi-
can authorities, 408—attempts
negotiation, 441—begins nego-
tiations for peace, 465—recalled,
472 — declines to be recalled,
473,474—his treaty presented to
the Senate, 536 — his Mexican
treaty, 537.
Twiggs, David E.—leads in the
march to the Rio Grande,
- 225—reaches the Rio del Plan
and reconnoiters, 386, 387—in
the battle of Cerro Gordo, 389,
392, 393 — in command of a
division of the army, 413—at
Churubusco, 433—at the City
of Mexico, 453—becomes Gov-
emor of Vera Cruz, 479.
Tyler, President—ground of bis
ill-feeling towards " The Globe,"
122—how far he was concerned
in "The Globe" bargain, 123,
124, 125, 126, 132, 133, 134—his
final action as to Texas, 136,
137, 138.
Tyler, Lyon G.— quotation from
on "The Globe," 134.
V
Valley op the City of Mexico—
its location, seat of wonderful
delusions,,' 422—description of,
423, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428,
430—its character and people,
427, 430; 431.
Van Buren, Martin — Tennessee
unfriendly to him, 38, 60—
scheme to defeat, 62, 63, 64—:
his views on annexing Texas,
64—defeated in the conventiorf
of 1844, 69, 70. ;
Vera Cruz—plan for its capture;
298, 299 — history of its fall;
301-313.
W
Walker, Robert J.—becomes
Secretary of the Treasury, 118.
War, Mexican—preparations for,
•224—begins on the Rio Grande,
231—army raised for, 257—
696
INDEX.
plan of, 257—secret key to, 255,
256, 257, 365, 366, 372, 373, 374—
defended by the President, 316,
317,318,319,363—Scott's view of
to the Mexicans, 401, 404—end
of, 554, 555 — its results, 554,
557, 558—opinions of, 644, 645,
646, 647.
Whigs—nominate Mr. Clay, and
drop the question of availabil-
ity, 61, 62, 67, 68—their con-
(Vention in 1844, 67, 68—their
platform, 68—their canvass in
1844, 90, 91, 92—find the cause
of the money crash in 1857,
257—find a new cause for as-
sailing the Administration, 381,
382—carry the organization of
the House of Representatives
in 1847, 486.
White, Hugh Lawson—becomes
a United States Senator, 37—
receives the vote of Tennessee
for the Presidency, 38.
Williams, Edwin—describes the
inauguration of Mr. Polk, 103.
Wilmot, David — Democrat Con-
gressman, introduces the fa-
mous proviso, 256—his proviso
starts anew the slavery conflict
in Congress, 380.
Wool, General John E.—to com-
mand the. center division, 257,
296—strength of his force, fruit-
less ending of his expensive
expedition, 296, 297.
Worth, General William Jen-
kins—given the advance post at
Vera Cruz, 302—in command
of Vera Cruz, 310—at Cerro
Gordo, 387, 394—enters Puebla,
404—not in the council at Pu-
ebla, 411—makes a discovery
and writes to Scott, 415, 416—
at Churubusco, 433, 434, 435—
his great battle of Molino del
Rey, 443, 444—in the City of
Mexico, 447, 448—his difficulty
with General Scott, 468,469,470,
Wright, Silas—declines a position
in Mr. Polk's Cabinet, 120—de-
feated for governor, 485, 486.
973.6 P76Yi
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3 5556 010 321 586