F 1232 
 .S238 
 Copy 1 
 
 THE 
 
 MEMORIAL AND PETITION 
 
 OF 
 
 ORAZIO DE ATTELLIS SANTANGELO, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 Without respect for law, no justice — ^without justice, no government^ 
 without government no nation — ^without nation, the civil and political existence 
 of the State is but a chimera. — Seneca, 
 
 JANUARY, 1846. 
 
THE 
 
 MEMORIAL AND PETITION 
 
 OF 
 
 ORAZIO DE ATTELLIS SANTANGELO, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 COiNGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 Without respect for law, no justice— without justice, no government— 
 without government no nation — without nation, the civil and political existence 
 of the State is but a chimera. — Seneca. 
 
 JANUARY, 1846. 
 

 
 33;!^^ 
 
TO THE HONORABLE THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- 
 TIVES OF THE UNITED STATES IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED. 
 
 The Memorial and Petition of the undersigned respectfully 
 showeth, that : 
 
 Orazio de Attellis Santangelo, a citizen of the United States, 
 resident in the country for twenty-two years, and one of the 
 Claimants on Mexico, is compelled to recur, for the first time, to 
 your sovereign authority to have justice done, with regard to cer- 
 tain instalments of the Mexican indemnity, the payment of which, 
 ordered by an act of Congress of the 3d March, 184-4, has been un- 
 justly refused by our national treasury. This affair has been sub- 
 mitted to your Avisdom by His Excellency the president of the Uni- 
 ted States, in his message of the 2d December ultimo; but, as it 
 is therein mentioned rather too laconically, and there being, on the 
 other hand, many new members in the present Congress of the 
 United States, who are quite unacquainted with the preceding 
 facts, on which their judgment should properly be grounded, your 
 Memorialist and Petitioner begs leave to lay the whole history of 
 the true facts, together with his humble prayers, before you for 
 your kind and provident consideration. 
 
 Pursuant to the Convention of the 11th of April, 1839, between 
 the governments of the United States and the Mexican Republic, 
 certain American Claims were definitively adjusted and awarded 
 to the amount of $2,026,139 68 — and others, amounting to nearly 
 four millions of dollars, amongst ivhich is a very important one of 
 your Petitioner, remained for various causes unacted upon. 
 
 A second Convention was then concluded on the 30th of Janu- 
 ary, 1843, between the two powers, in which it was agreed that 
 the unadjusted claims should form the subject of a new Conven- 
 tion, and that the awarded ones should be paid by Mexico in twen- 
 ty quarterly instalments, in gold or silver, in the city of Mexico, to 
 an agent of the United States duly appointed*. The new Conven- 
 tion was, in fact, signed on the 20th of November of the same year, 
 1843, in Mexico ; but the Senate of the United States having pro- 
 posed some amendments to it, it was sent back to Mexico, where 
 it still lies in oblivion. Mexico, however, commenced the pay- 
 ment of the stipulated quarterly instalments of the awarded in- 
 demnity, and the Claimants punctually received those which fell 
 due on the 30th of July, 30th of October, 1843, and 30th of Janu- 
 ary, 1844. 
 
 * See doc. 1. 
 
(4) 
 
 But Mexico suspended the payment of the 4th instahnent, which 
 became due on the 30lh of April, 184-4, probably on account of 
 having^ some intimation of the treaty which was concluded, under 
 the administration of president Tyler, for the annexation of Texas, 
 on the 12th of the same month; and on being- successively in- 
 formed that said treaty had been rejected by the Senate of the 
 United States, on the 8th of June, she honorably resumed the sus- 
 pended payments. 
 
 Accordingly, at the expiration of the 5th instalment, due on the 
 30th of July following, president Santa Anna ordered the payment 
 of both the 4lh and 5ih instalments in cash, amounting to $275,000. 
 The money was raised on the 17th of August, a fact which sena- 
 tor Benton stated to the late Congress ; and on the 27th of the 
 same moiith, the money, in c«s/i, was paid over by the Mexican 
 Treasurer, Senor Trigueros, to our agent there, Mr. Voss, who 
 gave the corresponding receipt for it. 
 
 The notice of this payment, made on the 27th of August, was 
 officially communicated by the Mexican Secretary of State, Senor 
 Kejon, under date of the 2d September following, to the minister 
 of the United States, Mr. Shannon,* who had arrived there on the 
 26th of August. 
 
 On the 12ih of the same month of September, Mr. Shannon had 
 an interview with president Santa Anna, by whom he was apprised 
 that said payment of the 4th and 5th instalments had been made, 
 though with some difficulty (that is, difficully in raising cash), and 
 received the assurance that proper measures had been taken to 
 secure the payment of the future instalments as soon as they be- 
 came due.f 
 
 Under date of the 21st of said month of September, Mr. Shan- 
 non, " feeling his mind at rest," sent an official despatch to the 
 Secretary of State, Mr. Calhoun, stating that " the payment of 
 the instalments of April and July, 1844, had been made, according 
 to the Convention (that is, in gold or silver) in Mexico, on the 
 27th of August last, to the agent appointed to receive and trans- 
 mit the samej" (and bills payable in Mexico certainly would not 
 be transmitted) to the United States. 
 
 Conformably with all these official acts and informations, the 
 State Department, satisfied doubtless of their correctness, caused 
 an official notice to be published in the Madisonian of the 4th 
 November, 1844, stating, that said instalments, under the Conven- 
 tion (namely, in specie) had been paid by the government of Mex- 
 ico, on the 27th of August. § 
 
 But the inexplicable non-arrival of the money to the United 
 States began to vex the claimants. It was then rumored that a 
 Mr. Green, connected with the legation of the United States in 
 Mexico, had informed the Department of State that, notwithstand- 
 ing the receipt delivered by Mr. Voss to the Mexican treasury 
 
 • See doc. 2. f See doc. 5. J See doc. 3. § See doc. 4. 
 
(5) 
 
 fully discharging it from the debt, no cash had been paid ; and that 
 only drafts, which were afterwards not honored, had been received 
 by Mr. Voss. Hence the origin of the epithet mysterious given to 
 the transaction. Hence the refusal of the president of the United 
 States to comply with the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 
 184)5. Yet no further informations were received from Mexico on 
 the subject, nor even demanded by the State Department under 
 the administration of president Tyler. 
 
 Finally Congress, at the solicitations of senator Benton, who 
 was well informed of the true state of things, after having, in 
 February, 1845, passed a joint resolution for the annexation of 
 Texas, made, on the 3d of the following month of March, an ap- 
 propriation of $275,000 (the amount of the two instalments) to 
 be paid to the claimants by the Treasury of the United States, 
 " provided it was ascertained that they were paid in Mexico to 
 our agent in manner as to discharge the Mexican government from 
 all responsibility, and our agent be delinquent in transmitting the 
 money to the United States." This act was approved by the ex- 
 ecutive, and became a law. 
 
 On the 5th of the same month, Mr. Polk was inaugurated pres- 
 ident; and a little later, Mr. William S. Parrott, wlio had gone to 
 Mexico on his own business, wrote to our Treasury Department, of 
 which he was a clerk, a letter, dated April 26, 1845, informing it 
 that he had been told by Voss himself, that " the Mexican govern- 
 ment had his receipt for the two instalments, and was, of course, 
 not responsible for them." 
 
 The most profound silence continued under the administration 
 of president Polk, both on the part of Messrs. Voss and Shannon 
 in Mexico, and our Department of State in Washington ; conse- 
 quently, no further facts were ascertained, and the act of Congress 
 of the 3d March was not executed. 
 
 Meanwhile, the joint resolution of Congress annexing Texas 
 having been adopted, all subsequent payments of the instalments 
 were withheld by Mexico, by way of reprisal ; so that on the 30th 
 of the present month of January, eight instalments, and two whole 
 years of back inter est, will be due. Many claimants, who, confiding 
 in the punctual payment of their awards, warranted by two solemn 
 treaties, or " laws of the land," had engaged in different business, 
 have already become bankrupt, and others are on the eve of 
 bankruptcy, misery, and disgrace. 
 
 In this state of things, the Mexican Minister at Washington re- 
 tired home, ours was recalled from Mexico, all diplomatic inter- 
 course between the two cabinets interrupted, and a quasi war de- 
 clared. Your Memorialist then commenced, on the 25th of May, 
 the publication of some writings, headed " Claimants on Mexico," 
 and signed, " A Claimant," showing cause why the above act 
 should have been carried into effect by the executive, and why the 
 national Treasury ought to pay to the Claimants, not only the two 
 instalments, which had unquestionably been paid in cash by Mexico 
 
(6) 
 
 to our agent, and by the latter used for certain unfortunate specu- 
 lations in bills of exchange for a larger sum, to realize a profit, but 
 also all other subsequent instalments, the payment of which had 
 been suspended by Mexico by way of reprisal. 
 
 On the 18th of June, Mi'. Wilson Shannon arrived at New- York ; 
 but seeing that he was in no haste to repair to Washington and 
 give the explanations so anxiously desired, your Memorialist pub- 
 lished a second writing, enlarging on the proofs of his arguments, 
 in which he promised to draw others from the very report of Mr. 
 Shannon, as soon as it should be made known. 
 
 This report appeared in fact in a letter of Mr. Shannon to the 
 Secretary of State, dated 2d July* ; and then, in a third writing of 
 the 8th of the same month, your Memorialist, turning the min- 
 ister's own weapons against himself, fully succeeded to draw 
 from his statements the most undeniable proofs of the correctness 
 of the position he, your Memorialist, had already taken. 
 
 Finally, though the lawless use made by Mr. Voss of the money 
 of said instalments did by no means regard the Claimants, your 
 Memorialist suggested, in a private letter of the 14th of July, to sec- 
 retary Buchanan, the infallible means, whereby our Treasury could 
 reimburse itself, with as much despatch as ease, for the amount 
 which it should have paid to the Claimants, pursuant to the afore- 
 said act of Congress.* Having received no answer, nor even 
 an acknowledgment of the receipt of his respectful epistle, your 
 Memorialist published it in a fourth and last writing, dated July 
 30th, reflecting, with some severity, on the supposed unkindness 
 of the secretary ; but, to his confusion, your Memorialist received 
 two days later, that is, on the 1st of the following month of Au- 
 gust, a receipt, dated 31st of Julyf, for which he made an apol- 
 ogy on the same day, 1st of August, promising to take the first 
 opportunity to make the fact known to the public,f which is 
 now done with pleasure. § 
 
 These four writings, against which no censure, to the knowl- 
 edge of your Memorialist, has ever appeared, and copies of which 
 he of late transmitted to the Committees of Foreign Relations of 
 both Houses of Conorress, and to a sfreat number of the members 
 of your august bodj'^, did not shake the imperturbable firmness of 
 president Polk, who, through his organ, the "Union," persisted in 
 declaring himself " not satisfied &c." Nor did your Memorialist 
 expect* much from them, for he must know, at his age of 72, that 
 truth is proverbially unpopular — Veritas odium parit — and that, of 
 course, he himself must be unpopular, a misfortune, however, of 
 which he feels proud. 
 
 Your Memorialist then had recourse to another expedient, to try 
 to do what two administrations had been unable or unwilling to do 
 for the discovery of truth. He induced one of his friends to address 
 a letter to general Santa Anna, ex-president of Mexico, residing in 
 
 * See doc. 5. f See doc. 6. J See doc. 7. § See doc. 8. 
 
(7) 
 
 Havana, to obtain from him a statement of the true facts, relating to 
 the payment of said two instalments, at a period, when he was still at 
 the head of the Mexican government. The letter, dated 21st of Au- 
 gust, written by your Memorialist in Spanish, and signed by his 
 friend, was sent ; but no answer was received for nearly three 
 months, so that all hopes of receiving one were given up. It came 
 at last on the 10th ultimo, and it unveils all mystery, not- 
 withstanding the cynical pyrronism of certain writers, as it shall 
 be speedily seen. 
 
 In the mean time, your Memorialist received from another friend 
 in Washington a letter, dated 17th November, enclosing a copy 
 of the following document, which had just been brought by Mr. 
 Parrott from Mexico to our Secretary of State Buchanan, to wit: 
 
 " I have received from the Treasurer General the sum (no drafts) 
 of two hundred and seventy-four thousand, six hundred sixty-five 
 dollars, and seventy-six cents, on account of the two instalments 
 due of the claims of the United States — Mexico, 20 September 
 1844 — signed — Ebiilio Voss." 
 
 Said letter stated also that Mr. Voss had communicated to our 
 Secretary the fact of " his having received not a dollar ;" that 
 Mr. Parrott thinks " the money was paid ;'" and that a new minister 
 was about to be sent by our executive to Mexico, to settle amica- 
 bly our difficulties with that government." 
 
 The reply of your Memorialist, dated 21st of the same month of 
 November, both on the astonishing date of the receipt of Voss, and 
 on the new mission to Mexico, was too long, though by no 
 means unimportant, to be transcribed here : it will perhaps be 
 made known at some future time, as it contains, among other 
 things, a reasoned prognostic of the failure of that mission. Suf- 
 fice it now to repeat what your Memorialist observed, in substance, 
 on the subject of that '• receipt," namely: 
 
 " The date of Mr. Voss's receipt," said your Memorialist, " is 
 a forgery. It only confirms the fact of his having embezzled 
 the money. His assertion of his ^having received not a dollar,'' 
 brings his guilt to the highest evidence. No man sui compos, and 
 much less non sui juris, vfould. give a receipt for $275,000, dis- 
 charging the debtor, without receiving a dollar. The receipt men- 
 tions no drafts, but a ' sum of money.'' This ' sum of money' was 
 received on the 'Ulth of August, and he could not have receipted for 
 it twenty-five days later, that is, on the 'HOth of September. Does he 
 wish to deny all payment, even in drafts % or to conceal the drafts 
 (for a much larger sum) to hide the fact of his having bought them 
 with the cash received 1 Where are, then, these drafts, in whose 
 possession, drawn by whom, upon whom, when payable, for what 
 amount 1 Why has Mr. Voss not sent also, with his mysterious 
 receipt of the 20th of September, 1844, a copy of those drafts to our 
 Department of State 1 Why, on the contrary, has he preserved, 
 
(8) 
 
 from August or September, 1844, to November, 1845, the most 
 cautious silence in the matter'?" 
 
 The message of president Polk, sent to Congress on the 2d 
 December last, in treating of our relations with Mexico, has thrown 
 no brighter light on the conduct of Mr. Voss. 
 
 After having spoken of the rightful annexation of Texas, the 
 president mentions the forbearance had "for a long series of 
 years," by our government towards Mexico, guilty of injuries to 
 our citizens, and outrages to our flag &c. not intending, how- 
 ever, it is to be presumed, to praise a father who, to be generous 
 towards a foreign robber or murderer, starves his own children 
 to death. Then he states that, besides the indemnity already 
 awarded to claimants on Mexico to the amount of $2,026,139 68, 
 payable, as was subsequently agreed upon, in twenty quarterly 
 instalments, a new convention Avas concluded, on the 29th of 
 November, 1843, for the liquidation of other claims amounting to 
 " more than three millions of dollars, and is not yet ratified by 
 Mexico;" for which " our citizens, says he, who suffered great 
 losses, and some of whom have been reduced from affluence to 
 bankruptcy, are without remedy, unless their rights be enforced by 
 their government &c." ; but he '■'■hopes we might, if possible, hon- 
 orably avoid any hostile collision with her" — which question your 
 Memorialist thinks, is destined to form, God knows when, an item 
 in a final settlement of all the controversies now pending between 
 the two countries. But, in regard to the awards already made, as 
 above, the president 
 
 1st. declares, that " the three first of the twenty instalments 
 have been paid," and that '■'■ seve7iieen of these instalments remain 
 unpaid, seven of which are now (on the 30th of October last) 
 due." 
 
 2dly. and, as to the two instalments of April and July, 1844, 
 which were undoubtedlyjoazti by Mexico, and emhezzledhy the agent 
 of the United States there, Mr. Emilio Voss, the president says : 
 
 " Congress appropriated, at the last session, the sum of 
 $275,000 for the payment of the April and July instalments of 
 the Mexican indemnities for the year 1844, provided it shall be 
 ascertained to the satisfaction of the American government that 
 said instalments have been paid by the Mexican government to the 
 agent appointed by the United States to receive the same, in such 
 manner 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 
 the subject in much mystery. 'Yhe first information, in an authen- 
 tic form on the subject, from the agent of the United States, ap- 
 pointed 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 (Mr. Parrott) then in Mexico, with the view 
 
(9) 
 
 of having it communicated to that department. From this it ap- 
 pears that the agent, on the 20th of September, 1844, gave a re- 
 ceipt to the Treasury of Mexico for the amount of the April 
 and July instalments of the indemnity. In the same communica- 
 tion, 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 instalments, the president 
 adds, appear never to have been actually paid by the government 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 war- 
 ranted in directing payment to be made to the Claimants out of 
 the Treasury, without further legislation. Their case is, un- 
 doubtedly, one of much hardship ; and it remains 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 the case from the Mexican government in an authentic andofficial 
 form, and report the result with as little delay as possible." 
 
 Your Memorialist and Petitioner respectfully, but earnestly, calls 
 the attention of Congress to the following remarks. 
 
 President Polk, without making known the whole official letter 
 of the agent Voss to enable all interested persons to consider 
 it, but acknowledging that " the subject is involved in much mys- 
 tery," so that he himself is not sure of his own judgment, begins 
 by stating that the^rs^ information from Mr. Voss, in an authentic 
 form, was received at the State Department through a private person, 
 on the 9th of November last. Consequently, he implicitly denies 
 any other previous information received by that department. He 
 denies the official information given by the Mexican Secretary jof 
 State, Mr. Rejon, on the 2d of September, 1844, to our minister at 
 Mexico, Mr. Shannon ; the official interview of the latter with 
 president Santa Anna on the 12th of the same month; his official 
 communication of the 21st of the same month and year to our 
 Secretary of State, Mr. Calhoun ; the official notice issued by the 
 latter in the Madisonian, of the 4th of November of said year j 
 the official statements of senator Benton, in February and March, 
 1845 ; the communication of Mr. Parrott, a clerk of the Treasury 
 Department, from Mexico, to Mr. Walker, dated 26th of April, 
 1845 &c. All these undeniable facts and official informations, were 
 not, in the opinion of president Polk, as authentic as the bare and 
 absurd assertion of Mr. Voss, the man whose personal interest it 
 was to exculpate himself, and, of course, conceal the truth. Though 
 many of the facts had occurred during the administration of his 
 predecessor, Mr. Polk will not believe, it is to be hoped, that no 
 state department had existed previous to his accession to the 
 presidency ; that a new president should not consult the actual 
 state of things in all the executive departments, and that all exec- 
 utive transactions previous to his taking the oath of office, should 
 be considered as null and void. 
 
(10) 
 
 President Polk, next, quite overlooking the absurdity of a receipt 
 dated twenty-five days after the payment ; of a receipt given for a sum 
 of nearly $275,000, without receiving a dollar ; of a receipt given 
 for cash^ while the paynaent is asserted to have been made in paper ; 
 and without any knowledge of the value and real existence of this 
 paper ; and endorsing the suggestion expressed by Voss of his 
 " holding such securities as warranted him at the time in giving the 
 receipt,''^ virtually absolves that faithless agent from his flagrant 
 violations of the instructions received from his constituents, con- 
 sonant with the stipulations of a public treaty, rather than execute 
 an act of our Congress in favor of the Claimants, based on con- 
 ditions, the fulfilment of which was already perfect. Hence the 
 declaration in his message, that " the instalments never have been 
 paid by Mexico to the agent ; that Mexico has not therefore been 
 released so as to discharge the claim ;" and that (for these tri- 
 umphant reasons) " he has not felt himself warranted in directing 
 payment to be made to the Claimants out of the Treasury toithout 
 further legislation /" that " their case is, undoubtedly, one of much 
 hardship ;" that " it remains for Congress to decide whether any 
 or WHAT relief ought to be granted to them ;" and that " our 
 minister to Mexico has been instructed to ascertain (after two 
 years !) the facts of the case from the Mexican government in an 
 authentic and official form (the authenticity and officiality of the 
 preceding facts being null !),and report the result with as little de- 
 lay as possible." 
 
 Happily, on the lOth of December last, a letter, dated Havana, 
 Nov. 19, 1845, was received in New- York, per ship Norma, by a 
 respectable merchant of the city of New-York, from the ex-presi- 
 dent of Mexico, gen. Santa Anna, under whose administration all the 
 above transactions had taken place, which unveils all mystery and 
 solves all problems. This letter, which has been published in 
 many journals, and of which no one has doubted the authenticity, 
 is submitted originally in Spanish at the end of this respectful Me- 
 morial and Petition*, and says in English as follows : 
 
 "Havana, November 19, 1845. — Senor don Carlos Callaghan, 
 New-York — My dear sir: With some delay your favor of the 22d 
 August ultimo came to hand, which I now answer, though, to do 
 so, I have to be somewhat diffuse. 
 
 " When in October, 1841, I was nominated president of the 
 republic by the free and spontaneous will of the nation, I found that 
 the Convention, already signed in Washington by the charges 
 of Mexico and the United States, which adjusted the claims of the 
 latter, and the manner of executing the payment thereof, had 
 already been ratified by my predecessor Gen. Bustamante. To 
 say the truth, I would, on my part, never have sent any commis- 
 sioner to the United States, for the cabinet of Washington itself 
 should have sent them to Mexico ; nor would I have ratified the 
 Convention in the terms in which it was conceived. ,But, when I 
 
 ♦ See doc. 9. 
 
(11) 
 
 took the reins of government, the treaty was already valid between 
 the two nations, and being more jealous than any other of the hon- 
 or of my country, and being also intimately persuaded that its basis 
 should consist in the exact and religious observance of treaties, and 
 knowing, on the other hand, the policy and views of the United 
 States, I resolved to fulfil it in all its parts, to take from your 
 government every pretext that might in the least disturb the har- 
 mony and good understanding between the two countries, and at the 
 same time to deliver my own country from all ulterior projects, 
 that might affect its integrity. 
 
 '* To this end I did not hesitate in taking the most efficient meas- 
 ures in order that Mexico should pay the awards designated in the 
 Convention, and that the payment might be effected in the stipula- 
 ted manner and form ; and as the Treasury, at the period when I 
 entered into office, was but a skeleton, I imposed a forced loan on 
 the whole nation ; so that each and every one of the citizens should 
 contribute, according to his means, to the payment of a debt, which 
 had already become sacred for Mexico. The loan having been ef- 
 fected with the energy which characterized the acts of my adminis- 
 tration, I succeeded in saving the national honor, in spite of the 
 outcries and the opposition which was excited, and which attribu- 
 ted to me the name of tyrant from those who care not for honor 
 which they do not know, or who affect not to know that in these 
 cases the citizens are bound patriotically to furnish all their means. 
 That measure of my government was one of those which called 
 down upon me the most censure, and gave me the most griefs ; 
 but, comforted by the testimony of my own conscience, and with 
 the approbation of the thinking part of both countries, I trust that 
 the judgment of rigorous and impartial history will sooner or later 
 justify me before posterity, and perhaps also in the eyes of my 
 contemporaries. 
 
 "I attained my object; consequently the instalments were most 
 punctually paid in ready cash during the time I was at the head 
 of government. But, as on the 30th of April of last year (1844), 
 I had withdrawn from public business and retired to my farms, and 
 as both the constitution and my character did not allow the presi- 
 dent to mingle in public affairs during his absence, I confined my- 
 self to recommending the payment to the president pro tempore, 
 gen. don Valentin Canalizo, and to the Minister of Finance, don 
 Ignacio Trigueros ; and when the other instalment of July 30th, of 
 which you speak, expired, having then resumed my functions, 1 
 dictated all the necessary measunes, and positively ordered the Sec- 
 retary of the Treasury to make the payment in specie, according to 
 my anterior provisions ; so that, if, in defiance of my orders, the 
 payment was made in bills or drafts, that functionary violated his 
 duties by disobeying my commands, and the agent, don Emilio 
 Voss, WAS NOT LESS GUILTY IN RECEIVING, as he received, according 
 to what you say, the amount in paper. At that same period, I 
 dictated in advance, other orders for the payment of the success- 
 
(12) 
 
 ive instalments with all exactness, and in ready cash ; for the peo- 
 ple having contributed in cash, / resolved and ordered that the 
 money should not he employed for any other purpose ; and my 
 conversation with the minister Shannon alludes to this. 
 
 " In short, in my opinion, the instalments, to which you refer, 
 were paid in ready cash ; but if it be not so, the ininister and the 
 agent Voss are responsible ; the former for having disobeyed my 
 positive orders, and the latter for not having fulfilled those 
 
 OF HIS CONSTITUENTS. 
 
 " I am, with all consideration, your obed. servt. who kisses your 
 hands — A. L. de Santa Anna." 
 
 On this most explicit declaration of gen. Santa Anna, one of our 
 greatest philanthropists has pronounced the following judgment : 
 
 "The mystery remains as profound as ever .... Santa Anna 
 throws not a ray of light upon it. The only question has been, 
 from the first, whether the payment made at the Mexican Treasury 
 was in coin or in paper accepted as coin ; and the question the let- 
 ter of the ex-president leaves just where it was before. That the 
 payment cughlfto have been in coin we all knew long ago ; and this 
 is the substance of what Santa Anna tells us." 
 
 Your Memorialist would think that to refute so silly an observa- 
 tion, would be to insult the wisdom of Congress ; but as it might 
 mislead the weakminded among the people in general, a reply to it 
 seems to be not entirely useless. 
 
 From the letter of the ex-Mexican president we have : 1st. his 
 eagerness to take from the United States all pretext to attempt to 
 violate the integrity of his country : 2dly. a forced loan raised by 
 him to pay in cash, according to the Convention, exclusively, the 
 awarded American claims, and thereby a proof of the actual exist- 
 ence of the money in the Mexican Treasury, and of no necessity 
 to pay in paper : 3dly. his repeated, positive and final orders to the 
 Mexican treasurer to make the payment of the two instalments 
 
 due, IN SPECIE. 
 
 From the official communication of the Mexican Secretary of 
 State, Rejon, to our minister Shannon, of the 2d September, 1844, 
 we have that said payment of the two instalments was effectively 
 made on the 27th of the preceding month of August, to our agent 
 Voss. 
 
 From all quarters and all persons, including Shannon and Voss 
 himself, we have that the receipt was given by the latter for money 
 received in ready cash, to be transmitted to the United States , a 
 receipt which fully and legally discharged Mexico from all liability 
 for that debt. 
 
 From the report of our own minister Shannon of the 2d July, 1845, 
 to our Secretary of State, Buchanan, we have that he bad, on the 
 12th of September, 1844, an interview with Santa Anna, who told 
 him that the two instalments had been paid with some difficulty j 
 and certainly there could have been no difficulty had the payment 
 been made with paper. 
 
(13) 
 
 From the date of the 27th of August, when the money was 
 paid, to that of the 12th of September, when Shannon spoke to 
 Santa Anna, we have a lapse of seventeen days, during which Santa 
 Anna did not leave Mexico ; and indeed he was not overthrown 
 until December following. If, then, the Mexican treasurer had 
 offevedpaper and not cash {or the payment of the instalments, why 
 did not Voss, or Shannon complain to gen. Santa Anna of this vio- 
 lation of the Convention and of his orders 1 — to Santa Anna, whose 
 orders were positive, and who would not have left unpunished the 
 roguery of his minister l Why did not Voss or Shannon write 
 a single word to our government on the subject! Why, on the 
 contrary, was Mr. Shannon so solicitous to inform, under date of 
 the 21st of the same month of September, 1844, the then Secre- 
 tary of State, Mr. Calhoun, that the instalments had been paid 
 according to the Convention, on the 27th of August, to our agent, 
 to receive and transmit the same 1 Were papers payable in Mex- 
 ico to be transmitted to the United States 1 Why from the 21st 
 of September, 1844>, the date of said Report, to the 9th of Novem- 
 ber, 1845, the period when, as president Polk says in his message, 
 our State Department received the j'jrsif information from our agent 
 Voss, has a most profound and mysterious silence been studiously 
 maintained by our representatives in Mexico, and our administra- 
 tion at home 1 And, finally, if the instalments had been paid by 
 the treasurer in paper, why would Santa Anna have said : " Voss 
 was guilty in receiving it — Voss is guilty not to have fulfilled the 
 orders of his constituents — the agent Voss is responsible &;c V 
 Does this not clearly mean that the Mexican Government is fully 
 discharged {torn all obligations in this respect, and that the whole 
 responsibility rests on our own agent Vossi Is not, then, the ques- 
 tion decidedly solved by the letter of Santa Anna 1 
 
 It is knowrt, on the other hand, that the Mexican Minister of 
 Finance, Trigueros, was, at the same time, a merchant in partner- 
 ship with Voss, who was also a British agent and a Mexican broker 
 in connection with the house of Tayleur, Jamison & Co. of Mexico. 
 Senor Trigueros, then, as minister, fulfilled the orders of president 
 Santa Anna by paying in cash, and received from Voss a receijii fully 
 discharging the Mexican government ; and, as a merchant, he em- 
 ployed, either at the solicitation, or with the consent of Voss, the 
 cash to buy bills to a much larger amount, which were afterwards 
 not honored ; and as the bills appeared to be payable on or before 
 the 20th of September, 1844, Voss delivered on the 27th of August 
 his receipt, with the after date of the 20th of September, to conceal 
 his juggling ; and all these operations were performed without the 
 knowledge of president Santa Anna. 
 
 Now, if the money paid by Mexico is lost in purchases made by 
 our agent Voss of worthless bills, has the government of the Uni- 
 ted States a just and lawful right to expect from her a second time 
 the same amount 1 Is Mexico obliged to answer for the faithless 
 conduct of her Minister of Finance, who could have done no wrong 
 but, as stated above, either at the solicitation, or with the consent 
 
(14) 
 
 of our agent Voss, who was, and is, the only interested and re- 
 sponsible person in the matter 1 Seduced or seducer, he is the 
 embezzler of the money, and therefore the Treasury of the United 
 States, of which he is the agent, ought forthwith to pay the instal- 
 ments contemplated in the appropriation act of Congress of the 3d 
 March, 1S45 ; nor could Congress oppose it without contradicting 
 itself, and giving room to not very flattering reflections upon its 
 probity and respectability. Thus, all criticism on the letter of 
 gen. Santa Anna falls to the ground. 
 
 To leave nothing unknown to Congress, relating to this important 
 transaction,your Memorialist feels it to be his duty to submit another 
 version of the case, which is generally believed to be the true one, 
 and which, however, leads to the same results, that is, to establish- 
 ing both the evident wilful culpability of the agent Voss, and the 
 full discharge of Mexico from all responsibility for the money 
 embezzled by him. 
 
 On the 30th of April, 184.4, Mr. Voss applied to the Mexican 
 treasurer, Mr. Trigueros, to have the 4th instalment due on that 
 day, amounting to about $140,000. The minister showed himself 
 ready to pay it in cash as usual , but then they agreed that it would 
 be a folly to send that money to the United States before knowing 
 the result of the treaty then concluded by president Tyler for the 
 " annexation of Texas." Mr. Voss then proposed to employ that 
 money provisionally in some profitable business; and it was re- 
 solved to buy with it from Messrs. Tayleur, Jamison & Co. of 
 Mexico, whose broker Mr. Voss was, certain bills or orders for a 
 double amount, which should remain with the treasurer as collat- 
 eral security, until they were paid at their expiration, and thus 
 realize a profit, to be divided between Trigueros, Tayleur & Co. 
 and Voss. 
 
 These bills, or orders, were to be paid by the cflstom-house of 
 Vera Cruz to the order of Messrs. Tayleur, Jamison & Co. on ac- 
 count of certain debentures or obligations issued in London by 
 Messrs. F. de Lizardi & Co., in part payments of the instalments 
 of the debt due by Mexico to England, the history of which nego- 
 tiation is fully reported in the Mexican paper, " El Siglo XIX," of 
 the 13th March, 1845 : but they were offered for sale by said 
 Messrs. Tayleur, Jamison & Co. at a discount of 50 percent, as no 
 hopes were entertained of their being paid at par by said custom 
 house for a long time to come. 
 
 The affair being thus combined by Tayleur, Trigueros and Voss, 
 the cash destined for the American Claimants was handed to the 
 latter, and the bills or orders in question were deposited with the 
 treasurer. 
 
 On the 3d of July said year, no official news having yet been 
 received in Mexico of the rejection of the treaty of annexation 
 by the Senate of the United States, which had taken place on the 
 8th of the preceding month of June, the money collected, through 
 a forced loan, for the payment of the 5th instalment, was also 
 
(15) 
 
 employed by said gentlemen in the purchase of bills of the same 
 nature, and then Voss gave a receipt in full for both the instalments 
 of April and July, in the total amount of $274,664 76, with the 
 after date of the 20th of September said year, hoping that by that 
 time the bills might be paid by the custom-house of Vera Cruz, or 
 fairly negotiated with a handsome profit. 
 
 But the sudden arrival at Mexico of our minister Shannon on 
 the 26th of the following month of August, with the rejection of 
 the annexation treaty, disconcerted the jugglers. President Santa 
 Anna ordered the treasurer Trigueros to pay forthwith the two in- 
 stalments with the money in ready cash, as collected from the people. 
 The treasurer then returned the bills deposited with him as collat- 
 eral, to Messrs. Tayleur, Jamison & Co. and availing himself of the 
 receipt in full delivered to him by Voss, informed, on the 27th of 
 August, the Secretary of State, Mr. Rejon, that he had paid said 
 instalments to Voss, according to the Convention, and Mr. Rejon, 
 on the 2d of September, gave the same information to our minister 
 Shannon. 
 
 Voss, then, having neither the money, which he had paid for the 
 bills, nor the bills, which had been returned to Tayleur, Jamison 
 &; Co. and being unwilling to discover to Mr. Shannon his shame- 
 ful conduct, thought proper to humbug the latter, telling him that 
 " he had received the payment of the instalments in good paper,^^ which 
 he had handed to Messrs. Tayleur, Jamison &; Co. a very respect- 
 able house of Mexico, /or collection. But the bills were not hon- 
 ored by the custom-house of Vera Cruz; Tayleur, Jamison & Co. 
 are not disposed to render back the money they had received as 
 the price of those bills sold by them ; Trigueros and Voss cannot 
 force them to give back the money, without manifesting their own 
 crime; and there only remains the hope that on some future day 
 the money will be had from that custom-house to pay the instal- 
 ments to the American Claimants. President Polk alludes to this, 
 saying in his message, that Voss " entertains no doubt but that he 
 will eventually obtain the money. '^ How these two dictions, " wo 
 doubt,'^ and '■'■eventually''^ may stay together in the same phrase, 
 your Memorialist will not attempt to determine. The fact is that 
 Mr. Shannon never saw those bills during his residence in Mexico, 
 nor did he make any steps to see them. But, to have asserted in 
 his report that soon after his arrival at Mexico (on the 26th of 
 August) he saw Mr. Voss, and was informed by him to have re- 
 ceived the two instalments in bills ; to have received from the 
 Mexican Secretary of State the official information of the payment 
 made on the 27th August in cas^; to have heard from president 
 Santa Anna, on the 12th September, that the payment had been 
 made in cash though with some difficulties; to have communicated, 
 on the 21st of the same month, the same information to our Secre- 
 tary of State Calhoun ; and to have finally made, on the 2d July, 
 1845, a report to secretary Buchanan, making the highest eulo- 
 giums of the honest conduct of Mr. Voss ; this to^lt ensemble has 
 
(16) 
 
 placed him in a not very enviable position, so that he and Mr. Voss, 
 and Trioueros and Messrs. Tayleur, Jamison & Co. should be con- 
 sidered solidarily responsible for the money. But, as nothing 
 wronf, your Memorialist would repeat, could have been done but 
 with the ASSENT or at thk solicitation of Mr. Voss, the responsible 
 ao-ent of the United States, it follows that, whilst Mexico cannot 
 be compelled to pay twice the same instalments, the provident act 
 of Congress of the 3d March ought to have, in all justice, its full 
 execution. 
 
 Finally, does Congress wish to have the mot de I' enigme in re- 
 gard also to the conduct of our executive in this business, a conduct 
 far more "mysterious" than that of Vossl Here it is rever- 
 ently submitted. 
 
 As the Treasury of 'the United States cannot rely upon Voss 
 (who is a notorious bankrupt) for the recovery of the embezzled 
 money, and has no means to force either Trigueros or Tayleur, 
 Jamison & Co. to reimburse it, our president has deemed it proper 
 to consider the Mexican government still liable for these instal- 
 ments, under the plea of its having paid them in worthless paper, 
 thus leaving open the field to eternal discussions, no matter if the 
 Claimants, or some of them, be starved to death. What is a citi- 
 zen, what are a few citizens, more or less, compared to public inter- 
 est? Their clamors will be stifled by some newspaper articles, 
 and the national treasury will have honorably saved $275,000 ! 
 This honest zeal in behalf of the public eerarium, at the expense of 
 a few innocent and forsaken individuals, will add to the glory of 
 the administration! This is the reasoning: all for the nation, no- 
 thing for the citizen ; as if there could exist such thing as a nation 
 without citizens ! And it is thought that this is the only protec- 
 tion which our institutions and free republican government should 
 afford to the property, liberty, honor and life of American citizens ! 
 Happily a true national Congress is there to repudiate and con- 
 demn suchsubversive and disgraceful doctrines. 
 
 President Polk has, indeed, acknowledged the right of the Claim- 
 ants to obtain, through " further legislation," a " relief," in their 
 distressing circumstances. " Their case says he, is one of much 
 hardship." But he has said too little by leaving " Congress to 
 decide whether any and what relief ought to be granted to them." 
 He looks upon this question as one of pity, and not of justice j and 
 he even procrastinates the decision of Congress, by adding " our 
 minister to Mexico has been instructed to ascertain the facts of the 
 case from the Mexican government in an authentic and official 
 form, and report with as little delay as possible." He has said still 
 less in his Message in regard to the other instalments due by Mex- 
 ico up to this day, by only mentioning that" seven instalments are 
 now due." The second and last, but most important object of this 
 humble Memorial and Petition, is then to show that : 
 
 The government of the United States is in dttty bound to pay 
 not only the two instalments of April and July, 1844, undb- 
 
(17) 
 
 KIABLY PAID BY MEXICO AND EMBEZZLED BY OUR AGENT, BUT ALSO ALL 
 THE SUBSEQUENT INSTALMENTS, WHICH IN ALL WILL BE EIGHT ON THE 
 
 30th instant; and that, in this respect, the question relating to 
 them all, paid or not paid by Mexico, being already and most sol- 
 emnly decided by the law of nations, universal jurisprudence, the 
 commonest principles of justice, the general and constant practice 
 of all the civilized world, and the laws of the country, the expected 
 report of our minister at Mexico, be it whatever it may, is quite 
 as useless as uncalled for in the case. Demonstration. 
 
 Mexico was honorably paying the stipulated instalments, when, 
 taking offence at the annexation of Texas to the United States, she 
 thought herself authorized to suspend her payments. This sus- 
 pension is, then, neither more nor less than a reprisal permitted by 
 the law of nations. Therefore, were the suspension grounded on law- 
 less reasons, the government of the United States, being indispen- 
 sably bound to protect its citizens, would have had the option either 
 to enforce the violated convention, or to have its citizens indem- 
 nified out of the national treasury to spare a war. But, from the 
 moment they have become the victims of a foreign reprisal^ not 
 provoked by themselves, they have ceased to be the creditors of 
 Mexico, and have to look to their own government for a speedy in- 
 demnification of all the injury which is caused by its own action. 
 
 Your Memorialist and Petitioner, without entering into any ex- 
 amination of the justice or injustice of the annexation of Texas, 
 will confine himself to the observation that the acquisition of that 
 vast territory, being a national affair, a national advantage, should 
 by no means cause the least injury to a few private individuals ; and 
 that, if some damage results from that advantage, it must be en- 
 dured by the whole nation to which the advantage is secured. 
 This is and has constantly been the dogma even of the most de- 
 spotical governments, and certainly will not fail to be respected 
 by the free,virtuous and enlightened American nation, and its learned 
 representatives. It is based on the respect due to private property, 
 and property is life, nam citra res utique vita nostra servari nequit, 
 et eeque hostilem animum declarat qui res quam, qui vitam per inju- 
 riam impetit* 
 
 In support of this doctrine, your Memorialist could quote a host of 
 publicists, who, nemine discrepante, have strenuously contended and 
 most decidedly made it a sacred duty for all governments to in- 
 demnify their citizens, on whom a foreign reprisal or retaliation 
 may happen to fall. But, as Vattel is the oracle most consulted 
 now-a-days by jurists and lawgivers, his book on the Law of Na- 
 tions being but a choice collection of what had been written before, 
 expecially by Leybnitz, Grotius, Puffendorff, Barbeyrac, Wolfius 
 Hobbes &c. your Memorialist will submit some of his passages on 
 the subject to the impartial and wise judgment of Congress. 
 
 General principle — " When the prince disposes, in a case of ne- 
 
 ♦ Pu^nd. de Offic. hom. L, 1. Cap- V. 
 
(18) 
 
 cessity, of the possessions of a community or an individual — ^jus- 
 tice demands that this community, or this individual, he recom- 
 pensed out of the puilic treasiiry^ and if the treasury is not able to 
 pay it, all the citizens are obliged to contribute to it, for the expen- 
 ses of the State ought to be supported equally, or in a just propor- 
 tion. It is in this as in the throwing of merchandise overboard to 
 save the vessel (Vattel, B. 1. Ch. xx. § 244)." It was in obedience 
 to this precept that gen. Santa Anna, whilst president of Mexico, 
 imposed a forced loan on all the Mexican citizens, as may be seen 
 in his letter above transcribed. Shall our government be less just 
 than a Santa Anna 1 
 
 Another general principle. " The necessity of making a peace 
 authorizes the sovereign to dispose of things even belonging to pri- 
 vate persons, and the Ancient Domain gives him this right (B. 1. 
 § 244). In some degree, by virtue of the power which he has over 
 his subject, he may dispose of their persons. But these cessions 
 being made for the common advantage, the State is to indemnify the 
 citizens who are sufferers by them (B. IV. Ch. ii, § 12)." 
 
 Onemore. — " The sovereign ought to revenge the injuries of the 
 State, and to protect the citizens" — " Whoever offends the State, 
 injures its rights, disturbs its tranquillity, or does it a prejudice in 
 any manner whatsoever, declares-himself its enemy, and puts him- 
 self in a situation to be justly punished for it. Whoever uses a 
 citizen ill, indirectly offends the State, which ought to protect this 
 citizen ; and his sovereign should revenge the injuries, punish the 
 aggressor, and, if possible, oblige him to make entire satisfaction ; 
 since, otherwise, the citizen would not obtain the great end of civil 
 association, which is safety (B, II. Ch. vi. § 71)." 
 
 Meprisals — " Upon what effects are reprisals exercised 1" " The 
 wealth of the citizens forms a part of the total wealth of a nation. 
 Between State and State, whatever is the property of the members 
 is considered as belonging to the body — whence it follows that, in 
 reprisals, they seize the goods of the subject in the same manner 
 as those of the State, or the Sovereign. Every thing that belongs 
 to the nation is subject to reprisals, as soon as it be seized, provi- 
 ded it be not a deposit trusted to the public faith (B. II. Ch. xviii. 
 § 344)." 
 
 Reprisals — " The State ought to recompense those who suffer 
 by reprisals" — " He who makes reprisals against a nation on the 
 goods of its members indiscriminately, cannot be taxed with seiz- 
 ing the wealth of an innocent person for the debt of another ; for 
 m this case the Sovereign is to recompense those of his subjects on 
 whom the reprisals fall ; this is a debt of the State or nation, of 
 which each citizen ought only to support Ms quota (B. II. Ch. xviii. 
 § 245)." 
 
 Reprisals — '' Even if reprisals are caused by private persons" — 
 "Private persons, who by their actions have given room for just 
 reprisals, are at least to recompense those on whom they fall, and 
 and the Sovereign ought to constrain him to do it. For we are 
 
(19) 
 
 under an obligation to repair the damage we have occasioned by our 
 own fault. And as the sovereign, on refusing justice to the offend- 
 ed, has drawn reprisals upon his subjects, those who were the first 
 cause of them do not become the less guilty ; the fault of the sov- 
 ereign does not exempt them from repairing the consequences of 
 theirs. However, if they were ready to give satisfaction to him 
 whom they had injured or offended, and their Sovereign has hin- 
 dered their doing it, they are only bound with respect to what they 
 are obliged to do to prevent reprisals, and the Sovereign is to repair 
 the surplus of damage, the consequence of his own fault (B. II. Ch. 
 xviii. § 349). 
 
 This is the law of nations, and this is, and has always been, the 
 general practice of all governments faithful to their pledges and 
 duties. A single example would scarcely be found in the annals of 
 civilization, o^ private sufferers from the bombardment of a city, the 
 taking of a place by storm, a crop destroyed by military encamp- 
 ments &c. not indemnified of all loss by their own government. The 
 law of nations, conventional, indeed, but based as it is on the eternal 
 principles of justice and truth, dictated by reason, suggested by the 
 necessity of providing for common safety and individual welfare, 
 acknowledged and respected by all human associations having the 
 least pretension to this epithet "human": the law of nations, this 
 rule of action for every government, that, let its organic form be 
 whatever it may, could not depart from it, without giving the whole 
 family of nations a full right to unite and chastise it, shall certainly 
 not be regarded by the representatives of the American Union as 
 a dead letter. It would appear extremely strange that whilst they 
 are daily invoking the " law of nations" in behalf of their own country 
 against real or supposed violations of it on the part of a foreign 
 potentate, they should most flagrantly violate it to the evident 
 prejudice of their own countrymen. No; your Memorialist is far 
 from entertaining an idea so offensive to your honor and good 
 faith ! 
 
 But you must, moreover, show yourselves the worthy guardians 
 of your own social compact. A provision brilliantly shines in the 
 Constitution of the United States, which, mutatis mutandis, con- 
 secrates the very same principle on the subject as the law of na- 
 tions just quoted. "No private property shall be taken for 
 PUBLIC USE without JUST COMPENSATION (art. iv. amend, to 
 Constit.)" — The annexation of Texas has been achieved (or public 
 use, for a national advantage and profit. But it has occasioned a 
 reprisal on the part of Mexico, which has taken from some Amer- 
 ican citizens their private property, to wit: an indemnity judicially 
 awarded to them under the safeguard of two public and solemn 
 treaties. Consequently they have an indisputable right to a just 
 compensation from their national treasury. 
 
 Now, if Mexico is fully convinced that the independence of 
 Texas, on which the right of annexation has been established, was 
 an act utterly lawless and null, the work not of her own citizens 
 
(20) 
 
 but of foreign intruders, if, notwithstanding the acknowledgment de 
 facto of the independence of Texas by the United States of America 
 and some European States, Mexico maintains the inviolable lejjal 
 aphorism : res inter alios actas aliis nan noceri ; if no fact can destroy 
 aright; if her inability to reconquer Texas during nine years is no 
 reason why her right should be considered prescribed or legally for- 
 feited ;if, in her weakness, she thinks herself perfectly safe against all 
 forcible attempts to compel her to abandon her rights on Texas ; if 
 the quarrel is to be terminated by negotiation, arbitration or war ; if, 
 in every one of these cases, no peaceful intercourse might be re- 
 stored between the two parties, but after the lapse of some years 
 &c. what will be the fate of such American citizens as were once 
 her creditors, and are now the lawful creditors of their own govern- 
 ment'? Eight instalments of the capital, and two whole years of 
 back interest, are positively due to them ; and periculum est in mora ; 
 have they to expect from their own paternal government a coup de 
 gi ace 9 And what would become of your own honor '? " Injustice, 
 Vattel says and reason confirms, is not less shameful for being 
 above punishment." 
 
 Finally, with regard to the unadjusted claims on Mexico, Vattel 
 says : 
 
 " If in a litigous afTair, our adversary refuses 
 
 the means of bringing the right to proof, or artfully eludes it ; if 
 he does not, with good faith, apply to pacific measures for termi- 
 nating the difference, and, above all, if he is the first who begins 
 acts of hostility, he renders the cause just, which was before doubt- 
 ful ; we may then make use of reprisals, or seize his effects, to 
 oblige him to embrace the methods of reconciliation which the 
 law of nature prescribes. This is the last attempt for coming to an 
 open war (B. II. Ch. xviii. § 343.)" 
 
 Your Memorialist, then, whose rights are as clear and unobjec- 
 tionable, as they are just and legal, has but complied with his du- 
 ty by applying to the legislators of his adopted country to have 
 justice done. Your wisdom and uprightness will determine the 
 fate of his humble Petition, as solidly grounded on law and justice, 
 as utterly unconnected with party views and considerations. 
 
 O. DE A. Santangelo. 
 
 rfew-York, January 8, 1846. 
 
(21) 
 
 DOCUMENT I. 
 
 Convention between the United States and the Mexican Republic, concluded and 
 signed in the City of Mexico, on the 30th of January, 1843. 
 
 Article 1. On the 30th day of April, 1843, the Mexican Government shall 
 pay all the interest which may be due on the awards in favor of Claimants, 
 under the Convention of the 11th of April, 1839, in gold or silver money, in the 
 city of Mexico. 
 
 Article 2. The principal of the said awards, and the interest accruing 
 thereon, shall be paid in five years, in equal instalments etery three months ; the 
 said term of five years to commence on the 30th day of April, 1843, aforesaid. 
 
 Article 3. The payments aforesaid shall be made in the city of Mexico to 
 such person as the United States may authorize to receive them, in gold or sil- 
 ver money. But no circulation, export or other duties shall be charged there- 
 on ; and the Mexican government takes the risks, charges and expenses of 
 the transportation of the money to the city of Vera Cruz. 
 
 Article 4. The Mexican Government hereby solemnly pledges the proceeds of 
 the direct taxes of the Mexican RepubUc for the payment of the instalments and 
 interest aforesaid ; but it is understood that whilst no other fund is thus spe- 
 cifically hypothecated, the government of the United States by accepting this 
 pledge, does not incur any obligation to look for payment of those instalments 
 and interests to that fund alone. 
 
 Article 5. As this new arrangement, which is entered into for the accom- 
 modation of Mexico, will involve additional charges of treight, commission, &c. 
 the Government of Mexico hereby agrees to add two and a half per centum on 
 each of the aforesaid payments on account of said charges. 
 
 Article 6. A new Convention shall be entered into for the settlement of all 
 claims of the government and the citizens of the United States against the Re- 
 public 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. 
 
 Article 6. The ratifications of this Convention shall be exchanged at Wash- 
 ington within three months after the date thereof, provided it shall arrive at 
 Washington before the adjournment of the present session of Congress ; and, 
 if not, then within one month after the meeting of the next Congress of the 
 United States. 
 
 In faith thereof &c. Done at the City of Mexico, on the 30th day of Janu- 
 ary, in the year of our Lord, 1843— Waddy Thompson— J. M. de Bocanegra, 
 and M. E. de Grostiza— Duly ratified, and the respective ratifications ex- 
 changed at Washington, 29th March, 1843, by Daniel Webster, Secretary 
 of State of the United States, and Juan N. Almonte, minister plenipoten- 
 tiary of Mexico— John Tyler, president of the United States— by the presi- 
 dent, Daniel Webster &c. 
 
 DOCUMENT II. 
 
 Mr. Rejon to Mr. Shannon. 
 
 " National Palace, Mexico, September 2d, 1844— The undersigned, minister 
 of foreign relations, has the honor to acquaint the envoy extraordinary and 
 
(22) 
 
 minister plenipotentiaiy of the United States of America, that his excellency 
 the minister of finances has informed him, under date of the 2Tth of August 
 last, that the instalment due on the 30th of April in this year, and the one due 
 on the 30th of July last, pursuant to the Convention of the 30th of January, 
 1843, have been paid to \he agent appointed by the government of the United 
 States ; and that this notification has been delayed in consequence of the vast 
 business of that department &c. — Manuel Crecencio Rejon." 
 
 DOCUMENT III. 
 
 Mr. Shannon to Mr. Calhoun. 
 
 " Mexico, September 21st, 1844. — The instalments which fell due on the 
 30th of April and July last, under the Convention of the 3Gth of January, 1843, 
 were paid to the agent of the government, to receive and transmit the same, 
 OK. the 21th tiltimo &c." 
 
 DOCUMENT IV. 
 
 D^om the Madisonian of the 4th of November, 1844. 
 
 " Official. — Department of State, November 4th, 1844. — Information has 
 been received at this department that the instalments due on the 30th of April, 
 and 30th of July last, under the Convention between the United States and the 
 Mexican government, were paid by that government on the 21th of August 
 last. 
 
 DOCUMENT V. 
 
 Report of Mr. Shannon to Mr. Buchanan. 
 
 " To the hon. James Buchanan, Secretary of State, Washington, July 2, 
 1845. — Sir : Since my arrival in the United States, I have noticed that at least 
 a portion of the pubUc are laboring under incorrect views with regard to the 
 payment of the fourth and fifth instalments due our citizens from Mexico, un- 
 der the treaty of the 30th of January, 1843, and also that some unjust reflections 
 have been cast upon me as well as others, in reference to the manner in which 
 the business had been transacted. I deem it not out of place for me to com- 
 municate to" you the facts in relation to the two instalments in question, so far 
 as they are within my knowledge, with the view, not only of putting you in 
 possession of the true state of the case, but of setting myself right in the mat- 
 ter. This I should have done at an earlier period, had I been aware that there 
 was any difficulty on the subject, or that there was awy doubt in any quarter as 
 to the facts of the case. 
 
 " The fourth instalment feU due on the 30th of April, 1844, and the fifth on 
 the 30th of the following July ; and I did not arrive in Mexico until the even- 
 ing of the 26th of the foUowing August. 
 
 " On my arrival in Mexico, the fourth instalment had been due near four 
 months, and the fifth near one month, and the date of Mr. Voss's receipt, 
 
 * CLOSING THE MATTER WITH THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT,' I understand iS 
 
 the 27th Of August. 
 
(23) 
 
 " It will be perceived from these dates, that / could have had no ageTU:!/ in 
 advising the arrangement that was made with the Mexican government by Mr. 
 Voss. 
 
 " Soon after my arrival in Mexico, on inquiry of Mr. Voss, our agent, who 
 had been appointed to receive the money, as to the payment of the two in- 
 stalments in question, he informed me he had in vain sought to obtain the 
 money from the national treasury in Mexico ; that he had failed in all his ef- 
 forts to do so, for the reason that, as fast as the money came into the national 
 treasury, it was absorbed for the purposes of the army and by Mexican claim- 
 ants, whose influence with the government was such as to enable 'them to 
 obtain the jjreference over the American claimants ; that, finding all efforts to ob- 
 tain payment in Mexico had failed, he prevailed on the government to give 
 him drafts on the loml treasuries for an amount sufficiently large to cover the 
 principal and interest due on the two instalments, and the cost of collecting the 
 same, and transmitting the money to Vera Cruz. 
 
 "■ He also advised me that the English house of Tayleur, Jamison & Co. in 
 Mexico, had claims on the Mexican government, and that they had taken drafts 
 of a similar character, and were about to collect them, and that he had handed 
 over the drafts he had received, to that house, for collection at the same time. 
 
 " The house of Tayleur, Jamison & Co., it is proper I should remark, is one 
 of undoubted responsibility. 
 
 " The contributions that had been levied, in order to raise the four millions 
 voted by Congress, and placed at the disposal of the government, were in 
 rapid course of collection at the time, and no doubts were entertained but the 
 drafts would be promptly met and paid. 
 
 " He stated that, under these circumstances, he considered the drafts as cash, 
 or the same as cash ; and that he had receipted to the Mexican government ac- 
 cordingly, and that I might consider the instalments in question as paid; that 
 there would be no other difficulty about the matter, than a delay of a few weeks 
 in transmitting the money to the United States. 
 
 " On the day after I had been presented to the president — that is, on the 2d 
 of September — I received a note from Mr. Eejon, the Mexican Secretary of 
 State, a copy of which has heretofore been communicated to your department, 
 in which he states that he had been advised by the Secretary of the Treasury, 
 under date of the 27th of August, that the two instalments had been paid. 
 
 " On the 12th of September, I had an interview with the president Santa 
 Anna, in relation to the release of the Texian prisoners, and the unadjusted 
 claims of our citizens on the government of Mexico ; in which he took occa- 
 sion to speak of the payment of the tioo instalments above named, and the diffi,- 
 culties the government had to encounter to meet then ; and assuring me, at the 
 same time, that he had caused arrangements to be made, lohich would enable the 
 government to meet the future instalments promptly as they fell due. 
 
 " All this put my mind to rest on the subject of those indemnities ; and it 
 was upon this state of facts, that I felt myself authorized to make the commu- 
 nication I did to Mr. Calhoun, in relation thereto, in September last. 
 
 " I did not, at the time, nor until after the revolution broke out, which ter- 
 minated in the overthrow of president Santa Anna and his party, anticipate 
 the slightest difficulty in relation to the payment of the drafts in question. 
 
 " When the revolution broke out, tire money intended to meet these drafts 
 wai diverted from that purpose by the government of Mexico, and applied to its 
 own purposes. 
 
 " When it had become thus certain that there would be at least some consid- 
 erable delay in the payment of these drafts, I called on Mr. Voss to report to me 
 in writing all the facts of the case, so that 1 might be able to put my govern- 
 ment in possession of them. Ivms taken sick shortly after, and confined to my 
 room for two months, and was prevented from doing so. 
 
 " Up to the time of my departure from Mexico, which was on the 14th of 
 May last, these drafts had not been paid, nor any part of them. 
 
 " No doubt, however, was entercained by Mr. Voss or Mr. Jamison, but that 
 these di-afts would be paid as 30on as the Mexican goverrmient could command 
 fhe pecuniary, means. 
 
(24) 
 
 " That government does not claim that it is in any way released from tfe 
 payment of these drafts ; but the deranged state of the Mexican treasury, 
 growing out of the late revolution, has heretofore prevented the government 
 from discharging them. 
 
 " It is proper I should state, that I have no doubt Mr. Voss has acted through- 
 out with the most perfect good faith and integrity, and that he did what he be- 
 lieved to be the best for the claimants at the time ; that upon a statement of the 
 facts and reasons on which he acted, I concurred with him in the opinion, and 
 so expressed myself to him at the time, that the course he had adopted was 
 the best, under all the circumstances of the case, that could have been adopt- 
 ed, in order to secure the money for the claimants. 
 
 " While it may be expected that these drafts will bepaiiby Mexico so soon as 
 her financial abilities will enable her to do so, without regard to the future rela- 
 tions of the two countries, I do not feel jusfifled in giving you any assurances 
 that the remaining instalments will be paid until the difficulties existing be- 
 tween the two countries are finally adjusted, or our government shall adopt 
 strong measures in order to coerce Mexico into a compliance with her treaty 
 stipulations. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant. 
 
 " Wilson Shannon.'' 
 
 DOCUMENT VI. 
 
 Mr. Santangelo to Mr. Buchanan. 
 
 " To the Hon. James Buchanan, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. — 
 New- York, July 14th, 1845- — Sir : the repugnance shown by the Executive to 
 carry into effect the act of Congress of the 3d of March ultimo, in favor of 
 the Claimants on Mexico, has prompted me to publish some writings, in pam- 
 phlet form, numbered I. II. and III, headed ' Claimants on Mexico,' and signed 
 ' A Claimant,' copies of which I have had the honor to forward to you through 
 the post-office. 
 
 " I now take the liberty of enclosing another copy of each, respectfully so- 
 liciting your particular attention to their contents, especially to No. III. where- 
 in the official report made to you by Mr. Shannon, dated 2d instant, is fully 
 refuted, and the truth unquestionably established that Mexico is wholly and 
 lawfully released from the payment of the instalments of April and July, 1844, 
 and that our agent alone is responsible for their amount, which was placed by 
 the Mexican treasury in cash at his disposal. 
 
 " But, as his reponsibility regards him and our government alone, and can- 
 not in any way affect the rights of the Claimants, I had in various places of 
 said writings observed, that our treasury, by advancing to them the amount of 
 said instalments, pursuant to the above act of Congress, would run the risk of 
 no loss whatever ; and in No. II. of the same wTitings I said : ' Nevertheless, 
 I would, by way of mere courtesy, willingly make this question the subject of 
 a 3d bulletin, and add such suggestions, as to enable our government to recov- 
 er the mislaid money in the shortest and easiest way possible.' 
 
 " I did not do this , however, in my 3d bulletin, thinking that the publication 
 of such suggestions might lead our agent in Mexico to excogitate new con- 
 trivances to elude their effects. Therefore I now submit my views privately 
 for your consideration. 
 
 ■' Certainly the drafts, which were not given by the Mexican treasury to our 
 agent in payment of the instalments, but were bought by him with the cash 
 placed by that treasury at his disposal, are now American property ; they be- 
 long to our government, to our treasury ; and having remained unpaid by those 
 on whom they were drawn, thej' must necessarily exist either in the posses- 
 sion of the agent himself, Mr. Voss, or of Messrs. Tayleur, Jamison & Co. to 
 
(25) 
 
 whom they are said to have been handed for collection. It is now the interest 
 of the agent to keep them as long as he hopes to have them honored, in order 
 to realize the profit which has been the object of his intrigues ; and such a 
 state of things could last for years. 
 
 " But those drafts, being drawn for a sum much larger than $275,000 (the 
 amount of the two instalments in question), could be easily sold again in Mex- 
 ico with the loss of the surplus, namely, at the same price for which they were 
 bought by Mr. Voss. The drafts are good, they are government-paper, and, 
 consequently, many capitalists or merchants, residing in that country, would 
 be glad to acquire them, thus making for themselves the gain expected by Mr. 
 Voss, as they would be received at ;par by the Mexican treasury, in payment 
 of custom-house duties or any other public charge. 
 
 "This operation, not being of a political nature, could easily be effected by 
 our government, notwithstanding the accidental non-intercourse between it 
 and that of Mexico. Orders could be transmitted, therefore, through some of 
 our merchants having correspondences with Mexico, such as Hargous, Har- 
 mony, Lasala &c. or through some of our consuls residing there, for the im- 
 mediate delivery of those drafts into better hands, their sale, and the trans- 
 mission of the money, through bills of exchange, to the United States. This 
 measure is moreover commanded by the circumstance of Mr. Voss having 
 forfeited all claim to the confidence of our government, and by the danger of 
 ultimately seeing the whole amount of the bills engulfed in an unfathomable 
 abyss .... What would then be the hopes for the recovery of the money ? 
 
 " Pardon the liberty I have taken ; deign to acknowledge the receipt of the 
 present, and receive the assurance of the high consideration, with which — I 
 have the honor to be — Your most humble servant — ^0. A. de Santangeio. 
 
 DOCUMENT VII. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Santangeio. 
 
 "Department of State. — Washington, 31st July, 1845. — To 0. de A. Santan- 
 geio, Esquire, New-York. — Sir : Agreeably to the request contained therein, I 
 have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 14th instant, offering 
 suggestions relative to the instalments vmder the Convention with the Mexican 
 Republic, of the 30th of January, 1843, which were due on the 30th of April 
 and 30th of July, 1844. — I am, respectfully, your obedient servant — James 
 Buchanan." 
 
 DOCUMENT VIII. 
 
 Mr. Santangeio to Mr. Buchanan. 
 
 New-York, Aug. Isf, 1845. 
 " Hon. James Buchanan, Secretary of State, Washington. — Sir : On the 
 14th of July ultimo I wrote you a letter, in which I submitted my views upon 
 the most speedy way of collecting the 4th and 5th instalments of the Mexican 
 indemnity, paid to our agent in Mexico, and requesting, at the same time, an 
 acknowledgment of the receipt of the same. Sixteen days having passed, 
 without my receiving a single word from you in answer, I thought proper to 
 mention the fact in a pubUcation which I made on the 30th of July, on the 
 subject of the Mexican claims. I certainly had no idea that it would take 
 your department sixteen days to acknowledge the receipt of a single letter, 
 but I found that I was mistaken, for your note, dated " Washington, July 31st, 
 
(26); 
 
 1845," has just reached me. Had my request been attended to in reasonable 
 time, I would have been spared the disagreeable necessity of noticing, in rath- 
 er severe terms, a bit of negligence, which I interpreted as a marked slight. I 
 feel that I owe it to you, and myself, to say that I am truly sorry that I did not 
 receive j'ournote before I sent out my IV. Number of Claimants on Mexico,' 
 and I shall take the first opportimity to make tins known to the pubUc. — I am 
 respectfullj' — Your obedient servant — 0. de A. Santangelo." 
 
 DOCUMENT IX. 
 
 Gen. Santa Anna to Charles Callaghan. 
 
 " Habana, 19 de Noviembre de 1845. 
 
 " Sr. Dn. Carlos Callaghan, New- York. 
 
 " Muy Sr. mio ; Con algun retardo, vino a mis manos la atenta carta de 
 V. de 22 de Agosto ultimo que contesto, aunque para hacerio me es precise 
 difundirme algo. 
 
 " Cuando por la libre y espontanea voluntad de la nacion fui nombrado 
 Presidente de la Repilblica en Octubre de 1841, encontre ecsistente la conven- 
 cion firrnada en Washington, por los comisarios de Mexico y los Estados Uni- 
 dos que arregld las reclamaciones de los ultimos y elmodode verificar el pago, 
 ratiflcada por mi antecesor el General Bustamante. A decir verdad, yo ni 
 habria despachado a los Estados Unidos comisionados, pues el gabinete de 
 Washington era el que deben'a haberlos enviado k Mexico, ni habria ratiflcada 
 el convenio en los terminos en que se encuentra : empero como cuando em- 
 pune las riendas del gobierno, era ya un tratado vigente entre ambas naciones, 
 zeloso mas que nadie del honor de la mia, e intimamente convencido de que 
 la base de este estriba en observar exacta y religiosamente los tratados, y cono- 
 ciendo por otra parte la politica y tendencias de los Estados Unidos, me deci- 
 di k cumplirlo en todas sus partes, para quitar al gobierno de V. todo pretesto 
 que pudiese alterar en lo sucesivo la buena harmonia e inteligencia entre los 
 dos paises, librando a la vez al mio de todo proyecto ulterior que tuviese relacion 
 con su integridad. 
 
 " Al efecto no vacile en dictar las medidas mas eficaces para que Mexico 
 pagase las cuotas designadas en la convencion, y que esto se hiciese en el 
 modo y forma estipulada ; y como el erario, al empezar j^o a gobernar, era un 
 esqueleto, impuse un prestamo forzoso que gravitando sobre la sociedad, to- 
 dos, y cada uno de los ciudadanos, contribuyese segun su fortuna relativa, al 
 pago de una deuda sagrada ya para Mexico. Llevando esto al cabo, con la 
 energia die caracteriza a mis actos administrativos, logre salvar el honor na- 
 cional, sin embargo de la grita y oposicion que se suscitd, apellidandome tira- 
 no por los que en nada tienen a aquel, y que no conocen, d affectan no conocer, 
 que para estos casos es cuando los ciudadanos deben franquear patrioticamente 
 todos sus recursos. Esta medida de mi gobierno es una de las que han me- 
 recido mas censura, y que me ha proporcionado mas disgustos ; pero tranquilo, 
 con el testimonio de mi conciencia, y con la aprobacion de la parte pensadora de 
 ambos paises, espero confiado el fallo de la severa e' imparcial historia, que 
 mas tarda d mas temprano mejustiflcara ante la posteridad, y quiza ante los 
 ojos de los contemporaneos. 
 
 Logre mi objeto, y se pagaron en consecuencia los dividendos durante el 
 tiempo que permaneci en el gobierno con toda la exactitud, y en dinero efec- 
 tivo ; empero como en 30 del Abril del ano pasado me haRaba separado de los ne- 
 gocios en mis fincas de campo, y no permite la Constitucion, ni tampoco mi 
 canicter, que se mezcle en los asuntos pdblicos el Presidente cuando esta se- 
 parado, me Umitii ^ recomendar el pago al Presidente interino General Dn. 
 Valentin Canalize y al ministro de Hacienda Dn. Ignacio Trigueros, y cuando 
 
(27) 
 
 espird el otro plazo de 30 de Jiiliode que me habla V., como entonces habia yo 
 vuelto al poder, dicte todas las medidas convenientes y ordene terminantemente 
 al Secretario de Hacienda se hiciese el pago en dinero efectivo como lo tem'a 
 acordado, de modo que si contra el tenor de lo que mande se hizo aquel en 
 letras u drdenes, el ministro faltd 5 su deber desobedeciendo mis acuerdos, y no 
 deja tambien de haber faltado el comisionado Dn. Emilio Voss admitiendo, 
 Gome admitio, segun el decir de V., la cantidad en papel. En la misma epoca 
 dicte con anticipacion otros acuerdos relatives para que en lo sucesivo se pa- 
 gasen los plazos que se vencieren con toda exactitud, y un dinero efectivo, 
 pues contribuyendo el pueblo con dinero, quise y mande que este numerario no 
 se distrayese para ningun otro objeto, y a esto alude mi conversacion con el 
 Sr. Ministro Shannon de que hace V. merito. 
 
 En resumen; en mi concepto los plazos & que V. se refiere sepagaron en 
 dinero efectivo ; pero si no ha sido asi, el ministro y el comisario Voss son re- 
 sponsables, el primero por infractor de mis drdenes terminantes, y el segundo 
 por no haber cumplido las de sus poderdantes. 
 
 Soy con toda consideracion su atento servidor, 
 
 Q. B. S. M. 
 (Signed) A. L. de Sta. Anna. 
 
 I do hereby certify that the above is a true and hteral copy of a letter ad- 
 dressed to me by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, dated Habana, 19th 
 of November, 1845, and received per Ship Norma, arrived at New- York on the 
 10th of December, 1845. 
 
 Charles Callaghan. 
 
 New-York, Dec. 12th, 1845. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 016 241 527 n # 
 
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