Peña to council of state; and report of council of state. Polk, Diary, Nov. 6, 9, 10.
In Tyler, Tyler, iii, 174, may be found a statement from B. E. Green to the effect that Herrera sent word to him that a minister of the usual sort could not be received, and that he transmitted this message to Polk. But (1), if such was Herrera's attitude, why was it not made clear to Black, who had been expressly commissioned to ascertain whether a minister would be received; (2) Green, as a member of the Calhoun faction, and perhaps as an official who had lost a good post in our legation at Mexico, was not favorable to Polk, and a statement made by a prejudiced person from memory forty-four years after the event, regarding a delicate matter in which precision is essential, cannot be considered at all authoritative. (3) This statement is out of harmony with a number of material facts. 256Marcy to Wetmore, Feb. 1, 1846: Slidell was sent "on an express agreement that a minister would be received."
23. 52McLane, no. 8, Sept. 26, 1845. 108Kemble to Bancroft, Sept. 3, 1845. Dimond, no. 269, 1845. Times, Oct. 14. (Impatience) Ho. 60; 30, 1, p. 17 (Black). Polk, Diary, Nov. 10.
24. Buchanan to Slidell, Nov. 10; Dec. 17. Veracruzano Libre, Nov. 30. 52Comte. prince. to Dimond, Nov. 30. Slidell, Nov. 30; Dec. 17. Ho. 60; 30, 1, p. 22 (Black). (Fleet) Conner to Dimond, Oct. 23, 1845 (Wash. Union, Dec. 1, 1847). Conner felt so sure of the conciliatory spirit of his government that he withdrew without waiting for orders. California was well known to be in a chronic state of rebellion (chap. xvi), which Mexico had not the power to subdue, and therefore it was natural for one who knew very little about the Mexicans to suppose they would be willing to take a price for the practically worthless claim to that territory.
The view that Polk explicitly instructed Slidell to give up the plan to buy California rather than allow that plan to stand in the way of regaining amicable relations with Mexico does not seem to be correct (Kelsey, Consulate, 62, note 5). But Buchanan's letter of Dec. 17 to Slidell lays stress upon his '"'two last alternatives," which were to purchase northern California, including (a) the Bay of San Francisco or (b) Monterey also; yet he instructs Slidell to drop this matter, if pressing it would endanger success in endeavoring to obtain the Rio Grande boundary or a line including all of New Mexico. Now such a settlement of the Texas-New Mexico boundary would have involved a restoration of amicable relations with Mexico. The two matters (boundary and relations) were inextricably interwoven both in fact and logically. Hence in effect Buchanan instructed Slidell to drop the plan of purchasing California if pressing it would be liable to prevent the restoration of amicable relations with Mexico. Rives (U. 8. and Mexico, ii, 69, note 2) takes a different view, but seems to have erred in more particulars than one.
25. See pp. 55-6. Smith, Annex. of Texas, 423-31. 52Slidell, Dec. 17, 27. Amigo del Pueblo, Nov. 1: "It is hardly possible to believe such perfidy, such baseness and such audacity. . . treason more horrible has never been seen." Patriota Mexicano, Nov. 18: "To listen to talk of peace from these men [the Americans] is to take the road to perdition, death, ignominy." Voz del Pueblo, Dec. 3: "The treason has been discovered. We no longer own the very ground on which we walk."
26. Ho. 60; 30, 1, p. 22 (Black). Slidell, Dec. 29, 1845. Bankhead, no. 127, 1845. México á través, iv, 545. Roa Bárcena, Recuerdos, 19. Sierra, Evolution, i, 212. Black, Dec. 18.