little chance of securing their union with the States, sent a commissioner to England (Gen. Henderson) to sound Lord Palmerston on the subject of the recognition of the independence of Texas by England. The result of Gen. Henderson's mission was, that Lord Palmerston indirectly pledged himself to recognise the independence of Texas, so soon as the proposition for the annexation of Texas to the United States was withdrawn from the table at Washington, which was immediately done, and on the 3rd of March, 1837, the United States recognised the independence of Texas, which example was followed by France on the 25th of September, 1839, and subsequently by Belgium and Holland, and finally Lord Palmerston subscribed to a treaty between England and Texas on the 13th of November, 1840. In reviewing this act of Lord Palmerston's, apart altogether from the question of injustice towards the Mexican bond-holders, the cruelty and injustice towards the native Indian population, and its inconsistency and general imbecility as regards the question of slavery, it may justly be said, that the folly of the British government, in foregoing or sacrificing the simplest rights of British subjects for the paltry consideration of securing to Lord Palmerston the honour of negotiating a treaty of friendship and commerce with a country whose institutions are repugnant to the national prejudices, and destructive to the general interests of the British nation, are problems not to be solved. A

treaty of commerce with a wretched people, without agriculture, and so "miserably impoverished" that they can only hold out the hope, to the merchants of London, whom they ask to advance them money, the prospect of a contraband trade with the United States and Mexico! To secure to England these moral, political, and commercial advantages, the very government who wrung from the hands of the British nation no less than 20,000,000l. for the abolition of slavery, recognised the independence of a country that not only cherishes slavery, but which denies the British subject of African origin the right to land on her shores, where slavery had previously been abolished for ever; while the native Indians, a portion of them the citizens of Mexico, are still struggling for their lives and property, are abandoned, de facto, by my Lord Palmerston, to be cut to pieces by a desperate race of men, who, while they are cutting the throats of the defenceless Indian women and children, are to bestow their plaudits on his lordship, whose wisdom, as displayed in this affair, will not be readily lost sight of.

The recognition of Texas by France was prefaced by a species of diplomacy, which it is hoped will be duly appreciated by every nation who advocates the observance of rectitude on the part of diplomatic agents in their negotiations, in all international transactions.

Admiral Baudin having been obliged to fly from

Vera Cruz, in December, 1838, as a messenger of peace from the French government, addressed the following letter to General Urrea, who, at that moment, was commanding an insurgent force at Tampico :

"Excellent Sir,

"H. M. S. off Antonio Lizardi, Dec. 22, 1838.

"He who has now the honour to address you, has been a witness of all the changes and vicissitudes which his country has experienced for the space of forty years: he is, therefore, perfectly convinced that when civil war rages in a foreign country, foreign aid ought never to be given to either party, but that the political differences of citizens dwelling in the same state should be settled among themselves.

"I come not to offer assistance, which, perchance, might make the federal system less popular: if, as I hope and trust, the federal cause is the real national cause in Mexico, it will finally triumph, and for this it ought to be indebted to nought but itself.

"Allow me to state to your Excellency, that I come not as an enemy to Mexico, nor of any part of the Mexican nation; and that the government of France, whose representative I have the honour to be, has sent me on this mission with the most friendly sentiments of peace and good-will. These sentiments are congenial to my own feelings, and, for the whole of the past month, I have exerted myself to the utmost to cause them to be believed: but the cabinet which then governed Mexico, and which was the slave of a detestable faction, the sworn enemy of the happiness of Mexico, raised so many obstacles, and gave me so many proofs of their hypocrisy and bad faith, that, not being able to prevail by fair means, I was obliged to use force.

"If your Excellency has read the documents relating to the conferences at Jalapa, you will not fail to remark that, instead of the indemnity justly due to my countrymen, and of which the Mexican government did not dispute the validity, all I asked and

sought to obtain was, that, in future, French subjects should be admitted to the same rights and privileges which had been stipulated in favour of another nation in its treaty with Mexico:* this condition the faction, of which the Señor Cuevas is but the instrument, had predetermined not to concede under any circum. stances. I do not doubt but that your Excellency will feel the deepest disgust to see the cunning and treachery displayed in the drawing up of the sixth, seventh, and ninth articles, which the Minister Cuevas ventured to send me the evening before the day fixed for the conclusion of the negotiation: had I accepted such conditions, my countrymen would have been exposed to every sort of violence and oppression, without any assurance for the past, or security for the future. Convinced of the unfavourable disposition of the Mexican plenipotentiary, and of the absolute impossibility of coming to any reasonable understanding with him, I found myself obliged to lay my hand upon the citadel of San Juan de Ulloa : I occupied it, but only as a pledge, declaring that it should be given up as soon as the differences then pending between the two governments were adjusted. This is true; and I can tell your Excellency safely, that my conduct throughout has been that of a friend to the Mexican nation, not that of an enemy. Unasked, I granted the garrison of Ulloa a most honourable and advantageous capitulation: the wounded Mexicans are now lying in the hospital of Ulloa, by the side of the wounded. French, treated like brethren. Master of Ulloa, I can command the city of Vera Cruz to surrender at discretion; I could have seized it, but refrained from so doing, from respect to the honour of the Mexican nation, and the integrity of their territory, until at length the outrageous conduct of General Santa Anna compelled me to dismantle the city, and carry off its cannon. This duty I performed with every possible consideration for the lives

*This is not true. Great Britain (the nation alluded to) has not in her treaty stipulated for the right to carry on the retail trade, but the French Admiral here unguardedly discloses the real motive of the French government to force by arms a treaty on Mexico.

and properties of the inhabitants, using every effort to alleviate the evils of war. I have set at liberty the soldiers, my prisoners, without conditions; the officers I have set at liberty on their parole, and have only retained General Arista, who has been treated with all honours and respect due to his rank. Master of the sea, I could, without risking the loss of a man, destroy every town and village within range of my guns along the coast; and yet I have abstained, up to the present hour, from occasioning any damage.

"In return for such forbearance on my part, what has been the conduct of the Mexican government? Two days after declaring war against France, despite its recent promises and all the laws of humanity, it has promulgated a savage decree, driving out of the Mexican territory, to their certain ruin, the numerous French families therein residing; and striving to irritate against these unfortunates the popular indignation, by furious and lying proclamations. They have been left without defence to every private revenge. The agents of the government have been instigated to aggravate, with refined cruelty, the barbarous law of expulsion; and finally, in a fit of insanity, the government has issued a decree, prescribing the penalty of death to such as should supply provisions to the French in Vera Cruz.

"Excellent Sir, while inditing these lines, and when about to state that such a government, such a lying and malicious government, is unworthy of the civilized age,-the shame and scourge of the generous Mexican nation, whose interests it has sacrificed, as well as betrayed and degraded its character,-behold, the intelligence of the fall of this government has just reached me— the federal constitution has been proclaimed in Mexico. This great event will cause my letter to be almost without an object. Probably this will not find you at Tampico; and I hasten to conclude with the most direct and formal assurance, that no views of ambition, no intention to infringe the Mexican territory, has caused the government of France to send to the shores of Mexico the expedition I have the honour to command. Had France the slightest idea of making a conquest, she would have sent an