To the Senate and House of Representatives:
The existing state of the relations between the United States and
Mexico renders it proper that I should bring the subject to the
consideration of Congress. In my message at the commencement of your
present session, the state of these relations, the causes which led to
the suspension of diplomatic intercourse between the two countries in
March, 1845, and the long-continued and unredressed wrongs and injuries
committed by the Mexican government on citizens of the United States, in
their persons and property, were briefly set forth.
As the facts and opinions which were then laid before you were
carefully considered, I can not better express my present convictions of
the condition of affairs up to that time, than by referring you to that
communication.
The strong desire to establish peace with Mexico on liberal and
honorable terms, and the readiness of this government to regulate and
adjust our boundary, and other causes of difference with that power, on
such fair and equitable principles as would lead to permanent relations
of the most friendly nature, induced me in September last to seek the
reopening of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Every
measure adopted on our part had for its object the furtherance of these
desired results. In communicating to Congress a succinct statement of
the injuries which we had suffered from Mexico, and which have been
accumulating during a period of more than twenty years, every expression
that could tend to inflame the people of Mexico, or defeat or delay a
pacific result, was carefully avoided. An envoy of the United States
repaired to Mexico, with full powers to adjust every existing
difference. But though present on the Mexican soil, by agreement between
the two governments, invested with full powers, and bearing evidence of
the most friendly dispositions, his mission has been unavailing. The
Mexican government not only refused to receive him, or listen to his
propositions, but, after a long-continued series of menaces, have at
last invaded our territory, and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on
our own soil.
It now becomes my duty to state more in detail the origin,
progress, and failure of that mission. In pursuance of the instructions
given in September last, an inquiry was made, on the 13th of October,
1845, in the most friendly terms, through our consul in Mexico, of the
minister for foreign affairs, whether the Mexican government "would
receive an envoy from the United States intrusted with full powers to
adjust all the questions in dispute between the two governments;" with
the assurance that "should the answer be in the affirmative, such an
envoy would be immediately despatched to Mexico." The Mexican minister,
on the 15th of October, gave an affirmative answer to this inquiry,
requesting, at the same time, that our naval force at Vera Cruz might be
withdrawn, lest its continued presence might assume the appearance of
menace and coercion pending the negotiations. This force was immediately
withdrawn. On the 10th of November, 1845, Mr. John Slidell, of
Louisiana, was commissioned by me as envoy extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary of the United States to Mexico, and was intrusted with
full powers to adjust both the questions of the Texas boundary and of
indemnification to our citizens. The redress of the wrongs of our
citizen naturally and inseparably blended itself with the question of
boundary. The settlement of the one question, in any correct view of the
subject, involves that of the other. I could not, for a moment,
entertain the idea that the claims of our much injured and long
suffering citizens, many of which had existed for more than twenty
years, should be postponed, or separated from the settlement of the
boundary question.
Mr. Slidell arrived at Vera Cruz on the 30th of November, and was
courteously received by the authorities of that city. But the government
of General Herrera was then tottering to its fall. The revolutionary
party had seized upon the Texas question to effect or hasten its
overthrow. Its determination to restore friendly relations with the
United States, and to receive our minister, to negotiate for the
settlement of this question, was violently assailed, and was made the
great theme of denunciation against it. The government of General
Herrera, there is good reason to believe, was sincerely desirous to
receive our minister; but it yielded to the storm raised by its enemies,
and on the 21st of December refused to accredit Mr. Slidell upon the
most frivolous pretexts. These are so fully and ably exposed in the note
of Mr. Slidell, of the 24th of December last, to the Mexican minister of
foreign relations, herewith transmitted, that I deem it unnecessary to
enter into further detail on this portion of the subject.
Five days after the date of Mr. Slidell's note, General Herrera
yielded the government to General Paredes, without a struggle, and on
the 30th of December resigned the presidency. This revolution was
accomplished solely by the army, the people having taken little part in
the contest; and thus the supreme power of Mexico passed into the hands
of a military leader.
Determined to leave no effort untried to effect an amicable
adjustment with Mexico, I directed Mr. Slidell to present his
credentials to the government of General Paredes, and ask to be
officially received by him. There would have been less ground for taking
this step had General Paredes come into power by a regular
constitutional succession. In that event his administration would have
been considered but a mere constitutional continuance of the government
of General Herrera, and the refusal of the latter to receive our
minister would have been deemed conclusive, unless an intimation had
been given by General Paredes of his desire to reverse the decision of
his predecessor. But the government of General Parades owes its
existence to a military revolution, by which the subsisting
constitutional authorities had been subverted. The form of government
was entirely changed, as well as all the high functionaries by whom it
was administered.
Under these circumstances, Mr. Slidell, in obedience to my
direction, addressed a note to the Mexican minister of foreign
relations, under date of the 1st of March last, asking to be received by
that government in the diplomatic character to which he had been
appointed. This minister, in his reply under date of the 12th of March,
reiterated the arguments of his predecessor, and, in terms that may be
considered as giving just grounds of offence to the government and
people of the United States, denied the application of Mr. Slidell.
Nothing, therefore, remained for our envoy but to demand his passports,
and return to his own country.
Thus the government of Mexico, though solemnly pledged by official
acts in October last to receive and accredit an American envoy, violated
their plighted faith, and refused the offer of a peaceful adjustment of
our difficulties. Not only was the offer rejected, but the indignity of
its rejection was enhanced by the manifest breach of faith in refusing
to admit the envoy, who came because they had bound themselves to
receive him. Nor can it be said that the offer was fruitless from the
want of opportunity of discussing it: our envoy was present on their own
soil. Nor can it be ascribed to a want of sufficient powers: our envoy
had full powers to adjust every question of difference. Nor was there
room for complaint that our propositions for settlement were
unreasonable: permission was not even given our envoy to make any
proposition whatever. Nor can it be objected that we, on our part, would
not listen to any reasonable terms of their suggestion: the Mexican
government refused all negotiation, and have made no proposition of any
kind.
In my message at the commencement of the present session, I
informed you that, upon the earnest appeal both of the congress and
convention of Texas, I had ordered an efficient military force to take a
position "between the Nueces and the Del Norte" This had become
necessary, to meet a threatened invasion of Texas by the Mexican forces,
for which extensive military preparations had been made. The invasion
was threatened solely because Texas had determined, in accordance with a
solemn resolution of the Congress of the United States, to annex herself
to our Union; and, under these circumstances, it was plainly our duty to
extend our protection over her citizens and soil.
This force was concentrated at Corpus Christi, and remained there
until after I had received such information from Mexico as rendered it
probable, if not certain, that the Mexican government would refuse to
receive our envoy.
Meantime Texas, by the final action of our Congress, had become an
integral part of our Union. The Congress of Texas, by its act of
December 19, 1836, had declared the Rio del Norte to be the boundary of
that republic. Its jurisdiction had been extended and exercised beyond
the Nueces. The country between that river and the Del Norte had been
represented in the congress and in the convention of Texas; had thus
taken part in the act of annexation itself; and is now included within
one of our congressional districts. Our own Congress had, moreover, with
great unanimity, by the act approved December 31, 1845, recognised the
country beyond the Nueces as a part of our territory, by including it
within our own revenue system; and a revenue officer, to reside within
that district, has been appointed, by and with the advice and consent of
the senate. It became, therefore, of urgent necessity to provide for the
defence of that portion of our country. Accordingly, on the 13th of
January last, instructions were issued to the general in command of
these troops to occupy the left bank of the Del Norte. This river, which
is the southwestern boundary of the state of Texas, is an exposed
frontier; from this quarter invasion was threatened; upon it, and in its
immediate vicinity, in the judgment of high military experience, are the
proper stations for the protecting forces of the government. In addition
to this important consideration, several others occurred to induce this
movement. Among these are the facilities afforded by the ports at Brazos
Santiago and the mouth of the Del Norte, for the reception of supplies
by sea; the stronger and more healthful military positions; the
convenience for obtaining a ready and a more abundant supply of
provisions, water, fuel, and forage; and the advantages which are
afforded by the Del Norte in forwarding supplies to such posts as may be
established in the interior and upon the Indian frontier.
The movement of the troops to the Del Norte was made by the
commanding general, under positive instructions to abstain from all
aggressive acts toward Mexico or Mexican citizens, and to regard the
relations between that republic and the United States as peaceful,
unless she should declare war, or commit acts of hostility indicative of
a state of war. He was specially directed to protect private property,
and respect personal rights.
The army moved from Corpus Christi on the 11th of March, and on
the 28th of that month arrived on the left bank of the Del Norte,
opposite to Matamoras, where it encamped on a commanding position, which
has since been strengthened by the erection of field works. A depot has
also been established at Point Isabel, near the Brazos Santiago, thirty
miles in rear of the encampment. The selection of his position was
necessarily confided to the judgment of the general in command.
The Mexican forces at Matamoras assumed a belligerent attitude,
and, on the 12th of April, General Ampudia, then in command, notified
General Taylor to break up his camp within twenty-four hours, and to
retire beyond the Nueces river, and, in the event of his failure to
comply with these demands, announced that arms, and arms alone, must
decide the question. But no open act of hostility was committed until
the 24th of April. On that day, General Arista, who had succeeded to the
command of the Mexican forces, communicated to General Taylor that "he
considered hostilities commenced, and should prosecute them." A party of
dragoons, of sixty-three men and officers, were on the same day
despatched from the American camp up the Rio del Norte, on its left
bank, to ascertain whether the Mexican troops had crossed, or were
preparing to cross, the river, "became engaged with a large body of
these troops, and, after a short affair, in which some sixteen were
killed and wounded, appear to have been surrounded and compelled to
surrender."
The grievous wrongs perpetrated by Mexico upon our citizens
throughout a long period of years remain unredressed; and solemn
treaties, pledging her public faith for this redress, have been
disregarded. A government either unable or unwilling to enforce the
execution of such treaties, fails to perform one of its plainest duties.
Our commerce with Mexico has been almost annihilated. It was formerly
highly beneficial to both nations; but our merchants have been deterred
from prosecuting it by the system of outrage and extortion which the
Mexican authorities have pursued against them, whilst their appeals
through their own government for indemnity have been made in vain. Our
forbearance has gone lo such an extreme as to be mistaken in its
character. Had we acted with vigor in repelling the insults and
redressing the injuries inflicted by Mexico at the commencement, we
should doubtless have escaped all the difficulties in which we are now
involved.
Instead of this, however, we have been exerting our best efforts
to propitiate her good-will. Upon the pretext that Texas, a nation as
independent as herself, thought proper to unite its destinies with our
own, she has affected to believe that we have severed her rightful
territory, and in official proclamations and manifestoes has repeatedly
threatened to make war upon us, for the purpose of reconquering Texas.
In the meantime, we have tried every effort at reconciliation. The cup
of forbearance had been exhausted, even before the recent information
from the frontier of the Del Norte. But now, after reiterated menaces,
Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our
territory, and shed American blood upon the American soil. She has
proclaimed that hostilities have commenced, and that the two nations are
now at war.
As war exists, and, notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it,
exists by the act of Mexico herself, we are called upon by every
consideration of duty and patriotism to vindicate with decision the
honor, the rights, and the interests of our country.
Anticipating the possibility of a crisis like that which has
arrived, instructions were given in August last, "as a precautionary
measure" against invasion, or threatened invasion, authorizing General
Taylor, if the emergency required, to accept volunteers, not from Texas
only, but from the States of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee,
and Kentucky; and corresponding letters were addressed to the respective
governors of those states. These instructions were repeated; and, in
January last, soon after the incorporation of "Texas into our union of
states," General Taylor was further "authorized by the President to make
a requisition upon the executive of that State for such of its militia
force as may be needed to repel invasion, or to secure the country
against apprehended invasion." On the second day of March he was again
reminded, "in the event of the approach of any considerable Mexican
force, promptly and efficiently to use the authority with which he was
clothed to call to him such auxiliary force as he might need." War
actually existing, and our territory having been invaded, General
Taylor, pursuant to authority vested in him by my direction, has called
on the governor of Texas for four regiments of state troops - two to be
mounted, and two to serve on foot; and on the governor of Louisiana for
four regiments of infantry, to be sent to him as soon as practicable.
In further vindication of our rights, and defence of our
territory, I invoke the prompt action of Congress to recognise the
existence of the war, and to place at the disposition of the Executive
the means of prosecuting the war with vigor, and thus hastening the
restoration of peace. To this end I recommend that authority should be
given to call into the public service a large body of volunteers, to
serve for not less than six or twelve months, unless sooner discharged.
A volunteer force is beyond question more efficient than any other
description of citizen soldiers; and it is not to be doubted that a
number far beyond that required would readily rush to the field upon the
call of their country. I further recommend that a liberal provision be
made for sustaining our entire military force and furnishing it with
supplies and munitions of war.
The most energetic and prompt measures, and the immediate
appearance in arms of a large and overpowering force, are recommended to
Congress as the most certain and efficient means of bringing the
existing collision with Mexico to a speedy and successful termination.
In making these recommendations, I deem it proper to declare that
it is my anxious desire not only to terminate hostilities speedily, but
to bring all matters in dispute between this government and Mexico to an
early and amicable adjustment; and, in this view, I shall be prepared to
renew negotiations, whenever Mexico shall be ready to receive
propositions, or to make propositions of her own.
I transmit herewith a copy of the correspondence between our envoy
to Mexico and the Mexican minister for foreign affairs; and so much of
the correspondence between that envoy and the Secretary of State, and
between the Secretary of War and the general in command on the Del
Norte, as is necessary to a full understanding of the subject.
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