and permitted the peaceful cession of CaUfornia to the British crown. Mexico, feeble and exhausted, could resent the insult only in words ; but they were words full of dignity, truth, and common sense. Mr. Rejon, the Mexican Secretary (October 20th, 1844), informed Shannon that he " has orders to repel the protest now addressed to his Government, and to dfeclare that the President of the United States is much mistaken, if he supposes Mexico capable of yielding to the menace which he, exceeding the powers given to him by the fundamental law of his nation, has directed against it." After commenting on the conduct of the United States, he concluded, " while one power is seeking more ground to stain by the slavery of an unfortunate branch of the human family, the other is endeavoring, by pre- serving what belongs to it, to diminish the surface which the former wants for this detestable traffic. Let the world now say, which of the two has justice and reason on its side."
This letter was received in high dudgeon by Mr. Shan- non, who haughtily demanded a retraction of the Secre- tary's letter, on the penalty of suspending all farther intercourse till he heard from Washington. To this impertinence, Mr. Rejon replied that he was not surprised by Mr. Shannon's reluctance to discuss the conduct of his Government. *' In fact, to what else can be attributed this exclusive desire to claim for himself, his nation, and his Government, that respect denied by him to the Mexican Republic and its Government, to which he has so often applied the term barbarous, in his note of 14th October? Is the Government of the United States superior in dignity, or has its legislature any 'right to be thus wanting in respect to a Government to which it has refused the attentions due by courtesy to mere individu- als ? Instead of withdrawing his letter, he is ordered to reiterate his former statements."
The manly, honest rebuke administered by Rejon to President Tyler, naturally gave great offence to that gen- tleman; and on the 19th December, 1844, he laid the correspondence before Congress with very