the treaty-making power, is not known ; but Mr. Tyler has the credit of first announcing the discovery to the public. Mortified and irritated by the rejection of his treat}'', he immediately appealed to the House of Repre- tatives, laying the dishonored document before them, and hinting that it was possible to effect annexation by other means than a treaty. But Mr. Tyler had so utterly anni- hilated the respect and confidence he had once enjoyed, that his influence was nugatory for good or for evil. The annexation of Texas was indeed efiected, but it was effected by other influences than those wielded by himself or by Mr. Calhoun.
The administration of Mr. Tyler was to close, and that of Mr. Polk to commence, on the 4th March, 1845. The vote againt the annexation treaty the preceding June, had convinced the partisans of Texas, of the impossibility of effecting their favorite object in a constitutional mode, and the friends of human liberty congratulated themselves that the danger was passed. The election, however, of Mr.
Polk, by identifying the democracy of the Xorth with the policy of the South, revived the hopes, and invigorated the efforts of the friends of Texas. The patronage of the government had now for the next four years been placed at the disposal of an avowed and zealous advocate of annexation. Under these circumstances, it was deter- mined to make a new effort to secure Texas, regardless of the Constitution. Nor was the expectation very un- reasonable, that a majorit}^ of the very Senate that had treated Tyler with contumely, as he was sinking below the horizon, might do homage to the rising sun.
Mr. Polk was to be sworn into office on the 4th March ;
and this circumstance afforded an excuse for the arrival at the Capitol some weeks earlier, of the dispenser of the nation's patronage. His presence is well understood to have exerted a powerful influence on the