Such is the fair, and indeed, the only inference to be drawn from the answer returned to the Consul. The answer was not improbably dictated by that species of cunning which politicians are so apt to mistake for wis- dom. It may have been the design of the Mexican Gov- ernment to use language which w^ould hereafter permit it to reject an American Minister, or to refuse entering with him into negotiations on other topics than Texas, should circumstances render such a course expedient. A similar cunning was evinced by the Cabinet at Washington in its prompt acceptance of the equivocal reply of the Mexican Secretary, as a full and explicit answer to the question proposed by the Consul. Should the Envoy be received, the affair of Texas would of course be set aside as res adju- dicata, while the alternative of California or payment of claims would be pressed upon the feeble, distracted Gov- ernment of Mexico. If, however, the Envoy should be rejected on the ground, that the Government had con- sented to receive only a Commissioner to treat about Texas, then loud complaints of breach of faith, and of insult offered to the national honor, would prove conven- ient incentives to war. Mr. Polk avoiding all explanations, hurried off Mr. Slidell, of Louisiana, as Minister to Mexico, within three weeks of the meeting of Congress, and of course without waiting for the confirmation of his nomination by the Senate. The Mexican Secretary, mindful of the rudeness with which his Government had been hitherto treated by American functionaries, expressed the hope, that the person now to he sent would be one " whose dignity and prudence, and moderation, and the discreetness and reasonableness of his proposals, will tend to calm, as much as possible, the just irritation of the Mexi- cans." How far the gentleman selected by Mr. Polk endeavored to exercise a calming influence, will be seen in the sequel.
On the 3d of December, it was reported in Mexico, that the new Envoy had landed at Vera Cruz. On this, the Mexican Secretary sought an interview with our Consul, and begged him to induce Mr. Slidell to postpone, for the present, his appearance in the Capital, as he had not