The Cabinet had rehcved themselves from breaking off the negotiations by throwing the responsibility of it upon Mr. Elhs. Their confidence in this gentleman was not misplaced. After receiving from the Mexican Secretary of State the explanations and assurances already men- tioned, he demanded CZth December) his passports ! The Mexican Government begged to know /or lohat cause he took a step so calculated to affect the relations of the two countries. It would not do to give the true reason :
it was difficult to frame a plausible one ; and Mr. Ellis remained silent.
The Mexican Minister had left Washington on account of the march of American troops into Texas, and the claim advanced by the Government of the right to send an American army into the heart of Mexico, if necessary, to guard against Indian hostUitics. Mr. Elhs had termin- ated his mission in Mexico in the exercise of the discretion allowed him, adjudging the answers made to the eighteen complaints unsatisfactory. Negotiations being at an end, satisfaction for the eighteen grievances, and as many more as we could find, could of course be obtained only by force, which would necessarily lead