TREATY OF ANNEXATION PROPOSED AND REJECTED.
JosT twelve months after the declaration of Texan inde- pendence, that independence was acknowledged by the United States. A minister representing the Federal Government, was immediately despatched to the insurg- ents, and one in retm'n was received from them. Mr.
Hunt, recently an American citizen, and now " Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Re- public of Texas," appeared among his old friends at Washington, and in August, 1837, proposed, in behalf of the yearling Republic," a treaty of annexation. Mr. Van Buren had, the preceding 4th of March, assumed the reins of Government. This gentleman had, on various occasions, shown so much anxiety to conciliate the South, as to be stigmatized by his opponents as " the Northern man v/ith Southern principles." Mr. Hunt was therefore warranted in believing, that he would have no personal objection to extending the slave region by the addition of Texas. But very sufficient obstacles existed to the pro- posed treaty. Such a treaty would necessarily involve a war with Mexico, and in such a war the country was not yet prepared to engage. The treaty moreover, could not be ratified, because it was well ascertained, that more than one-third of the Senators would withhold their assent. A fruitless attempt to negotiate such a treaty would be a political blunder which Mr. Van Buren was too sagacious to commit—a blunder which would inevitably destroy the REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR. bt)
popularity of the administration, and have a most disastrous influence on the ensuing election. The Texan proposition was therefore politely declined on the ground that annexation at the present time must result in a war with Mexico.