least forty thousand citi- zens had laid before that body their remonstrances against annexation. At length on the 21st April, 1838, Mr. For- syth informed the Mexican Minister, that the President " is too anxious to avoid proceeding to extremities," not to accept the offer ! Negotiations were now commenced at Washington, which resulted, on the 10th of September, 1838, in a convention between the two Governments, by which it was agreed, that all the claims against Mexico should be referred to a board of four Commissioners, two to be appointed by each party. The board to meet in Washington three months after the exchange of ratifica- tions, and to sit not more than eighteen months. The award of the Commissioners to be final, but the cases on which they could not agree were to be decided by an umpire to be named by the Eng of Prussia. Should the Mexican Government not find it convenient to pay the amount awarded in cash, the payment was to be made in so much government stock as would, at the market price in London, be equal to the award. The Mexican ratification of this Convention not having been exchanged within the time limited, it was renewed with slight modifications in 1840; the most important of which was, that the sum awarded was to be paid, one half in cash, and the other in Treasury notes bearing eight per cent, interest, and re- ceiveable for Mexican duties.
The determination of the Executive to refer the Mexi- can claims to arbitration, and the delay necessarily caused by such a reference, seemed to excite the slaveholders to increased energy in forwarding their favorite object. Mis- sissippi had already, by its Legislature, demanded the an- * See Ex. Doc. 25tli Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 12.
nexation of Texas, avowedly for the benefit of the slave- holdino; interest. The State of Alabama now did the same. The Legislature of Tennessee joined in the de- mand, but refi-ained from the indecency of resting it on the extension of human bondage. Three days after the acceptance of the Mexican offer, Mr. Preston, a senator from South Carolina, introduced a