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 792 E. C. Barker therefore, to intimate to the minister of foreign affairs that if matters got very bad, arrangements might be made for getting several millions from the United States. Jackson approved this as a very "judicious" suggestion, and expressed the hope that it " may lead to happy results in settling our boundary ". A letter of July i8 revealed Butler's method of working. He had been cultivating Seiior Alaman, the minister of foreign afifairs, and believed that the prize was almost in his grasp. He wrote, " The amount to which I am limited for the purchase by my instruc- tions will very probably be in part applied to facilitate the Negotia- tion, in which case we shall provide for that portion of the payment by a secret article." If the President replied to this he failed to preserve a copy of his letter, but we shall find him later expressing his opposition to the plan in no uncertain terms. In the meantime, the revolution in Mexico reached an acute stage, and the resultant confusion prevented further operations on Butler's part for several months. On the fall of Bustamante, Gen- eral Pedraza by a peculiar arrangement shouldered the presidential burdens, to serve out the remaining three months of a term for which he had been elected and from which he had resigned in 1828.^ Santa Anna was expected to succeed him in April, 1833. Of Pedraza Butler wrote, January 2, 1833, that he was said to be very much opposed to the further westward extension of the United States boundary. By " one road ", however, he hoped " to reach him and vanquish his scruples ". But if he still continued obstinate, it would be necessary to wait for the new administration, which at the worst would entail no more than an additional three months of delay. He finished with these determined words, " I will succeed in uniting T to our country before I am done with the subject or I will forfeit my head." On February 10 a new thought oc- curred to him. The government was almost bankrupt, and he asked whether the United States could not advance a loan of five millions, and take a mortgage on Texas for security. This would be tantamount to an outright sale of the territory, he said, because there was not the least probability that the money could ever be repaid. " On March 20 Edward Livingston at the President's request re- plied that there was no constitutional authority for such a transac- tion on the part of the United States government, and that there- fore it was impracticable. He added an admonition to hasten the 'Bancroft, History of Mexico. V. 123-124. ' 25 Cong., 2 sess.. House Exec. Doc. No. 351, Vol. XII., p. 466.