Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/51

Rh for the purpose of treating on terms of peace. Santa Anna insisted on regarding the latter as "a department of Mexico," which character had been applied to all the Mexican states, on the abrogation of the federal constitution; but the President of Texas refused to surrender, in any manner, her claims to be considered as a sovereign state under the confederacy, and the negotiations terminated in no satisfactory result. A discussion took place in the British House of Lords, on the 18th day of August, 1843, between Lord Brougham and Lord Aberdeen, (Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of state for Foreign Affairs,) in relation to the subject of Texas and Texan slavery, which occasioned considerable agitation and alarm in the United States. It was insisted that there was a design on foot to abolish that institution in Texas; and that, if carried into effect, the property invested in slaves, in the southern states, would be rendered so insecure, that it must rapidly depreciate in value. Instructions were given to the American Minister in London, to call the attention of Lord Aberdeen to the subject, which was accordingly done. It appeared that the government of Great Britain had recommended to Mexico the acknowledgment of the independence of Texas, connected with the subject of the abolition of slavery; but, as the former had given no encouragement to the suggestion, nothing had been done. Lord Aberdeen also transmitted a dispatch to the British Minister at Washington, at a later date, but not until after it was known, or understood, in England, that the project of annexation had been again revived, which