Page:The War with Mexico, Vol 1.djvu/160

Rh Polk's professions were every way most pacific. The assurances conveyed to Almonte after he made his protest have already been mentioned In August, 1845, Polk wrote confidentially to a Senator, "We will not be the aggressors upon Mexico." A month later Buchanan declared in a "Private and Personal" letter to our minister at London: "The President does not intend to proceed beyond a just and righteous self — defence, and he is ready to present the olive branch to Mexico the moment he knows it will be accepted." It is hardly supposable that our secretary of state intended to deceive our most important representative abroad, or that he was deceived himself by Polk in so vital a matter.

The confidential orders of the government were emphatically unwarlike in tone. To Conner, commanding in the Gulf, the secretary of the navy wrote in March, 1845, "The disposition of the President is to maintain the most friendly relations with the Mexican Republic," and in substance this declaration was repeated in the following July and August "Take special care," the department said to Stockton, who had a few vessels on the Texas coast, "to avoid every act that can admit of being construed as inconsistent with our friendly relations" with Mexico. Commodore Sloat, in the Pacific, was told in "Secret and Confidential" instructions dated June 24, 1845, "The President hopes, most earnestly, that the peace of the two countries may not be disturbed. . . do everything consistent with the national honor" to avoid a rupture; and these instructions to Sloat were most noteworthy, for the commander on the Paciﬁc station was liable to be out of touch with the government for a year at a time, and he needed to be sure as to its general policy.

For the guidance of our chargé in Texas, where many feared a Mexican invasion and called for American troops, a clear statement of our intentions was equally necessary, and Buchanan wrote to Donelson at about the same time, "The Government will studiously refrain from all acts of hostility towards that republic [Mexico], unless these should become absolutely necessary in self — defence" Quite in line with all, this was the order cancelling Frémont's second exploring' trip to the far west, because he had equipped his party in a military style — an order that was decidedly over-strict,