Page:The War with Mexico, Vol 2.djvu/140

122 at the Mexican headquarters with a view to bringing about negotiations; and in line with this policy Worth, while at Saltillo, offered pleasant sentiments-to Santa Anna on the subject of peace.

The battles on the Rio Grande and the unwelcome effects of the blockade tended to sober Mexico, as did the aloofness of Great Britain; and Marcy counted not a little on the settlement of the Oregon question. Intimations were received from Consul Black in June and July, 1846, that not only all thoughtful citizens but Paredes himself desired to reach an agreement. Bravo and his Cabinet, who temporarily assumed the reins of government, felt more strongly in the same way, and were more free to act; other signs also pointed in that direction; and it was hoped that Santa Anna, should he regain power, would favor peace. The American administration, on the other hand, felt much embarrassed by the unexpected seriousness of the problems involved in the conflict. So on the twenty-seventh of July Buchanan addressed the Mexican minister of relations, waiving as undesirable all discussion upon the causes of the war, and inviting negotiations in the most conciliatory manner.

But the government of Salas, which received this overture, had attacked Paredes for slackness in prosecuting the hostilities; and he now counted upon this issue for maintaining the power it had given him. Besides, wrote Bankhead, the Mexicans were still confident they could hold their own against the United States; and the war spirit ran so strongly that Santa Anna, returning from exile to treat, remained to fight. Rejón, therefore, answering Buchanan in a lofty and cutting strain, refused to ignore the causes of the war, and only promised that Congress, on meeting in December, would take the matter up. In other words, as an American newspaper observed, he said in effect: We are sorry that you feel so tired of the campaign; as for ourselves, we are quite comfortable. The reply was not one to fire the popular heart of the United States; and without committing Mexico to anything, it required our Executive to prepare for a long and arduous contest. Nor was Salas reassuring when he laid the subject before Congress. "If Mexico fights with constancy and courage, hers will be the triumph," he proclaimed, and therefore the government