Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/333

Rh that they may be specified before taking them into consideration."

It was well understood at Washington that these charges were pure trumpery, and by none better than those who made them. Said President Jackson — by no means averse to war and an enlargement of the national domain — to Governor Cannon of Tennessee, two weeks after the coercive instructions had been transmitted to Ellis, "Mexico has given the United States no cause for war."

On the 7th of December Ellis demanded his passports. The government requested the minister to say on what grounds he was taking a step so calculated to affect the relations between the two powers. Ellis deigned no reply.

The diplomatic intercourse between the two governments was now at an end, the Mexican representative, Gorostiza, having left Washington in October. He had, before demanding his passports, published a pamphlet containing portions of his official correspondence with the American government and his own, with an introduction defamatory of the people and government of the United States. This being deemed by the latter a manifest impropriety, a disavowal of it was demanded; but the Mexican foreign office sustained his course. The satisfaction was given, however, at a later day.

The opportunity so much desired was now at hand, but the American executive hesitated to recommend to congress an open declaration of war. In his

8 And again: 'Should Mexico insult our national flag, invade our territory, or interrupt our citizens in the lawful pursuits which are guaranteed to them by treaty, then the government will promptly repel the insult, and take speedy reparation for the injury. But it does not seem that offences of this character have been committed by Mexico.' U. S. Govt Doc., Cong. 24, Ses. 2, H. Ex. 2, vol. i.; Bustamante, Gabinete Mex., ii. 27.