Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/512

492 to this chief sought to decry terms which granted respite to a foe small in numbers and in want of supplies; but it is undeniable that his diplomacy here gained a triumph that saved the capital for a time.

Commissioner Trist now hastened to open negotiations for peace by urging an early meeting with Mexican commissioners. The selection for the latter fell upon generals Herrera and Mora y Villamil, and the able lawyers Couto and Atristain, the first chosen for his prominence as late president and chief of the peace party, one whose influence would sustain Santa Anna's attitude, and divide the brunt of responsibility. Couto, distinguished also as a writer, was conceded to be the diplomatist of the party. They met first at Atzcapotzalco on August 27th, and subsequently at a less distant place. Trist lost no time in the customary haggling and browbeating, but came at once to the point by presenting the project brought from Washington, which in article four demanded from Mexico the cession of all territory beyond a line following the Rio Grande del Norte along the south border of New Mexico, and up its western boundary to the first branch of the River Gila, thence along this tributary and main stream to the mouth of the Colorado River, and along the centre of the gulf of California into the ocean. It further required free transit across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and offered in return a sum of money to be agreed upon, besides abandoning all claims for war expenses, and promising to pay all private claims against Mexico on the part of citizens