Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/514

494 out of power, which looked with envy on the one in possession; and there were men who resolved that as they could have no share in the millions so temptingly tendered, the government should not be permitted to obtain such means for fortifying its position. Vattel and Perreau were flourished with reckless learning; pamphlets and proclamations were scattered broadcast; and so effectual was the rodomontade as to intimidate or drown every other outcry. But the governors and local authorities thought it their duty to protest against listening to overtures; and it was easy for remote states, as yet free from the ravages of war, to join in the cry. The state of Mexico even threatened to separate from the union. Congress behaved no better. When called upon to express the national will in the pending issue, which was of such importance, its members evaded the responsibility under various excuses, notably the unsafe condition of the capital. The change of meeting-place to Querétaro served to stimulate them but slightly. Among the army officers the most incapable were loudest in their bluster, as the only means of covering their blunders.

The peace party saw the futility of their efforts, but in order to gain time for Santa Anna the commissioners continued the negotiations, arguing against the cession of territory beyond Texas proper with the Nueces for the boundary. Taking the cue from the party in the United States which denounced the war as unjust, they put certain leading questions concerning the motives for the war, and the demand for territory — questions which Trist prudently evaded, while conceding the peninsula of Lower California. Softened by the bland tone of Couto, he moreover distinguished