Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/562

542 On the 6th of February the treaty was officially announced by Minister La Rosa; on the 22d of the same month it was laid by President Polk before the senate of the United States, by which body it was confirmed with some amendments. The reasons for such amendments were, at subsequent conferences, explained to Minister La Rosa by the United States commissioners Ambrose H. Sevier and Nathan Clifford, and, being deemed sufficient and satisfactory, the Mexican government accepted them, and at once ratified the treaty with such amendments, and it was confirmed by a large majority in the Mexican house of deputies, and by 33 to 5 in the senate. The United States commissioners, on the 19th of June, officially notified the secretary of state that the treaty was complete, and President Polk, two years and two months from the commencement of the war, issued his proclamation to his people, announcing that peace now reigned between the United States and Mexico. The treaty, indeed, put an end to a war that never should have been undertaken; a war begun by one of the parties to it without any justification, and accepted by the other with a remarkable lack of foresight and indifference to results. Without means, in the midst of political confusion, and after thirty-six years of constant civil disturbance, the Mexican republic nation undertook to measure its strength with a young full of life and vigor, with abundant military and naval elements. And yet, unhappy as the results were for it, one must acknowledge that its honor was maintained. The treaty represents, indeed, its great misfortune, but does not involve perpetually ignominious stipulations, such as many another nation has submitted to at the will of a conqueror. The United