Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/68

48 Mexico Joel R. Poinsett to study the condition of public affairs. In Poinsett's report, after his return, though with a certain prudent reserve regarding the men in power and the state of the country, he clearly predicted the end of the imperial rule, and the government at Washington acted accordingly. Mr Poinsett returned as minister to Mexico early in 1825, and became very influential. Poinsett had travelled in Europe and the holy land. Wherever he went he left pleasant memories. He had been in South America, and proved himself a good soldier in the war of ChilianChilean [sic] independence. As a member of the American congress from South Carolina he advocated the recognition as independent nations of the former Hispano-American colonies. Liberty with him was no Utopia. As a diplomate he was an able one, uniting frankness with a moderate circumspection, never resorting to untruth or mental reservation. He was keen-sighted, could see into characters, measure men's abilities, and weigh their value. ''Zavala, Revol. Mex., i. 339-40; Id., Manif. de los principios polít''., 1-23. Tornel, Breve Reseña Hist., 39, while acknowledging Poinsett's fine talents and soldierly merits, like many other Mexicans, accuses him of having taken advantage of an inexperienced people to mislead them, so that later in life numbers who had trusted him had reason to regret their infatuation. Poinsett's service in the American congress lasted from 1821 to 1825; he was secretary of war under Van Buren, and died Dec. 14, 1851. Lanman's Dict. U. S. Cong., 384. Poinsett published a work entitled Notes on Mexico, an 8vo vol., containing such statistical data as he gathered on his first journey in 1822, with descriptions of the places he hurriedly visited, and also a sketch of the revolution and translations of official reports on the condition of the country at the time of his visit. The book likewise gives the judgment he formed of men and affairs. His sojourn there was a short one, but long enough to enable him with his remarkable keen-sightedness to foresee coming events, and to pave the way for his country to have a greater influence in Mexico than the commercial nations of Europe. He also later on published in Mexico, 1827, a pamphlet of 16 pp., entitled Exposicion de la conducta política de los Estados Unidos para con las nuevas repúblicas de America; its object being to defend his government and his own course in Mexico against certain charges preferred against them by the legislature of Vera Cruz, whose suspicions he declared to be entirely unfounded. The first treaty concluded between the two republics was on the 12th of January, 1828, to fix the boundary line. The matter was negotiated by Sebastian Camacho and José Ignacio Esteva for Mexico, and Poinsett for the United States. Its real aim was to declare and confirm the validity of a treaty made in Washington on the 22d of February, 1819, between Spain and the United States, before Mexico had ceased to be an appendage of the Spanish crown. That treaty established the Sabine River, at the