turn home. Secretary Forsyth was a fit agent and Ellis was a fit instrument for the occasion. The latter was a Mississippian and a slave-holder.[1] He wanted war and he wanted Texas; and he fulfilled his instructions to the letter.[2]
Some of the acts complained of had been committed, before Mexico became an independent nation, by the Spanish authorities. Payment was demanded, on the mere assertions of claimants, for supplies said to have been furnished in furtherance of Mexican independence, and for goods confiscated in violation of the Mexican revenue laws. Events that never occurred were asserted to have taken place, for the purpose of trumping up claims. There appeared in the list complaints against acts of the national navy, and even against proceedings of the courts of justice, many of them unaccompanied with evidence to substantiate them.[3] The number of such claims accompanying the secretary's instructions was fifteen; and as important issues grew out of them, I give the merits of each in a note.[4]
- ↑ Jay's Rev. Mex. War, 37.
- ↑ A full copy of Secretary Forsyth's despatch, dated July 20, 1836, to Minister Ellis, appears in Niles' Reg., xi. 409-10.
- ↑ Forsyth, in the despatch above mentioned, uses these words: "The department is not in proof of all the circumstances of the wrong done in the above cases, as represented by the aggrieved parties.' The government deemed it expedient to prefer the complaints then, and to seek afterward for proof. The Mexican minister of foreign affairs said that the number, character, and dates of the claims show that the U. S. govt was actuated by hostile sentiments, and assured congress that few of them were just. Méx., Mem. Min. Relaciones, 1838, 10, 11, 14.
- ↑ 1. Doctor Baldwin, an American, had in 1832 some unjust judgments passed against him in the Mexican courts, and on one occasion, because of an altercation between him and a magistrate of Minatitlan, he was put in the stocks. Baldwin resisted and attempted to escape, fell, and injured his leg. He was seized, returned to the stocks, and afterward imprisoned. Baldwin's Claim, in Mex. Pamph., v. denied the right, which he probably used, of recourse to a superior court. 2. The American vessel Topaz was chartered by the Mexican government in 1832 to convey troops. The master and mate were murdered by the soldiers, the crew imprisoned, and the vessel seized and used in the Mexican service. The Mexican version of this affair was that the crew attempted to steal some money which was on board, to which effect they had planned to kill the Mexican force and then abandon the vessel. After throwing Captain Ryder overboard, and having the soldiers below under the hatches, they tried to murder the two Mexican officers. Their plan failed; their leader, the mate, was wounded, and they themselves were secured. The crew endeavored to palım It does not appear that Baldwin was ever
