to the republic." The matter was also formally brought to the attention of the other members of the diplomatic corps residing in Mexico. I epitomize in a note this circular, and the correspondence with Minister Thompson arising from it.[1] Bocanegra's first complaint was answered by the American envoy on the 5th of September, under instructions of July 8th and 13th from Secretary Webster. He sustained the right of the United States to promote trade with independent Texas,[2] though recognizing the right of Mexico, as a belligerent, to intercept all articles embraced within the term 'contraband of war.' He reminded the Mexican government that under the treaty of 1831 obstructions to legitimate trade were guarded against. As to neutrality toward the bellig-
- ↑ The note to the legations of Great Britain, France, Spain, and Prussia explained Mexico's good faith toward the U. S., and complained of the aid afforded, against her rights, in men, arms, and money, to the Texan rebels. The American envoy, Waddy Thompson, then, on the 6th of June, also addressed his colleagues a note denying the allegations of the Mexican government. He argued, quoting Vattel and the treaty with Mexico, that American citizens had a right to send war material to either belligerent, though such material was liable to seizure by the other. He concluded saying that though the U. S. looked on war without cause as the greatest of crimes, they would not shrink from it if necessary to uphold their rights and great principles. Bocanegra, on the 6th of July, objected to Thompson's circular, claiming that the American legation should have waited till the answer from the secretary of state had come. Referring to the oft-repeated charges, he said that his govermment expected that contraband trade would occur, but had a right to object to its being countenanced by the U. S. government, as such a course, on the part of the latter, rendered it as guilty as the offenders themselves. Bocanegra insisted on the fact that the Texan rebels for a long time past had openly kept an agency in New Orleans; that Texan war vessels were built and repaired in the U. S.; that the proclamation of the Texan president calling for the aid of Americans had been published; that a commission bad been recruiting men and procuring supplies openly in New Orleans; that the legislatures of Louisiana and Kentucky, and members of the national congress, had urged war against Mexico. The two war vessels claimed to have been allowed to leave the U. S. for Mexico to fight against Texas were despatched as American vessels with regular papers, and after full guaranties had been furnished; and yet they had been detained at the moment of sailing, and only unwillingly permitted to sail. But Texan vessels publicly recruited and refitted at New Orleans to cruise against Mexican trade and to wage war against Mexican ports. Méx., Mem. Relaciones, 1844, xli.-lxii.; Bustamante, Diario Mex., MS., xlv. 53; U. S. Govt., Cong. 27, Ses. 8, Sen. Doc. 1, pp. 146-57, vol. i., H. Ex. Doc. 1, pp. 144-55, vol. i.; Thompson's Recoll. Mex., 284-303; Niles' Reg., lxii. 305, 318-19, 321, 326-9, 333.
- ↑ Secretary Webster received Bocanegra's first note on the 29th of June, and his second on the 9th of July. Thompson's despatches, and a copy of his answer to Bocanegra's circular to the diplomatic corps, reached the state department at Washington about the 3d of July.
