President Tyler keenly felt the rebuke inflicted on him by the Mexican foreign office, and while yet writhing under it, in his message of December 19th, to congress, confined himself to comments on "the extraordinary and highly offensive language which the Mexican government had thought proper to employ." He believed Mexico's conduct merited punishment; but abstained, as he said, through a sincere desire to preserve peace, from recommending any measures of redress, and simply urged "prompt and immediate action on the subject of annexation."
Tyler's term of office was near its close. His successor, Polk, had been nominated as the candidate of the democratic party, on the pledge to carry out the immediate annexation of Texas. The democrats of the north had been forced at the party's convention to accept his candidacy, and to submit to the demands of the slave-holders of the south. Polk was elected, and stood as the champion of Texas annexation, representing the national will on that point.
The former plan of annexing Texas by treaty, involving its ratification by a two-thirds vote of the senate under constitutional provision, was now abandoned, Tyler having discovered, as he and the supporters of annexation claimed, that the object in view could be accomplished by means of joint resolutions
the enslavement of a hapless branch of the human family, the other is trying to diminish, by preserving its own, the incentive that the former seeks for sɔ detestable a traffic. Let the world now decide which of the two has justice and reason on its part.' The New Orleans Bee declared the answer coached in courteous and respectful terms; but it had made Shannon wrathful, and prompted his unheeded demand for an immediate retraction on penalty of discontinuance of all further diplomatic intercourse till he received instructions from his government. Rejon then retorted that the American minister's reluctance to discuss the conduct of his government was not surprising. 'And indeed, to what else can be attributed this exclusive desire to claim for himself, his nation, and his government the respect denied by him to the Mexican republic and its government, to which he has so often applied the term "barbarous" in his note of Oct. 14th? Is the government of the United States superior in dignity? or has its legislature any right to be thus disrespectful to a gɔvernment to whom it has refusal that courtesy which is due even to mere individuals? Instead of withdrawing his letter, he is ordered to reiterate his former statements.' Méx., Mem. Relaciones, Docs Justif., 1847, 41-60; Niles' Reg., lxvii. 224, 234-5.
