a contract with the owner, who is now in debt to the Government. Nothing is due to him; but if he thinks otherwise, let him establish his claims before the tribunals.

5. The case of Captain Keigé has been investigated, and the Government has ordered the offending officer to be prosecuted, and will indemnify Captain Keigé.

6. Orders have been given for the trial of the officer who fired into the Paragon; but the result of the trial is not yet known.

The

7. In the case of the Ophir no wrong was done. vessel was properly condemned for want of the necessary papers. An appeal was taken to a higher court, before which the missing papers were produced, and the vessel discharged.

8. The Government is wholly ignorant of the case of the Martha, and has called for, but not yet received, information upon the subject.

9. In regard to the case of the Hannah Elizabeth, the government had called for, but not yet received, a statement of the transaction.

10. The Government is ignorant of the proceedings at Metamoras, and has called for information.

This information was soon after received, and Mr. Ellis was informed that, on the arrival at Metamoras of the commander of that city; he understood that two strangers had just departed, who were supposed to be Texan spies. He sent four dragoons after them, who saw them enter a house in the outskirts of the city. Finding a mare and two mules in the yard, the soldiers removed the animals to prevent the escape of the strangers. The soldiers then entered the house, and arrested the two men, who on examination were found to have passports, and were allowed to proceed on their journey, and the animals were

returned. It was not till after the affair that the commandant learned that the house was occupied by the American Consul.

11. The Government was uninformed of the affair of the Eclipse, but would make the proper inquiries.

12. The Compeer and other vessels were detained a few days at Metamoras, in consequence of a general embargo on all vessels without distinction, imposed by the Commander of that department, without the knowledge of the Government, which disapproved of and revoked it. 13. The Government knows nothing of the case of the Northampton, but has called for information.

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Such were 'the accumulated wrongs" for which the Cabinet determined to break off all intercourse with Mexico. It is rare, indeed, that diplomatic history exhibits a series of national complaints so trivial in themselves, urged with so much spleen and arrogance on the one síde, or met with so much fairness and good temper on the other. To the thirteen grievances forwarded from Washington, Mr. Ellis had thought proper to add five more without instructions, and we therefore continue the catalogue of grievances, viz. :

14. The American Consul at Tampico had, May 26th, 1836, been summoned by the authorities to authenticate certain papers, and on his refusal had been threatened with imprisonment.--To this it was replied, that the Government was ignorant of the circumstances, but would investigate the matter.

15. The American vessel, Peter D. Vroom, being wrecked on the coast, June, 1836, the American Consul had the cargo brought to Vera Cruz, where the consignee abandoned it to the underwriters. Whereupon the Mexican Court appointed an agent for the underwriters, who sold the cargo, and the demand of the American Consul

to receive the proceeds was refused. To this the Mexi can Secretary replied, that as the underwriters had appointed no agent, the Court did right to appoint one for them, and that the Consul had no official authority in the premises.

16. Ellis complained that copies of certain judicial proceedings in the case of the brig Aurora had been refused to the American Consul. - He was informed that the copies were offered to him, but that he refused to pay the legal fees charged for making the copies.

17. The American vessel Bethlehem was seized by a Mexican armed vessel on the 2nd September, 1836, and the crew detained twenty days, and then landed, the vessel confiscated, and the captain refused a copy of the proceedings.-The Government knew nothing of the affair, but would make inquiries.

18. The American vessel Fourth of July had been taken possession of by Mexican soldiers.-It turned out that the vessel had been built for the Mexican Government. The agent had contracted before a notary for the sale; but a party of soldiers had been sent on board prevíous to the delivery of the bill of sale. The owner had been paid for his vessel, and made no complaint.*

We have now the sum-total of all the complaints against Mexico, which the joint efforts of Messrs. Forsyth and Ellis could collect. We can readily imagine the storm of indignation and resentment which such a budget presented by the British Government to that at Washington, with a demand for a satisfactory answer in fourteen days, would raise throughout the length and breadth of the Federal

* Mr. Forsyth having heard of this case, wrote to Ellis, December 9th, 1836, as "the owners of the brig Fourth of July are content," he is not to insist on the restoration of the vessel, but only to demand satisfaction for the insult offered to the American Flag !!

Republic. The tone assumed by Mr. Ellis was not less offensive than the pretended grievances themselves. Of that tone, we may form some opinion from the dignified conclusion of the Mexican answer:

"Your Excellency, after specifying all the subjects which have been thus replied to, goes on to say, that the Mexican armed vessels have fired upon and insulted the flag of the United States, that her consuls have been maltreated and insulted by the authorities, private citizens assassinated, arrested, and scourged, like malefactors, their property condemned and confiscated, &c., &c. But as these charges are made in terms so general, the Supreme Government of the Republic desires that they may be specified, before taking them into consideration."

Let us now see the character of the eighteen specified grievances, as explained by the Mexican Government. The cases of the Topaz (No. 2), Brazoria (No. 3), Captain Kiegé (No. 5), the Paragon (No. 6), the Ophir (No. 7), the affair at Metamoras (No. 10), the case of the Compeer (No. 12), the Peter D. Vroom (No. 15), the Aurora (No. 16), and the Fourth of July (No. 18), are utterly divested of all wrong and injustice on the part of the Mexican Government.

There remain only eight of the whole budget which afford the least room for complaint; and of these the Government professed entire ignorance in the case of the Martha (No. 8), the Hannah Elizabeth (No. 9), the Eclipse (No. 11), the Northampton (No. 13), the treatment of the Consul at Tampico (No. 14), and the Bethlehem (No. 17). It was not pretended that the injuries complained of in these six cases had been inflicted by orders from the Government; and it might readily be believed that the Government was not acquainted with every abuse of power by its officials. But in each of these

cases, an inquiry was promised; and it is difficult to conceive what more could have been reasonably demanded. We have now left only two cases within the knowledge of the Government, at all open to the suspicion of injustice and oppression--the case of Baldwin (No. 1), and of the detained steamboats (No. 4). Apparently neither was a fit subject of negotiation; for the complaints in the first case were made against judicial decisions, which can never be properly brought into question by a foreign government, except when founded on some great principle contradicted by treaty or national law, and not on mere issues of fact. The complaint in the second instance appears to have grown out of a contract over which our own Government had no legitimate cognizance.

The Cabinet had relieved themselves from breaking off the negotiations by throwing the responsibility of it upon Mr. Ellis. Their confidence in this gentleman was not misplaced. After receiving from the Mexican Secretary of State the explanations and assurances already mentioned, he demanded (7th December) his PASSPORTS! The Mexican Government begged to know for what cause he took a step so calculated to affect the relations of the two countries. It would not do to give the true reason: it was difficult to frame a plausible one; and Mr. Ellis remained silent.

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The Mexican Minister had left Washington on account of the march of American troops into Texas, and the claim advanced by the Government of the right to send an American into the heart of Mexico, if necessary, to guard against Indian hostilities. Mr. Ellis had terminated his mission in Mexico in the exercise of the discretion allowed him, adjudging the answers made to the eighteen complaints unsatisfactory. Negotiations being at an end, satisfaction for the eighteen grievances, and as many more