ORIZABA GARRISONED. 519 the valley of that name, and containing from twenty to twentyfive thousand inhabitants. Near the village of Acalcingo, the column was met by the curate and ayuntamiento, by whom they were furnished with good quarters for the night. The next morning General Lane was waited on by the authorities of the city of Orizaba, who desired to know upon what terms he would accept the surrender of the city. His reply was, they should know when he had possession. When within about three miles of the city, he was approached by a larger and more imposing deputation, who accompanied the column to the gates, and there formally surrendered the keys without making any stipulation whatsoever. Having thus quietly obtained possession of the city, General Lane appointed Major Polk its civil and military governor, and intrusted to Colonel Hays the chief command of the troops. A few days afterwards, Colonel Bankhead arrived with large reinforcements, and the possession of the city was thus effectually secured by the presence of a competent garrison. CHAPTER XXXIII. Election of General Herrera-Situation of Public Affairs-Mr. Trist-Assumption of Power-Negotiations for Peace opened-Mutual Concessions-Adoption of a Treaty of Peace-Sanctioned by the Mexican Congress-Treaty amended and adopted by the United States Senate-Ratifications exchanged-Evacuation of the Mexican Capital by the American Forces-Territory acquired by the TreatyDescription of the Country-New Mexico-Resources of the Country-Upper California-The Sierra Nevada-The Great Basin-Great Salt Lake-Productions of the Country-Temperature-The Gold Mines-Valley of the Sacramento-Nueva Helvetia-Captain Sutter-Discovery of Gold by Sutter-Richness of the Deposit-Consequences of the War-Consequences to the United States-To the Inhabitants of the Territory acquired-To Mexico-To the Countries adjacent-To the Isles of the Pacific. On the 8th of January, 1848, General Herrera was elected constitutional President of the Mexican republic. This was another advance made by the peace party, and showed that the nation had at length become thoroughly alarmed at the situation of affairs. Never, indeed, had the independence of Mexico been in so great a danger as at this period. Her armies beaten and dispersed, her arsenals and forts in the possession of the enemy, her stores and resources exhausted; she lay prostrate at the feet of her victorious foe. The probability of absorption into the republic of the United States, became, therefore, every day less doubtful; and had the Mexican government refused much longer those overtures for peace, which it had been repeatedly and so earnestly urged to accept, it is certain that the course of conduct thus forced upon the Executive of the United States, would have ended in the annihilation of the separate independence of the sister republic. very brink of destruction as a nation, saw, with at least partial distinctness, the consequences which inevitably awaited them, if they advanced but a single step further. That step was not taken. The perilous position was slowly abandoned, and those negotiations commenced, which, with the loss of that portion of the republic which they were too weak to defend, were to insure the independence of what yet remained. It has been already stated, that shortly after the election of Anaya to the temporary occupancy of the Presidency, a commission had been appointed to confer with the American agent, Mr. Trist, and that the latter, conscious that his powers were annulled by his own government, hesitated for a while as to what step he should take in the emergency, but at length decided to meet the commissioners, as if he was still clothed with powers to treat,from the American Executive. This was a rash assumption of authority, which, under other circumstances, might have entailed serious consequences upon the nation which he professed to serve. But Mr. Trist knew his countrymen: he was conscious that, to the majority of the American nation, peace was desirable upon any terms not incompatible with its honour. Constant success had cloyed the public appetite; and the possibility of a long-continued war affecting the financial condition of the country, began to be weighed seriously by those upon whom the burden would fall most heavily. He knew also that an act of successful daring, even when performed in defiance of the express commands of those whose position entitles them to implicit obedience, has always been regarded with a lenient eye by the people of the United States. With them the success cancels the obligation. How far a less favourable result would have excused the temerity of the offence, Mr. Trist was happily not called upon to experience. The negotiations opened harmoniously by concessions on both sides. The old issues were surrendered. Mexico abandoned her claim to the Nueces as her frontier, while Mr. Trist waived the cession of Lower California, and the right of way across the isthmus of Tehuantepec. The consideration in money, which he had previously offered for the transfer of New Mexico and Upper California, he professed himself still willing to allow, also to pay to citizens of the United States the amounts of their claims upon the Mexican republic, under the conventions of April 1839 and January 1843. The definition of boundaries, as originally drawn up by the government of the United States, subject to the exceptions already mentioned, was then discussed and finally accepted by the Mexican commissioners; and on the 2d of February, at the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo, a treaty of peace, elaborated in due form, was unanimously adopted and signed by Señors Conto, Cuevas, and Atristain, as commissioners on the part of the Mexican government, and by Mr. Trist on that of the United States, subject to the ratification of their respective govern ments. Four days afterwards, Señor Rosas, the Mexican Minister of Foreign Relations, notified the governors of the different states that the treaty had been concluded, and urged upon them the necessity of using their influence in insuring its prompt acceptance by the deputies, then about to be assembled in special session. These deputies soon after met, and the treaty, having received their sanction, was instantly despatched to the government of the United States. Immediately on its receipt, it was submitted by the Executive to the action of the Senate, then in session, by whom, after a few unimportant amendments, it was solemnly ratified on the 9th of March, 1848. The Mexican Congress having ratified the treaty as amended by the Senate of the United States, the ratifications thereof were exchanged on the 30th of May, 1848, at Queretaro, by the American commissioners, Ambrose H. Sevier and Nathan Clifford, and Señor Rosas, minister of Internal and Foreign Relations. |