Reprinted from University of Colorado Studies, Vol. III, No. 3,
Boulder, Colo., June, 1906. º
ENGLAND AND MEXICO, 1824-182.5°
BY FREDERIC LOGAN PAXSON
The activities of Great Britain in Mexico during the years 1824
and 1825 were inspired, not only by a desire to ascertain the actual
conditions prevailing in that republic, with a view to ultimate recog-
nition, but also by an anxiety lest the United States should profit by
proximity and interest, and thereby acquire undue advantages in
Mexico. These facts are clearly developed by the Foreign Office
correspondence of these years, and the following extracts from the
correspondence tell the story, with but little need for comment.
It was with difficulty that Canning preserved in his Mexican agents
the neutral attitude which he desired to show to all the Latin-Ameri-
can colonies. The most imperative instructions often failed to direct
the actions of the men on the ground. “You are sent,” he instructed
one of them,” “to ascertain the Fact of Mexican Independence, not
actively to promote it; and to form and report an Opinion of the Sta-
bility of the Government, not to prescribe its form or attempt to influ-
ence its Councils.” Yet there was a quality in the Mexican influence
to which none of his agents was impervious. Whether it was a cor-
rupt attack, or a sympathy with the spirit of independence, or a truer
view based upon better information, is hard to say; but certain it is
that the English agents cannot be accused of failing to see certain
dangers taking shape along the northern frontier, or of failing to try
to inspire both Mexico and the Foreign Office to resist them.
As early as January, 1824, the agent, Lionel Hervey, had announced
to Canning that Mexico was ready to enter into exclusive trade arrange-
ments with Great Britain, and had advised strongly in favor of such
an arrangement. Spain had been expelled, he said, and Mexico was
too poor and too weak to stand alone. “Hence the Mexicans are
looking anxiously around them in quest of an Alliance with one of the
* Reprintcd from the Quarterly of thc Texas State Historical Association, October, 1905, Vol. IX, pp.
I38-141.
* Canning to Morier, July 30, 1824, Foreign Office MSS.
II 5
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II6 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES
great Maritime Powers of Europe, and if they should be disappointed in
their hopes, they will ultimately be forced to throw themselves into the
arms of the United States, already opened wide to receive them.” -
In particular, the danger arising from the American colonization
of Texas, then in progress, was realized by the English agents. Hervey,
in the dispatch already mentioned, called attention to the introduction
of American capital, and to the building of American roads, as
well as to the immigration of American citizens. And Ward, the
chargé who succeeded him, repeated his cries of warning. On the
Ist of June, 1825, the latter assisted” “at the reception of Mr. Poinsett,
who has presented his credentials as Envoy Extraordinary, and Min-
ister Plenipotentiary, from the United States,” and was particularly
impressed by “the length of Mr. Poinsett’s speech, which occupied
near a quarter of an hour. After paying the highest compliments to
General Victoria, to whose courage and constancy, Mr. Poinsett attrib-
uted the present prosperous state of Mexico, he congratulated the
Mexicans in general upon the choice which they had made of a repub-
lican form of Government, which, he said, was most particularly
agreeable to the President and citizens of the United States. He
spoke in the most flattering terms of the manner in which the struggle
for Independence had been conducted, and added that it was to the
great qualities which had been displayed in the course of this struggle
that they must attribute the justice which was now done them by the
first nation of the Old World, and the nation, which had first sown
the seeds of liberty in the New.
“Mr. Poinsett concluded by giving an analysis of the object of
his mission, which, he said was to conclude a Treaty of Commerce,
and Boundaries—an intimation, which appeared, by no means so
palatable as the preceding part of his speech, if one might judge by
the looks of the Spectators, who were well aware of the difficulties
with which the question of boundaries is likely to be attended.
“General Victoria's reply was very concise, but as I expect to be
able to enclose a translation of it, I do not think it necessary to trouble
you with any details upon the subject here.”
* Hervey to Canning, January 18, 1824, Foreign Office MSS., Mexico, VI.
• Ward to Canning, June 1, 1825, Foreign Office MSS., Mexico, XIII.
ENGLAND AND MEXICO II 7
The relations between Ward and Poinsett during the summer of
1825, and after, would make an interesting study, and one for which
‘materials lie ready to the hand of the worker. In the manuscripts
of the Foreign Office are preserved the original letters of the British
agent, while the fourteen folio volumes of the papers of Joel R. Poin-
sett which are in the library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
have hardly been even touched. Yet in these papers is to be found
the detailed story of the struggle between British and American influ-
ence in Mexico. Both of the competitors emerged from the contest
with high opinions of the abilities of their respective opponents.
During the struggle of 1825 the British agent became further con-
vinced of the inevitable conflict between Mexico and the United States
along the Rio Grande, and his despatches are truer than most historical
prophecies.
“The treaty,” he writes to Canning, on the 6th of September, 1825,"
“between the United States and this country, advances but slowly,
though I am at a loss to understand, in what the cause of the delay
consists . . . . while the Mexicans are . . . . jealous in guarding
against encroachments in the shape of a treaty, they are suffering,
on the other hand, by an absurd mixture of negligence, & weakness,
the whole disputed territory, and an immense tract of country beyond
it, to be quietly taken possession of by the very men, whose claim to
it, they are resisting here:–you will perceive Sir, by a reference to
the Map, that the whole of the lands between the rivers Sabine and
Brazos, have been granted away to American Settlers, and that the
tide of emigration is settling very fast in the direction of the Rio Bravo.
These grants have been made by the provincial Government of Texas,
and retailed by the Original speculators to the hordes of their country-
men, which have already arrived there, at a moderate price of half a
dollar an acre, by which however they have cleared 150 per cent. profit.
On the most moderate computation, six hundred North American
families are already established in Texas; their numbers are increas-
ing daily, and though they nominally recognize the authority of the
Mexican Government, a very little time will enable them, to set at
Ward to Canning, September 6, 1825, Foreign Office MSS., Mexico, XIV.
II.8 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES
defiance any attempt to enforce it. . . . . General Wavell has, I believe,
a considerable share, [of the land] but he is, I understand, almost the
only Englishman, who has applied for land in Texas. The rest of
the settlers are all American—Backwoodsmen, a bold and hardy race,
but likely to prove bad subjects, and most inconvenient neighbors.
In the event of a rupture between this country and the United States,
their feelings and earlier connections will naturally lead them to side
with the latter; and in time of peace their lawless habits, and dislike
of all restraints, will, as naturally, induce them to take advantage of
their position which is admirably adapted for a great smuggling trade,
and to resist all attempts to repress it. In short, Mexico, though she
may gain in point of numbers, will not, certainly, acquire any real
strength, by such an addition to her population. . . . . Not knowing
in how far His Majesty's Government may conceive the possession
of Texas by the Americans, to be likely to affect the interests of Great
Britain, I have not thought it right to go beyond such general observa-
tions upon the subject, in my communications with this Government, as
appeared to me calculated to make it perceive the danger, to which
it is wilfully exposing itself. Were but one hundredth part of the atten-
tion paid to practical encroachment, which will be bestowed upon
anything like a verbal cession, Mexico would have little to fear.”
There is reason to believe, from this correspondence, that the tend-
encies of the western movement in Texas were recognized by England
before even the settlers realized that which was coming to pass.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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