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TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
teritory- Of the Caddoes, he informed me that they would be taken care of-that he was about purchasing a tract of country upon which they would be settled so as not to molest Texas- In fact every dis- position was manifested to befriend us to the utmost of the power of the U. S. so as not to go beyond their treaty obligations- In the course of conversation another topic was touched and altho' not officially, yet freely discussed- Great interest is felt by the Gov- ernment here in regard to the proposed treaty of amity between Texas & Mexico- We had first heard of Col Bee['s l departure from Vera Cruz which being mentioned gave Mr Poinsett an opportunity to go some what at length into the subject & as he expressed himself freely and as I thought very sensibly and in a statesman like manner I par- ticularly noted what passed- As his views however differ some what from those embraced & acted on by the Government ·of Texas I must premise what follows by stating distinctly that this part of my letter is strictly con:fidential,-the conversation as I said before being an un.: official one He has in the first place condemned the policy of sending a public minister [to] Mexico at all-and gave as some of his reasons that Santa Anna or who ever might be at the head of the Govt. could not receive him in his pu"hlic capacity without first acknowledging the very thing which was the object of the mission Viz- The Independ- ence of Texas-thereby concluding the · Treaty before it was begun!! He hinted also that the agent selected was rather too fussy, too fond of show, to conduct secretly a business of this magnitude & impor- tance,-and I believe he knows him well- He seemed however to speak con:fidentally of the disposition of the ruling power in Mexico to treat on this subject, and either said he knew, or was well informed (the former was the impression left on my mind) that upon knowing that Texas designed sending a public minister to :Mexico, the latter Government immediatly dispatched a secret agent to New Orleam to prevent it if possible- It was also conjectured that possibly this agent might be invested with plenary powers to treat with Texas- It is Mr Poinsetts opinion that a secret agent might have affected the object of the mission & I cannot help thinking that Col Bee. did wrong in not accepting the permission of the Government to land as a private Citizen which permission I understand was offered him- It strikes me that the :Mexican Govt. adopted this delicate mode of geting over the difficulty of receiving the accredited minister from one of their revolted States,- Once having obtained a foot hold, I think he would have gotten on easily- I may be wrong both in my statement of facts & deduction of inferences, but if the former be correct, I would hazard much on the latter- You may perhaps recollect what you said to me the night before I left Houston on the subject of long wordy & fiowery communications of a certain person You expressed your fears that he would over do; every thing in this way- The result has shown that you judged him correctly- He cannot write & will not be altogether advised- I do something in the way of :finishing, but it is impossible to give to rough granite the polish of . marble- I regret this exceedingly for no man could be shrewder or more diligent in fixing the preliminaries- in talking the matter over, and in bring many interest to bear upon the
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