I I
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1846
467
received no encouragement. So little was he gratified with the reception of the proposition, that he asked, and obtained leave from his government, to return. His successor, Mr. Van Zandt, was then appointed, and referred to the instructions of his predecessor, by which he was authorized to renew the proposition. He did renew it, but soon ascertained from the response with which it was met, that there was little or no hope of success. Not long afterwards, a proclamation was issued by the Executive of Texas for an armistice between Texas and Mexico. The assurance upon which it was founded was received through her Majesty's charge d'affaires, resident in Texas; nor did the Executive fail in that proclamation to allude to the kind offices of England in the most friendly terms. Still, our minister had been unable to make progress towards opening negotiations with the United States upon the subject of annexation, and so advised the government. A few weeks after the issuance of the proclamation, Mr. Van Zandt was directed by the Secretary of State of Texas to inform the government of the United States that the proposition for annexation was suspended, and that the subject was no longer open to discussion. In December then following, the Executive of Texas, in submitting his annual message, made no allusion to the subject of annexation; but took care to remark frankly upon certain outrages committed by American citizens on the collector of the Red River district/ and to the affair of Col. Snively, whose command had been captured and disarmed within the territory of Texas by troops of the United States. Believing, as the Executive did, that this subject was one authorizing a demand for reparation, he felt no hesitancy in speaking of the wrong. In the same message, France was spoken of in kind terms, and England in terms more pointed, and expressing a confident belief that all her pledges would be redeemed in good faith. It was believed that such a course taken by the Executive of Texas would have a tendency to arouse the American people, while it would create new feelings and serious apprehensions on the part of the government lest the future relations of Texas might not be desirable to the United States. It had the desired effect; for soon after these events, a proposition was made by the United States to treat for annexation-a measure which had been dis- countenanced up to that time. Thus it was man if est that so long as Texas evinced great anxiety for annexation, she was treated with indifference, and her application held in abeyance.
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