It soon became the British construction of this clause that it recognized the existence of the Mosquito protectorate for all purposes other than those expressly prohibited. Under this construction, Great Britain claimed that she could still direct and influence the Mosquito king in the administration of his government; and down to the time when Mr. Buchanan was sent by President Pierce as minister to England, this claim was still maintained. On the other hand, taking all its provisions together and interpreting them according to the fair meaning of the stipulations as applied to the facts, the treaty was understood in this country to bind the British government not to exercise in any part of Central America any “dominion,” either through the name and authority of the titular king of the Mosquitos, or otherwise; or in other words not to exercise dominion, either directly or indirectly. Manifestly the treaty was destined to be a source of discord between Great Britain and the United States; and when, as will hereafter be seen, it devolved upon the administration of President Pierce to meet the British construction, there was an imperative necessity for Mr. Buchanan’s services as minister to Great Britain, in order that this and other pending questions between the two governments might be adjusted without further hazard of more serious collision.
NOTE.
On page [459] of this volume, it should have been stated that the charge of “treachery” made by Mr. Clay and the Whigs generally against President Tyler, was chiefly based on the assertions that the first Bank bill (passed August 6th, 1841), was framed by Mr. Ewing, Secretary of the Treasury, and approved by the President and his Cabinet; that it was vetoed on the ground of essential alterations; that the second bill was framed to meet his special objections, was privately submitted to him and approved before its passage, but vetoed afterwards. The central point in the Whig charge is that Mr. Tyler vetoed a bill which he had promised to approve, and which was first submitted to him in order that its terms might be altered, or that the whole might be abandoned, if he could not approve it.
It has not been my intention in this work to express any opinion upon the conduct of President Tyler in relation to the Bank bills. In the Life of Mr. Webster, the reader will find, at pages 69 to 80 of the first volume, his explanations of the whole difficulty. But since page 459 of the present volume was written and stereotyped, I have thought it proper to advert, without comment, to the precise character of the Whig charge against Mr. Tyler, lest it might be said that I have omitted to refer to an important part of the history.
[1]. Under the date of September 13, 1813, Mr. Buchanan’s father writes to him: “Yesterday the fast day was kept here pretty unanimously. Mr. Elliot gave us an excellent sermon, and spoke of the war as a judgment, and the greatest calamity that could befall a people. He showed it to be worse than the famine or the pestilence. In the two latter cases, he said God acted as the immediate agent: in that of war he acted by subordinate agents; therefore the calamity was the greater.” This was the tone of many Federalist sermons.
[2]. “There is extant, according to the best of my recollection in the National Intelligencer, though not in Everett’s edition of his works, a speech of Mr. Webster in 1814, in the House of Representatives, on the ‘Conduct of the War.’ It is very severe on the military operations, especially in Canada (which no doubt, as a general thing, deserved all that was said of them), but he dwells with pride on our naval exploits. ‘However,’ says he, ‘we may differ as to what has been done or attempted on land, our differences cease at the water’s edge.’” (Note by Mr. Buchanan.)
[3]. I find a memorandum in Mr. Buchanan’s handwriting of his professional emoluments during his years of active practice.
| 1813 | $938 | 1821–2 | $11,297 |
| 1814 | $1,096 | 1823 | $7,243 |
| 1815 | $2,246 | 1825 | $4,521 |
| 1816 | $3,174 | 1826 | $2,419 |
| 1817 | $5,379 | 1827 | $2,570 |
| 1818 | $7,915 | 1828 | $2,008 |
| 1819 | $7,092 | 1829 | $3,362 |
| 1820 | $5,665 |