| The retirement of Webster. |
On May 8th, 1843, Mr. Webster resigned the secretaryship of State. It was said by some that the President drove him out, in order to appoint a Secretary who would carry out his plans for the annexation of Texas; but Mr. Webster himself indicated by his acts and words that he had determined to resign more than a year before, and had remained in office only for the purpose of concluding the negotiations with Great Britain which culminated in the Ashburton Treaty, an agreement in which Mr. Webster's section had an especial interest.
There is little question, however, that President Tyler was glad to have him go, for the President placed the annexation of Texas before every other policy of his Administration.
| The promotion of Upshur, and his negotiations with the Texans. |
Soon after Mr. Webster's resignation the President transferred Mr. Upshur from the secretaryship of the Navy to that of State. Mr. Upshur was the man whom suspicion had already marked as the confidant of the President in the annexation scheme. This suspicion was speedily confirmed by his entering, almost immediately, upon negotiations with the Texan agent at Washington, Mr. Van Zandt, for annexation.
Soon after the recognition of the independence of Texas by the United States, Great Britain, France, and Belgium took the same step, presumably for the purpose of establishing commercial relations with the new state. But, in the summer of 1843, the British Government appeared in the character of the most favored mediator between Mexico and Texas for the recognition of the independence of Texas by Mexico; and a friend of President Tyler's Administration wrote, from London, that a representative of the anti-slavery men in Texas was in London, negotiating a loan of money from an English company, with which to pay for the liberation of all the slaves in Texas, and that the interest upon the loan was to be guaranteed by the British Government, on the condition that the Texan Government would abolish slavery.
The Administration professed to credit this story, and Mr. Upshur wrote to General Murphy, the diplomatic agent of the United States in Texas, informing him of this communication from London, and arguing the double danger to the United States of British interference in Texas, and of the abolition of slavery there. This letter bears date of August 8th, 1843, and is considered as marking the beginning of the actual negotiations for annexation. It was certainly intended to prompt General Murphy to sound the Texan Government upon the question of annexation.