[15.] This was described by Palmerston in Parliament as a definite offer of mediation (Morning Chronicle, Aug. 26). The settlement of the Oregon difficulty made such an offer more proper than it would have been at an earlier date.
[16.] Buchanan was absent from Washington at this time (Pakenham, no. 16). According to the New York correspondent of the London Times, the Americans feared that unsuccessful mediation might be construed as giving some color of right to authoritative interposition (Times, Oct. 15, 1846).
[17.] British mediation. Polk, Diary, Sept. 4, 10, 11, 1846. [52]To McLane, no. 44, July 27. [52]McLane, nos. 55, 69, June 18; Aug. 15, 1846. [52]Boyd, no. 3, Sept. 18. [13]To Pakenham, no. 10, Aug. 18, 1846. [13]Pakenham, nos. 82, 93, 99, 107, 116, 119, 132, June 28; July 13, 29; Aug. 13; Sept. 13, 28; Nov. 23, 1846; no. 56, Apr. 28, 1847. London Times (Bentinck, Disraeli), Aug. 25; Oct. 15, 1846. [1]Ms. speech of Aug. 6, 1846. Morning Chronicle, Aug. 26, 1847. Journal des Débats, (fop) June 30; Aug. 27, 1846.
Both of these British attempts to mediate were accompanied with similar offers to Mexico, which proved equally unfruitful (vol. ii, p. 368). At the end of October Bankhead was instructed to advise Mexico that, since the United States had rejected the British good offices, she should settle with us at once on the most favorable terms that she could obtain.
[18.] For the benefit of the Mexican government, the Foreign Office wrote to Bankhead ([13]no. 15), June 1, 1846: “She [Great Britain] would find herself engaged in a war with a Nation with whom she would have no personal cause of quarrel, in behalf of a Nation and Government which she has repeatedly warned in the most friendly and urgent manner of their danger, and which, solely in consequence of their wilfull contempt of that warning, have at last plunged headlong down the precipice from which the British Government spared no efforts to save them”; and Bankhead was instructed to let Paredes know “the real state of the case without disguise.” Aberdeen’s thus declining to interfere on behalf of Mexico was particularly natural in view of the talk that had occurred with the Mexican minister at London while the Oregon issue was pending (vol. i, [p. 115], and [note 27] infra). As a step intended to settle that issue had now been taken, it appeared probable that there would be no longer any occasion to tow Mexico along, and, as Aberdeen was aware on June 1 that hostilities had occurred near the Rio Grande, it seemed important to disentangle himself completely, so as to be able to act with a free hand.
[19.] July 26, 1846, the Times asserted that a war with the United States “would be the very farthest from being unpopular” (denied the next day by the Morning Chronicle so far as the mass of the Liberals were concerned), and on September 28 said there had been few modern cases in which England could have “imposed” her arbitration with greater reason than upon the United States and Mexico.
[20.] For this paragraph. [13]To Bankhead, nos. 18, May 31; 34, Oct. 1, 1845; 15, June 1, 1846. [77]Murphy, no. 17, Nov. 1, 1845, res. London Globe, Aug. 25, 1846. London Spectator, May 30; Sept. 26, 1846. [13]Palmerston, memo. of reply to Bankhead’s no. 46, Apr. 30, 1847. [52]McLane, no. 54, June 3, 1846. London Times, July 26; Aug. 25, 26; Sept. 16, 1846. Morning Chronicle, July 27, 1846. Britannia, Mar. 9, 1844; Apr. 18, 1846; Jan. 9, 1847. Examiner, May 30, 1846. Morning Herald, June 24, 1846.
[21.] [77]Murphy, nos. 15, Oct. 1, 1845, muy res.; 17, Nov. 1, 1845, res.; 19, Dec. 1, 1845, res.; 4, Feb. 1, 1846, res. [77]Peña y Peña to Murphy, no. 14, Dec. 27, 1845. Diario, Dec. 29, 31, 1846. Mora, Papeles Inéditos, 71–3. Gordon, Aberdeen, 183–4. [13]Mora to Palmerston, Dec. 15, 1847. [13]Palmerston, memo. in reply to Mora, Dec. 25, 1847; Jan. 1, 1848, to Mora. [13]To Bankhead, nos. 18, May 31, 1845; 15, June 1; 4, Aug. 15, 1846. London Times, Sept. 10, 1845; July 15, 1846. For the attitude of England in reference to California see chap. xvi, [note 8].
[22.] Aberdeen told Murphy about the first of August, 1845, that the course of England and France in the event of war between Mexico and the United States would very likely depend upon incidents that might occur, and gave Murphy the impression that he would like to have the war take place and prove favorable to Mexico ([77]Murphy, no. 9, August 1, 1845). Some friction arose between American authorities and French subjects in California. The United States justly attributed it to the latter, but took occasion to assure France that we would not “tolerate” any action on the part of American agents giving “just cause of complaint” to foreigners inhabiting regions occupied by our troops (Buchanan, Works, vii, 372).
[23.] The London Examiner of May 15, 1847, said: “Much of the British goods in depot at the West Indian Islands have been forced into Mexico through the medium of the new American custom house at Tampico;” the capture of Vera Cruz will facilitate this operation; “and thus, instead of quarreling with the Americans in behalf of Mexico, we, or at least our traders, are quietly sharing with the Americans the profits of Mexican subjugation.” See, however, chap. xxxiii, p. 263.