Bagby, Barrow, Benton, Berrien, Calhoun, Chalmers, Thomas Clayton, John M. Clayton, Colquitt, Corwin, Crittenden, Davis, Dayton, Dix, Evans, Green, Haywood, Houston, Huntington, Johnson of Maryland, Johnson of Louisiana, Lewis, McDuffie, Mangum, Miller, Moorehead, Niles, Pearce, Penybacker, Phelps, Rusk, Sevier, Simmons, Speight, Turney, Upham, Webster, Woodbridge, and Yulee.

Those who voted in the negative were Messrs. Allen, Atchison, Atherton, Breese, Bright, Cameron, Cass, Dickenson, Fairfield, Hannegan, Jenness, Semple, Sturgeon, and Westcott.

CHAPTER III.

Different races in Mexico.-The information is received there that Joseph Bonaparte was placed upon the throne of Spain.-Course pursued by the Mexicans.-Rupture between the Natives and Europeans.-Insurrection headed by Hidalgo.-Plan of Igualo.-Iturbide proclaimed Emperor.--He is banished, and on his return to Mexico, is shot.-Revolutions.-Santa Anna elected President.-Texas Revolution.

THE war with Mexico occupied much of the attention of the administration. Mr. Polk had no sooner taken the oath of office, than he found our relations with that country were extremely delicate. No efforts which he could make, appeared to appease the Mexicans, or to induce them to act in good faith towards us.

It is now my purpose to trace the events which preceded the commencement of hostilities upon the Rio Grande, and to follow our victorious troops through their triumphant progress, until the capital of Mexico surrendered to their prowess and valor.

Before examining into the immediate causes of the war with Mexico, I will briefly refer to the prominent revolutions which occurred in that country previous to that event. The contest was waged with a so called republic; yet Mexico hardly deserves the name. Since the struggle terminated, which produced a separation from Spain, Mexico has been the theatre of anarchy and blood. Revo

lution and violence have succeeded each other in rapid succession. The existence of each government has seldom lasted longer than two years, and instability and misrule have always controlled the fortunes of the Mexicans. This result, so fatal to law and order, has undoubtedly been produced by the peculiar mental organization of that people, and the amalgamation of the different races, which are found within the borders of Mexico.

The people are divided into seven great classes: 1st, the Europeans; 2d, the Creoles or whites, of pure European blood, but born in America; 3d, the Indians; 4th, the mestizos, or mixed breeds of whites and Indians; 5th, the mulattoes, or descendants of whites and negroes; 6th, the negroes; and 7th, the descendants of negroes and Indians. The pure Indians, in 1803, exceeded two millions and a half, and at the time of the revolution there were only eighty thousand Europeans. Among such a motley collection, perhaps it would be too much to anticipate the prevalence of republicanism.

The first manifestation of excessive zeal exhibited by the Mexicans in the affairs of the mother country, was upon the reception of the news that the Spanish Bourbons had been dethroned, and the crown usurped by a Bonaparte.

In July, 1808, a determination was manifested throughout Spanish America, to sustain the cause of the dethroned princes. Iturrigaray, the viceroy, proclaimed the establishment of the Spanish Junta, and required the ayuntamiento to yield obedience to its orders. Although they were true to Ferdi

nand, still they refused obedience to the junto, and proposed the creation of a similar body in Mexico, and Iturrigaray was inclined to yield to their wishes. Probably this determination was manifested upon the part of the ayuntamiento, because a majority of them were natives of the soil; and there was exhibited a jealousy of the mother country. The audiencia was composed of the civil and military officers sent out from Spain; there was a natural antipathy, then, between this body and the natives of Mexico. Finding the remonstrances ineffectual, which they urged against the course of the ayuntamiento, the audiencia seized the person of Iturrigaray, and confined him in the palace. This act of violence rendered the rupture complete between the Europeans and the natives of the soil; and from that time commenced those dissensions which terminated in tearing from the crown of Spain its brightest jewel. For the time, however, the audiencia triumphed and overcame all opposition to the central junto. About this time, Don Francisco Xavier Vanegas was appointed to the viceroyalty of Mexico. This appointment proved most unfortunate for the interest of Spain in the new world. Passionate, headstrong and violent, he was totally unfitted for a position of so much importance, and hastened the crisis, which even the most prudent could not long delay. At this moment there appeared upon the stage, a man whose genius and patriotism at once aroused the slumbering energies of the Mexicans, and gave an impetus to the revolutionary spirit, which soon involved the whole country in the turmoils and violence of an insurrection.

That man was Don Miguel Hidalgo Y Costilla. He was the cura or priest of Dolores. He was thoughtful and inquiring, possessing undoubted ability, and whatever acts of barbarity he may have committed in his subsequent career, he was nevertheless a man of kindly and generous impulses. His attention had been turned to agricultural pursuits. He had introduced the silk-worm, and had planted around his habitation the vine. These were destroyed, and this act of injustice aroused his resentment. The barbarities which he daily saw inflicted upon his countrymen, were now illustrated in his own case. By his eloquence and fiery ardor, he aroused the indignation of his neighbors, who flocked to his standard, and he soon found himself at the head of fifty thousand raw and undisciplined troops. Several battles were lost and won; victory alternately crowned the efforts of the Spaniards and Mexicans, until July, 1811, when Hidalgo was taken prisoner and shot. With his death almost expired the hopes of the patriots. It is true, in different parts of the country the contest was continued by broken divisions of the Mexican army, with varied success, until the Congress was forcibly dissolved by the Mexican General Teran. This resulted in the overthrow, in quick succession, of Victoria, Bravo, Rayan, Guerrero, and Teran.

These disasters were, to a certain extent, compensated by the introduction into Mexico of the Spanish constitution, in 1812. This event for a while gave satisfaction to the Mexicans, but the germ of Independence which began to bud during