colonies of Europeans; maps of lands asked for; and records of concessions granted or refused. The mass of documents concerning Anglo-American colonization in Texas alone after 1821, would probably fill fifteen or twenty large volumes. Of greatest single interest among them, perhaps, are the many papers relating to the efforts of Moses and Stephen F. Austin, although the material seems to be relatively full for other leading empresarios. One of the colonization projects of considerable antiquarian interest, at least, is that proposed to the Mexican government in 1826 by Robert Owen. His memorial, present in his own handwriting, asks for a concession of all Texas, with guaranteed independence and protection, as a place in which to test on a large scale his favorite plan, which he outlines, of regenerating humanity. Parallel with the plans for Anglo-American colonies are the fears of Anglo-American aggression, then of revolution in Texas. Giving expression to these fears there are in the secretariats of Foreign Relations and War bewildering quantities of correspondence with local authorities and diplomatic agents. In this connection may be noted the bundle of papers in the Secretariat of War which give the details of the arrest and imprisonment of Stephen F. Austin. For California and New Mexico there are many documents, dated between 1830 and 1840, concerning political disturbances caused, according to the reports, by Americans and factious Spaniards, as well as reports regarding the movements of the Russians. The Oregon migration also calls for the use of much ink and paper. What appear to be very complete files of correspondence between the Secretary of War and the frontier military authorities from 1830 to 1845 fill about thirty-five legajos of some 1,200 pages each. In them are the original reports, not only of the general movements of Americans and Mexicans during this momentous period, but also Mexican reports of the principal military engagements of the Texas War. Notable among the latter, of course, are those of the recapture of San Antonio by the Mexicans, the fall of the Alamo and the defeat of Santa Anna at San Jacinto. I had the unique experience of breaking the seals, in the presence and with the permission of the archivero, of packages containing some fifteen personal letters and official orders addressed to Santa Anna about the time of his capture but never delivered because of that event. It is interesting to note, as a reflection of the Mexican view of events, that from 1830 on to 1835 the Texas bundles are marked "The Revolution in Texas ", as though the revolution were already a fact at the earlier date, while those from 1835 to 1845 are marked "The Texas Campaign ", as though the war had continued for a decade, instead of ending at San Jacinto, the usual American view. The views expressed by the labels seem to prevail in the documents. The secretariats of War and Foreign Relations combined, contain voluminous reports of the raids and counter-raids across the borders between the time of the Texas Revolution and that of the Mexican War. For the Texas-Santa Fé expedition, for example, there are not only rumors and reports of the approaching expedition and accounts of the capture and imprisonment of the Americans, but also many papers taken from the captives, as well as autograph letters subsequently written by them to the United States minister to Mexico, in which they quite uniformly explain their misunderstanding of the enterprise. For the only less famous Mier expedition there is the same wealth of material, touching, it would seem, every important phase, not excepting the romantic break for liberty and the tragic decimation of the unfortunates. Concerning the Mexican War of 1846-1848 there are some fifty large legajos in the one section named of the archives of the Secretariat of War and perhaps nearly as much material in the Secretariat of Foreign Relations. In the archive of the Secretariat of Foreign Relations there are extensive files of correspondence relative to the connection of the United States government with all phases of Southwestern affairs after 1821; files of treaties and records of their negotiation; reports of the various boundary commissions; diplomatic correspondence with the Confederacy; and endless records of claims that grew out of Southwestern border troubles extending over the last threequarters of the nineteenth century. The above brief summary of the results of an incompleted task will give, I hope, some idea of the extent and importance of the materials of the kind in question contained in the central public archives of Mexico. To those who are conversant with the bibliography of Southwestern history it is needless to say that the sources described, particularly those for the nineteenth century, have been all but unused. Indeed, I should shrink from presenting a view of these later materials so very general that it contains little but the obvious, were it not for the fact that students seem to have ignored the obvious regarding these recent materials in the Mexican archives. HERBERT E. BOLTON. DOCUMENTS Narrative and Letter of William Henry Trescot, concerning the Negotiations between South Carolina and President Buchanan in December, 1860. WILLIAM HENRY TRESCOT was born in Charleston, South Carolina, November 22, 1822, and when he was thirty years old was appointed Secretary of Legation at London, serving for two years, when he returned to Charleston and entered upon the practice of law. He also wrote on diplomatic and international subjects on which he soon became recognized as an authority. In 1852 appeared his book, The Diplomacy of the Revolution; an Historical Study (New York), and in 1857 The Diplomatic History of the Administrations of Washington and Adams (Boston). He had planned the writing of a complete diplomatic history of the United States, dividing it into four parts-the period of the Revolution, from Washington to Jefferson, from Jefferson to Monroe's declaration, and from Monroe to his own time. The enduring value of the only two volumes he completed must cause regret that circumstances drew him away from carrying out his project. His volume of the Diplomatic History of the Administrations of Washington and Adams was still fresh from the press when President Buchanan invited him to occupy the congenial and dignified office of Assistant Secretary of State. The President regarded the place as one of great importance, for he was aware that Lewis Cass, whom he appointed to be Secretary of State, was indisposed to responsibility and not possessed of the peculiar talents necessary to make a shining success in the office he called him to fill. But Cass had a large following and brought support to the Administration; and Trescot's appointment also meant more than merely bringing his individual talents into the service of the government, for he represented in a notable degree the ruling class of South Carolina and South Carolina represented and led the advanced school of slavery and states'-rights sentiment in the South. Himself of one of the old patrician families of the state, his marriage to Miss Eliza Natalie Cuthbert had widened 1 See Curtis's Buchanan, II. 399. and confirmed his family influence, and family influence counted for much in this unique commonwealth. He had a house in Charleston where his law office was, a farm in the up-country at Pendleton and an island on the coast which had come down to his wife by royal grant of George III. It cannot be truthfully said that the service which he found himself performing soon after he became Assistant Secretary of State came wholly as a surprise to him, for in the dedication of his Diplomatic History written in 1857 he had spoken gloomily of the "miserable dissension" then distracting the country, and his knowledge of the sentiment of the people of his state must have prepared him for what happened. How he became the unaccredited envoy of South Carolina near the government of the United States conducting negotiations upon the adjustment of which seemed to hang the fate of the nation and of his state is explained in the narrative which follows and which in its original form has never before seen the light of day. It was written in February, 1861, immediately after Mr. Trescot returned to South Carolina to cast in his fortunes with his native state. Ten years later (in 1871) using this account as the basis he wrote a second narrative, which some years afterwards he lent to General Samuel Wylie Crawford under stipulation and restrictions as to its use which the borrower failed to observe, and a part of it was printed in General Crawford's book The Genesis of the Civil War: the Story of Sumter (New York, 1887). The original narrative has never been heretofore printed. During the Civil War Mr. Trescot served in the legislature, as a member of the executive council of South Carolina and as a colonel on the staff of General Roswell S. Ripley, C. S. A.; but in his chosen field, where he was a master and where his talents would have been of greatest avail to the Confederate government, he was given no opportunity to perform any service, being prevented by the same cause which obscured so much of the best talent of the South when it was most needed. In common with many other Southerners he was not in sympathy with Jefferson Davis and held him in slight esteem, and Davis made no effort to make use of him in his administration. The war having closed Mr. Trescot came to Washington, which he made his chief place of residence until a few years before his death, when he retired to Pendleton where he died May 4, 1898. During the years of his residence in Washington he performed much service for the government, all of the highest order, and occasionally con AM. HIST. REV., VOL. XIII.-35. tributed able and suggestive articles to the magazines. The complete list of the public offices he held follows, with dates of appointment: secretary of legation at London, December 30, 1852; assistant secretary of state, June 11, 1860; commissioner to China. to negotiate treaty, April 9, 1880 (he signed the treaty); special envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Chile, November 28, 1881; commissioner to negotiate commercial treaty with Mexico, August 7, 1882 (he signed the treaty); delegate to PanAmerican Conference, April 2, 1889; counsel for the United States before the Halifax Fishery Commission in 1877. The following is a partial list of his writings. Books: The Diplomacy of the Revolution; an Historical Study (New York, 1852); The Diplomatic History of the Administrations of Washington and Adams, 1789-1801 (Boston, 1857). Pamphlets: A Few Thoughts on the Foreign Policy of the United States (Charleston, 1849); 23 Oration delivered before the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery on July 4, 1850 (Charleston, 1850); The Position and Course of the South (Charleston, 1850); A Letter to Honorable A. P. Butler, U. S. Senate, on the Diplomatic System of the United States (Charleston, 1853); An American View of the Eastern Question (Charleston, 1854); Oration delivered before the South Carolina Historical Society (printed in the Collections of the South Carolina Historical Society, 1889, vol. III.; The Late General Stephen Elliott: Eulogy delivered in the House of Representatives of South Carolina, Friday, September 7, 1866 (London, 1867);2 Three Letters for James L. Orr, Governor of South Carolina, to the President of the United States and the Secretary of the Treasury in reference to the Sea Islands (Washington, Gibson Brothers, 1868); Memorial of the Life of J. Johnston Pettigrew, Brigadier General, C. S. A. (Charleston, 1870); Letter Reviewing the Bayard-Chamberlain Fishery Treaty (Washington, 1888); Oration before the Alumni of the College of Charleston (Charleston, 1889). GAILLARD HUNT. [Although that version of his narrative which Mr. Trescot wrote in February, 1861, is for obvious reasons preferred, as more nearly contemporaneous, to that which he prepared in 1870, certain portions of the latter which are not represented by parallel passages in the former, and not printed in General Crawford's book, have been inserted below in square brackets. For the contribution which follows, we are indebted to Edward A. Trescot, Esq., the writer's son. ED.] 2 A copy is in the Library of Congress. |