The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 27, July 1923 - April, 1924 Page: 19
344 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Negotiation of the Gadsden Treaty
the negotiations; but if there was a reasonable prospect of arrang-
ing this important affair, the president would be in favor of such
a step. A treaty securing territory, or a railway route which
would be sure to have its rivals in the United States, while leaving
"unnoticed and unredressed . . . long-pending and real in-
juries of individuals," would reflect glory neither upon the Amer-
ican minister in Mexico, nor upon the government which he rep-
resented. Ward, therefore, urged Gadsden to consider the wis-
dom of "arranging in one treaty, and at once, all the points of
difference between the United States and the Mexican Republic,
if the question of boundary should not thus be greatly delayed.""
This addendum to the original instructions does not seem to be
a very grave departure from the views and desires of Pierce, but
the verbal advices, the exaggerated pretentions, and the general atti-
tude of Ward while in Mexico offended Gadsden, eliciting from
him a long protest.17 Nevertheless, he proceeded to include the
Garay concessions in the project for a treaty which he submitted
and pressed them with no little pertinacity.
Soon after the arrival of his new instructions, Gadsden had an
extended and fervent interview with Santa Anna, at the close of
which he was informed of the dictator's intention to appoint a
commission to confer with him with reference to the settlement
of all pending issues. Before formal announcement of the per-
sonnel of the commission had been made, however, Gadsden sus-
pected that European interference had taken place "in the private
parlors of the Palace." He accordingly proceeded, as he informed
Marcy, to "read" Bonilla "a Chapter from President Monroe's
Manifesto." What he did, in reality, was to sing a paean to a
type of manifest destiny very closely allied to the idea of geo-
graphical predetermination. He contended, in brief, that the
inevitable result of the march of the age would be the absorption
of a large part of Northern Mexico-"a repetition of Texan his-
tory in the six border States, including South [Lower] California";
"Ward to Gadsden, November 14, 1853, Mex. Special Agents.
17Gadsden urged that the Mexican government could hardly be expected
to recognize a grant which it had repeatedly repudiated; that the deduc-
tion of five millions for the "Cormorant appetite of Ward and Co." and
three millions for private claims would render the financial consideration
inadequate to meet the needs of Santa Anna, and thus endanger the suc-
cess of the negotiations. Gadsden to Marcy, Private of Nov. 20, 1853.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 27, July 1923 - April, 1924, periodical, 1924; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101086/m1/25/: accessed May 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.