Scott of the 9th of May, and of your letter to him of the 20th of May, was received at the department on the 28th ultimo. Your No. 6, of the 3d of June, 1847, was also received on the 29th ultimo; but your No. 5, (if indeed there be such a number) has not yet come to hand. It is much to be regretted that you could not have found time to prepare and transmit copies of your letters to General Scott of the 9th and 20th of May, with the original of your despatch, No. 4. In that event they would have been received nearly a month earlier; and even now we have only a part of your letter to him of the 9th of May. General Scott's answer to these letters, dated at Pueblo on the 29th of May, has been received at the War Department, from which I have obtained a copy. These documents have produced feelings of deep mortification and disappointment in the mind of the President. It is lamentable to reflect that the restoration of pace may have been defeated or delayed by a violent and embittered personal quarrel between two functionaries of the government in the enemy's country, and whilst the war is raging. You do not seem sufficiently to have reflected that you were entrusted with no power whatever over the disposition of my communication of the 15th of April last, to the Mexican minister for foreign affairs, except that of a mere bearer of despatches. After it had reached the hands of General Scott, your agency in regard to it should have terminated, and ought never to have been resumed. His refusal or omission to forward that communication to the place of its destination, in obedience to the military order of the President through the Secretary of War, was a question in no manner connected with your mission. It was therefore, with regret that the President discovered from your letter to the general of the 20th of May, that you had consented to take back this communication from his possession, and to assume a discretion which had not been delegated, in regard to the appropriate time for forwarding it to the Mexican minister for foreign affairs. You say to the general that, "so soon as I shall be enabled to ascertain that the condition of the government of this country is such as to admit of its delivery, it will be again placed in the hands of the general-in-chief of our forces for that purpose." You have thus done much to relieve General Scott from the responsibility of disobeying the order communicated to him through the Secretary of War; and have, in effect, without any authority, undertaken to decide that it was not proper, under existing circumstances, to transmit my letter to the Mexican minister for foreign affairs. In this decision the President cannot concur. That letter was an answer to the letter of Mr. Monasterio to myself, dated on the 22d of February last, and was required, not only by courtesy, but the highest public considerations. Its immediate delivery to the Mexican minister for foreign affairs could have done no possible harm, and might have been productive of much positive good. Indeed, had it reached its destination soon after the victory of Cerro Gordo, from the state of public feeling then existing in the city of Mexico, it might and probably would have been productive of the happiest consequences. But, whether or not, the time of its delivery was a question not left to your discretion. The greatest pains were taken, in framing your instructions, to prevent all possible interference on your part with the appropriate military duties of General Scott. It was partly to convince him of this fact that you were authorized to exhibit these instructions to him, together with the project of the treaty. Your authority, so far as he was concerned, was limited to the single point of giving him notice that the contingency had occurred, to wit, the ratification of the treaty by the Mexican government, "on the happening of which, as provided by the third article, hostilities are required to be suspended. The ratification of such a treaty by Hexico, according to the spirit of the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1847, "making further appropriation to bring the existing war with Mexico to a speedy and honorable conclusion," was to be the signal for the termination of hostilities. As the negotiator of the treaty, from his position, must necessarily be first informed of this event, he was required "without delay to communicate the fact.to the commanders of our land and naval forces respectively." All the rest was left to the instructions issued by the Secretaries of War and of the Navy to our military and naval commanders. Up to this last moment your duties were wholly unconnected with General Scott, and then they were limited to a mere bfficial communication, that the Mexican government had concluded and ratified a treaty of peace. with the United States. Under these circumstances, it was with deep regret that the President learned, from your letter to the general of the 20th of May, that you had undertaken, in his name, to become the medium of giving to that officer an order in advance, to be executed when you should think proper again to deliver into his hands my communication to the Mexican minister for foreign affairs; and, to enforce obedience to this order, you declare that, for this special purpose, you stand in precisely the same relation to the President that one of his aids-de-camp bears to himself, when entrusted with a verbal order from him to his subordinate officer. It is a most disagreeable task thus to criticise your conduct. General Scott, by his letter to you of the 7th of May last, had placed himself clearly in the wrong. Whether any pretext existed for writing such a letter-justification he could have had none-can only appear from your letter to him of the 6th of May, to which his was a response. It is therefore much to be regretted that you have kept no copy of this letter, which has now become so important, and the general has not furnished the War Department with a copy. I purposely forbear to express any opinion of your reply to Gen. Scott of the 9th of May, until I shall have an entire copy of it before me; and his rejoinder to you of the 29th of May, I leave in the hands of the Secretary of War, to whom he is directly responsible. Your mission was a mere precautionary measure. In the then existing relations between the two countries the President could not have appointed public commissioners to treat with Mexico, because F it was morally certain they would not be received. At the same time it was foreseen that in the progress of our arms a favorable juncture might occur for the conclusion of a treaty, which, if not seized at the moment, might not again speedily return. The President would have been inexcusable had he not provided for such a contingency. For this purpose you were employed as a confidential agent, to proceed to the head quarters of the army with the projet of a treaty already prepared; and in case the Mexican government should refuse to conclude this treaty, you were authorized to make the necessary preliminary arrangements for the meeting of cammissioners. It was almost essential to the success of your mission, that you should cultimate a good understanding with the commander-in-chief of the army. It was, therefore, unfortunate that you had not in person delivered to him the despatches with which you were entrusted, and at the same time made him fully acquainted with the character and objects of your mission, as well as with the nature of my communication to the Mexican minister of foreign affairs. For these reasons, therefore, although the letter of General Scott was well calculated to irritate your feelings and excite your indignation, you would have best performed your duty to your country had you stifled your resentment, and entrusted your vindication to the Secretary of War, acting under the order of the President. Indeed, for this purpose the letter required no studied reply. It is on its face the production of unfounded jealousy, which the author's own sober reflection, if left to itself, would most probably have corrected. The President trusts that ere this, in obedience to my instructions of the 14th ultimo, (of which I now transmit you a duplicate,) you have called upon General Scott and communicated to him the instructions and projet of a treaty with which you have been entrusted, and that even if friendly relations have not been restored, neither you nor he will suffer your personal feud to defeat or to delay the conclusion of a treatry af peace with Mexico. of In my No. 8,* under date the 7th inst., I transmitted a copy a letter addressed by me to General Scott, under date 25th June, This despatch has never been received at the Department of State. and his reply to the same. This constituted the commencement of our official intercourse with reference to the duties with which I am charged. Justice-to say nothing of my own feelings towards a gentleman and a public servant, whose character I now believe that I had entirely misconceived-demands that I should embrace this early opportunity to say that his whole conduct, in this regard, has been characterized by the purest public spirit, and a fidelity and devotion which could not be surpassed, to the views of the government, in regard to the restoration of peace. This spirit, on his part, as will clearly appear when the details are communicated, has manifested itself, not in a passive way merely, (as might be supposed from the nature of our relative positions and duties,) but in a disposition to assume responsibility, and responsibility of the gravest kind, in utter disregard of consequences to himself. And this disposition, or rather this readiness and fixed determination, on his part, although the occasion which has called it forth did not relate to the discharge of his military duties, strictly speaking, has not required any appeal from me to elicit it; but has manifested itself in the most spontaneous and patriotic manner. Under these circumstances, it could not but be a cause of the most serious regret, on my part, if the correspondence between us that took place shortly after my arrival in this country should in any way be brought to the notice of the public; and, consequently, if in your judgment consistent with propriety, it would be highly gratifying to me to be permitted to withdraw it from the files of the depart ment. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. JAMES BUCHANAN, Secretary of State. N. P. TRIST. REPORT FROM THE SECRETARY OF WAR. WAB DEPARTMENT, Washington, March 16, 1848. SIR: In pursuance of your directions, I have the honor to furnish, herewith, copies of such papers in this department as are embraced by the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 7th ultimo, requesting you to communicate to the House "copies of all correspondence between the Secretary of War and Major General Scott, and between the Secretary of War and Major General Taylor, and between the Major General Scott and N. P. Trist, late commissioner of the United States to Mexico," &c., not heretofore published. The copies now furnished are intended and are believed to embrace all correspondence not heretofore published, between this department and the general officers above named, except such as related to matters of detail, returns and condition of the troops, charges against officers, proceedings of courts martial, and military commissions, &c., and a few letters from this department accounted for in the memorandum herewith; and also the correspondence between General Scott and Mr. Trist, so far as has been communicated by the former to this department. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, To the PRESIDENT of the United States. W. L. MARCY, |