He was taken the day following, and conducted to Houston's camp, where some captive soldiers betrayed his rank by exclaiming, with surprize, his name. Instead of being instantly shot, or hanged, as he had every reason to expect he would be, Santa Anna was protected from the enraged relaives of those whom he had but a short time before caused to be, in cold blood, massacred; and he was subsequently (after a detention of near a year) conveyed through the country to the United States, from whence, by the favour of General Jackson, he was despatched home to Vera Cruz in an American national vessel.

The loss of the Mexicans at San Jacinto, was six hundred and thirty men killed, two hundred and eight wounded, and seven hundred and thirty made prisoners. That of the Texians, six killed and twenty-six wounded. Santa Anna's army was represented to have numbered sixteen hundred men, while that of Houston consisted of but eight hundred. On the very day of the taking of the ci-devant president of Mexico, while a prisoner without possibility of rescue, he sent imperative orders to the generals of other divisions of the Mexican army to retreat, and headed his dispatches with great naïvetè, “God and liberty!" "Coast division under my com mand," &c., as if he were still generalissimo. His first communication from the enemy's camp began as follows.

TO GENERAL VINCENTE FILASOLA.

66

Army of Operations, "Coast Division, under my command. S

Having yesterday had an unfortunate encounter, I have resolved to remain a prisoner of war in tlie hands of the enemy. After having taken every precaution, I therefore hope that your excellency will cause the division under the command of General Parza to countermarch to Bexar, where he will wait for orders. Your excellency will also return to the same place, and order General Viesca, with his division, to Guadaloupe Victoria. I have agreed on an armistice with General Hous ton, ad interim, until we can agree upon terms of lasting peace.

"Your excellency will take such measures as may be necessary for the subsistence of the army, which will remain under your command. The money that has arrived at Matamoras, and the provisions of the place, and those at Victoria, will be. distributed, &c., &c., &c.

"God and Liberty,

Camp Jacinto, April 22, 1836.

"ANTONIO LOPEZ de SANTA ANNA

In the month of May, 1836, at the city of Velasco, then seat of govern ment for the "Republic of Texas," a formal treaty was drawn up, stipulating for peace, amity, commerce, etcetera, which was duly witnessed, and signed by Santa Anna, president of Mexico, and David G. Burnet, president of Texas. In pursuance with an understanding, Santa Anna was then taken to Columbia and embarked in a vessel for Mexico-when. a band of volunteers under General Green arriving, the Mexican chief was forced to disembark and return to captivity. It was only through General Sam. Houston he at length escaped from Texas, and arrived in Vera Cruz, via, the United States, towards the last of February, 1837. There he found his enemy, Bustamente at the head of the turbulent government; Don Jose Maria Tornel was secretary of war, and with principles conveniently changeable, he had pronounced the sub-generals of his ex-chief, Santa Anna all traitors for having obeyed the commands of their superior, and paused in their career of capture or subjugation in Texas. Santa Anna, on his return home to Manga de Clavo, published a lengthy appeal to his fellow-citizens, detailing his adventures, and vindicating his conduct. The Mexican government refusing to acknowledge the validity of the treaty entered into between President Burnet of Texas, and General Santa Anna of Mexico, announced that it was resolved, at every risk, (if means could be procured), to re-conquer the estranged province. About the same

time, an indirect demonstration was made in favour of the Texions, by General Gaines, at the head of a division of the regular army of the United States. This was not anticipated by either party in the dispute, and demands some explanation. It seems, in the end of June, 1836, news arrived in Texas that the Mexicans were advancing in great force, having secured the co-operation of a large body of Camanche and other savages. The well-known lawlessness of Indian warfare induced General Gaines, whose powers were discretionary, to cross the Sabine for the protection of his own frontier. He accordingly marched forward as far as Nacogdoches, about forty miles beyond the Sabine, within the territory of Texas, and there constructed temporary barracks, and awaited quietly the results. A report of two men being murdered about the same time near the line, by a party of Indians, gave colour to the "expediency" of his march over the border and occupation of an exposed fort. He further wrote to the governors of certain Southern and Western states, that he might possibly soon call upon them for a few companies of mounted riflemen, to join and co-operate with his "corps of observation." President Jackson peremptorily forbade this interference, and ordered that the United States' troops should be returned as soon as practicable to Fort Jesup. Señor Goristiza, the envoy of Mexico at Washington city, upon learning the advance of General Gaines into the disputed territory, suspended the further examination of American claims, with which his attention was just then occupied, and determined to consider his mission at an end. He asserted in his letter declining to act further in a public capacity, that General Gaines had no right whatever to occupy any post in Texas until the then agitated question of right to the territory should be finally disposed of. Mr. Forsyth, secretary for the American government, replied, that the crossing of the line had been a mere matter of police, and as nothing whatever had grown out of it, he begged the Mexican minister to be pacified. He pointed, also, to the fact that a treaty was in existence between the United States and Mexico, by which it was stipulated that both nations should endeavour to maintain order on the common boundary, and use every means to prevent the transpiration of Indian dis. turbances and massacre. The Mexican minister turned a deaf ear to the explanation and remonstrance, and persisted in the declaration that his embassage, for cause set forth, should cease.

General Jackson, in his message at the close of 1836, referred in terms of severest animadversion to this act of the late chargé from Mexico, and his government, in countenancing it. On the 6th of February following, the president deemed our relations with Mexico in so critical a condition as to call for a special message to the Senate. "At the beginning of the session," said he, "Congress was informed that our claims upon Mexico had not been adjusted, but that notwithstanding the irritating effect upon her councils of the movements in Texas, I hoped, by great forbearance, to avoid the necessity of again bringing them before your notice. That hope has been disappointed. Having in vain urged upon the government the justice of those claims and my indispensable obligation that there should be no further delay in the acknowledgement, if not in the redress of the injuries complained of, my duty requires that the whole subject should be presented and now is, for the action of Congress, whose exclu sive right it is to decide on the farther measure of redress to be employ ed. The length of time since some of the injuries have been committed, the repeated and unavailing applications for redress, the wanton characte of some of the outrages upon the property and persons of our citizens and upon the flag of the United States, independent of recent insults to this government and people, by the late extraordinary minister, would justify in the eyes of all nations immediate war." In conclusion, it was submitted, whether it was not advisable, "that an act should be passed,

authorizing reprisals, and the use of the naval force of the United States, by the executive against Mexico, to enforce them, in the event of a refusal by the Mexican government to come to an amicable adjustment of the matter in controversy."

The message was referred to the committee on foreign relations, which not long afterwards made its report. After stating, among other grievan ces, that the merchant ships of the United States had been fired into, her citizens attacked and even put to death, and her ships of war treated with disrespect, even when paying a friendly visit to a port, where they had a right to expect hospitality, the committee submitted to the House of Representatives two resolutions, viz.

1. That the indignities offered to the American flag, and injuries com mitted upon the persons and property of American citizens, by officers of the Mexican government, and the refusal, or the neglect of that govern ment, to make suitable atonement, would justify the Congress of the United States in taking measures to obtain immediate redress, by the exercise of its own power."

2. "That, as evidence of a desire on the part of the American government to preserve peaceful relations with the government of Mexico, as long as is compatible with that dignity, which it is due to the people of the United States to preserve unimpaired, the president be, and is hereby respectfully requested, to make another solenin demand, in the most impressive form, upon the government of Mexico, for the redress of the grievances, which have heretofore been ineffectually presented to its notice."

This report was presented to the House and agreed to, in the month of February. Not long after, a new minister was accredited by Mexico to the United States, and negotiations were renewed. A new cloud, how ever, was rising in the horizon. In July succeeding, Mr. Mason of Virginia, in the House of Representatives from the committee on foreign affairs, to which the subject had been referred, laid before the house the following resolutions, which were agreed to:

1. Resolved, That the independence of Texas ought to be acknowledged by the United States, whenever satisfactory information shall be received that it has in successful operation a civil government capable of performing the duties, and fulfilling the obligations of an independent power.

2. Resolved, That the House of Representatives perceive with satisfaction that the president of the United States has adopted means to ascer tain the political, military, and civil condition of Texas.

The United States representatives also, following the example of England, directed, "That the committee of ways and means should be instructed to provide, in the bill for the civil and diplomatic expenses of the government, a salary and outfit for such public agent as the president may determine to send to Texas." The Mexican minister of foreign affairs, Don José Ortiz, upon this put forth a spirited protest. He asked of the American government, indignantly, what comparison could be instituted between the people of Mexico and those of Texas? "Is the position of the Texians," he continued, "with regard to Mexico, what that of the Mexicans was with regard to Spain, at the time their independence was recognized by the United States? Is there any similarity between a nation consisting of six millions of people, who, by their own efforts, after a bloody struggle of eleven years' duration, cast off the yoke of oppression, and repulsed beyond the sea the ruling armies-and some thousands of wandering and houseless persons, without virtue, and without religion, and threatened by a numerous army, marching full of enthusiasm to recov er the the laurels which the caprice of fortune refused them at San Jacinto?" After this, the Texian agent at Washington was informed offi rially, that no negotiation on the subject of the formal recognition of the

independence of Texas, could be opene1, so long as war continued to prevail between that province and the Mexican republic.

After a lapse of eight years, we find the independence of Texas still unacknowledged by Mexico, although her government has been uninterruptedly in operation and her ministers have been received and recognized at all the principal courts of Europe. Mexico still neglects, or is unable to satisfy claims of the United States, which she admits to be just-although, if rumour, with its thousand tongues, speaks truly, an unusually amicable negotiation is now in progress between the governments, which will ere long place the relation of the two nations in a mutually satisfac tory and friendly light.

In the beginning of this year arrived at New-York the Arabian ship Sultanne, being freighted principally with presents from his Sultanic majesty, the Imauin of Muscat, to the president of the United States. It may not be generally known, that a few years previous to this a United States' vessel was accidentally run aground on his coast, in a dangerous position, when he sent assistance by which she was got afloat again without much damage. Upon the arrival of the Sultanne in New-York, a committee of five from each board of the common council was appointed to receive the captain of said ship, Achmet Ben Aman, and extend to him the hospitalities of the city. His vessel was taken into the navy-yard at Brooklyn and overhauled, and put in thorough repair, by order of government. Mr. Van Buren being debarred, constitutionally, from accepting the well-meant offerings of the Imaum, they were sold, and the proceeds placed in the treasury. In return, Congress appropriated the sum of $15,000, to be expended in the purchase of such articles as would probably be most acceptable to the friendly Arabian ruler.

Monsieur Alexandre Vattemare, a philosophic citizen of France, this year laid before the American Congress a memorial, setting forth the advantages to be derived from a favourable consideration of his system of international exchanges. It was proposed to exchange copies of the duplicate works usually to be found in all great national libraries, as well as minerals from the different museums, and rare geological specimens, or other natural curiosities, of whatever description, one nation with another. Congress viewed favourably the project and decreed, 1. That the United States librarian, under the supervision of the committee on the library, be authorized to exchange such duplicates as may be in the library, for other books or works. 2. That he be authorized, in the same way, to exchange documents. 3. That hereafter fifty additional copies of each volume of documents printed by order of either house, be printed and bound, for the purpose of exchange in foreign countries. In accordance with these resolutions, near one thousand volumes were selected and set apart, as suitable for the purposes of exchange with foreign libraries; and M. Vattemare was also furnished with many valuable specimens from the private cabinets of the president and several other public officers at Washington. Different cities presented sets of laws and ordinances, and other works; so that in this, as in other countries, the plan of the philosopher seemed to be favourably regarded.

The president's message at the close of this year was delayed a little, not being delivered before the 24th of December. It proved a very lengthy and elaborate document, much of which was devoted to a review of the American banking system, which it scourged and excoriated most unmercifully. Considering that Mr. Van Buren charged his defeat in the contest for the presidency, which had just been concluded, mainly to the influence of the moneyed institutions of the country, he may be pardoned, in a great measure, for his unsparing severity.

This election for president was the great event of the year. The atten tion of all parties and all clases appeared to be fully engrossed with the

subject; and the favourers of each side of the question seemed alike confident of their eventual success. General William H. Harrison, of Ohio, was exalted to the presidency over Mr. Van Buren, by the very large and unexpected majority of one hundred and fourteen thousand four hundred and seventy-five votes. General Harrison was a descendant of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and had himself always sustained a high and unsullied character in every relation of life; he was known to be brave as a soldier and just as a citizen; he was regarded wise as a statesman also; but as he was not generally known as a politician, the extraordinary number of votes polled for him was viewed with surprize.

A single sentence in Mr. Van Buren's farewell message, deserves to be chronicled. He viewed, he said, with peculiar satisfaction the benefits that sprung from the steady devotion of the husbandman to his honourable pursuit. "No means," it was added, "of individual comfort is more certain, and no source of national prosperity is so sure. Nothing can compensate a people for a dependance upon others for the bread they eat; and that cheerful abundance on which the happiness of everyone so much depends is to be looked for nowhere with such sure reliance as in the industry of the agriculturist and the bounties of the earth."

In glancing at the names of those who have departed, it becomes our painful duty to record another appalling calamity. The steamboat Lexington, plying between New-York and Stonington, was burnt in January, and near two hundred lives lost. The magnitude of this loss was owing in some degree, to the imprudence of passengers, who attempted leaving the vessel in boats while she was still under way. The fire originated in carelessness, as usual; bales of cotton had been piled close upon the furnaces and around the smoke-pipe of the ill-fated boat. Died, in Washington, Commodore Stevens; also, Col. C. R. Broom, U. S. M. In Baltimore, Hon. W. S. Ramsay, of Pennsylvania. In South Carolina, Governor Noble. In Connecticut, Hon. T. Betts. In Boston, Rev. Dr. Kirkland. At Ballston Spa., Hon, A. Brown. At West Point, Lieutenant Bransford, U. S. A. At Alexandria, D. C., Major S. Cooper. In Lexington, Ky., Captain Fowler. In Mississippi, General Hinds, one of the de fenders of New-Orleans. In Alabama, Col. Thomas Riddle. In Ten nessee, Judge Hugh L. White; also, Hon. Felix Grundy. In Virginia Capt. Wash. Hood, U. S. engineers; also, Judge Parker; also, at Char lottesville, professors Davis and Bonnycastle. In Kentucky, Genera Adair, who commanded under Jackson at New-Orleans; also, Hon. S. H. Anderson. In New-York, the eccentric Ex-Sheriff Parkins, of London. In Albany, by the fall of a draw-bridge, twenty persons were drowned. On Red River, Timothy Flint, a celebrated writer of the west. In Ar kansas, Colonel Cheatham, an officer under Marion. In New-Jersey, Hon. J. Rutherford, the last of the senators who served under Washington. In Vermont, Ex-governor Chittenden. In Florida, Colonel Green, U. S. A. In Texas, Colonel Karnes. In France, Captain Thomas Oxford, who was buried, pursuant to will, with an American flag for his winding-sheet. In England, Lord Durham, late governor-general of the Canadas. A. Hanover, the celebrated Doctor Graff. In Paris, Doctor Morison, "the bygeist." In London, murdered by his valet, Lord William Russell. In Venice, 80, Count Guiccioli, husband to one of Byron's heroines. In Paris, the English admiral Sir Sydney Smith, 76. In London, Henry Cromwell Field, last descendant of "the Protector." In Paris, Sanson, "the executioner." At Caraccas, J. G. A. Williamson, American chargé d'affaires. In Wales, in a mad-house, the celebrated Beau Brummel, "companion of George IV." At Nice, Italy, Paganini, the violinist. In Rome, Lucien Bonaparte, youngest brother of Napoleon. At St. James' palace, the princess Augusta, E 72. At Berlin, E 70, Frederick William li. of Prussia.