" The Mexican minister on the 15th of
October gave an affirmative answer to this inquiry, requesting at the
same time that our naval force at Vera Cruz might be withdrawn, lest its
continued presence might assume the appearance of menace and coercion
pending the negotiations. This force was immediately withdrawn. On the
10th of November, 1845, Mr. John Slidell, of Louisiana, was commissioned
by me as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United
States to Mexico, and was intrusted with full powers to adjust both the
questions of the Texas boundary and of indemnification to our citizens.
The redress of the wrongs of our citizens naturally and inseparably
blended itself with the question of boundary. The settlement of the one
question in any correct view of the subject involves that of the other.
I could not for a moment entertain the idea that the claims of our
much-injured and long-suffering citizens, many of which had existed for
more than twenty years, should be postponed or separated from the
settlement of the boundary question.
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