Slidell's note General Herrera yielded
the Government to General Paredes without a struggle, and on the 30th of
December resigned the Presidency. This revolution was accomplished
solely by the army, the people having taken little part in the contest;
and thus the supreme power in Mexico passed into the hands of a military
leader.
Determined to leave no effort untried to effect an amicable adjustment
with Mexico, I directed Mr. Slidell to present his credentials to the
Government of General Paredes and ask to be officially received by him.
There would have been less ground for taking this step had General
Paredes come into power by a regular constitutional succession. In that
event his administration would have been considered but a mere
constitutional continuance of the Government of General Herrera, and the
refusal of the latter to receive our minister would have been deemed
conclusive unless an intimation had been given by General Paredes of his
desire to reverse the decision of his predecessor. But the Government of
General Paredes owes its existence to a military revolution, by which
the subsisting constitutional authorities had been subverted.
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