To James Madison from William Taylor, 10 August 1826
From William Taylor
Vera Cruz 10. Augt 1826
Dear sir
I had this pleasure some 12 Months ago,1 and then sent for your acceptance, to the Care of Mr Richard H Douglass2 merchant Baltimore, a miniature likeness in wax, of the late Iturbide. It was presented to me by one3 had been much in his Confidence. And was taken on his return to the Metropolis from Cordova, Where he Concluded the celebrated treaty with the Vice Roy O’Donoju, which severed Mexico from Spain4—the likeness was most striking, and I should be gratified to learn that you had received it.
Mr Poinsett has at last Concluded a treaty with the Plenipotentiaries of the Governmt.5 I have not seen it, tho’ I forward a Sealed Copy of it by this Convye. but am told it is such an one as that with Colombia. It is to be regretted, that the boundary line between the two Countries has not been settled by this treaty. but it was impossible for Mr Poinsett to bring the Commissioners to agree to any reasonable proposition in that head—it has therefore been deferred.
Como David Porter With Whose departure from the UStates for this Country You are most likely acquainted, has entered the Mexican Service, and is now in Command on this Station. I regret the loss our Country must Sustain in this Gallant Officer. I regret his entry into this Service on his own account, because I do not believe his expectations can be realised. The limited resources of the Country at home, and the want of Credit abroad must prevent this Country for a life time at least from having any thing like a Navy.
There has recently been a great deal of intrigue in Mexico, with the view of getting the present ministers out of office—things were Carried so far, that Gouvernment felt itself obliged to take some high handed Measures, Wch. had the desired effect, and all is now tranquil again.
Mr Camacho,6 Secy of foreign relations is now at Jalapa on his way to London to conclude there the Treaty Commenced at Mexico. He will embark at this Port about 1st. next month onbd. a British frigate.
Our intercourse is declining very rapidly with this Country, as most of the goods wch. we have been in the hand [sic] of receiving from the U. States, are now imported direct from Europe. Consequently the trade from the UStates is very limited, & will be probably more so still. I am Sir, with my respectful remembrance to Mrs Madison and best wishes for the continuance of your health. Yr mo ob. h: Servt
William Taylor
P.S. The french Gouvernment has sent An Agent to this Country, Commissioned by H. M. C. Majesty’s Admiral on the West India Station, Who had instructions to that effect from the french Gouvermt. He Came in so questionable a shape that I thought the dignity of this Gouvermt required that he should not be recd. & so wrote to Mr Poinsett, Who thought otherwise and acted accordingly, & was the cause of his being recd.7 It is to be presumed that Mr. Poinsett was in possession of certain facts, with Which I could have no Acquaintance.
WT
RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.
2. Richard H. Douglass (d. 1829) was a prominent Baltimore shipping merchant and had been an investor in and prize agent for American privateers during the War of 1812 (Brantz Mayer, Baltimore: Past and Present; With Biographical Sketches of Its Representative Men [Baltimore, 1871], 252; Jerome R. Garitee, The Republic’s Private Navy: The American Privateering Business as Practiced by Baltimore during the War of 1812 [Middletown, Conn., 1977], 221, 263, 266).
3. Taylor omitted “who” here.
4. For the Treaty of Córdoba, signed by revolutionary leader Agustín de Iturbide and Spanish captain general Juan O’Donojú on 24 August 1821, see Timothy J. Henderson, The Mexican Wars for Independence (New York, 2009), 177–78.
5. The treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and Mexico, negotiated on the part of the United States by Joel R. Poinsett, was signed in July 1826 but was never ratified (J. Fred Rippy, Joel R. Poinsett, Versatile American [Durham, N.C., 1935], 115–16).
6. Sebastián Camacho (1791–1847) had been secretary of state and foreign relations before his selection as the first Mexican diplomat in Europe, accredited to Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands. He was later governor of Veracruz, 1837 and 1846 (Alisky, Historical Dictionary of Mexico, 2nd ed., 78; Manning, Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States Concerning the Independence of the Latin-American Nations, 3:1651, 1656).
7. Alexandre Martin was appointed French commercial agent in Mexico in 1826 (Nancy Nichols Barker, The French Experience in Mexico, 1821–1861: A History of Constant Misunderstanding [Chapel Hill, 1979], 9–10, 20). For Joel R. Poinsett’s aid in getting Martin official recognition by the Mexican government, see Manning, Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States Concerning the Independence of the Latin-American Nations, 3:1680.