Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/290

232 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS make a "Treaty of Transit and Commerce" and a "convention to enforce treaty stipulations, and to maintain order and security in the territory of the republics of Mexico and the United States." But congress took no notice of the president s recom mendation, and refused to ratify the treaty and the convention. Mexico was left to the interference of Louis Napoleon; the establishment of an empire, under Maximilian, followed, for the embarrassment of President Lincoln s administration while we were in the throes of our civil war, and the claims of American citizens were to all appearance indefi nitely postponed. Our relations with Spain were also in a very un satisfactory condition at the beginning of Mr. Buchanan s term. There were many just claims of our citizens against the Spanish government for injuries received in Cuba, and Mr. Buchanan suc ceeded in having a "convention concluded at Ma drid in 1860, establishing a joint commission for the final adjudication and payment of all the claims of the respective parties." The senate re fused to ratify this convention also, probably be cause of the intense excitement against slavery, the convention having authorized the presenting be fore the commissioners of a Spanish claim against the United States for the value of certain slaves. In the settlement of claims against the government of Paraguay the president s firm policy was sec-