British diplomats, one at the capital and the other at Querétaro, proved most helpful; but then came Polk's Message, which encouraged the Eventualists by saying that, should Mexico continue the war, our protection might be given to any party able and willing to set up a republican government and make peace. Trist grew more and more anxious, and on the day after Christmas expressed his desire to proceed. In consequence of Doyle's attitude all Mexican scruples about the confirmation of the commissioners vanished. On January 1 their full "powers" reached the capital; and, beginning on the second, Couto, Cuevas and Atristain met there secretly with Trist almost every day. Rincón, the other member of the board, did not serve.[1]
Trist was prepared to stimulate his colleagues with news that a sentiment in favor of pushing the war through without delay had now become pronounced in the United States. At the same time his letter of September 7 provided them with a most convenient position, for it maintained that all the districts now held by American troops were ours by right of conquest, and that by accepting our terms Mexico, instead of selling lands and population, would recover a large amount of both. He gave them, too, an agreeable surprise by proposing substantially the same terms as during the armistice.[2]
They for their part knew California and all of Texas were lost; but their instructions were exacting, and they struggled for all conceivable advantages. Foreign arbitration and a European guaranty of the boundary were promptly demanded, and were as promptly refused. It was proposed that on the signing of the treaty all American forces in the country should retire to within fifty leagues of the coast; but this and other unreasonable conditions met the same fate. Anticipating sharp and captious criticism from opposing lawyers in Congress, the Mexicans devoted the most wearisome care to phraseology. Cordiality prevailed, however. Trist's good-will, self-sacrifice and courtesy received full recognition, and he seems to have been rather intimate with Couto, the ablest of his colleagues. Doyle and Thornton, though always respecting the line of strict neutrality, assisted materially in removing difficulties.[3]
Trist felt intensely anxious to save time, and for good reasons. Orders might arrive any day — and eventually did arrive — making it absolutely impossible for him to act as an American
