As Trist contended and our Supreme Court has in effect decided, the only cession was that made by the United States in surrendering districts then in our hands. Our real title was conquest—conquest from those who had taken the country by conquest from its conquerors. What Mexico granted us was peace and an acknowledgement of our title. In return we gave her not only peace, which meant vastly more to Mexico than to us, but extensive lands, the renunciation of all American claims antedating the treaty, and fifteen million dollars in money—
a wealth of gold that her treasury had never seen before. On both sides the treaty conferred benefits; on our part it was magnanimous; and to settle the matter in this way gave the United States a feeling of satisfaction worth all it cost.[1]
The wish of the Mexican government had been to open the peace negotiations by making an armistice. To the Americans this could offer little advantage, for the only enemies they now had to fear were guerillas, and these recognized no laws. To Peña, on the other hand, it meant security from hostile expeditions, larger revenues, diminished expenses, Congressional elec-
- ↑ 13
