contributions were applied on the first instalment due to Mexico. All of the $3,000,000 appropriated by the Act of March 3, 1847, was paid to her shortly after she ratified the treaty of peace (Sen. 52; 30, 1, pp. 107-9; Richardson, Messages, iv, 588).
24. Sen. 1; 30, 1, p. 589. 13Pakenham, no. 74, June 13, 1846. Ho. Rep. 503; 31,1. Ho. 60; 30, 1, p. 1004 (Marcy). Sen. 52; 30, 1, p. 125 (Scott). Scott, Mems., 11, 583. Polk, Diary, Aug. 18-20, 24-5, 28; Nov. 13, 1847. Wash. Union, Dec. 9, 1847. N. Y. Herald (weekly), May 23; June 20; Oct. 31; Nov. 7, 1846; Aug. 21; Oct. 16; Nov. 6, 1847. Ho. Report 503; 31, 1. Picayune, Sept. 14, 1847. 256J. Parrott to Marcy, Dec. 20, 27, 1847, private. 139W. B. to D. Campbell, Aug. 9, 1816.
Scott spent nearly $64,000 of the funds that he derived from the Mexicans for blankets and shoes given to private soldiers; and $10 each were given to a large number of wounded men when they left the hospital. Probably Belmont's arrangement left the Rothschilds a handsome profit, for John Parrott, who had been our consul at Mazatlán, offered, if the government would open a credit of two or three millions in London, to take charge of supplying cash in Mexico at the rate of five dollars for every pound sterling, and a pound sterling would have cost the government only about $4.80. One main purpose of our government in laying an export duty on gold and silver was to facilitate the exchange of treasury notes for specie with Mexican citizens; but probably little was accomplished, for nearly all the specie in Mexico was held by foreigners. In the offices at Washington a good deal of carelessness in making estimates and handling funds appears to have prevailed (e.g. Polk's Diary, Aug. 18-28, 1847), and Walker's relations with Belmont and with Corcoran and Riggs were perhaps a little too intimate (ibid.); but one finds no reasons for suspecting Walker of crookedness. Of course property was handled more or less wastefully in the field, and contractors took an advantage sometimes. Roa Bárcena (Recuerdos, 249) states that some men buying grain, etc., for the American army required the sellers to give receipts for larger sums than were paid to them. See also Polk, Diary, July 10, 1847. The largest loss resulted from Gaines's unauthorized calls for troops, which probably cost $1,500,000 (13Pakenham, no. 74, 1847).
25. Sen. 15; 30, 1. Semmes, Service, 472-3. Bancroft, Pac. States, vil, 545. Ho. 70; 30,1, p. 11. Ho. 9, 27; 30,2. Polk, Diary, Nov. 7, 1846; Feb. 16; Nov. 6, 9, 1847; Jan. 24, 1848. Sen. 27; 30,1. 73Bermúdez de Castro, no. 517, June 29, 1847. Richardson, Messages, iv, 591. Ho. 6; 29, 1 (Walker, report, Dec. 3, 1845). Ho. 7; 30, 2 (Id., report, Dec. 9, 1848). Lalor, Cyclop., iii, 864. N.Y. Herald (weekly), Apr. 10, 1847; July 1, 1848.
26. (Webster) Wash. Union, Dec. 11, 1846; Niles, Jan. 9, 1847, p. 303. Cong. Globe, 30, 1, p. 912 (Stephens). The national debt, Oct. 1, 1845, was $17,075,446 (Walker, report, Dec. 3, 1845). July 6, 1848, Polk gave it as $65,778,450 including the bonds and treasury notes still available for issue (Richardson, Messages, iv, 591). Walker's report, Dec. 9, 1848, gave the increase of the national debt over that of March 4, 1845, as $48,036,151.
In a sense the war with Mexico cost too little. The estimates were pared below our needs. Troops could not be called out when they should have been. Transports and many other necessaries were lacking at critical times. This point will come up in the text of the next chapter. At the
