refused
to obey the President, and both he and the general hastened the
negotiations.

Although the Whigs were also infected with the expansionist fever, Henry
Clay came out of his retirement at Ashland, near Lexington, and on
November 13, made an impassioned appeal to the country against the
wickedness of despoiling a helpless neighbor; John Quincy Adams, nearing
the end of his career, continued to denounce the whole Mexican
movement. But Webster, an ardent candidate now for the Whig nomination
in 1848, said little and took this occasion to visit the South and West.
Calhoun made it his especial business in the Senate to defeat what he
thought was the President's purpose, the annexation of all Mexico. But
the prospect of success of these "little Americans" was far from bright.

When the Trist treaty, giving satisfaction on all the points raised in
Slidell's mission and selling to the United States both California and
New Mexico, reached Washington in February, 1848, there was every
temptation to reject it. The ablest members of the Cabinet insisted upon
its rejection; a scheme for the establishment of a protectorate over
Yucatan, which was expected to eventuate in annexation, was being urged,
and the rumors of approaching convulsions in Europe were heartening
leading members of Congress. Why should not the United States fulfill
her destiny? There was none to interfere or make afraid. Senator Foote,
of Mississippi, urged in glowing terms the advantages of "extending
American liberty" over Central America; Senator Hannegan, of Indiana,
fairly represented his section when he said that the time had come for
the United States to take Canada, too, and make the boundaries of North
America the boundaries of the great Republic; and Senator Cass was
making his campaign for the Democratic nomination on the plea that the
time was ripe for the extinguishment of the remnants of European
authority on the continent.

The President, worn out with the toils of office and determined not to
seek renomination, decided to accept the treaty, and the Senate, in
spite of the warmest harangues of the extremists, promptly approved the
work of Trist and Scott, for the general had had much to do with the
negotiations. The war had come to an end, though there were still
further efforts to undo the treaty by seizing Yucatan, and there was
much complaint from leading Senators and Representatives at the alleged
weakness of Polk.

[Illustration: A