of the
treaty proposed by Mexico, on being submitted, should be adopted by the
Senate of the United States.

I was equally well satisfied that the Government of Mexico had agreed to
the treaty as amended by the Senate of the United States, and did not
regard the protocol as modifying, enlarging, or diminishing its terms or
effect. The President of that Republic, in submitting the amended treaty
to the Mexican Congress, in his message on the 8th day of May, 1848,
said:

If the treaty could have been submitted to your deliberation precisely
as it came from the hands of the plenipotentiaries, my satisfaction at
seeing the war at last brought to an end would not have been lessened as
it this day is in consequence of the modifications introduced into it by
the Senate of the United States, and which have received the sanction of
the President. ... At present it is sufficient for us to say to you
that if in the opinion of the Government justice had not been evinced
on the part of the Senate and Government of the United States in
introducing such modifications, it is presumed, on the other hand, that
they are not of such importance that they should set aside the treaty.
I believe, on the contrary, that it ought to be ratified upon the same
terms in which it has already received the sanction of the American
Government. My opinion is also greatly strengthened by the fact that a
new negotiation is neither expected nor considered, possible. Much less
could another be brought forward upon a basis more favorable for the
Republic.

The deliberations of the Mexican Congress, with no explanation before
that body from the United States except the letter of the Secretary of
State, resulted in the ratification of the treaty, as recommended by the
President of that Republic, in the form in which it had been amended and
ratified by the United States. The conversations embodied in the paper
called a protocol took place after the action of the Mexican Congress
was complete, and there is no reason to suppose that the Government of
Mexico ever submitted the protocol to the Congress, or ever treated or
regarded it as in any sense a new negotiation, or as operating any
modification or change of the amended treaty. If such had been its
effect, it was a nullity until approved by the Mexican Congress; and
such approval was never made or intimated to the United States. In the
final consummation of the ratification