ed the Jackson administration from
its commencement to its close. It silenced the clamors for the
annexation of Texas to this Union for three years, till the catastrophe
of the Van Buren administration. The people of the free states were
lulled into the belief that the whole project was abandoned, and that
they should hear no more of the slave-trade cravings for the annexation
of Texas. Had Harrison lived, they would have heard no more of it to
this day. But no sooner was John Tyler installed into the President's
house than nullification, and Texas, and war with Mexico, rose again
upon the surface, with eye steadily fixed upon the polar star of
Southern slave-dealing supremacy in the government of the Union."

Mr. Adams then comments upon the history of the Santa Fe expedition,
which was fitted out in the summer of 1841, shortly after the accession
of Mr. Tyler, by the then President of Texas, having been originated and
concerted within these states, and carried on chiefly by citizens of the
United States. That it was known, countenanced, and encouraged, at the
presidential house, was, said Mr. Adams, more than questioned; for,
while it was on foot, and before it was known, frequent hints were given
in public journals, moved by Executive impulse, that at the coming
session the annexation of Texas was to be introduced by a citizen of the
highest distinction. "But the Texan expedition was ill-starred. Instead
of taking and rioting upon the beauty and booty of Santa Fe, they were
all captured themselves, without even the glory of putting a price on
their lives. They surrendered without firing a gun." The failure of this
expedition discomfited the war faction in Congress, and injured for a
moment, and only for a moment, the project to which Southern
nullification clung with the grasp of death.

Mr. Adams next proceeds to exhibit the evidence to show "the
participation of the administration at Washington with this incursion of
banditti from Texas against Santa Fe," and to explain "the legislative
exploit" by which the treasury of the United States was made to
contribute to "the dismemberment of Mexico, and the annexation of an
immense portion of its territory to the slave representation of the
Union." The internal evidence he regarded as irresistible that "the
expedition against Santa Fe was planned within your boundaries, and
committed to the execution of your citizens, under the shelter of
Mexican banners and commissions.