Nassau. The local courts punished some of
the negroes as murderers and set the others free. Speaking for the
American Government, Webster demanded of England an apology and
compensation for the slaves. Ashburton defended his country stoutly and
refused satisfaction. Again public opinion, at least Southern opinion,
was greatly excited, but nothing was done about the Creole case until
1853, when it was submitted to arbitration, and compensation was allowed
the owners of the slaves.

Thus the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 was a settlement of some
threatening difficulties and a tacit compromise or ignoring of others.
It served the useful purpose of keeping the peace between kindred
peoples. The Oregon and Texas questions were left open, and these were
assuming more dangerous forms with the passage of time.

This served to direct attention to the Pacific Coast and even the Far
East, where New England merchants and shipowners had long driven a
profitable trade. President Tyler sent Commodore Jones to the Pacific to
protect American interests; he proposed to send a commissioner to China
in the hope of aiding American commerce there, and he began to consult
members of Congress about the possibility of obtaining Texas,
California, and Oregon all in treaties with Mexico and England. He
offered to send Webster to London to conduct the negotiations, and at
his instance John Quincy Adams wrote Edward Everett, the American
Minister to England, that he might resign and go to China to do pioneer
work for New England interests. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty was to be
followed by a greater one, securing to the United States the coveted
expansion southwest, west, and northwest. Thus Calhoun and his extreme
Southerners, Benton and his ardent imperialist followers, and the
radical Northwest were all to be satisfied at a single stroke of state,
and Webster, the New Englander, was to be the happy instrument and
perhaps become President in consequence.

Everett refused to resign, and Webster had promised his Whig friends to
leave the State Department. Tyler did not despair; when the great New
Englander retired in 1842, like Clay, to private life, he invited Hugh
S. Legare, of Charleston, to the vacant place. A year later Abel P.
Upshur succeeded to the office. All the while the President was seeking
to guide the Administration into other channels than the old ones of
tariff, bank, and internal improvements.

The Texan envoys to Washingt