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Two Kentuckians Evaluate the Mexican Scene from Vera Cruz, 1853-1861
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Extract
Interesting insights into the Mexican scene were provided the State Department by two Kentuckians, John T. Pickett and R. B. I. Twyman, who shared the office of United States consul at Vera Cruz from 1853 to 1861. Pickett, the more dramatic of the two, has been described as a “Southern filibuster of the type of William Walker.” He had been a “general” in the Hungarian nationalist army of Kossuth, and had engaged in the López expeditions against Cuba. Most readers of United States diplomacy are well aware of Pickett's subsequent exploits in Mexico after having been appointed by Robert Toombs, Confederate Secretary of State, as diplomatic commissioner to the Juárez Government. Pickett had been recommended to Jefferson Davis by John Forsyth, former U.S. Minister to Mexico, who described him as eminently qualified. Pickett believed that he could advance the interests of the Confederacy by revealing to the Juárez Government the true nature of the Yankee Union's Puritan fanaticism; and, if the Juárez Party were to make cause with the Union, then he urged Confederate support of the Conservative Party. Upon arrival in Mexico, in July, 1861, he spoke with the Governor of Vera Cruz, Ignacio de la Llave, who assured him that his government would give equal treatment to the ships of the Union and of the Confederacy. Meantime, Thomas Corwin, Minister of the United States to Mexico, had the support of Liberal President Juárez. As the preference became more marked, Pickett became more indiscreet. Mr. Pickett was forceful, shrewd and widely known in Mexico; and had for a number of years been closely associated with Benito Juárez and a group of Liberals. But he was tactless when angry and sharp-tongued. The telling of his adventures, between May, 1861 and 1864 is found in Frank L. Owsley's King Cotton Diplomacy.
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- Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1975
References
1 “ McCornack, Richard B., “Los estados confederados y Mexico,” in Historia Mexicana, 4:3 (Jan.-Mar., 1956). This writing is based on the Pickett Papers in the Library of Congress. It is to be noted that Pickett was received, in an unofficial visit by Mr. Zamacona, Secretary of the Juárez Government.Google Scholar
2 Owsley, Frank L., King Cotton Diplomacy, Chicago, 1959, 2nd ed., cf. chapter III.Google Scholar It is to be noted that Pickett’s diplomacy was not only marred by indiscreet conversations, sarcasm, and disturbance of the peace for which he was jailed by the Mexican Gov-ernment; but his despatches to Richmond were intercepted by the Juárez Government and handed over to the Government of the Union.
3 Bemis, Samuel Flagg, ed., American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy, 10 vols., N.Y., 1927–29Google Scholar. Cf. vol. VI, 168, 274, 326–350. The Democratic Administrations of Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan, 1853–1961, were characterized by adventures in Manifest Destiny. Marcy was a convinced instrument of the expansionist Pierce; Secretary Lewis Cass was the mere expression of Buchanan who plotted in imperialism.
4 Pickett to Marcy, Dec. 21, 1853; Feb. 20, Mar. 12, 22, 1854. Cf. State Dept. Record Group No. 59, in National Archives (Wash.), under Micro-copy No. 183, roll 6. All future references will be abbreviated as: NAUS, MC—, r.—. Mr. Pickett asked for a contingent fund of $500 per year for “extraordinary expenses,” but had no hope of reform in the consular service; twelve years of service had convinced him of this.
5 Gadsden to Marcy, April 3, 1855, in NAUS, MC. 97, r. 19. Sir Robert Schomburgk was the famous British agent who had been commissioned in 1840 to determine the boundary between Venezuela and British Guiana.
6 Pickett to Marcy, Dec. 22, 1853; Jan. 7, 22; Mar. 22; Aug. 7; 1854.
7 Callahan, James M., American foreign Policy in Mexican Relations, N.Y., 1932, 230–31.Google Scholar Pickett to Marcy, Nov. 22, 1854; Feb. 21, 1855. For information on the Liberal Party conflict with the Jesuits, consult Cuevas, Manuel, Historia de la nación Mexicana, México, 1952, vol. 3, 39–47.Google Scholar The Jesuits were again expelled by the Congress in 1856, under the influence of Ignacio Comonfort.
8 Pickett to Marcy, Aug. 4, 20; Sept. 8; Oct. 10; Nov. 8, 1855; Jan. 10; Mar. 22, 1856.
9 H. Marquandt to Marcy, Apr. 21, 1856. Marcy to Forsyth, Aug. 16, 1856, NAUS, MC. 77, yr. 1856. Forsyth to Marcy, Nov. 8, 1856, in Manning, William R., ed., Diplomatie Correspondence of the United States, Inter-American Affairs, 1831–1860, Wash., 1933, vol. 9, 855–880.Google Scholar
10 Pickett to Cass, July 31, Sept. 7, 1857. Also, in Manning, , Dipl. Corresp., Inter-Amer., 9, 223 47, 968–69.Google Scholar Cass to Forsyth, July 17; Nov. 17, 1857. Forsyth to Cass, Nov. 18, . 1857; Jan. 30; Feb. 13-15; Mar. 1, 18; Apr. 16; June 17, 19; July 1; Aug. 31, 1858. The very extensive correspondence between Mr. Forsyth and Mr. Luis G. Cuevas, Mexico’s Foreign Minister under the Zuloaga Government, is most informative on United States’ pressures upon Mexico. It is to be noted that, in July, 1857, Secretary Cass had sent a draft of a treaty to John Forsyth, by the terms of which the United States would purchase Lower California, Sonora, and all of Chihuahua north of the 30th parallel. To worst the British it was urged that the United States be given additional rights in Tehuantepec. Mr. Forsyth worked for these cessions from the Liberal Government of Comonfort, in return for a loan; but the Liberal establishment was overthrown by the Conservative, General Félix Zuloaga in January, 1858.
11 Pickett to Cass, Jan. 4; Feb. 20, 25; Mar. 6; Apr. 6, 30, 1858.
12 Twyman to Cass, July 28; Oct. 23; Dec. 2, 7, 1858.
13 Twyman to Cass, Dec. 21, 1858; Jan. 21, 1859. Cass to Churchvvell, Dec. 27, 1858. Churchwell to Cass, Feb. 8, 21, 1859. Also, Churchwcll to Buchanan, Feb. 22, 1859, in Manning, , Dipl. Rels., Inter-Amer., 9, 255–58, 1025–30.Google Scholar It is to be noted that the government of Zuloaga, on Feb. 2, 1859, gave way to the conservative government of General Miguel Miramón.
14 Cass to McLane, Mar. 7, 1859, in Manning, IX, 258. It is to be noted that much of the interesting diplomacy of 1859 concerns the drafting and failure of the McLane Ocampo Treaty of 1859. This is not part of the task of this writing; but can be found in Berbusse, Edward J., “The Origins of the McLane-Ocampo Treaty of 1859,” The Americas, Jan., 1958.Google Scholar Twyman to Cass, Mar. 31, 1860. Pickett to Cass, Apr. 12; Sept. 24, 860; Feb. 15, 1861. It should be remembered that Jeremiah S. Black took over the Secretariat of State on Dec. 17, 1860; and had only three months in office before the Lincoln Administration came into office. There was no significant diplomacy with Mexico during the secretariat of Mr Black.