But it had been for some time apparent to Mr. Buchanan that our relations with Mexico could not be left in the condition in which they stood. Both to satisfy the long deferred claims of our citizens, and to prevent foreign interference with the internal affairs of Mexico, he had instructed Mr. McLane to make a treaty with the Constitutional government. On the 14th of December, 1859, a “Treaty of Transit and Commerce” was signed between the Mexican Republic and the United States, and also a “Convention to enforce treaty stipulations, and to maintain order and security in the territory of the Republics of Mexico and the United States.” Great advantages of trade, transit and commerce were secured by these arrangements. The United States was to pay $4,000,000 for the surrender of certain Mexican duties, two millions to be paid down, and two millions to be reserved and distributed to the American claimants who could prove their injuries. With the two millions to be placed in the hands of the constitutional government, it was expected that it would be able to expel the usurping government from the capital and establish itself over the whole territory of the republic. All acquisition of further Mexican territory was thus avoided. If this treaty had been approved by the Senate of the United States, the empire of Maximilian would never have been heard of. The American negotiator, Mr. McLane, in his despatch to the Secretary of State, dated on the day this treaty and convention were signed at Vera Cruz, expressed his apprehension that if they were not ratified, further anarchy would prevail in Mexico, until it should be ended by interference from some other quarter. The President submitted the treaty and the convention to the Senate on the 24th of January, 1860. They were neither of them approved. Mexico was left to the interference of Louis Napoleon; the establishment of an empire, under Maximilian, a prince of the House of Hapsburg, followed, for the embarrassment of President Lincoln’s administration while we were in the throes of our civil war, and the claims of American citizens were to all appearance indefinitely postponed. The relations of the United States with Spain at the commencement of Mr. Buchanan’s administration, and the manner in which he dealt with them, have been described by him as follows: