Tornel y Mendívil, José María de:

$3,750 · Offered by William Reese Company

MANIFESTACION DEL C. JOSÉ MARÍA TORNEL [caption title]. A rare account of the diplomatic career of José María de Tornel y Mendívil, including his service as Mexican envoy to the United States from 1829 to 1831. Tornel (1795–1853) a prominent figure in Mexican political and military affairs, wrote this memoir in mid-career. As a prominent "santanista" and one of Santa Anna's primary spokesmen for decades, Tornel unsurprisingly led a varied and controversial life in Mexican politics through much of the early and mid-1800s. From 1829 to 1831 he was the Mexican minister to the United States, and herein he states that the government of President Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña authorized him to negotiate the sale of Texas to the United States in 1829. He also discusses the Monroe Doctrine, referring to it as a "magnanimo reto" ["a magnanimous challenge"], and mentions attempts to convince Andrew Jackson to lean on Spain to recognize Mexican independence, communications with Martin Van Buren on the perennial issue of border depredations by indigenous tribes, and observations on New Orleans.Despite his authorization for the sale of Texas, Tornel was a firm proponent of Mexican power and independence, and wrote to Vice President Anastasio Bustamante and the Secretary of External Affairs about his opposition to the plan. Tornel's recent biographer, Mari a del Carmen Va zquez Manteco n, writes of his appointment as Minister [our translation]:"[Tornel] told [Bustamante] that he believed

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