THE ROARING FORTIES 123 



1844. Two months later the treaty, after a 

 fierce struggle, was rejected by the American 

 Senate. During this whole period the British 

 Government, as is known perfectly now but was 

 only a matter of strong suspicion at the time, 

 labored earnestly to thwart annexation. Aber 

 deen sought the support of France and proposed 

 to Mexico that, if she would recognize the inde 

 pendence of Texas, Great Britain and France 

 should jointly guarantee the boundaries of both 

 Mexico and Texas against the United States. 

 This drastic project was eventually dropped 

 because France declined to face a war with the 

 United States, and because the British and 

 French ministers at Washington agreed in re 

 porting that the immediate result, if the plan 

 should become known, would be the carrying 

 out of annexation at all hazards by the United 

 States. In the presidential campaign of 1844 

 a demand for annexation was formally incor 

 porated into the platform of the Democratic 

 Party, and that party triumphed in the election. 

 British &quot;interference&quot; in American affairs was 

 a conspicuous theme of Democratic denuncia 

 tion during the heat of the canvass, and the 

 suspicions, half-truths, and downright fabrica 

 tions that always play so large a part on such 



