I recd yours of the 18h of September inviting my attention to the letters of Messrs. Blair & Tappan published in the N York Evening Post of the 28h of July and in the National Intelligencer of the 1st of August last; requesting me to state fully every thing within my knowledge, of your views & opinions in relation to the annexation of Texas, whether derived from private & confidential conversations in or out of the cabinet and any thing within my knowledge in relation to the matters set forth in those letters.

In reply I have the honor to state, that for some years before my selection as a member of your cabinet as well as afterwards we were upon terms of the utmost intimacy and our intercourse, of the most unreserved & confidential character. You conversed with me frankly & without reserve upon all questions which exerted public attention.

The Texas question, which had been made so prominent in your election, exerted much interest & feeling in Congress about the time of your arrival in Washington as the President elect; and particularly so, after the Report of the committee of the Senate, recomending a rejection of the Resolutions which had passed the House of Representatives and a postponement of the whole subject; and after the introduction of Colo. Bentons Bill in the Senate, proposing the admission of Texas or a part of it as a state, so soon as the terms & conditions of such admission should be agreed upon between the two Governments. I was at the time a member of the House, had voted for the Resolutions of the House & felt the deepest interest for the success of the measure. The merits of the two propositions were freely discussed among the members in private circles & others at the seat of Government. They were treated as antigonist measures—and strong doubts entertained whether either could pass both Houses. It was frequently urged by those favoring the proposition of Col Benton, that under it, commissioners would be appointed, composed of the most distinguished citizens of the country taken from each of the great parties and that the terms, could be thus better & more satisfactorily adjusted than in any other way. The names of distinguished citizens were mentioned as the most suitable to compose the commission. During the pendency of these propositions, you conversd with me freely in relation to them and expressed great anxiety for the adoption of some measure before the adjournment of Congress. You urged that one or the other or indeed any measure should be taken, which would secure annexation, rather than do nothing. It was understood, that either of the proposed measures pleadged the public faith to the final accomplishment of this great measure; and it was hoped would put an end to the intrigues of Foreign agents for its defeat; and would releive your administration from the embarrassments that might arise, if left as an open question.

I did not understand you at any time, expressing a preference for the proposition of Col Benton over that of the House, nor is it indeed probable that you would have done so as the whole body of your friends in both Houses, with the exception of four or five senators, favored the mode of annexation proposed by the resolutions of the House. Your uniform course was to urge the adoption of some measure, one or the other of the pending propositions; so as to have the question settled & you frequently said, if the Bill of Col. Benton should be adopted by Congress, that the most distinguished men of the country ought to compose the commission but I do not recollect that any individuals were named by you as the proper persons to compose it.

The idea of uniting the two propositions and leaving it to the Pres to select which to act on, I do not remember to have heard suggested, until the evening of the 27th of February, when the amendment of Robert J Walker then a Senator from Mississippi, was offered & adopted; & the Resolutions thus amended passed the Senate the same evening & finally passed the House the next day. Although the questions arising out of the measure as adopted were frequently subjects of conversation, I do not recollect that you expressed any opinion as to the proper course to be pursued until they were submitted to the cabinet. They were the first questions of importance brought before it by you.

It appeared that Mr. Tyler had taken up the subject and decided to act under that branch of the Law, known as the Resolutions of the House and had despatched a messenger with instructions to our Minister in Texas. There was much discussion, as to the influence, the course adopted by Mr. Tyler should have upon his successor and as to the danger that would arise to the final success of the measure itself by any delay in executing the law, from the intrigues of the agents of foreign Governments, who were then understood to be actively engaged, and using every effort to defeat it. It was finally decided, as I now recollect without a dissenting voice in the cabinet, to abide by the decision of Mr. Tyler and secure annexation if possible in the manner prescribed by the resolutions of the House. You concurred entirely with the cabinet and I do not remember to have heard a preference expressed by you for one proposition over the other until that time.

Knowing the relations existing between you & Mr. Blair at the time and the above circumstances I could not but feel surprize upon reading his letter.

The Amendment of Mr. Walker, combining the two propositions & giving the right to the Pres to select either, was first made late in the day of the 27h of February and was finally acted on in that body the same evening. The Whig Senators were taken by surprize & urged delay for an hour or two to consider the proposition; some of them threatening to speak out the balance of the session if it was then pressed to a vote and after a short adjournment for dinner was finally decided. I could not understand how the existing relations between yourself & Mr Blair, should have induced him, to have hunted you up, submitted to your consideration the important proposition of Mr Walker, have obtained your decision & reported it to certain Senators for the purpose of securing their votes for annexation, in a few hours after its introduction. I did not believe that you would have decided so important question, so hastily, without consulting with the friends you intended to call around you nor did I believe you would have communicated such a decision through Mr. Blair. The selection of some other paper in lieu of the Globe and some editor more friendly to yourself than Mr. Blair, had been under consideration of yourself & friends, particularly Gov. A V Brown & myself, before that time and had been determined on by yourself, if a suitable person could be had. Mr. Blair, had admitted into the columns of the Globe the most vile attack made upon you before the Baltimore nomination. He had omitted to publish in the Globe, the procedings of conventions & other public bodies, urging your nomination for the Vice presidency. His course had been so marked, whilst pretending neutrality between the candidates for the Vice presidency as to call forth the remonstrance of some of your friends here & lead to a correspondence between you & myself in relation to it.1 In addition to this, Col Benton declared from his seat in the Senate, upon the introduction of the amendment of Mr. Walker that he would vote for it, which was regarded as an unerring index to the course of the other senators who had acted with him in opposition to the House resolutions, thus leaving no time for Mr Blair to have searched you up and obtain your decision, to be communicated to Senators to control their votes. In addition to these things I may add, that after the adjournment of the Senate, when it was publicly known what decision you had made, as no nominations had been sent to that body for commissioners, Mr Blair urged upon me, as a member of your administration and your personal friend, the importance of retaining the Globe as the organ of the Admn., explained the causes of the appearance of that unfriendly article in his paper, expressed the utmost confidence in you as a politician and a man and said with much emphasis, that if the Globe should be retained, he would “strike down” the enemies of your administration as he had done those of Genl Jackson.

Whatever communications may have been made to Judge Tappan, they could at the time have had no influence upon his feelings of friendship toward you or your administration or probably on his vote. More than two years after the commencement of your administration, he repeatedly declared in my presence that he & his friends were the only true friends of the administration in Ohio, that he was the only one, able and willing to advance money to sustain it, that he should continue to do so, not from any expectation of reward but because he believed the President to be an honest man and regretted that the President had committed himself so early against runing a second time as he thought it probable that he was the only man that could unite the democratic party at the next election.

It is somewhat remarkable that this alledged fraud to secure the votes of certain senators for annexation has been permitted to sleep for three & a half years until it was distinctly ascertained that the influence of your admn. could not be brought to favor the nomination of Mr. Van Buren whose friends seem to claim the right for him to succeed you by virtue of what they seem to have considered the last will & Testament of Genl. Jackson and that it was your duty to have it executed. Very soon after his nomination at Utica, it seems, an issue is attempted to be made with you, as the head of the Democratic party whereby the votes of those opposed to your admn., or who had been soured by disappointment, might the more readily be secured for the Buffaloe nominee, on his new plat form.