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John Tyler signs as 10th President of the United States to appoint the author Washington Irving as Ambassador to Spain, ordering the Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, to affix the Seal of the United States to "a full power, and envelope of the letter of credence for Washington Irving as Minister to Spain". The ambassador presents a letter of credence to the foreign court, and upon its acceptance, officially becomes their country's representative. Affixing the seal authorizes the letter on behalf of the government. Irving was a suitable candidate. He moved to Spain in early 1826, and during his three-and-a-half year stay, wrote Columbus, Conquest of Granada, The Companions of Columbus, and the Alhambra. In these works, he adopted a romanticized vision of Spain, which mixed medieval chivalry and Moorish exoticism. He left the country for the post of secretary in the American legation in London, honing his skills as a diplomat. He returned to America in the 1830s, where he solidified his position as the nation's leading writer. President Tyler wished to appoint as ambassador a man familiar with Spain's people and history. Irving was recommended by his friend, Secretary of State Daniel Webster. He accepted the position as he was "not yet entirely at ease in the new, aggressively democratic America" (ANB). Irving finally reached Madrid on 25 July 1842, after intervening months spent in England and France. He wrote to his sister on 3 August, "The day before yesterday I had my audience of the Regent, Espartero, Duke of Victoria, to present to him my original letter of credence. I advanced, and read in Spanish a short address, stating that I had the honor of delivering the letter of the President to the Queen into his hands, as Regent of the kingdom, and expressing the sentiments of respect and good-will entertained by my government". Irving was accepted by the regent, and went on to write, "I cannot but feel a deep interest in the fortunes of this harassed, impoverished, depressed, yet proud-spirited and noble country, and a most earnest desire to see it relieved from its troubles and embarrassment, and re-established in a prosperous and independent stand among the nations" (Irving, pp. 677-9). Spain was then in a precarious position, having recently emerged from the civil war of 1833 to 1840. Espartero, regent for the child Isabel II, faced opposition due to his authoritarian rule. The following year, he was overthrown. Irving was a successful ambassador, but it marked a low point in his life. He was a well-liked figure in the Spanish court and diplomatic corps, but did not form the close friendships of his earlier Spanish sojourn, and found the period lonely and unfulfilling. He was careful to avoid intervening in the overthrow of Espartero, and throughout the unsettled years maintained the favour of the different factions. Yet the machinations tired and jaded him. He wrote that "political adventurers in Spain, has shewn me so much of the dark side of human nature, that I begin to have painful doubts of my fellow man; and look back with regret to the confiding period of my literary career, when, poor as a rat, but rich in dreams, I beheld the world through the medium of my imagination and was apt to believe men as good as I wished them to be" (cited in Hellman, p. 274)). He offered his resignation in December 1845, writing to Secretary of State James Buchanan, "The unexpected manner in which I was called to this high trust from the retirement of private life, without reference to any political considerations; and the cordial manner in which I was welcomed to it by my countrymen of all political creeds, have ever made me regard it as the crowning honor of my life. I have endeavoured to discharge its duties to the best of my abilities. In now offering my resignation I am actuated by no party feeling, nor any indisposition to aid in carrying out the foreign policy of the present administration; but solely by an earnest desire to ret.
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