[1] Colonel Van Alen, a native of New York who worked as a merchant,[2] was appointed by President Zachary Taylor to succeed fellow New Yorker, Van Brugh Livingston,[3] as the Chargé d'Affaires to Ecuador in Quito,[4] in a recess appointment, on June 5, 1849.
[5] Van Alen had helped Taylor get elected to the presidency and "enjoyed a greater degree of the old veteran's confidence and affection than almost any other person not of his immediate kindred.
[8] He wrote to Washington advising them that Flores was popular and had been "unjustly ousted by a small clique of opportunists.
"[9] While in Ecuador, he was able to negotiate a treaty regarding the brig Morris which was captured and sold by the authorities of Colombia.
[6] Upon his return to the United States, he purchased a country estate near Poughkeepsie, New York, where he died on August 27, 1857.