A copy of the despatch of Mr. Mansfield to your department, dated 10th of
February last, was transmitted by me, according to instructions to the
minister of foreign affairs, as stating more explicitly the character of
injury suffered by Mr. Mansfield, and the reparations demanded.
Herewith I transmit to you a translation of M. Drouyn de l’Huys’s answer
to his and your last communication.
Hon. William H. Seward
Secretary of State, &c., &c.,
&c.
[Translation.]
Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys to M. Dayton
Memorandum.
July, 1864.
The minister of foreign affairs of the Emperor has examined the
letter of Mr. Mansfield to Mr. Seward, which M. the minister of the
United States has been pleased to communicate to him. This paper has
enabled M. Drouyn de l’Huys to account better than he had been able
to do up to the present time, in the absence of all information of
the occurrence relative to M. the consul of the United States at
Tabasco. It appears from it that Mr. Mansfield, without valid
reasons, and simply in consequence of false imputations, has been
taken from his consulate, imprisoned, and maltreated; and that,
though at the time he was writing he had been permitted to return to
his consulate, still he was not permitted to go away from it, nor to
resume his official functions, nor to put himself in relations with
his fellow-countrymen.
The proceedings of which Mr. Mansfield complains have, without any
doubt, a most regretable character, since this agent engages his
word that nothing in his conduct, nor in his language, has been of a
nature to justify them.
M. Drouyn de l’Huys congratulates himself, however, upon learning
that the first information which was given to him by Mr. Dayton is
not confirmed; and that it is not at Vera Cruz, as was at first
supposed, that the American consul, after having been sent there,
had been shut up and condemned to one year’s imprisonment. If,
indeed, this had been so, it would very probably have been for the
French authorities to furnish the explanations which the measures
taken, apparently, if not by themselves, at least with their assent,
admit of. It appears, on the contrary, from the despatch of Mr.
Mansfield, that he has not quitted Tabasco, and that it is solely
from the authorities of this city that an account is to be asked for
the proceedings of which He has been the object. But these
authorities were Mexican; they were not constituted with the
concurrence of the French forces, who have not occupied Tabasco, and
they do not act with their support. No participation in their acts
could then be ascribed to these latter, who, if they have
momentarily shown themselves at Tabasco, (of which the government of
the Emperor is as yet ignorant,) have never established themselves
there, and have never been able to intervene in any manner whatever
in the events of this locality. Hence it does not appertain to the
government of the Emperor to judge of the facts which have taken
place there; much less can it be responsible for acts emanating from
an authority, more or less regular, over which it has exercised no
control. It can only deplore the
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acts of violence with which the accused
Mexicans are reproached, and it is not to be wondered at; moreover,
that at a point where internal struggles still continue, one of
these illegalities should occur—one of these violations of
international law of which Mexico has so sadly multiplied examples
for a number of years past. This is the fruit of the anarchy to
which this country has so long been a prey, and a reason for every
one to wish the establishment and consolidation of a more moral and
a stronger government.
There is reason to think, moreover, that the position of Mr.
Mansfield must have changed a short time after the period at which
he wrote, for the Mexican chiefs who at that date, that is to say,
in the month of February last, occupied Tabasco, were no longer
there in the month of May, having evacuated the place. Whatever the
case may be, and although the French consul at Vera Cruz has
evidently not been able, up to the present time, to transmit the
information upon this affair which had been asked of him, the
minister of the Emperor, at Mexico, will be written to again
concerning it, as he will be requested to proceed as far as shall
lie in his power to an inquiry into this regretable occurrence.
