Mr. Motley to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches, Nos. 45, 46, 47, and 48, of dates October 9, 20, 23, and 23, together with a copy of your despatch of date 23d October, 1863, addressed to Mr. Dayton.
[Page 121]This paper I took the earliest opportunity to place in the hands of Count Rechberg, at an interview a few days ago. He read it through with great attention, and then observed that it seemed to him a very moderate and statesmanlike despatch.
He asked if I would leave it with him, but as you had only instructed me to “make the contents known” to him, I did not consider myself justified in so doing, because of the confidential nature of the document, and because it was addressed not to me, but to our minister in Paris.
Our conversation on the matter was brief. He repeated what he had often said before, that the imperial government held itself aloof from the whole affair. Austria was a continental power, not a maritime power of the first magnitude, and could, therefore, send no ships or armies to Mexico to sustain the proposed empire.
I understood him to remark that it was hardly to be expected that the people or government of the United States would regard with sympathy the reappearance of a monarchical form of government in their neighborhood, but that, on the other hand, the right of Mexico to decide as to its own form of government was not to be disputed.
I replied that this right was the leading principle of all our policy, but that a real decision of a nation as to its form of government could never be made in the presence of foreign armies and navies.
The conversation then passed to other topics.
I suppose that there is no doubt of the archduke’s expectation to leave for Mexico before next summer.
I have the honor to remain, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.