The original of this memorandum was left yesterday with his excellency
the minister of foreign affairs.
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c.
[Memorandum.]
Legation of the United
States,
March 15, 1865.
The undersigned, chargé d’affaires of the United States, had the
honor to submit verbally to his excellency Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys,
minister of foreign affairs, the following statement on the 9th
instant:
It is stated upon official authority that General Mejia, commanding
the Mejia division of the French army at Matamoras, had arrested
between twenty and thirty refugees from the rebel army in Texas;
conducted them, under the guard of a file of soldiers, to the banks
of the Rio Grande and delivered them into the hands of armed enemies
of the United States. The pretext assigned, I am told by General
Mejia, for this procedure, was, that they were offenders against the
laws of the confederacy, and, therefore, liable to extradition. If
so, General Mejia appears not to have been aware that the alleged
criminals had a right to a fair trial and conviction, which was
denied them before they could be surrendered to any government, and
that he had then authority to surrender them only upon the suit of a
government recognized by the Emperor of France, and to which the
right of extradition had been conceded by treaty.
The refugees in question were seized by Mexican soldiers, under the
orders of General Mejia, and delivered without any trial into the
hands of an armed band of conspirators from Texas, who represented
no lawful government, and who could not, therefore, have any
political status in any Mexican tribunal, civil or military.
The undersigned,, while appreciating the difficulty of enforcing
neutrality along the line which divides Texas, from Mexico, where
the temptations to violate it are so numerous, expressed the hope
and expectation of his government that the government of France
would not permit the conduct of General Mejia to pass without such
instructions as would prevent [Page 387] the recurrence of a proceeding too liable to
disturb the friendly relations of the two countries.
The undersigned availed himself of the same occasion to express to
his excellency the minister of foreign affairs the regret of his
government at the exceptionable tone of the correspondence,
addressed by the United States consul at Matamoras to General Mejia,
in reference to the surrender of these refugees, and to state that
orders relieving the incumbent from his official charge were on
their way to him at the time the correspondence was passing.
His excellency Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys stated, in reply to the
undersigned, that he had received no information whatever upon the
subject referred to by the undersigned, save what the undersigned
had communicated; that the subject should be taken into respectful
consideration, and that the officers of the imperial government in
Mexico should be instructed to preserve a rigorous neutrality.
The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to renew to his
excellency the minister of foreign affairs the assurances of his
most distinguished consideration.
