Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the First Session Thirty-ninth Congress
THE IMPERIAL MEXICAN EXPRESS COMPANY IN NEW YORK.
Mr. Romero to Mr. Seward
Mr. Secretary: It having come to my notice that the adventurer called Don Fernando Maximilian, of Hapsburg, who was Archduke of Austria, and who now pretends to exercise public authority in Mexico by right of conquest, has granted some so-called privileges to persons of this country, or who have come to it, to form here companies for the purpose of carrying them into effect, and that these persons assert, to gain buyers of shares, that the said privileges have been or will be sanctioned by the constitutional President of the Mexican republic, for which they have not the slightest foundation, it seemed proper to me, for the purpose of protecting the citizens of this country, who in good faith, and under that mistaken impression, might desire to take shares in such speculations, to recommend that the consul general of Mexico, in the United States, resident in New York, should make known to the public that it was not certain that the constitutional government of Mexico was disposed to sanction these grants, and sending to him the laws of the Mexican congress and the dispositions of the executive which declare null and void the acts of the invader. I have the honor to enclose to you copy, in English, of the note which, for this purpose, I addressed, under date of 18th current, to the consul of the Mexican republic at New York, accompanied by the dispositions which are quoted in it, (No. 1.) That functionary caused those dispositions to be published in the New York papers of the 23d instant, with the letter, of which I also enclose copy, in English, (No. 2.) On the same 23d day Mr. E. De Courcillon, titular president of the Mexican Express Company, formed in virtue of one of the spurious grants of the usurper, addressed to me the letter, of which I also enclose copy, (No. 3,) sending me a copy of that which, on the same date, he addressed to the New York press, (No. 4,) and another of the prospectus of his company, (No. 5.) I also send these two documents. To said letter I replied, on the 24th, in the terms you will see in the copy of my reply, which I also enclose, (No. 6.) The Mexican consul at New York replied, at the same elate, to Mr. De Courcillon in the manner which appears in the copy annexed of his letter to the Herald of that city, (No. 7.)
I believe it to be my duty also to communicate to you, for the information of the government of the United States, the facts and documents to which I have made reference, to call your attention to an important point, which may affect not only the good relations which happily exist between the government of the Mexican republic and the United States, but even the duties which belong to this government as a neutral in respect to Mexico.
In my letter to Mr. de Courcillon, (No. 6,) in that of the consul of Mexico to the Herald at New York, (No. 7,) and in the memorandum which I transmit of the concession, so-called, of the usurper, (No. 8,) you will see that the company engages to transport all material of warfare of the invading army of Mexico. The reading of the prospectus of the company (No. 5) demonstrates this more plainly. Of the five agents the company has, there is one only in Europe, and he resides at St. Nazaire, which, as you know, is that port of France from which issues the material for war which the Emperor of the French sends to his forces in Mexico, and for which the French government has established a line of steamers between said port and Vera Cruz. Of the other four agents of the company, one resides at Vera Cruz, and the other at the city of Mexico, which are the [Page 562] stations held to prepare forcibly the material of war destined for the conquest of Mexico.
In article 7 of the so-called concession of the usurper (No. 8) you will see also that the agents of the company in Mexico, as well as abroad, are official agents authorized for colonization, and in that will be subject to the orders and instructions to one of the so-called ministers of the same usurper. The colonization which is here treated of is, as I have shown to your department in my notes of the 5th and 20th instant, eminently hostile to the United States, as it is intended to be of citizens of the south who do not submit themselves to the authority of this government, and to whom invitations are held out to go to Mexico with their slaves, there to reorganize under the shadow of France. The president and the members of the junta of colonization established by the usurper are declared enemies of the United States, as I have shown to the department.
It is very satisfactory to me to avail of this opportunity to renew to you, Mr. Secretary, the assurances of my distinguished consideration.
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.
[Enclosure No. 1.]
It having come to my knowledge that certain speculators of this country have obtained pretended concessions from the French agents in Mexico—that is to say, from the so-called imperial government of Maximilian—for the establishment of an express company, proposed to be styled the “Imperial Mexican Express;” of a suburban railroad in the city of Mexico; of a line of steamers in the Gulf of Mexico, and another on the Pacific; of various lines of telegraph; to carry forward a contract for the survey of lands in the State of Sonora, and another with reference to lands and mines in Chihuahua, together with various projects of colonization in different parts of the Mexican republic; having also learned that the speculators to whom I refer, in order to induce persons of good faith to take part with them in such enterprises, have asserted that their so-called concessions will be ratified or hereafter respected by the national government of the republic, and there being not the slightest foundation for such assertions, I have to request you, in order that no one may be deceived, to cause to be published the annexed dispositions of the congress and of the supreme government of Mexico, which declare null and void and of no effect all acts of the usurping authorities.
I have also to add, that the sole fact of having so far recognized the said usurping authorities as to accept or solicit privileges or concessions from them, will be a circumstance which will not only redound to the prejudice and disability of all parties accepting or soliciting such concessions in any transaction which they may hereafter desire to have with the legitimate authorities of the republic, but will also subject them to all the responsibilities and penalties prescribed by law.
I renew to you the assurances of my consideration.
The Consul General of the Mexican Republic, New York.
Decree of the Congress in Mexico.
Department of Government.
The citizen President of the republic has been pleased to direct to me the following decree:
Benito Juarez, constitutional President of the United Mexican States, to the inhabitants of the same;
Be it known that the congress of the Union has thought proper to decree the following:
Art. 1. The acts of the so-called authorities, imposed by the invaders and traitors, or which they may hereafter establish in the republic, are null and void, and can never be in any way approved.
Art. 2. All contracts celebrated by the said so-called authorities, or that may hereafter be celebrated, are also null and void j and all who take part in the same will incur civil responsebility, [Page 563] in addition to the criminal responsibility already prescribed by the laws now in force; and such contracts can never be regarded in any manner or taken into consideration by the supreme government of the republic.
Art. 3. The traitors cannot be considered under any aspect in the treaties which the government may celebrate with France.
Dated in the hall of sessions of the congress of the Union, in Mexico, the 13th of December, 1862.
PONCIANO ARRIAGA, Vice-President.
Felix Romero, Deputy Secretary.
Francisco Bustamente, Deputy Secretary.
Wherefore, I order that it be printed, published, circulated, and duly observed.
BENITO JUAREZ.
National Palace of Mexico, December 13, 1862.
To the citizen Juan Antonio de la Fuente, minister of foreign relations and of government: I communicate the same to you for your intelligence and the consequent ends. Liberty and reform!
FUENTE.
Mexico, December 14, 1862.
To the Citizen Governor of the federal district.
Circular from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Department of Foreign Relations and of Government.
* * * * * * * * * *
The law of nations, in treating of de facto governments, presumes that they really exist, but it is an evident fact that the spurious authorities imposed by Napoleon III on the people now held or hereafter to be held in subjection by them are not and cannot be the government of the country, and much less when the legitimate government exists in reality. So much for the law of nations.
Now, as far as concerns our public law, those false authorities are nothing better than seditious and treasonable. Wherefore, the chief magistrate commands me so to declare and to protest, as in his name I do protest, that the republic does not and will not recognize in these supposed functionaries any power or authority whatever to bind it by their treaties, agreements, or promises, by their acts, omissions, or other means or manner whatsoever; and that those who execute any authority or commission conferred or consented to by the French will most assuredly be punished in accordance with the laws of the country.
Please to accept the assurance of my consideration and esteem.
Liberty and reform!
FUENTE.
Protest of the permanent deputation of Congress.
* * * * * * * * * *
The permanent deputation, in the name of the congress of the Union, and as the faithful interpreter of the national sentiment so energetically and universally manifested, believes that it fulfils a most solemn obligation in reproducing, as by these presents it does reproduce, all the declarations and protests before made by the sovereign congress itself, by the executive, and by the other legitimate and loyal authorities of the country—declarations which disavow and declare null and of no effect, as against the sovereignty of the Mexican people, and without force or legal value,, all acts done or which may be done by virtue of the power or under the influence of the foreign invader; and it declares that, in the constitutional orbit of its functions, remaining always at the side of the government which the nation, in the exercise of its sovereign will, manifested in conformity with its organic law, has freely established, until the next session of the national assembly shall take place, it will co-operate with all the energy and self-devotion inspired by patriotism in repelling force by force, and in using every means to disconcert and defeat the machinations of treason and of conquest, in order to maintain secure the independence, the sovereignty, the laws, and the perfect freedom of the republic.
Ignacio Pombo, Deputy Secretary.
Simon de la Garza y Melo, Deputy Secretary.
San Luis Potosi, July22, 1863,
Letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In the copy annexed to your note, No. 31, of February 6, of this year, the citizen President of the republic has seen the protest which you communicated under the same date to the honorable Secretary of State of the United States with reference to the report that the French government had resolved to order its agent, Maximilian, to sign a pretended cession of a large part of the territory of the Mexican republic.
The President approves your conduct, although in this matter the republic has already protested from the beginning, by means of its legitimate organs and of all its constituted authorities, against all the acts and consequences of the foreign invasion.
Neither the republic nor its government can ever be holden for the acts of the French agent Maximilian, whose only title to authority is that lent to him by the presence of the armed forces of France, and who could not sustain himself in Mexico for a single day without the support of foreign bayonets. * * * * *
I renew to you my attentive consideration.
Citizen Matias Romero, Envoy Extraordinary, &c., &c., &c.
[Enclosure No. 2.]
To the Editor of the Herald:
For the information of the public, and in order to protect capitalists of this country against the misrepresentations of persons interested in sustaining the usurped authority of Maximilian, 1 have to ask the favor that you will publish in your columns the enclosed official communication from the Mexican minister, and annexed dispositions of the Mexican government, which declare null and void all acts or concessions emanating from the so-called imperial authorities now attempting to exercise power in Mexico, under the support lent to them by the protection of foreign bayonets, and which subject all persons lending aid and countenance to such usurping authorities to all the perils and penalties usual under such circumstances upon the restoration of the legitimate authority of the country.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
[Enclosure No. 3.]
Sir: The New York journals of this morning contain your correspondence with Mr. Navarro, Mexican consul general, relating, among other matters, to the Mexican Express Company, with which we have the honor to be connected. It was our intention to have called upon you ere this in reference to the formation of this express company, but we were not able to do so. Our regret that we were not able to do so is increased by your correspondence with Mr. Navarro. We enclose to you a copy of a letter which has been addressed by us to the editors of the journals in which your correspondence appeared. The enclosure states the facts as represented to and believed to be true by the gentlemen who have become interested in the Mexican Express Company.
We did not and do not suppose that any American or Mexican citizen, having the interest of Mexico at heart, would object to having Mexico brought nearer to the United States by the formation of a company, composed of American citizens, for the purpose of facilitating commercial intercourse between Mexico and the United States. We fail to perceive how such a company, if organized in good faith, and prosecuting its business with enterprise, can be the subject of animadversion.
To assure you of the good faith of the company we enclose to you one of its prospectuses. We will afford to you such further explanations as you may desire; and we are authorized to state that any gentlemen in whom you have confidence may become shareholders in the company, upon -the same terms as those who are publicly solicited to take an interest in it.
The enterprise and capacity of the company require time and effort for their development. The future will afford the time, and to accompany it by the proper efforts will be the undertaking of the company.
[Page 565]We trust that you will receive this letter in the same frank spirit which has dictated it, and that it will no longer seem improper to you that American capital and energy should be employed in developing the resources of Mexico.
We are, with great respect, your excellency’s obedient servants,
By order of the board of trustees:
His Excellency Señor Romero, Mexican Minister Resident at Washington,
[Enclosure No. 4.]
To the Editor of the World:
Sir: I observe in your journal of this morning an article purporting to be signed by Señor Romero, as Mexican minister at Washington. Señor Romero states that it has come to his knowledge that “certain speculators” of this country have obtained pretended concessions from the French agents in Mexico,—that is to say, from the so-called imperial government of Maximilian—for the establishment of an express company, proposed to be styled the “Imperial Mexican Express,” and that, in order that no one may be deceived, Señor Romero re quests the publication of certain Mexican decrees made in December, 1862, and June and July, 1863.
In answer to so much of Señor Romero’s article as relates to the express company now being formed for the transaction of express business between the United States and Mexico, I have to state, that in the month of May last Maximilian was pleased to grant to myself, and to such persons, American citizens, as might become associated with me, an exclusive privilege of carrying on an express business between Mexico and the United States, and guaranteeing, so far as he could do so, protection to the company and its business. After the grant of this decree I had an interview with President Juarez in Chihuahua, in which I stated to him, with entire frankness, that I had obtained a decree from Maximilian for the purpose of forming an express company to transact business between Mexico, the United States, and elsewhere, and that I proposed to interest therein American citizens and American capital. President Juarez advised me that lie had no objection to the formation of such a company as I proposed, and that it was then and always had been his desire, knowing, as he supposed, the Wishes and desires of the American people in regard to the form of government to prevail in Mexico, to have American citizens and American capital permanently transferred to Mexico. He remarked that this was the common-sense view of the matter, and that, certainly, there could be no objection to having American capital invested in Mexico for the purpose o conducting an express business.
I repeated these assurances from President Juarez to gentlemen in New York who have become interested with me in the formation of a Mexican express company. These gentlemen are too well known in the city of New York and in the United States, in connexion with expresses already in successful operation, to need any defence against a charge of “speculators.”
I have sent copies of this letter to Mr. Navarro, Mexican consul, and to Señor Romero.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
EUGENE DE COURCILLON, President of the Mexican Express Company.
[Enclosure No. 5.]
Prospectus of the Mexican Express Company, organized October10,1865;capital, $2,000,000;shares, $100 each.
Trustees.—E. de Courcillon, city of Mexico; I. I. Hayes, 416 Broadway, New York; Clarence A. Seward, 29 Nassau street, New York; Henry Sanford, 59 Broadway, New York; L. W. Winchester, 65 Broadway, New York; Peter A. Hargous, 8 Pine street, New York; Henry B. Plant, Augusta, Georgia; John Hoey, 59 Broadway, New York; B, Haynes, San Francisco, California; Henry R. Morgan, 24 Broadway, New York; I. C. Babcock,, 59 Broadway, New York.
President.—E. de Courcillon.
Vice-President.—I. I. Hayes.
—J. C. Babcock.
Secretary.—C. A. Seward.
Counsel of the company.—Blatchford, Seward & Griswold.
Agents.— Louis Le Couteulx, New York; J. P. Nourse, San Francisco, California; W. L. Benfield, Mexico; G. Guichene, Vera Cruz; Detroyat, St. Nazaire, France.
Treasurer.
[Page 566]MEXICAN EXPRESS COMPANY.
The Mexican Express Company is organized under the laws of the State of New York, in conformity with a grant from the Mexican government. This grant is, in substance, as follows
The company is exclusively authorized to carry on the express business throughout Mexico, and” between Mexico and the United States and Europe. The government grants to the company the exclusive privilege of carrying mailable matter, and also of transporting all government property. It gives to the company the right to demand and obtain a military escort, when required, to fix its own tariffs, and to import all materials necessary for the express, free of duties. It also grants to the company the privilege of colonization, and the company’s agents are recognized as official agents of colonization. It appropriates to the company, free of cost, four leagues of land, with the privilege of taking up, for the use of colonists, any of the unoccupied public lands, at a cost not .exceeding one dollar per acre. The colonists, under the patronage of the company, are privileged to import all materials for their own use, free of duties.
The object had in view by the Mexican government in conceding these liberal privileges is to invite to the country American capital and energy, and it cannot be denied that the grant is very valuable. The banking and exchange business, and the transportation of specie and bullion from the city of Mexico, Guanhato, &c., and the mining districts, will be very large, while the distribution of imported articles of every kind throughout the country will furnish business only limited by the resources of the company.
The company will be patronized to the fullest extent by the Mexican government and people, and every facility will be afforded, consistent with the laws, for the transaction of its business. The faith of the government is pledged to protect the company’s interest, and the merchants and citizens generally have signified their appreciation of the advantages to be derived from its successful working, and have proffered their co-operation. The business of the company is indeed ready made, and its immediate success is secured. Both government and people being united in their efforts to promote its organization and working, gives the strongest assurance that it is greatly needed.
The company will commence business at once, with a capital stock of two millions of dollars, one million of which will be sold, and the proceeds appropriated as a working capital. Only twenty per cent, of this will be required on subscription, and not more than ten per cent., in addition, will be called for within six months thereafter. This will furnish ample-funds for placing the company in successful working order. Thirty days’ notice will be given of any assessment. In the event of more capital being needed, as the business of the-company is extended, the board of trustees have power, under the articles of association, to increase it as the necessities of the case may require, by their giving thirty days’ notice to the original stockholders.
The books for subscription to the capital stock of the company are open at the banking office of Wilmerdmg, Cornwell &Heckscher, No. 5 New street, New York, where full explanations will be given by the undersigned.
I. I. HAYES, Vice-President,
[Enclosure No. 6.]
Sir: Your favor of yesterday, relating to my correspondence with the consul general of Mexico in the United States, in regard to certain so-called grants given by the usurper of Mexico, and enclosing a copy of your letter to the press on that subject, has been received. I will answer it, in an unofficial manner, in the same frank spirit you say has dictated yours.
If you are an American citizen, and have at heart the broad interest of this continent, chiefly represented by the United States, I confess that I cannot understand why you, in your capacity of an American citizen, should so far recognize Maximilian as to ask for and receive grants from him, as if he represented the national authority of Mexico, and should afterwards organize a company in the leading city of this country of prominent and influential American citizens which must, by necessity, give their support and throw all the weight of their influence towards the subjugation and enslavement of Mexico, and the consequent humiliation of their own country.
I confess that I cannot, either, understand how American capital transferred to Mexico, under the French and Maximilian, will be a support for the independent cause in that country. Were that so, the best policy for the United States, if they wish to defend the Mexican nationality and republican institutions on this continent, would have been to recognize at once Maximilian and establish friendly relations with him.
It has never seemed improper to me, sir, that American capital and American energy should be employed in developing the resources of Mexico, nor that companies composed of American citizens for the purpose of facilitating commercial intercourse between Mexico and the United States should be established. In several addresses that I have made in this country, all of which have been published, I have advocated that policy not as my own only but as the [Page 567] policy of the national government of Mexico. It is not generally known in this country that the present French intervention in Mexico has been due, in a great measure, to the very desire of the Mexican government of developing the country with American skill and capital, to the great regard it felt for the United States as a people, and to a wish to imitate their wonderful career by following in their footsteps. The French Emperor went to Mexico to overthrow the very government which was American at heart, and openly avowed that in doing so he intended to check the progress of the United States.
If Maximilian, who is, and has been, by his position, without will of his own, and reflecting only the Napoleonic policy, pretends now to encourage Americans to develop Mexico, his object is a very clear one, and that only to obtain support in this country, disappointing finally such persons as may in good faith accept his grants, even in case he could remain there long enough to have them developed.
I am sure there was some misunderstanding in what you state was your conversation with President Juarez on the subject of your company under Maximilan’s grants. The President of Mexico is too much in earnest in the present war, too patriotic a man, and he has too much common sense, to encourage in any way an enterprise calculated to give aid and comfort to the enemies of his country with whom he is at war. Besides, he could not forget himself so far as to set aside the laws of Congress and his own, and recent official declarations on this subject. He will be, I am sure, as much surprised as I have been when he hears that his name has been used to induce American capitalists to embark in an enterprise which, of necessity, is, and cannot but be, inimical to himself and to his country.
There is another feature in your company which makes it still more inimical to the national cause of Mexico. According to article 1st of Maximilian’s grants, and to article 1st of the first contract you signed with his so-called minister of fomento, your company “binds itself to transport all the material of war of Maximilian with a reduction of ten per cent, upon the prices adopted for the public,” and by that provision you riot only give moral aid and support to the invaders of Mexico, but also an effective material aid.
I am sorry I cannot avail myself of the opportunity to try the good faith of your company, by accepting the shares you kindly offer me for those persons in whom I have confidence and may designate, “to become shareholders of your company upon the same terms as those who are publicly solicited to take an interest in it.” My duty and my sense of honor, besides other considerations of decorum and propriety, forbid are from aiding in any way an undertaking which I am sorry I cannot see in other light but as inimical to my country.
The French Emperor and his agents in Mexico, representing conquest and Cæsarism, are avowed and open enemies of the republic of Mexico and its defenders, representing American nationality and republican institutions. If you have been acting in good faith with the invaders, you certainly cannot be friendly to the republic; and, vice versa, if you act in good faith with the republic, you certainly cannot be a friend of Maximilian. It is for you to decide which is the wisest course to follow, but in either case you must accept the consequences.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
E. DE Courcillon, Esq., New York City.
[Enclosure No. 7.]
Consulado General de la Republica Mejicana en los Estados Unidos, New York, October 24, 1865.
To the Editor of the Herald:
Mr. Eugene de Courcillon, who signs himself “president of the Mexican Express Company,” has addressed to me a communication, under date of yesterday, which I see also appears in your columns of this morning. I have to ask the renewed favor of the courtesy at your hands of space for a few words in reply.
Mr. de Courcillon states in his communication that in the month of May last Maximilian was pleased to grant to him and such persons (American citizens) as might become Associated with him an exclusive privilege for carrying on an express business between Mexico and the United States, and guaranteeing, so far as he could do so, protection to the company and its business; that after the grant of this decree he had an interview with President Juarez in Chihuahua, in which he stated to him with entire frankness that he had obtained a decree from Maximilian for the purpose of forming an express company to transact business between,’ Mexico, the United States, and elsewhere, and that he proposed to interest therein American citizens and American capital; that President Juarez advised him that he had no objection to the formation of such a company as he proposed, and that it was then and always had been his desire, knowing, as he supposed, the wishes and desires of the American people in regard to the form of government to prevail in Mexico, to have American citizens and American capital permanently transferred to Mexico; and that President Juarez remarked that this was the common-sense view of the matter, and that certainly there could be no objection to having American capital invested in Mexico for the purpose of conducting an express business.
[Page 568]These statements which I have quoted show very clearly the position of the “Mexican Express Company,” They prove too much to be satisfactory either to President Juarez or to Maximilian.
It seems that after having obtained his grant from Maximilian, whom he fails to style “emperor,” feeling somewhat doubtful about the future validity of concessions in Mexico from an Austrian archduke, he proceeded to “have an interview with President Juarez.” What was the necessity or even propriety of this “interview,” if Maximilian was and is to continue to be the government of Mexico? In this interview President Juarez advised him that it was then, and always had been, his desire to have American citizens and American capital permanently transferred to Mexico, and that there could be no objection to having American capital invested in Mexico for the purpose of conducting an express business. This is undoubtedly true. President Juarez has always been favorable to the introduction of American capital and American enterprise into Mexico, and every one of the boasted enterprises of material improvement, for the adoption of which so much credit is claimed by his partisans for Maximilian, had already been the subject of liberal concessions from his government long before even the name of Maximilian was known in Mexico. But it is not true that President Juarez desires that American capital shall be introduced into Mexico under concessions from the false and spurious government of Maximilian, which is sustained only by the presence of foreign bayonets, and which is shedding the blood of thousands upon thousands of Mexican citizens, whose only crime is that they are struggling to preserve the free institutions and the independence of their country. It would be an insult to the common sense as well as patriotism of President Juarez to suppose for an instant that he can look with favor upon enterprises which give their moral support to the invaders of his country by recognizing them as lawful and legitimate authorities and soliciting and accepting concessions from them. Were there no laws prohibiting such a course, the noble patriotism of President Juarez would alone render this impossible. He does desire to see American enterprises established in Mexico, but he does not desire that they should seek the auspices of the invaders of his country, who are attempting its life and to drive him, an exile, from his native land. I make these almost unnecessary explanations simply to call the attention of the public to a view of the questions which they may for a moment have overlooked. Republican institutions are not to be overthrown upon this continent, and it is therefore of interest to know on which side those who are, about to invest their money in Mexico desire to place themselves.
But with reference to this express company there is a more serious view to take. Its sole title in Mexico is that contained in a so-called decree issued and signed by Maximilian, and dated May 15, 1865. Article first of this so-called decree is as follows “It is conceded to Dr. de Courcillon, in conformity with an act of association presented to our minister of fomento, to establish throughout the empire, under the title of ‘Expreso del ‘Emperio Mexicano,’ a company for the transportation of travellers, merchandise, mails,”&c. Article second is as follows “Our government, in order to help and protect the said company, engages itself to use the services of the express for the transportation of all the civil and military freight of the said government, in conformity with a contract agreed upon between the company and our respective ministers.” And article seven is as follows “The agents of the company in Mexico as well as abroad are authorized as official agents of colonization, and in that capacity are subject to the orders and directions of our minister.” Article first of the contract with the minister of fomento is in these words: “De Courcillon takes the obligation to transport the materiel of war and of administration with a reduction of ten per cent, from the prices adopted for the public, and otherwise with the same conditions and terms as for the public.”
Does Mr. de Courcillon mean that he showed this so-called decree to President Juarez, and that President Juarez approved of the procuring of capital in the United States for the purpose of transporting the materiel for Maximilian with which he is waging war upon the Mexican people? Does he mean to say that President Juarez, or the legitimate authorities of the republic, will hereafter look with favor upon those who are associating themselves together to aid French and Austrian soldiers in their bloody work of slaughtering my fellow-countrymen, of carrying desolation all over my country, and exterminating its inhabitants in the unholy attempt to force a European prince upon us as our ruler, to establish monarchical institutions where before a republic has existed? And is it citizens of this great, free republic of the United States, just emerged from the noblest struggle of all history in the support of those institutions, who are to join in this attempt? The question is not one of establishing useful enterprises in Mexico; it is whether American citizens will join in the perpetration of a crime—as Mr. Motley justly calls it—the crime of the destruction of a free republic.
My country was bare of arms when this unequal struggle with France commenced. We have as yet been unable to obtain them; the United States has been closed to us as a source of supply, and we have nowhere else to look. Yet the struggle is still carried on, and to-day in every part of the republic its citizens are spontaneously rising, and are offering resistance to the extent of their means against the invader. If the people of the United States will not aid the liberal side, can we not at least expect that they will refrain from giving their moral countenance and support on the side of the French? The brutal and bloody decree of Maximilian published to-day condemns to trial by court-martial and death within twenty-four [Page 569] hours every Mexican who continues to struggle for the freedom and independence of his country. Will Americans add their influence on the side of the invader? I am glad and proud to believe there are very few who, from motives of gain, can be so base.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. N. NAVARRO, Mexican Consul General.
[Enclosure No. 8.]
The concession is signed by Maximilian, and is dated May 15, 1865.
Article 1 is as follows:
“It is conceded to Dr. de Courcillon, in conformity with an act of association presented to our minister of fomento, to establish throughout the empire, under the title of ‘Expreso del Imperio Mexicano,’ a company for the transportation of travellers, merchandise, mails, &c.,&c.
“Article 2. Our government, in order to help and protect the said company, engages itself to use the services of the express for the transportation of all the civil and military freight of the said government, in conformity with a contract agreed between the company and our respective ministers.
* * * * ** * * *
“Article 7. The agents of the company in Mexico, as well as abroad, are authorized as official agents of colonization, and in that capacity are subject to the orders and directions of our minister.”
MAXIMILIAN.
May 15, 1865.
This is followed by three contracts—one for the carrying of freight, another for the mails, and another for colonization.
In article 1st of the first contract is the following obligation:
“Article 1. De Courcillon takes the obligation to transport the materiel of war and of administration with a reduction of ten per cent. from the prices adopted for the public, and otherwise on the same conditions as for the public.”
The contract is for nine years.