Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the First Session Thirty-ninth Congress
Mr. Romero to Mr. Seward
Mr. Secretary: I have the honor to send yon, for the information of the government of the United States, the documents, translated into English, mentioned in the index annexed, relating to public events which have taken place in Mexico. They relate to divers events, places, and times, and their reading contributes to give an idea of what is passing in that republic at different periods.
I avail myself of the occasion to renew to you, Mr. Secretary, the assurances of my most distinguished consideration.
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.
Index of the documents transmitted by the Mexican legation to the Department of State of the United States, and annexed to its note of October 10, 1865, in relation to events which have occurred in Mexico.
No. 1. Governor Ortega to the people of Puebla, February 18, 1864. Proclamation calling upon the people of the State to defend the State.
No. 2. General Alvarez to the people of the State of Guerrero, May 4, 1864. Proclamation.—Arrival of the French squadron at Acapulco.—Blockade of that port. (See for this proclamation No. 7, military operations in the southern division.)
No. 3. General Vega to Lozada Ampudia and Parrodi, May 15, 1864. Letters refusing to recognize the authority of Maximilian.
No. 4. General Lanberg to General Trias, and his reply, April 3, 1864. Letter inviting him to recognize the empire, and his reply in the negative.
No. 5. General Uraga to Messieurs Caserta and others, June 18, 1864. Letter declaring that he will always make war against France.
No. 6. The republican army to General Uraga, June 10, 1864. They tender him a vote of confidence and ask him to continue in command of the army as general-in-chief.
No. 7. General Riva Palacios to his army. Circular respecting the conduct of the French army, and ordering reprisals.
No. 8. General Cortinas to the people of Matamoras, August 22, 1864. Proclamation.—Attack upon Matamoras by the French forces.
No. 9. General Doblado to the Courier des Etats Unis, October 8, 1864. Letter giving the lie to reports published by said journal.
No. 10. General Doblado to the New York Herald, October 18, 1864. Letters explaining his pretended return to Mexico.
No. 11. General Garcia to his subordinates, July 30, 1865. Circular.—Depredations committed by the French on the east coast.
No. 12. The governor of Sonora to the people of that State, March 30, 1865. Proclamation.—Invasion of Sonora by the French, its enemies.
A true copy:
Washington, October 10, 1865.
The governor and military commander of the State of Puebla to its inhabitants.
Fellow-Citizens: I am sent among you by order of the supreme constitutional government, whose hope, as well as my own, is that you will shake off the foreign yoke which oppresses and humiliates you.
It was thought expedient that he who at a period of trial and peril wielded to your satisfaction the destinies of your State, and who received on a subsequent occasion your spontaneous suffrages for the same exalted position, should be the bearer of the mandate of the nation. You recognized in a becoming manner, in the midst of the fermentation of violent passions, that law, reason, and progress were the natural tendencies of humanity. He thus acquired a popular right to address you, and in virtue of that right I trust his words will have due weight; but more than this, he now addresses you in the name of truth, and leaves you to be the judges of his sincerity.
The two principles which were struggling for mutual destruction in the moral order of things came finally to establish their hostile camps on the soil of the country, and the partisans of progress and those of retrogression, each in defence of their opinions, appealed to arms to decide the contest. Various were the fortunes of war; but victory rested finally with the champions of reform. In their despair the vanquished sought refuge at the court of Napoleon, seeking assistance and laying at the feet of the Emperor the land of their birth and the government of their country. They sought to avenge themselves and to obtain possession, by the aid of a foreign power, of the control of the government. The clergy hoped by the same means to gain possession of the confiscated church property, and recover the prestige they had lost by the progress of reform.
This situation of Mexico, falsely represented to Napoleon, aroused his ambition, and the desire to gain in the territory of our country a compensation for those countries of Europe which he had failed to acquire from the neighboring States, and decided him to send an army of invasion, whose object was first concealed by the “convention of London,” and subsequently by proclamations, in which his designs were veiled under the pretext of bringing about a moral reform and inaugurating a “humanitarian redemption” of the people of Mexico.
In this manner he opened a wide field to the hopes of the reaction party, of the clergy, and of a certain class of men disposed to receive with favor the unknown future, when it comes in the form of novelty and grandeur. Permit me, fellow-citizens, to make a comparison between the results of what is called intervention and its pompous promises.
The first act of the invading army was to break the engagements made solemnly in the “convention de la Soledad,” “to retire to the post it occupied before the conclusion of that convention.”
It lent its countenance to the reactionestas in inaugurating a provisional government in Orizaba, composed of partisans of that faction.
It admitted, but in a humiliating manner, the armed forces of this faction into its ranks, and keeps them there in the same humiliating subjection.
In the order of the day of the 17th May, after giving due praise to the garrison of Peubla, they obliged the staff and commissioned officers to march on foot as prisoners of war, and finally expatriated them.
On reaching the capital they caused two “juntas” to be formed, which, by superior order, declared that the country should constitute itself under the form of an empire, and that the emperor should be Maximilian, or such other as Napoleon should elect.
It established the pillory, to the disgrace of Mexico, of France, and of civilization.
It caused multitudes of Mexicans to be executed daily, under sentence of French court-martial.
It obliged the so-called “regency” of the empire to pass a decree declaring effective the laws of reform, and established a Protestant chapel, to wound more sensibly the interests of the clergy.
It kept the so-called regency in absolute “pupilage,” and the participation of this “ally” is apparent in all the public acts of that body.
The clergy, wounded in its dearest interests, has withdrawn itself from the reactionistsc of which it was the principal nucleus. It has attempted to divide the great liberal part, by efforts to withdraw from it some of its most influential members. It cannot be denied that these are the most notable acts of the “army of invasion,” which have placed it in the false position it occupies in the country it pretends to domineer over. It does not cooperate or sympathize with the tendencies of the principal factions or parties, and still less with those of the nation.
[Page 648]At short distances from the posts occupied by the French armies are found divisions of independent troops, or bands of guerillas; and such has become its impotency that it is unable to intimidate even the robbers who infest the vicinity of the garrison.
Persisting in their error, some men may continue to hope that in the course of time (an impossibility in the nature of things) the intervention will come to favor the national interests; but the address of the Emperor at the opening of the Chambers has destroyed the last and most distant hope of traitors. He has formally declared “that the sacrifices which France has made will be amply repaid,” and “that the Mexican war, which was commenced to vindicate the honor of France, will end by insuring her interests.” One must be deprived of common sense, and destitute of every noble and generous sentiment, to hope, after such a declaration of the French Emperor, that the intervention can ever be favorable to the true interests of Mexico, since the only object seems to be to secure the interests of France. On the other hand, when we examine the position of the “army of invasion,” we at once perceive that it has no base in our country, for the reason that it favors no legitimate interests. Still less can it be said to have one in France, for the opposition which the Emperor has aroused by the war in Mexico has obliged him to declare his real intentions, as we have seen in that sentence just quoted. Least of all can there be found a base in the tendencies or interests of England, or Spain, or of the United States, for they are all in open opposition to the projects of the Emperor.
Notwithstanding the constant and cynical eagerness with which the imperialists seek to exaggerate the progress of intervention, with the intention of deceiving both France and the Emperor, and of asserting the intention of Maximilian to come to Mexico with the object of giving consistency to the imperial project, public opinion has pronounced its inexorable sentence against intervention and its agents, and this opinion will augment immensely the numbers of the defenders of independence. It will create new obstacles to the plans of Napoleon, and every hour as it passes is ringing the knell of the imperial cause. The sword has never vanquished public opinion—the sovereign of the world; as she vanquished the invaders in the mountains of Guadalupe and in the streets of Puebla, so shall she be victorious in a thousand battles. We will triumph to-day as we will triumph to-morrow, for the battle-field is now familiar to us, and we have learned, both morally and physically, how to endure the hardships of war, while we respect, amidst the thunder of arms and the din of battle, civil and individual rights. If every Mexican is bound to repel the stigma of treason, the noble sons of Puebla are doubly bound to do so from the gallant deeds of May 5 and April 25, which have raised within her territory lasting monuments to the glory of her citizens.
To arms, sons of Puebla! At the shout of Long live our constitution and independence! Long live the brave General Diaz, commander-in-chief of the line of the east! let us march to battle. God, reason, and justice defend our noble cause.
(For enclosure No. 2 see No. 7, Mr. Clary’s operations in the southern division.)
Lozada to General Vega.
My Dear General: I have just received, by the favor of General Don Romulo D. de la Vega, the enclosed letter from his excellency General Don Juan M. Almonte, to be forwarded to you in the safest manner.
I request, as a particular favor, that the reply to this letter, as well as that to the one enclosed, may be forwarded as early as possible, so that the letter to General Almonte may reach its destination without delay.
I beseech you give a favorable reception to the proposition of co-operation with the plans of General Almonte, for in so doing you will render a signal service to the country, and a very great one to me personally; for, in that event, I shall be spared the painful duty of commencing operations against your department, where I would prefer acting the part of a friend rather than that of an enemy.
Your obedient servant,
Senor General Don Placido Vega.
General Vega’s reply to Lozada.
Sir: Your letter, dated Tepic, March 16, was received three days since, covering several others—one, as you inform me, from Senor Almonte, &c., &c.
I believe you have been fascinated by the influence of certain men, who, to gratify their mean and contemptible passions, have involved Mexico in all the horrors of a national war—have given their countenance to a monarchy imposed on us by foreigners—and that this illusion alone has made you believe in good faith that the only object of the intervention is the happiness and prosperity of our people, without attacking our nationality and independence. But acts speak louder than seductive language and flattering theories, and they are in flagrant contradiction to the hopes you have been led to entertain.
To demonstrate this, I will only touch on two points, the appreciation of which is within the comprehension of all. The first of these treats of our material, the second of our religious interests. The first is the convention agreed to between the French government and the so-called monarchical government of Mexico, by which it was stipulated that the latter shall pay to the former the monstrous sum of two hundred and seventy millions of francs, for expenses of administration to the month of July next, and from that time forward an annual allowance of one thousand francs for every French soldier. In addition to which, a further sum of twenty-five millions is made payable to France, with the understanding that that sum shall be an indemnity for twenty thousand French troops. Furthermore, and independent of the aforesaid sums, Mexico shall pay the expenses of the war, which will probably be made to amount to a fabulous sum, which is to be exacted from a government which will require many millions to keep up its magnificence and vain ostentation.
It is admitted, beyond doubt, that the basis of all monarchical institutions is the aggrandizement of the privileged classes, which constitute the nobility, and that this aggrandizement is at the cost of the masses—that is to say, by those who by their industry, by their obedience, by their poverty and their misery, constitute the people.
Can it be possible that you, a child of the people, identified with their griefs and their sufferings; that you, the natural protector of the indigenous races, the more worthy of interest that their sufferings are the greater—can it be that you have ranged yourself on the side of their enemies to add to the number of their oppressors? Do not, I conjure you, not in my own, but in the name of this despoiled race, disappoint, through a fatal error, the hope they cherished in confiding their interests to your keeping.
* * * * * * * * *
The judgment of the people, freely expressed, is rarely erroneous where their most vital interests are in question. Consult them, and I am convinced you will see things in a very different aspect from what you have seen them up to the present time.
There is no time for indecision. Let us unite as good Mexicans, and we shall save our country and the native rule, which has everything at stake in this formidable crisis.
This conviction is so profoundly rooted in my heart that no human power can change it, and for it I am ready to sacrifice my repose, my fortune, and my life. What I am and what merit I may possess I owe to my country. My love for it is a religious devotion. I have firm confidence that all those who, from an error of judgment, but with honest intentions, have given their adhesion to the intervention, will promptly abjure their errors, and, placing themselves under the flag of their country, will pledge themselves to its protection.
It is true that some incidents of the war have been unfavorable to our arms, but I assure you that the national party has great power, particularly among the native classes of all the frontier states. We have the sympathy of all civilized nations, including a considerable majority of the French themselves, and our cause will triumph, for justice and reason are the pillars of strength.
Convince yourself of these truths, reflect on them without prejudice, and I doubt not you will adopt my ideas. When that shall be the case I shall be very happy to hear from you again.
I have the honor to be your obedient servant,
Don Manuel Lozada, Tepic.
To a similar letter from Don José de Casanova we have a spirited reply from General Vega:
General Vega’s response.
Señor José Casanova, Mexico:
Sir: By comparing the dates you will perceive that there has been a delay in the reception of the letter of February 27, to which I now reply.
* * * * * * * * * *
[Page 650]Once for all, I assure you that not even the eloquence of Cicero would suffice to eradicate from my breast my love of my country and of republican principles.
I pass over unnoticed your observations which refer to the intervention, as defined, according to your appreciation of it, with, perhaps, the pious desire of controlling your own services, rather than in the hope of leading me to drink of the fountain of treason; but I find myself compelled to refute certain assertions without foundation, and dispel doubts which might rise to imputations and illusions, either real or avowed, in contradiction with my true sentiments and derogatory to my public character.
* * * * * * * * * *
When you admit that you knew my sentiments, I am surprised that, in the present state of things, you should urge me to accept the monarchical system, which you know I abhor; and, more than this, have the audacity to accuse me of the intention of segregating a portion of the country, and placing it under the dominion of a foreign government.
I never made use of language which involved such a thought, nor gave occasion to suppose that there existed in my bosom such a wish. My public life sufficiently proves this assertion, for never for a moment have I deviated from the principle that death was preferable to the loss of our nationality and independence; and that when all hope of saving the one or preserving the other should fail, better become a member of any of the American republics than be the vassal of a despot of decrepit Europe.
I doubt not that the constitutional governor of Zacatecas, General Gonzales Ortega, will be highly gratified at the contemptuous manner in which you speak of him, when aware that such language comes from an enemy of his country.
I conclude, assuring you that, as I had the honor and satisfaction of being one of those who filled the ranks of the army corps that marched on Puebla, now, more than ever, I will anxiously fly to unite myself to the corps that will take the initiative against the city of Mexico.
Your obedient servant,
PLACIDO VEGA.
General Ampudia, another traitor to anything just, honest or liberal, next tried his hand at gaining over the noble Vega. Among other arguments in favor of the empire he used the following: “What a glorious prospective for our country, so worthy, from its favored position, to rank among the greatest nations of the earth! Let ns ask ourselves frankly, with our hands to our hearts, could we entertain such flattering anticipations, governed as we have hitherto been by men without antecedents deserving of respect, without wisdom experience or probity, in the never-ending changes of scandalous revolutions.”
General Vega’s reply to Ampudia.
Sir: It would be vain for me to conceal the just and profound indignation I felt on reading your letter of the 27th of February, at the picture you draw of yourself in the character of the new ideas you have adopted. The republican general, the champion of reform, converted into a panegyrist of monarchical institutions! and what is still more surprising, into a base adulator of the prince whom foreign bayonets are attempting to impose on Mexico: the soldier of the people bartering his sword for the toga of a courtesan!
I will not attempt to refute, seriously, the theory you develop on the expediency of establishing a monarchy, not only in Mexico, but over all the American continent—a question which has exhausted the minds of politicians and writers of the first order. It is easy to see that you have undertaken this task, so much above your capacity, for the purpose only of giving proofs of your zeal in the service of your new master, and lessening the distrust there must be felt towards an antiquated democrat aspiring to the post of equerry at the new court.
As to this, however, the monarchy of Maximilian is worthy of partisans and champions like yourself.
I reject with indignation the position and the power you offer me. My honor and my conscience, which have never been sold or sacrificed, are above all the temptations which you can offer.
If I have derived satisfaction from the exercise of authority, it has only been from the reflection that this authority emanated from the popular voice, and implied an appreciation of my services on the part of my fellow-citizens, who have repaid with usury my devotion to the defence of their rights. If you, on account of your advanced age and instability of your principles, have preferred comfort and repose, though on a dunghill, to the struggles, the sufferings and the privations consequent on the stubborn and prolonged contest which the great national party is determined to sustain against the foreign enemy, I, on the other haud, feel, in unison with my sense of dignity and the conviction of what is my duty, sufficient energy to combat these obstacles, and, if necessary, to lay down my life, provided I can carry to the grave a name unsullied by dishonor, and leave to my children a legacy untarnished by opprobrium.
[Page 651]Should my language, at first sight, appear too virulent and depreciative, reflect that it has been provoked on your part by the flagrant insult implied in your contemptible proposition by which you attempt to dazzle me with treasonable offers of rank, office, and an elevated position.
Had there been any antecedents in my public life which could authorize your addressing me such dishonorable propositions, my reproaches would be less energetic; but I pride myself that my past career is without blemish, and you were bound to respect it. It is evident that this is not the first occasion where you have shown a want of judgment.
Your obedient servant,
PLACIDO VEGA.
This severe “settler” to Ampudia was not, it seems, sufficient to damp the imperial ardor of the miserable Parrodi, who was the next to send a friendly but very absurd invitation to General Vega to take side with Maximilian. We can only give the leading points of
General Vega’s reply to Parrodi.
* * * * * * * *
But your criminal defection being confirmed by your own hand, I can only follow the inspirations of my own character and listen to the voice of duty in striking your name from off the roll of men worthy of my esteem. I deplore the error I have committed, in my estimation of you, in attributing to you civic virtues which you did not possess.
From this day forward I look upon you as a traitor and an enemy of my country.
Were there room for a belief that you had embraced in good faith the ideas which you now profess, there would be something worthy of respect in this change, but the language of your letter does not admit of that supposition.
* * * * * * * *
It belongs to history to qualify such conduct, and the judgment will be the more severe that the inconstancy of your conduct is the more flagrant.
As to myself, as a true lover of my country, and uncompromising on everything which may wound her dignity or be in opposition to her complete unity of action, I shall struggle, without ceasing, in defence of our nationality, brutally and ignominiously attacked by France.
Fortunately the elements to sustain the contest are every day becoming more considerable and more formidable, as also is the prestige of the constitutional government daily gaining ground, however much traitors may pretend to the contrary; but if, instead of this being the case, the national cause were weakened and on the point of succumbing, I feel within myself sufficient firmness of purpose to prefer being involved in the wreck of our political liberty to accepting the yoke of a foreign domination. My language, I acknowledge, is harsh, but it is the expression of my honest sentiments, and I should feel that I had been wanting in my duty to myself as well as to my country were I to attempt to conceal or extenuate them by words which expressed them with less energy. Should you, recognizing the error you have momentarily fallen into, rally to the side of all true Mexicans, and fulfil the sacred duty every man owes to the country of his birth, I shall have great satisfaction in recognizing in you a man worthy of my highest esteem. Until this shall be the case, there can exist between us no other relation than such as may occur between persons destined to battle for principles diametrically opposed to each other.
Your obedient servant,
General Langberg to General Trias.
My Distinguished Friend and Companion: In our last Interview at Toluca we spoke at length concerning the dissatisfaction which was caused by the conduct of the constitutional government. We now see that we were right in deploring it, because your antecedents and mine were far distant from such intrigues. You, my friend, are a man educated in Europe, consequently you profess more intelligent ideas distinct from the general run of our army, and I have made this among other observations to the present general-in-chief of the Franco-Mexican army. The idea of the intervention and the near approach of the installation of a constitutional monarchy in Mexico are now inevitable, my friend, and you, being a man who, during the American invasion, knew how to sacrifice your interests and risk your life for the country, ought to take care that she does not now lose her blood [Page 652] uselessly. Besides, you ought to know the liberal tendencies and the intelligence of the man selected to sit upon the throne of the Aztecs, aided, as he is, by a nation like France, civilized by instinct, so that you need fear nothing for the principles which you conserve in your heart, and which are demanded by the age in which we live. It is an absurd thing to believe, as some do, that the conservative party is that which is going to rule in Mexico. I, who am here on the principal theatre of occurrences, guarantee to you and to every one that the political thought and the dominant idea of the men who are now at the front of public affairs are not either the enthronement of the ancient and recalcitrant ideas of times long past, or the proverbial disorder and anarchy which have just been overthrown. The principles of a government, liberal and moderate at the same time, are what must triumph in Mexico, having at its foundation a young monarch who in his early years has drunk in the inspirations of our century, and who from conviction holds ideas of true progress and intelligence.
Concerning yourself, I have already spoken to General Bazaine, and given him some details of the high qualities which adorn you. He is a gentleman of frank and sincere ideas; he aspires to nothing more than to be the faithful echo of the voice of his government; he desires nothing more than to see Mexico regenerated, free and happy. The truth of his words may be seen after the slightest interview with him, and I cherish the hope and conviction that France, represented by such a man, can have no other intention than the noble and humanitarian one to which I have referred.
In virtue of all these circumstances, and in use of the right which our sincere friendship gives to me, I invite you with all the sincerity of my soul to follow my example, hoping to co-operate with your prestige and influence in this State in establishing the good institutions which are recognized by the cities of most importance of your country. Those chiefs and old friends who may desire to second them you may assure of a most satisfactory and honorable result. Although unwell, I shall within a few days leave for Sinaloa, with the object of impressing Generals Placido Vega and Pesquiera with the same ideas.
You can send your answer to Mazatlan, directed to Colonel Aleman, of that port, and perhaps it will not be difficult for us to have an interview with those gentlemen. I beg, my friend, that you will meditate well over the contents of this letter, and be persuaded of my good and friendly intentions, &c.
EMILIO LANGBERG.
General Don Angel Trias.
General Trias’s Reply.
Sir: The antecedents of your public and private life, combined with your foreign origin, ought to influence me so far as not to cause me any surprise at the contents of your letter, dated in Mexico on the 3d of April last. It ought not certainly to be surprising to any one that a man who has looked upon politics as the means of gaining his living, and to whom, having no fixed principles, it is all the same whether he sides with the Guelphs or the Ghibelines, so long as it does not lessen his profits and that he gets the best position possible, should sell, as you have done, the sacred cause of national independence, and should prostrate himself at the feet of a clown in the form of a monarch to receive the price of his crime in a handful of gold or a glance of favor, which flatters his vanity and tickles his hopes of reward; nor should the dishonorable and assiduous energy with which you seem to have embraced the propagandism of the wretched band to which you belong surprise me in the least, because in your earnest solicitude there is an end sought for, a result, however infamous and degrading it may be. But that which truly ought to surprise and astonish is the stupidity evinced in your selection of persons among whom you would pretend to make proselytes; for if the former act shows a man deprived of all virtue, the latter reveals the absence of even common sense. When you did me the justice to remember that I have sacrificed my interests and perilled my life for my country when I believed her nationality threatened, you ought not to have brought to mind these evidences of my strict and bounden duty in order to deduce from them the consequence that I should now be a renegade to my principles, set aside my dignity, and stain my character with a most hateful defection. From those premises arises a deduction diametrically contrary to that which you pretend to establish. If I had at any time in my life given the slightest proof of weakness in my principles or of lukewarmness in my patriotism, the insolent liberty which you have seen fit to take in addressing me your poor invitation would in a certain sense have been justifiable; but to pretend that I should be a traitor because I have been a patriot, to desire that I should be converted into a dishonest man because I have always been honorable, and to invite me to sell my country because I love it—these are contradictions which only the head of a madman and fool can conceive. Not wishing to go into the particulars of your letter, I limit myself to [Page 653] saying to you, after what I have already stated, that I am the same man of 1846 and 1847, to whom selfish interests and life itself are as nothing compared to the liberty of my country.
Yours, &c.,
Mr. Emilio Langberg, Mazatlan.
[Translation.]
Dear Sirs: I am satisfied that in addressing me your suggestions for avoiding the effusion of more Mexican blood—the sacrifice being barren, as you say—or, what is the same thing, that I should adhere to the order of things which the Emperor of the French is seeking to establish in the republic by the force of his bayonets—you did not conceive the slightest hope that I could yield to so mean a suggestion, but that you have sought for an opportunity of sowing discord in the minds of those worthy Mexicans who are so heroically struggling for the independence of their country, giving circulation to false, supposititious, and absurd comments respecting the power and the elements of the national party, and to the vilest of calumnies concerning myself. Fortunately these attempts are rendered abortive by the good sense and the patriotism of the nation, which knows its rights and has the will and energy to fulfil its duties.
I write these lines not to give an answer to those whom I consider unworthy, but to denounce their disgraceful machinations, in view of the wise judgment of my fellow-citizens.
As regards myself, I owe to the confidence of my government and the brave men who share with me the glory of fighting for the most sacred of causes, and, above all, to my patriotic conscience, the most solemn and explicit declaration that I will never put arms out of my hands until the day in which I shall see the peace of my country solidly and effectually secured.
Touching the details contained in your letter would be to mix one’s self with nauseating filth. I have no desire to bespatter myself in it.
Besides, gentlemen, you are those who believe least in what you say.
To a soldier of the republic, mutilated for the cause of liberty, and trained up from infancy in the doctrines of political independence, no other motto is necessary than this: War unto death to France; war unto death against those who, treacherous to the holy cause of the country, recognize or protect the foreign invader, or to the farce-making monarch which it is sought to enthrone, on our soil. I have accepted war, and my country and the world may see in this the guarantee of my pledges.
Señores Don Juan J.Caserta, Don Jesus L.Portillo, Vicente Ortigosa, Antonio A. del Castillo, and Rafael Jimenez Castro.
[Translation.]
Some Franco-Mexican papers having circulated a report that General Uraga had given in his adhesion to the empire, after some preliminary business of the meeting, in which the general-in-chief showed the actual state of the army and the condition of those matters for which this meeting had been convened, the debate was terminated by the following resolutions being unanimously adopted:
1. The republican army, having to the present preserved and actually maintained the independence and integrity of its country, ratifies now the vote of confidence placed in its general-in-chief, citizen Lopez Uraga, so that he shall continue at its command and may direct its operations, and that he may support the cause of liberty and his country. The army trusts to his ability to maintain the honor of the republic, and to that of those under arms in the ranks of the army our honor, and that he will fulfil those solemn obligations which he owes to his country and to society.
2. That all bandits who have under all circumstances, and especially the present ones, endangered, by the reports they have circulated, the union of the defenders of the republic, shall be punished.
[Page 654]These resolutions, being submitted to a vote, were unanimously approved by the generals and officers present, the same who subscribe this act.
Residence of the general-in-chief of the republican army at Ciudad Guzman, June 10, 1864.
Signed—Miguel M. Echeagaray, Ramon Iglesias, Santiago Tapia. T. O’Horan, P. Rioseco, A. A. Guaderrama, Felix Vega, J. Diaz de Leon, L. Ornelas, Albino Espinosa, Augustin Iglesias, and Francisco Castillero, for the fourth division; José Linares, for the State of Queretaro; Francisco A. Ramos, for the Colima brigade; Antonio Neri, Miguel Garcia de Aguirre, Emilio Rey, Francisco O. Arce, Manuel Mariscal, Serapio Villalovos, Julio M. Cervantes, Simon Delgadillo, Maericio Casas, T. Romero, Francisco M. Villasenor, Manuel de Unzaga, M. Mena, Ciro Uraga, Guillermo F. de Unda, Antonio M. Jaurequi, Manuel Cevallos, Mateo Reyes, José G. Munoz, Marcos Villegas, army commissioner; Pascual Sepulveda, Salvador Brilmega, secretary of the treasury; M. R. Alatorre, commissioner of internal revenue; Francisco Hernandez Carrasco, Aristeo Moreno, secretary of the meeting.
A true copy:
Extracts from a circular addressed by General Riva Palacios, governor of the State of Michoacan, to his subordinate officers:
“If the French general,” he says, “wishes to bring civilization to this country, (Mexico,) he ought to commence by repressing the disorder of the troops under his command, who have traversed the ocean to show us that they have about them nothing of the soldier except the uniform and the arms. But in morality and discipline they are inferior not only to our organized corps, but even to guerillas of the worst kind known unto this day in the republic.
“The French wish to swim in the blood of our patriots, and authorize every expeditionary chief to murder and assassinate. They wish to convince the world of the justice of their cause, and to change their lies and calumnies into laws; and, in short, when the entire nation rejects their ‘protection,’ they seek to consummate a work of conquest by constructing the gallows and the guillotine for every man who will not consent to be placed under their ignominious yoke. * * * * * Inasmuch as the circular of the French general is a challenge of war without mercy and without quarter, we do not hesitate to accept it, because, in launching into the struggle for maintaining the independence and autonomy of Mexico, we have never counted on the clemency of Frenchmen. You will, therefore, apply in future to French prisoners who may fall into your hands and power the articles of the circular of the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary army; and, after having established their identity, all prisoners, civil or military, employed by the French, or the so-called empire, whatever may be their nationality, shall instantly be put to death. * * * * To shoot prisoners it is first necessary to make them; and never, at least as far as we know, has Riva Palacios been exposed to this good fortune. In regard to exploits, the French general has never, up to this time, done more than attack us with forces like three hundred to one. Before so easily disposing of the skin of the lion, they ought, I think, to try and capture the animal himself.”
Colonel José Maria Cortina, military commandant of the line of the Bravo, to the inhabitants of the heroic city of Matamoras:
Fellow-Citizens: The French filibusters are invading this port; we will soon have occasion to show that, as sons of Mexico, we know how to repel force with force.
I appeal, then, to you to summon your patriotism, which has never been invoked in vain, in order that, sustained by it, you may defend the nationality menaced upon the frontier of the republic.
I solemnly call upon you to aid, to the extent of your abilities, the military authority in the endeavor to drive from the territory of Tamaulipas the foreign enemy, and especially to deliver this beautiful portion of the State from the calamity of invasion.
[Page 655]Remember that you first saw the light in this heroic city, and let it still preserve a glorious title accorded to its valor and its courage, which you are expected to illustrate on this occasion.
You will find at your head, defending the independence of the country and the integrity of Tamaulipas, your fellow-citizen and friend,
Letter from General Doblado.
To the Editor of the Courrier des Etats Unis:
Sir: Referring to Mexican affairs in yesterday’s number of your daily paper, you speak of me in terms so highly offensive to my honor that I feel compelled, in self-defence, to trouble you again for the publication of a few lines.
I repeat once more that I never did solicit anything at all of the so-called imperial government of Mexico, nor do I intend returning there to submit to it; he who so states, falsely affirms that I have done so.
It is a most infamous calumny to insist upon saying that I pretended to make an arrangement with the invaders to save my private property. What I possess in the State of Guanajuato has been acquired just as legally as any property bought by any one else— politics having nothing to do with my fortune, which has been gotten by honest labor; for that very reason I need ask no guarantee at all of the so-called imperial government. My property, like every other person’s, is guaranteed by the civil laws in vigor in Mexico long before the country was invaded. Of all the national property sold in Mexico, I bought but one single house, and that I paid for according to the regulations of the laws of reform, enacted there by the legitimate government of my country. The French intervention has never dared to derogate them, in spite of the exigencies of the clergy and traitors, because every one knows that owing to them the French resisting in Mexico have become possessors of more than one-third of the so called church properties.
Therefore, that person asserts what is untrue who persists in affirming that I haven-deavored to enter into any kind of arrangement with the usurper of Mexico to save my fortune, and I defy any one to show my signature affixed to any document of the kind.
I did pretend to save my fortune legally acquired, but by the only means honorable to a Mexican in these circumstances, viz: helping to keep up the war against the usurper, the French and traitors, and repelling force by force, to the utmost of my power. I think, by so doing, I have done my duty as a Mexican. I emigrated to this country after the fate of war had proved adverse to me, and after losing nearly all my soldiers.
As, to my object on coming to this country, allow me to say, I do not consider myself bound to confide it to any one, and much less to writers who judge so lightly of persons whose present misfortune entitles them to the respect of all. I know, perhaps better than any one else, the little or no value of the guarantees the usurper’s government might tender me, for I have not so soon forgotten the worth of Mr. Salign’s signature at the preliminaries of La Soledad.
Your servant,
No. 10.
To the Editor of the Courrier des Etats Unis:
Through the correspondence I have just received from Mexico, by the steamer Eagle, I have been enabled to reach at last the true facts concerning the various statements and comments recently published by the press with regard to my returning to Mexico.
Being anxious to put an end to so many inaccurate rumors, I proceed to state the real facts of the case as they have taken place in Mexico.
A friend of mine, who was not acquainted with my present condition, nor with that of the new “empire,” expecting, no doubt, though wrongfully, to do me a service, applied to General Bazaine and asked him for a safe conduct to protect my return to the country. He made his application without previously apprising me of the fact. The interventional authorities granted the request, and caused the safe conduct to be issued and sent to me here.
[Page 656]My friend notified me afterwards, as well of his steps as of the motives which guided him, in a letter I have received but to-day.
As it was my duty, I have immediately returned the safe conduct through the same medium it reached me, disapproving, in my answer to my friend, of his whole conduct, though thanking him for his good intentions.
I have, besides, written to some influential persons in Mexico, apprising them of what has taken place, and showing them how, in leaving my country, it was my fixed purpose to undergo ostracism and all its consequences rather than stain my publie life by a dishonorable submission.
To leave my country, and to return to it after a few days’ absence, would be indeed an inexplicable contradiction, as the causes which compelled me to abandon it are still existing. Who knows how long they will yet last?
I am confident that the persons in Mexico to whom I have written will give to my statement the required publicity, which, together with the undeniable fact of my remaining abroad, will be the best convincing argument against those who, in good or bad faith, endeavor to attack other persons for no other reason than that of differing with them in political opinions.
Being persuaded that what I have here stated is enough to satisfy all who judge and act in good faith, I shall no longer employ the public press in behalf of my person, this being, therefore, the last time I shall appeal to your kindness for the publication of my letters.
Yours, respectfully,
New York, October13, 1864.
[Circular.—Translation.]
Yesterday the French invaders committed one of the most barbarous deeds which history can record.
Yesterday they stealthily approached our encampment at San Geronimo in one of their war steamers, they being covered by their bulwarks, from which protruded their rifle-guns. Our forces, a small number of which defeated them on the 14th instant at Garcia bridge, in order to prevent any injury which might arise to the farm of that name, were withdrawn to a convenient distance and beyond the reach of their artillery; but the French, under cover of the houses, landed, and, without seeking to engage us, gave themselves up to the most shameful and criminal pillage, and in the end set fire to the buildings of the farm. Subsequently they continued, torch in hand, upon the left bank of the river, protected meanwhile by their steamer, robbing everything on the rich farms in the vicinity and reducing them to ashes in the midst of their vandal rejoicings. All the sugar plantations and distilleries of brandy, all the sugar-cane fields and buildings on the bank of the river for the distance of three miles, Were committed to the flames, and their owners, peaceful and hard-working men, who had given, after the labor of many years, an impetus to the industry of the country, and procured respectable comforts for their families, were in an instant reduced to poverty and compelled to seek shelter under the trees; thanks to the wantonness of the French and their traitor friends who reduced their splendid mansions to ashes, the value of which is estimated at no less than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. This barbarous act, which I communicate to you without any exaggeration in its details, is an instance of what the people living on the leeward coast must expect from those who, contrary to common sense, proclaim themselves the propagandists of civilization, and calls for the most summary vengeance on our part. You must, therefore, cause copies of this official communication to be circulated and published in all the settlements and Indian towns of the country under your worthy charge, for the information of all the people of Mexico, and to the end that they prepare for war, some by personally volunteering, others by contributing their means, and all in every way possible to them; for it is clear that, from the measures adopted by our invaders, the question is no longer the defence of the country in its general acceptation, but that of defending, each one of us individually, our families, our interests, and our lives against the acts of barbarity practiced by the French and their traitor friends.
Independence and liberty.
The Commander of the Canton of—.
Proclamation of the citizen Ignacio Pesquiera, governor and military commander of the State of Sonora.
People of Sonora! The time for making sacrifices has come, inviting the patriot to crown himself with laurels, and to perform deeds which shall redound to the glory of his country. Guaymas, of Zaragoza, has been trodden under foot by the successors of Raousset, by the assassins of Cháves and of Ghilardé, by those who covet our territorial riches, and by those who intend to profane the honor of our wives and daughters, and to make us the slaves of a monarch, himself an adventurer. Though the invaders gave us no summons, but announced their arrival by acts of barbarity, they have not been enabled to prevent our brave defenders from withdrawing with their materials of war, and thus saving the honor of the national flag. They withdrew from the city in order not to expose it and the innocent families it contained to the calamities of war. Henceforth, however, they will continue to war upon the enemy, and they hope soon to punish him soundly on the battlefield. Thanks to their vessels, they have committed with impunity their first outrage; but outside of walls, in an equal fight, the smallest triumph to their cause will cost them much blood.
Fellow-citizens! Are we not the men who have been brought up in many contests for liberty and independence? Your noble pride and your holy enthusiasm, awakened by this cry of alarm, will be in keeping with that which our brothers, who have conquered in Sinaloa and who have immortalized themselves at Puebla, expect of you.
To arms, then, Sonorians! Let us raise aloft, and upon this frontier, the standard of our country, and to such a height that the nations of the earth shall contemplate it with applause. Henceforth the flag which shall be upheld by our arms is the only asylum for our individual guarantees, for the security of our families, and for the preservation of our national institutions.
The government has faith in the future of the state because its power is based upon your co-operation, and because Sonora has never wavered when danger threatened. Let us make one universal and spontaneous effort, and your beloved state will retain its supremacy; and then, rising above the weakness of our military resources, the world will look upon us as great in our honor and in our civic virtues.
Independence, liberty, and the Mexican republic.