Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session of the Thirty-ninth Congress
Señor Romero to Mr. Seward
Mr. Secretary: I have the honor to transmit to you, for the information of the government of the United States, extracts from papers of the city of Mexico, and French papers in New York, containing evident proof of the condition of affairs in the city of Mexico up to the end of July last.
Don Fernando Maximilian, the usurper, who organized a sham government when he reached Mexico, and tried to give it the semblance of a national institution, has finally been compelled to give up the difficult undertaking.
The so-called government, with a foreign prince for its head, kept up by French bayonets and French gold, whose officials are all foreigners, had a Mexican cabinet till recently, intended to keep up appearances and deceive those not qualified to judge of the real situation.
Now the usurper has laid aside all dissimulation, and removed the last trace of nationality from his ridiculous government by reducing his ministers to three— [Page 236] war, treasury, and interior. He has made General Osmont, General Bazaine’s chief of staff, minister of war; Mr. Friant, intendant general of the French expeditionary corps to Mexico, is minister of finance; and the minister of the interior is a Mexican traitor, who will soon be removed to give place to some other member of Bazaine’s staff.
After this it is impossible to call the government pretended to be established in Mexico by the French, and headed by Don Fernando Maximilian of Hapsburg, a national government.
The tyranny of the French intervention is now becoming really intolerable. Among the enclosed documents you will see some relating to the press; and you will perceive there is less liberty of the press in those parts of Mexico under the usurper than there is even in France. All the papers that dared to be independent have been suppressed, and none can now be established without express permission from the intruders. Papers that supported intervention are suppressed if they do not approve of every whim of the bogus government. Personal protection is but a shadow in the hands of the usurper. Under pretext of conspiracy, many citizens have been imprisoned, others condemned to severe punishment that will kill them, and all done without trial or permission of defence. The assassination of the Montenegro young men (see 7 and 8) in the State of Jalisco, only because they belonged to a liberal family, is one of the many cases occurring every day in places that have fallen into the invader’s hands and remain subject to the usurper’s will.
High taxes imposed to sustain the extravagance of the courtly adventurers threaten to ruin the scanty resources still left in the country.
The usurper has just given another unexampled inconsistency, that can hardly be believed; he has granted a pension to the widow of General Zaragoza, the conqueror of the French at Puebla, on the 5th of May, 1862. Thus, and with a view to show that he appreciates the Mexicans, he has tacitly acknowledged the merit of a general who died in defence of his country, fighting against the French, while he condemns those who acted differently. Now, if the Mexicans, fighting for the independence of their country, do not deserve to be considered as belligerents, as the French contend, how is it they honor the memory of one of that army by granting a military pension to his widow? If it was only meant as an act of mercy, without political meaning, giving aid to a needy family, why was it not given in some other way than as a military pension, which certainly acknowledges certain rights of the national army of Mexico, hitherto denied it by the French. They murder General Arteaga for doing his duty as a soldier in defence of his country, while they give a pension to the widow of another general who died in the same good cause.
It is really impossible to see any consistency or good faith in the accomplices of an intrigue engendered by the fraud, inordinate ambition, and other baser passions that move some men.
I embrace the occasion, Mr. Secretary, to renew the assurances of my most distinguished consideration.
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.
Index of documents sent by the Mexican legation in Washington to the Department of State of the United States, with the note of this date, in relation to recent events in Mexico.
| No. | Date. | Contents. |
| 1866. | ||
| 1 | Aug. 13 | Extract from the Courrier des Etats-Unis of the 13th August, 1866, in New York, quoting scraps from a semi-monthly review of the Estafette relative to the usurper’s new cabinet. |
| 2 | July 21 | Letter from the correspondent of the Messager Franco-Americain in Vera Cruz. |
| 3 | Aug. 13 | Extract from the Courrier des Etats-Unis of an article from the Ere Nouvelle on the suppression of that paper by the usurper. |
| 4 | May 6 | Decree of the usurper putting obstacles in the way of publishing newspapers. |
| 5 | May 26 | Decree of the usurper laying high taxes on real estate in cities. |
| 6 | May 26 | Decree of the same in regard to taxes on landed estates. |
| 7 | June 20 | Extract from the Boletin de Noticias of Guadalajara, on the assassination of the Montenegro young men, and the want of personal security in any part of the country under the usurper. |
| 8 | June 29 | Circular of Don José G. Montenegro and wife, publishing the assassination of their son, Diego, for the crime of having a name respected by Mexican patriots. |
| 9 | June 6 | Orders of the usurper for a draft in the cities of Mexico, Puebla, and Queretaro. |
| 10 | June 6 | Extract from the Diario del Imperio in regard to the payment of a pension to the widow of General Zaragoza. |
| 11 | June 6 | Extract from the Pajaro Verde, with an article from the Estafette commenting on the pension. |
| 12 | July 6 | Fragment from the Diario del Imperio, with the names of those arrested in Mexico and sent to Yucatan without trial. |
| 13 | July 20 | Letter from Rafael J. Garcia, editor of the Idea Liberal, in Puebla, giving reliable information of the present state of affairs in Mexico. |
| 14 | July 20 | Letter from the city of Mexico, containing information on the condition of things. |
| 15 | July 20 | Maximilian’s decrees appointing the French Generals Osmont and Iriaut to his cabinet. |
No. 1.
Mexico.
The steamer Daniel Webster, that left Vera Cruz the 31st July, arrived at New York the day before yesterday. It brings papers from the capital up to the 27th, containing very interesting news. We borrow a summary of it from the semi-monthly review of the Ere Nouvelle.
MINISTERIAL CHANGES.
Important resolutions of the emperor Maximilian have been spoken of for some time; but, as rumors of this kind are so often unfounded, we have thought best to await the facts.
The rumor has at length been realized under the form of three decrees inserted in the official journal. The first appoints General Osmont, chief of staff in the expeditionary corps, as minister of war. The second makes Intendant Friant minister of finance. The third suppresses the fomento department, and merges its duties in that of the interior.
The three decrees are accompanied by the following note: “To obtain a prompt and lasting peace in the country, circumstances require unity of action and ideas, the only efficacious remedy in every crisis, according to the reports of history. In order to restore peace and prosperity, to produce important changes for the better, the emperor requires perfect unity; and being convinced that the necessary guarantee to Mexican society requires it, he has given the portfolio of war to the chief of staff of the expeditionary corps, and that of finance to the chief intendant.
“These measures, coinciding with the mission of her majesty the empress, will demonstrate [Page 238] that the government agrees with its glorious allies, and does all the nation could expect to hasten the pacification of the country.
“If all good Mexicans will rally under this banner of peace elevated by the emperor, for getting party dissensions, which have done so much harm, the nation will soon attain to that prosperity to which it is destined by Providence and its geographical situation.”
General Osmont and Intendant Friant possess those qualities best suited to the success of their departments. Mr. Friant will have the hardest task, but his experience and firmness will accomplish what he has undertaken. The fact of his accepting the office is a proof that he will discharge its duties, however difficult they may be.
The department of justice has also been lessened to a simple bureau.
The number of head departments are therefore reduced to three: Osmont is secretary of war, Friant of finance, and Salazar Ilarregui of the interior.
Unity of action will only be more easy and complete.
No. 2.
Mexico.
Private correspondence of the Messager.
Vera Cruz, July 21, 1866.
The departure of the empress Charlotte for Europe, in the last French packet, has caused great grief among the people devoted to the empire. But her departure has been construed into a declaration of a desperate state of affairs in Mexico by the republicans. They have vainly tried to conceal the true cause of a voyage so dangerous to Charlotte, at a time when the yellow fever is raging at Vera Cruz. The Journal de l’Empire vainly affirms that the Belgian princess was on a confidential mission to Europe, “relative to the embarrassed finances of Mexico;” but everybody knows what these assertions are worth.
I must remark in this place, that the foreign merchants in Vera Cruz are in despair at seeing the empire waste away, as it is doing. All the foreigners, French, English, or German, are imperialists: only the North Americans, or Yankees, as we call them, are in favor of Juarez and the republic. With the exception of some liberal and enlightened spirits, the merchants have always fancied that the empire alone could give them order and peace, without which trade is impossible. So, since the fall of Maximilian is threatened, I have heard endless lamentations around me, particularly among my countrymen. But the native merchants are rubbing their hands in joy at the prospective departure of the expeditionary corps. The former see ruin and disaster, where the latter foresee prosperity and wealth. This is because the foreigners in Vera Cruz, as well as those in Mexico, have looked upon Mexico as a conquered country ever since 1862. Both hoped to get rich rapidly at the expense of the native population, relying upon the protection of the authorities, who were always more favorable to them than to the Mexicans. Intervention was a flagrant violation of popular rights, and of course it caused violations of individual rights. Now if Maximilian falls, all that will change; the government will become national, and will protect Mexicans. That is what frightens our business men.
And besides, they fear the people—always restless in Mexico—will call them to an account for their sympathies with the foreigner. Our people, in particular, are the objects of the lepero’s knife. Are they right or wrong? That is what I will not undertake to decide; but if their fears are founded, what a terrible responsibility those will have who have excited the popular passions by violating the principles of sovereignty and the independence of the nation! And then those who welcomed the expedition in 1861 will be the first to curse intervention.
Several regiments of the army of occupation are to leave here in October. The 1st and 3d zouaves, the 62d and 81st of the line, the 18th battalion of infantry hunters, four squadrons of African hunters, one company of engineers, and two artillery batteries, are mentioned as about to quit the country for France.
Consequently, the expeditionary army will be reduced to one division of infantry, six cavalry squadrons, and their artillery reserves. The foreign legion, which is to remain till the last in Mexico, by the convention of Miramar, has been reorganized and increased by a 7th and 8th battalion. According to the Miramar convention, the foreign legion lent by France to Maximilian was to consist of only six battalions; but the two supplementary battalions will not be effective? they will only be composed of officers lent to Mexico for the organization of the cazadores de Mejico, national troops fashioned after our chasseurs a pied.
According to the projects of Marshal Bazaine, which are not likely to be carried out, the cazadores de Mejico will form eight battalions, commanded by leaders of French battalions. The adjutants, captains, drill leaders, lieutenants, and commissary officers will also be French; and to retain their right to promotion, they will be reckoned in the 7th and 8th battalions of the foreign regiment, consisting solely of officers.
No. 3.
Incident of the press.
With some reserve, and not without astonishment, we reprinted on Saturday an extract from a correspondence from Mexico addressed to the Times, which says the Ere Nouvelle and the Sociedad were suspended for one mouth for publishing a criticism upon the Mexican expedition, taken from the Courrier des Etats-Unis. We have guessed the riddle: it is about an article we took from a Paris paper—not a criticism by the Courrier editor—without assuming any responsibility for it, but as a piece of history of the Mexican expedition. Here is the article:
“According to the Paris Presse the emperor Maximilian has once more required the financial assistance of France, declaring his intention to abdicate if it is refused. The French government should have rejected the Mexican emperor’s demand, and ordered Marshal Bazaine to call a convention of the people in case of Maximilian’s abdication.”
The New Era published the above on the 10th of July, with the following comments:
“If the paragraph had originated in an American paper it would not have attracted any notice; but coming from a French journal, it excites much astonishment.”
The following notice was served on Mr. Masseras on the 12th:
Mexico, July 12, 1866.
The paragraph in your paper of the 10th instant, taken from the Courrier des Etats-Unis, originally from the Paris Presse, contains an alarming falsehood. By its publication you violate article three, section second, of the law of the 10th of April, 1865, regulating the press.
Therefore, the civil prefect, by superior order, instructs me to serve this second notice on you, to be inserted on the first page of the next number of your paper, which you will suspend for one month, according to article twenty of the law above quoted.
CARLOS ZAVALA, Secretary General of the Prefecture.
The New Era had been notified only the day previous for publishing false news. Instead of serving a warning upon the editor, as should have been done according to the law quoted, the severest penalty was imposed upon the paper. But that omission gave Mr. Masseras the chance to have the order of suspension countermanded, which was done.
No. 4.
[Untitled]
We have received files of the Diario del Imperio to the 18th of May.
The following decree concerning the establishment of newspapers has been issued by Maximilian:
“Article 1. For the establishment of any newspaper or publication which is to start at a fixed time or otherwise, and is to be engaged in public affairs, the permission of the authorities will be required—this being only granted by our government, and, as our delegates, by the imperial commission or the prefect.
“Our minister of government is charged with the execution of the present decree.
“Given in the city of Mexico, the 6th day of May, 1866.
“For the emperor:
“The Minister of Government, “José Salazar Ilarregui.”
No. 5.
[Untitled]
MAXIMILIAN, EMPEROR OF MEXICO.
Having heard our council of ministers, we decree:
Article 1. Direct taxes on real estate, in town or country, shall be collected in proportion to its production or income solely, and not in proportion to the amount of capital invested.
Article 2. The quota of taxation will be the sixth part of the net income of such property, when situated in the city, and the seventh when situated in the country, and it must be paid in three instalments, each in advance, viz: one-third in the first ten days of January, one-third in the first ten days of May, and the remaining third in the first ten days of September of each year.
[Page 240]Article 3. To ascertain the net income, the rent which the property ought to produce shall be taken for such, deducting, in case it is situated in the city, 15 per cent. on “houses of the neighborhood,” (casas de vecindad,) and 10 per cent. on all others.
Article 4. By houses of the neighborhood, for the purposes of the preceding articles, are to be understood those which contain more than three tenants within the same entrance or exterior door, not including rooms which have separate entrances from the street, (accessorias.) Houses not embraced in this description will not be taken as houses of the neighborhood, (casas de vecindad.)
Article 5. The income which city real estate should produce is the amount of money for which it is rented; and if not rented at the time, the amount for which it last rented.
Article 6. In cases where the proprietor is the occupant of the property, an equitable sum shall be fixed upon, which shall serve, instead of the rent, as a basis of taxation.
Article 7. The tax being levied directly upon the property, no sub-letting will be taken into consideration, the proprieter being taxed solely on the rent he receives from the tenant with whom he deals.
Article 8. The net income of property in the country which is rented at the time, or which has been rented the next preceding year, will be the total amount of the rent.
Article 9. Where such property in the country is either not actually rented at the time, or has not been rented the year next preceding, the net income shall be taken to be what remains to the proprietor of the total proceeds, after deducting the expenses of cultivation, harvesting, and preservation.
Article 10. The proprietor shall file in the register’s office a declaration of the amount of the net income thus ascertained; but the office, when the amount in the declaration appears too small, may estimate it anew, and, for this purpose, may require the proprietor to submit to examination his book-balances and other documents calculated to throw light upon the truth.
Article 11. Country real estate shall be understood to mean all land, with or without a house, within or without the lines of a poblacion, on which any species of agriculture is carried on for purpose of profit.
Article 12. Haciendas producing metals, salt, or sugar will be taxed like the country property just above mentioned.
Article 13. The property designated in the following classification will be alone exempt from taxation:
1. National property.
2. Municipal property occupied gratis in the municipal service.
3. Palaces of archbishops, bishops, and houses of curates not belonging to private individuals.
4. Temples of any worship whatsoever and the houses appertaining, inhabited gratis by its ministers, recognized by the state.
5. Those occupied gratis by establishments of public beneficence or instruction, which do not belong to individuals who receive rent for them. Real estate belonging to a private individual who receives rent for it, though it should be occupied for the public service or ecclesiastical purposes, or those of instruction or beneficence, will, nevertheless, be subject to taxation.
6. Edifices occupied gratuitously by civil or ecclesiastical corporations authorized or tolerated by the state.
7. Lands or edifices which by special law have been exempted from taxation for a limited time, while within the time of fulfilling the conditions annexed by the law of the exemption.
Article 14. When the owner of an estate acknowledges, by a special hypothecation of the same, a sum of money for which he must pay interest, whether by instalments, irregular deposits, or in any other mode whatsoever, the said owner shall pay for tax the sixth or seventh part of the rent, according to its being town or country property; but he shall discount to him entitled to receive said interest an equal amount to that which he shall have paid.
Article 15. All exceptions hitherto made in favor of capital are hereby revoked, and the proprietors will pay the tax, devoting thereto one-sixth of their income from this source; this whether devoted heretofore to beneficence, public instruction, the national or municipal treasury, religious endowments, or any other object formerly excepted.
Article 16. No judge nor authority nor public functionary shall entertain any representation or memorial, nor shall any notary public or clerk authenticate any document, relative to the rights which any owner may claim to exercise, unless he can show a receipt for the payment of his taxes, as above prescribed, up to the latest date. When produced, the original receipt will be returned to the owner, after having appended to the memorial or authentication a simple copy of the same, certified to be correct by the judge, authority, or notary public.
Article 17. As soon as the tax ordained by this decree shall go into operation in any place, all former laws for the taxation of real estate are thereby repealed, except that of the 30th of April for the draining of Mexico, and the municipal laws.
Article 18. The tax of the drainage will continue to be collected as at present, viz: one-tenth of one per cent.
No. 6.
[Untitled]
MAXIMILIAN, EMPEROR OF MEXICO.
Having heard our council of ministers, we decree:
Article 1. All cultivated lands in the country will pay annually, besides the tax on their annual production, a half real for every 35,112 metres square, or 50,000 varas square, contained in the whole of their area.
Article 2. The cultivated lands whose area does not amount to 50,000 varas square, will pay a half real, whatever their extent.
Article 3. In the contemplation of the preceding articles are included lands in common, and all rural cultivated lands of corporations, communities, and pueblos which have not been reduced to private appropriation by virtue of the law of 25th June, 1856, and which have the character of being legitimately possessed in common, in conformity to the law cited.
Article 4. Within two months after the publication of this law in the capital of any district, the possessors of country cultivated lands situated in its territory will deposit in the office of registry of direct taxation of the same district a declaration setting forth the land or lands that they possess, with the area which they comprehend, and their situation and name, if they have any. In the office of registry a register will be kept, in which will be recorded all these declarations; a certificate of having done so being given to the parties concerned, with an insertion of an extract from the register.
Article 5. At the expiration of the two months above mentioned, all lands not declared, as above prescribed, will be considered wild and unappropriated, and the agents of the administration will proceed to take possession, handing them over to the minister of fomento to dispose of them as he may see proper.
Article 6. When in the opinion of the agents of the office the area of the land has been underestimated in the declaration, a survey shall be ordered, and the excess of land above the estimate shall be also declared unappropriated. In this case the expenses of the survey shall be defrayed by the owner.
Article 7. If, after declaration made as aforesaid, the possessors of the land should have it surveyed, and should it result that the area as set forth in the declaration was greater than that actually possessed, the amount of taxes paid on the excess will be refunded.
Article 8. The lands placed at the disposal of the minister of fomento for alienation on account of the owners, on the same terms adopted by the government for the alienation of unappropriated lands of the territory in which they find themselves located, shall be exempt from this tax.
Article 9. In order to be entitled to the exemption referred to in the preceding article it will be required:
1. To present the minister of fomento with a formal map of the estate of which the lands placed at the disposition of the minister form a part.
2. On the said map the lands placed at the disposal of the minister must be distinctly and definitely delineated.
Article 10. This tax must be paid every six months in advance, and it will go into operation on the date of its publication.
No. 7.
Social guarantees.
We take the following paragraph from a letter dated Zapotlan, 23d instant:
Gregorio Contreras died day before yesterday, at three o’clock in the afternoon, from a shot he received the evening previous at the hands of Rafael Chavez, in Parota street, leading to Ochoa Vazquez’s farm, because Contreras would not fight him.
On the same day, and almost at the same hour, men from this city, Zapotiltic, and Tux-pan, caught up with Diego and Matias Montenegro, Faustino Ugarte, and Rosalio Vazquez, near Tecalitlan, and fired upon them with muskets. Matias Montenegro, son of the late Miguel Montenegro, was killed. Diego then dismounted, and going up to his enemies begged for life till he could make out his innocence. He was on his knees, with his hat in his hand, when they shot him dead on the spot. The other two young men had the luck to escape with their lives. This occurrence is well known here, and has caused much alarm. No investigation has been made. The man who committed the deed is named Galindo.
Reliable persons have given us the particulars of the above occurrence. Diego Montenegro, [Page 242] son of old Colonel José Montenegro, was not over sixteen; he was going out to work with his cousin Matias, a little older, at a farm belonging to the latter.
Their murder was of the most atrocious character, and we can readily imagine the consternation it caused in Zapotlan. When the citizens find that neither their lives nor their property is safe from those who ought to defend them, all confidence is lost, and society must lapse into a savage state.
Jalisco has had the sad privilege of witnessing sanguinary sights of that kind for some time past; and we now have to add the Montenegro young men to the names of Murillo, Llamas, Merino, and Alcaraz. The evil increases instead of diminishing. Why is this? We will boldly say, it is because the guilty are not punished. Society is shocked at this shedding of innocent blood, and each one awaits his turn to be sacrificed.
To give a just idea of what is passing in those unhappy towns, let us glance at the past. Last month we spoke of the atrocious and unjust murder of Trinidad Alcaraz, near Zapotlan. After the Payaso had mentioned the event, the prefect of Colima pretended to investigate the affair. Here is the reply of the sub-prefect of Zapotlan, taken from the official paper of Colima:
Civil Sub-prefecture of Zapotlan, “June 6, 1866—No. 512.
“Dear Sir: I received your note of the 4th instant, in which you state your attention has been called to the mention of the murder of Trinidad Alcaraz, in No. 4 of the Payaso, In reply, I inform you that on the 24th of April I received a communication from the alcalde of Tamazula, saying that on the night of the 17th he received a despatch from the commander of the imperial officers at Matacristos and Alverea, and from Commissioner Reyes Diaz, saying, as he went in pursuit of the robbers, Trinidad Alcaraz came out and attacked them with the robbers. Two of the civil officers were killed and several wounded. The robbers then shut themselves up in Trinidad Alcaraz’s house. The next day Reyes Diaz came and besieged it. Manuel Alcaraz was ordered to give up his son, which was done. Now as he was in league with the robbers, and had been the accomplice of the robbers in their plunders and assassination, even before the war, and had frequently been in jail for murder, and only got off by his great influence, it was decided to shoot him on the spot. The alcalde was opposed to such summary proceedings, and started with the prisoner to Tamazula. On the road he was attacked by an ambuscade, and Trinidad Alcaraz was killed. Reyes Diaz told the alcalde he was a police commissioner, appointed by the prefect of Guadalajara, and he had the power to dispose of all such criminals in a summary way. An investigation of the affair was commenced the next day in Tamazula, and it has not been finished yet.
“All of which I communicate to you for your information. God grant you many years.
“MIGUEL ROBLEDO, “District Sub-prefect.
“The Superior Prefect of the Department of Colima.”
From the above communication it is evident Alcaraz was shot in cold clood, and we are tempted to inquire in what kind of society we are living. After this we have nothing more to say; the facts are eloquent.
Colonel Montenegro has our most sincere condolence. In less than three years he has lost three of his sons by violence. We sympathize with him in his grief, and pray for the eternal repose of young Diego’s soul.
After the above was written we saw another letter from Zapotlan, from which we take the following:
“As Gregorio Contreras was returning from his farm last night he was attacked and murdered near the city by Rafael Chavez, one of the police appointed by Robledo. The assassin has not yet been arrested, though a warrant has been issued, and he is still in the place. Robledo and Chavez were personal enemies of the deceased; the former hated him because he was a liberal, and the latter had a private grudge against him.”
This letter says the Montenegro boys were going to Tecalitlan to buy cattle when they were murdered.
No. 8.
Obituary.
J. Guadalupe Montenegro and wife inform you, with profound grief, that their son Diego, aged sixteen years and five months, was murdered and robbed, on the 21st of this month, by order of the chief authority of Zapotlan, for no other crime than being named Montenegro.
They beg you to pray God for the eternal repose of his soul, and the protection of the lives and property of us unfortunate Mexicans.
(Printed by Brambila.)
No. 9.
Order of a conscription.
By order of the government measures have been taken in reference to a partial conscription, according to the law of the 21st of November, which institutes conscription, the basis of the military organization of Europe.
The following is the circular which this prefectura has published:
Prefectura Politica of the District of the Valley of Mexico,
Mexico, June 6, 1866.
The ministry of gobernacion, under date of yesterday, has addressed to this prefectura the following communication:
His majesty the emperor has decided that, in accordance with articles 2d and 12th of the law of the 1st of November, 1865, the partial conscription, on the terms therein prescribed, shall be proceeded with. This conscription is designed to call into service a certain number of men necessary to the reorganization of several companies. The following is the basis determined on:
On Sunday, the 15th of July of the present year, a draft for 2,300 men will take place in the capital of the district of the Valley of Mexico and in the capitals of the districts of Puebla and Queretaro.
2. The city of Mexico will furnish 1,449 men, Puebla 1,543, and Queretaro 345.
3. The said towns will be exempted from the general conscription which will soon take place throughout the empire.
The draft will take place in accordance with the provisions of the law of the 1st of November, 1865.
I have the honor to communicate this to your excellency, in order that the necessary orders may be transmitted to the respective authorities, according to the decision of his majesty, and to request that you will send me a copy of these orders for the information and action, if; necessary, of the ministry under my charge.
No. 10.
Pension to the family of General Zaragoza.
The Diario del Imperio of yesterday says:
“The widow of General Zaragoza has received a pension, which she justly deserved, in virtue of an existing law that has never been repealed. His majesty could not be so unjust as to refuse a support to orphans.
“This act is just because it is according to law, and generous because it is relief to an unfortunate family. It has given offence politically, which should not have been, as his majesty’s sentiments for his glorious allies, the French, are well known.
“It is judging ill of France to think she will be displeased with an act of justice which is helping a widow with a family. This great nation, that has given so many noble examples of generosity to its enemies, will never deny justice to the relatives of a man with whom it has contended. If it is necessary to give examples, we will remind you that the Bourbon government granted a pension for life to Robespierre’s sister, and his Majesty the Emperor Napoleon gives a splendid pension to the Emir Abd el Kader, who fought against France for seventeen years.
“So it will be noble to let this question rest, as it only acknowledges the right of a widow protected by the laws of the land.”
No. 11.
A false step.
The Estafette gives the above title to the ratification of the pension voted by the rebels in their congress to the family of Don Ignacio Zaragoza, a notice of which was published in the Sociedad. The Estafette hopes it is a mistake, and that the publication will be contradicted, and then makes these comments:
“If it were a private charity no attention would be paid to it; nobody would object in the least; but the publicity of the affair shows it has a political signification, and each one interprets it after his own fashion. The Juarists say:
“If Maximilian by this means to confess that General Zaragoza was well-deserving of [Page 244] his country because he resisted the foreign invaders, why does he continue to make war on Juarez, and treat as rebels those who are now following the patriotic traditions of the defender of Puebla? Zaragoza would have fought against him just as he did against Lorencez. The general’s glory is our heritage, and we scorn the alms given to his widow. We must tremble now, when they seek to conquer us with pensions!”
“The conservatives, on their part, make the following remarks:
“‘As the government raises this monument to the memory of Zaragoza, and publicly proclaims him worthy of the nation’s gratitude, we who called for intervention, and chose Maximilian as emperor of Mexico, we who support different men and entertain different opinions, we must be the rascally traitors! Nothing should be given to him who renounces a cause!
“‘As to the red breeches, they thought it the strongest investment that could be made of money lent by the French treasury to the Mexican government.’”
The Estafette concludes by declaring the grant a false step, that should not have been taken till the enemy was conquered. It says: “The challenge was accepted; war was declared and is now being waged; the trumpet has sounded, and no friendly feeling or impossible compromise must be mentioned till the contest is over.”
The echo of that declaration of the Estafette will be heard for many years to come.
No. 12.
Persons arrested.
The Diario del Imperio says: The government has ordered the arrest of the following persons, disturbers of public peace and order, in conformity with article 77 of the statutes:
Feliciano Chavarria, General José Rojo, Mr. Kampherr, Pedro Echavarria, Augustin Cruz, Augustin Zires, (general,) Manuel M. Puente, Juan Mateos, Ignacio Ramirez, General José de la Parra, Manuel Parada, Gabriel M. Islas, Antonio M. Zamacona, Padre Ordonez, José M. Arroyo, Joaquin Alcalde, and J. A. Gamboa.
No. 13.
[Untitled]
Respected Sir: * * * * *
The Austrian army has been recently organized here and merged into the Mexican army. The men are allowed to choose their arms; $25 bounty is offered to every soldier when he enlists, and the same sum is given when his time is out to pay his expenses home, if he does not choose to remain in Mexico; but if he remains land is given to him.
* * * * * * *
The circular letter of the Montenegro family, in Guadalajara, the original of which I send you, with the Boletin de Guadalajara, will give you an idea of the true state of affairs in Mexico. The Sociedad published the document and got a warning for it, and is now suspended for a month for publishing a paragraph taken from the Courrier of New York, that took it from the Paris Presse. It wanted to supply its suppression by a Boletin, but only one number was printed.
* * * * * * *
The Noticioso and the Diablo Predicador, of Vera Cruz, have been suppressed; and it is thought that in less than a month there will be no other papers in the country than French and official journals.
* * * * * * *
The following persons have been arrested in Mexico and transported to Yucatan without any reasons for the act:
Ignacio Ramirez, Joaquin Alcalde, Manuel S. Parada, Gabriel M. Islas, Juan Mateos, Pedro Echeverria, Antonio Zamacona, Manuel Morales Puente, José Miguel Arroyo, Generals Augustin Zires, John Kamper, Feliciano Chavarria, José Maria Rojo, Augustin Cruz, José Parra, and Priest Ordoñez. These prisoners arrived at Puebla on the 17th, at midnight, in two coaches, escorted by militia, and continued their journey in a few hours. They were kept in the Conception military prison, and were not permitted to see anybody.
The escort had orders to shoot any that attempted to escape, or any who might try to rescue them. It is said seventy others, whose names are down in Mexico, will soon follow these, and forty-eight leave here to-day with the escort for Yucatan. They are the insurgents of the Palma ward, and those who stoned the tables set out for the draft. The government of this city has followed the example of the capital, and ordered the arrest of many persons here, and I am among the first. * * * * * *
Those ordered to be arrested at the same time with me are, most of them, in prison, and will soon be on their way to Yucatan.
* * * * * * *
The liberals seized the garrison of Papantla as you know, and took possession of the [Page 245] town. A column of 500 men, with three pieces of artillery, was sent to recover it. The liberals allowed them to come in, and then surrounded them, and forced them to surrender, taking all their arms, ammunition, and provisions. The officers of the traitors were shot, the Austrians were kept in prison, and the common soldiers were released.
* * * * * * *
I may be excused for calling your attention to the situation of the country where there is no national government, but one forced upon the people by French bayonets. There is no freedom of the press; no personal security; no guarantees of any kind. Everybody is persecuted; anarchy and tyranny prevail everywhere. It is not strange that the country is excited—that an eruption is breaking out which will cost much blood and many tears.
* * * * * * *
Your very obedient servant,
Mr. Matias Romero, in Washington.
No. 14.
[From the New York Tribune of August 16, 1866.]
Great excitement has been occasioned in all the principal cities by the order for a draft to fill up the imperialist army. The modes of raising troops under the republic were voluntary enlistment or leva, which latter process, resembling the old English impressment for the naval service, was merely the sending out of an armed force and making a general, indiscriminate “gobble up” of every able-bodied male, to put him incontinently into the ranks— to run away, of course, on the first suitable occasion. In lieu of this system, the emperor decreed a draft or conscription, by lot, with the usual provisions for exemption, and also one for paying four hundred dollars to the government for a substitute for a drafted man. Neither fighting nor paying money being a favorite occupation with Mexican townspeople, a stampede from the towns to the mountains or other hiding places had begun. A journal of Queretaro states that it was so general in that city, among all classes, that on the day appointed for the draft probably none but the exempts would be left. A like exodus had commenced in Mexico and Puebla, as the 15th of July had been announced as the day on which the lottery for the honor of bearing arms was to come off. Before that day arrived it was postponed, and finally the official Diario of the 19th declared that the entire draft had been indefinitely postponed as “ unnecessary.” The announcement contains may pretty reflections on the glory of defending one’s country, and the equity and advantages of a draft; but says that inasmuch as the authorities in the province had represented to the emperor that the rural guards, already disciplined, sufficed for the desired increase of the army, the draft would only give them raw troops in greater numbers than the service required.
The Estafette gave publicity to some strange rumors in reference to General Almonte, formerly the chief of the monarchical party in Mexico, and head of the regency prior to Maximilian’s arrival in the country. These rumors were that the general, on his way last winter to France, as Mexican ambassador to that country, called on Santa Anna at St. Thomas, and had a protracted interview with the exiled chieftain, the result of which was a secret union of those two former bitter enemies, with a view to dethroning Maximilian. The official Diario of July 17 noticed in a few lines these rumors, and queerly adds: “We can affirm that we know of no foundation for any such reports.” One of its cotemporaries calls attention to the singular wording of this denial, and adds: “Until the Diario shall have said there is no foundation for the reports, we incline to believe them.”
It has long been known to those acquainted with Mexican affairs that Almonte was very dissatisfied. He had received from the emperor Maximilian high court positions, but seemed to be excluded from employments of real power and influence, Until his recent appointment as ambassador to Louis Napoleon. There is also, we believe, no doubt that on his way to Paris he and General Brincourt, of the French army in Mexico, paid Santa Anna a long visit.
Private advices received in this city state that Almonte’s desertion of the emperor and complicity with Santa Anna were generally believed in well-informed circles in that city, and at one time it was expected that a decree would appear depriving him of his employments and outlawing him. It was further asserted that he had used his position at Paris to influence the French Emperor against Maximilian; that his intrigues had been disclosed to the empress Carlotta in a letter from no less a personage than the Empress Eugenie, who advised her sister of Mexico to counteract them in person: and that that letter occasioned the abrupt departure of the latter for Paris during the absence of Marshal Bazaine on his journey to northern Mexico, and without consulting the wishes or opinions of the French. The Mexican minister of foreign affairs, Señor de Castillo, accompanied the empress Carlotta on her European journey.
The same number of the Diario gives a list of persons arrested in the city of Mexico on July 15, on the charge of conspiring to disturb the public peace and order. Their names [Page 246] are as follows: Generals José Rojo, Augustin Zires, and José de la Parra, the Padre Ordoñez, Messrs. Feliciano Chavarria, Wampher, Pedro Echevarria, Augustin Cruz, Manuel Morales Puente, Juan Mateos, Ignacio Ramirez, Manuel Parada, Gabriel Maria Islas, Antonio Maria Zamacona, José Miguel Arroyo, and Joaquin Alcalde.
Most of these persons are partisans of Santa Anna; the rest are active liberals. Señor Arroyo was assistant secretary of state under Santa Anna’s last dictatorship, and the Padre Arroyo is one of his most devoted partisans. All the prisoners except the padre, whose illness precluded his removal, were sent off on July 17 to Yucatan, the Mexican Dry Tortugas.
The French journals, the Estafette and Ere Nouvelle, are jubilant over the emperor’s change of policy. The former, of July 27, says:
“In presence of the enmities exhibited against the empire, and of the dangers which threaten it, the direction of public affairs should not remain in irresolute hands. It is necessary to oppose the audacity of the insurgents with calm and inflexible energy, disorders with the action of justice, the excesses of the oligarchs with effectual repression, and secret intrigues with a command to cease.
“It would be a disgrace to the empire to remain inert and vacillating; it would be intolerable to think that a flag honored in every quarter should be derided and scoffed at with impunity. That flag, whether it shall withdraw soon or late, must leave behind it glorious memories, and command respect from both friends and foes.
“A monarchy cannot be founded on plunder and with supporters of anarchy; the empire should seek in the stanch imperialists its defenders and active leaders. It was high time to do so; but it is not too late: the adoption of a resolute and consistent policy may still secure both the present and the future. The close alliance between the empire and the French army will give to Mexico the force and credit sufficient to overcome all enemies and frustrate all plots.
“The Juarists, Ortegists, and Santannists have declared open war, war without quarter, against the imperial government and the French flag. The war is accepted, and will be carried on as it should be. This is the meaning of the new ministry. The game is regularly begun, and swords are trumps.”
The Pajaro Verde, (organ of the Church party,) in its number of July 28, quotes the above editorial, and adds:
“Our readers will understand the deep significance of the words of the Estafette; we are able to add that his majesty, on last Wednesday night, remarked to some very distinguished persons who dined at his table, that the lovers of order would, within a few days, have cause to be satisfied. We will not assume to interpret the imperial words; our readers, learning of them and aware of recent events, will know how to attach to them the very highest value.”
No. 15.
[Untitled]
MAXIMILIAN, EMPEROR OF MEXICO.
In consideration of the merits and good qualities of Mr. Friant, chief intendant of the expeditionary corps, we have been pleased to confer upon him the office of minister of finance.
By the emperor:
José Salazar Ilarregui, Minister of Government.
[Untitled]
MAXIMILIAN, EMPEROR OF MEXICO.
In order to save expenses to the public treasury, we have been pleased to direct that the department of fomento be temporarily annexed to that of gobernacion.
Our minister of the interior is charged with the execution of this decree.
By the emperor.
José Salazar Ilarregui, Minister of Government.
[Untitled]
MAXIMILIAN, EMPEROR OF MEXICO.
In consideration of the merits and good qualities of General Osmont, chief of staff and major general of the expeditionary corps, we have been pleased to confer upon him the office of minister of war.
By the emperor:
José Salazar Ilarregui, Minister of Government.