Mr. Plumb to Mr. Seward
Sir: Correspondence from Matamoras and the interior of Mexico reached here to-day by a casual arrival, in advance of the regular mail. I have a short note from Mr. Mashall, dated the 8th instant, in which he says:
I this day send you important despatch to be telegraphed from Galveston. Maximilian will be executed beyond peradventure.
[Page 418]A few moments after the receipt of the above, I received the telegram referred to, which had been delayed, as it should have reached me on Monday the 10th instant. It is as follows:
President Juarez convened court-martial 29th ultimo, for the trial of Maxmilian, Mejia and Miramon. The decision of court will be final, after which, general amnesty.
From the advices at hand it appears, though my information on this point is not direct, that a government council was held as referred to in my letter to you of the 7th instant, and that its decision was that Maximilian and the two generals above mentioned should be tried by court-martial, in accordance, it is stated with the law of the 25th of January, 1862.
An order was therefore issued by General Escobedo, on the 24th ultimo, for the assembling of a court-martial at Queretaro, on the 29th ultimo, for the trial of Maximilian, Miramon and Mejia.
I have seen letters received here to-day, one from the governor of the state of San Luis Potosi, dated at San Luis, the 27th ultimo, and another from the governor of the state of Coahuila y Nuevo Leon, dated at Monterey, the 2d instant, in both of which the opinion is almost positively expressed that Maximilian will be condemed and executed.
The former states, (I quote from memory:)
Day after to-morrow, at 9 o’clock in the morning, the court-martial for the trial of Maximilian, Miramon, and Mejia meets in Queretaro, and before this letter reaches you they will be in eternity.
The latter refers to the law under which the trial was ordered, as leaving no discretionary power with regard to the sentence.
None of the letters received by the Mexican consul make mention of any proclamation by Maximilian.
Mr. Marshall makes no mention of it, but simply encloses a slip from a Brownsville paper, containing the same English version that has appeared here.
It was reported that the city of Mexico had been already occupied by the republican forces, and it is stated that orders for the march of troops from Queretaro to the capital had been countermanded.
General Escobedo, it is also stated, had been ordered to remain at Queretaro.
The rains have already commenced, rendering the diligence road from Matamoros to San Luis Potosi less practicable than heretofore.
In view of the importance of the information at hand, I deemed it my duty to communicate the substance of the same by telegraph, which I did the moment received.
I am, sir, with the highest respect, your most obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.