Mr. Plumb to Mr.
Seward
No. 29.]
Legation of the United States,
City of Mexico,
November 7, 1867.
Sir: In accordance with the instructions in
your note, without number, under date of 29th August last, addressed to
Mr. Otterbourg, and the spirit of the
[Page 472]
communication therein enclosed addressed by you to
Mr. Romero, I have availed myself of such proper occasions as have been
presented, since my arrival here, in my
conversations with Mr. Lerdo de Tejada, to recommend the case of Prince
Salm Salm to the favorable consideration of the Mexican government.
On account of some notoriety which has attended his case, and of his
presenting himself as a general after the capture of Queretaro, it has
been difficult for this government to make an exception in his favor to
that of the other generals that were tried and sentenced at that period;
and the best that I could do for him up to within a few days is shown in
the private note from Mr. Lerdo de Tejada, of which a copy and
translation is annexed hereto.
The simple fact, however, that Prince Salm Salm had been a soldier in our
war for the Union, has compelled me to feel an interest in this case,
and on the publication of the recent order of commutation of sentences,
and seeing that a special exception was made to the other foreigners
placed at liberty, and that he was held, under the rank of general, to
four years more of imprisonment, I thought it my duty to present
officially to the government the facts in my possession, showing that he
had never actually served as general, but only as colonel, and to ask
the favor of his release on that ground, under the terms of the general
order.
I am glad to say, that with the facility such evidence in an official
form has afforded, my request has been met in the most friendly manner,
and that orders have been issued by direction of the President, placing
Prince Salm Salm at liberty to leave the country.
A copy of my communication to the government in this matter, and of their
reply, with translation, is enclosed herewith.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[Translation.]
Señor Lerdo de Tejada to
Mr. Plumb
Mexico,
October 17, 1867.
My Dear Sir: I have spoken with the
President and the minister of war with reference to what you were
pleased to make known to me privately, by direction of the lion. Mr.
Seward, with regard to his humane sentiments in favor of the life of
Señor Salm Salm, taken prisoner at Queretaro.
His life is in no danger, and if for the present the government
believes it imperative to retain him a prisoner, for the grave
difficulty of making a distinction with reference to the others who
are in the same case, it has directed that he should remain in
Oaxaca, .where he will have an excellent climate and
accommodations.
The government will have the greatest pleasure in extending to Señor
Salm Salm all possible consideration permitted by the circumstances,
in attention to the recommendation you have made, and that he has
served in the army of the United States.
I am with the highest regard, very respectfully, your obedient
servant,
Mr. Edward L. Plumb, &c., &c., &c.
Mr. Plumb to Señor Lerdo Tejada
Legation of the United States,
City of Mexico,
November 4, 1867.
Sir: It is with great gratification that I
have seen by its publication in the official paper of the 2d
instant, that a general order has been issued under direction of the
President of the republic, by the minister of war, General Don
Ignacio Mejia, commuting in the most humane
[Page 473]
and generous manner the sentences of those
still remaining in confinement for complicity with the late
intrusive government, attempted to be set. up in the place of the
legitimate authority of the republic, and that a large number have
been permitted to leave the country, among whom I am glad to see,
for I am sure it will be in every way for the advantage of Mexico,
that nearly all of the foreigners remaining here who have been held
for their part in the late mistaken intervention are included.
I should have occasion now only to express my feelings of
gratification as an American, at the worthy course the government of
Mexico has thought proper to pursue, were it not that in the case of
one individual, in whom for his past services in the cause of the
Union the government of the United States feels an interest, some
official declaration on my part in his behalf may be not only due
but necessary to relieve him from a responsibility which, under the
recent order of commutation, will yet subject him to four years more
of imprisonment, for only a few months service in the so-called
imperial cause, by reason of the fact of there having been given to
him but only after the surrender of Queretaro the commission of
general, by the Archduke Maximilian, and his having been tried and
classified since that time under that rank.
I refer to the case of Señor Salm Salm.
I am in a position to state, as I now do to you officially, that
Señor Salm Salm never served in any other capacity under the
so-called empire than that of colonel, and that he was holding that
rank, acting in that capacity, and wore that uniform at the time of
the capture of Queretaro.
After the capture, when both were in prison, the Archduke Maximilian,
thinking it might be of some use to Señor Salm Salm in Europe, gave
to him the commission of general, dating the commission back to a
day or two before the capture of Quretaro.
These facts are given to me by the representative of an European
government who had them from the lips of the Archduke Maximilian
himself. I have also received the same information through other
channels.
When, at a later moment, all holding the rank of colonel were ordered
to be removed to a distant point, Señor Salm Salm, through an act of
personal devotion to his late leader, and against the remonstrances
of his friends, produced his commission of general—by that act then
risking his own life—and claimed the right to remain by the side of
Maximilian. It is by this simple act of personal devotion on his
part, while both were prisoners, that commends itself to any
generous mind, and the natural act of gratitude on the part of the
late Archduke Maximilian in giving him, after the capture of
Quretaro, the commission of general, and nugatory in itself so far
as Mexico is concerned, that Señor Salm Salm is now exposed to be
classed as a general, and to undergo the further term of
imprisonment of four years, when he never rendered a moment’s
service other than as colonel, and in that capacity his services
extended only over a period of but a few months.
In view of this statement of facts that I now make officially, that
he has never served under the so-called empire as general, but only
as colonel, and in view of the facts that he was an ardent and
efficient volunteer in our late war for the defence of the Union,
whereby he entitled himself to the sympathy and friendship of the
government of the United States, by whom no soldier who has served
in the cause of the Union can ever be deserted, I have now to ask
the favor from the government of the republic that the status of
Señor Salm Salm may be graded according to that of his actual
service, and not according to that of the commission given to him
after the capture of Queretaro by the Archduke Maximilian, when both
were prisoners, and that thus, under the humane and generous order
that I have referred to, he may be permitted to leave the
country.
I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, your excellency’s
most obedient servant,
His Excellency Señor Don Sebastian Lerdo de
Tejada,
Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic
of Mexico.
[Translation.]
Señor Lerdo de Tejada to
Mr. Plumb
Department of Foreign Relations,
Mexico,
November 5, 1867.
Sir: In the note that you were pleased to
address to me yesterday, you have communicated to me the information
that you have that Señor Salm Salm, who was made prisoner at the
capture of Queretaro, and was tried under the grade of general, did
not really serve the so-called empire except under the rank of
colonel, up to the capture of that city, and that it was afterwards
that the Archduke Maximilian gave him a commission as general,
dating the same some days before for the purpose that such
commission might be of future use to him in Europe. You have made
this known to me with the desire that there may be applied to Señor
Salm Salm, under the rank of colonel, the more favorable
dispositions of the government
[Page 474]
of the republic. Yon have also made known to
me that Señor Salm Salm lent his services in favor of the Union
during the war in the United States, this being the motive for the
interposition in his favor of your good offices.
It is very satisfactory to the President of the republic to attend to
the same, and to that end he has directed that Señor Salm Salm shall
be released from the confinement to which he has been subject,
placing him at once at liberty to leave the territory of the
republic.
I am, sir, with great esteem, very respectfully your obedient
servant,
Mr. Edward Lee Plumb,
Chargé d’ Affaires of the United States in
Mexico.
