Mr. Plumb to Mr.
Seward
No. 30.]
Legation of the United States,
City of Mexico,
November 7, 1867.
Sir: In the exercise of the discretion confided
to me by your despach No 7, of the 19th September last, I addressed to
this government, on the 4th instant, a communication relative to the
case of Mr. Eloin, a copy of which, together with a copy and translation
of the reply of the Mexican government, I have the honor to enclose
herewith.
There has been a very deep feeling here against Mr. Eloin on account of
the importance attached to his services in aid of the attempted
establishment of a monarchy in this country, and without some potent
intercession in his behalf, it is not probable that, even under the
recent commutation order, he would have been released for a long
time.
Yet I am happy to be able to say that the Mexican government has accepted
the friendly intervention in this matter of the United States in behalf
of the government of the King of Belgium, in the most cordial manner,
and the necessary orders freeing Mr. Eloin from the proceedings against
him, and permitting him to leave the country, were at once issued.
He left this city this morning for Vera Cruz, to embark at that port with
Baron Magnus, the Prussian minister, for Europe, on the French packet of
the 13th instant.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
Mr. Plumb to Señor Lerdo de Tejada
Legation of the United States,
City of Mexico,
November 4, 1867.
Sir: The government of Belgium has
manifested a deep interest in Mr. Eloin, formerly private secretary
of the Prince Maximilian, and Mr. Rogier, the minister for foreign
affairs, has applied through Mr. Del Fosse, their minister in
Washington, to the Secretary of State of the United States, asking
him to use his good offices with the government of the republic of
Mexico, in order that Mr. Eloin, now a prisoner in Mexico, may be
permitted to leave the country.
The Secretary of State having confided to my discretion what steps to
take in behalf of Mr. Eloin, and believing in the generous
disposition of the government of Mexico, and that it would, as fast
as the political circumstances of the country might permit, pursue a
lenient course towards those held in confinement for their
complicity with the late so-called imperial government, I have not
thought that the proper moment for an intercession on my part had
arrived, until by the publication on the 2d instant of the general
order commuting the sentences of the political prisoners still held
in confinement, and the possibility of some doubt as to the proper
classification of Mr. Eloin under that order, I have deemed it my
duty, under
[Page 475]
the
instructions I have received from the Secretary of State, to now
interpose the good offices of my government in behalf of the
government of Belgium, and to ask the favor at the hands of the
government of Mexico that Mr. Eloin may be considered simply in the
light of the office he held of private secretary, and not in that of
the influential services he rendered both in Mexico and in Europe in
the interest of the intervention and the attempted monarchy, and
that thus under the general order that I have referred to he may now
be released from confinement and permitted to leave the country.
I do this the more readily because I believe that the government of
the King of Belgium will see in any favor now shown to Mr. Eloin an
act of attention and consideration to itself, and I do not doubt
that Mr. Rogier, who has appealed especially to the kind offices of
Mr. Seward in this matter, will fully award the Obligation, where it
truly belongs, to the favorable disposition of the government of
Mexico towards himself and the government of Belgium.
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: You have been pleased to communicate
to me in your note of yesterday that the government of Belgium has
asked the government of the United States to interpose its good
offices with the government of the republic of Mexico in behalf of
Mr. Eloin, formerly private secretary of the archduke Maximilian,
and now a prisoner in this city.
The government of the republic has treated Mr. Eloin with sentiments
of great humanity, as well as, in general, all persons compromised
in the projects of foreign intervention in Mexico; and it now has
satisfaction in attending to the good offices of the United States,
freeing Mr. Eloin from all proceedings, and placing him at once at
liberty to leave the republic.
For this purpose the President has directed that the necessary orders
shall be given.
I have the honor to renew to you, sir, the assurances of my
distinguished consideration,
Mr. Edward Lee Plumb,
Chargé d’ Affaires of the United States in
Mexico.
