Mr. Romero to Mr. Seward
Mr. Secretary: I have the honor to inform you that in a communication, dated Havana, 20th current, which has reached me to-day, I am advised that Don Ramon Carvallo, who acts as consul of the so-called Mexican empire in Cuba, was enlisting men to serve in defence of Vera Cruz; that he gave twenty dollars bounty, and promised those whom he enlisted that they should receive one dollar daily from the time of their landing at Vera Cruz; that at that date, there were already enrolled a long list of Spanish soldiers, acclimated, and whose time had expired, who were to leave Havana for Vera Cruz on the 22d, aboard the steamer Paris, forming the first remittance, and that this was doing with the knowledge of the Spanish authorities. The source from which these important reports come to me cause me to regard them as authentic.
Believing that the government of the United States is disposed to regard the enrolling of Spaniards in a Spanish colony, to interfere in the internal difficulties of Mexico, in the same manner in which it regarded the recruitment of Austrians, which was for the like purpose, made in the Austrian empire, I have thought proper to transmit to you, without delay, these reports.
I gladly avail myself of this opportunity to renew to you, Mr. Secretary, the assurance of my most distinguished consideration.
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.