Hon. F. W. Seward,
&c., &c., &c.
[Enclosure No. 1.]
Washington,
May 31, 1867.
My Dear Sir: I have been favored with
your esteemed letters of the 22d and 29th instant. I am very
glad to hear that you returned safely and well from your long
trip southwards.
Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your kind congratulations
on our success in Mexico. It has been, indeed, most complete and
gratifying to us. We have accepted no humiliating terms from the
French; we are not embarrassed by treaty stipulations with any
foreign power which would be likely to give us trouble; all our
leading enemies are conquered and in our hands; we will have, so
to say, a new start in life. We have achieved our victory with
our scanty means, without any material assistance (physical aid)
from any foreign nation, and having, on the contrary, against us
the moral influence of all Europe and the material strength of
France and other continental powers. To this gigantic
combination we have only been able to oppose the endurance and
patriotism of our people, and the steadfast sympathy of the
people of the United States.
The remembrance of that enlightened sympathy will be everlasting
in Mexico. I will try to do full justice to it in a memorandum
of my sojourn in the United States during the war, which I
intend to write at some future day, as a contribution to the
history of that eventful period.
I have perused with interest your remarks about the way in which
we ought to treat the enemies of Mexico. I do not know what
disposition Present Juarez will make of Maximilian, but I am
afraid that if he is allowed to go back to Europe with impunity,
he will be a constant menace to the peace of Mexico. He will
keep on styling himself, to our shame, emperor
of Mexico. All dissatisfied Mexicans will keep up an
active correspondence with him about his supposed popularity
there, and even may induce him to return at some future time, as
they did with Iturbide; such of them as can afford it will go
over to Austria and
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form a Mexican court for Maximilian at Miramar, and he will have
enough of them to organize a legitimate Mexican government there, as the ex-king of the Two
Sicilies did at Rome, after he was expelled from Naples; some
European powers will keep recognizing him as the emperor of Mexico, as Spain did with the
ex-king of the Two Sicilies; whenever we may be likely to have
complications with any European nation, the first step taken by
the interested party will be to intrigue with Maximilian, and
threaten us with giving aid to our lawful
sovereign to recover his authority from the hands of the
usurpers, if we decline to accept their terms.
Besides, if Maximilian is pardoned and allowed to go home, nobody
in Europe, I am sure will give us credit for magnanimity, as
weak nations are not supposed to be magnanimous; but, on the
contrary, it will be said that we did so through fear of public
opinion in Europe, and because we would not dare to treat
harshly our sovereign.
I do not mean by this to say that Maximilian must necessarily be
shot; what I mean is that his power to do any further mischief
in Mexico must be utterly destroyed before he is allowed to
depart.
The United States are a great country and a perfectly well
organized power, and therefore they can afford to do what would
not be prudent for a country like Mexico.
I have full faith in President Juarez’s ability to treat
Maximilian in the way most convenient to the interests of
Mexico.
We have sacred duties to fulfil towards our own country, and
their discharge should be the first consideration that we should
have in view in attempting to resolve any question.
In great haste, I am, my dear friend, most truly yours,
Hon. Hiram Barney,
&c., New York City.
