Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session of the Fortieth Congress
Mr. Romero to Mr. Seward
Mr. Romero respectfully salutes Mr. Seward, and has the honor to state to him that, according to the recommendations he made to him on the 4th instant, [Page 585] that he should send to the Department of State the rest of the documents he should receive respecting the persons captured at Queretaro, he transmits to-day a copy of No. 48 of the newspaper La Sombra de Zaragoza. published at San Luis Potosi the 19th June last past, which he has just received, in which are comprehended the documents that the government of Mexico has thought proper to publish at this time respecting the trial of three of those persons. These documents include several of those which Mr. Romero sent to Mr. Seward with his informal note of 3d instant. In a private letter, dated at San Luis Potosi, the 21st June aforesaid, it is said to Mr. Romero that very soon the government of the republic would publish a volume which would contain, besides the documents referred to, the record of the proceedings instituted against those who have been tried, the defences, and other documents and proceedings having relation with the same business.
From the documents published up to this time the fact stands out in relief that the government of Mexico determined with all the clemency that was possible to it, in respect of the fate of the great number of persons captured at Queretaro,
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.
Trial of Maximilian.
Documents about the trial of the Archduke Maximilian, of Don Miguel Miramon, and of Don Tomas Mejia, and the execution which took place at Queretaro this day, 19th June, at 7 o’clock in the morning,
[Enclosure No. 1.—From the Sombra de Zaragoza, the official paper, of June 19, 1867.]
Mexican Republic–Headquarters army of operations.
In reply to the note from your department of the 21st instant, I have the honor to say to you that in conformity with the direction of the citizen President of the republic, the trial of Ferdinand Maximilian of Hapsburg and his so-called generals, Don Miguel Miramon and Don Tomas Mejia, was forthwith proceeded on, observing in the judicial proceedings what is provided in the law of January 25, 1862, in articles No. 6 to No. 11, inclusive; sending to your department the list of chiefs and officers, prisoners, as directed at these headquarters.
Citizen Minister of War and Marine Of the Republic of Mexico, San Luis Potosi.
[Enclosure No. 2.—Mexican Republic—Headquarters of the eastern army—Section of government.]
Citizen Minister: The telegrams from San Juan del Rio have been received at these headquarters, addressed by General Escobedo, which, by numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4, I have the honor to send in copy, as well as the answer which I gave to them:
General of Division Porfirio Diaz :
At half-past 8 I received by express the following telegram, which I have the honor to transmit, from the general-in-chief, Mariano Escobedo, and that of Maximilian.
The Emperor Maximilian to Baron de Magnus, Minister of Prussia in Mexico:
Have the kindness to come and see me as soon as possible, with the advocates Don Mariano Riva Palacio and Rafael Martinez de la Torre, or other you may think well of, to defend my cause; but I desire that it be done immediately, for I have no time to lose. Don’t forget,the necessary documents.
General of Division Don PorfirIo Diaz ;
The general-in-chief charges me to say to you that you will please to communicate to him seasonably whatever may occur, and principally respecting the message from Maximilian.
General Don Porfirio Diaz :
I send you the following message:
General Diaz: If there is no obstacle to Marquez receiving the former message communicated from Maximilian, it is hoped you will permit it.
[Enclosure No. 7.]
Citizen Minister of War and Marine, St. Luis Potosi :
Telegraph citizen A. Alcerreca:
Please transmit to General Escobedo the adjoined telegram.
P. DIAZ.
I received the telegram from Maximilian which you sent me, in which he shows that if there is no obstacle it might be sent to Mexico, and in reply I have the honor to say to you that I dare not do so without express order from the supreme government, it being too serious a matter.
PORFIRIO DIAZ.
General of Division D. M. Escobedo.
Which I submit to your superior judgment, that the supreme government may determine what it thinks best.
[Enclosure No. 8.]
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOR WAR AND MARINE.
The President of the republic has informed himself of your despatch dated 26th of last past, in which are various telegrams, referring to the coming to Queretaro of the defenders Maximilian has directed to be called in. By the telegram which I addressed to General Escobedo, on the 28th of last month, advising him to send it to the proper direction, you will be aware that the government approved that those individuals should come, if they could arrive at Queretaro in good season.
General Porfirio Diaz, Chief of the Army Corps of the Eastern Army and of Forces operating against Mexico, Tacubaya, (or where he may be.)
Citizen Minister Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada:
I have received the telegrams directed to me by General Porfirio Diaz, dated at Queretaro, 25th May, and ask you to give my thanks to his excellency for the kindness with which he has facilitated to me the means of meeting the application made to me by a prince under misfortune. Unhappily, the authorities in Mexico caused me a delay, and only to-day have I been able to leave the capital, with the advocates for the defence. That the defence may be complete, I will be very much obliged by obtaining from your excellency the suspension of the trial for a time sufficient for the defending counsel to be able to arrive for the fulfilment of their mission.
Minister Sebastiano Lerdo de Tejada:
General Diaz recommends that as soon as the answer of the supreme government to the application of Baron de Magnus is received, it be ordered to San Juan del Rio by express, that it may be transmitted to him. The period for the defence of Maximilian will begin to run at 4 or 5 o’clock this afternoon, as the government attorney has told me.
General Don MarIano Escobedo, Queretaro :
About 10 at night I received your telegraphic message, with the recommendation of General Diaz to advise what is to be done about the petition of Baron de Magnus. The Presient has already gone home to his dwelling, having been somewhat indisposed. Therefore, I shall not be able to consult him till morning, and will then reply to you.
[Enclosure No. 12.—Telegram to San Luis Potosi, June 3 867, 45 minutes past 10 o’clock, morning.]
General Mariano Escobedo, Queretaro:
To determine upon the messages received last night, relative to Baron de Magnus, the President desires to be informed on the following points: Whether the message from Mr. Magnus is of yesterday or of earlier date, and from what place he sent it? whether you know that he is awaiting reply or has set forth on the journey, and where he may now be found ? and whether the term for the defence of Maximilian, which you told me could begin to run from 4 or 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon, is the first term allowed by law or is already a second term, in virtue of an extension having been granted to him ? I await your answer, that the President may determine.
Minister Lerdo de Tejada :
I have to-day received a message from Mr. Magnus, sent last night at 7 o’clock from Tepeje, in which he tells me he is continuing his journey to-day; and Mr. Riva Palacio, in another addressed to an individual at this place, assures him that to-morrow he will be here with Mr. Magnus and other persons who accompany him. The term for the defence of Maximilian, which ends this day at 6 o’clock in the afternoon, is the first which the law allows. I say this in reply to your telegram of to-day.
Additional.—Yesterday finished the term for defence of Mejia, that of Maximilian beginning, which concludes to-day at 6, and that of Miramon beginning to-day. No extension has been granted to any one of them.
ESCOBEDO.
[Enclosure No. 14.—Telegram to San Luis Potosi, June 3,1867,15 minutes past 9 at night.]
General Don Mariano Escobedo, Queretaro :
I have received the message from you of this evening, communicating to me that you have notice that Baron de Magnus, and the advocates who accompany him, arrived yesterday at your city; that this evening finishes the term which the law grants for the defence of the Archduke Maximilian; and that thereupon the term for the defence of Don Miguel Miramon will begin to run. On the 28th of May you were informed by the department of war that if, within the term allowed by law for the defence, the counsel for defence called by Maximilian should not have arrived, you might grant him, as he requested, that from that time should begin to run anew the term indicated by law, in order that he should be able to make his defence. In conformity with that resolution, the President of the republic has concluded that I should say to you that as the term is running to-morrow for the defence of Don Miguel Miramon, who is one of the parties under prosecution, and as Baron de Magnus and the persons [Page 588] accompanying him will also arrive to-morrow,, you may concede that on the conclusion of the term for the defence of Don Miguel Miramon, the term which the law indicates for the defence of Maximilian shall begin to run anew; this new term being in such case common to the others who are under prosecution, that they may avail thereof in their defence. Please to communicate this to Baron Magnus, in reply to his message which I received last evening.
To the Minister Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, at San Luis Potosi :
Last night, at half past 11, we arrived here, I and other defenders of Maximilian, and the determination to try him being assumed, his trial will be on all parts read and scrutinized with strict attention. In this trial the fate of Maximilian is involved, but you know how much it concerns the honor of the country that the defence should be real in substance, and not merely in appearance. Can such be made in 24 hours, when double that time is not sufficient to look over the documents which this evening are going to be delivered to us by Maximilian 1 A term so peremptory would make defence impossible, and we and the country could not answer anything satisfactory on the fact of leaving undefended a man who thinks he possesses in those documents one of the main supports of his defence. To prepare this a few days are necessary, which we beg the President to grant, permitting me to go and talk with him on the indications made; but for this journey I must know that my companions can reckon upon the time required to do their work.
If you, as I beg of you, accede to my wishes, on receiving your answer I will immediately take the stage.
[Enclosure No. 16.—Telegram.
Mariano Riva Palacio, Queretaro:
The President of the republic has taken into consideration the message you addressed me to-day, received at half past 3 this afternoon, and I already communicate by telegraph to the secretary of war such extension of the term for defence as the government deems possible.
The Minister of War:
At this moment, which is half past 12 at noon, I have received the following:
“Telegraphic Lines of the Interior, “Received from Tacubaya June 5, 1867, at 9 o’clock at night.
“To General Escobedo :
“It is necessary that you should send me two brigades of infantry, with forces ready for an assault.
“P. DIAZ.”
I send this to you, remarking, that to go from this with the force I can possibly muster, it is necessary that General Treviño should come and take command of what is to remain in this city.
[Enclosure No. 18.—Telegram.]
To General Mariano Escobedo, Queretaro:
In view of the telegram you sent me this evening, enclosing another from General Diaz, the President of the republic has concluded that you may answer General Diaz that at present none of the forces that are at Queretaro can go thence, because it is necessary that they should remain there.
[Enclosure No. 19.]
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOR WAR AND MARINE—SECTION FIRST.
In view of the application made the day before yesterday, which you presented yesterday evening, asking that if Ferdinand Maximilian, of Hapsburg, should be condemned to capital punishment by the court to which he is subjected, the favor of pardon may be extended to him, the President of the republic has determined to make known to you that it is not possible to decide upon the question of pardon before knowing whether the person under trial has been condemned by the court; and that in case of condemnation, if the matter should then be submitted in season to the decision of the government, to resolve whether it would or not concede the favor of pardon in such case, amid all the considerations of the case which would have weight with the government, the statement made by you in your application will be kept in view.
M. Riva Palacio and Lie. Rafael Martinez de la Torre, Present.
Minister of Relatlons:
Yesterday, at 8 in the morning, the council of war opened, and up to this moment, half past 7, has not finished its labors. I think that within two hours, at the furthest, I shall be able to communicate the result.
To-day I have sent from this city the Princess of Salm and various foreigners, because they were at work very recklessly, and their labors were very dangerous.
The Minister of Relations:
The council has condemned to death, unanimously, the three persons under trial. The cause is passed over to the assessor.
[Enclosure No. 22.—Telegram.
To General D. Mariano Escobedo, Queretaro:
The President is in possession of the two messages you have addressed to me to-night.
[Enclosure No. 23.]
You have stated in your new application, dated this day, that having notice that the council of war assembled at Queretaro had condemned Ferdinand Maximilian of Hapsburg to the extremest penalty, you sought, as his defenders, that the government would grant to him the favor of pardon, or that, if it could not yet decide that point, would meantime resolve to suspend the effect of the sentence.
The President of the republic, being made aware of this new application, has directed me to say to you that, as I stated to you in ray despatch yesterday, it was impossible to pass upon an application for pardon before knowing what was the judgment of the court, there then being no condemnation from which such effect might result, until the finding of the council should be confirmed by the military chief in accordance with the ordinance and laws respecting the matter; and for the rest, that I also should say to you, as noted in my despatch yesterday, that the government not altering the provisions of the law, in case that the finding of the council be confirmed, it then may be submitted in proper season to the decision of the government to resolve whether to concede or not the favor of pardon. In such [Page 590] case, among all the considerations which the government must weigh, it will keep in view what is set forth by you in your two applications.
Independence and liberty!
MaRiano Riva Palacio, and.
Lic. Rafael Martinez de la Torre, Present.
[Enclosure No. 34. ]
The application presented by you of this day’s date to the President of the republic, soliciting the favor of pardon to be granted to Ferdinand Maximilian of Hapsburg, who has been sentenced at Queretaro by the council of war which tried him to suffer the extreme penalty has been met by the following decision:
“This application for pardon, and others presented with the like object, having been examined with all the deliberation which the gravity of the case requires, the President of the republic has been pleased to determine that he cannot accede to them, because the weightiest reasons of justice, and the necessity of assuring the peace of the nation, are opposed thereto.”
I communicate this for your information, and as the result of the application referred to.
Mariano Riva Palacio and
Lic. Rafael Martinez de la Torre, Present.
Citizen President: The sentence which the council pronounced on the 14th instant having been confirmed at these headquarters, at ten o’clock this morning notice was given to the guilty, and at three in the afternoon they will be put to death.
[Enclosure No. 26.—Telegram.]
General Escobedo, Queretaro:
The defenders of Maximilian and Miramon have just applied and made known to the government that the sentence of the council of war which imposed on them and Mejia the penalty of death has been ordered to be executed this afternoon. For the three persons sentenced the favor of pardon has been sought, which the government has denied, after having held on this point the maturest deliberations. In order that those under sentence may have the time necessary for the regulation of their affairs, the President of the republic has determined that the executions of the three parties under sentence shall not take place until the morniag of Wednesday, the 19th of the current month. Please to give orders in conformity with this determination, and advise me at once of the receipt of this message.
To the Minister of War:
I am informed that the President has directed that the execution of the guilty be suspended until the morning of Wednesday, the 19th. I shall carry out this final disposition.
[Enclosure No. 28.—Memorandum.]
The Baron A. V. Magnus, who has exercised the functions near Maximilian as minister of Prussia, and Messrs. Mariano Riva Palacio and Don Rafael Martinez de la Torre, the three [Page 591] summoned by Maximilian from. Mexico for his defence, and who are now in this city, came together to see the secretary of relations and government at 12 o’clock this day. They stated that Messrs. Riva Palacio and Martinez de la Torre had received a telegram from Queretaro telling them the sentence of the council of war had been confirmed, imposing the penalty of death on the Archduke Maximilian, Don Miguel Miramon, and Don Tomas Mejia; that the sentence had been made known and the hour of three in the afternoon named for the execution. The three gentlemen named petitioned the government to communicate at once by telegraph an order for suspending the execution until action had upon the application for the favor of pardon. Besides, Mr. Magnus asked that in case of the refusal of pardon, a period should be granted, indispensable to him, to go to Queretaro and have an interview with Maximilian. He based his application on the fact that Maximilian had stated to him at Queretaro, that in case of condemnation he desired to confide to him some commissions to his family. He added that his going to Queretaro was now of more importance, because he knew that those who had exercised functions near Maximilian as the representatives of Austria and Belgium, to whom, in the absence of Mr. Magnus, he might have confided those family matters, were no longer at Queretaro, but had been marched away to Tacubaya.
Three days before the 13th Mr. Magnus had spoken as well of the grant of pardon, in case of condemnation, as on the fact that he might have time to go to Queretaro to be able to receive Maximilian’s directions. On the very day (the 13th) he had been answered on the first point that the government could determine nothing about pardon while there had not been any condemnatory sentence; and upon the second point, that in the case of the pronunciation of such sentence the government could not proffer in anticipation that it would grant the time necessary for him to go to Queretaro, wherefore if Mr. Magnus thought proper he could return at once to that city. The President of the republic being informed of the petitions made to-day by Messrs. Magnus, Riva Palacio, and Martinez de La Torre, made arrangement to advise at once with his ministers about the business, resolving that it appeared impossible to grant the favor of the pardon upon the gravest considerations of justice, and the unavoidable necessity for securing the peace of the republic; and that it would not be humane to prolong much the situation of the three persons under sentence, and at the same time not humane to deny altogether the petition presented for the purpose of giving them time to regulate their affairs. In virtue whereof it was determined to communicate at once by telegraph an order to suspend the execution for two days until the morning of Wednesday, the 19th instant. This order had reference to the statement of the defenders as to the hour indicated to-day for the execution, and did not refer to the telegram of General Escobedo on the same point, because such telegram was not received until some moments after the order was sent by the telegraph. Although after Mr. Magnus was informed of the result, he indicated the wish that the execution should be deferred until Friday, the 21st. It did not appear humane, nevertheless, to prolong the time so much, and he was answered that it had already been calculated that he could without difficulty reach Queretaro on to-morrow (Monday) night, or early on Tuesday morning. He was also told that for this purpose the government would give him all the facilities he could desire, and in conformity with his intimation the minister of relations has ordered a diligence extra-ordinary to be placed at his disposal.
This memorandum is drawn up that the facts related may appear in the report.
[Enclosure No. 9.]
FOREIGN RELATIONS, DEPARTMENT OP GOVERNMENT—SECTION FIRST.
The President of the republic has decided that you will please direct that at once a diligence extraordinary be prepared to go as speedily as possible from this city to Queretaro; said diligence to be placed under the control of Baron A. V. Magnus, with the persons he may choose to accompany him.
This I communicate to you to the end that said diligence extraordinary may be ready at the hour Baron de Magnus may appoint for this afternoon, or this day’s night.
The Administrador de Diligencias of this city.
His Excellency Sebastian Lerdo De Tejada :
Having arrived to-day at Queretaro, I have become assured that the three persons condemned at Queretaro on the 14th died, morally, on Sunday last, and that thus the whole world may consider it, because all their preparations for death being made, they expected [Page 592] every moment through an entire hour to be taken to the place where they are to be put to death, before it was possible to communicate to them by means of the telegraph the order to suspend the act. The humane practices of our day do not allow that after having suffered this horrible torment, they should die a second time to-morrow. Therefore, in the name of humanity and of Heaven, I conjure you to order not to take their life; and I again repeat to you that I am certain that my sovereign, his Majesty the King of Prussia, and all the monarchs of Europe, united by the ties of blood with the prince prisoner, to wit, his brother the Emperor of Austria, his cousin the Queen of Great Britain, his brother in-law the King of Belgians, and also his cousin the Queen of Spain, and the Kings of Italy and Sweden, will readily come to an understanding to give to his excellency Don Benito Juarez every assurance that no one of the three prisoners shall return to tread on Mexican territory.
[Enclosure No. 31.—Telegram at 5 minutes past 10 at night.]
To Baron A. V. Magnus, &c., &c., Queretaro:
I regret to inform you, in answer to the telegram you have been pleased to send me this night, that, as I announced to you the day before yesterday at this city, the President of the republic deems it impossible to grant the pardon of the Archduke Maximilian, upon the gravest considerations of justice, and the necessity for securing the peace of the republic.
I am, baron, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
The Minister of War:
On the 14th instant, at 11 at night, the council of war for the trial of Maximilian of Hapsburg, Miguel Miramon, and Tomas Mejia condemned them to suffer the penalty of death. The sentence being confirmed at these headquarters on the 15th, the 16th was appointed for its execution, which has been suspended until to-day, by direction of the supreme government. It was 7 o’clock in the morning when the said Maximilian, Miramon, and Mejia were shot to death.
Please communicate this to the President of the republic.
[Enclosure No. 33. —Telegram for Queretaro.]
General Mariana Escobedo, Commanding the Army of the North:
I have received the message from you of this day, in which you tell me that at seven this morning, Maximilian of Hapsburg, Miramon, and Mejia were put to death.
Memorandum.
Mr. Romero said that he received on the 4th instant an official communication from General Peraza, governor of Yucatan, dated at Merida on the 21st ultimo, stating he had sent General Santa Anna to Campeche, to be kept there subject to the disposition of the President of the republic. A copy of the communication was sent by Mr. Romero to the department.
General Peraza further states that General Santa Anna landed at Sisal on the 11th ultimo at his (General Peraza’s) request, and was not taken out of the Virginia by force, as has been reported. Among the documents sent by General Peraza to Mr. Romero and transmitted by him to the department is a letter from General Santa Anna, dated Sisal, June 12ht, 1867, saying that he landed at General Peraza’s invitation.
It does not appear from those papers how far from the coast the Virginia was lying when she was in the port of Sisal.