Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress with the Annual Message of the President, December 4, 1871
Mr. Nelson to Mr. Fish
Sir: I herewith transmit further information concerning the cruise of the steamer Forward, consisting of a copy of a note from me to our consul at Guaymas, dated October 1, 1870, (A;) also an extract from a communication from the said consul dated November 14, 1870, (B;) also a copy of a communication of the said consul dated November 18, inclosing a letter from Charles J. Jansen, (C;) also a copy of the said letter, (D;) also a copy of a communication from the said consul dated November 18, in reply to my interrogatives, (E;) also a translation of the official account, by authority of the federal custom-house at Guaymas, of the raid of the Forward, (F;) also an extract from a private letter from our consul at Guaymas dated July 10, 1870, (G.)
These papers and documents, in connection with those I have heretofore sent, will perhaps be sufficient to settle the questions as to whether the government of Mexico should be held liable for the damage inflicted by the Forward, and whether, in fact, any property belonging to American citizens was seized or destroyed by her officers or crew.
Your obedient servant,
Inclosures.
A.—Mr. Nelson to Mr. Willard.
B.—Mr. Willard to Mr. Nelson.
C.—Mr. Willard to Mr. Nelson.
D.—C. J. Jansen to Mr. Willard.
E.—Mr. Willard to Mr. Nelson.
F.—Translation of official account from custom-house at Guaymas.
G.—Private letter from Mr. Willard to Mr. Nelson.
A.
Mr. Nelson to Mr. Willard
Sir: * * * * * * *
In your dispatch No. 20, of July 10, 1870, and also in a private letter of the same date, you state that “no American property or citizens were molested” by the Forward at Guaymas. Please report to this legation whether you have subsequently learned that American citizens sustained any losses by the raid. If so, please state the name and place of residence of each person, and the amount of injury he suffered. Did the commander of the expedition show to you or give you a copy of the order (alluded to in his note to you of May 28) of Mr. Louis Schumacher, of San Francisco, authorizing him to take possession of certain fire-arms, the property of the said Schumacher? If a copy of the said order can be obtained please transmit it to me.
[Page 614]Have you any information concerning the real object of the Forward when she left San Francisco? Was there any arrangement or understanding between Placido Vega and the owners or officers of the Forward before she sailed, or afterwards, in regard to the purposes of the expedition? Was the charter-party which was signed by Charles J. Jansen and others in San Francisco executed in good faith? Have you any reason to believe that Captain James C. Jones was implicated with Vega or Vizcayno?
Please respond to these inquiries at your earliest convenience.
* * * * * *
I remain, &c.,
B.
Mr. Willard to Mr. Nelson
For the want of time (as there is only three hours from the arrival to the departure of the mail) I cannot possibly answer in detail the questions which you ask about the steamer Forward, (although there is but little more to communicate than what I have previously written.) I will by the mail of the 18th proximo address you more at length on this subject. As mentioned in my dispatches, no American goods or citizens “were molested” further than those mentioned as belonging to the house of Rodger, Meyer &. Co., of San Francisco, known as an English house, whose goods were taken or seized at the house of Ortiz Hermanos, along with other consigned goods from Mazatlan. These goods of the said house of Nodger J Meyer & Co., may be American goods. As yet nothing has been done toward presenting proofs of the same, by the owners, with the view of making reclamations. A protest was made at the time of seizure, against the act of Colonel Vizcayno, by a clerk of the house of Ortiz Hermanos, but since then nothing has been done through the medium of this consulate either by the partners, Ortiz Hermanos, or the owners of the goods.
The order to take the fire-arms which Colonel Vizcayno stated he possessed from the owner, Mr. L. Shumacher, was not shown me, nor do I know of any one in Guaymas or elsewhere who saw it.
No notice was taken of my request for a copy of the same, which was one of the causes of my refusing to withdraw my protest, when requested verbally to do so by the aid of Colonel Vizcayno.
Your obedient servant,
C.
Mr. Willard to Mr. Nelson
Consulate of the United States of America, Guaymas, Mexico, November 18, 1870.
My Dear Sir: I enclose you herewith a private letter from Charles J. Jansen, received by me in September last; and as it refers to one of the inquiries answered in my dispatch of this date, I send it, so that you can see what he says in relation to the Forward. I am not personally acquainted with Mr. Jansen, and have never seen him to my knowledge, and the only letter received by me from him, previous to the one now inclosed, was in regard to a permit to ship öre (copper) from the copper mines on the Lower California coast, in which he was interested. To my reply to the enclosed letter I have received no acknowledgment. All that I know about Jansen is from hearsay, and he is represented as an energetic man of business, and has been connected with this coast in ships and shipping for some years.
The authorities view him as a friend of Vega, and believe him implicated more or less, but have not the proofs sufficient to make it clear. As Captain Jones was tried at Mazatlan and released, the facts elicited at the trial could be (and perhaps have been) sent you by our commercial agent at that place.
* * * * * * *
Your obedient servant,
D.
Mr. Jansen to Mr. Willard
Dear Sir: I had this pleasure mouths ago; this time on a more painful subject.
You are too well acquainted with the raid on your city in the steamer Forward for me to repeat. A strong impression, I have reason to believe, exists in your city and Mazatlan, that in some manner or other I am or was in collusion with the enemies of the federal authorities of Mexico, and particularly those of the States of Sinaloa and Sonora, and who possessed themselves of the steamer Forward, on no other ground, to my knowledge, in theory or fact, than that I fitted that steamer and dispatched her from here.
The Forward left here on as legitimate a voyage and enterprise as ever a vessel left this port. A thorough investigation in this respect, had at Mazatlan on her arrival there, should divest all fair-thinking minds of all doubts. If no other in theory, such impression is still more absurd, since it was equally convenient to have dispatched the steamer to San Blas, the headquarters of the revolutionary party, as to Mazatlan. The fact is that public as well as private information all tended if not full assurance that Placido Vega had abandoned all hope of further disturbing the public peace, and had retired to private life at the time the steamer Forward left San Francisco, and she was sent to Mazatlan in preference to San Blas as a further guarantee of protection, and to prevent being tainted even with suspicion; and in my opinion there was collusion between Vega or his adherents and the liberal authorities of Mazatlan, in contriving to take Captain Jones away from the steamer, without at the same time providing protection for the boat, virtually taking her out of his and the owners’ hands; and but for this (indicating the course for Vega to pursue) the misfortune would never have happened.
I make this explanation to you in hope that my name and character may not suffer at your hands in a private or national character. If I have succeeded in convincing you, I feel solicitous for your influence with others of your place whose good opinion I highly esteem.
I understand that five or six of the crew of the ill-fated Forward will be or have been sent to your city for trial. By what I can learn from those returned here, Holden, the mate, is grossly culpable and deserves little sympathy. The theory of the men returned here for acquiescing in proceeding in the Forward is that she should or was to go to Altala, for which she was said to have a clearance, there take in specie and other freight, and from there proceed direct to this port; and that the destination was Guaymas they had no knowledge until compelled by force.
I will not hold myself responsible for any expense or liability contracted by the crew of the steamer Forward that were taken at her destruction, and remain very truly, yours,
E.
Mr. Willard to Mr. Nelson
Sir: I have the honor, agreeably to my last dispatch of the 14th instant, of answering more in detail the questions asked in your communication of October 1 last, pertaining to the raid on this port (28th of May) by the faction of Vega, commanded by one Colonel Fortuno Vizcayno, brought here by the steamer Forward.
1st. “To report whether I have subsequently learned that any American citizens sustained losses; and if so, to state the name, place of residence, amount,” &c.
As mentioned in my former dispatches, no United States citizens residing here were molested or their property injured, excepting as far as the federal custom-house duties are concerned; all of said duties unpaid and pending were paid by the merchants irrespective of nationality, they being called to the custom-house, by Vizcayno in the name of the collector, who at the time was a prisoner. The firm of Roundtree & Lubbuk paid $1,000, the amount due by them for duties, and W. H. Behrendt $1,400, the same being due. These are the only United States citizens who had duties pending; they refused to pay until the proper receipt, (carta pago,) duly signed by the collector and other officers, was furnished them, and which was done, the same kind of receipt being given to all on payment of the amount due for federal duties.
Goods seized.—The house of Ortiz Hermnos was the only house which sustained loss by forcible seizure, Vizcayno notifying the said house to pay him the sum of $25,000, [Page 616] or he would take goods by force to double that sum. No one appearing to represent the house, on the evening of the 29th of May an officer of Vizcayno presented himself at the store-house and demanded that the doors should be opened, which was done by a clerk of the house, and goods of various classes taken, amounting in the aggregate to $40,000. (I herewith inclose, marked No. 1, a list of the same furnished by one of the partners of the said Spanish and Mexican commission-house of Ortiz Hermanos, a copy of the same being on file in this consulate.) A protest was made at the time before me by a clerk of the said house against this act of Vizcayno. Among the goods thus taken were a portion of those consigned to Ortiz Hermanos from the house of Rodger Meyer & Co., of San Francisco, California. This house, I am informed, is known in San Francisco as an “English importing house.” One of the founders of the firm—Rodgers, an Englishman—having died some years ago, an interest in the house was purchased by an American named Dean; still the “firm name” remains unchanged. Meyer, one of the partners, I am informed, is a German. As mentioned in my dispatch of the 14th instant, the goods of the said house of Rodger, Meyer & Co. may be American property, but as yet nothing has been done through the medium of the consulate or otherwise, that I am aware of, in presenting proofs of the nationality of the said firm, either by Ortiz Hermanos or by the said firm itself.
2d. “Did the commander of the expedition show or give a copy of the order (alluded to in his note to this consulate dated May 28) of Mr. Louis Schumacher, of San Francisco, authorizing him to take possession of the fire-arms, the property of the said Schumacher? and if so, and it can be obtained, transmit a copy of the same.”
This order (if one existed) was not shown to me, nor do I know of any one who says that they saw it; and no notice was taken of my request for a copy of the same, and, as mentioned in my dispatch of the 14th instant, was one of the causes why I refused to retire my protest, stating to the Aid of Vizcayno, “if Vizcayno would show me the legitimate order, and give me a guarantee that the duties on said arms would be paid to the general government of Mexico, amounting to rather more than $4,000, that I then might consider the propriety of retiring my protest, but it would then only be by guaranteeing that said arms would be taken to the United States, and not landed on the Mexican coast.”
3d. “Concerning the object of the steamer Forward when she left San Francisco, and whether I have any information as to an arrangement or understanding between Vega and the owners or officers of the Forward before she sailed from San Francisco, or afterwards, as to the purposes of the expedition?”
I have no information of any kind, more than the reports that were afterward published in the papers; and when the steamer Forward was detained at Mazatlan by the authorities, it was said here that this steamer was in the interest of Vega, and the same was reported in regard to the American vessels, Francis Palmer and Harrimon, who were at that time at or near San Blas.
4th. “The charter-party, signed by Charles J. Janson, whether executed in good faith, or have I any reason to believe that Captain James C. Jones was implicated with Vega?”
Of this, likewise, I know nothing. I learn from private sources that Charles J. Janson contends that he fitted out the steamer for the purpose of “fishing for oysters,” and the object was a legitimate fishing expedition, and that it was sent to Mazatlan, with the proper clearance papers, in preference to San Blas, &c.; but the proofs as to this being so, or the contrary, I cannot assert for want of the necessary information. As to the complicity of Captain Jones with Vega or Vizcayno, I know absolutely nothing, and have heard but few comments. As this port is so far away from the base of Vega’s operations, the statements received here are garbled and unreliable. Mazatlan having been the object of Vega, and being nearer his base, no doubt you have received from there more full and reliable information in regard to the two last inquiries in this dispatch.
I beg to inclose (marked No. 2) the official account of the raid on this port by the Forward, as published in the official paper of Sonora; being sent by the first officer of this custom-house to the government at Mexico, dated May 29 last.
I have the honor, &c.,
F.
Official account, by authority of the federal custom-house at Guaymas, of the raid of the steamer Forward, May 28 and 29, 1870.
[From the Eco de Sonora of November 11, 1870.]
District Court, State of Sonora.
Citizen Minister: I regret to inform you that on the morning of the 28th instant this town was surprised by insurrectionary forces of the Ex-General Vega, which landed [Page 617] about four leagues from this port from on board the war-steamer Forward, bearing the flag of San Salvador, under the command of the Ex-Colonel Fortuno Vizcayno, with the object of recovering about four thousand muskets which were in deposit at the barracks of the stationary companies, for the non-payment of duties at this custom-house, by order of the treasury department. As this port was at that time defenseless, these forces obtained full possession of it, and attacked the treasury officers, whence they obtained, by means of the pending credits, about $70,000, taken violently from the employés and from merchants. Besides this, they sacked the stores of Ortiz Brothers; and on their departure, which they effected the night of the 29th, on learning the approach of the forces which the active general, citizen Garcia Morales, had collected, they carried with them the citizen administrator, who, from the night before, was on board with his employés, being the only person who remained in their power, notwithstanding the good offices of the consul of the United States, who put in requisition every means to save him, and labored actively to prevent still greater scandals in this city.
In order to carry off the arms and goods, they embargoed the national brigantine schooner Colima and pilot-boat San Pablo, but did not tow away the national vessel Sonora, on account of the haste with which they fled from the shots of the advance guard of the government forces, then at the spot known as Punta de Lastre, at the entrance of the bay. The employés who were captured, the accountant in charge of the collector’s office, citizen Andres Fenochio, and the subscriber who was in charge of the accounts when the delivery of the money in hand and of the pending credits was demanded of them, refused to comply, alleging that, as they did not recognize in Don Fortuno Vizcayno any legitimate authority, they absolutely declined to surrender the said property, and the more so, since from the very moment when the place was taken by forces opposed to the supreme government they considered themselves as private individuals, and no longer as employés. Both these officers were then forcibly compelled to place their signatures, as the merchants requested, upon the letters of credit and notes, which were presented to them without comparison with the books, which the citizen administrator and the subscriber, by his order, did, after protesting against the validity of all such acts, and stating the above Considerations to the persons interested, who in turn protested, and, as it would seem, paid over the amounts of their debits.
About 12 o’clock yesterday I found means to escape, the administrator still remaining a prisoner, who, I am informed, afterward escaped also; but as I do not know where he now is, I take upon myself to inform you of these unfortunate but important events, hoping that the citizen administrator will, by the first mail, give you fuller particulars, since I do not yet know all the details, and am now away from my office, which I left closed, for which reason the present letter is sent without an official seal or the proper number, which I hope will be pardoned.
Citizen Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Mexico.
Copy. Guaymas de Zaragoza.
November 4, 1870.
ELIAS G.
G.
Extract from a private Utter from Alexander Willard, esq., United States Consul at Guaymas, dated July 10, 1870.
In my dispatch No. 20 I state no American property or citizens were molested, and I still believe so, although among some here, the house of Ortiz Hermanos, they state that Rodger, Meyer & Co., of San Francisco, California, is an American house, and as they lost some goods it is American property. I have always heard this house spoken of as an English house, and although Rodgers, the founder, has been dead some years, and a Mr. Dean (an American) has purchased, as I have been informed recently, an interest, the firm name of the house remains unchanged, and it is looked on by merchants as an English importing house, the same as Cross & Co., of San Francisco. In my letter to our commercial agent at Mazatlan, immediately after Vizcayno’s raid at this port, I stated no American property was molested; not with an idea of influencing Mr. Sisson either one way or the other, but because I believe so; and also regarding a ship of war, I wrote, this is too delicate a matter for me to give you advice upon, (in your district.) The Forward was here under San Salvador colors, (I believed so,) and Vizcayno called her his transport. Captains of ships of war have their own ideas of overhauling vessels that are mixed up in the family quarrels of Mexico. The German consul, Mr. Thaumhauser, and yourself can consult as to what had best be done in case there is a vessel of war in your port. I protested against the arms being taken officially, and also the coals, but they did as they pleased; the coals, as I stated, have been paid for
[Page 618]This is the substance of what I wrote to him, the official dispatch the same as the No. 20; and the German merchants, who have been the sufferers by this raid, pronounce my letter out of place, as I did not urge on Sisson positive advice and use stronger language condemnatory of the affair.