No. 329.
Mr. Nelson to Mr. Fish.
Mexico, July 10, 1872. (Received July 31.)
Sir: By letters from Mr. J. Ulrich, our consul at Monterey, I have been informed that the leaders of the insurrection in the Northern States, Generals Trevino and Quiroga, had become convinced of the impossibility of their success, and were desirous of making their submission to President Juarez upon honorable terms. After the battle near Monterey, gained by those generals, they secretly dispatched to Mexico a commission consisting of Messrs. Ignatio Galindo, Gregorio Zambrano, and Deputy Villareal, to propose terms of submission.
The two former of these gentlemen brought to me letters of introduction from Consul Ulrich, commending them as pacific and influential citizens, and strongly vouching, upon personal knowledge, for the good faith of Treviño and Quiroga. He also presented many weighty reasons why these leaders should be regarded with more favor than the professional revolutionists who abound in other parts of the republic.
Messrs. Galindo and Zambrano had repeated conferences with me, and impressed me very favorably. Their principal proposal was that the insurgent leaders above mentioned would make their submission, surrender their arms, renounce their official posts, and retire to private life upon a guarantee against any trial or other molestation in consequence of the part taken by them in the revolution.
I thought it my duty to lend my unofficial good offices to these gentlemen, not to make any recommendations upon the subject to the Mexican government, but to aid them in the presentation of their own views, and, incidentally, to communicate some important data derived from Consul Ulrich.
[Page 438]I had two long and cordial interviews on the subject with Mr. Lafragua, who verbally laid their substance before the President. The decision reached by the government, and communicated to the commissioners, is that the only guarantee which can be accorded to the insurgent leaders upon their submission is an exemption from trial by martial law, and that they must reside in the places designated by the President and be responsible before the civil tribunals for all damage to private property committed by them during their rebellion.
President Juarez conveyed to me, through Mr. Lafragua, his warm thanks for the interest I had taken in promoting the restoration of peace in this republic.
I am, &c,