your beautiful country. In proof of the sincere spirit of conciliation with which we are animated, we have, in the first place, directed ourselves to that same government against which we have motives of the most serious complaints. We have asked it to accept our aid in establishing in Mexico a state of things that might in future avoid us the necessity of these long expeditions, the greatest inconvenience of which is the suspension of commerce, and the cessation of those relations which are as advantageous to Europe as to your own country. The Mexican government has answered to the moderation of our conduct by taking measures to which we never would have given our approval, and which the civilized world would reproach us for sanctioning by our presence. Between it and ourselves war is now declared. But we do not confound the Mexican people with an oppressive and violent minority. The Mexicans have ever had a right to our warmest sympathies; it remains to them to show themselves worthy of them. We appeal to all those who may have confidence in our intervention, no matter to what party they may have belonged. No enlightened man can ever believe that a government, born from the suffrage of one of the most liberal nations of Europe, could for a moment have had the intention of restoring in a foreign country ancient abuses and institutions, which no longer appertain to the age. We wish equal justice for all, and we wish that this justice should not be imposed by the force of our arms. The Mexican people must be the first instrument of their own salvation. Our only aim is to inspire the honorable and pacific portion of the country-that is to say, to the nine-tenths of the population-with the courage to declare their free will. If the Mexican nation remains inert, if she does not comprehend that we offer her an unexpected occasion to escape from an abyss, if she does not lend by her efforts a sentiment and a practical morality to our support, it is evident that nothing is now left for us to do but to occupy ourselves with the necessary interests, in view of which the convention of London was concluded. Let all men so long divided by quarrels without an object hasten to unite with us; they hold in their hands the destinies of Mexico. The French flag has been planted upon Mexican soil, and that flag shall not retrocede. Let all upright men hail it as a friendly banner; let the insensate dare to attack it! E. JURIEN, No. 3. General Prim to General Zaragoza. ARMY OF THE EAST-GENERAL-IN-CHIEF-BODY OF EXPEDITION TO MEXICOMAJOR GENERAL'S STAFF SECTION THIRD. ORIZABA, April 13, 1862. EXCELLENT SIR: I have just received your excellency's communication of yesterday, in which you inform me of your arrival at Ingenio, and in which you ask me upon what day the forces under my command will evacuate this city; and therefore I have to inform your excellency that on the afternoon of the 19th this place will be entirely evacuated by our troops and materiel. God preserve your excellency many years. His Excellency Señor Don J. Zaragoza. This is a true copy. COUNT DE REUS. APRIL 22, 1862. LAZARO GARZA AYAŁA, Secretary. No. 4. General Zaragoza to the French commander-in-chief. ARMY OF THE EAST-GENERAL-IN-CHIEF. GENERAL HEADQUARTERS AT INGENIO, April 17, 1862. Although the French commissioners have been the first to break the preliminaries of peace agreed to at La Soledad on the 19th of February last, as a mere duty of humanity I allow the sick of the army of that power to remain in the hospital; but they are safe under the protection and loyalty of the Mexican army; therefore there is no need they should be guarded by any forces of their own nation. I hope, then, that his excellency the general-in-chief of the French troops residing in Cordoba will order the escort to which I refer to retire, protesting to him the assurances of my personal consideration. Liberty and reform. J. ZARAGOZA. His Excellency the GENERAL-IN-CHIEF of the French Army, Cordoba. This is a true copy. ACULZINGO, April 22, 1862. LAZARO GARZA AYALA, Secretary. No. 5. La Gravière to the commander-in-chief of the army of the east. CORDOBA, April 17, 1862. The undersigned, plenipotentiary of his Majesty the Emperor of the French, has the honor to inform the general-in-chief of the eastern army that in virtue of orders received from his Majesty the Emperor he has given up the command of the expeditionary body to General Count de Lorencez, who remains in the exclusive charge of the military operations. Consequently, the note that was brought last night by a messenger from the general-in-chief of the eastern army has been transmitted to that general officer. I avail myself of this present occasion to renew to the general-in-chief of the eastern army the assurances of my distinguished consideration. No. 6. General Lorencez to General Zaragoza. BODY OF EXPEDITION TO MEXICO-CABINET of the GENERAL-IN-CHIEF. CORDOBA, April 19, 1862. In answer to the letter that Mr. Zaragoza has written to the French plenipotentiaries, under date of April 18, the general-in-chief of the expeditionary body to Mexico affirms that no guards have been left with the sick in Orizaba, nor any man in good health, (valide,) unless it be some few nurses to take care of them. The general-in-chief of the French expeditionary body begs General Zaragoza to accept the assurances of his distinguished consideration. This is a copy. GENERAL COUNT DE LORENCEZ. ACULZINGO, April 22, 1862. LAZARO GARZA AYALA, Secretary. No. 7. PROCLAMATION OF GENERAL ALMONTE. General Juan N. Almonte to all Mexicans: FELLOW-CITIZENS: I have desired for some days to address myself to you, in order to inform you of the object of my coming to the republic; but the fact of the existence of an armistice, and that of finding myself under the protection of French arms, did not permit me to speak, and I have been waiting for an opportunity to do so, Now that the representatives of France, taking upon themselves the whole charge of the situation, manifest the true wishes of the allied governments, I think it my duty to break the silence which, against my will, I had preserved, and which gave a pretext to the enemies of order to take advantage of it by publishing apocryphal proclamations. Upon returning, then, to the bosom of my country, I tell you that I come animated by no other sentiment than that of contributing to the pacification of the republic, and that of cooperating in the establishment of a national government-one of true morality and order-that may put a stop forever to anarchy, and that may give sufficient guarantees for life and property as well to foreigners as to those of the nation. A stranger to the bloody struggle which for so many years has lacerated our beautiful country, scandalizing the whole world to that degree as to call forth the serious attention of the great eastern powers of Europe, my efforts will always be to procure the reconciliation of our brothers and to banish from among them hatred and discord. Fortunately, in order to attain so noble an object Ĭ have neither personal revenge to gratify nor rewards to demand. Having been sufficiently repaid by the nation for the services which it was my duty to lend it before and after its independence, my sole desire at present is to offer it the last and most important one before descending into the sepulchre, and that is to secure to it that peace which it has been so long in want of. On the other hand, having reason to know, as I do know, the wishes of the allied powers, and especially those of his Majesty the Emperor of the French, which are no others than to see the establishment in our unfortunate country (and by our own selves) of a firm government of order and morality, in order that the pillage and vandalism which now reign in every part of the republic may dis appear, and that the mercantile world may profit by the immense advantages which our most fruitful country offers it, by the native riches she possesses, and by her geographical situation, I have thought it necessary to hasten to it to explain to you these good intentions, which also embrace the philanthropic idea of establishing forever the independence, nationality, and integrity of the Mexican territory! For the assuring, then, of a new order of things, you should confide in the efficacious co-operation of France, whose illustrious sovereign makes his beneficial influence felt in every place where a just and civilizing cause is required. Mexicans! If my honorable antecedents-if my services rendered to my country, as well in the glorious struggle of our independence as in the direction of her policy in the epochs in which I have formed part of her cabinet and represented the nation in foreign lands-if all this, I repeat, make me worthy of your confidence, unite your efforts to mine, and be assured that very soon we will see the establishment of a government such as suits our character, necessities, and religious belief. This is the assurance of your best friend and fellow-citizen, CORDOBA, April 16, 1862. JUAN N. ALMONTE. The French commissioners to the minister of foreign relations. CORDOBA, April 16, 1862. The undersigned, plenipotentiaries of his Majesty the Emperor of the French, have the honor to acknowledge to the minister of foreign relations receipt of the collective note, without date, which has been delivered to them by their colleagues, the representatives of her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and of her Catholic Majesty, as well as of the note, also without date, which has been addressed to them particularly and directly by Mr. Doblado. If the undersigned did not wish to avoid useless recriminations, without dignity, nothing would be easier than to establish, by means of facts, that it is not the representatives of the Emperor who have endeavored, under a puerile pretext, to elude the negotiations, nor that they have come to Mexico to combat the ideas of reform, liberty, or national independence, but that the government is the one who has destroyed with its own hands the preliminaries of La Soledad, persisting, since the day following that upon which the convention was signed, and with double violence, in abandoning itself every day to the same culpable acts against the properties and persons of the subjects of his Imperial Majesty, and against the most sacred principles of the rights of men, that they had ended by obliging the allied powers to exact reparation by force. The undersigned are sorry to add that other facts, entirely recent-such as the assassination of various French soldiers on the road to Vera Cruz, and even in the environs of Cordoba-furnish a new proof that the Mexican government has neither the will nor the power to comply with the obligations imposed upon all civilized governments. In such a state of things the undersigned, convinced of the inutility of recurring for a longer time to means of negotiations, can only refer to their note of the 9th of April; and they avail themselves of this occasion to renew to the minister of foreign relations the assurances of their distinguished consideration. A. DE SALIGNY. His Excellency the MINISTER OF FOREIGN RELATIONS. Answer of the minister of foreign relations to the despatch of the French commissioners. The undersigned, charged ad interim with the ministry of foreign relations of the Mexican republic, has the honor to answer the note which, under date of the 16th of the present month, was directed to him from Cordoba by their excellencies the commissioners of the Emperor of the French. The president, to whom I communicated the contents of said note, contradicts the imputation made therein of his having failed to comply with the preliminaries of La Soledad. It is in every respect false that the property of any French subject has been attacked; and if by chance the assassinations said to be committed on the road from Vera Cruz to Cordoba-that is to say, in those points occupied by the allied forces-should be verified, the government has neither received notice of them, nor, consequently, has it been able to prosecute the criminals, as it would have done if their excellencies had made the matter known to him. Now that for the first time he hears of these crimes, he has given orders that the necessary investigations be made. As to the rest, a few days after the signing of the preliminaries the commissioners gave shelter to several criminals of the republic, of whom some came from Europe, others were in Vera Cruz, flying from their judges, and others had withdrawn from the rebel forces in which they. were fighting, in order to concert together the overthrow of public order, as is proved by documents issued from this ministry. The same criminals have repaired to different districts subject to the government, guarded by French forces, whose officers have prevented the local authorities from freely exercising their functions, as stipulated in the preliminaries. Other French officers have even gone so far as to imprison some of the Mexican authorities, threatening to have them shot under the most unjust and frivolous pretences. If these facts, and the having failed in the stipulated conferences of the preliminaries, are or not an infraction of them, history will say, and the commissioners, officers. English and Spanish forces, before whose eyes it has taken place, will testify. The undersigned has the honor to offer to the commissioners his distinguished consideration. Liberty and reform! Mexico, April 20, 1862. Their Excellencies the COMMISSIONERS JESUS TERAN of his Majesty the Emperor of the French, Cordoba. Protest against the treaty. The undersigned, plenipotentiaries of his Majesty the Emperor of the French, have been informed that the cabinet of Mexico has concluded, some days since, or is on the point of concluding, with a foreign government, a treaty, by which it will sell, yield, transfer, or hypothecate in favor of this, a considerable portion of lands, properties, or rents belonging to the state, in exchange for a loan or advance of a certain sum of money. The undersigned, without examining the greater or less foundation which the rumors spread abroad upon this subject may have, think it their duty solemnly to protest, as they do, in the name of the government of the Emperor, and for the interest of their compatriots, agains: any treaty or convention whatever |