holders, and stolen by the rebels from Her Britannic Majesty's Legation. In doing so, the Undersigned has the honour to inform Sir Charles Wyke that the suspension of payments does not, and could not, include the 660,000 dollars in question, and, consequently, there was no necessity to make any exception in this case. By the arrangement made in the matter of the 660,000 dollars, the Mexican Government has assigned for their payment the property of the responsible parties, and only in the event of such property proving insufficient for the purpose, did it engage itself to treat of and settle amicably the reimbursement of the whole sum. Inasmuch, then, as the money is not being paid by the National Treasury, the suspension of payments referred to does not, and cannot affect it. Were, indeed, the Treasury eventually called upon to make good any deficiency, the suspension of payments could never prove an obstacle in the way of its carrying out such an arrangement. In offering these explanations, which he doubts not will appear satisfactory to Sir C. L. Wyke, the Undersigned, &c. Sir C. Wyke. LEON GUZMAN. (Inclosure 3.)-Decree. Mexico, le 29 Mai, 1861. LE citoyen Benito Juarez, Président Intérimaire Constitutionnel des Etats-Unis Mexicains, à tous leurs habitants faisons savoir, Que le Congrès Souverain de la nation a bien voulu décréter ce qui suit: ART. I. L'Exécutif est autorisé à mettre en cours forcé des titres ("escrituras") de capitaux nationaux imposés sur immeubles ruraux et urbains, en quantité suffisante pour lui procurer le 1,000,000 piastres auquel se réfère le Décret du 20 du courant, avec un escompte pouvant s'élever jusqu'au deux pour cent mensuel. II. Sont suspendus, pour une année, les paiements aux créanciers du Trésor National, à l'exception de celui de la conduite de Laguna Seca, et des Conventions Diplomatiques; pendant ce temps, le Congrès de l'Union rendra les lois de crédit public, de suppression des Douanes intérieures et "alcabalas," de réforme de tarif et d'établissement de la contribution directe. III. L'Exécutif présentera une initiative d'arrangement pour la suspension des Conventions Diplomatiques, en rendant compte du résultat au Congrès pour son approbation. IV. En dehors des exceptions qu'établit l'Article II, l'exécutif ne pourra faire d'autres paiements que ceux d'administration. Donné dans la Salle des Séances du Congrès de l'Union, le 29 Mai, 1861. JOSE MARIA AGUIRRE, Député Président. Pourquoi j'ordonne, &c. Palais du Gouvernement Fédéral à Mexico, le 29 Mai, 1861. José Maria Castaños. BENITO JUAREZ. SIR, (Inclosure 4.)-Sir C. Wyke to Señor Guzman. Mexico, June 7, 1861. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your Excellency's communication bearing yesterday's date, in reply to my despatch of the 3rd instant, in which I requested you to inform me why all mention of the Legation robbery had been omitted from that Article of the Decree of the 29th ultimo which specifies the exceptions that are to be made to the suspension of payment of all claims against the National Treasury for the space of 12 calendar months. In the second paragraph of your above-named despatch, your Excellency informs me that the Decree of the 29th could not affect the case of the Legation robbery, and that consequently there was no necessity to mention the claim arising therefrom in the list of exceptions to the general rule of a suspension of payments; and yet, in the concluding sentence of the third paragraph, you inform me that if the means adopted for the liquidation of this claim should prove insufficient, that then the National Treasury would make up the deficit. Seeing that this must eventually be the case, your Excellency will easily understand why I was anxious to obtain the assurance which you have now given me, that the payment shall be made out of the National Treasury, for the means you have hitherto adopted to repay the money stolen have not produced the desired result. As I had the honour of stating to you in our recent conversation with reference to this matter, the prompt settlement of this claim equally affects the honour of both Governments, an opinion in which you fully concurred, at the same time assuring me that before the departure of the next European mail you would be able to prove to me the honourable intentions of your Government in doing all in their power to satify the just demands of that of Her Majesty. Fully trusting in that assurance, I will no longer dwell upon a subject the importance of which is well known to your Excellency; indeed, I should not again have alluded to it, were it not for my desire to prevent the possibility of any misunderstanding arising with reference to it. Señor Guzman. I avail, &c. C. LENNOX WYKE. (Inclosure 5.)-Señor Guzman to Sir C. Wyke. (Translation.) Mexico, June 12, 1861. WITH your Excellency's note of the 3rd instant, which the Undersigned had the honour of receiving on the 4th, the question raised by your Excellency about no exception having been made in the Decree of the 29th for the robbery committed by the rebels at the British Legation should have terminated. But, like your Excellency, the Undersigned is desirous of preventing any misunderstanding upon this point, and considers himself, therefore, under the necessity of explaining matters. Now there is a palpable difference between asserting, as did the Undersigned, that, in the event of the Legation robbery not being covered by the property of the perpetrators thereof, the Mexican Government were under an obligation to treat about and arrange the reimbursement of the moneys taken, and positively affirming that under similar circumstances the deficiency would have to be covered by the National Treasury. The Undersigned hinted, indeed, at the possibility of such a contingency, but he never did, nor could he say that it was a certainty; such a statement was out of the question, inasmuch as it is not possible to give a positive assurance about any matter which has to be treated of and settled, before the treatment and settlement shall have taken place. With regard to the loyal intentions of the Mexican Government, of which the Undersigned has assured your Excellency-your Excellency at the same time being pleased to acknowledge them-the Undersigned can state that stringent orders have been given for expediting the judicial inquiries which have been instituted, so as to permit of the money stolen from the Legation being repaid by whatever property of the responsible parties has been or may be embargoed. The Undersigned, &c. Sir C. Wyke. SIR, LEON GUZMAN. (Inclosure 6.)-Sir C. Wyke to Señor Guzman. Mexico, June 14, 1861. UNWILLING as I am to prolong a correspondence which I fear will lead to no practical result for some time to come, yet I cannot pass over in silence your Excellency's note of the 12th instant, written in reply to mine of the 7th, without at once protesting against the doctrine therein attempted to be established by inference, to the effect that the actual perpetrators of the Legation outrage are alone responsible, in their persons and property. for the wrong done on the 17th of November last. Now, according to every principle of international law having reference to cases in any way similar to the one in point, Her Majesty's Government is perfectly justified in holding the State of Mexico (I use the word in its largest sense) responsible for the insult done to their Legation, and the robbery of British property committed on that occasion, without in any way occupying themselves with the mere individuals who acquired so unfortunate a notoriety by a crime which it should have been the first duty of the present Government to punish and atone for. It was an express stipulation on the part of Her Majesty's Government, before recognizing that of President Juarez, that this obligation should be complied with, and Mr. Mathew, late Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires, was so fully convinced of the sincerity of his Excellency's then Cabinet in this matter, that he at once proffered the recognition he had to offer, without waiting to see the accomplishment of a duty which was binding, in honour as well as justice, on the parties who had inherited the advantages as well as the responsibilities of their predecessors. If Mr. Mathew's confidence has been misplaced, that can in no way affect the rights of Her Majesty's Government in this matter, which, as represented by me, I now again insist on, as well for the principle involved, as for the interests of the parties concerned. When I had the honour of communicating verbally with your Excellency on this subject, I had hoped that you had clearly understood the view taken of this question by Her Majesty's Government, and the more so as, according to those principles of international law now universally acknowledged, there is only one way of looking at it. I avail, &c. Señor Guzman. C. LENNOX WYKE. (Inclosure 7.)-Señor Guzman to Sir C. Wyke. (Translation.) National Palace, Mexico, June 15, 1861. THE Undersigned, &c., has the honour to address himself to his Excellency Sir Charles Lennox Wyke, &c., and to inform him, that, without insisting upon continuing the correspondence that his Excellency was pleased to commence, and which according to the declaration in his note of the 14th instant he does not desire to prolong, the Undersigned must take notice of the protest that his Excellency makes "against the doctrine which is attempted to be established by inference, to the effect that the actual perpetrators of the Legation outrage are alone responsible in their persons and property for the wrong done on the 17th of November last." Without entering into a question which is irrelevant, and confining himself to his note of the 12th instant, the Undersigned finds himself compelled to explain matters by observing, that in his said note of the 12th no doctrines were laid down, but facts were recalled; facts consigned in an agreement concluded between the Agent accredited by the English Government and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Mexican Government. The Government of the Undersigned is disposed to treat questions of right on the ground of justice and reason, but will not prejudice them, nor allow them to be prejudiced, by introducing them incidentally and out of their place, or contrary to established forms. Thus then, and without its being understood that the doctrines noted down by his Excellency are accepted or rejected, the Undersigned has the honour to assure him that in the matter of the Legation robbery he will be strictly bound by the agreement entered into by the representatives of both Governments, without discussing whether it be good or bad, inasmuch as the opportunity of so doing has passed. The Undersigned hopes that his Excellency will do him the justice to admit that he cannot occupy himself in this note with the other questions that his Excellency introduces into this note, because if, upon this principle, we were to go on mixing up questions indiscriminately, their solution would become more and more intricate, and eventually impossible. If, on the contrary, we give to each one the independent place its nature requires, its solution will be as easy as it will be prompt. Sir C. Wyke. SIR, The Undersigned, &c. LEON GUZMAN. (Inclosure 8.)-Sir C. Wyke to Señor Guzman. Mexico, June 18, 1861. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your Excellency's note of the 15th instant, a careful perusal of which leads me to infer that you think you have a right to complain of the tone of my communication of the 14th, to which it is a reply. In that despatch I endeavoured, in terms as clear and concise as possible, to put the question which has given rise to the present correspondence in its proper light, and in doing so I conceive I was fulfilling a duty imperative on me to perform, as no possible misunderstanding as to the views of Her Majesty's Government with reference to this matter must arise, as far as it lies in my power to prevent it. On the 17th of November last, an outrage was committed by the de facto Government of Mexico on the Legation of a friendly Power, which was not only a disgrace to its perpetrators, but a |