Mr. White arrived at San Luis Potosi on the 21st ultimo. He remained
there two days, and on the 23d started back. He reports the following
information in regard to Mexican affairs. Maximilian still held
Queretaro with a force estimated at 15,000, and was besieged by a
liberal force of 30,000, which was being re-enforced. All the roads from
the city except one were occupied by the liberals. It was understood at
San Luis that the imperialists were still in possession of Vera Cruz and
the city of Mexico. He also learned from President Juarez that he
confidently expected to be able to enter the city of Mexico in three or
four months.
I have had a short interview only with Mr. White, and must close this
despatch now to be in time for the mail. Should I derive from him
further items of information, I will communicate them to you
to-morrow.
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[Translation.]
Señor Lerdo de Tejada to
Mr. Campbell
San LUIS Potosi, Mexico,
April 22, 1867.
Sir: I had the honor to receive yesterday
the communication which you directed to me from New Orleans the 6th
day of this month.
You informed me in it that, for reasons which could he understood,
you had not come to present to the President of the republic your
credentials as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of
the United States near the republic of Mexico, and that you had
remained in New Orleans since December last. The government of the
republic is sensible of the reasons which prevented you from coming
to present your credentials in order to commence your official
relations, yet it would be very satisfactory to receive you in your
character of representative of the United States.
You inform me, also, that the satisfaction with which the government
of the United States has seen the retirement of the French forces
from Mexico, and the advance of the armies of the constitutional
government towards the capital, has been disturbed by the
information received concerning the severity employed towards the
prisoners of war made at San Jacinto. You also expressed the desire
of the government of the United States that, in the case of the
capture of the Archduke Maximilian and his partisans, they be
treated humanely as prisoners of war.
The enemies of the republic, desiring to produce an impression
unfavorable to the same, have undertaken to misstate the facts, and
to scatter abroad inexact information concerning the matter of the
prisoners of San Jacinto. The greater part of them, in numbers
considerable, were pardoned, and the punishment which the chief of
the republican forces ordered to be executed upon some was not
because they were considered simply prisoners of war, but rather as
culprits, according to the right of nations and according to the
laws of the republic. They had delivered themselves up to every kind
of excesses and crimes in the city of Zacatecas, because they were
acting as fillibusters, without country and without flag, and as
mercenaries paid to shed the blood of Mexicans who defend their
independence and their institutions. Some numbers, not small, of
those foreigners taken at San Jacinto were conducted to Zacatecas,
where they were treated with much kindness, in the same manner as
have been and are treated others taken at Jalisco, who were captured
under such aggravating circumstances of special culpability.
The constant practice of the government of the republic (and the
chiefs of its forces have
[Page 405]
in general observed it) has always been to respect the life and
treat with the greatest consideration the prisoners taken of the
French forces; while by the greater part of them, and even by the
order of their principal chiefs, prisoners were frequently
assassinated which they took from the republican forces; many times,
without insisting upon exchange, prisoners taken of the French
forces having been generously set at liberty.
Various of the principal chiefs of the French forces ordered entire
towns to be burned. Others were decimated by what were called
courts-martial; and again, on a simple suspicion, without any
judicial process, caused indefensible persons to be killed, and even
the old who were not able to take up arms against them.
Notwithstanding this, the government of the republic, and the chiefs
of its forces in general, far from taking reprisals to which they
were provoked, have always observed the most humane conduct, giving
constant examples of the greatest generosity. In this way the
republican cause of Mexico has excited the sympathies of all
civilized people.
The French forces having retired, the Archduke Maximilian has willed
to follow on shedding uselessly the blood of the Mexicans. Except
three or four cities over which his forces, dominate, he has seen
the entire republic risen up against him. Notwithstanding this, he
has determined to continue the work of desolation and of ruin, of a
civil war without object, calling to his aid some of the men most
known for their spoliations and horrible assassinations, and those
most responsible for the misfortunes of the republic. In case that
persons should come to be captured upon whom weighs such
responsibility, it does not appear that they can be considered as
simply prisoners of war, as responsibilities are defined by the
right of nations and by the laws of the republic. The government,
which has given numerous proofs of its humane principles, and of its
sentiments of generosity, holds also to the obligation of
considering, according to the circumstances of the cases, what the
principles of justice demand, and the duties which the Mexican
people hold it to fulfil towards them.
The government of the republic hopes that with the justification of
its acts it will preserve the sympathies of the people and of the
government of the United States, which have been and are held in the
highest estimation by the people and the government of Mexico.
I have the honor to be your excellency’s very respectful and very
obedient servant,
His Excellency Lewis D. Campbell,
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the
United Mexican States.
