Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Third Session of the Fortieth Congress
Mr. Plumb to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I beg to inclose to the department herewith a copy of the Diario Oficial of this government, of yesterday, in which certain late documents are published, from which it appears that the ex-General Santa Anna has established a military headquarters in Havana, and is seeking to prepare from there military expeditions against Mexico, proceeding both directly to Vera Cruz and by way of the United States, proposing to avail for his purposes of a transit through the United States to the Rio Grande frontier, and the use there of our territory as a point of departure.
While all of these projects of Santa Anna are now of utterly impossible realization, they are yet the means of mischief, and are an international annoyance, inasmuch as deluded Americans may be drawn into such schemes to their subsequent peril, and the authorities on our frontier are required to maintain a constant vigilance in order to prevent the departure of any such expeditions from our territory.
In this point of view it would seem that there should be a limit to the extent to which the Spanish port of Havana can with propriety be used as an asylum for persons engaged in such movements, and much less for the establishment there of their military headquarters.
I do not doubt that the department, on receiving these documents, [Page 590] will take such action in the premises as the circumstances of the case in its judgment may require.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
Conspiracy of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, in Havana, against the Mexican Republic.
[Editorial remarks.]
We publish to-day the documents relating to the conspiracy of Santa Anna and other traitors, now residing at Havana, in the Island of Cuba.
The government attaches little importance to those machinations, for it is ready to meet all such schemes; but it thinks proper to make the facts known. The conspirators boast that they are aided by the Spanish authorities in Cuba. Whether this be true or not, the presumption is that the authorities there connive at the conspiracy, otherwise we cannot understand how military preparations can go on, for such purposes, without being known to the police, that find out everything. The publications of to-day will show what truth there is in the pretended neutrality of the Spanish authorities in Cuba.
Department of State, Office of War and Marine.
I, Pablo Lopez, notary, certify the following documents in the suit against Cosme Padilla.
Letter of A. Taboada, Santa Anna’s quartermaster general, to Colonel Cosme Padilla.
“Quarters of the General-in-chief of the Mexican army of Restoration, “Havana, Cuba, August 21, 1868.
“I have the pleasure of sending you the commission of colonel of infantry, conferred upon you by his serene highness, in the belief that you will be useful to the nation. I am also instructed to advise you to go by the first vessel to Vera Cruz, and take all the men you can get to go with you, engaged as laborers for the railroad. Be careful how you land, and bid the men keep silence. As you are a man of sound experience, I will give you no advice. If you need aid in Vera Cruz, apply to Honorato Dominguez and José Prieto, and tell them the general-in-chief has the utmost confidence in them. All who engage in this meritorious work will be well rewarded. His serene highness will make all things right when he arrives in Vera Cruz. Whoever heads the movement shall be commander of Vera Cruz.
“God preserve you. Yours, &c.,
“A. TABOADA.”
Second letter of Antonio Taboada to Cosme Padilla.
“Havana, August 22, 1868.
“Colonel: His serene highness instructs you, on entering Vera Cruz, to call a meeting of the principal merchants, and ask a loan of one hundred thousand dollars of them, to be sent here in a special steamer. You will inform those men who thus contribute, that they will be well paid when the new order of things is established; but that General Santa Anna must show his presence in Vera Cruz immediately, to attend in person to the great plan of national independence, and the establishment of an enlightened and paternal government.
“You are also authorized to form a board of finance, to take charge of the public funds, and repay the loan of one hundred thousand dollars. We have determined upon this work of social regeneration, and we will accomplish it at the risk of our lives.
“Act with moderation and justice, and preserve strict discipline among your subordinates. Our motto must be, protection to persons and property, as the only assurance [Page 591] to a people who have never enjoyed the rights common to other civilized nations, though they have been promised by all political parties for more than half a century.
“As commander-in-chief of the eastern army, you will collect all the forces of the department and hoist the banner of independence in the heroic city of Vera Cruz.
“Do not neglect to inform our fellow-countrymen of the infamous treason attempted by the notorious Matias Romero, in the name of Benito Juarez, by offering to sell to the government of the United States, our mortal enemy, our four rich departments ot the north, to be paid for by a Yankee protectorate, pledged to sustain Juarez in power, and by assuming the debts of Mexico to foreign nations.
“This fact is evidenced by a letter from Romero to a member of the cabinet at Washington, which I have seen.
“We expect much from your loyalty and patriotism in the execution of this important mission.
“Yours, &c.,
“A. TABOADA.”
Proclamation of General Taboada to the people of Mexico.
Mexicans: The powerful hand of that invisible Being who rules the destinies of nations has called me from the seclusion in which I had resolved to live, to intrust me with a mission that is as great as it is dangerous. Believing it an inspiration from above, I undertake this great, imminent, and sacred task—the regeneration of a people on the verge of an abyss, into which they might fall and disappear from the map of free and civilized nations.
Yes, Mexicans, the hand of God guides me; otherwise my insignificance, my little merit, my obscure name, and my humble position would have made me shrink from the difficulties and dangers of the perilous situation in which our unfortunate country is at present placed.
Do not judge of my advent upon your shores, my fellow-countrymen, with your hearts still bleeding from the wounds of your political misfortunes; but judge me with your consciences, in reason and in truth. Measure my actions with the meter of justice; look back upon the half-century history of your sanguinary civil wars; and then cast your glances upon the future that is offered to your sight. Do not rank me among revolutionists, nor class me with the representatives of any political party; neither think that rash ambition urges me to take up arms again for the acquisition of power, so frequently contended for by many political parties. This vain struggle for political power is the true cause of all our sorrows. No, my countrymen, it is a greater ambition, more noble, more holy, that calls me once more among you, to lead you to the field of honor, of duty, and of patriotism. Do not decide against me yet; but wait for the progress of events, the development of ideas yet unrealized; then judge me, and take the destiny of your country in your own hands.
Our present most urgent duty is to find a remedy for the many ills that afflict our dying body politic; to put a barrier to the destruction that threatens us; to arrest the demoralization that is fast leading us to barbarism; to restore the empire of law, justice, religion, and public order; to assure protection to natives and to foreigners; to preserve the precious legacy bequeathed to us by our heroic ancestors, and sealed with their blood, and which we have not held in just integrity.
Can this end be gained without union, fraternity, and harmony? Is there a single Mexican, however obstinate, who will not waive past grudges, private interests, and personal ambition, when his country calls him, in the plaintive tones of a loving mother, who wails the outrages of her own children, and is almost ready to succumb? Is there a single son of the soil who would hesitate to give up a passing power for the salvation of his native land? Is not the painful experience of near fifty years of continued revolutions, with shameless destruction of life and property, enough to make us halt, reflect, and join together in one last effort for the salvation of our country?
What can we expect from our eternal discord? What can the triumph of any party or any candidate for place and power offer, when sustained solely by the bayonet, and not by the free and spontaneous will of the nation, that cannot be heard amid the clangor of arms, however loudly the voice may be sounded?
Beautiful theories, fallacious promises, high-sounding phrases, full of patriotism, unmeaning plans, proclamations filled with national fervor, glorious deeds of bloody strife, brilliant antecedents, great merits for high positions, everlasting hopes—such are the records in the annals of our terrible history ever since the social emancipation of Mexico—ever since our independence. And what have we accomplished? What have we done in our fifty and three years of independent existence? We have torn up our constitutions, lacerated the vitals of our country, and proved to the world that we are not worthy of independence; our pen has written falsehoods, and our words are not worthy of belief; there is no respect shown us, for our acts have belied our promises, and we have no more right to credit from abroad; we have shown that we are incapable of self-government, and other nations, stronger than we are, have arrogated to [Page 592] themselves the right to absorb us, and thus put an end to our own scandal exhibited before the world, and to benefit themselves by the untold wealth that God has hidden in our privileged soil, and which we have misused to our own destruction and ruin.
This, my deluded countrymen, is the lamentable picture of independent Mexico! this the history of our political existence! this the vision of our future!
Will you continue in this ruinous career? Will you again shed your brothers’ blood in contest for a power that belongs to none of you, for the nation gives it to no one man? Do you not feel humiliated by the contempt of Europe, and even of your brothers of the Western Continent—the country of Columbus? Do you not dread the maledictions of your unborn children, who will have no country; the ghosts of your fathers that will rise from their tombs to curse you with their malisons?
But there is yet time, O my countrymen, to save ourselves and regain the esteem of civilized nations, for I believe that the last sentiment of honor and patriotism has not yet been extinguished in your breasts. I believe the breath of life still stirs in the bosom of a community that was almost dead, and religious faith inspires me with hopes of salvation, if we will only rally round the sacred banner, which, though torn to tatters, still waves over the fragments of our unhappy land, and calls us to defend it with all our former gallantry. Yes, that blessed banner, borne by our revered ancestors in their struggles to make us independent, may once more wave, by our united efforts, upon the battlements of the palace of the Montezumas.
Let all Mexicans of courage, honor, and true patriotism assemble now; hasten, all of you, to the call of your country, now made through me; lay down your arms and organize, your government by force of speech; forget your rancors, and for once give up your personal interests; cast away the assassin’s dagger, and extinguish the incendiary torch but lately in your hands, and resume the implements of agriculture, the tools of trade, the industry of commerce, the profits of science, and you may be sure you will regain your freedom, enjoy the security that every ruler has promised and none has given, and when peace is once more secured, you may easily elevate your country to the pinnacle of glory, power, and grandeur.
ANTONIO TABOADA.
Another proclamation, not signed:
TO ARMS, MEXICANS!
The work of Juarez is about to be consummated; the loss of your independence is almost accomplished; your nationality cannot survive your political demise.
Romero’s journey to the United States is now known; all the papers of the neighboring republic confirm the terrible truth, and begin to discover the sad perspective of your future. Will you cowardly yield, without a single struggle for your salvation? Will you patiently bear the heavy chain, fashioned for your limbs in the political forge, of the white house, by that infamous party that assumes the appellation of liberal?
What a terrible destiny! A nation of eight millions of inhabitants, that would be invincible if united, allows itself to be sold to its mortal enemies by a minority faction that ought to be smothered by national indignation, and buried forever in the abyss of its own crimes. Unhappy country of Montezuma and Iturbide! Most precious gem in the continent of Columbus! What curse of God has been breathed upon you to make your children pollute your virgin soil, and deliver it without pity to the terrible eagle that spreads its watchful wings above you, and soars in anxious expectation that its ready talons will soon hold you in their grasp.
Shame upon such people! Eight millions of Mexicans are beholding in criminal indolence the malicious machinations of a few traitors who have usurped the supreme power, to rob you of your social and political existence, while one million of Paraguayans are astonishing the world by their heroic efforts to preserve the inheritance of their ancestors. Where are your Hidalgos, Iturbides, and Guerreros? Your Osollos, Mira-mones, and Mejias? Alas, we will not invoke their illustrious names, lest they arise from their tombs, and beholding our shame, lie down again to their eternal sleep, and repent that the first three gave us a country, and the last three poured out their blood to save it for us.
The name of Mexico, once beloved and respected by the whole world, because it was believed we Mexicans knew how to be independent, and would place our country in the rank to which it rightly belongs, is now the scorn and execration of all the nations of the earth. None consider us worthy of being free, and we are abandoned to our sad destiny. If there are any brave Mexicans left, they will hang their heads in deep humility at the aspect of this sad reality.
Is that sublime sentiment of patriotism, which ennobles and encourages nations, and which is the only thing that can save us now—is that feeling extinct in your bosoms? Do you not dread the dominion of a race so different from yours, its rule over the land that gave you birth, to its dictation even in your families, and that is sworn to your extermination? Will you suffer this grand legacy, sealed by your fathers’ precious [Page 593] blood, to be taken from you, and your children left without a country, roaming like wandering Jews over the face of the earth? Will you allow-the star” spangled banner to intrude once more, to be hoisted again over the palace of your ancestors, there to wave forever? Will you let your lovely land, the sun of the New World, be transformed into a single solitary pallid planet to light a small corner of an invading banner, the flag of your conquerors?
No, my countrymen! arouse yourselves from this sad sleep of lethargy in which you have dozed for nearly half a century, and meditate a moment on your sad situation and your hopeful future, and I am sure you will stop your eternal party contests and join in defense of your beloved country. Arm yourselves, and with the banner of Iquala for your standard, march to the chastisement of traitors, and fortify your independence by the organization of a strong and durable, enlightened, and paternal government.
The contemptible beings, the spurious Mexicans that have scattered gore and mourning and ruin over the country, and now rule over you, are the same souls that now seek to keep the supreme power in their hands, by asking protection of our bitter enemies of the north, and offering in exchange for it, our richest departments on the north frontier, so that we may have the honor of becoming their slaves.
There is no mistake about this terrible reality, my friends; read the northern papers and you will find it out; then call Juarez and Romero to an account, and heed these words of warning addressed to you by a fellow-countryman, who has spent many drops of his blood for the good of his country, and whose sole ambition now is to die in defense of its independence.
To arms, then, Mexicans! The auspicious moment has arrived! The country calls you to defend it against a common enemy. Leave your homes, quit your firesides, forget all ancient animosities, and join in concert for the restoration of your liberties, so that you may deserve the right of reconstruction according to the suggestions of your free will.
Let us, then, shout for Mexican independence, for union and harmony, for peace, and real progress!
A TRUE MEXICAN.
Note.—The flourish appended to the above proclamation appears to be that of Taboada.
Mexico, September 21, 1868.
Instructions from Santa Anna to General Bosque.
1. As soon as General Bosque occupies one or more towns in Mexico, he will promulgate the following plan without alteration, in a solemn manner, and will furnish the partisans of public order with means to make demonstrations of patriotism, such as acts favoring the plan. &c.
2. He will endeavor to make the revolution popular and acceptable to the people, and in harmony with their legitimate interests.
3. He will always bear in mind that the chief object of this revolution is to restore order, thus differing from the depredating revolutions, called liberal, that looked to party and personal gain, and disturbed order, morals, and justice.
4. He will also endeavor to make the revolution general, so as to insure its definite success.
5. When the cities are occupied, he will appoint competent civil, military, and political authorities to conduct their administration.
6. He will see that such authorities are subject to the imperial laws now in force, in political and civil cases; and in others, he will act according to his good judgment.
7. General Antonio Taboada will be recognized as my representative, in all cases, for the good of the nation.
8. He will give a report of his orders, and of the progress of the revolution, addressed to me at my temporary residence here, or wherever I may be.
ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA.
Havana, September, 1868.
The Plan, or Constitution.
Whereas the constitution of 1857, now observed by the nation, is impracticable, because it takes away all power from the chief executive, when energy and unity of action are necessary to suppress revolutions that have disturbed the country for forty-seven years;
And said constitution deprives individuals and corporations of political rights, while it proclaims the most advanced principles of equality, liberty, and religious toleration;
And it caused the revolution of 1858, and the enrpire of 1863, and the usurpation of Juarez in 1867;
[Page 594]And whereas Benito Juarez had no right to extend his administration after the 30th of November, 1865, thus violating the constitution he had sworn to support;
And the present political and social situation of the nation is intolerable, as it operates against the religion of our fathers, and puts Mexico in enmity to all civilized nations, reducing the country to isolation and barbarism;
Whereas the nation ought to have a chief of merit and known antecedents, who can lead it back into the paths of rectitude and justice;
And whereas that person ought to be Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the well-deserving hero of his country, who achieved its independence:
Therefore, we, the undersigned, have determined to proclaim the following political plan, and to call on the nation to adopt it:
Article 1. We hereby disavow the constitution of 1857 as the fundamental law o the Mexican nation, and order that it cease to be accepted wherever the present plan is adopted.
Art. 2. All public power for the preservation of order and the administration of justice shall be exercised by the general-in-chief of the army of restoration, wherever this plan prevails.
Art. 3. Chiefs who approve of this plan and are willing to support it, shall act as delegates of the general-in-chief, in their respective localities, for the purpose of enforcing this plan.
Art. 4. The well-deserving General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna is proclaimed general-in-chief, and a copy of this instrument shall be sent to him, wherever he may be, hoping he will accept the place offered.
Art. 5. When the capital of the nation is occupied by the army of restoration, and the general-in-chief has established his headquarters there, all local commanders shall be subject to his orders, and shall acknowledge him as supreme chief and common center.
Art. 6. So soon as the general-in-chief thinks proper, he will renew the intercourse with foreign nations, but not allow them to disturb the independence and integrity of the nation.
Art. 7. Five years after the restoration of peace, or sooner, if the general-in-chief thinks proper, a convention of the people shall be called for the purpose of forming a constitution.
Art. 8. When that constitution is promulgated, the discretional powers conferred upon General Santa Anna shall cease.
The preceding documents were intercepted at Matamoras, sent to Monterey, and thence transmitted to the city of Mexico, on the 14th September, 1868, by General Geronimo Treviño.