Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/58

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38
FOREIGN INTERVENTION.

According to the records of the treasury department of Mexico, her actual foreign indebtedness to July 12, 1862, would be $82,316,290.86.[1] The refusal of the Spanish and British commissioners to support Saligny's Jecker claim suspended the transmission of the collective note and ultimata, and on the 14th another note was drawn up,[2] which was conveyed to the city of Mexico by Brigadier Milans del Bosch, a bosom friend of Prim, Commander Thommaset of the French navy, and a British officer, escorted by Mexican troops, and delivered to the government, which initiated the negotiations.

The mission had a bad effect on the friends of intervention, who feared that their aspirations for a monarchy would be defeated.[3] Doblado answered the joint note on the 23d, inviting its authors to go to Orizaba with a guard of honor of 2,000 men, and promising that his government would send two commissioners to treat with them. He also informed

    an important reduction of custom-house duties. Niox, Expéd. du Mex., 719-28.

  1. Due G. Brit., $69,994,542; to France, even including principal defrayed by Jecker to wage war against the legitimate government, with interest, $2,860,000; to Spain, $9,460,986. Payno, Mex. y sus Cuest. Finan., 303-6; Id., Cuentas, Gastos, etc., 749-36, i.-xxxvi.; Lefêvre, Doc. Marimiliano, i. 60-3; Id., Mex. et L'Interv., 286-95, 343-9; Córtes, Diario Senado, ii., no. 78, 928, no. 85, 44-9, 57, 63-5; Id., Cong., i., ap. 5, no. 4, 102-5, vi., ap. 1, no. 133, 13, 14, 57, no. 138, 44-9, 63, no. 149, 2970, no. 151, 3008-9; Méx., Mem. Hаcienda, 1870, 409.
  2. Its contents were: Three great nations do not ally themselves merely to demand from a fourth in her distress satisfaction for grievances; their object is to extend a friendly hand, to lift without humbling. The suspicion that they will impair independence is absurd. They come to see, and if necessary, to uphold the regeneration of Mexico; to be present at her reorganization, without in any wise interfering in her form of government, or in her internal administration. The republic alone must decide what institutions are most suitable to its welfare, etc. Hidalgo, Apuntes, 105; Arrangoiz, Méj., iii. 21-2.
  3. They pretended that monarchial ideas gained ground among all classes, and anxiously awaited the arrival of the foreign troops. Hidalgo, Apuntes, 100-7. This author, a rabid monarchist, pretends that Juarez had been virtnally set aside by Doblado, who was feared by the ultra liberals, being suspected of favoring the intervention, and that Juarez was preparing to flee to Zacatecas. This assertion was false. Juarez on the 25th of January issued a stringent decree, countersigned by Doblado, to punish the nation's offenders, death being the penalty. Rivera, Gob. de Méx., i. 628; Arrangoiz, Méj., iii. 23; Dublan and Lozano, Leg. Mex., ix. 367-71, 'une loi de terreur.' Niox, Expéd. du Mex., 77.