to Maximilian on his return to the capital, and lauds the instructions to the prefects which Maximilian dictated, although he had but just returned and had not reposed after the fatigues of his long journey; he expresses his admiration of the fact that the press has unanimously applauded the resolutions of his master, when in this very same document this unanimity is equally well explained as the liberty conceded to the press by the empire. "The prefects," says Maximilian in his famous instructions, "will pay attention to the press, which should proceed on the law, free and independent, because my government fears not frankness. Such writings as overstep the limits of the law, direct attacks upon our religious convictions, upon good morals, upon the institutions of our country, and upon individuals, should not be tolerated, and offences of this kind should be punished sternly and energetically." The liberty of the press allowed by the Austrian is the same as that of which Figaro speaks, and Don Francisco Ramirez is, in truth, not at all felicitous in making a merit of the eulogies of a press so free and so independent.

So much noise has been made about the imperial instructions to the prefects, that we must refer to that document, which is the first act of the Austrian's government, and reveals how vulgar are his ideas, how superficial are his attainments, and how poor his plans of administration. He himself has attached most importance to these instructions, since he considers them as his political and administrative programme, and authenticates them with his own signature, distrusting the capacity of his ministers to draw up one of those ordinary circulars which any head of a bureau might write any day much better than his Majesty. In the imperial programme there is not found one word in reference to the political question, in reference to the institutions that are to be given to the new empire, and this reticence appears to indicate that nothing whatever is thought of in this regard. A like silence is observed in all relative to foreign relationsassuredly, because, Mexico being a feud of France, this point belongs to Napoleon. About the army and all belonging to the military service, Maximilian likewise says but very little, being subject as he is to the protection of Bazaine, and he merely confines himself to declaring that the French courts-martial will continue in the discharge of their functions, which, in order to make patent the independence of the new empire, issue their sentences and proclaim that they dictate them in the name of Napoleon. The financial question is likewise an omitted subject, and the instructions give not the slightest light as to the amount of the estimates, the system of taxation, the payment of the foreign debt, the manner of supplying or diminishing the enormous deficit that hangs over the revenue. With what, then, does the regenerator prince occupy himself? With commonplaces and vague promises. He commences with a candid and genuine confession of the fact that the fruit of the monarchy is chaos in the administration. In every prefecture the government is carried on in a different manuer; different principles are observed, the acts of the authorities are arbitrary, and abuses are noted which are the result of party spirit. To this picture, which we suppose most faithful, succeed promises, which, without one exception, are ridiculous and nonsensical. No one, for example, can be detained in prison without having notified to him the cause of his arrest, in the briefest possible space of time. Thus, this space of time may be either one day or ten years. Precautionary arrests should not take place under any pretext, except in case of extreme danger. Extreme danger being the normal condition of the empire, the exception becomes

the rule.

In all the rest, the Austrian desires to have statistics to enable him to become acquainted with the country, and meanwhile he inserts a goodly and copious collection of what are called truisms (verdades de Pero Grullo,) such as these: It is good to prosecute and punish robbery. Where there are schools, something is learned. Hygienic precautions should be greater in time of epidemic. Hospitals should be clean. Without easy communication there is no commerce. Agriculture is the ultimate source of a country's wealth. Wherever cattle are

raised the best breeds should be procured. If cereals are copiously produced there will be no famine. Mines yield more the better they are worked. Among metals, gold and silver are not the only valuable ones; copper and iron are equally so. Wherever there is coal not much wood is required. Wherever there is little wood the timber should not be destroyed. By making collections of laws it is easy to become acquainted with those laws.

Such are lucubrations of the great, the extraordinary, the privileged mind sought out by Napoleon to regenerate Mexico and inaugurate the monarchical transformation of the New World. But what village functionary is there in all America that is not capable of issuing a plan of good government equal to the instructions of Maximilian? Can a new empire be founded on such emptinesses? Up to the present moment this is all that the German prince has done in Mexico.

About the middle of November some progress had been made in the organization of the cabinet, the emperor having appointed as associates to Ramirez the Licentiate Don Pedro Escudero y Echanove in the department of justice, Don Luis Robles in that of public instruction, and Don Juan de D. Peza in that of war. The Estafette qualifies these men as the most distinguished and honest of the liberal-moderate party. This qualification implies the exclusion of the conservative party, which was the one that called in the intervention. Not at all inclined to descend to personal estimates, we will merely remark that the Licentiate Escudero is very much interested in the maintenance of the reform laws, since they and the favor of General Comonfort changed him into a great proprietary; that Robles is a man entirely without political antecedents; that the accession of the second-rate clerk Peza to the ministry of war is the severest punishment and the cruelest humiliation that could be administered to the generals who, like Yañez, Parrodi, Uraga, Vidaurri, and some others, have submitted to the empire in the hope of effecting their personal aggrandizement; and that the new cabinet signifies the isolation of Maximilian and the withdrawal of all political parties.

As to the ministry of finance, no capable person has yet been found to whom to intrust it, and therefore it remains provisionally in charge of a commission, composed of three individuals. This reminds us of the anecdote of a general who, having commanded a battery to open fire on the enemy, and being told by the artillerists that the shots fell short of the mark, thereupon replied: "Well, then, open two batteries upon them."

The threats of the Austrian have had no other effect than to intensify the enthusiasm of those who are fighting for independence. Oaxaca, which has once already repulsed a French expedition, is preparing for a new and heroic resistance, sustaining a siege that will equal the memorable one of Puebla.

In the State of Vera Cruz the independents are organizing their forces, and, by incessantly harassing the invaders, seek to give the greatest guarantees to

commerce.

Chiapas and Tabasco are free from the intervention, and combine their forces to the aid of Oaxaca.

In Puebla and in Tlaxcala new bands of guerillas appear, who have occupied considerable districts, and keep in check various detachments of the invaders. In Michoacan, in Jalisco, in Durango, in Sinaloa, and in the northern States, with varied fortune but with unchanging constancy, the resistance to the empire continues; the reactionary army suffers constant desertions, and in all quarters the contest assumes the character of a war against the foreigner, and it cannot be maintained that Mexico is the victim of a merely civil war, but rather that its people, alone and unaided, weak, and devoid of resources, continues struggling for its independence, and sacrificing itself to frustrate European intervention, which every day more and more threatens all America.

The impartial observer cannot despair of the result of this bloody and unequal contest. Without aid from abroad, without awaiting the settlement of the

difficulties, more or less serious, which engage the attention of the other peoples of the New World, the Mexicans can triumph, if they have recourse to the great element that should make them strong, to a sincere and fraternal union of all parties in defence of the autonomy of their country. Let them reflect, once for all, that the intervention and the empire mean the conquest of the country, that the monarchy is essentially hostile to all feeling of nationality, and that by their united opposition to the invader, or his abandonment of the field, they will save their country, and remain free to settle among themselves the questions which have divided them.

NEW YORK, December, 1864.

SOME MEXICANS.

[Enclosure No. 3.]

[Taken from "Le Messager Franco-Americain," December 10, 1864.]
(Special correspondence of the Messager.)

MEXICO.

VERA CRUZ, November 23, 1864.

The religious question has always been in Mexico one of those that have most excited the masses. When the liberal party undertook to lay hands on the privileges of the clergy; when it sought to reduce the representatives of ecclesiastical authority to the republican level; when, in fine, it wished to transfer into the coffers of the state the chief part of the unproductive riches of the clergy, it aroused a general opposition among the creatures and the dupes of the class that was threatened.

Upon the accession of Juarez this opposition was no longer content with delivering the country to civil war; it dreaded defeat, as well through the force of events as through the awakening of the people. Therefore it was that it called the foreigner and his armies to its assistance.

At present the scheme seems to have reached its consummation; an emperor sits enthroned in the palace of the ancient city of Montezuma, and the liberal party, although in arms and ready for combat, is virtually deprived of the administration of the country. Does it follow that the phantom of the secularization of clerical property has been forever banished from the bedside of our theocratic tyrants? Not at all; like the ghost of Banquo, it ever pursues them with its threatening presence.

Removed for a moment during the administration of Marshal Forey, the question of the property of the clergy has not failed to reappear with renewed vigor. Those imperialists who entertain progressive opinions have learned that by a little address they might themselves become the governing party if they took advantage of the self-styled liberal opinions of Maximilian to consign the clericals to a secondary position. They have therefore imposed their own conditions before agreeing to yield their support to his empire. What are these conditions? The tone of the journals in the city of Mexico proclaim them very clearly. They are full of transparent allusions to the question of the secularization of the goods of the church; they are leagued together to overthrow the cabal formerly so formidable, wherein figure those who delivered Mexico to Maximilian. It is easy to foresee the result of these dissensions. The clericals will declare against the empire, either by secret intrigues or by open assaults. What support will then remain to Maximilian? That of the progressive monarchists, on whom he seems willing to rely, is very precarious. The members of that party constitute a wretched minority of the nation; and, nevertheless, there are men to be found in its ranks who would not hesitate to overthrow the new monarch, if they found

an occasion for it. Those among the Mexicans who, on account of their monarchical ideas, would perhaps have accepted or tolerated an emperor voluntarily chosen by the majority of the people, will never submit unreservedly to a monarch imposed upon the country. Maximilian will, therefore, be compelled to have recourse to a foreign army as his only support. He must continue to make military force the keystone of his administration. Now, is it reasonable to admit that such a system can procure for Mexico that prosperity which is so vauntingly held up before the eyes of the idle votaries of public opinion.

I had proposed to myself to speak to you, also, of the condition and disposition of the Indian population, and likewise of the financial future of the empire; but my letter is already long enough, and I must give you an account of the last political measures adopted by Maximilian, and of the military news subsequent to my letter of the 1st instant. I therefore postpose the examination of those questions to a future occasion?

Maximilian's proclamations have generally the merit of clearness; this is a justice which it gives me pleasure to render to his Majesty's secretary. The last document of the kind, bearing date the 3d instant, is, like its predecessors, explicit and to the point. It refers to the general policy of the government, and prescribes to the prefects of the various departments a line of conduct at once firm and conciliatory. This circular-such is the name officially given to the document in question-is published with the purpose of guaranteeing "the liberties of all Mexicans," if we would believe the imperialist journals of the capital. We would be glad to admit it; but will they explain to us the meaning of the letter addressed by Maximilian to Don Velasquez de Leon, his minister of state, immediately after his return to the city of Mexico? This letter, of which I send you a copy, speaks of the determination of the government to shoot all the liberals taken in arms. Here, certainly, is a "protection" with which many would willingly dispense. Is Maximilian acting the bully in order to conceal his weakness? or has he already recognized that the only reliable support of his government must be his army, his cannons, and his bayonets? Both suppositions are admissible, but that to which I wish to call your attention is the effect produced by his Majesty's threatening letter.

The semi-official journals of the cities subject to the empire approve it feebly, and as if reluctantly; while the independent press-for such exists yet, in spite of the empire-boldly and loudly protests against the Napoleonic tendencies of the emperor. It does not hesitate to remind him of the Spain of 1809 and the Mexico of 1810.

Some pretend that the sudden rigor of Maximilian is due to the discouragement which he has brought back from his tour in the interior. The force of inertia which the populations of the subjugated districts everywhere oppose to the imperial administration must have convinced his Majesty of the impossibility of governing by the people alone; therefore, the rigors and the employment of the violent measures that have signalized his return to the city of Mexico.

At Puebla they have already commenced to put in execution the new measures of "protection" ordered by the emperor. On the 5th instant six liberal prisoners were shot, and the military commander of the district, wishing no doubt to give evidence of his zeal, has decided that henceforward all prisoners should be executed within the twenty-four hours succeeding their capture. On the 9th two more liberals were shot in the city of Mexico on the Place Mixcalo. Will any one now be astonished that we should affirm that the imperial era of Mexico is to be only an epoch of blood and carnage, very different from that dreamed of by those who called in the intervention?

The interior of the country continues in the same anarchical state. The guerillas are more numerous than ever. Romero, the chief of the cuadrilla of Tenango, has thus far escaped all pursuit of the imperialists, and continues seriously to disturb their communications. Quite recently an imperialist detach

ment started from Toluca to pursue this band, but it returned after a few days, without having encountered it.

I could give you a long list of the depredations committed by the guerillas in the districts subjected to the empire, and of the engagements which they have daily with the troops of Maximilian. But these details would be of no great interest to our readers. In most of the encounters the imperialist soldiers have the advantage; but these successes are of no great importance, and they cannot influence the final result of the contest, inasmuch as the guerillas, routed at one point, do not fail soon to appear at another.

Let it not be presumed that I confine myself here to the narration of facts 'that may be contradicted to-morrow; the official newspapers of the empire are my authorities. Thus it is in the Sociedad, one of the journals of the capital, that I find the announcement of the proclamation of martial law in the city of Guadalajara. This measure was adopted immediately after a pretended victory gained by the imperialists over the guerilla force commanded by Simon Gutierrez, and which occupied the principal part of Jalisco. This guerilla band attacked, near Ameca, a part of the Mexican division of Rivas with 800 men, infantry and cavalry, and two mountain howitzers. According to the papers that favor the intervention, the liberals have been repulsed with considerable loss. I shall not question the truth of these assertions; but I would ask only to have explained to me why it is that, immediately after the announcement of this victory, martial law has been proclaimed at Guadalajara?

It is said that the Castagny division, supported by a Mexican corps, is preparing to march upon Chihuahua, in order to drive the government of Juarez from that place. The expedition is to start from Durango.

On the other hand, it is announced that an expeditionary column, composed 3,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry, was about to start from Tepic, in order to occupy the State of Sinaloa. The French squadron was to co-operate with this corps by obtaining possession of Mazatlan, the principal port of the State.

On the 13th the French mail steamer landed here a part of the Belgian legion; it comprised 590 fantassins, of very good appearance, well armed and equipped. They immediately started for the capital.

The 99th of the line, one of the regiments that accompanied General Lorencez at the first landing, has arrived at Vera Cruz. These troops are to embark soon on their return to France.

General Miramon is also here; he is preparing to start for Europe by the next English steamer.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Romero.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

NOPAL.

Washington, January 18, 1865.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 12th instant, with which you were pleased to communicate, for the information of the government of the United States, excerpts from two reviews published in the cities of Chihuahu and New York, of a recent date, touching the condition of public events in Mexico at the present time, and also a letter from Vera Cruz, in a French paper published in the city of New York, likewise bearing upon the same subject.

While thanking you for your attention in transmitting these papers to me, I avail myself of the occasion to offer to you, sir, the assurances of my high consideration. WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Señor MATIAS ROMERO, &c., &c., &c., Washington, D. C.