RECENT EVENTS IN MEXICO. T HE honest enthusiasts who believe that
war is an ab- surdity as well as a crime, and that all national quarrels can be settled by arbitration, must be a little puzzled by papers such as those just published on our quarrel with Mexico. No country is, perhaps, more exempt than Mexico from interested pressure. With the exception of the United States it has not an enemy in the world. No European alive wants anything of it, save some decent regard to the principles which governments civilized and uncivilized alike ordinarily obey. No European alive would view its increase in prosperity, or strength, or population, with any feeling but one of gentle gratification. Yet it is quite certain that had Great Britain, in October, 1860, been able to perform her duty, she would have invaded Mexico, suppressed its Go- vernment, and probably imprisoned prominent members of its Administration. That she did not attempt any such acts was a failure of duty none the less to be regretted be- cause it was unavoidable.
Up to December, 1860, the recognized Government of Mexico was exercised by an individual called General Mira- mon, a Mexican Spaniard. This worthy had been raised to power by the priests, savage at the threatened secularization of their lands, and had distinguished himself, even in Mexico, by the atrocity of his deeds. His principal assistant was another personage, General Marquez, who is never named by the British Consul-General except as that " infamous Marquez," and who is officially described as the " assassin in cold blood of Mr. Duval, of Mr. Chase, and of every foreigner he has had in hi:frizer." The subordinates generally seem to have been ruffians of the same stamp, men of whom we have never had an example in the history of Europe, and who are unfrequent even in the blood-stained annals of Asiatic kingdoms. These gentlemen, it appears, were greatly pressed by the successes of Juarez, the Indian whom the Constitutional party had raised to power, and who was already in possession of the coast. Anxious to provide for their anticipated downfal, they increased their oppression upon foreigners, until Lord John Russell, wearied out with a Government based simply upon crime, declared that Mexico had ceased to be a civilized Power, and ordered Mr. Mathew to retire. The lesson, it was thought, would have some effect upon the Mexicans ; but the Foreign Secretary had not estimated the depths to which it is possible for Spanish Americans to descend. The Mexican Government cared nothing for the " civilized" character of Mexico, or for anything else except the possibility of plunder. They wanted something to live on when deposed, and as con- fiscation was too slow a process, and the foreign sponge had been squeezed by forced loans till it could yield no more, they bethought themselves of a new mine of profit. Some six hundred thousand dollars had been collected in the capital for the British bondholders, and deposited for safety in the British Legation, and this sum the Ministry resolved to appropriate. There was nothing in the way except an official seal on the door, the law of nations, and those principles which forbid ordinary robbers to plunder the pro- perty of absent friends. Of course trivial defences of this kind were disregarded: General Marquez demanded the money, and not getting it on dtmand, took it by force, breaking open the door in the presence of the Acting-Consul, Mr. Glencoe. The senior Minister in the capital, M. Pacheco, Minister from Spain, protested, first verbally, and then in writing, but of course without reply. The Mexicans trusted in their deserts, and probably thought the Envoys fools for pleading the cause of bondholders when they might have shared in the division of the spoil. Most sane men will acknowledge that diplomacy here would have been a little out of place. One does not nego- tiate with burglars. The only just course would have been to march a force on Mexico, seize the perpetrators of the crime, and try them before the readiest tribunal. This, of course, Lord John Russell was not prepared to do, but he affirmed the principle, and carried it into execution to the limit of his means. He warned Miramon and his associates that he would insist on any future authority which might exist in Mexico holding them personally liable, and he offered President Juarez the recognition of the British Go- vernment upon condition of reparation. Juarez, who com- manded the coast, stood in healthy awe of the British marine, and at once accepted the terms. Upon the defeat of Miramon, in December, Juarez was accordingly "recognized," and the British flag rehoisted in the capital, while the new Go- vernment pledged itself to repay the 600,000 dollars abstracted from the Legation within four months, and all other British claims as speedily as possible. Juarez has, of course, no in- tention of paying a shilling he can help, but as he is anxious for the support of the British Envoy, and in possession of towns accessible to a British fleet, he may be accepted as at all events within the pale of public law. We can hope little from the pecuniary principles of any Mexican administration, but governments accessible to cannon weightier than their own sometimes confuse their conscience and their fears, to the benefit of mankind.
A little story, related incidentally in these papers, fur- nishes a curious example of the relative honesty of Mexican factions. A " conducta" of silver, proceeding for embarka- tion from San Luis Potosi to Tampico, was seized by General Degollado, one of the lieutenants of Juarez. Juarez pe- remptorily ordered the money to be returned ; but General Degollado, as far as the mass of the property was concerned, declared restitution impossible. He is said, however, by Mr. Mathew, to be a man of 'high honour, and he accordingly offered to restore all property specially British, amounting to 400,000 dollars. He evidently regarded this, however, not as an act of justice, but as a friendly concession to an ally, and in his letter announcing the compromise pleads for secrecy in these terms: " As it would be a serious matter if this arrange- ment were known, as the prestige and moral force (fuerza moral) which I have gained by the possession of so large a sum would in such a case be lost, I beg you to keep it perfectly secret." What better illustration of Mexican morals could we desire ? A man remarkable among his countrymen for probity considers a robbery an addition to his moral force, and calls the restitution of half the plunder a " compromise." It is a fitting sequel to the affair that the money restored never reached the proprietors. It was seized once more at Tampico by General Garza, the seals of the Legation broken, and the whole amount, on the requisition of a French Consul, divided among the proprietors of the original "conducts." Garza, like Degollado, obeys Juarez, and the President pro- mises to repay the whole sum ; but bondholders, who know that any adventurer who stops a " eonducta" can raise an army with the proceeds, declare for " God and the law" or " constitutional Government" at his option, rob and murder at discretion, and then set up for President, will not have much hope even in the good intentions of an Indian chief. Juarez, we fear, will go the way of all Mexican Presidents, and the anarchy continue till the Americans have leisure to remark that the time has arrived to save the last relics of Mexican prosperity by final subjugation.
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