528 



MEXICO. 



It subsequently went in due course to the Sen- 

 ate, where it was referred to the Committee on 

 Foreign Eelations, with whom it has since re- 

 mained, never having been reported for adop- 

 tion. The French Government asked for an 

 explanation of this vote, and its official organ, 

 the "Moniteur," having announced that "satis- 

 factory evidence of the sense and bearing of the 

 resolution " had been received from the United 

 States, President Lincoln was requested, by 

 the House of Representatives, to communicate 

 the correspondence on the subject which had 

 taken place between the two Governments. 

 The following letters were communicated : 



Mi\ Seward to Mr. Dayton. 

 [Extract.] 



DEPARTMENT OF STATE, ) 

 WASHINGTON-, April 7, 1SW. ( 



SIR : I send you a copy 



of a resolution which passed the House of Represent- 

 atives on the 4th inst., by a unanimous vote, and 

 which declares the opposition of that body to recog- 

 nition of a monarchy in Mexico. Mr. Geofrey has 

 lost no time in asking an explanation of this pro- 

 ceeding. 



It is hardly necessary, after what I have heretofore 

 written with perfect candor for the information of 

 France, to say that this resolution truly interprets 

 the unanimous sentiment of the people of the United 

 States in regard to Mexico. It is, however, another 

 and distinct question whether the United States 

 would think it necessary or proper to express them- 

 selves in the form adopted by the House of Repre- 

 sentatives at this time. This is a practical and 

 purely executive question, and the decision of it con- 

 stitutionally belongs not to the House of Representa- 

 tives, nor even to Congress, but to the President of 

 the United States. You will, of course, take notice 

 that the declaration made by the House of Represent- 

 atives is in the form of a joint resolution, which, 

 before it can acquire the character of a legislative 

 act, must receive, first, the concurrence of the Sen- 

 ate, and secondly, the approval of the President of 

 the United States, or, in case of his dissent, the 

 renewed assent of both houses of Congress, to be 

 expressed by a majority of two-thirds of each body. 



While the President receives the declaration of the 

 House of Representatives with the profound respect 

 to which it is entitled as an exposition of its views 

 upon a grave and important subject, he directs that 

 you inform the Government of France that he does 

 not at present contemplate anv departure from the 

 policy which this Government Has hitherto pursued 

 in regard to the war which exists between France 

 and Mexico. It is hardly necessary to say that the 

 proceedings of the House of Representatives were 

 adopted upon suggestions arising within itself, and 

 not upon any communication of the executive depart- 

 ment, and that the French Government would be 

 seasonably apprised of any change of policy upon 

 this subject which the President might at any future 

 time think it proper to adopt. 

 I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 



Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward. 

 No. 454. [Extract.] 



PARIS, April 22<1, 1S64. 



SIR: I visited M. Drouyn de L'huys yesterday at 

 the Department of Foreign Affairs. The first words 

 he addressed to me on entering the room were, " Do 

 you bring us peace or bring us war ? " I asked him 

 to what he referred, and he said he referred more 

 immediately to those resolutions recently passed by 

 Congress, in reference to the invasion of Mexico by 

 the French, and the establishment of Maximilian 

 upon the throne of that country. I said to him in 



reply, that I did not think France had a right to in- 

 fer that we were about to make war against her on 

 account of any thing contained in those resolutions ; 

 that they embodied nothing more than had been 

 constantly held out to the French Government from 

 the beginning. That I had always represented to 

 the Government here that any action upon their part 

 interfering with the form of government in Mexico 

 would be looked upon with dissatisfaction in our 

 country, and they could not expect us to be in haste 

 to acknowledge a monarchical Government, built 

 upon the foundation of a republic which was our 

 next neighbor. That I had reason to believe you 

 had held the same language to the French minister 

 in the United States. This allegation he did not 

 seem to deny, but obviously received the resolutions 

 in question as a serious step upon our part ; and I 

 am told that the leading secessionists here build 

 largely upon these resolutions, as a means of fo- 

 menting ill feeling between this country and some 

 others and ourselves. Mr. Mason and his secretary 

 have gone to Brussels to confer with Mr. Dudley 

 Mann, who is their commissioner at that place. Mr. 

 Slidell, it is said, was to have gone to Austria, al- 

 though he has not vet got off. 



* * * ' * * * * 



I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



WILLIAM L. DAYTON 

 Hon. WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c. 



Mr. Dayton, to Mr. Seward. 

 No. 461. [Extract.] 



PARIS, May 2d, 1864 



SIR: Immediately upon the receipt of your de- 

 spatch, No. 525, 1 applied to M. Drouyn de L buys for 

 a special interview, which was granted for Saturday 

 last. I then said that I knew that the French Gov- 

 ernment had felt some anxiety in respect to the reso- 

 lution which had recently passed the House of Repre- 

 sentatives in reference to Mexico ; and inasmuch as 

 I had just received a copy of that resolution, to- 



ether with the views of the President of the United 

 tates, I begged, if agreeable, to read to him your 

 despatch in reference to the latter. To this he as- 

 sented, and, as the shortest and most satisfactory 

 mode, following out my instructions, I read to him 

 that entire portion of your despatch which applies 

 to this subject, stating, at the same time, that I 

 thought it was a remarkable illustration of the 

 frankness and straightforwardness of the President. 

 When the reading was closed, M. Drouyn de L'huys 

 expressed his gratification, and, after asking some 

 questions in regard to the effect of laying a resolu- 

 tion upon the table in the Senate, the conversation 

 terminated. 



The extreme sensitiveness which was manifested 

 by this Government when the resolution of the 

 House of Representatives was first brought to its 

 knowledge has, to a considerable extent at least, 

 subsided. 



******* 



I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



WILLIAM L. DAYTON. 

 Hon. WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. 



Toward the end of December a report was 

 extensively circulated in the United States 

 that the States of Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, 

 Durango, and Lower California had been ceded 

 to the Emperor Napoleon in payment of the 

 French troops sent to subjugate the country, 

 and that they were to be erected into a gov- 

 ernment under the viceroyship of "\Villiam M. 

 Gwin, formerly a United States Senator from 

 California. The statement has not yet been 

 officially confirmed, although, in the opinion of 

 well-informed persons, it refers to some impend- 

 ing scheme of colonization to be superintended 

 by Mr. Gwin. 



