MEXICO. 



467 



Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of 

 Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Hon. John, Earl 

 Russell, Viscount Amberley of Auiberlev and Arusalia, 

 a Peer of the United Kingdom, a member of Her Bri- 

 tannic Majesty's Privy Council.Her Majesty's Principal 

 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; 



Her Majesty the Queen of Spain, Don Xavier de 

 Isturiz y Montero, Knight of the Illustrious Order of 

 the Golden Fleece, Grand Cross of the Royal and Dis- 

 tinguished Order of Charles III., of the Imperial Order 

 of the Legion of Honor of France, of the Orders of the 

 Conception of Villaviciosa and Christ of Portugal, 

 Senator of the Kingdom, late President of the Council 

 of Ministers, and First Secretary of State of Her Cath- 

 olic Majesty, and her Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 

 Plenipotentiary to her Britannic Majesty ; 



And His Majesty the Emperor of the French, His 

 Excellency the Count de Flahault de la Billarderie, 

 Senator, General of Division, Grand Cross of the Le- 



fion of Honor, His Imperial Majesty's Ambassador 

 xtraordinary to Her Britannic Majesty ; 



Who, after having reciprocally communicated their 

 respective full powers, found in good and due form, 

 have agreed upon the following articles : 



ARTICLE 1. Her Majesty the Queen of the United 

 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Her Majesty 

 the Queen of Spain, and His Majesty the Emperor of 

 the French, engage to make immediately after the sig- 

 nature of the present Convention, the" necessary ar- 

 rangements for despatching to the coast of Mexico 

 combined naval and military forces, the strength of 

 which shall be determined by a further interchange 

 of communications between their Governments, out of 

 which the total shall be sufficient to seize and occupy 

 the several fortresses and military positions on the 

 Mexican coast. 



The commanders of the allied forces shall be, more- 

 over, authorized to execute the other operations which 

 may be considered, on the spot, most suitable to effect 

 the subject specified in the preamble of the present 

 Convention, and specifically to insure the security of 

 foreign residents. 



All the measures contemplated in this article shall 

 be taken in the name and on account of the high con- 

 tracting parties, without reference to the particular 

 nationality of the forces employed to execute them. 



AP.T. 2. The high contracting parties engage not to 

 seek for themselves, in the employment of the coercive 

 measures contemplated by the present Convention, any 

 acquisition of territory, nor any special advantage, and 

 not to exercise in the internal affairs of Mexico any in- 

 fluence of a nature to prejudice the right of the Mexican 

 nation to choose and to constitute freely the form of its 

 Government. 



_ ART. 3. A Commission, composed of three Commis- 

 sioners, one to be named by each of the contracting 

 Powers, shall be established" with full authority to de- 

 termine all questions that may arise as to the applica- 

 tion or distribution of the sums of money which may be 

 recovered from Mexico, having regard to the respective 

 rights of the three contracting parties. 



ART. 4. The high contracting parties desiring, more- 

 over.that the measureswhichtheyintend to adoptshould 

 not bear an exclusive character, and being aware that 

 the Government of the United States, on its part, has, 

 like them, claims to enforce upon the Mexican Re- 

 public, agree that immediately after the signature of 

 the present Convention, a copy thereof shall be com- 

 municated to the Government of the United States ; 

 that the Government shall be invited to accede to it; 

 and that in anticipation of that accession their respec- 

 tive Ministers at Washington shall bo at once fur- 

 nished with full powers for the purpose of con- 

 cluding and signing, collectively or separately, with 

 the plenipotentiary designated by the President of 

 the United States, a Convention, identic, save the sup- 

 pression of the present article, with that which they 

 sign this day. But as by delaying to put into execu- 

 tion Articles 1 and 2 of the present Convention, the 

 high contracting parties would incur a risk of failing 

 in the object which they desire to attain, they have 



agreed not to defer, with the view of obtaining the ac- 

 cession of the Government of the United States, the 

 commencement of the above-mentioned operations be- 

 yond the time at which their combined forces can be 

 assembled in the neighborhood of Vera Cruz. 



AKT. 5. The present Convention shall be ratified, and 

 the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged at London 

 within fifteen days. 



In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries 

 have signed it, and have affixed thereto the seal of 

 their arms. 



Done at London, in triplicate, the 31st day of the 

 month of October, in the year of our Lord 1861 



(L.S.) " UCSSELL. 



(L. s.) XAVIKK DE ISTURIZ. 



(L. s.) FLAHAULT. 



It is proper to add that the existence of ad- 

 ditional secret articles, ta which France and 

 Spain are parties, to the exclusion of England, 

 has been mentioned repeatedly in European 

 journals, but lacks confirmation. 



On the 13th of November the Spanish queen, 

 at the opening of the Cortez, remarked in her 

 speech : 



Gentlemen Senators and Deputies: You will be 

 happy to learn that our difference with Venezuela has 

 ended in a satisfactory manner. Ajust reparation has 

 been made to our country for oflences perpetrated 

 against it, and important guarantees will prevent the 

 repetition of similar misdeeds. 



Disorder and excess have reached their height in the 

 unfortunate country of Mexico. Treaties having been 

 violated and rights forgotten, my subjects having been 

 exposed to serious attacks and continual dangers, it 

 became indispensable at length to make an example of 

 salutary rigor. 



With this object my Government has made the ne- 

 cessary preparations, when two great nations found 

 that they had to complain of acts of violence on the 

 part of the Mexican authorities. Our wrongs were 

 common; our action should be joint. My Government 

 desired as much. Proper steps for this purpose were 

 at first favorable ; but the result did not correspond 

 with the desires of the other two nations. 



Subsequently France, England, and Spain arranged 

 together to obtain that satisfaction which was due to 

 them ; and to prevent the repetition of offences which 

 scandalized the world and outraged humanity. Thus 

 the designs will be accomplished, the execution of 

 which has been the constant object of my Government. 

 At the proper time an account will be rendered to you 

 of the Convention which, with this object, has b'een 

 signed by the representatives of the three powers- 



The plan of operations was announced to be 

 as follows : 



"The three allied powers have no intention 

 whatever of wasting powder and shot by wag- 

 ing territorial war upon Mexico. To land a 

 military force and advance upon the capital is 

 altogether out of their contemplation. Their in- 

 tention is to send a combined naval force into 

 the Gulf of Mexico. This force will blockade, 

 and will temporarily occupy, the principal 

 ports up the Gulf, such as Vera Cruz, Tampico, 

 and one or two others. The plan agreed upon 

 for the satisfaction of the outstanding claims is 

 this : The allied powers will sequestrate the 

 custom revenue of the ports in question. They 

 will charge their consuls jointly to collect these 

 revenues at the different ports, and these con- 

 suls acting together will form an international 

 commission constituted for the purpose at each 

 port. No ship will be allowed to enter or clear at 



