THE MONROE DOCTRINE 393 



redress had been offered by the Mexican Government, and 

 none could be obtained by Great Britain through any means 

 short of force. The three powers, having decided to con- 

 duct a joint intervention, signed an agreement in London 

 (October, 1861), declaring that : 



The high contracting parties engaged not to seek for them- 

 selves, 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 influence of a nature to prejudice the right of the 

 Mexican nation to choose and to constitute freely the form of its 

 government. 



Their purpose was ostensibly to secure payment of their 

 claims, and if necessary, to seize certain Mexican ports, at- 

 tach their customs receipts, and hold them as a pledge. 

 Accordingly, on the 7th of January, 1862, an allied fleet of 

 the three nations, supplemented by a French military force,, 

 appeared at Vera Cruz, and demanded of Juarez, the Liberal 

 leader and president of the republic, immediate payment 

 of the claims against Mexico. Juarez could only assert the 

 inability of his government to meet such demands; he 

 frankly and truthfully stated that the treasury was empty. 

 The allies then proclaimed to the people of Mexico their 

 intention. They had not come, they assured them, for con- 

 quest, nor for the purpose of interfering with Mexican poli- 

 .tics ; furthermore, their intentions were not primarily hostile, 

 on the contrary, they came with a friendly hand out- 

 stretched toward " a people whom Providence had favored 

 with many gifts, but who used their forces and exhausted 

 their vitality in civil wars and perpetual convulsions." 

 They came merely to obtain reparation for the many griev- 

 ances which had been inflicted upon their subjects by Mexi- 

 cans. This declaration sounded well, but the president 

 resented the display of force, and called upon the allies to 

 leave Mexican territory. Ignoring all promises of peace, 

 given in a conference held with Juarez at Soledas, a French 

 determination to press hostilities against Mexico at once be- 



