MEXICAN DIPLOMACY. 



219 



on such operations, the object of which can have 

 been no other than that which is assigned above, 

 the very serious consequences of which you can- 

 not be ignorant of. 



" God grant you many years. 

 " Dated in the Council- Chamber of Tepic, 

 19th April 1822. Second year of the Inde- 

 pendence of Mexico. 



(Signed) " J. R. 



" M. D. Seer 



Spanish diplomacy, like that of China, has 

 means of showing respect or disrespect, by the 

 mere form and style of the despatch ; and accord- 

 ingly, this testy communication was written on an 

 uncut sheet of coarse note paper^ and transmitted 

 without an envelope. I thought it most suitable 

 however not to take the least notice of these symp- 

 toms of ill-humouT, but to answer the Illustrious 

 Ayuntamiento in the most ceremonious and for- 

 mal manner possible, but, at the same time, with 

 the utmost good-humour. I had nothing, indeed, 

 to say, but that I never had the slightest inten- 

 tion of making any plan of the town or the neigh- 



