PAPERS MOVED FOR. (Hansard, 19 April 1861)

§ MR. BUTT

said, he wished to move an address for the copy of any convention or conventions providing for the appropriation of the customs' duties of any of the 857 Mexican ports to the payment of the claims of the bondholders of the State entered into between Governor Juarez, or any other person representing the constitutional Government at Vera Cruz, and Captain Dunlop, or Captain Aldham, of her Majesty's Navy: and copy of, or extracts from, any correspondence or despatches relating to the affairs of Mexico since the assumption of the presidential power by Miramon. English capitalists had lent the Mexican Government £10,000,000 at the time that country declared its independence. All the South American republics, to which money had also been lent, had fulfilled their engagement, but Mexico, the richest of all, remained a disgraceful exception. An arrangement had been entered into by which the revenues of the ports of Tampico and Vera Cruz had been appropriated for the purpose of the payment of the interest, which was to be regularly transmitted to London; and, in consideration of that arrangement, the rate of interest had been reduced from 6 to 3 per cent. During the late revolution which had occurred in that country, Miramon and his associates, requiring money, had caused the house of the British Legation to be broken into; the officers in charge, British subjects, were clubbed with the butt end of Mexican muskets, and all the money abstracted. Neither Mr. Mathew, nor any one to represent him, was present at these proceedings, and it was left to the Spanish Ambassador to protest against them. In 1848, the noble Premier, then Foreign Secretary, laid down certain principles which ought to guide the British Government in dealing with such a case. He then stated that British creditors were entitled to the protection of their Government. Those principles, however, had not been carried out, and, therefore, he wished to ask the noble Lord the Secretary for Foreign Affairs to afford some explanation of the extraordinary occurrences to which he had alluded, and to state how far he intended to protect British interests?

§ Lord JOHN RUSSELL

said, he had nothing to complain of as to the manner in which the hon. and learned Gentleman had stated the case. A violent outrage, amounting to nothing less than felony, had been committed by persons calling themselves the Government of Mexico. He believed the fact was that Miramon and his companions were in a desperate state, and knowing the contest could not be carried on 858 any longer, they wished to get all the money into their hands which they could. They knew that a sum of 600,000 dollars was deposited in a room at the British Legation, and they determined to commit robbery in order to get it. There was not the slightest ground for the excuse they made for the act; and their assertion that the money was not the property of the bondholders, because not technically in their possession, was a mere subterfuge. It was an outrage, therefore, for which the British Government might have required redress and reparation. But it was not to the discredit of Mr. Mathew or the Foreign Office that such reparation was not demanded. Our position for years had been a peculiar one in that quarter. We could only operate against Vera Cruz, and if we had operated against Vera Cruz we should have acted against our own interest. But at that time Mexico fell into the hands of the constitutional party. The hon. and learned Gentleman mentioned it as a reproach that before that period neither Mr. Mathew nor any other Minister was at hand to protect the treasury. Mr. Mathew was not to blame. He had acted under his (Lord J. Russell's) instructions in leaving Mexico, where so many outrages had been committed—amounting even to murder—that it was thought improper and unworthy to leave a Minister there. The British Minister was directed to leave, and he did leave, having first put a padlock on the place where the money was, and sealed up the apartment with the seal of the British Legation. There was, therefore, no fault on Mr. Mathew's part that the money was left with no other protection than that of the British Consul; though he did not wonder that those who had lost their property should raise complaints. Sir Charles Wyke had now gone to America with instructions which it was trusted would be effectual for obtaining redress in reference to various matters complained of. There was no objection to give the first part of the Return moved, but the remaining part would be exceedingly voluminous, and he proposed on Monday or Tuesday to produce papers which would, perhaps, answer the object of his hon. and learned Friend.