curain, who was minister for foreign relations in the Madero cabinet, and Señors Galindo and Camarena in charge of the archives of that office; to Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson, and Secretary O'Shaughnessy in charge of the Embassy archives; to Dr. Buck and others in the archives of the Department of State at Washington, and Mr. Stanton in the library of that department; and to Dr. Bishop and his assistants of the Library of Congress, and Dr. Hunt of the Manuscripts Division of that library. For assistance in correcting manuscript and reading proof, I am under obligations to my wife. WILLIAM R. MANNING. UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AUSTIN, CHAPTER I LIBRARY BEGINNINGS: EARLY MEXICAN REPRESENTATIVES AT Difficulties and delays attended the opening of the permanent legation of Mexico at Washington; but they were not due to any lack of interest on the part of the new Mexican government. The importance of establishing friendly relations with the neighboring republic to the north at the earliest possible moment was fully appreciated. Within less than three weeks after the provisional government was fully organized a minister plenipotentiary had been appointed and was preparing to go to Washington. It was on September 27, 1821, that Iturbide's army entered the city of Mexico and took possession of the quarters which had been vacated only four days earlier by the royalist troops. On September 28, the Provisional Junta was formally installed. On October 4, the cabinet of four ministers was formed. On October 25, a citizen of the United States by the name of Wilcocks wrote to John Quincy Adams, the secretary of state at Washington, concerning the friendly attitude of the new government toward the United States. He said: "On this subject I have had various conferences with the leading members of the administration, whose sentiments will be fully explained to you shortly by Don Juan Manuel de Elizalda, the minister pleni potentiary that is already named and now preparing to go to Washington." 1 The portfolio of foreign affairs in this first Mexican ministry was held by José Manuel de Herrera. On November 30, he despatched the first diplomatic communication which passed from the new government to that of the United States. After announcing the triumph of the revolution and the establishment of the independent government, he said: "The Governing Regency immediately thought it a primary obligation upon them to communicate with all despatch to the nations these events, which have gloriously terminated our war of liberty. . . . The people of Mexico . . are desirous of being united to all governments by means of friendly alliances and connections. . The United States of North America have a preferable right to demand of the Mexican Empire these considerations, the more just and reasonable because they are supported by the well-known maxims of policy. . . . Even nature herself has separated these nations from Europe by immense seas and placed them 1 Wilcocks to Adams, Mexico, October 25, 1821, American State Papers, Foreign Relations, IV, 841; British and Foreign State Papers, IX, 431. For the organization of the Mexican government see Bancroft, History of Mexico, IV, 731-736. In the preceding thirty pages is an account of the proclamation of the Plan of Iguala in February, 1821; of the startling success of the independence movement under this plan through the succeeding spring and summer; and of the treaty of Cordoba of August 25 by which O'Donoju, the newly arrived viceroy, accepted the plan in his sovereign's name and agreed to turn over the government to Iturbide. upon the same continent . . . that they might make common cause in reciprocally supplying their necessities and cooperating for their mutual felicity." In closing he announced that the legally authorized envoy would soon come to Washington to act as the medium of communication "between two nations destined to be united in the bonds of the most intimate and cordial fraternity." 112 The prompt measures thus taken by the first govern 2 Herrera to Adams, Mexico, November 30, 1821, MS., Department of State, Notes from the Mexican Legation, I. This despatch was borne by Wilcocks, mentioned above. The original Spanish document, signed by Herrera, accompanies the translation from which these extracts are quoted. The despatch was received at Washington, March 13, 1822. In view of the accepted notion to the contrary, it is interesting to notice in this document the importance which the new government attached to establishing their relations with foreign powers. Bancroft, History of Mexico, IV, 753, says: "It is inconceivable that it should have taken no effective steps to establish friendly relations with foreign powers. . . . All it did, however, was to pass a resolution for the appointment of four envoys to be sent respectively to South America, the United States, England, and Rome." He cites an act of February 7, 1822, apparently unaware of the earlier steps. Bancroft seems to be following Alaman, Historia de Mejico, V, 470, which says: "Estraño parecerá que la junta no hubiese tratado del punto mui importante de las relaciones exteriores," and gives as the only thing done the provision for the four envoys mentioned in the quotation from Bancroft. For the order of February 7, 1822, see Coleccion de Ordenes y Decretos de la Soberana Junta y Soberanos Congresos, I, 115. Ibid., II, 41, is a decree of 4 de mayo de 1822, declaring that all envoys to foreign powers should be natives of Mexico or residents of at least seven years' standing. This order was not to apply to appointments already made. |