The Sun.
London, England, 1839-08-28 00:00:00

commerce, the war might be put an end to in a
week. In the desperate position in which these
men are placed, and knowing well the character of
their enemies, they will rather be cut in pieces than
trust to the mere pledges of ESPAItTERO, or his
nominees the Spanish Ministers.

His Excellency LUIS G. CUEVAS, late Mexi-
can Minister of Foreign Affairs, has published an
" Expose" of the late differen:es between the
Governments of France and Mexico, " with a view
of proving by unequivocal facts," to quote the lan-
guage of this document, " the prudence •and mode-
ration of the Mexican authorities, and the unheard-
of injustice of the French Government." It is
'bather to gratify public curiosity, than to excite
any strong feeling respecting
a question already
settled, that we attempt to give an outline of
the statements made in the official address of
-
the Mexican Minister ; the more especially
as we regard the publication of such a docu-
ment, under all circumstances, as extremely
impolitic. Recriminations between Sovereign
States are never attended with ally benefit, and
when made by ex-Ministers, after the ratification
of friendly treaties, are offences against the general
peace. We are therefore of opinion that if the pa,
triousm of his Excellency Senor Luis G. CUE-
VAS was equal to his diplomatic vanity, the " Ex-
pose before us would have been allowed to slum-
ber among the archives of the Foreign Office,
instead of following upon the heels of Treaties of
Amity and Commerce between the Governments
of Mexico and France. With these preliminary
remarks we return to the official " Expose" of the
Mexican Minister.

Senor Luis CUEVAS commences his " Expose"
by referring to documents already published for an
account of the origin of the French claims upon
Mexico at the period of his comieg into office,
which was in April, 1837. He goes on then to
state that he dreaded nothing more than a rupture
with France, and did ail in his power to prevent it,
but that the French Government was so biassed by
false reports of French residents, th it it would not
so much as listen to him. These residents repre-
sented the Mexicans as a barbarous people, void of
every sentiment of justice, humanity, and civiliza-
tion, and to his inexpressible sorrow he, found that
their reports were believed in France.' -His first
step was to send Senor G.a.!itito Minister Plenipo-
tentiary to the Court of France, supplied with
documents disproving the reports of, the French re-
sidents, but the KING refused for several months
to receive him, or to take notice of his papers. In
the mean time the Mexican Minister offered
repeated explanations to Admiral DEFFAUDIS, but
they were not accepted ; and on . the 26th of
March the Mexican Government received the
ultimatum of the French Admiral. This appear-
ing to his Excellency inadmissible, he prepared an
answer to it, which met with the unanimous appro-
bation of the Mexican representatives, the purport
of it being, that the French ships of war should
leave the coasts of Mexico before any lie_
eotiations could take place between the two
Governments. The result was a mutual
deurind of passports on the part of the French
Charge d'Affaires and the Mexican Minister, and
the declaration of a blockade on the part of France.
Senor CuEv s here enters into a long statement
of the retaliatory measures which Mexico might
have adopted, such as issuing letters of marque,
and seizing the persons and properties of the French
residents ; but such was the forbearance of her
Government, that none of them was put into exe-
cution. On the 27th of October Rear-Admiral
13Auntst succeeded Baron DEFFAUDIS as com-
mander of the blockading squadron; and, as Minister
Plenipotentiary of France, consented to withdraw
the ultimatum, and to settle the question by honour-
able negociation. As this realized the political fore-
sight of the Mexican Minister it was exceedingly
agreeable to him, although his modesty was such
that it required all the authority of the PRESIDENT
to induce him to represent the Republic as Minister
Plenipotentiary at Jalapa. There he met with
Admiral BAupt sr, and, in order to terminate the
differences, agreed at once to deliver up a sum of
600,000 dollars, although perfectly satisfied that
the claim was unjust. On the question of
forced loans, the Mexican Miinster con-
fesses that_ he was loath to yield, although
he -acknowledges the practice to be both arbitrary
and oppressive, but the French Admiral would
listen to no equivocating apologies. At this point
Senor CUEVAS enters into a long detail of
the futility of many of the claims for compensation
set up by French subjects, and, forgetful of what he
had before stated, attributes the blockade to die
arrogance of Baron DEFFAUDIS and the French
Legation. He then endeavours to prove that a
Government so unsettled as that of Mexico, cannot
oipmumlaeriiesme eiun
injury
ShaesnobreeenuinEfivicAtsedneoxnti‘cioemxipcloaibnys
be held responsible for losses incurred by foreigners
thati
n P
the blockade—that in the seven months previous
to November last, 5,900: besidesoooof the permanentdollarsat least
injury dones
theißeublicommerce. He says that
s were
several of to
o foreign e
fthe
northern ports have been reduced to
a state of ruin ; that various Mining Compan7es •
Dave ; and that, to add to
the
erincurrededies
agprat ruinousucereadand calamity,
dss
theires
several Mexican
argoes confiscated.
He likewise adds that, both in Mexico and Buenos
vessels public
w
Ayres, French agents have been, and are, at work,
exciting insurrections against Republican institu-
tions. And, finally, this expose, which is dated
the 10th of January 1839, concludes with
imploring the people of Mexico to continue to re-
sist French injustice ; and with submittiog to the
verdict of a not less august tribunal than the whole
world, the conduct of his Excellency the Mexican
Minister.
Such is the extraordinary document which is
now given to the world, after the ratification of
treaties of friendship and commerce between the
Governments of France and Mexico—a document
which can have no other effect than to neutralize the
benefits which might be expected to flow from these
Treaties. Perhaps it may yet be made appear that
the Mexican Minister never intended this expose
for publication in the event of the restoration of
peace on honourable terms between the two Govern-
ments—that the world is indebted more to ac-
cident than design for its inauspicious appearance.
We shall rejoice to learn that such is the fact ; but
whether or not, we think that its publication calls
for the severe reprehension of the present Mexi-
can Government. We will further observe, in
conclusion, that though exceedingly long and ver-
bose it is by no means a well digested state paper,
and substitutes throughout the vaguest assertions
for statements requiring the strongest and most irre-
fragible proofs. One thing, too, is not a little re-
rnarkable—the friendly mediation of England is
not once alluded to from the first line to the last
So much for Mexican gratitude.

tcityto Neste, e left 't , Bourdeaux alter his
There is no political news of any moment in the
in the presence of the
French journals of Monday. On the 24th the Duke
and
wDa uyefirl eosms ofl utt ORLEANSRoyaI Highness had laid the foundation stone of the
Rail
Bishop of the diocese and a vast concourse of citizens
of every rank and profession.
'f he Commerce publishes a letter from Posen, of the
16th inst., which states that every regiment cautoned
in Poland has sent a detachment of picked men to re-
present it at the camp of Borodino. The Emperor
NICHOLAS will take the command, having under his im-
mediate orders Field-Marshal; PASKEWITSCH and
WILGENSTEIN. "It is thought," says the writer,
" that such an immense concentration of troops to one
place must be for some political purpose, and that the
mystery will be revealed after the review. This is the
more probable as private letters from Russia have long
ago said that these troops were to keep the west of
Europe at bay whilst Russia invaded Turkey." On
the other hand the Augsburg Gazette states that
the formation of a camp at Borodino has been counter-
manded by the EMPEROR, but that the troops are to
hold themselves in readiness for immediate service. Let-
ters also have been received from Warsaw, which state
that the EMPEROR had ordered an extraordinary levy
throughout Poland of 6 men out of every 1,000 to re-
cruit the army of the Caucasus. In fact nothing is left
undone by the Imperial Government to denationalize the
The Journal des Debars says—" That a letter received
from Vittoria, from a person worthy of confidence, states
that Don Carlos and his whole family were proceeding to
France. This at present is not the (dot, as the above
information comes from Madrid of the 18th inst. This
important evert would have been announced by the
telegraph."
The Journal de Rouen contains the following letter
from Havre, describing the effects produced in that town
by the reduction of the sugar duty :—" The news of the
reduction of the duty on sugar has been received with the
greatest enthusiasm by all classes of our population. Not
only were ail the ships in the harbour gaily dressed, and
the houses adorned with tri-coloured flags, but the labour-
ing class, whose work was diminished by the smallness of
the cargoes of ships from the colonies, paraded the streets