The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-03 00:00:00

'7
,e,f.A..,

Mexican Affairs.

-411.- ----

CITY OF MEXICO, DOC. 2.
•
The Emperor Maximilian has addressed the fol-
lowing letter to his Minister of Public Works :
"My dear Minister Robles,—l have, as you are
aware, long been studying a general plan of works
of improvement to be carried out in the country.
These works refer to roads, the canalisation of rivers,
railways, telegraphs, the improvement of the most
important ports, the working of deserted mines,and
the opening of new mines in the different depart-
ments of the country. All these works, which
should be executed within a few years, ought natu-
rally to be combined for the aggrandisement and
enrichment of the country and nation. In order to
cmnplete the plan, the colonisation of all the suitable
points of our territory should also form a part
thereof.

"'With a view of furthering this combined project,
your Excellency has sent to me some maps accom-
panied by very useful reports. But all this has
hitherto been theory ; in order to carry it one day
into practice, it is necessary to have large sums at •
command. It does not appear to me impossible, by
well developing the , plan, and mathematically de-
monstrating the great advantages that would result
therefrom, to contract a considerable loan for this
purpose, based upon the ample profits which the
works would produce.
" In order to elaborate the plan in all its bearings,
to fix approximately the necessary sums, and to de-
termine the bases of the loan, it is necessary to
divide the labour into several general branches,
which might be :-1. Roads, bridges, and canalisa-
tion ; 2, railways ; 3, telegraphs ; 4, works at the
ports ; 5, mines ; 6, colonisation.
" Each branch would be represented by an intel-
ligent person having the necessary experience, who,
forming a committee under the presidency of your
excellency, would draw up the general project with
estimates of the cost and the plan of the loan.
"The persons for each group would be for roads,
bridge!, &c., Senor Santiago Mendez ; for railways,
the engineer Lloyds; for telegraphs, some official
well •aequainted with the service and its expenses ;
for works at the ports, the Sub-Secretary of Marine ;
for mines, Senor Marceline Rocha ; and for colo-
nisation, Senor Maury. Your excellency will ac-
quaint me with the measures you may take to this
effect. "‘ MAXIMILIAN.
" Alcazar of Chapultepec, Nov. 27."

An imperial decree has been published, organising
and regulating the telegraphic service throughout
Mexico, and stating the conditions to be entered into
by those to whom the Government may grant con-
cessions to construct and work telegraphic lines:
Government despatches will pay half the rate
charged to the public. The Government is entitled
to inspect the lines from time to time, and, should
it be necessary, to place its own officials in any or all
of the stations. Contractors for the lines will be
allowed to take what timber they require for the
telegraph poles from the national domains free of
charge. All correspondence of the Sovereign, that
relative to the military and police service, and all
Jovernmental despatches marked urgent, will have
priority of transmission. The owners or contractors
of lines will regarded as Mexican subjects in all
things relative thereto, without being able to allege
foreign rights.

Another decree regulates the levies for the army
in Mexico. The conscripts will be drawn by ballot.
The Emperor will determine at the close of every
year the number of men to be drawn, either to com-
plete existing or form new corps. Every Mexican
by birth or naturalisation, from 18 to 35 years of
age, will take part in the balloting, unless falling
under any of the specified exceptions. The term
of military service is fixed for six years, except for
those who have served their time in the rural
guard, who will have to serve only three years in
the regular army. The price of exemption is fixed
at $4OO.
The official Gazette continues to register the sur-
render of Juarists in different provinces of the em-
pire, in consequence of the late stringent proclama-
tion against them.
The Esperanza of Queretaro of the 23d instant
says:--

"We learn from Tampico, on the Bth, that
General Mejia is making wonderful efforts at Mata-
moras, having many times repulsed the force of
4,000 men and 11 guns besieging the town. Our
readers already know that vessels have sailed from
\rera Cruz with reinforcements of troops for Ma-
t amoras."

The Gaceta of Monterey states that anarchy pre-
vails among the besiegers, Cortinas refusing to re-
cognise Escobedo, and the latter differing with
Canales.

The 211oniteur publishes the following intelli-
gence :
" The Minister of War has received intelligence,
via England, from the expeditionary carps in Mexico
to Nov. 28 from the capital of that country, and to
Dec. 20 from Vera Cruz. The whole of the infor-
mation transmitted by the Marshal Commanding-
in-Chief is satisfactory. Complete tranquillity pre-
vails in the greater part of the provinces as well as
in the capital ; the sanitary state of the French
troops is good on all points, and no important mili-
tary event has occurred since the last mail. The
decree of 3d October continues to produce excellent
results ; several chiefs of bands have submitted, and
among theiu Figueroa, who was at the head of the
Malcontents in the State of Oajaca. Gen. Mendez
is actively pursuing the task he has undertaken of
completely pacifying Michoacan ; he is continually
traversing the country at the head of light movable
columns, and allows the dispersed bands no oppor-
tunity of reuniting. After the departure of Gen.
Aymar, Gonona made his appearance in the districts
of Concordia and La Norir, in the State of Sinaloa ;
to repress his attempts, Gen. Rivas has been ordered
to embark at San Blas for Mazatlan, with 800 Mexi-
cans, and Gen. Lozada has started by land for
Rosario with his Indians. The successive attacks of
Escobedo on Matamoras, already mentioned, have
been resisted by Gen. Mejia in a manner which does
him much honour ; the National Guards, composed
of Mexicans and foreigners, have shown great
courage and self-devotedness. The Empress Char-
lotte, during her stay at Vera Cruz, just before her
departure for Yutacan, was received in the most
enthusiastic manner by the populations, and went
to the Palace of the Ayuntamiento in a car of hon-
our, which the people themselves insisted on draw-
ing. Her Majesty, who was deeply affected by those
marks of sympathy, embarked on the 20th Nov. on
board the Mexican vessel Tobasco, which was escorted
by an Austrian corvette. The Empress was ex-
pected to return to Vera Cruz between the 15th and
20th of December."
A letter from the city of Mexico says :
" The Minister of Public Works has written to

Marshal Bazaine an important letter to declare the

conditions on which concessions of land would bo
made to soldiers of the French army whose term of
service is about to expire, and who have expressed a
desire to remain on the territory of the empire as
colonists. Surveys were going on with respect to
the railway to be constructed between Vera Cruz
and Puebla. The official journal has published
several decrees relative to merchant shipping, and
one grants premiums to vessels which shall perform
distant foreign voyages under the Mexican flag-
The Bank of Mexico is definitely constituted. The
treaty conceding it to the Comptoir d'Escompte of
Paris has received the imperial ratification by a
letter addressed on the 10th November to M. Pro-
mel, the representative of the new company, and is
conceived in the following terms :To
approve of the
" The Emperor has deigned
concession made in his name to Pinard by the
Commission of Mexican Finance in Paris, under the
dates of the 16th and 21st September, for the esta.
blislunent of a bank in Mexico, as well as the
statutes of the said bank, drawn up in Paris on the
29th of the same month. I inform you of. this in
reply to the request addressed to 11. M., dated the
7th inst. "'P. CESAR,
Under-Secretary of Finance.'
44 The general revival of business has become
more marked. Large transactions have been done,
especially in cotton, the rates for which are still
firmer. An American house has just established a
manufactory of composition candles in this cit
y,
being the first of the kind."