The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-17 00:00:00

111EXI( 0.

A letter from Mexico, dated March 18, says :
In some of my previous communications I touched
cursorily upon the laws which had lately been
passed relating to the Church property, and, as
the question is one which affects very intimately the
foreign creditor, I am again induced to revert to it.
The first law, which was passed in the year 1856,
did nothing more than take the fee away from the
Church, it enabled tenants of Church property, and
in their default, other parties who might feel so
disposed, to denounce the property according to a
certain scale ; but it compelled him to pay a rent
calculated at the rate of 6 per cent. on the value at
which it was denounced to the Church. The pub-
lic thus became trustees for the Church, who were,
to all intents and purposes, cestuique trusts.

Things were in this state when the revolution,
effected by Zuluaga, was brought about, and so
they remained up to the 13th of July, 1859, when
the Vera Cruz Government published a decree de-
claring the Church property national, and pointing
out the manner in which it was to be dealt with.
I have before had occasion to remark on the mon-
strous injustice of the law, which, giving the whole
advantage to the holder of a fictitious security,
known as the " interior debt," left the bona fide
foreign creditor and claimant exactly in the same
position as he was before the passing of the law.
Why the home creditor, with a very doubtful secu-
rity, should have so marked a preference over the
foreign creditor, with a valid security, would seem
to require some explanation. At all events, a like
option ought to have been extended to both. Mex-
ico can be considered in no other light than as a
bankrupt's estate, and ought to have been dealt
with as such. When, therefore, she suddenly
became possessed of a vast and unexpected accession
of wealth, every one had a right to suppose that
this would be marshalled in a proper and equitable
manner. This not having been done, surely foreign
nations have a right to interfere and see that
their citizens are placed, in semblance at least, on a
par with those of Mexico. The English Govern-
ment, for instance, might very fairly say,
" You have never complied with your obli-
gations to the bondholders, year after year have yen
violated your contract ; you must, now that the
means are at your disposal, enter into some arrange-
ment for the punctual fulfilment of your engage-
ment," or they may reasonably say " There are
numbers of our citizens who have been most merci-
lessly robbed, who have been ruined by your illegal
exactions, whose claim to reparation you yourselves
have admitted, and many of whom have been kept
out of their just rights for periods varying from five
to six-and-twenty years, these, at all events, must
be placed on an equal footing with your home cre-
ditor." That these decrees should have been allowed
to pass without eliciting any remarks from foreign
representatives or from the agents of foreign credi-
tors is unaccountable. As your correspondent I have
thought it right again to touch upon this subject,
that the bondholders or English claimants against
Mexico may, if they can, avail themselves of the
present opportunity—which is the only one they
are likely to have for many years to come—of ob-
taining payment. That Juarez, as President under
the Constitution of 1857, has acted illegally in dis-
posing of the Church property without the consent
of Congress cannot admit of a doubt, and his doing
so at a time when Zuluaga was the acknowledged
President of the Republic cannot bar the right
which any foreign creditor may have acquired. As
the Constitutional Government has only just been
acknowledged by the British Government, there is
yet time for English creditors to prefer their claims,
and for the British Government to support them if
they so think fit. Unless, however, some steps are
at once taken, the whole of this vast property, suffi-
cient, if properly administered, to clear the country
of debt, will be squandered ; a few Mexican specu-
lators will be enriched, the country will in no ways
be benefited, and the foreign creditor will be left
to the gradual improvement of the country as the
only means of obtaining payment for his long-pend-
ing and undisputed claims—a sorry prospect.
The sad intelligence of Captain Aldham and his
party having been attacked by a body of armed men
on their way to Vera Cruz, and of the former having
been severely wounded by a ball in the thigh,
reached this capital a few days back, and has cast a
general gloom. It appears that they had passed
Cordova, where all danger was supposed to be at an
end, when the diligence was so suddenly attacked
that the party had no time to prepare for defence.
The Captain immediately jumped out, pistol in
hand, but was disabled by the first shot fired. Lieut.
Heaslop, Mr. Brett, and Harris, the sailor, made a
most gallant defence, and after a fight of consider-
able duration, succeeded in driving off their brutal
assailants. Full particulars have not as yet come
to hand, but it is hoped that Capt. Aldham's wound
is not serious. A French lady received a ball in
the knee, and her leg, it is feared, will have to be
amputated. The rest of the party consisted of Mrs.
Kauffman and the family of Mr. Consul Glennie,
who all, most fortunately, escaped unhurt. This is