The Sun.
London, England, 1845-06-30 00:00:00

THE MEXICAN DEBT.

The following correspondence will be read with in-
terest, though we fear with little satisfaction, by the
Mexican bondholders. It is understood that a meeting
on the subject will be announced in a few days :
" New Broad-street Mews, June 4.

" Gentlemen,—We beg to enclose to you a letter from
his Excellency the Minister of Finance of the Republic
of the United States of Mexico.
" Being appointed by the Government of Mexico to
act as its agents in this city, we are instructed by the
Government to receive from you the funds in your hands
which hsve been remitted to you for the payment of
the dividends of the foreign debt of Mexico, together
with all papers and documents in your hands relating
to this agency.
" We shall be happy to learn at what time it will suit
your convenience to carry these instructions into effect.
" We remain, &c.,
" JOHN SCHNEIDER and CO.
" Messrs. F. de Livirdi and Co."

" Austin-friars, June 6, 1845.

" Gentlemen—We have to acknowledge receipt of your
letter of the 4th inst. (inclosing a dispatch from the
Mexican Minister of Finance), informing us that you had
been appointed agents to the Mexican Government, and
were instructed by the 5 aid Government to receive from
us the funds belonging to it in our hands, together with
the documents and papers relating to the agency.
" In reply, we have to state, that from our prede-
cessors in the agency we received nu papers or documents
whatever ; nor have we any others than the books re-
lating to the conversion of the debt and the payment of
dividends, which, being required for daily reference, we
cannot consent to part with.
" The Mexican Government has been regularly fur-
nished with the accounts relating to the affairs of this
agency.
" Credit has been given to the said Government for
all the moneys remitted up to the present date, and
there is still a considerable balance due unto us from the
Mexican Government, which we hope you are autho-
rised to pay, and in such case we are prepared to furnish
you with copies of our account-current with the said Go-
vernment, made up to this date.—We remain, &c.,
" F. DE LIZARDI and CO.,
" P.p. MANUEL J. DE LIZARDI.
" Messrs. J. Schneider and Co."

" New Broad-street Mews, June 7.
" Gentlemen,—We have just received your letter of
yesterday's date.
" Permit us to state to you that the funds which you
are directed to hand over to us can have no connexion
with.any account which may be existing between your-
selves and the Mexican Government. They are funds
which have been remitted to you for the payment of the
dividends of the Mexican foreign debt. They have been
appropriated to that parrose by a special contract between
the Mexican Government and the bondholders, effected
through your agency, and to which you are parties ; and,
being so remitted, they can hare no connexion with any
other account or transaction, whatever the nature of the
same may be.
" We are therefore under the necessity of repeating
our request for the payment of this money to us agree-
ably to the order in your possession.
" 11; e remain, &c.,

"JOHN SCHNEIDER and Co.
" Messrs. F. de Lizardi and Co."

" Austin-friars, June 10.

" Gentlemen,—We have the honour to acknowledge
the receipt of your communication, dated the 7th inst.
With reference thereto, allow us to say that we do not
feel ourselves called upon to discuss with you our reasons
for refusing to comply with the request made in your
letter of the 4th inst., and in that now under reply.
" We have, therefore, simply to refer you to our letter
of the 6th inst. for our sentiments on this subject, and
remain, &c., " F. DE LIZARDI and Co.
" P.p. MANUEL J. DE LIZARDI.
" Messrs. John Schneider and Co."

13, Austin-friars, June 21, 1845.

" Gentlemen,—The Committee of Spanish American
bondholders have received from Messrs. J. Schneider
and Co. copies of two letters which they had addressed
to you on the 4th and 7th inst., and of your replies to
the same, dated respectively the 6th and 10th inst.
" From this correspondence it appears that the
Mexican Government, having transferred its financial
agency in this city to the house of Messrs. John
Schneider and Co., bad authorized those gentlemen to
receive from you the balance of the funds remaining in
your hands for the purpose of applying it to the payment
of the Mexican dividends ; that Messrs. Schneider had
applied to you, in pursuance of the authority thus lodged
with them ; and that you have declined to obey the
orders of the Mexican Government for the payment of
this money, on the ground that you have claims on that
Government to a considerable amount.
" The Committee are under the necessity of calling
your attention to the circumstances under which
these monies have been from time to time re
mitted to you. By the agreement dated 14th Sep-
tember, 1837, under which conversion of the original
Mexican debt was effected, which agreement was ef-
ected through your agency, and bears your signature,
together with that of the Mexican Minister at this
Court, a certain proportion of the Customs' duties at
Vera Cruz and Tampico was set apart for the payment
of the interest on the foreign debt. Commissioners
were appointed to receive the same from time to time,
and to remit those funds to
you expressly for the pur-
pose in question. They have done so ; the dividends
have been from time to time paid by you out of those
funds ; and the sum remaining in your hands is an un-
appriated part of:the same funds.
" That there may be no possible misunderstanding on
the subject I extract from the bonds bearing your signa-
ture the following clause:—
" For the better securing the punctual payment of the
said interest, the Mexican Government shall appropriate
irrevocably thereunto one-sixth part of all the Custom-
house duties of the ports of Vera Cruz and Tampico
(Santa Anna Tamaulipas). This portion of the duties to
be received from the administradors of the Customs by
two Commissioners to be appointed by the MexicanGovern-
merit, one of whom to be nominated on the recommen-
dation of the agents of the bondholders in the city of
Mexico. These commissioners to transmit by every
English packet to the agents of the Mexican Government
in London the aforesaid funds ; the commission to be
paid to the said commissioners for this service by the
Mexican Government.
" The Committee, acting on behalf of the bondholders,
are under the necessity of emphatically stating to you,
that there is, in their view, no pretence in law, equity, or
justice, whereby you ran seek to appropriate these monies
to any other purpose than that for which they have been
specially remitted to you. The bondholders can have no
concern with any other dealings between you and the

Mexican Government. You have received these monies
under a solemn engagement under your own hands, to
apply them to the purpose for which they were sent; and
the Committee venture to insist that you have no right to
deal otherwise with them.

" Under these circumstances, the Committee now call
upon you, as you have declined to pay over th• funds re-
maining in your hands to Messrs. Schneider, to proceed
at once to pay the same to the bondholders, as a part
payment of the dividend due on the Ist of October last.
—I remain, &c. " G. R. ROBINSON, Chairman.
"Messrs. F. De Lizardi and Co."

" Austin-friars, June 24, 1845.

" Sir,—We have to acknowledge receipt of your letter
of the 21st inst., addressed to us on behalf of the Com-
mittee of Mexican Bondholders, wherein you inform us
that Messrs. John Schneider and Co. had laid before the
Committee copies of their correspondence with us on the
subject of the transfer of the Mexican agency. We also
learn from your communication that the Committee call
upon us to pay over either .to the bondholders or to
Messrs. Schneider and Co. the balance of the funds re-
maining in your hands.'
" In our letter to Messrs. John Schneider and Co., of
the 6th June, we told those gentlemen that, after giving
credit in account to the Mexican Government for all the
monies remitted us, there was still a considerable balance
due to us, and such being the case, we of course can
have no funds to pay over to Messrs. Schneider and Co.
or to any one else.
" Throughout the whole correspondence which we
have had with the Committee, we have constantly and
uniformly maintained that the funds remitted us by the
Mexican Government were for its sole account ; that we
were the agents of the said Government, and not of the
bondholders ; and that we could make no payments
either on account of dividends or any other purpose
without first receiving instructions from Mexico.
" We are aware that the Committee have asserted that
we were only the recipients of these funds on behalf of
the bondholders, but this we always have, and now again
emphatically deny. We have always received these
funds in the character of general agents to the Mexican
Government ; and nothing can more clearly prove that
the said Government entertained a similar idea than the
fact of the Mexican Minister of Finance giving the order
for transferring any funds in hand to Messrs. Schneider
and Co., which we apprehend his Excellency would
hardly have done had he entertained any doubt as to the
funds being the property of his Government—indeed, on
no other understanding could we have ventured to make
the heavy advances which we have done.
" We have also to remind the Committee that when
we succeeded in obtaining from the Mexican Govern-
ment the increased assignment of 3 1-3 per cent. of the
custom-house r venues, this fund was charged with the
payment to us of a considerable amount ; and we
imagine that no impartial person will dispute our right
to it.

" Since the Committee refer to the year 1837, we
think it would be as well that they look still further
back, and they will find that, from 1832 to 1837, no-
thing was recovered from the Mexican Government for
the bondholders, and that at the latter period the price
of the Stock, with twenty -three overdue coupons, was
barely half that which it has borne of late years, and
at present.
" In conclusion, we have to repeat what we have al-
ready told Messrs. Schneider and Co., that the entire of
the funds remitted us by the Mexican Government have
been carried to its credit in account, and that there is a
considerable balance still due woo us.—We remain, &c.
" F. DE LIZ AUDI and CO.
" P.p. MANUEL DE LIZARDI.
" G. R, Robinson, Esq."