Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-01-06
slavery i'm Mexico.

In response to the resolution intro
duced into the House of Representa- yes
by Mr.. Garfield, of this State, and adopt
ted by that body on the 18th ult, request
ing information in regard to a so-called
decree issued by Macmillan re-establish-
ing slavery in Mexico, the President has
communicated to the Senate the CORES
pondence on the subject. 1t is opened by
Senior Romero, the Minister of the Repub-
lie of Mexico, who, on the 9Th Of October,
addressed a letter to Mr.. Seward, calling
his attention to the fact that the so-called
Emperor of Mexico, for the purpose of
inviting immigration from the Southern
States, had made provision for the adop-
ton in Mexico of a system of peonage
similar to that of slavery in this country,
recently abolished by the constitu-
tional amendment. Under this system
the "working-men," as Macmillan terms
tiers, or patrons, as they are caHed; 70 wUrN
for a term Of five years, or ten at most,
the master agreeing to feed, clothe and
lodge his poems, pay them a sumof money
agreed upon, and maintain their children.
This slavery is hereditary, for in case of
the death of the father, it is provided that
his children shall continue in service until
majority, upon the same conditions as was
the father. The heirs of the patron, in
their turn, will hold these working-meh.
The regulations include a fugitive slave
law in the provision that gin case of de-
sertion the workman, when caught, shall
be assigned, without wages at all, to the
public works, until his patron comes to
claim him" Senior Romero points out
the fact that this re-establishment Of sla-
very is expressly intended to call to the
support of the Macmillan government
all citizens of the United States hostile to
our authority, and that it is thus emily anew
means of affecting what the Duke Gwin"
scheme, now abandoned, was intended to
accomplish.
Upon receipt of this communication
Mr.. Seward, under date of Nov. End,
wrote to Minister Bigelow, our representa-
tive at the court of France, declaring that
the establishment Of "the perfect equality
Of men of the African race with men of
other races throughout the whole con-
tinent is a policy which the United States
may hereafter be expected to cultivate
with consistency aud a~ssiduity," and
that "if European opinion can beregarded
as established in reference to any nepolit-
zeal question, it is settled that African
in any form, ought ~hencefOrth to
cease throughout the world.n MI. Sew
ard encloses an opinion from the Attorney
General to the effect that if the regulations
referred to are carried out in Mexico "they
would inevitably operate to reduce into a
condition of peOn slavery working men of
the African race, and, of course, such of
the freedmen before mentioned as, with or
without their intelligent consent might
be brought within the Jurisdiction of Mex
ico.H To this opinion he invites the at
of the French government.
M Bigelow communicates the opinion
of the Attorney General to NJ. Drouyn
L'Huys, in a note bearing date November
22nd, reiterating in slightly different Ian
guage the sentiments expressed by our
Secretary Of State. Here the matter rests,
the French government having not yet
made any reply to the communication.
The steps taken by u Government in
his matter will meet the approval of every
good citizen. The United States are ire
committed to the establishment Of
she perfect equality of mankind, without
to race, throughout this continent
md the establishment by a usurper, of a
of slavery in a country SO closely
adjoining our own cannot be overlooked
BY us, especially when the step was taken
with the direct intention to attract to that
disaffected citizens of our own
government, by setting up an institution
which we have inst discarded as inhuman
nd barbarous.