New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-10-29
MEXICO.

iowards our neighbors, The true interests Of
our own country consist, after first settling the
vital questions which disturb us at home, in
letting all our neighbors manage their own
business in their own way. We should wish
to preserve friendly relations with all, and
should desire the subsistence, both at home and
abroad, of those civil dissensions which re-
press industry, obstrpct commerce and un-
settle every kind of security.
We have enough Of these troubles at home
to absorb our attention and to excite our in
terest if not our apprehension, and before in
terneddling with the internal affairs of our
neighbors, We should be very certain that
question of national honor or national security
impels us to depart from that time-honored
principle Of ncn-intervention which had the
appreciation of our fathers, and which also has
the sanction OF public law.
It was with regret therefore that we saw
published the following letter purporting to
have been written by Major General Sheridan
in his official capacity as commander of the
department Of the gulf, to Brig. Gen. Sedg-
wick, commanding the sub-district of the Rio
Grande, at Brownsville, Texas:
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GuIF,
New Orleans, La, Oct. 23, 1866
General-I am satisfied that there is only one
way in which the state OF affairs on the Bio
Grande can be bettered, and that is by giving the
heariest support to the only government IN
Mexico recognized by our own. and the only one
which isrealiy friendly yto us.
You will, therefore, warn all adherents OF any
party or pretended government in Mexico or IN
the State of Tamauipas, that they will not be
permitted to violate the neutrality laws between
the Liberal government Of Mexico and the United
States; and also. that they viii not be permitted
to remain in our territory and receive the pro
lection Of our flag, in order 70 complete t4e1f
Vaccinations for the violations OF our neutrality
/ laws.
These instructions will be enforced against the
adherents of the imperial buccaneer representing
the socalled Imperial government of MeGieo and
! also against the 0rtega, Santa Anna and other
| factions
/ President Juarez is the acknowledged head of
1 the Liberal government of Mexico.
an general, very respectfully your obedent servant
p. H. SHERIDAN, fd
III. n Major 6, GsRsFa 9 L G9Emandng S59i! Y 4.
Commanding subdstrict of the Ris Grande Brownsville
Texas
With due Difference to General Sheridan
we think he. does not, in this letter of instruc-
tions, interpret correctly the attitude Of our
government towards the several 'so-called
governments in Mexico From the founda-
tion Of our government to the present time,
it has been a cardinal principle of our repub-
1ican doctrine to acknowledge the existence
in any other country of every government
which becomes one in fact without reference
to the legitimacy Of its origin It is not ex-
| pected that the governments of Macmillan,
Of Juarez, and Of Ortega should mutually ac-
knowledge each other, any more than it was
to have been expected that the United States
should have acknowledged the late Gonfeder-
ate States as independent, unless the fact OF
independence had been established by success.
4 But as far as foreign nations are concerned,
a very slight study eff the pages of Vattel and
Wheaton will show that international comfy
requires that they should not shut their eyes
to the existence of any de .facto government
which may be established in any country. 1t
was this principle which induced the great
powers of the world to acknowledge the late
Confederate States as de fdcto power, and
which induced even the United States govern
ment to concede to them the existence of
bellgerent rights. 1t was the same principle
which induced the United States to recognize
the fact that Macmillan has established some
sort of government within the limits of Mex
lean territory, and which has elected from
Mr.. Seward more than one dispatch declara-
tory of the strict neutrality of the United
States government between the contending
parties in Mexico. This concession did not
affect our relations with the other claimants to
power. 1t amounted simply to the acknowl-
edgment of fact which was patent to the
whole world-that two parties, contending
with each other for the government Of the
whole country, had each succeeded in estab-
fishing government strong enough to enforce,
within a certain portion of the territory which
they occupied, laws of their own making
The belief on our part that one of these
might be legitimate and the other usurpa-
ton, did not alter the fact Of the existence Of
both; and our Acknowledgements of that fact, SO
long as we refrained from intermeddling be-
tween the parties, gave no just ground Of dis
satisfaction to either.
We think that the letter of instructions
from General Sheridan is in conflict with pub
lie comfy, as well as with the declared attitude
Of neutrality Of the government Of the United
States. General Sheridan may be satisfied .
in his own mind that the true policy Of the
government is to give g the heartiest support
to the only government in Mexico recognized
BY our own, and the only one which is. really
friendly TO us" and he may believe that
Juarez is |. the acknowledged head Of that
government But we think his instructions
are in conflict both with international law
and the declared neutrality Of our govern
nlent, and are not calculated to reflect credit
upon the attitude in which we have presented
ourselves to. the world While the govern
nlent is avowing the strictest neutrality be-
tween the opposing governments in Mexico,
it is singular to see high military official
encouraging one Of his subordinates in g Civ
ing the heartiest support to one Of the
contestants.
Nor does it add to the dignity Of our posi-
ton to be applying h,Srsh names to the head
of government to Which ours has conceded
the existence Of belligarent rights. TO can
Macmillan an imperial buccaneer' may be
good rhetoric, but it is MOI, forcible logic. It
shows temper rather than Judgment, and does
not add to the dignity Of an official paper.