New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-03-09


THE PROPOSED RECOGNITION or NAXl-
4u /. MILIAN-AR. rBIGELOWS CARD. ~
We gave place n few days ago to cOmmu-
nicaton from Mr.. John Bigelow impeaGhng
the correctness of an allusion we had made TO
him at the close of the following sentence:
,This treaty that on tho Alabama calms) . isa
fitting conclusion 10 that feeble and hihess policy
which in one memorable instance after Napoieon haa
Mexico intended an Insult and menace 10 the
american hepHee, actu&dy shUnuog ~ 90, .s ri'
test OF Aexco, CustomHouse facilities for The inyaton
low 70 M Drouyn dc LbuYs that II tho Emperor would
remove his troops. the American GoyeTiment, oOpln
recognize the EmpHe 81 the illstarrcd Macmillan az
soon as they were gone" t.'''.
Mr. Bigelow, misleading the meaning OF this
paragraph, denies what VIC had neither asserted
nor implied, when he says that he never re-
"ceived from the State Department any instruc-
".tion to negotiate for a recognition of Maxi
"milian Oh any terms whatever Mr. BigelOw
further declares that he "Dever proposed any
"basis of recognition which contemplated in any
contingency the recognition Of any Government
''of Mexico that was not the spontaneous and
deliberate choice of the Mexican peoplep and
he adds that the only pretext upon which
"even personal malice could hang such a
Charge must be found in a conversation with
NJ. Drouyn de Dhuys, which Occurred during
"the more prosperous stages of Maximilian's
Imperial career" .sr-f. f. r.Is73 ....-
Our language. on the contrary. bad reference
to Fir. Bigelows Suggestion that We might
recognize the Empire of Macmillan, not during
any prosperous stage of its career, nor when
there was prospect of its proving the spon-
"taneous and deliberate choice Of the Mexican
people" if any such times ever existed, but at
period six months after the fall of Slavery
and Richmond, when that Empire, which al
ways sympathized with the Rebellion, was tot
teriug to its fall from weakness andpoverty pro-
tected from the just vengeance, Of the outraged
Mexican people by the baYOnets of its foreign le-
gions and without further hope from France,
for the reason that the well-grOunded dis
pleasure of the French nation. who never np-
proved the expedition, was forbidding for its
support another franc in money or in credit.
Our remark was based upon no rumOr cor
rect or otherwise, of the conversation with NJ.
DrOuyn de Lhuys, of which so elaborate an
account is given by Mr. Bigelow In his card.
Of that conversation we are not aware that we
ever before heard, and at this moment we do
not c,iance TO remember any allusion to it in
his dispatches. Whatever questions might be
raised in regard TO the wisdom of Mr., Bjge7
lows course of 'argument on that occasion, as
now reported by him, and the prOpriety Of his
suggesting in answer to NJ. Drouyn do Lhuys's
assurances that tho United, States would
respect the free CHOICE of the Mexican peopl5
between Maxmiliau and Jnarez, an Empire
and Republic, and that if Napoleon were
satisfied that Macmillan was tbs choice his
army should withdraw, TO that Conference and
those arguments we me2e no allusion We re-
ferTed to the suggestion made by Mr.. Bigelow
Of his own accord, on another occasion and
under very different circumstances, which was
MADE tie basis of the first order issued by the
French Government, looking to the return of
the troops from Mexico. TET1Trf
1t was thus alluded to by M. Drouyn de
Lhuys in his well -known dispatch of the 18th
of October, 1885, to the Marquis de Montholon,
the Froneh Minister at the Court of Macmillan:
Gin writing you this dispatch / have entered
"into path opened by Mr.. Bigelo'o himself
"seveTal days ago. In conversation in rela-
"tion TO other matters, this minister asked me
sin his own name, and without prejudging the
"opiniOn of his Government, If did not think
"that the recognition of the Mexican Empire
"by the United States might facilitate and