Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/282

 the 2nd instant, relative to the publication by M. de Maintenant of a notice inserted in the 'New Era;' I have also received the copy of a new official communication agreed upon between your excellency, Marshal Bazaine, General Castelnau, and the inspector-general of finance, insisting on the surrender of the goods detained in the custom-house of this capital, notwithstanding the contrary orders of the government, and going so far as to announce that an agent will be placed at the said custom-house to ensure the execution of that which has been agreed upon. I have communicated all this to the emperor, and in reply his majesty directs me to state that he observes with grief and deep dissatisfaction the course of conduct which the French authorities have followed in this business; for even if the convention of July 30 had been legally in force, it does not give authority, in letter or spirit, either that acts of jurisdiction should be exercised in the empire, or that the sovereignty of the government should be attacked.

Consequently, his majesty has ordered that I should once more protest, as I now protest solemnly and formally in his name, against proceedings as irregular as they are hostile to the rights of the nation and the supremacy of the sovereign, rendering the representatives of France responsible from the present time before France, before their own government, and before all civilised nations, for the collision produced by these proceedings and all the consequences which may result therefrom.

The new provisions made by the representatives of France have placed the imperial government under the necessity of issuing another proclamation for the just defence of the rights of the empire, couched in the terms which your excellency will see in the copy annexed. 4em Under-Secretary of State.

The notice to commerce published officially was thus worded:—

Notice to Commerce. We are authorised to acquaint the merchants who are owners of goods now detained in the custom-house of this capital which have been sent forward from Vera Cruz with