Department of State,
Washington,
January 21, 1865.
Mr. Seward presents his compliments to Mr. Geofroy, and has the honor
to acknowledge the receipt of his communication of the 12th instant,
relative to the supposed movement of Juarist refugees at New York
and Washington.
In reply, Mr. Seward has the honor to state that the attention of the
proper authorities has been called to the subject, with a view to
the prevention of any violation of the neutrality laws of the United
States.
Memorandum from French legation to
Department of State.
[Translation.—Received February 4,
1865.]
MEXICAN ORGANIZATION IN NEW YORK.
It seems that several persons whose names are on the annex
herewith are busied in New York in organizing an emigration
which would be directed towards Mexico, with an object hostile
to the government of the emperor Maximilian.
[Page 432]
These individuals seem to be full of confidence in the success of
their projects. They dispose apparently of funds considerable
enough, and express themselves in a manner to allow the belief
that the intrigue they are plotting in the United States has
ramifications in Mexico.
The manner in which they speak of ex-President Juarez would lead
to the thought that it is not on him they count, nor in his
favor that they are agitating. Certain indications would lead
rather to the supposition that the persons in question lend
sympathies to General Santa Anna, which the event would develop.
What they say of him would in any case be fit to compromise him,
if the indiscretions which escape them were to be taken
seriously.
It is said that Brooklyn, Cincinnati, and Santa Fé are the points
of rendezvous for the emigrants that the favorers of the
intrigue in question seek to gather in view of the disorders
they meditate. It appears that a captain in the American army,
whose name (Fichte) would indicate a German origin, set off five
days ago for New Mexico, with the title of colonel and $7,500 in
gold, given, it is said, by a New York banker (Berriozabul.)
Santa Fé, whither he goes, will become a sort of recruiting
depot for operations against Mexico.
Annex.—Colonel Flores, Colonel Bidal y
Rivas, General Rivas, Captain Pelliteer, Marquis de Sard; an American officer of German origin,
by name Fichte.
