No. 454.
Mr. Foster
to Mr. Fish.
Legation of
the United States,
Mexico, November 19, 1873.
(Received December 12.)
No. 70.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of
your dispatch No. 40, conveying your congratulations to the Mexican
government upon the adoption of the amendments to its constitution,
incorporating therein the laws of reform. Immediately upon the receipt of
this dispatch I communicated its contents to Mr. Lafragua, minister of
foreign affairs,
[Page 717]
in a note of the
15th instant. (Inclosure 1.) On the 17th instant, Mr. Lafragua took occasion
to express to me, in a personal interview, the high gratification with which
President Lerdo had received your congratulations upon this event, so
important in the history of Mexico, and in a note of the same date he
acknowledged the receipt of my note of the 15th instant, in which he
conveyed to me the sincere thanks of the President for the cordial
congratulations which you had thought proper to address to him, and for the
friendly sentiments which animate the people and Government of the United
States with regard to the people and government of Mexico, a translation of
which note I inclose, (2.)
This correspondence was yesterday read in the National Congress by the
minister of foreign affairs, by direction of the President of the republic,
and after its reading, the president of Congress, in the name of that body,
expressed the gratification with which the assembly had received the
intelligence, and by a vote of Congress the correspondence was entered upon
its journal/The minister of foreign affairs has also caused its publication
in the official newspaper, and it has appeared in all the periodicals of
this capital.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 70.]
Mr. Foster to Mr.
Lafragua.
Legation of the United States,
Mexico, November 15,
1873.
Sir: On the 30th of September last I had the
pleasure of forwarding to my Government a copy of the amendments to the
constitution of the United Mexican States, by which the laws of reform
were incorporated into that instrument. In making this transmission I
took occasion to characterize the event as the crowning act of triumph
of the liberal government in its long contest with the conservative
party.
I am gratified to inform your excellency that the Secretary of State, in
acknowledging the receipt of my dispatch, states that “the Mexican
government deserves congratulation upon the adoption of these amendments
to its constitution, and that they may be regarded as a great step in
advance, especially for a republic in name. We have had ample experience
of the advantage of similar measures, an experience, too, which has
fully shown that while they have materially contributed to enlarge and
secure freedom and prosperity, they have by no means tended to weaken
the just interests of religion or the due influence of clergymen in the
body politic.”
It is especially pleasing to me to thus convey to your excellency the
congratulations of my Government on the great triumph of the Mexican
people under the administration of President Lerdo, and to assure you of
the deep interest and sympathy of the people and Government of the
United States in all the efforts of Mexico to establish and perpetuate
its republican institutions upon the basis of enlightened progress, and
that they earnestly desire its peace, prosperity, and material
development.
I avail, &c.,
[Inclosure 2 in No.
70.—Translation.]
Mr. Lafragua to Mr.
Foster.
Ministry of Foreign Relations,
Mexico, November 17,
1873.
Sir: I have had the honor to receive your
excellency’s communication, dated the 15th instant, in which your
excellency is pleased to state to me the following: that having
forwarded to your government the decree which declares constitutional
the
[Page 718]
laws of reform, giving to
this act the character of a triumph of the liberal government in its
long struggle with the conservative party, it is gratifying to you to
inform me that the Secretary of State of the American Government
congratulates the government of Mexico on the adoption of those laws as
constitutional amendments, which may be considered as a grand step taken
in the path of progress, and that, though they will contribute to
increase and strengthen liberty and prosperity, they do not tend to
prejudice the just interests of religion. Your excellency adds that it
is especially gratifying to you to transmit the congratulations of the
Government of the United States on this great triumph of the Mexican
people under the administration of President Lerdo, and to assure me of
the deep interest and sympathy of the people and Government of the
United States in all the efforts Mexico makes in order to establish and
perpetuate republican institutions.
The President of the republic has received with special gratification the
expression of the kind sentiments which animate the people and
Government of the United States respecting the people and government of
Mexico, which sentiments could not have been interpreted by a more
estimable person than your excellency. The President is sincerely
thankful, as well for the cordial congratulation which his excellency
the Secretary of State has had the kindness to address to you on account
of the proclamation of the amendments to the federal constitution, as
for the ardent wishes which your excellency manifests for the
consolidation of the republican institutions and of peace, and for the
prosperity and material development of the United Mexican States.
Long and terrible, it is true, has been the struggle between the society
of the past, which had its being from the remnants of the colonial
system, and modern society, which desires to live practicing democratic
principles; for it was not easy to alter, in a short time, certain
deeply rooted customs, nor destroy, without overcoming an obstinate
resistance, the interests and properties profusely disseminated, and
which were the most efficacious elements that could be offered against
the establishment of any reform and of the consolidation of the
principles which it has proclaimed. Bat reform triumphed, and its
principles, clothed with the sacred constitutional character, form now
an integral part of our political institutions. Rightfully, therefore,
your excellency has called a great triumph that which the Mexican people
have this time achieved. The people who, at the cost of so many
sacrifices, have known how to conquer and defend their independence and
liberty, have, succeeded in establishing reform, and will no doubt know
how to defend it, making all the sacrifices that may be necessary in
order to preserve those inestimable blessings.
I avail, &c.,
