DE CASTILLO, Minister ad interim to Maximilian in Mexico, November 6, 1866

Letter from Señor Castillo in Turin to Maximilian in Mexico

Sire: I present your majesty my most respectful thanks for the royal letters of the 20th September, with which you have deigned to honor me, and inform you that the health of my august sovereign is visibly improving, which is gratifying to us, and gives us hopes of her speedy recovery. The information must have caused your majesty some anxiety. May the Lord’s will be done.

It gave much pleasure to read your majesty’s speech at the anniversary of independence, in the paper you deigned to send me, which reached me some weeks ago, and renewed my hopes that your majesty would restore the nationality of the country, now suffering hard trials, in spite of the many obstacles in your way.

I think there is a slight favorable change in the European press, proceeding from the firmness and energy of your majesty in state affairs, and the recent reported triumphs of General Mejia.

Now it is thought the empire has sufficient elements to suppress the revolution, and considering the inclination and decided wish of the people around Matamoras for peace and order, and the spirit of unity that reigns in different classes of society, it is believed the throne can be sustained after the departure of the French troops, which is greatly desired in Europe, as much for national and commercial interests of the moment as for political equilibrium in the New World, so as to confine a certain nation to limits, in order to prevent its gigantic development in future.

Hoping the majority of Mexicans will sustain your majesty’s noble efforts, and thus show their nation is not dead, and by their patriotism and energy gain a sympathy they need so much, we all look forward to a change for the better, after the French army leaves, which will give free action to the people, and allow them to recover from a crisis that may prove beneficial, instead of prejudicial.

I will attend faithfully to your orders about Prince Salvador de Iturbide, who, I think, had better continue his studies in England. Don Augustin must have gone to the United States, and I presume the rest of the family have gone too; I will inquire.

Your majesty will excuse me for being brief in this letter, as it is to be sent by unsafe means, and I am afraid it may be intercepted like one of Mr. Eloin’s.

Count Del Valle is still in Miramar. General Uraga left Trieste for Paris on the first, and Mr. Barrio and his lady are waiting your instructions in Vienna, as he wrote me on the second. As I cannot return as soon as I expected, I write to my brother to deliver to your secretary some documents that were left on my desk by Mi. Langlais, one of which is a sealed letter to Mr. Escandon, about the sum paid to France by Mexico for the Vera Cruz railway. In my humble opinion that affair ought to be thoroughly investigated, so that it be determined whether that considerable sum is to revert to the government, and Mr. Escandon relieved from its responsibility, or what is to be the result.

I leave to-morrow for Pisa, the mild climate of which is much recommended for the lungs, and it is only a few hours from Rome, via Livorno, where I will await your sovereign orders.

I beg your majesty to permit me to present my most respectful homage and gratitude, with which I have the honor to be your majesty’s most humble and obedient servant,