Lewis D. Campbell to William H. Seward, March 12, 1867

Mr. Campbell to Mr. Seward

Sir: I received your despatch No. 19, dated March 2d, on the 6th instant, just as I was leaving my home in Hamilton, Ohio, for this city. I thank you for the information on the subject of the payment of salaries you have so kindly communicated in reply to my private note.

I arrived here on the morning of the 10th instant, and here received, by the hands of Mr. Plumb, your despatch No. 20, also dated March 2d, transmitting for my information copy of a letter from a Mr. J. A. Bennet, of New York, with copy of his clippings from the New York Herald. Also, enclosing copy of a letter from a Mr. Thomas A. Dwyer, of San Antonio, Texas, on the subject of “forced loans” in Mexico. I have no reliable information as to the character of either Mr. Bennet or Mr. Dwyer, and no means here of ascertaining whether the pretended decree of President Juarez, sent you by Mr. Bennet, is genuine or not. In my anomalous position here, I feel quite powerless to assist American citizens in Mexico without some definite instructions from you.

I have classified the complaints of Messrs. Bennet and Dwyer with those of Mr. Joseph Ulrich, and others, of Monterey, transmitted to me by your despatch No. 2, of October 2d, 1866, and with those of Messrs. McGaffey and Stocking, of the American schooner Mary Bertrand, wrecked on the coast of Mexico, near Bagdad, and referred to in my despatches numbered 8, 11, and 14.

Awaiting instructions on these and other questions involved in Mexican affairs, I remain, most respectfully, your obedient servant,