Earl Russell to Lord Lyons Foreign Office, November 6, 1861 My Lord, I transmit to you herewith a copy of a Convention between Her Majesty, the Queen of Spain, and the Emperor of the French, for the combined operations against Mexico, which was signed at London on the 31st of October. Your Lordship will perceive that by Article IV of this Convention the Contracting Parties engage to communicate a copy of it to the Government of the United States, and to invite that Government to accede to it; and that, in anticipation of its consenting to do so, the Representatives of the three Powers at Washington shall be immediately furnished with full powers authorizing them, either jointly or separately, to conclude and sign with the Plenipotentiary who may be named by the President of the United States an identical Convention with the omission merely of Article IV. I have accordingly to instruct your Lordship to make a proposal to that effect to the Secretary of State of the United States, in such form as may be agreed upon between yourself and the French and Spanish Ministers, and you will receive the requisite full power to enable you, either jointly with them or separately, to sign the Convention with a Plenipotentiary of the United States. You will take care not to conclude this matter, either in form or substance, without coming to a complete and clear understanding with the French and Spanish Ministers. (signed) RUSSELL Back to Table of Contents: Booklet No. 8, Mexico 1861-67 Back to El Dorado List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by The South and Central Military Historians Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com