Earl Russell to Sir C. Wyke Foreign Office, November 15, 1861 Sir, I enclose, for your information and guidance, a copy of a further letter which I have addressed to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, modifying to a certain extent that part of my previous letter of the 31st of October which related to operations on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Her Majesty's Government are of the opinion that if the Mexican authorities should accede to the terms which will be proposed to them, and should put the allied forces in possession of Vera Cruz, it may be unnecessary to undertake operations on the Pacific coast. But at all events they think it best, before any such operations are commenced, that you, in conjunction with Admiral Milne, and with the Ministers and Commanders of France and Spain, should have the opportunity of determining whether such operations are desirable. If such is the case you will apprize Rear-Admiral Maitland of the result of your deliberations, and in requesting him to proceed to execute the contingent instructions with which he is furnished by the Lords of the Admiralty, you will further inform him of the steps which he should take for collecting the duties of Customs at the ports which he may occupy, and of the manner in which he should dispose of the money which he may thereby raise. It is possible that the Mexican Government, not opposing the occupation of Vera Cruz by the allies, may decline to enter into any Convention, and may divert their exports to the ports on the Pacific. This is a contingency for which the instructions to Admiral Maitland are intended to provide. (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