Sir C. Wyke to Lord Russell. (Received March 2) Vera Cruz, January 16, 1862 (Extract) On the 6th instant Commodore Dunlop arrived here from Havana with a squadron consisting of seven vessels, on board one of which, the "St. George" was His Royal Highness Prince Alfred. On the following day came Admiral de la Gravière with the French squadron, and on the 8th General Prim with two more Spanish vessels of war. Commodore Dunlop brought me a small box, containing a joint commission for Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Milne and myself, and the French Admiral delivered to me on the following day a Foreign Office bag, inclosed in which were your Lordship's several despatches dated from October 31 to November 15, 1861. Should any other despatches from the first named date to the 2nd ultimo have been addressed to me, they have not been received, and I ought, consequently, to be furnished with their duplicates. Sir C. Wyke to Earl Russell. (Received March 2) Vera Cruz, January 16, 1862 (Extract) On the 8th instant I received the official visits of General Prim and Rear Admiral de la Graviére, and had long conversations with those officers as to the best means to be adopted for carrying out the intentions of the allies in our joint intervention in the affairs of Mexico. I found that the General entirely coincided with me in thinking that every measure of conciliation should be adopted with the Mexican Government before resorting to force, and they both agreed that our first duty was to aid and assist the Mexicans in obtaining such a Government as was likely to afford more efficient protection to the lives and properties of foreigners resident in the Republic, before exacting from such a Government the execution of those engagements towards foreign Powers which their present penury and hopeless state of disorganisation does not permit them to fulfil. The so-called healthy season here will be over in March, when the great heats begin, and after which time it would be most imprudent to keep our troops on the coast, where they would be decimated by sickness and yellow fever. I am much pleased with both General Prim and Admiral de la Graviére, and esteem myself fortunate in having to act with such colleagues. Sir C. Wyke to Earl Russell. (Received March 2) Vera Cruz, January 16, 1862 (Extract) The future government of the town, in the absence of all Mexican authorities, was next discussed; and the occupation of the Castle of Ulloa by the forces of the three nations in succession, decided on as follows:- That each party should relieve the other at the end of every fourteen days under the command of successive captains of the navy, and that the flags of the three nations should continue to wave together whatever might be the nationality of the garrison occupying the fortress for the time being. 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