Earl Russell to Earl Cowley Foreign Office, April 21, 1862 My Lord, I transmit to your Excellency herewith a summary of the opinion of the Spanish Government on the Convention of Soledad, which has been communicated by Señor Calderon Collantes to Her Majesty's Minister at Madrid, and also, as it would seem, to the French Ambassador. This summary contains the substance of the despatch to General Prim which Señor Conte, the Spanish Chargé d'Affaires, read to me. But in the last sentence of the instruction to General Prim it was implied, rather that expressed, that if the reasonable demands of the allies were not assented to, the Spanish Government would infer that the Government of Juarez was one with which it was impossible to treat. At the same time it was to be understood from the Spanish instructions that the Convention of Soledad was not to be set aside, and that the demands of the allies were to be laid before the Mexican Commissioners for their assent or refusal. But Her Majesty's Government have never yet heard from the Government of the Emperor whether the Convention of Soledad is considered by France to be binding, or whether it is to be disavowed. (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