Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

3. MESILLA, AND LATER, TREATIES.

§ 859.

Under the treaty of December 30, 1853, by which the Mesilla valley was secured to the United States, seven million dollars were to be paid by the United States on the exchange of ratifications, and three millions when the new boundary line was established.

Cushing, At. Gen., 1855, 7 Op. 582.

The question whether the United States will pay, acording to their original tenor, drafts drawn by the Mexican government, under the Mesilla convention, or suspend the payment at the subsequent request of that government, is matter of political, not of legal, determination. Cushing, At. Gen., 1855, 7 Op. 599.

"In 1861 an extradition treaty was concluded with Mexico, and in 1868 a naturalization convention, and a convention for the establishment of a claims commission. The commission under the claims convention was duly organized in Washington, July 31, 1869. Its powers were extended by a convention, concluded April 19, 1871, and a further extension was authorized by a convention concluded November 27, 1872."

Davis, Notes, Treaty Vol. (1776-1887), 1357.

See, further, as to the claims convention of July 4, 1868, Moore, Int.
Arbitrations, II. 1287 et seq.

See, also, as to prior claims treaties between the two countries, id.
1209-1286.

As to boundary treaties between the two countries, see id. 1358-1359.

4. DOMESTIC DISTURBANCES; INTERVENTION.

§ 860.

After the close of the war between the United States and Mexico, the political condition of the latter country continued to be disturbed. Complaints were made by citizens of the United States of injuries of various kinds, and claims to a large amount accumulated in the Department of State. In 1856 Mr. Forsyth, then American minister to Mexico, declared that "nothing but a manifestation of the power of the government of the United States" would avail “to punish these wrongs." In 1857 a favorable change in the affairs of Mexico seemed to take place. A constituent congress adopted a republican constitution, and a popular election was held at which General Comonfort was chosen as President. He took the oath of office and was inaugurated December 1, 1857. A month later, however, he was driven from the capital by a revolution headed by General Zuloaga. The entire dip

lomatic corps, including the minister of the United States, made haste to recognize Zuloaga's authority without awaiting instructions from their governments. But Zuloaga was soon expelled from power, and his place was taken by General Miramon, a favorite of the so-called Church party. The reappearance of Zuloaga was secured for the purpose of appointing Miramon as "President substitute," and in the latter character the diplomatic corps transferred to him the recognition which they had given to Zuloaga. Meanwhile, Benito Juarez, who, as chief justice of the Republic and ex-officio Vice-President, claimed to have become President on the deposition of Comonfort, came forward as leader of the Liberal party. He established his government first at Queretaro, then at Guanajuato, and then at Guadalajara, but was eventually compelled to leave the country. In 1858, however, he returned to Vera Cruz and established a government. In June, 1858, Mr. Forsyth, the American minister, suspended diplomatic relations with the Miramon government till he should ascertain the decision of the President. President Buchanan approved the step which Mr. Forsyth had taken, and, because of complaints of ill treatment of American citizens, broke off diplomatic relations with Mexico altogether. Subsequently, when the final triumph of Juarez seemed to be probable, President Buchanan sent a confidential agent to Mexico to report upon conditions and the prospects of the belligerents. In consequence of this agent's report, he appointed Mr. Robert M. McLane, of Maryland, as minister to the Mexican Republic. Mr. McLane proceeded on his mission on March 8, 1859, invested with discretionary power to recognize the government of President Juarez, if he should find it entitled to such recognition according to the established practice of the United States. April 7, 1859, Mr. McLane presented his credentials to President Juarez, and recognized the latter's government as the only existing government of the republic. But the government of Juarez was unable to expel Miramon from the capital; and in his annual message of December 3, 1859, President Buchanan recommended to Congress the employment of a sufficient military force to penetrate into the interior of Mexico, where the government of Miramon was to be found, and seek redress from it for the injuries to American citizens. In his message of December 3, 1860, he declared his belief in the "justice as well as wisdom of such a policy," but stated that, having discovered that his recommendation would not be sustained by Congress, he had sought to accomplish the same objects in some degree by treaty stipulations with the constitutional government.

Mr. Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion, 267–276; 2
Curtis's Buchanan, 215; 2 Moore, Int. Arbitrations, 1288-1289.

In instructions given to Mr. Corwin, minister to Mexico, April 6, 1861, Mr. Seward stated that the actual condition of affairs in Mexico was so imperfectly understood in Washington that the President found it difficult to give him particular and practical directions. Information had been received that President Juarez had overthrown his adversaries and established his government at the capital, and that he had been chosen as President at an election lately held, but there were other rumors to the effect that his government was unable to maintain order, that robberies were frequent on the highroads, and that even a member of the American legation had been murdered on his way from the City of Mexico to Vera Cruz. If the last-mentioned occurrence should prove to be true, Mr. Corwin was informed that it would be regarded as a high offense against the dignity and honor of the United States, and would prove a severe shock to the sensibilities of the American people. As to claims, he was not to put them forward for the present, but he was to keep the Mexican government in mind of the fact that such of them as should be found to be just would in due time be presented and urged upon its consideration. The performance by the United States of its duty to "reason" with the government of Mexico was, said Mr. Seward, embarrassed by the occurrence of civil commotions in our own country, by which Mexico, in consequence of her proximity, is not unlikely to be affected." Both governments must "address themselves to this new and annoying condition of things, with common dispositions to mitigate its evils and abridge its duration as much as possible." Mr. Corwin was, however, advised that the President would not suffer the representatives of the United States to engage in any discussion of the merits of its domestic difficulties in the presence of foreign powers, but he was to assure the government of Mexico that those difficulties had not arisen out of any deep and permanent popular discontent, and that the President believed that the people of the United States would speedily and in a constitutional way adopt all necessary remedies for the restoration of the public peace and the preservation of the Federal Union. Peace, order, and constitutional authority, in each and all of the American republics were, said Mr. Seward, "not exclusively an interest of any one or more of them, but a common and indispensable interest of them all." The President was, moreover, satisfied that the safety, welfare, and happiness of the United States would be more effectually promoted if Mexico should retain its complete integrity and independence, than if any part of its territory should be transferred to another power, even though that power should be the United States itself. It was understood, said Mr. Seward, that the ability of the government and people of Mexico to preserve and maintain the integrity and the sovereignty of the republic might be much impaired, under

existing circumstances, by hostile or unfriendly action on the part of the United States. The President would therefore use all proper influence to favor the restoration of order and authority in Mexico, and, so far as might be in his power, prevent incursions or any other form of aggression by citizens of the United States against Mexico. The Mexican government had lately complained of an apprehended attempt to invade the State of Sonora by citizens of the United States. Mr. Corwin was to assure the Mexican government that effective means would be adopted to put the neutrality laws of the United States into activity, and that due attention would be given to the preservation and safety of the peaceable inhabitants residing along the border. It was hoped that equal attention would be given to this subject by the authorities in Mexico.

Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Corwin, min. to Mexico, No. 2, April 6, 1861, Dip. Cor. 1861, 49.

October 31, 1861, France, Great Britain, and Spain entered into a convention with reference to combined operations against Mexico for the enforcement of claims. They agreed that they would not, in the employment of measures of coercion, make any acquisition of territory, or take any particular advantage, or exercise in the domestic affairs of Mexico any influence incompatible with its political independence; and, in order that their proceedings might not seem to have an exclusive character, they also agreed to communicate a copy of the convention of the United States and invite that government to accede to it. Hostile operations were begun in May, 1862, but before that time things took an unfavorable turn in consequence of the French having extended protection to General Almonte and other leading men of the Reactionary party who had been banished from the country. On this question of the intervention of the French in the domestic affairs of Mexico the concert of the powers was destroyed. The United States had declined to join them in coercive measures; and as Great Britain and Spain refused to accede to the policy of intervention, France was left to pursue alone the way that led to the attempt and disastrous failure to establish an alien monarchy in Mexico.

Moore, Int. Arbitrations, II. 1289-1291, where the details of the interven-
tion are given; Maximilian in Mexico, by Sara Yorke Stevenson;
- British & For. State Papers, vols. 51, 52, 53, and 54, and pages
indicated in the indexes to the various volumes.
Certain Mexican bonds, issued on Sept. 1, 1865, known as the Woodhouse
issue, were declared by the Mexican government at the time of their
issue to be fraudulent and unauthorized. A full report on the subject
is in For. Rel. 1878, 624 et seq. (Mr. Hill, Assist. Sec. of State, to
Mr. Moss, Jan. 11, 1900, 242 MS. Dom. Let. 217.)

5. LATER RELATIONS.

$861.

For some years after the withdrawal of the French from Mexico the peace of the latter country continued to be interrupted by domestic contentions. These were attended with serious border troubles, which at times impaired the good relations between Mexico and the United States and gave rise to troublesome questions. The acute stage of the difficulties was passed in 1877.

Supra, §§ 222, 223.

See the following documents:

Relations with Mexico: Texas border troubles and extradition, report of
Com. on For. Aff., April 25, 1878, H. Report 701, 45 Cong. 2 sess.
Resolutions concerning relations with Mexico, S. Mis. Doc. 63, 45 Cong.
2 sess.

Protection of the Rio Grande frontier; reports of Committees on Military
Affairs, favoring the erection of suitable posts, S. Report 40, 46 Cong.
2 sess.; H. Report 88, 46 Cong. 2 sess.

"The record of the last fifteen years must have removed from the minds of the enlightened statesmen of Mexico any possible lingering doubt touching the policy of the United States toward her sister republic. That policy is one of faithful and impartial recognition of the independence and the integrity of the Mexican nation. At this late day it needs no disclaimer on our part of the existence of even the faintest desire in the United States for territorial extension south of the Rio Grande. The boundaries of the two republics have been long settled in conformity with the best jurisdictional interests of both. The line of demarkation is not conventional merely. It is more than that. It separates a Spanish-American people from a SaxonAmerican people. It divides one great nation from another with distinct and natural finality. The increasing prosperity of both Commonwealths can only draw into closer union the friendly feeling, the political sympathy, and the correlated interests which their history and neighborhood have created and encouraged. In all your intercourse with the Mexican government and people it must be your chiefest endeavor correctly to reflect this firm conviction of your government."

Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, to Mr. Morgan, min. to Mexico, June 1, 1881,
For. Rel. 1881, 761.

"It is a source of profound gratification to the government of the United
States that the political condition of Mexico is so apparently and
assuredly in the path of stability, and the administration of its con-
stitutional government so regular, that it can offer to foreign capital
that just and certain protection without which the prospect even of
extravagant profit will fail to tempt the extension of safe and endur-
ing commercial and industrial enterprise. It is still more gratifying

« PředchozíPokračovat »