Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

shall not be mingled with or set off against any others, nor the balance due on them be withheld, as a compensation or reprisal for any cause whatever, real or pretended. Each party shall be allowed to keep a commissary of prisoners, appointed by itself, with every cantonment of prisoners, in possession of the other; which commissary shall see the prisoners as often as he pleases; shall be allowed to receive, exempt from all duties or taxes, and to distribute, whatever comforts may be sent to them by their friends; and shall be free to transmit his reports in open letters to the party by whom he is employed.

The solemn covenant herein entered into not to be an

the

And it is declared that neither the pretence that war dissolves all treaties, nor any other whatever, shall be considered as annulling or suspending the solemn covenant contained in this article. On the contrary, the state of war is pre-tence that war dis cisely that for which it is provided; and, during which, its solves all treaties. stipulations are to be as sacredly observed as the most acknowledged obligations under the law of nature or nations.

ARTICLE XXIII.

be exin four months from date of signature.

This treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate Treaty subject to thereof; and by the President of the Mexican Republic, with ratification, and rati the previous approbation of its general Congress; and the changed ratifications shall be exchanged in the city of Washington, or at the seat of Government of Mexico, in four months from the date of the signature hereof, or sooner if practicable.

In faith whereof we, the respective Plenipotentiaries, have signed this treaty of peace, friendship, limits, and settlement, and Signed in February have hereunto affixed our seals respectively. Done in quin- 189. tuplicate, at the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo, on the second day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fortyeight.

[blocks in formation]

In the city of Queretaro, on the twenty-sixth of the month of May, eighteen hundred and forty-eight, at a conference between their excellencies Nathan Clifford and Ambrose H. Sevier, Commissioners of the U. S. of A., with full powers from their Government to make to the Mexican Republic suitable explanations in regard to the amendments which the Senate and Government of the said United States have made in the treaty of peace, friendship, limits, and definitive settlement between the two Republics, signed in Guadalupe Hidalgo, on the second day of February of the present year; and His Excellency Don Luis de la Rosa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Mexico; it was agreed, after adequate conversation, respecting the changes alluded to, to record in the present protocol the following explanations, which their aforesaid excellencies the Commissioners gave in the name of their Government and in fulfillment of the commission conferred upon them near the Mexican Republic:

1st. The American Government by suppressing the IXth article of

the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and substituting the IIId article of the treaty of Louisiana, did not intend to diminish in any way what was agreed upon by the aforesaid article IXth in favor of the inhabitants of the territories ceded by Mexico. Its understanding is that all of that agreement is contained in the 3d article of the treaty of Louisiana. In consequence all the privileges and guarantees, civil, political, and religious, which would have been possessed by the inhabitants of the ceded territories, if the IXth article of the treaty had been retained, will be enjoyed by them, without any difference, under the article which has been substituted.

2d. The American Government by suppressing the Xth article of the treaty of Guadalupe did not in any way intend to annul the grants of lands made by Mexico in the ceded territories. These grants, notwithstanding the suppression of the article of the treaty, preserve the legal value which they may possess, and the grantees may cause their legitimate [titles] to be acknowledged before the American tribunals.

Conformably to the law of the United States, legitimate titles to every description of property, personal and real, existing in the ceded territories are those which were legitimate titles under the Mexican law in California and New Mexico up to the 13th of May, 1846, and in Texas up to the 2d March, 1836.

3d. The Government of the United States, by suppressing the concluding paragraph of article XIIth of the treaty, did not intend to deprive the Mexican Republic of the free and unrestrained faculty of ceding, conveying, or transferring at any time (as it may judge best) the sum of the twelve millions of dollars which the same Government of the U. States is to deliver in the places designated by the amended article.

And these explanations having been accepted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Mexican Republic, he declared, in name of his Government, that with the understanding conveyed by them the same Government would proceed to ratify the treaty of Guadalupe, as modified by the Senate and Government of the U. States. In testimony of which, their Excellencies, the aforesaid Commissioners and the Minister have signed and sealed, in quintuplicate, the present protocol.

[SEAL.]

SEAL.

[SEAL.]

A. H. SEVIER.
NATHAN CLIFFORD.
LUIS DE LA ROSA.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

ARTICLES REFERRED TO IN THE FIFTEENTH ARTICLE OF THE PRECED

ING TREATY.

First and fifth articles of the unratified convention between the United States and the Mexican Republic of the 20th November, 1843.

ARTICLE I.

All claims of citizens of the Mexican Republic against the Government of the United States which shall be presented in the manner and time hereinafter expressed, and all claims of citizens of the United States against the Government of the Mexican Republic, which, for whatever cause, were not submitted to, nor considered, nor finally decided by, the commission, nor by the arbiter appointed by the convention of 1839, and which shall be presented in the manner and time hereinafter specified, shall be referred to four commissioners, who shall form a board, and shall be appointed in the following manner, that is to say:

[ocr errors]

Two commissioners shall be appointed by the President of the Mexican Republic, and the other two by the President of the United States, with the approbation and consent of the Senate. The said commissioners, thus appointed, shall, in presence of each other, take an oath to examine and decide impartially the claims submitted to them, and which may lawfully be considered, according to the proofs which shall be presented, the principles of right and justice, the law of nations, and the treaties between the two republics.

ARTICLE V.

All claims of citizens of the United States against the Government of the Mexican Republic, which were considered by the commissioners, and referred to the umpire appointed under the convention of the eleventh April, 1839, and which were not decided by him, shall be referred to, and decided by, the umpire to be appointed, as provided by this convention, on the points submitted to the umpire under the late convention, and his decision shall be final and conclusive. It is also agreed, that if the respective commissioners shall deem it expedient, they may submit to the said arbiter new arguments upon the said claims.

MEXICO, 1853.

TREATY WITH MEXICO. CONCLUDED DECEMBER 30, 1853; RATIFICATIONS EXCHANGED JUNE 30, *1854; PROCLAIMED JUNE 30, 1854.

In the name of Almighty God.

The Republic of Mexico and the United States of America, desiring to remove every cause of disagreement which might interfere in any manner with the better friendship and intercourse between the two countries, and especially in respect to the true limits which should be established, when, notwithstanding what was covenanted in the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in the year 1848, opposite interpretations have been urged, which might give occasion to questions of serious moment: To avoid these, and to strengthen and more firmly maintain the peace which happily prevails between the two republics, the President of the United States has, for this purpose, appointed James Gadsden, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the same near the Mexican Government, and the President of Mexico has appointed as Plenipotentiary "ad hoc" his excellency Don Manuel Diez de Bonilla, Negotiators. cavalier grand cross of the national and distinguished order

of Guadalupe, and Secretary of State and of the office of Foreign Relations, and Don José Salazar Ylarregui and General Mariano Monterde, as scientific commissioners, invested with full powers for this negotiation; who, having communicated their respective full powers, and finding them in due and proper form, have agreed upon the articles following:

ARTICLE I.

Boundary between

The Mexican Republic agrees to designate the following as her true limits with the United States for the future: Retaining the same dividing line between the two Californias as already Mexico and the defined and established, according to the 5th article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the limits between the two republics shall be as follows: Beginning in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from land,

United States.

opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande, as provided in the fifth article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; thence, as defined in the said article, up the middle of that river to the point where the parallel of 31° 47′ north latitude crosses the same; thence due west one hundred miles; thence south to the parallel of 31° 20′ north latitude; thence along the said parallel of 31° 20' to the 111th meridian of longitude west of Greenwich; therce in a straight line to a point on the Colorado River twenty English miles below the junction of the Gila and Colorado Rivers; thence up the middle of the said river Colorado until it intersects the present line between the United States and Mexico.

Lines to be sur

For the performance of this portion of the treaty, each of the two Governments shall nominate one commissioner, to the end veyed and marked. that, by common consent, the two thus nominated, having met in the city of Paso del Norte, three months after the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, may proceed to survey and mark out upon the land the dividing line stipulated by this article, where it shall not have already been surveyed and established by the mixed commission, according to the treaty of Guadalupe, keeping a journal and making proper plans of their operations. For this purpose, if they should judge it it necessary, the contracting parties shall be at liberty each to unite to its respective commissioner scientific or other assistants, such as astronomers and surveyors, whose concurrence shall not be considered necessary for the settlement and ratification of a true line of division between the two republics; that line shall be alone established upon which the commissioners may fix, their consent in this particular being considered decisive and an integral part of this treaty, without necessity of ulterior ratification or approval, and without room for interpretation of any kind by either of the parties contracting.

The dividing line thus established shall, in all time, be faithfully respected by the two Governments, without any variation therein, unless of the express and free consent of the two, given in conformity to the principles of the law of nations, and in accordance with the constitution of each country, respectively.

In consequence, the stipulation in the 5th article of the treaty of Guadalupe upon the boundary line therein described is no longer of any force, wherein it may conflict with that here established, the said line being considered annulled and abolished wherever it may not coincide with the present, and in the same manner remaining in full force where in accordance with the same.

Release of the

XI, of the treaty of

ARTICLE II.

The Government of Mexico hereby releases the United States from all liability on account of the obligations contained in the obligations of Art, eleventh article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; and Guadalupe Hidalgo. the said article and the thirty-third article of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, concluded at Mexico on the fifth day of April, 1831, are hereby abrogated.

ARTICLE III.

In consideration of the foregoing stipulations, the Government of the United States agrees to pay to the Government of Mexico, in the city of New York, the sum of ten millions of dollars, of which seven millions shall be paid immediately upon the exchange of

Mexico to be paid ten million dollars,

the ratifications of this treaty, and the remaining three millions as soon as the boundary line shall be surveyed, marked, and established.

ARTICLE IV.

dalupe Hidalgo an

[ocr errors]

The ves

Free passage

California.

The provisions of the 6th and 7th articles of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo having been rendered nugatory for the most part Articles VI and VII by the cession of territory granted in the first article of this of the treaty of Guatreaty, the aid articles are hereby abrogated and annulled, nulled. and the provisions as herein expressed substituted therefor. sels and citizens of the United States shall, in all time, have free and uninterrupted passage through the Gulf of Cali- through the Gulf of fornia, to and from their possessions situated north of the boundary line of the two countries. It being understood that this passage is to be by navigating the Gulf of California and the river Colorado, and not by land, without the express consent of the Mexican Government; and precisely the same provisions, stipulations, and restrictions, in all respects, are hereby agreed upon and adopted, and shall be scrupulously observed and enforced, by the two contracting Governments, in reference to the Rio Colorado, so far and for such distance as the middle of that river is made their common boundary line by the first article of this treaty.

How far Art. VII lupe Hidalgo is to ap

The several provisions, stipulations, and restrictions contained in the 7th article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo shall remain in force only so far as regards the Rio Bravo del Norte, of treaty of Guadabelow the initial of the said boundary provided in the first ply to the Rio Bravo article of this treaty; that is to say, below the intersection of the 31° 47' 30" parallel of latitude, with the boundary line established by the late treaty dividing said river from its mouth upwards, according to the 5th article of the treaty of Guadalupe.

ARTICLE V.

del Norte.

Articles VIII, IX, XVI, and XVII of

lupe Hidalgo to ap

All the provisions of the eighth and ninth, sixteenth and seventeenth articles of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, shall apply to the territory ceded by the Mexican Republic in the first ar- the treaty of Guada ticle of the present treaty, and to all the rights of persons ply to the country and property, both civil and ecclesiastical, within the same, hereby ceded. as fully and as effectually as if the said articles were herein again recited and set forth.

ARTICLE VI.

Grants of land by Mexico, after Sep

ember' 25, 1853, not

to be valid.

No grants of land within the territory ceded by the first article of this treaty bearing date subsequent to the day-twenty-fifth of September-when the Minister and subscriber to this treaty on the part of the United States proposed to the Government of Mexico to terminate the question of boundary, will be considered valid or be recognized by the United States, or will any grants made previously be respected or be considered as obligatory which have not been located and duly recorded in the archives of Mexico.

ARTICLE VII.

Provision in case

Should there at any future period (which God forbid) occur any disagreement between the two nations which might lead to a rupture of their relations and reciprocal peace, they bind of difficulties arising themselves in like manner to procure by every possible method tons. the adjustment of every difference; and should they still in this manner

the two na

« AnteriorContinuar »