points it will naturally depend whether the award that Mexico is to pay is applicable to anybody. It is not, then, the spirit of these statements to raise any doubt or difficulty in regard to the obligation of the Mexican Government to submit to the results of the commission. Sr. Avila has presented them, in fulfillment of instructions received from his government, with the only view I have endeavored to explain, and, for my part, I have communicated them to that department without any idea of raising questions of any kind whatever. I congratulate myself to renew to you on this occasion the assurances of my very high consideration. Hon. Hamilton Fish, IGNACIO MARISCAL. &c., &c., &c. Washington, December 8, 1876. A true copy. CAYETANO ROMERO, MEXICAN REPUBLIC.-DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.-SECTION OF AMERICA NO. 40.-STATEMENT OF THE AGENT BEFORE THE JOINT CLAIMS COMMISSION. Mexico, May 1, 1877. Your note No. 170, of the 8th December ultimo, was received at this department on the 27th of last March, and its inclosures Nos. 1 and 2 impose me that the Secretary of State, Hon. Hamilton Fish, construing the statements of the Mexican agent that you had transmitted to him as an objection to the obligatory effect of the awards of the joint commission, refuse to take them into consideration, and even thought it necessary not to keep silent about them, fearing that his silence might be construed into an assent of the endeavor to determine the effect of some of the awards. The explanations you have given to said Secretary of State are wholly in conformity with the construction that the Mexican Government gives to the statements of its agent. Far from intending to elude the fulfillment of the obligations it contracted through the convention of the 4th of July, 1868, the same government has already given a conclusive proof of its resolution to fulfill them, having made, amidst very difficult circumstances, the first installment of the balance awarded against it. And, however painful it may be for Mexico to give away the considerable amounts of the awards allowed in the cases of Benjamin Weil and the Abra Mining Company, when the fraudulent character of these claims is once known, if the appeal to the sentiments of justice and equity of the United States Government, announced in the first of the statements in question, should, for any cause whatever, be ineffective, the Mexican Government will conscientiously fulfill the obligations imposed on it by that international compact. In regard to the case of the archbishops and bishops of California, the Mexican Government, far from putting in doubt the final effect of the awards, has declared in the second of said statements that, in conformity to article 5 of the convention, the whole claim presented to the 27627-02————6 commission must be considered and dealt with as finally arranged and as dismissed and forever inadmissible anything solicited by claimants but not allowed by the commission. In other words, the Mexican Government recognizes itself bound to pay the awards allowed by the umpire to the claimants in behalf of the Catholic church of Upper California, but this settles finally the claim in regard to everything belonging to the pious fund of the missions of California, and none other can ever be presented, and much less sustained by the United States Government, or admitted at any future time by Mexico, in conformity with the spirit and letter of the convention of 4th July, 1868. Finally, in the cases in which the umpire made awards without having any assurance that there were proper parties living entitled to be the recipients thereof, and leaving it to the United States Government to ascertain who were the parties entitled to receive them, if any, it is possible, undoubtedly, that there be none to claim them with any perfect right, and, in this case, those awards shall have no effect through an impossibility, and not by opposition of the Mexican Government, who has done nothing else but express the expectation that the amount unpaid for this reason shall be returned to it, as the convention was entered into only in behalf of private individuals, and that the United States Government will find it just to make such such a deduction, when, on being made by Mexico the last installment, it may appear that no persons with legitimate rights are to be found to receive the abovementioned awards. But if such a hope should not be realized, it will not prevent the Mexican Government from satisfying the amount of these awards, preferring always to bear this burden, rather than to give cause of being suspected of a determination to elude, even in small parts, the fulfilling of its engagements. Be kind enough to bring into the notice of the Secretary of State all the points contained in this note, and even to leave with him a copy of it, should he request it so. Receive the assurances of my consideration. VALLARTA. To the ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY of Mexico in the United States of America, Washington, D. C. A true copy. Mexico, May 7, 1877. 1. With the intention of making the appeal to the sentiments of justice and equity of the United States Government, announced by the Mexican agent at the close of the proceedings of the mixed claims commission in regard to the claim of Benjamin Weil, numbered 447, and to that of La Abra Mining Company, number 489, both against Mexico, the government has had printed in to pamphlets some very important documents bearing on these claims, and I forward you four hundred copies of each one of said pamphlets. Be pleased to have them distributed among the public officials and other persons to whom, in your opinion, it might be convenient to make known the reasons we have to make the appeal above referred to, as also the true altitude of the Mexican Government in the matter, which does not imply in any way the purpose to begin and maintain a controversy in order that the decisions of the umpire on the aforesaid cases should not be carried out, but simply to demonstrate the fraudulent character of the claims to which they refer, hoping that the United States Government, becoming convinced that the grounds of such claims are surely false, and that its principal evidence consists in affidavits of perjured witnesses, will not find just and equitable that the authors and abettors should receive the award granted them erroneously, and which would constitute a reward of their criminal demeanor that ought, on the contrary, to deserve a severe punishment. But if, as I said to that legation in my despatch of the 1st of May (page 104 of the pamphlet, claim of Benjamin Weil,) the appeal of the Mexican Government to the sentiments of justice and equity of that of the United States should by any reason be inefficacious, said government will faithfully perform the duties imposed on it by the convention of the 4th of July, 1868, which it has not tried to elude, nor intends to elude, by means of such appeal. Before the day fixed for the payment of the second installment there will be in that capital the necessary funds to do it, which installments will continue to be paid every year with the greatest exactness till the balance against Mexico is settled according to the convention. In transmitting to the State Department, as requested, copies of the pamphlets above referred to, you will inclose copy of this communication and a translation of the same into English, accompanying an English translation to each pamphlet distributed. I renew to you my attentive consideration. VALLARTA. INDEX. Page. Eleuterio Avila to Ignacio Mariscal, November 21, 1876 77 Ignacio Mariscal to Secretary of State, November 22, 1876. 78 Ignacio Mariscal to secretary of foreign affairs, Mexico, November 23, 1876... 77 Secretary of State to Ignacio Mariscal, December 4, 1876... 79 Ignacio Mariscal to Secretary of State, December 8, 1876.. 80 Ignacio Mariscal to secretary of foreign affairs, December 8, 1876 78 81 82 23 8 7 24 24 24 22 Vallarta to Ignacio Mariscal, inclosure to accompany letter of May 1, 1877... Acting Secretary to Thomas Ryan, August 3, 1891.. 22 6 4 1 22 12 18 12 1 Fenton R. McCreery to Secretary of State, June 14, 1900. Ignacio Mariscal to Powell Clayton, November 28, 1900 (argument) Ignacio Mariscal to Powell Clayton, November 28, 1900 (argument, Spanish). 35 Ralston and Siddons to Secretary of State, February 21, 1901, observations John T. Doyle and W. T. S. Doyle to Secretary of State, February 22, 1901, Secretary of State to Powell Clayton, July 18, 1901 |