MEXICO. 



573 



dersigned showed that the appointment had been first 

 made alter the signature of the convention which 

 bound the two countries to respect the statu quo in 

 regard to limits, and that consequently it only proved 

 that Guatemala had violated her enga.ement. Senor 

 llerrera confined himself to stating that he would in- 

 form his government of this note, and it has tnus far 

 remained without reply. 



4. The accusations against Mexico under this 

 fourth heading i. e. ? a general charge of continual 

 Mexican invasions of Guatemalan territory are not 

 only entirely false, but inconceivably audacious. 

 There exists a plan of Soconusco made by Don Jos6 

 E. Ibarra, carefully formed, as is shown by the geo- 

 graphical and statistical notices of that department 

 given in the margin. On it are marked in red ink tho 

 ancient limits, and in green those which seem to be 

 recognized in recent times. The space between tho 

 two lines marks the advances made by Guatemala, 

 and at the end of the marginal notices the dates are 

 specified when they were effected. These invasions 

 have been continued recently ; the archives of the 

 Department of Foreign Affairs are full of data upon 

 those which have occurred since 1870. Without De- 

 ing, perhaps, among the most notable, one of these 

 invasions was for the purpose of destroying the prop- 

 erty of Don Matias Eomero, as already indicated. 

 Senor Eomero, who is well known in Washington, 

 where he represented Mexico for several years, could 

 not, with all his characteristic moderation and pru- 

 dence, prevent Guatemalan Indians, by order of a 

 prefect of that nation, from invading his lands within 

 the Mexican territory, destroying his property, carry- 

 ing away prisoner one of his employes, and maltreat- 

 ing others. In November, 1875, a complaint was pre- 

 sented to the Government of Guatemala i'or this act, 

 but hitherto no reply has been made. On the other 

 hand, that government has imputed to Senor Eomero 

 conflagrations and other crimes within the territory 

 of Guatemala charges entirely improbable, and which 

 that gentleman has, moreover, refuted at length. In 

 the same month and year the engineer Don Alejandro 

 Prieto, secretary of the Mexican legation in Guate- 

 mala, made a survey of the frontier by direction of 

 Senor Garza, then Mexican Minister to that Govern- 

 ment, lie made the journey and the survey in com- 

 pany with General Barrios. President of Guatemala, 

 as was stated by Senor Garza in a letter addressed to 

 Senor Lafragua, and by the government of Chiapas 

 in a dispatch dated November 26, 1875. From this 

 visit originated the sketch-map drawn up by Prieto, 

 which may be found in this ministry, and which, as 

 well from having been prepared under the inspection 

 of President Barrios as for other reasons, can not be 

 an object of suspicion to Guatemala. Upon it is 

 marked the line which is the boundary ha fact, and on 

 it are also marked the points in dispute. To this line, 

 then, must be referred the statu quo stipulated in tho 

 Convention of 1877. Now, the very notes of the 

 Minister of Guatemala prove that his government, far 

 from having respected it, has violated it at Toniutauu, 

 at Las Chicharras, Cuilco Viejo, and other points. 

 That Government has gone so far as to defend the 

 misdeeds of tho Alcalde Meoiio, who attempted to 

 assassinate a Mexican surveyor, and burned ranches 

 within the territory of Mexico. It has done more. 

 In December of last year it sent, or permitted to be 

 sent, a force under the orders or the Prefect of San 

 Marcos (a department of Guatemala), which invaded 

 our territory and destroyed the landmark of Pina- 

 bete, the same which was demolished by tho residents 

 of Tacana, and which was reconstructed shortly after- 

 ward. The said prefect then hoisted the flag of Gua- 

 temala precisely upon the cross so mysteriously erect- 

 ed by the Guatemalan engineers near Cuilco Viejo. 

 Complaint being made at Guatemala of these acts, 

 that Government refused to jrivc explanations to our 

 minister, under the pretext that the subject had to bo 

 treated in Mexico, because Senor Loacza had no in- 

 structions to receive them. The Minister of Foreign 



Affairs, Sefior Montufar, being pressed by our repre- 

 sentative, who sent him a copy of a note from the 

 undersigned manifesting surprise at such conduct, re- 

 plied that the ground where these events took place 

 belonged to Guatemala, without giving any reasons 

 for such allegation, and overlooking the fact that the 

 undersigned, in his note of the 27th of January last, 

 to which no reply has been given, had demonstrated 

 the contrary. Meanwhile the term of the Convention 

 of December 7, Is77, had expired on December 31, 

 1879, without the scientific commissions having con- 

 cluded their labors. The Mexican Government pro- 

 posed to that of Guatemala that the said convention 

 should be renewed for a term long enough to attain 

 the object desired, and ordered its engineers to remain 

 on the frontier, as in fact they have remained, not- 

 withstanding that the Guatemalan engineers were 

 withdrawn by their government without the formality 

 of advising that of Mexico. The President of Guate- 

 mala personally informed our minister that he was 

 willing to renew the convention, and that instructions 

 to that end had been sent to Senor Herrera, Minister 

 of Guatemala in Mexico. Senor llerrera, however, 

 considered himself for several months without suffi- 

 cient instructions to negotiate, alleging that those 

 received were not suificiently explicit. It was only 

 recently (July llth) that Senor llerrera, having come 

 to speak with the undersigned about the friendly step 

 taken by the Government of the United States, and 

 the observation having been made to him that the 

 Government of Guatemala had not yet sent him the 

 instructions ofl'ered. made known that he had received 

 them in the desired form. This conduct of his gov- 

 ernment, not at all sincere, and seemingly incompre- 

 hensible, is now explained by the step which the 

 President of Guatemala, through his representative, 

 has taken toward the Government of the United 

 States. President Barrios_ wished^ as may be inferred 

 from the facts, to gain time while he applied to a 

 friendly government complaining of injuries supposed 

 to have been committed by the Government 01 Mexi- 

 co, whose conduct he depicted with false colors while 

 soliciting the interposition of good oflices. In this 

 application, he apparently omitted, however, to state 

 that, at the request of Mexico, the renewal of tho 

 convention for the survey of the frontier was under 

 advisement, a survey absolutely necessary, as declared 

 by both governments, in order to fix the international 

 limits, whether by diplomatic negotiations or other 

 pacific means. The omissions and inexactitudes of 

 the government of General Barrios, in its statements 

 to the President of the United States, as well as its 

 other acts concerning the question of limits with 

 Mexico, show its policy upon this subject to be en- 

 tirely lacking in sincerity and frankness. The facts 

 briefly noted in this memorandum, and others which 

 can not here be mentioned, authorize the t-uspicion 

 that the said government, in addressing the President 

 of the United States, has not really desired, as was 

 pretended, to obtain the decision of on arbitrator upon 

 the question of limits. It is very certain that it can 

 not be ignorant of tho impossibility for Mexico to 

 admit any discussion of the rights she has to Chiapas 

 and Soconusco, forming as they have done for many 

 years a State ot the Union, an integral part of the 

 republic, and that it also understands how impossible 

 it is to fix the limits between this State and Guate- 

 mala, before surveying the region in dispute, whoever 

 may be the arbitrator charged to render such decis- 

 ion. The object, then, in protending to promote an 

 arbitration, can not be other than to gain time, as on 

 former occasions, to continue the partial invasions and 

 enervate the action of the Mexican Government in the 

 simple defense of the national territory. The under- 

 signed, in order to place upon record the facts of the 

 interview with the lion. Mr. Morgan, and the obser- 

 vations to whicli the note of the ll<>n. Mr. Blainc give 

 occasion, has drawn up the present memorandum. 



signed) IGNACIO MAELSCAL. 



MEXICO, July 26, 1881. 



