IN THE NAME OF ALMIGHTY GODThe United States of America and the United
Mexican States animated by a sincere desire to put an end to the calamities of
the war which unhappily exists between the two Republics and to establish Upon a
solid basis relations of peace and friendship, which shall confer reciprocal
benefits upon the citizens of both, and assure the concord, harmony, and mutual
confidence wherein the two people should live, as good neighbors have for that
purpose appointed their respective plenipotentiaries, that is to say: The
President of the United States has appointed Nicholas P Trist, a citizen of the
United States, and the President of the Mexican Republic has appointed Don Luis
Gonzaga Cuevas, Don Bernardo Couto, and Don Miguel Atristain, citizens of the
said Republic; Who, after a reciprocal communication of their respective full
powers, have, under the protection of Almighty God, the author of peace,
arranged, agreed upon, and signed the following:
Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States
of America and the Mexican Republic.
ARTICLE I
There shall be firm and universal peace between the United States of America
and the Mexican Republic, and between their respective countries, territories,
cities, towns, and people, without exception of places or persons.
ARTICLE II
Immediately upon the signature of this treaty, a convention shall be entered
into between a commissioner or commissioners appointed by the General-in-chief
of the forces of the United States, and such as may be appointed by the Mexican
Government, to the end that a provisional suspension of hostilities shall take
place, and that, in the places occupied by the said forces, constitutional order
may be reestablished, as regards the political, administrative, and judicial
branches, so far as this shall be permitted by the circumstances of military
occupation.
ARTICLE III
Immediately upon the ratification of the present treaty by the Government of
the United States, orders shall be transmitted to the commanders of their land
and naval forces, requiring the latter (provided this treaty shall then have
been ratified by the Government of the Mexican Republic, and the ratifications
exchanged) immediately to desist from blockading any Mexican ports and requiring
the former (under the same condition) to commence, at the earliest moment
practicable, withdrawing all troops of the United State then in the interior of
the Mexican Republic, to points that shall be selected by common agreement, at a
distance from the seaports not exceeding thirty leagues; and such evacuation of
the interior of the Republic shall be completed with the least possible delay;
the Mexican Government hereby binding itself to afford every facility in its
power for rendering the same convenient to the troops, on their march and in
their new positions, and for promoting a good understanding between them and the
inhabitants. In like manner orders shall be despatched to the persons in charge
of the custom houses at all ports occupied by the forces of the United States,
requiring them (under the same condition) immediately to deliver possession of
the same to the persons authorized by the Mexican Government to receive it,
together with all bonds and evidences of debt for duties on importations and on
exportations, not yet fallen due. Moreover, a faithful and exact account shall
be made out, showing the entire amount of all duties on imports and on exports,
collected at such custom-houses, or elsewhere in Mexico, by authority of the
United States, from and after the day of ratification of this treaty by the
Government of the Mexican Republic; and also an account of the cost of
collection; and such entire amount, deducting only the cost of collection, shall
be delivered to the Mexican Government, at the city of Mexico, within three
months after the exchange of ratifications.
The evacuation of the capital of the Mexican Republic by the troops of the
United States, in virtue of the above stipulation, shall be completed in one
month after the orders there stipulated for shall have been received by the
commander of said troops, or sooner if possible.
ARTICLE IV
Immediately after the exchange of ratifications of the present treaty all
castles, forts, territories, places, and possessions, which have been taken or
occupied by the forces of the United States during the present war, within the
limits of the Mexican Republic, as about to be established by the following
article, shall be definitely restored to the said Republic, together with all
the artillery, arms, apparatus of war, munitions, and other public property,
which were in the said castles and forts when captured, and which shall remain
there at the time when this treaty shall be duly ratified by the Government of
the Mexican Republic. To this end, immediately upon the signature of this
treaty, orders shall be despatched to the American officers commanding such
castles and forts, securing against the removal or destruction of any such
artillery, arms, apparatus of war, munitions, or other public property. The city
of Mexico, within the inner line of intrenchments surrounding the said city, is
comprehended in the above stipulation, as regards the restoration of artillery,
apparatus of war, &c.
The final evacuation of the territory of the Mexican Republic, by the forces
of the United States, shall be completed in three months -from the said exchange
of ratifications, or sooner if possible; the Mexican Government hereby engaging,
as in the foregoing article to use all means in its power for facilitating such
evacuation, and rendering it convenient to the troops, and for promoting a good
understanding between them and the inhabitants.
If, however, the ratification of this treaty by both parties should not take
place in time to allow the embarcation of the troops of the United States to be
completed before the commencement of the sickly season, at the Mexican ports on
the Gulf of Mexico, in such case a friendly arrangement shall be entered into
between the General-in-Chief of the said troops and the Mexican Government,
whereby healthy and otherwise suitable places, at a distance from the ports not
exceeding thirty leagues, shall be designated for the residence of such troops
as may not yet have embarked, until the return of the healthy season. And the
space of time here referred to as, comprehending the sickly season shall be
understood to extend from the first day of May to the first day of November.
All prisoners of war taken on either side, on land or on sea, shall be
restored as soon as practicable after the exchange of ratifications of this
treaty. It is also agreed that if any Mexicans should now be held as captives by
any savage tribe within the limits of the United States, as about to be
established by the following article, the Government of the said United States
will exact the release of such captives and cause them to be restored to their
country.
ARTICLE V
The boundary line between the two Republics shall commence in the Gulf of
Mexico, three leagues from land, opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande, otherwise
called Rio Bravo del Norte, or Opposite the mouth of its deepest branch, if it
should have more than one branch emptying directly into the sea; from thence up
the middle of that river, following the deepest channel, where it has more than
one, to the point where it strikes the southern boundary of New Mexico; thence,
westwardly, along the whole southern boundary of New Mexico (which runs north of
the town called Paso) to its western termination; thence, northward, along the
western line of New Mexico, until it intersects the first branch of the river
Gila; (or if it should not intersect any branch of that river, then to the point
on the said line nearest to such branch, and thence in a direct line to the
same); thence down the middle of the said branch and of the said river, until it
empties into the Rio Colorado; thence across the Rio Colorado, following the
division line between Upper and Lower California, to the Pacific Ocean.
The southern and western limits of New Mexico, mentioned in the article, are
those laid down in the map entitled "Map of the United Mexican States, as
organized and defined by various acts of the Congress of said republic, and
constructed according to the best authorities. Revised edition. Published at New
York, in 1847, by J. Disturnell," of which map a copy is added to this treaty,
bearing the signatures and seals of the undersigned Plenipotentiaries,. And, in
order to preclude all difficulty in tracing upon the ground the limit separating
Upper from Lower California, it is agreed that the said limit shall consist of a
straight line drawn from the middle of the Rio Gila, where it unites with the
Colorado, to a point on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, distant one marine
league due south of the southernmost point of the port of San Diego, according
to the plan of said port made in the year 1782 by Don Juan Pantoja, second
sailing-master of the Spanish fleet, and published at Madrid in the year 1802,
in the atlas to the voyage of the schooners Sutil and Mexicana; of which plan a
copy is hereunto added, signed and sealed by the respective Plenipotentiaries.
In order to designate the boundary line with due precision, upon
authoritative maps, and to establish upon the ground land-marks which shall show
the limits of both republics, as described in the present article, the two
Governments shall each appoint a commissioner and a surveyor, who, before the
expiration of one year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this
treaty, shall meet at the port of San Diego, and proceed to run and mark the
said boundary in its whole course to the mouth of the Rio Bravo del Norte. They
shall keep journals and make out plans of their operations; and the result
agreed upon by them shall be deemed a part of this treaty, and shall have the
same force as if it were inserted therein. The two Governments will amicably
agree regarding what may be necessary to these persons, and also as to their
respective escorts, should such be necessary.
The boundary line established by this article shall be religiously respected
by each of the two republics, and no change shall ever be made therein, except
by the express and free consent of both nations, lawfully given by the General
Government of each, in conformity with its own constitution.
ARTICLE VI
The vessels and citizens of the United States shall, in all time, have a free
and uninterrupted passage by the Gulf of California, and by the river Colorado
below its confluence with the Gila, to and from their possessions situated north
of the boundary line defined in the preceding article; 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.
If, by the examinations which may be made, it should be ascertained to be
practicable and advantageous to construct a road, canal, or railway, which
should in whole or in part run upon the river Gila, or upon its right or its
left bank, within the space of one marine league from either margin of the
river, the Governments of both republics will form an agreement regarding its
construction, in order that it may serve equally for the use and advantage of
both countries.
ARTICLE VII
The river Gila, and the part of the Rio Bravo del Norte lying below the
southern boundary of New Mexico, being, agreeably to the fifth article, divided
in the middle between the two republics, the navigation of the Gila and of the
Bravo below said boundary shall be free and common to the vessels and citizens
of both countries; and neither shall, without the consent of the other,
construct any work that may impede or interrupt, in whole or in part, the
exercise of this right; not even for the purpose of favoring new methods of
navigation. Nor shall any tax or contribution, under any denomination or title,
be levied upon vessels or persons navigating the same or upon merchandise or
effects transported thereon, except in the case of landing upon one of their
shores. If, for the purpose of making the said rivers navigable, or for
maintaining them in such state, it should be necessary or advantageous to
establish any tax or contribution, this shall not be done without the consent of
both Governments.
The stipulations contained in the present article shall not impair the
territorial rights of either republic within its established limits.
ARTICLE VIII
Mexicans now established in territories previously belonging to Mexico, and
which remain for the future within the limits of the United States, as defined
by the present treaty, shall be free to continue where they now reside, or to
remove at any time to the Mexican Republic, retaining the property which they
possess in the said territories, or disposing thereof, and removing the proceeds
wherever they please, without their being subjected, on this account, to any
contribution, tax, or charge whatever.
Those who shall prefer to remain in the said territories may either retain
the title and rights of Mexican citizens, or acquire those of citizens of the
United States. But they shall be under the obligation to make their election
within one year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty;
and those who shall remain in the said territories after the expiration of that
year, without having declared their intention to retain the character of
Mexicans, shall be considered to have elected to become citizens of the United
States.
In the said territories, property of every kind, now belonging to Mexicans
not established there, shall be inviolably respected. The present owners, the
heirs of these, and all Mexicans who may hereafter acquire said property by
contract, shall enjoy with respect to it guarantees equally ample as if the same
belonged to citizens of the United States.
ARTICLE IX
[Original Treaty Article] The Mexicans who, in the territories aforesaid, shall not preserve the
character of citizens of the Mexican Republic, conformably with what is
stipulated in the preceding Article, shall be incorporated into the Union of the
United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of
the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the
United States. In the mean time, they shall be maintained and protected in the
enjoyment of their liberty, their property, and the civil rights now vested in
them according to the Mexican laws. With respect to political rights, their
condition shall be on an equality with that of the inhabitants of the other
territories of the United States; and at least equally good as that of the
inhabitants of Louisiana and the Floridas, when these provinces, by transfer
from the French Republic and the Crown of Spain, became territories of the
United States.
The same most ample guaranty shall be enjoyed by all ecclesiastics and
religious corporations or communities, as well in the discharge of the offices
of their ministry, as in the enjoyment of their property of every kind, whether
individual or corporate. This guaranty shall embrace all temples, houses and
edifices dedicated to the Roman Catholic worship; as well as all property
destined to it's [sic] support, or to that of schools, hospitals and other
foundations for charitable or beneficent purposes. No property of this nature
shall be considered as having become the property of the American Government, or
as subject to be, by it, disposed of or diverted to other uses.
Finally, the relations and communication between the Catholics living in the
territories aforesaid, and their respective ecclesiastical authorities, shall be
open, free and exempt from all hindrance whatever, even although such
authorities should reside within the limits of the Mexican Republic, as defined
by this treaty; and this freedom shall continue, so long as a new demarcation of
ecclesiastical districts shall not have been made, conformably with the laws of
the Roman Catholic Church.
[Final Treaty Article as approved by U.S. Congress] The Mexicans who, in the territories aforesaid, shall not preserve the
character of citizens of the Mexican Republic, conformably with what is
stipulated in the preceding article, shall be incorporated into the Union of the
United States. and be admitted at the proper time (to be judged of by the
Congress of the United States) to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of
the United States, according to the principles of the Constitution; and in the
mean time, shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their
liberty and property, and secured in the free exercise of their religion
without; restriction.
ARTICLE X
[Stricken from final Treaty by U.S. Congress]
All grants of land made by the Mexican government or by the competent
authorities, in territories previously appertaining to Mexico, and remaining for
the future within the limits of the United States, shall be respected as valid,
to the same extent that the same grants would be valid, to the said territories
had remained within the limits of Mexico. But the grantees of lands in Texas,
put in possession thereof, who, by reason of the circumstances of the country
since the beginning of the troubles between Texas and the Mexican Government,
may have been prevented from fulfilling all the conditions of their grants,
shall be under the obligation to fulfill the said conditions within the periods
limited in the same respectively; such periods to be now counted from the date
of the exchange of ratifications of this Treaty: in default of which the said
grants shall not be obligatory upon the State of Texas, in virtue of the
stipulations contained in this Article.
The foregoing stipulation in regard to grantees of land in Texas, is extended
to all grantees of land in the territories aforesaid, elsewhere than in Texas,
put in possession under such grants; and, in default of the fulfillment of the
conditions of any such grant, within the new period, which, as is above
stipulated, begins with the day of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty,
the same shall be null and void.
ARTICLE XI
Considering that a great part of the territories, which, by the present
treaty, are to be comprehended for the future within the limits of the United
States, is now occupied by savage tribes, who will hereafter be under the
exclusive control of the Government of the United States, and whose incursions
within the territory of Mexico would be prejudicial in the extreme, it is
solemnly agreed that all such incursions shall be forcibly restrained by the
Government of the United States whensoever this may be necessary; and that when
they cannot be prevented, they shall be punished by the said Government, and
satisfaction for the same shall be exacted in the same way, and with equal
diligence and energy, as if the same incursions were meditated or committed
within its own territory, against its own citizens.
It shall not be lawful, under any pretext whatever, for any inhabitant of the
United States to purchase or acquire any Mexican, or any foreigner residing in
Mexico, who may have been captured by Indians inhabiting the territory of either
of the two republics; nor to purchase or acquire horses, mules, cattle, or
property of any kind, stolen within Mexican territory by such Indians.
And in the event of any person or persons, captured within Mexican territory
by Indians, being carried into the territory of the united States, the
Government of the latter engages and binds itself, in the most solemn manner, so
soon as it shall know of such captives being within its territory, and shall be
able so to do, through the faithful exercise of its influence and power, to
rescue them and return them to their country. or deliver them to the agent or
representative of the Mexican Government. The Mexican authorities will, as far
as practicable, give to the Government of the United States notice of such
captures; and its agents shall pay the expenses incurred in the maintenance and
transmission of the rescued captives; who, in the mean time, shall be treated
with the utmost hospitality by the American authorities at the place where they
may be. But if the Government of the United States, before receiving such notice
from Mexico, should obtain intelligence, through any other channel, of the
existence of Mexican captives within its territory, it will proceed forthwith to
effect their release and delivery to the Mexican agent, as above stipulated.
For the purpose of giving to these stipulations the fullest possible
efficacy, thereby affording the security and redress demanded by their true
spirit and intent, the Government of the United States will now and hereafter
pass, without unnecessary delay, and always vigilantly enforce, such laws as the
nature of the subject may require. And, finally, the sacredness of this
obligation shall never be lost sight of by the said Government, when providing
for the removal of the Indians from any portion of the said territories, or for
its being settled by citizens of the United States; but, on the contrary,
special care shall then be taken not to place its Indian occupants under the
necessity of seeking new homes, by committing those invasions which the United
States have solemnly obliged themselves to restrain.
ARTICLE XII
In consideration of the extension acquired by the boundaries of the United
States, as defined in the fifth article of the present treaty, the Government of
the United States engages to pay to that of the Mexican Republic the sum of
fifteen millions of dollars.
Immediately after the treaty shall have been duly ratified by the Government
of the Mexican Republic, the sum of three millions of dollars shall be paid to
the said Government by that of the United States, at the city of Mexico, in the
gold or silver coin of Mexico The remaining twelve millions of dollars shall be
paid at the same place, and in the same coin, in annual installments of three
millions of dollars each, together with interest on the same at the rate of six
per centum per annum. This interest shall begin to run upon the whole sum of
twelve millions from the day of the ratification of the present treaty by--the
Mexican Government, and the first of the installments shall be paid-at the
expiration of one year from the same day. Together with each annual installment,
as it falls due, the whole interest accruing on such installment from the
beginning shall also be paid.
ARTICLE XIII
The United States engage, moreover, to assume and pay to the claimants all
the amounts now due them, and those hereafter to become due, by reason of the
claims already liquidated and decided against the Mexican Republic, under the
conventions between the two republics severally concluded on the eleventh day of
April, eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, and on the thirtieth day of January,
eighteen hundred and forty-three; so that the Mexican Republic shall be
absolutely exempt, for the future, from all expense whatever on account of the
said claims.
ARTICLE XIV
The United States do furthermore discharge the Mexican Republic from all
claims of citizens of the United States, not heretofore decided against the
Mexican Government, which may have arisen previously to the date of the
signature of this treaty; which discharge shall be final and perpetual, whether
the said claims be rejected or be allowed by the board of commissioners provided
for in the following article, and whatever shall be the total amount of those
allowed.
ARTICLE XV
The United States, exonerating Mexico from all demands on account of the
claims of their citizens mentioned in the preceding article, and considering
them entirely and forever canceled, whatever their amount may be, undertake to
make satisfaction for the same, to an amount not exceeding three and one-quarter
millions of dollars. To ascertain the validity and amount of those claims, a .
board of commissioners shall be established by the Government of the United
States, whose awards shall be final and conclusive; provided that, in deciding
upon the validity of each claim, the boa shall be guided and governed by the
principles and rules of decision prescribed by the first and fifth articles of
the unratified convention, concluded at the city of Mexico on the twentieth day
of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-three; and in no case shall an
award be made in favour of any claim not embraced by these principles and rules.
If, in the opinion of the said board of commissioners or of the claimants,
any books, records, or documents, in the possession or power of the Government
of the Mexican Republic, shall be deemed necessary to the just decision of any
claim, the commissioners, or the claimants through them, shall, within such
period as Congress may designate, make an application in writing for the same,
addressed to the Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs, to be transmitted by the
Secretary of State of the United States; and the Mexican Government engages, at
the earliest possible moment after the receipt of such demand, to cause any of
the books, records, or documents so specified, which shall be in their
possession or power (or authenticated copies or extracts of the same), to be
transmitted to the said Secretary of State, who shall immediately deliver them
over to the said board of commissioners; provided that no such application shall
be made by or at the instance of any claimant, until the facts which it is
expected to prove by such books, records, or documents, shall have been stated
under oath or affirmation.
ARTICLE XVI
Each of the contracting parties reserves to itself the entire right to
fortify whatever point within its territory it may judge proper so to fortify
for its security.
ARTICLE XVII
The treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, concluded at the city of
Mexico, on the fifth day of April, A. D. 1831, between the United States of
America and the United Mexican States, except the additional article, and except
so far as the stipulations of the said treaty may be incompatible with any
stipulation contained in the present treaty, is hereby revived for the period of
eight years from the day of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty, with
the same force and virtue as if incorporated therein; it being understood that
each of the contracting parties reserves to itself the right, at any time after
the said period of eight years shall have expired, to terminate the same by
giving one year's notice of such intention to the other party.
ARTICLE XVIII
All supplies whatever for troops of the United States in Mexico, arriving at
ports in the occupation of such troops previous to the final evacuation thereof,
although subsequently to the restoration o~ the custom-houses at such ports,
shall be entirely exempt from duties and charges of any kind; the Government of
the United States hereby engaging and pledging its faith to establish and
vigilantly to enforce, all possible guards for securing the revenue of Mexico,
by preventing the importation, under cover of this stipulation, of any articles
other than such, both in kind and in quantity, as shall really be wanted for the
use and consumption of the forces of the United States during the time they may
remain in Mexico. To this end it shall be the duty of all officers and agents of
the United States to denounce to the Mexican authorities at the respective ports
any attempts at a fraudulent abuse of this stipulation, which they may know of,
or may have reason to suspect, and to give to such authorities all the aid in
their power with regard thereto; and every such attempt, when duly proved and
established by sentence of a competent tribunal, They shall be punished by the
confiscation of the property so attempted to be fraudulently introduced.
ARTICLE XIX
With respect to all merchandise, effects, and property whatsoever, imported
into ports of Mexico, whilst in the occupation of the forces of the United
States, whether by citizens of either republic, or by citizens or subjects of
any neutral nation, the following rules shall be observed:
(1) All such merchandise, effects, and property, if imported previously to
the restoration of the custom-houses to the Mexican authorities, as stipulated
for in the third article of this treaty, shall be exempt from confiscation,
although the importation of the same be prohibited by the Mexican tariff.
(2) The same perfect exemption shall be enjoyed by all such merchandise,
effects, and property, imported subsequently to the restoration of the
custom-houses, and previously to the sixty days fixed in the following article
for the coming into force of the Mexican tariff at such ports respectively; the
said merchandise, effects, and property being, however, at the time of their
importation, subject to the payment of duties, as provided for in the said
following article.
(3) All merchandise, effects, and property described in the two rules
foregoing shall, during their continuance at the place of importation, and upon
their leaving such place for the interior, be exempt from all duty, tax, or
imposts of every kind, under whatsoever title or denomination. Nor shall they be
there subject to any charge whatsoever upon the sale thereof. (4) All
merchandise, effects, and property, described in the first and second rules,
which shall have been removed to any place in the interior, whilst such place
was in the occupation of the forces of the United States, shall, during their
continuance therein, be exempt from all tax upon the sale or consumption
thereof, and from every kind of impost or contribution, under whatsoever title
or denomination.
(5) But if any merchandise, effects, or property, described in the first and
second rules, shall be removed to any place not occupied at the time by the
forces of the United States, they shall, upon their introduction into such
place, or upon their sale or consumption there, be subject to the same duties
which, under the Mexican laws, they would be required to pay in such cases if
they had been imported in time of peace, through the maritime custom-houses, and
had there paid the duties conformably with the Mexican tariff.
(6) The owners of all merchandise, effects, or property, described in the
first and second rules, and existing in any port of Mexico, shall have the right
to reship the same, exempt from all tax, impost, or contribution whatever.
With respect to the metals, or other property, exported from any Mexican port
whilst in the occupation of the forces of the United States, and previously to
the restoration of the custom-house at such port, no person shall be required by
the Mexican authorities, whether general or state, to pay any tax, duty, or
contribution upon any such exportation, or in any manner to account for the same
to the said authorities.
ARTICLE XX
Through consideration for the interests of commerce generally, it is agreed,
that if less than sixty days should elapse between the date of the signature of
this treaty and the restoration of the custom houses, conformably with the
stipulation in the third article, in such case all merchandise, effects and
property whatsoever, arriving at the Mexican ports after the restoration of the
said custom-houses, and previously to the expiration of sixty days after the day
of signature of this treaty, shall be admitted to entry; and no other duties
shall be levied thereon than the duties established by the tariff found in force
at such custom-houses at the time of the restoration of the same. And to all
such merchandise, effects, and property, the rules established by the preceding
article shall apply.
ARTICLE XXI
If unhappily any disagreement should hereafter arise between the Governments
of the two republics, whether with respect to the interpretation of any
stipulation in this treaty, or with respect to any other particular concerning
the political or commercial relations of the two nations, the said Governments,
in the name of those nations, do promise to each other that they will endeavour,
in the most sincere and earnest manner, to settle the differences so arising,
and to preserve the state of peace and friendship in which the two countries are
now placing themselves, using, for this end, mutual representations and pacific
negotiations. And if, by these means, they should not be enabled to come to an
agreement, a resort shall not, on this account, be had to reprisals, aggression,
or hostility of any kind, by the one republic against the other, until the
Government of that which deems itself aggrieved shall have maturely considered,
in the spirit of peace and good neighbourship, whether it would not be better
that such difference should be settled by the arbitration of commissioners
appointed on each side, or by that of a friendly nation. And should such course
be proposed by either party, it shall be acceded to by the other, unless deemed
by it altogether incompatible with the nature of the difference, or the
circumstances of the case.
ARTICLE XXII
If (which is not to be expected, and which God forbid) war should unhappily
break out between the two republics, they do now, with a view to such calamity,
solemnly pledge themselves to each other and to the world to observe the
following rules; absolutely where the nature of the subject permits, and as
closely as possible in all cases where such absolute observance shall be
impossible:
(1) The merchants of either republic then residing in the other
shall be allowed to remain twelve months (for those dwelling in the interior),
and six months (for those dwelling at the seaports) to collect their debts and
settle their affairs; during which periods they shall enjoy the same protection,
and be on the same footing, in all respects, as the citizens or subjects of the
most friendly nations; and, at the expiration thereof, or at any time before,
they shall have full liberty to depart, carrying off all their effects without
molestation or hindrance, conforming therein to the same laws which the citizens
or subjects of the most friendly nations are required to conform to. Upon the
entrance of the armies of either nation into the territories of the other, women
and children, ecclesiastics, scholars of every faculty, cultivators of the
earth, merchants, artisans, manufacturers, and fishermen, unarmed and inhabiting
unfortified towns, villages, or places, and in general all persons whose
occupations are for the common subsistence and benefit of mankind, shall be
allowed to continue their respective employments, unmolested in their persons.
Nor shall their houses or goods be burnt or otherwise destroyed, nor their
cattle taken, nor their fields wasted, by the armed force into whose power, by
the events of war, they may happen to fall; but if the necessity arise to take
anything from them for the use of such armed force, the same shall be paid for
at an equitable price. All churches, hospitals, schools, colleges, libraries,
and other establishments for charitable and beneficent purposes, shall be
respected, and all persons connected with the same protected in the discharge of
their duties, and the pursuit of their vocations.
(2) . -In order that the fate of prisoners of war may be alleviated all such
practices as those of sending them into distant, inclement or unwholesome
districts, or crowding them into close and noxious places, shall be studiously
avoided. They shall not be confined in dungeons, prison ships, or prisons; nor
be put in irons, or bound or otherwise restrained in the use of their limbs. The
officers shall enjoy liberty on their paroles, within convenient districts, and
have comfortable quarters; and the common soldiers shall be dispose( in
cantonments, open and extensive enough for air and exercise and lodged in
barracks as roomy and good as are provided by the party in whose power they are
for its own troops. But if any office shall break his parole by leaving the
district so assigned him, o any other prisoner shall escape from the limits of
his cantonment after they shall have been designated to him, such individual,
officer, or other prisoner, shall forfeit so much of the benefit of this article
as provides for his liberty on parole or in cantonment. And if any officer so
breaking his parole or any common soldier so escaping from the limits assigned
him, shall afterwards be found in arms previously to his being regularly
exchanged, the person so offending shall be dealt with according to the
established laws of war. The officers shall be daily furnished, by the party in
whose power they are, with as many rations, and of the same articles, as are
allowed either in kind or by commutation, to officers of equal rank in its own
army; and all others shall be daily furnished with such ration as is allowed to
a common soldier in its own service; the value of all which supplies shall, at
the close of the war, or at periods to be agreed upon between the respective
commanders, be paid by the other party, on a mutual adjustment of accounts for
the subsistence of prisoners; and such accounts shall not be mingled with or set
off against any others, nor the balance due on them 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 a he pleases; shall be allowed to receive, exempt from
all duties a 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.
And it is declared that neither the pretense 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
precisely that for which it is provided; and, during which, its stipulations are
to be as sacredly observed as the most acknowledged obligations under the law of
nature or nations.
ARTICLE XXIII
This treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United States of
America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof; and by the
President of the Mexican Republic, with the previous approbation of its general
Congress; and the 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 have hereunto affixed
our seals respectively. Done in quintuplicate, at the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo,
on the second day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and forty-eight.
N. P. TRIST
LUIS P. CUEVAS
BERNARDO COUTO
MIGL. ATRISTAIN
THE PROTOCOL OF QUERÉTARO
In the city of Querétaro 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 United States of America,
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.
First.
The American Government by suppressing the IXth article of the Treaty of
Guadalupe and substituting the III 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 that all of that agreement is contained in the IIId 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.
Second.
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 I3th of May 1846, and in Texas up to the 2d March 1836.
Third.
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 [sic] millions of dollars
which the same Government of the United 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 United
States. In testimony of which their Excellencies the aforesaid Commissioners and
the Minister have signed and sealed in quintuplicate the present protocol.
[Seal] A. H. Sevier
[Seal] Nathan Clifford
[Seal] Luis de la Rosa