No. 210.
Mr. Morgan
to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Legation of
the United States.
Mexico, April 4, 1882.
(Received April 18.)
No. 385.]Sir: I transmit herewith the address of the
President to both houses of Congress, on the occasion of the opening of the
regular session thereof on the 1st instant, as it is published in the Diario
Oficial of that date, together with a translation thereof.
The President states that the financial condition of the country is good;
that its revenues are sufficient to meet its engagements; and that for the
first six months of the present fiscal year “they have exceeded the sum
received during the six months preceding upwards of $2,000,000; that the
work on the railroads is progressing, and that telegraphic communication is
being extended in many directions.
The foreign relations of the country are satisfactory except perhaps with
Guatemala. He repudiates the idea of any desire to extend the territory of
Mexico by the conquest of the Central American states, and with reference to
that nation (Guatemala) and alluding to the questions pending between them,
he says, that if Guatemala will renounce her unrealizable pretensions to a
retrocession of Chiapas and Soconusco for the supposed damages which she
claims for having been despoiled thereof, the good faith of the policy which
he announces towards the Central American states would soon be vindicated.
He announces the purchase of 18,500 stand of arms of the most approved
pattern and latest system, which, with those now in the arsenals and in the
hands of the army, place the nation upon a respectable footing.
I am, sir, &c.,
[Inclosure in NO
385.—Extract.]
president’s message.
Gentlemen of the Chamber of Deputies and
Senators:* * * The good harmony which has for some time past
existed between Mexico and the foreign powers with whom she has
relations has been preserved, and has increased, and we receive from
them frequent evidences of their friendly feeling towards us.
Our relations with Guatemala continue in the same condition they were in
when I gave you an account of them in September last,
When treating of interests of such magnitude it is prudent, without
neglecting them, to leave to time that natural influence which it
sometimes advantageously exercises in bringing complicated questions to
a solution.
I must, therefore, for your information, as well as for that of Mexico
and of the Governments of Central America, explain clearly and
succinctly what are the aspirations of my administration in our
difficulties with Guatemala, and I hope that you will not deny to me the
co-operation necessary to bring them to an end.
Perhaps the circumstance that in former times some of the republics which
are grouped together in the center of the continent, formed part of the
Mexican nation, has given rise to the idea that our republic, stimulated
by its actual condition of tranquillity and progress, wishes to possess
itself, in whole or in part, of these politi cal
[Page 388]
entities, which are now sovereign and independent,
and annex them to our own territory—a lamentable error which might
alienate from us the sympathy of the people thereof, from whom no
conflict separates us, and with whom we desire to cultivate and
strengthen, if possible, the most disinterested friendship
When we possess a territory of the greatest richness, washed by two
oceans, capable of supporting in prosperity a population of one hundred
millions, it would be insensate in us to attempt the conquest of those
countries, from which we are separated by great distances, and we would
unceasingly repel in them those proper sentiments of liberty and
independence which are as firmly rooted in their soil as they are in our
own. And I solemnly declare to Congress, and to the nation which it
represents, that my administration has no other views with reference to
the questions which now exist with the southern republic, than the
defense of the territory and dignity of Mexico, and looks only to the
establishing of a well-defined boundary which will be adopted by a
common accord between Mexico and Guatemala. If the government of that
country will renounce the unrealizable idea of reoccupying Chiapas and
Soconusco, or of obtaining an indemnity for supposed damages for having
been despoiled of the same, the sincerity of the policy which in thebe
few words I have indicated would be soon made apparent.
* * * * * * * *
