TREATY WITH MEXICO
IN THE NAME OF ALMIGHTY GOD
The 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 ~y 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 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 1i 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
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 out by the United States Amendments]
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 all 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
Article IX was modified and Article X were stricken by the US
Congress. Here are the original articles.
In addition, there is an explanation or agreement of why the articles
where stricken which is known as the protocol of Querétaro
ARTICLE IX
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.
ARTICLE X
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.
THE PROTOCOL OF QUERÉTARO
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
United States of America, with fuil 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 tile 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, notwithstandjng the
suppression of the article of the Treaty, preserve the legal value which
they may possess; and the grantees may cause their legitimate tities 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
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