No. 212.
Mr. Foster
to Mr. Fish.
Legation of
the United States,
Mexico, December 8, 1876.
(Received December 22.)
No. 472.]Sir: I transmit herewith a decree issued by General
Porfirio Diaz, from the city of Oaxaca, on the 26th of September last, and
which has been republished in the first issue of the official journal of his
government in this city, declaring void the contracts described in the three
first articles of said decree made by and with the government of President
Lerdo. The fact of its publication officially in this city would seem to
indicate the intention of General Diaz’s government to enforce its
provisions. It is not entirely clear whether the decree is designed to be
retroactive in its effect, or simply to deter persons from making farther
contracts with the government of Mr. Lerdo, which at the date of the decree
was the one in possession of this capital and of the greater part of the
republic, and recognized by the United States and other foreign nations as
the only legitimate government of Mexico. If the third article shall be
retroactive in its enforcement it will very seriously and to a large extent
affect American interests, and even if only made effective from its date,
the decree will place in dispute the validity of certain contracts to which
American representatives are parties.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
General Diaz’s decree nullifying contracts of Lerdo
government.
[From the Diario Oficial, December 4, 1876.]
porfirio diaz, general-in-chief of the national
constitutional army of the united mexican states, to its
inhabitants:
Know ye that, in the exercise of the war powers with which the national
will has invested me, I have thought proper to decree the following:
- Article 1. The contracts of lease of
the mints of the republic are null, and without any force or
effect, which Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada or his agents may have
made, as shall also be other contracts which he may make in the
future, whether they refer to these mints or to any other branch
of the administration.
- Art. 2. The obligations shall
likewise be null and of no value which the so-called government
of Sebastian Lerdo may contract with the bondholders of the
English debt in any negotiation which may be agreed upon with
them or their agents, relative to the recognition of the said
debt.
- Art. 3. Any contract which may
result in any burden to the nation shall also be null and of no
force.
- Art. 4. The signers of any of the
contracts to which the preceding articles refer, and all the
individuals who directly or indirectly participate in their
celebration, shall be deprived of every right, shall be judged
by military commissions and punished as traitors to the country,
with the penalty which belongs to the crime, without prejudicing
the civil responsibility which they may incur to the treasury or
to the private individuals who may be damaged by reason of any
contract with the said persons.
- Art. 5. The sales, mortgages, or
agreements which the responsible parties referred to in this
decree, and that of August 28 last, may pretend to make, in
order to avoid the civil responsibility which they may incur,
apparently disposing of the property which they possess, shall
have no force or effect from the moment in which the military
commission which may judge them imposes upon them any
penalty.
Let it be printed, circulated, and communicated to whom it pertains for
its most exact observance.
Given in Oaxaca
the 26th of September,
1876.
- PORFIRIO DIAZ.
- Luis G. Curiel, Secretary.
