No. 331.
Mr. Foster
to Mr. Evarts.
Mexico , November 22, 1878. (Received December 17.)
Sir: The Monitor Republicano, a newspaper of this city, published the following paragraph a few days ago:
The Carbajal Bonds.—A telegram to the New York Herald asserts that the government of General Diaz has recognized the bonds of the Carbajal loan and agreed to pay the interest on them.
Will the Diario tell us what truth there may be in this?
In yesterday’s issue the Diario Oficial, quoting the above item, answered as follows:
The Carbajal bonds, recognized since 1867, have had the same lot as the others, whose legitimacy the government of the republic has accepted, and have been paid at different times, according as the circumstances of |he treasury have permitted.
These statements, appearing in the official journal of the government, may have a tendency to mislead the holders of the bonds referred to, who are mainly citizens of the United States. The fact is that none of these bonds, either in principal or interest, have been paid according to their tenor since they were issued in 1865. In 1868 the Mexican Congress made an appropriation to enable the treasury department to purchase at auction or by negotiation any of its foreign bonds at the greatly depreciated price to which they had fallen, owing to the failure of the government for several years to pay the interest. Under this arrangement, a few of the Carbajal bonds were bought in by the government in 1868 and 1869 at 18¾ cents on the dollar of their face value. I have not been able to learn that since that date any portion of either the principal or interest of any of these bonds has been paid by the government, except in a single instance.
This exception was the case of a holder of a bond, who, having sought in vain in the United States to get some information in regard to its payment, came to this capital about two years ago, and presented his [Page 734] bond in person to the President of the republic. He became so persistent in his visits to the government building that the minister of the treasury found it convenient to make him a payment, which I was informed was barely sufficient to pay his traveling expenses and enable him to return to the United States.
My dispatch No. 802, of the 8th ultimo, contained full information in regard to the Carbajal bonds.
I am, &c.,