No. 363.
Mr. Foster
to Mr. Evarts.
Mexico, August 15, 1879. (Received September 7.)
Sir: The representative in the Federal Congress from the Territory of Lower California, Hon. Felix Gibert, has made a report to the department of government on the state of the administration of affairs in that Territory. From the “fact that the Territory adjoins the United States, and the neighboring officials are frequently brought into intercourse with each other, and on account of the American interests invested in and the commercial relations existing with that district, I have thought proper to transmit you herewith a translation of said report.
Omitting any comments of my own upon the report, I quote the criticism of Hon. J. M. Vigil, whom I have heretofore had occasion to [Page 826] refer to as one of the most intelligent public men and circumspect writers in the country, published in the Monitor Republicano, a recognized independent newspaper. The editorial referred to says:
We have read with real surprise the report rendered by Mr. F. Gibert, deputy from Lower California, to the secretary of government, relative to the administrations of the prefects sent to that Territory by the Presidents of the republic from 1868 up to date, and published in the Libertad. We say that we were surprised by its reading, because it would be difficult to draw a picture more somber as a whole, more repugnant in its details, than that resulting from this report, which is a curious document that will give to future generations, less unfortunate than the present, an idea of what the Mexican Republic was during the last third of the nineteenth century, after near seventy years of war and revolution in order to conquer liberty and the rights of men, and under the empire of a constitution which leaves nothing to be desired from a theoretic point of view.
Mr. Gibert, in a hard style, almost violent, paints the situation of the condition of the Peninsula of California in a manner so horrible that, upon concluding its reading, one cannot do less than ask, in the greatest stupefaction, “How! Does this occur in Mexico? Is this possible in a civilized country—in a Christian country—in a country that has been bathed in blood to throw off tyranny?” And nevertheless the authorized voice of the representative of that distant Territory is there, implacable and severe, denouncing to the supreme government of the republic the horrors taking place there, designating the culprits by their own names, enumerating the crimes, to which he does not hesitate to apply the most terrible epithets, presenting proofs in support of his sad narrative.
After noticing the report in detail, the editorial concludes as follows:
We have arrived at an extreme when it is absolutely indispensable that the nation should know what to expect. The vast territory of this country is in its greater part divided into petty kingdoms, subject to the whims of little local tyrants, who inflict upon their unfortunate subjects every class of outrage and vexation. Neither life nor property, nor any of the other individual rights, have guarantees of any kind; of the administration of justice there exists nothing but a vain pretense, and public morality has passed into the category of unrealizable dreams.
Well, then, what role does the supreme government of the republic play in this? Will it remain indifferent, will it assist disorder, or will it endeavor to put a dike to the anarchical tyranny which overflows in every direction We have here a question of life and death for the country and for the government itself. With respect to Lower California, we abstain, as we said before, from giving a definite opinion; but the acts officially denounced to the government are serious to such a degree that an investigation is absolutely necessary. In thus acting, the present administration will give a proof of the rectitude of the intentions that animate it, dissipating the clouds that obscure the prestige of all public authority.
I am, &c.,