Mr. Romero to Mr.
Gresham.
[Translation.]
Legation of Mexico,
White
Plains, N. Y., August 14, 1894.
(Received August 15.)
Mr. Secretary: I have the honor to inform you,
referring to our previous correspondence on the subject, that I duly
reported to my Government our conversation of the 28th of June last, in
the course of
[Page 423]
which, and in
view of the way in which you understood the offers made by the Mexican
Government to indemnify, by way of equity, Mrs. Baldwin for the death of
her husband, who was murdered by bandits in the State of Durango,
Mexico, and as an act of personal deference to you, I inquired of you
whether the U. S. Government would be satisfied if the indemnity of
$20,000 in gold, to which reference has been made, should be paid in one
installment of $3,000, payable at the time of concluding the arrangement
on the subject, and the remaining $17,000 in monthly installments of
$1,000 each, and you were pleased to tell me that you would accept that
way of making the payment.
I have to-day received a dispatch from Mr. Mariscal, secretary of foreign
relations of the United States of Mexico, dated City of Mexico, August
13, 1894, a copy of which I herewith inclose, whereby he informs me that
my Government has accepted that arrangement, and that, without waiting
for me to propose it to you in writing, he has carried it out himself,
having sent that very day to the U. S. minister in Mexico a draft,
numbered 63119, of the National Bank of Mexico on Messrs. Müller, Schall
& Co., of New York, to the order of the treasurer general of the
federation, and indorsed by that officer to your order, for the sum of
$3,000 in gold, being the amount of the first installment. I presume
that Mr. Gray has advised you of the receipt of this draft.
Be pleased to accept, etc.,
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
Mr. Mariscal to
Mr. Romero.
Department of Foreign Relations,
City of Mexico, August 3, 1894.
No. 94.]
With a view to the settlement of the large and much-debated claim
presented against the Government of Mexico by the widow of Leon
McLeod Baldwin, an American citizen, and supported by the U. S.
Government, on account of the aforesaid foreigner’s having been
murdered by a party of bandits led by Heracho Bernal, Mr. Gresham,
Secretary of State of the United States, proposed, through you, that
a moderate indemnity should be granted to the claimant by Mexico, as
a matter of simple equity, this act not to imply a recognition that
in the case in question the Mexican Government was, strictly
speaking, responsible, so that the proposed arrangement could not be
cited as a precedent in future cases of a similar nature.
The President thought proper to accede to the wishes of the U. S.
Government, which were reiterated with special insistence by the
Secretary of State; and, after a long correspondence, held with the
view of fixing the amount of the indemnity, you, still mediating in
this case, proposed as an equitable arrangement, subject to the
approval of the Government of Mexico, the payment of $20,000 in
gold, $3,000 of which were to be paid to the U. S. minister in
Mexico at the time when the arrangement should be approved and the
remaining $17,000 in seventeen monthly installments of $1,000
each.
Although the consideration of the high premium of gold over our
ordinary silver money occasioned some delay in the settlement of
this matter, the President, in view of the reiterated solicitations
addressed to him by you, has decided that the arrangement referred
to shall be accepted; and, in order to effect this, he has
instructed the treasurer-general of the federation to send to this
department a number of bills
[Page 424]
of exchange on New York, made payable to the order of the
Secretary of State of the United States, as follows: One for $3,000
in gold, immediately; and for the remaining $17,000, seventeen bills
of exchange, payable in the same coin, in the months following,
reckoned from the date of the first bill of exchange.
Accordingly, I to-day send to the minister of the United States of
America the first and second of exchange of a bill drawn by the
National Bank of Mexico, numbered 63119, on Messrs. Müller, Schall
& Co., of New York, payable to the treasurer-general of the
federation, and indorsed to the order of the Hon. W. Q. Gresham,
Secretary of State of the United States of America, for the sum of
$3,000 in gold, being the amount of the first installment, as
provided by the aforesaid arrangement.
Be pleased to communicate this information to the Secretary of State,
Mr. Gresham, by sending him a copy of this dispatch.
