No. 170.
Señor Montúfar to Mr. Frelinghuysen.

Mr. Minister: I have the honor to inform your excellency that the President of the Republic of Guatemala, who is now in this capital, has instructed me personally, and in the most special manner, to address myself to your excellency in the terms which I am about to set forth with reference to the boundary question pending between Guatemala and Mexico.

My government, in the interest of harmony and of the good relationship which should be maintained between neighboring countries, desires to avoid all the difficulties which might place themselves in the way of a speedy and amicable solution. These difficulties have consisted hitherto in the discussion of the rights of both republics to the territory of Chiapas, including Soconusco. Therefore the President desires that this point may be no obstacle in arriving at an end of the business, and, believing that nothing would be so opportune as to have the United States of America, a power friendly to the two countries, which gives them all the guarantees of impartiality and justice, and with respect to which there should be good reason to believe, too, that it possesses [Page 331] the unlimited confidence of both, consent to take upon itself to put an end to this controversy. He asks, through me, that the United States, by its mediation and in virtue of an arbitration, will do the Republic of Guatemala the inestimable service of giving a decision which shall fix the dividing boundaries between Guatemala and Mexico, in the sense above set forth.

In order to attain this result, the President of Guatemala eliminates the difficulty touching Chiapas and Soconusco, which is the obstacle hitherto set up on behalf of Mexico, and consequently the boundaries which it pertains to the arbitrator to fix, are those between Chiapas and the Republic of Guatemala throughout their proper extent.

The President of Guatemala expresses to your excellency, through me, his desire that his Excellency the President of the United States of America will consent to accept the position of arbitrator in order to define this question within the proposed terms. It would be very gratifying to him to know if the President will be pleased to accept this charge on this basis, so that he may thereupon inform the Government of Mexico of the request which he has thus made to the Government of this republic (United States), and to learn if it (Mexico) accepts, for its part, the suggestion and the arbitration proposed by Guatemala.

In case of its acceptance (by Mexico), and the remaining details thereupon being decided, the matter will forthwith be submitted to his Excellency’s decision; and in the remote contingency of its not being accepted, Guatemala will have thus taken a step which unequivocally demonstrates the sincerity of its intention to terminate this question, even though imposing upon itself a costly sacrifice.

I take, therefore, the liberty of troubling your excellency, begging you to be pleased to honor me with a response which will show whether his Excellency, the President of the United States of America will consent to accept the nomination which the Republic of Guatemala offers to him for this delicate charge. If the response be favorable, as I am led to believe it will be, by the expressions which his Excellency the President, and your excellency likewise, have had the goodness to make to the chief of the nation which I represent, and to myself, it will be duly announced on behalf of Guatemala to Mexico, to the end that if it (Mexico) accepts and adheres to the suggestion, the matter may forthwith remain subject to the enlightened decision of his Excellency the President of this republic.

I have much pleasure in stating to your excellency that the Government of the Republic of Guatemala will be profoundly grateful to that of the United States of America for the acts of noteworthy deference which its acceptance will imply.

This gratifying opportunity affords me the honor of assuring you once more that I am your excellency’s very faithful and respectful servant,

LORENZO MONTÚFAR.