No. 208.
Mr. Morgan
to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Legation of
the United States,
Mexico, January 4, 1882.
(Received January 18.)
No. 332.]
Sir: On the receipt of Department dispatch No. 199,
November 29, I addressed a note to Señor Mariscal, asking him to appoint a
day and hour upon which I could read it to him. A copy of my note I inclose.
Señor Mariscal replied that he would receive me at the foreign office on
Friday, the 16th instant. A translation of his note I inclose.
[Page 383]
I kept the appointment, read to hirn your dispatch, and left with him a copy
thereof. I also, in a separate note, conveyed to the President of Mexico,
through the foreign secretary, the formal invitation of the President of the
United States to name two commissioners to a congress of the independent
countries of North and South America to be held at the city of Washington,
on the 24th day of November, 1882. A copy of my note I inclose. Señor
Mariscal informed me that he would lay the matter before the President and
promised an early reply to the invitation.
On the 22d December I received your dispatch No. 201, December 1, in which
you informed me that there was an error of date in your dispatch No. 199,
December 1, and that the 22d of November, 1882, should be substituted for
“24th.” This correction I made in a note which I addressed to Senor Mariscal
on the 22d December, 1881, a copy whereof I inclose.
The receipt of this note Senor Mariscal acknowledged on the 22d December,
1881. A translation of his note I inclose.
On the 29th December I received your dispatch No. 202, December 3. On the
31st December in an interview which I had of Senor Mariscal I stated to him
that the proposed congress was to be held under the auspices of the United
States, and that the commissioners appointed thereto would be at no expense
except for their maintenance while in attendance upon the sessions
thereof.
The opportunity presented itself for me to suggest that it would be advisable
that one at least of the commissioners to be appointed should be acquainted
with the English language, and I took advantage of it.
Señor Mariscal said that he supposed the Mexican minister at Washington and
some one from Mexico would be appointed. He did not, however, inform me that
his government had determined upon sending any commissioners. To avoid any
possible misapprehension on the part of the Mexican Government as to the
purpose of the United States in respect of the expenses of the proposed
congress, I deemed it proper to address him a note upon the subject, which I
did on the 3d January. A copy whereof I inclose. You will observe that it is
an extract from your dispatch (No. 202).
More than a fortnight having expired since my interview with Señor Mariscal,
and not having received any communication from him upon the subject, I have
considered it proper to inform you of what has taken place.
I am, sir, &c.,
[Inclosure in No. 332.]
Mr. Morgan to Señor
Mariscal.
Legation of the United States,
Mexico, December 13,
1881.
Sir: I have been instructed to read and to
leave with your excellency a copy of a dispatch from the Secretary of
State, dated at Washington, the 29th November, and I have to request
that you will name a day and hour when it will suit your convenience to
give me an audience.
I renew to your excellency, &c.,
[Page 384]
[Inclosure 2 in No.
332.—Translation.]
Señor Mariscal to
Mr. Morgan.
Department for Foreign Affairs,
Mexico, December 14,
1881.
Mr. Minister: In reply to the polite note of
your excellency of yesterday, in which you desired me to name a time for
an interview with me, for the purpose of reading a dispatch from the
Secretary of State at Washington, I have the honor to say to-your
excellency that I shall be pleased to meet you here on Friday next, 16th
instant, at 12 o’clock noon.
I renew to your excellency, &c,
[Inclosure 3 in No. 332.]
Mr. Morgan to Señor
Mariscal.
Legation of the United States,
Mexico, December 16,
1881.
Sir: Referring to the interview which I have
this day had of your excellency, and to the copy of the dispatch to me
from the Secretary of State, under date of the 29th November last, which
I have handed to you, I now, in the name of the President of the United
States, tender through yon to His Excellency the President of the
Mexican Republic, a formal invitation to send two commissioners to a
general congress of all the independent countries of North and South
America to be held in the city of Washington on the 24th day of
November, 1882,. for the purpose of considering and discussing the
methods of preventing war between the nations of America, the two
commissioners to the congress to be provided with such powers and
instructions on behalf of the Mexican Government as will enable them to
consider the questions brought before that body within the limits of
submission contemplated by this invitation, which is-fully set forth in
the dispatch, a copy of which I have furnished you with; and to this
invitation I would respectfully intimate that as prompt an answer may be
given as the just consideration of so important a proposition will
permit.
I renew to your excellency, &c.,
[Inclosure 4 in No. 332.]
Mr. Morgan to
Señior Mariscal.
Legation of the United States,
Mexico, December 22,
1881.
Sir: Referring your excellency to the copy of
the dispatch of the 29th ultimo, which I read to your excellency, I am
now instructed by the Department of State to say, that through an error
of copy the day for the assembling of the proposed peace congress is
given as the 24th of November, 1882. It should be the 22d. I renew to
your excellency, &c.,
[Inclosure 5 in No.
332.—Translation.]
Señor Mariscal to
Mr. Morgan.
Department of Foreign Affairs,
Mexico, December 22,
1881.
Mr. Minister: I have had the honor to receive
your excellency’s note of this date, in which, referring to the dispatch
of the Secretary of State of the United States, of the 29th of November,
ultimo, you were pleased to say to me that, by an error of copy, the
date for the assembling of the proposed peace congress should be the
22d.
I renew to your excellency, &c,
[Page 385]
[Inclosure 5 in No. 332.]
Mr. Morgan to Señor
Mariscal.
Legation of the United States,
Mexico, January 3,
1882.
Sir: Referring your excellency to the dispatch
from the Secretary of State under date of the 29th November last, a copy
of which I left with you on the 13th December, relating to the proposed
holding of a general congress to be composed of representatives from all
the independent countries of North and South America, on the 22d
November, 1982, I deem it proper to say to your excellency that it is
proposed that the congress shall be held under the auspices of the
Government of the United States, which, to this end, will supply a
suitable hall for the meetings of the commissioners, will take charge of
all necessary arrangements, and, at its own expense, will meet all the
material requirements of the congress, reporting and interpreting the
proceedings and printing the resultant protocols, in Spanish and
English, for the use of all the parties. Secretaries, clerks, and
copyists in both languages will be provided and paid by the United
States—no expense being left to the invited countries except the
maintenance of their own commissioners.
I renew to your excellency, &c.,