Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
"In the name of Almighty God:
"The United States of America and the United Mexican States, animated by
a sincere desire to put an end to the calamities of the war which unhappily
exists between the two Republics, and to establish upon a solid basis
relations of peace and friendship, which shall confer reciprocal benefits
upon the citizens of both, and assure the concord, harmony and mutual
confidence wherein the two people should live, as good neighbors, have for
that purpose appointed their respective plenipotentiaries, that is to say:
"The President of the United States has appointed Nicholas P. Trist, a
citizen of the United States, and the President of the Mexican Republic has
appointed Don. Luis Gonzaga Cuevas, Don Bernardo Couto, and Don Miguel
Atristain, citizens of the said Republic;
"Who, after a reciprocal communication of their respective powers, have,
under the protection of Almighty God, the author of peace, arranged, agreed
upon, and signed the following treaty of peace, friendship, limits and
settlement between the United States of America, and the Mexican Republic;
ARTICLE I. There shall be firm and universal peace between the United States
of America and the Mexican Republic, and between their respective countries,
territories, cities, towns and people, without exception of places or
persons.
ARTICLE. II. Immediately upon the signature of this treaty, a convention
shall be entered into between a commissioner or commissioners appointed by
the general-in-chief of the forces of the United States, and such as may be
appointed by the Mexican Government, to the end that a provisional
suspension of hostilities shall take place, and that in the places occupied
by the said forces, constitutional order may be reestablished, as regards
the political, administrative, and judicial branches, so far as this shall
be permitted by the circumstances of military occupation.
ARTICLE. III. Immediately upon the ratification of the present treaty by the
Government of the United States, orders shall be transmitted to the
commanders of their land and naval forces, requiring the latter, (providing
this treaty shall then have been ratified by the government of the Mexican
Republic, and the ratifications exchanged), immediately to desist from
blockading any Mexican ports; and requiring the former, (under the same
condition), to commence, at the earliest moment practicable, withdrawing all
troops of the United States then in the interior of the Mexican Republic, to
points that shall be selected by common agreement, at a distance from the
seaports not exceeding thirty leagues; and such evacuation of the interior
of the Republic shall be completed with the least possible delay; the
Mexican Government hereby binding itself to afford every facility in its
power for rendering the same convenient to the troops, on their march, and
in their new positions, and for promoting a good understanding between them
and the inhabitants. In like manner orders shall be dispatched to persons in
charge of the customhouses at all ports occupied by the forces of the United
States, requiring them (under the same condition) immediately to deliver
possession of the same to the persons authorized by the Mexican Government
to receive it, together with all bonds and evidence of debt for duties on
importations and on exportations, not yet fallen due. Moreover, a faithful
and exact account shall be made out, showing the entire amount of all duties
on imports and exports, collected at such custom-houses, or elsewhere in
Mexico, by authority of the United States, from and after the day of
ratification of this treaty, by the government of the Mexican Republic; and
also an account of the cost of collection; and such entire amount, deducting
only the cost of collection, shall be delivered to the Mexican Government,
at the city of Mexico, within three months after the exchange of
ratifications.
"The evacuation of the capital of the Mexican Republic by the troops of the
United States, in virtue of the above stipulation, shall be completed in one
month after the orders there stipulated for shall have been received by the
commander of field troops, or sooner if possible.
ARTICLE. IV. Immediately after the exchange of ratifications of the present
treaty, all castles, forts, territories, places and possessions which have
been taken or occupied by the forces of the United States during the present
war within the limits of the Mexican Republic, as about to be established by
the following article, shall be definitely restored to the said Republic,
together with all the artillery, arms, apparatus of war, munitions, and
other public property, which were in the said castles and forts when
captured, and which shall remain there at the time when this treaty shall be
duly ratified by the government of the Mexican Republic. To this end,
immediately upon the signature of this treaty, orders shall be dispatched to
the American officers commanding such castles and forts, securing against
the removal or destruction of any such artillery, arms, apparatus of war,
munitions or other public property. The city of Mexico, within the inner
line of entrenchment surrounding the said city, is comprehended in the above
stipulation, as regards the restoration of artillery, apparatus of war, etc.
"The final evacuation of the territory of the Mexican Republic, by the
forces of the United States, shall be completed in three months from the
said exchange of ratifications, or sooner if possible; the Mexican
government hereby engaging as in the foregoing article, to use all means in
its power for facilitating such evacuation, and rendering it convenient to
the troops, and for promoting a good understanding between them and the
inhabitants.
"If, however, the ratification of this treaty by both parties should not
take place in time to allow the embarkation of the troops of the United
States to be completed before the commencement of the sickly season, at the
Mexican ports on the Gulf of Mexico, in such cases a friendly arrangement
shall be entered into between the general-in-chief of the said troops, and
the Mexican Government, whereby healthy and otherwise suitable places at a
distance from the ports not exceeding thirty leagues, shall be designated
for the residence of Kuch troops as may not yet have embarked, until the
return of the healthy season. And the space of time referred to as
comprehending the sickly season shall be understood to extend from the first
day of May to the first day of November.
"All prisoners of war taken on either side, on land or on sea, shall be
restored as soon as practicable after the exchange of ratifications of this
treaty. It is also agreed that if any Mexicans should now be held as
captives by any savage tribe within the limits of the United States, as
about to be established by the following article, the Government of the said
United States will exact the release of such captives and cause them to be
restored to their country.
ARTICLE. V. The boundary line between the two Republics shall commence in
the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from land opposite the mouth of the Rio
Grande, otherwise called the Rio Bravo del Norte, or opposite the mouth of
its deepest branch, if it should have more than one branch emptying directly
into the sea; from thence up the middle of that river, following the deepest
channel, where it has more than one, to the point where it strikes the
southern boundary of New Mexico; then westwardly, along the whole southern
boundary of New Mexico (which runs north of the town called Paso) to its
western termination; thence northward, along the western line of New Mexico,
until it intersects the first branch of the river Gila (or if it should not
intersect any branch of that river, then to the point on the said line
nearest to such branch, and thence in a direct line to the same); thence
down the middle of the said branch, and of the said river, until it empties
into the Rio Colorado; thence across the Rio Colorado, following the
division line between Upper and Lower California, to the Pacific Ocean.
"The southern and western limits of New Mexico, mentioned in this article,
are those laid down in the map entitled: Map of the United Mexican States as
organized and defined by various acts of the congress of said Republic, and
constructed according to the best authorities. Revised edition. Published at
Ne4v York, in 1847, by J. Disturnell; of which map a copy is added to this
treaty, bearing the signatures and seals of the undersigned
plenipotentiaries. And, in order to preclude all difficulty in tracing upon
the ground the limit separating Upper from Lower California, it is agreed
that the said limit shall consist of a straight line drawn from the middle
of the Rio Gila where it unites with the Colorado, to a point on the coast
of the Pacific Ocean, distant one marine league due south of the
southernmost point of the port of San Diego, according to the plan of said
port made in the year 1782 by Don Juan Pantoja, second sailing master of the
Spanish Fleet, and published at Madrid in the year 1802, in the atlas to the
voyage of the schooners Sutil and Mexicana; of which plan a copy is hereunto
added, signed and sealed by the respective plenipotentiaries.
"In order to designate the boundary line with due precision, upon
authoritative maps, and to establish upon the ground landmarks which shall
show the limits of both Republics, as described in the present article, the
two governments shall each appoint a commissioner and a surveyor, who before
the expiration of one year from the date of exchange of ratifications of
this treaty, shall meet at the port of San Diego, and proceed to run and
mark the said boundaries in its whole course to the mouth of the Rio Bravo
del Norte. They shall keep journals and make out plans of their operations;
and the result agreed upon by them shall be deemed a part of this treaty;
and shall have the same force as if it were inserted therein. The two
governments will amicably agree regarding what may be necessary to these
persons, and also as to their respective escorts, should such be necessary.
"The boundary line established by this article, shall be religiously
respected by each of the two Republics, and no change shall ever be made
therein, except by the express and free consent of both nations, lawfully
given by the General Government of each, in conformity with its own
constitution.
ARTICLE. VI. The vessels and citizens of the United States shall, in all
time, have a free and uninterrupted passage of the Gulf of California, and
by the river Colorado below its confluence with the Gila, to and from their
possessions situated north of the boundary line defined in the preceding
article; it being understood that this passage is to be by navigating the
Gulf of California, and the river Colorado, and not by land, without the
express consent of the Mexican Government.
"If, by the examinations which may be made, it should be ascertained to be
practicable and advantageous to construct a road, canal, or railway, which
should be in whole or in part run upon the river Gila, or upon its right or
its left bank, within the space of one marine league from either margin of
the river, the governments of both Republics will form an agreement
regarding its construction, in order that it may serve equally for the use
and advantage of both countries.
ARTICLE. VII. The river Gila, and the part of the Rio Bravo del Norte, lying
between the southern boundary of New Mexico, being, agreeably to the fifth
article, divided in the middle between the two Republics, the navigation of
the Gila and of the Bravo below said boundary shall be free and common to
the vessels and citizens of both countries, and neither shall, without the
consent of the other, construct any work that may impede or interrupt, in
whole or in part, the exercise of this right; not even for the purpose of
favoring new methods of navigation. Nor shall any tax or contribution, under
any denomination or title, be levied upon vessels or persons navigating the
same, or upon merchandise or effects transported thereon, except in the case
of landing upon one of their shores. If, for the purpose of making the said
rivers navigable, or for maintaining them in such state, it should be
necessary or advantageous to establish any tax or contribution, this shall
not be done without the consent of both Governments.
"The stipulations contained in the present article shall not impair the
territorial rights of either Republic within its established limits.
ARTICLE. VIII. Mexicans now established in territories previously belonging
to Mexico and which remain for the future within the limits of the United
States, as defined by the present treaty, shall be free to continue where
they now reside, or to remove at any time to the Mexican Republic, retaining
the property which they possess in the said territories, or disposing
thereof, and removing the proceeds wherever they please, without their being
subjected, on this account, to any contribution, tax, or charge whatever.
"Those who shall prefer to remain in the said territories, may either retain
the title and rights of Mexican citizens, or acquire those of citizens of
the United States. But they shall be under the obligation to make their
election within one year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of
this treaty; and those who shall remain in the said territories after the
expiration of that year, without having declared their intention to retain
the character of Mexicans shall be considered to have elected to become
citizens of the United States.
"In the said territories, property of every kind, now belonging to Mexicans
not established there, shall be inviolably respected. The present owners,
the heirs of these and all Mexicans who may hereafter acquire said property
by contract, shall enjoy with respect to it guarantees equally ample as if
the same belonged to citizens of the United States.
ARTICLE. IX. The Mexicans who, in the territories aforesaid, shall not
preserve the character of citizens of the Mexican Republic, conformably with
what is stipulated in the preceding article, shall be incorporated into the
Union of the United States, and be admitted at the proper time, (to be
judged of by the Congress of the United States), to the enjoyment of all the
rights of citizens of the United States, according to the principles of the
Constitution; and in the meantime, shall be maintained and protected in the
free enjoyment of their liberty and property, and secured in the free
exercise of their religion without restriction.
ARTICLE. X. (Stricken out).
ARTICLE. XI. Considering that a great part of the territories, which, by the
present treaty, are to be comprehended for the future within the limits of
the United States, is now occupied by savage tribes, who will hereafter be
under the exclusive control of the Government of the United States, and
whose incursions within the territory of New Mexico would be prejudicial in
the extreme, it is solemnly agreed that all such incursions shall be
forcibly restrained by the Government of the United States, when so ever
this may be necessary; and that when they cannot be prevented, they shall be
punished by the said government, and satisfaction for the same shall be
exacted - all in the same way, and with equal diligence and energy, as if
the same incursions were meditated or committed within its own territory,
against its own citizens.
"It shall not be lawful, under any pretext whatever, for any inhabitant of
the United States, to purchase or acquire any Mexican, or any foreigner
residing in Mexico, who may have been captured by Indians inhabiting the
territory of either of the two Republics; nor to purchase or acquire horses,
mules, cattle, or property of any kind, stolen within such Mexican territory
by such Indians.
"And in the event of any person or persons, captured within Mexican
territory by Indians, being carried into the territory of the United States,
the Government of the latter engages and binds itself in the most solemn
manner, so soon as it shall know of such captives being within its
territory, and shall be able so to do, through the faithful exercise of its
influence and power, to rescue them and return them to their country, or
deliver them to the agent or representative of the Mexican Government. The
Mexican authorities will, as far as practicable, give to the Government of
the United States notice of such captures; and its agents shall pay the
expenses incurred in the maintenance and transportation of the rescued
captives; who, in the meantime, shall be treated with the utmost hospitality
by the American authorities at the place where they may be. But if the
Government of the United States, before receiving such notice from Mexico,
should obtain intelligence through any other channel, of the existence of
Mexican captives within its territory, it will proceed forthwith to effect
their release and delivery to the Mexican agent, as above stipulated.
"For the purpose of giving to these stipulations the fullest possible
efficacy, thereby affording the security and redress demanded by their true
spirit and intent, the Government of the United States will now and
hereafter pass, without unnecessary delay, and always vigilantly enforce,
such laws as the nature of the subject may require. And, finally, the
sacredness of this obligation shall never be lost sight of by the said
Government, when providing for the removal of the Indians from any portion
of the said territories, or for its being settled by citizens of the United
States; but, on the contrary, special care shall then be taken not to place
its Indian occupants under the necessity of seeking new homes, by committing
those invasions which the United States have solemnly obliged themselves to
restrain.
ARTICLE. XII. In consideration of the extension acquired by the boundaries
of the United States, as defined in the fifth article of the present treaty,
the Government of the United States engages to pay to that of the Mexican
Republic the sum of fifteen millions of dollars.
"Immediately after this treaty shall have been duly ratified by the
Government of the Mexican Republic, the sum of three millions of dollars
shall be paid to the said Government by that of the United States, at the
city of Mexico, in the gold or silver coin of Mexico. The remaining twelve
millions of dollars shall be paid at the same place, and in the same coin,
in annual installments of three millions of dollars each, together with
interest on the same at the rate of six per centum per annum. This interest
shall begin to run upon the whole sum of twelve millions from the day of the
ratification of the present treaty by the Mexican Government and the first
of the installments shall be paid at the expiration of one year from the
same day. Together with each annual instilment, as it falls due, the whole
interest accruing on such installment from the beginning shall also be paid.
ARTICLE. XIII. The United States engage, moreover, to assume and pay to the
claimants all the amounts now due them, and those hereafter to become due,
by reason of the claims already liquidated and decided against the Mexican
Republic under the conventions between the two republics severally concluded
on the eleventh day of April, eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, and on the
thirtieth day of January, eighteen hundred and forty-three; so that the
Mexican Republic shall be absolutely exempt for the future, from all expense
whatever on account of the said claims.
ARTICLE. XIV. The United States do furthermore discharge the Mexican
Republic from all claims of citizens of the United States, not heretofore
decided against the Mexican Government, which may have arisen previously to
the date of the signature of this treaty; which discharge shall be final and
perpetual, whether the said claims be rejected or be allowed by the board of
commissioners provided for in the following article, and whatever shall be
the total amount of those allowed.
ARTICLE. XV. The United States, exonerating Mexico from all demands on
account of the claims of their citizens mentioned in the preceding article,
and considering them entirely and forever cancelled, whatever their amount
may be, undertakes to make satisfaction for the same, to an amount not
exceeding three and one-quarter millions of dollars. To ascertain the
validity and amount of those claims, a board of commissioners shall be
established by the Government of the United States, whose awards shall be
final and conclusive; provided that, in deciding upon the validity of each
claim, the board shall be guided and governed by the principles and rules of
decision prescribed by the first and fifth articles of the unratified
convention, concluded at the city of Mexico on the twentieth day of
November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-three; and in no case shall
an award be made in favor of any claim not embraced by these principles and
rules.
"If, in the opinion of the said board of commissioners or of the claimants,
any books, records, or documents in the possession or power of the
Government of the Mexican Republic shall be deemed necessary to the just
decision of any claim, the commissioners, or the claimants through them,
shall, within such period as Congress may designate, make an application in
writing for the same, addressed to the Mexican Minister for Foreign Affairs,
to be transmitted by the Secretary of State of the United States, and the
Mexican Government engages, at the earliest possible moment after the
receipt of such demand, to cause any of the books, records or documents so
specified, which shall be in their possession or power, (or authenticated
copies or extracts of the same) to be transmitted to the said Secretary of
State, who shall immediately deliver them over to the said board of
commissioners; provided that no such application shall be made by or at the
instance of any claimant, until the facts which it is expected to prove by
such books, records or documents, shall have been stated under oath or
affirmation.
ARTICLE. XVI. Each of the contracting parties reserves to itself the entire
right to fortify whatever point within its territory it may judge proper so
to fortify for its security.
ARTICLE. XVII. The treaty of amity, commerce and navigation, concluded at
the city of Mexico, on the fifth day of April, A. D. 1831, between the
United States of America and the United Mexican States, except the
additional article, and except so far as the stipulations of the said treaty
may be incompatible with any stipulation contained in the present treaty, is
hereby revived for the period of eight years from the day of the exchange of
ratifications of this treaty, with the same force and virtue as if
incorporated therein; it being understood that each of the contracting
parties reserves to itself the right, at any time after the said period of
eight years shall have expired, to terminate the same by giving one year's
notice of such intention to the other party.
ARTICLE. XVIII. All supplies whatever for troops of the United States in
Mexico, arriving at ports in the occupation of such troops previous to the
final evacuation thereof, although subsequently to the restoration of the
customhouses at such ports, shall be entirely exempt from duties and charges
of any kind; the Government of the United States hereby engaging and
pledging its faith to establish, and vigilantly to enforce all possible
guards for securing the revenue of Mexico, by preventing the importation,
under cover of this stipulation, of any articles other than such, both in
kind and in quantity, as shall really be wanted for the use and consumption
of the forces of the United States during the time they may remain in
Mexico. To this end it shall be the duty of all officers and agents of the
United States to denounce to the Mexican authorities at the respective ports
any attempts at a fraudulent abuse of this stipulation, which they may know
of or may have reason to suspect, and to give to such authorities all the
aid in their power with regard thereto; and every such attempt, when duly
approved and established by sentence of a competent tribunal, shall be
punished by the confiscation of the property so attempted to be fraudulently
introduced.
ARTICLE. XIX. With respect to all merchandise, effects and property
whatsoever, imported into ports of Mexico whilst in the occupation of the
force of the United States, whether by citizens of either republic, or by
citizens or subjects of any neutral nation, the following rules shall be
observed:
"1. All such merchandise, effects and property, if
imported previously to the restoration of the customhouses to the Mexican
authorities, as stipulated for in the third article of this treaty, shall be
exempt from confiscation, although the importation of the same be prohibited
by the Mexican tariff.
"2. The same perfect exemption shall be enjoyed by all such merchandise,
effects, and property, imported subsequently to the restoration of the
customhouses, and previously to the sixty days fixed in the following
article for the coming into force of the Mexican tariff at such ports
respectively; the said merchandise, effects, and property being, however, at
the time of their importation, subject to the payment of duties, as provided
for in the said following articles:
"3. All merchandise, effects and property described in the two rules
foregoing shall, during their continuance at the place of importation, and
upon their leaving such place for the interior, be exempt from all duty,
tax, or impost of every kind, under whatsoever title or denomination. Nor
shall they be there subjected to any charge whatsoever upon the sale
thereof.
*'4. All merchandise, effects and property described in the first and second
rules, which shall have been removed to any place in the interior whilst
such place was in the occupation of the forces of the United States, shall,
during their continuance therein, be exempt from all tax upon the sale or
consumption thereof, and from every kind of impost or contribution, under
whatsoever title or denomination.
"5. But if any merchandise, effects, or property, described in the first and
second rules, shall be removed to any place not occupied at the time by the
forces of the United States, they shall, upon their introduction into such
place, or upon their sale or consumption there, be subject to the same
duties which, under the Mexican laws, they would be required to pay in such
cases, if they had been imported in time of peace, through the maritime
customhouses, and had there paid the duties conformably with the Mexican
tariff.
"6. The owners of all merchandise, effects or property, described in the
first and second rules, and existing in any port of Mexico, shall have the
right to reship the same, exempt from all tax, impost, or contribution
whatever.
"With respect to the metals, or other property, exported from any Mexican
port whilst in the occupation of the forces of the United States, and
previously to the restoration of the customhouse at such port, no person
shall be required by the Mexican authorities, whether general or state, to
pay any tax, duty or contribution upon any such importation, or in any
manner to account for the same to the said authorities.
ARTICLE. XX. Through consideration for the interest of commerce
generally, it is agreed, that if less than sixty days should elapse between
the date of the signature of this treaty and the restoration of "the
customhouses, conformably with the stipulation in the third article, in such
case all merchandise, effects, and property whatsoever, arriving at the
Mexican ports after the restoration of the said customhouses, and previously
to the expiration of sixty days after the day of the signature of this
treaty, shall be admitted to entry; and no other duties shall be levied
thereon than the duties established by the tariff found in force at such
customhouse at the time of the restoration of the same. And to all such
merchandise, effects and property, the rules established by the preceding
article shall apply.
ARTICLE. XXI. If unhappily any disagreement shall hereafter arise between
the Governments of the two republics, whether with respect to the
interpretation of any stipulation in this treaty, or with respect to any
other particular concerning the political or commercial relations of the two
nations, the said Governments, in the name of those nations, do promise to
each other that they will endeavor, in the most sincere and earnest manner,
to settle the differences so arising, and to preserve the state of peace and
friendship in which the two countries are now placing themselves, using, for
this end, mutual representations and pacific negotiations. And if, by these
means, they should not be enabled to come to an agreement, a resort shall
not, on this account, be had to reprisals, aggression, or hostility of any
kind by the one republic against the other, until the Government of that
which deems itself aggrieved shall have naturally considered, in the spirit
of peace and good neighbor ship, whether it would not be better that such
differences should be settled by the arbitration of commissioners appointed
on each side, or by that of a friendly nation. And should such course be
proposed by either party, it shall be acceded to by the other, unless deemed
by it altogether incompatible with the nature of the difference or the
circumstances of the case.
ARTICLE. XXII. If (which is not to be expected, and which God forbid) war
should unhappily break out between the two republics, they do now, with a
view to such calamity, solemnly pledge themselves to each other and to the
world to observe the following rules; absolutely where the nature of the
subject permits, and as closely as possible in all cases where such absolute
observance shall be impossible:
"l. The merchants of either republic then residing in the
other shall be allowed to remain twelve months, (for those dwelling in the
interior), and six months, (for those dwelling at the seaports), to collect
their debts and settle their affairs; during which periods they shall enjoy
the same protection, and be on the same footing, in all respects, as the
citizens or subjects of the most friendly nations; and at the expiration
thereof, or at any time before, they shall have full liberty to depart,
carrying off all their effects without molestation or hindrance, conforming
therein to the same laws which the citizens or subjects of the most friendly
nations are required to conform to. Upon the entrance of the armies of
either nation into the territories of the other, women and children,
ecclesiastics, scholars of every faculty, cultivators of the earth,
merchants, artisans, manufacturers, and fishermen, unarmed and inhabiting
unfortified towns, villages or places, and, in general, all persons whose
occupations are for the common subsistence and benefit of mankind, shall be
allowed to continue their respective employments, unmolested in their
persons. Nor shall their houses or goods be burnt or otherwise destroyed,
nor their cattle taken, nor their fields wasted by the armed force into
whose power, by the events of war, they may happen to fall; but if the
necessity arise to take anything from them for the use of such armed force,
the same shall be paid for at an equitable price. All churches, hospitals,
schools, colleges, libraries, and other establishments for charitable and
beneficent purposes, shall be respected, and all persons connected with the
same, protected in the discharge of their duties and the pursuit of their
vocations.
"2. In order that the fate of prisoners of war may be alleviated, all such
practices as those of sending them into distant, inclement, or unwholesome
districts, or crowding them into close and noxious places, shall be
studiously avoided. They shall not be confined in dungeons, prisonships, or
prisons; nor be put in irons, or bound, or otherwise restrained in the use
of their limbs. The officers shall enjoy liberty on their paroles, within
convenient districts, and have comfortable quarters; and the common soldiers
shall be disposed in cantonments, open and extensive enough for air and
exercise, and lodged in barracks as roomy and good as are provided by the
party in whose power they are for its own troops. But if any officer shall
break his parole, by leaving the district so assigned him, or any other
prisoner shall escape from the limits of his cantonment, after they shall
have been designated to them, such individual, officer, or other prisoner,
shall forfeit so much of the benefit of this article as provides for his
liberty on parole or in cantonment. And if any officer so breaking his
parole, or any common soldier so escaping from the limits assigned him,
shall afterwards be found in arms, previously to his being regularly
exchanged, the person so offending shall be dealt with according to the
established laws of war. The officers shall be daily furnished, by the party
in whose power they are, with as many rations, and of the same articles, as
are allowed, either in kind or by commutation, to officers of equal rank in
its own army; and all others shall be daily furnished with such rations as
is allowed to a common soldier in its own service; the value of all which
supplies shall at the close of the war, or at periods to be agreed upon
between the respective commanders, be paid by the other party, on a mutual
adjustment of accounts for the subsistence of prisoners; and such accounts
shall not be mingled with or set off against any others, nor the balance due
on them be withheld, as a compensation or reprisal for any cause whatever,
real or pretended. Each party shall be allowed to keep a commissary of
prisoners, appointed by itself, with every cantonment of prisoners, in
possession of the other; which commissary shall see the prisoners as often
as he pleases; shall be allowed to receive, exempt from all duties or taxes,
and to distribute, whatever comforts may be sent to them by their friends,
and shall be free to transmit his reports in open letter to the party by
whom he is employed.
"And it is declared that neither the pretense that war dissolves all
treaties, nor any other whatever shall be considered as annulling or
suspending the solemn covenant contained in this article. On the contrary,
the state of war is precisely that for which it is provided; and, during
which, its stipulations are to be as sacredly observed as the most
acknowledged obligations under the law of nature or nations.
ARTICLE. XXIII. This treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof; and by the President of the Mexican Republic, with the previous approbation of its general Congress, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the city of Washington, or at the seat of Government of Mexico, in four months from the date of the signature thereof or sooner if practicable.
"In faith whereof, we, the respective plenipotentiaries, have signed this
treaty of peace, friendship, limits and settlement, and have hereunto
affixed our seals respectively. Done in quintuplicate, at the city of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, on the second of February, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
(Seal) N. P. Trist.
(Seal) Luis G. Cuevas.
(Seal) Bernardo Couto.
(Seal) Migl. Atristain.
Negations of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Notes About Book:
Source: History Of Arizona Volume 1, By Thomas Edwin Farish, 1915, Printed
and Published by Direction of the Second Legislature of the State of
Arizona, A. D.
Notes about Online Publication: This manuscript has been ocr'd and heavily
edited. Many of the Native American words have been reproduced as clearly as
online publication will allow us, but not all are exactly the way they were
in the original work. The structure of this manuscript has been changed to
allow better online presentation.
