Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/475

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
GONZALEZ TERM.
455

was signed by which Guatemala renounced forever her pretended rights to Chiapas and Soconusco, as well as all claims for indemnity, and the boundary line between the two republics was defined in perpetuity.[1]

The new commercial treaties with Germany, Italy, and Belgium, initiated under the former administration, as well as an extradition treaty with Spain, were concluded by Gonzalez and ratified in 1883. The long-interrupted relations with Great Britain were renewed by Gonzalez, and it should be remembered that Mexico had not made the first advance toward reconciliation Sir Spencer St John arrived in Mexico in July 1883, as the representative of the British government, and as a result of the negotiations held, friendly relations were formally restored between the two countries, and Ignacio Mariscal was in that year accredited as the minister of Mexico near the British government.

In the arrangements of a new treaty with the United States, some little delay occurred. The first project was disapproved by the senate at Washington in November 1882, and another on the reciprocity principle was drawn up. A treaty of this nature was finally agreed to, and ratified by the Mexican senate May 14, 1884.

Comparing Gonzalez' administration with the preceding ones, so greatly disturbed, we may well say that peace reigned during its whole period, and that there was no local trouble to lament. This period of Mexican history was marked by internal progress and

  1. The treaty was duly ratified by both governments, and exchanged in the city of Mexico May 1, 1883. Mex. Tratado entre Estad. Un. Mex. y Guat. In addition to official organs of the press and other periodicals, the following authorities on this subject have been consulted: Larrainzar, Notic. Hist. Soconusco, Mexico, 1843; Id., Chiapas y Soconusco, con motivo de la cuestion de limites entre Merico y Guatemala, Mexico, 1875; Martinez, Cuestion entre Mexico y Guatemala, Mexico, 1882; Mex., Cuestion de limites entre Mex. y Guat.; Mex. y Guat., Cuestion de limites, Mexico, 1875; Uriarte, Convencion de 7 Dec., 1877; Chiapas, Manig. de los Poderes, Mexico, 1892; Mex., Correspond. Diplom., ii. 429-48, 469-634; Méx., Dem. Relac. Exter., 1878, 43-5, with App. 1-3; Id., 1881, 13-19.