The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-03-03

at Tacubaya, and sworn to by the Representatives
and the deputies Of the departments that have de-
ternincd to issue the following decree
Then it was by the bases of Tacubaya that
he claimed to have authority to issue that de-
cree. But be it remembered-and | ask the
attention of the Senate to the lact-that these
same bases of Tacubaya, by which Santa Anna
claimed to have the right to confer this grant
upon Garay also contained the provision that
all his acts while acting under these bases.
should be submitted to the first constitutional
Congress that was assembled. And Garay
when he took this grant from Santa Anna, knew
that he took it subject to the contingency that
it was liable to be laid before the first const-
tutoDal Congress, for its appreciation or rejec-
ton. Santa Anna was acting under the bases
of Tacubaya and the convention of Estanluela.
The seventh article Of the bases of Tacubaya IL
IN these words:
The powers of the Provisional Executive Govern
mont shall be everything necessary for the organla-
ton Of every branch Of the public administration
The second article Of the convention of Es-
tanzuela is as follows:
Tho acts Of the Government Of his Excellency,
General Don Anastaso Bustamentc, and those of the
Government that succeed him in the mean time from
the lst of August Of the present year S4 Of what
class they may bo shall be submitted TO the APP
likewise shall be RENTED to the same Congress the
acts of the Executive Provisional in conformity with
the bases which the army Of his Excellency General
Santa Anna has adopted
The time fixed by the decree Of Santa Anna
for Garay 10 90 on and complete his work ex-
pired on the lst of July, 1874. At that time
the bases of Tacubaya and the convention of
Estanzuela had been superseded by what were
called, think the Bases Orgdn'cG, and du.
ring that time Canaliz0, President I'D interim,
extended the grant to Garay for another year,
carrying it TO July lS45. The Bases Organizes
under which Canazo extended the original
grant, we're subject to exactly the same condl-
tons as the bases of Tacubaya, which required
that all the acts done by the provisional chief
then in power, should be subjected to the &C
ton of the first constitutional Congress.
Santa Anna-when the progress of revolu-
ton WAS such that he saw constitutional Con-
gress was about TO be assembled, ny which the
validity of his grants would be inquired into,
and the grants confirmed or rejected-under
standing perfectly the nature of she grant, and
the nature of the authority to pass upon it,
took a very sagaci0us way to get over 1t, or
around it and he issued his own decree that
tho responsibility established by the bases of
Tacgbaya, requiring his acts to be submitted
to constitutional Congress, was a mere ex-
preston of opinion and was not binding that
the trainers of the bases of Tacubaya had sim
ply said they thought his acts ought to be sub
mtted, but did not mean to require that they
should be.
Bat Congress did assemble and on the lst
OF April, l845, they took up the subject of these
DEGREES. and one of the very first acts which
they DID was to declare that all the doings of
the Provisional Government, except so far as
they fell within tho very letter Of the authority
which was conferred upon thom for the extra
ordinary emergency out OF which they had
been created, were annullcd, and ander that
act these grants were annulled
/ But whether that decree of the Congress
was sufficient or not, suppose that Santa Anna
had the power and authority to make the
/ grant-supp0se that CanalizO had authority to
extend it, and suppose the first constitutional
! Congress of ls45 had not power to annul it
what, then is the condition of things! Why,
the time expired in July, 1916, and not one
step had then been made towards doing any
thing under the grant.
What next do you find Garay then petit
toned, not the President, not the Chief of the
nation, but he petiOned the Government for an
extension Of his grant; and the Council refused
to the Chamber Of Deputies. The Chamber of
Deputies granted the request, and it was sent
to the Senate In the Senate the subject was
referred to a committee; the committee report
ed iavorably but no action was had upon the
matter by the Senate, and thus the grant was
not extended by any act of the Government
But at that time General Saas was Provisional |
Chief in Mexico. 1t must be borne in mind
that General Saas, on the 22d of August, 1916, !
he then being in supreme power, published
decree restoring the Constitution Of l824 That |
Constitution was then restored over the whole |
of Mexico; the military Governors went out,
and constitutional Governors were elected in
their places, and the machinery of the COnsti-
tuition of 1924 was put in full operation all over
Mexico. Under that Constitution the Prcs-
dent of Mexico had no more right to make
such II grant than hal the President of the
United States. Yet General Salas on the 5th
of November, 1916, nearly three months after
the restoration of the Federal Constitution of
1924, which has been in operation from that
day to the present, took the very bill which
had passed the Chamber of Deputies and had
been suspended in the Senate, and made de-
cree similar to it, extending the grant to Garay
for two years. Immediately upon this grant of
Garay being extended by the decree of Salas
Garay applied to the Government for con-
frn,atOn, or rs it is styled in the papers of
that country credentials The Government
took the matter into consideration, and con-
hrmed the grant, with two essential modifca-
tlons--One was, that all contracts that were to
be made relative to the matter should be sub
United to the Government for consideration and
approval and tho second wa, that all the col
onists who went on to work upon the proposed
railway, or other lnterOceanic communication
should renOunce their nationality and give up
their alien privileges. Upon these terms, and
these conditions being incorporated into the
decree, or into the credentials Garay took the
grant.
The grant to Garay was of twofold char
acter; and beg the Senate to bear this in
mind, because if they do, they will avoid some
OF the very errors into which the Adminstra.
ton has fallen. One of these grants was for
coonlzlng the country, and the other was for
making an interOceanic communication, and
both were separate and distinct On tho 9TH
ot January lSI7, Garay assigned to Manning
MackmtoSh--what What the Committee
on Foreign Relations suppose by their report
what Mr.. Webster says in his letter, was
contract for making way over the lsthmus of
IehuantePcc. No such thing On the 9TH of
January lsl7, Garay assigned to Manning
Macintosh that part of the grant which rea-
ted to colonization, and he expressly said;
That by this transfer the part Of tho covenant
or Jose Garay it is not to DO understood that he
conicrs upon McsSrs. Manning h Macintosh, and
Schneider & Company, any right whatever to carry
on navigation from one to the other but he de-
oarcs that he transfers to the gentlemen aforesaid
the right Of navigating said Cosacoalcos river, for
all such purposes may be suitable and useful to
the business connected with the transfer of the lands
in question: without any dctrimcnt accruing in vr-
tue OF such act to the privileges vested in the aors
said Gsray"
That Garay reserved to himself in the most
formal manner possible. He retained all the
privileges relating to the construction of rail
road or other transit, across the lsthmus of
Tehnantencc and lie cold To Manning & Mack-