The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-02-24
WASHINGTON. ID. c.
RELATIONS WITH MEXICO, AND THE CONT
MENTAL RAILROAD.
THE GARAY HRANI
SPEECH OF WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
D.L,SSl 81 N. S..ats Of 81. " sto,,s, Feb 8, 1876:

THE GARAY GRANT.
MIR SEWARD said In the first place,
! ask the Senate to take notice that all these
resolutions assume-but ! admit not without
fair show Of argument-irst that the Ameri-
can assignees OF Don Jose Garay have a com
plete perfect, and absolute title to the right to
open q communication across the lsthmus of
Tehuantepec; and. secondly that Mexico I'M
reasonably and unjustly refuses to permit them
70 do 90, according to the terms Of tho grant
which they exhibit
My first answer to these assumptions is that
the contract under which this title is claimed.
and upon which it is founded. expired by-ts
own Limitation eighteen months after the grant
was made. The Senate will please take notice
that this grant was made by General Santa
Anna on the first day Of March. 1912 that
the surveys were 10 be made by Garay within
eighteen months; and that the work was to
be actually commenced within twenty-eight
months, which would expire on the first day
of September, 1874 So the period of lmita-
ton has arrived and passed it being admitted
on all hands that that limitation was a con-
dition of the grant. The contract then is void,
unless 1t has been shown nv the Committee on
Foreign Relations that it has been since re-
neSed or extended The committee say it has
Genera Santa Anna of the 2Sth December
Is43 by which it was extended to the first Of
July. lS45 Well the extension is at an end
for that day also has passed SO the contract
has then oeas, d. unless it has been still further
extended The committee say that it has Lecn
further extended by decree Of Salas the
Provisional President of Mexico, dated fifth
November, 1916 by which the time for com
menong the work was prolonged to the fifth Of
November, l84S, within which time the com
mittee say the title vested IN the American ar
-gnees and The work was actually commenced
Now, il will be seen, III the first place, that the
commencement of the work before the fifth of
November, 1s48, was Indispensable to the con
CnuaHoe OF the contract even on the asSump-
tion Gf the committee Tho committee say that
the work was begun within that time have
not been ahlo TO fad proof that it was begun
in the papers which have been sent to us by
the President Indeed think it quite clear.
from all the papers submitted to IN, that even
the preliminary surveys, which were to be
made within period of eighteen months from
the date of the grant, were never actually
made: but however this may be, on the 22I Of
May, 1881. near three years after the decree
Of Saa, prl.ngirg the contract the Constitu-
tional Congress If Mexico enacted q decree in
these words
The lpores of November ISIG the decree of exten,i
by Sias j. dcclarsdnul and VOID, Lcue poS with
which the Provisional OoyernmrD Of that period in
vested w.r iu.ufccut 70 autoriz. IT, Accordingly the
GovernmcDt vii that this decarrton readerei la
yery respect effective In regard to the privilege granted T.
Don jose de Garay"
Here then is grant made on the lst day of
llaroh, 1912, 10y the Provisional President OF
Mexico ana here i, law of the Congress of
Mexico, passed on the 22I of May, 1851, abro-
eating the grant The grant then, has been
abrogated aud is void, unless the contrary can
be shown. The Committee on Foreign Rela-
tons have undertaken to show the contrary
and they took three positions First, that the
Congress of Mexico had no mower to repeal the
decree Of Sala- second, that Salas was the |
Government dc fdciO Of Mexico, and that his |
acts as such bound that nation, especially |
when an interest had become vested in for
eigner The third il that Mexico has since
che decree of Salas, recognised the existence and
che validity at the grant, notwithstanding the
Congressional decree of repeal. | shall briefly |
notice these replies in their order. The first
position 0i the committee is, that the Congress
of Mexico had no power 90 repeal the decree
of Saas Bv the Constitution OF Mexico, the
Federal Constitution of 1924 if in force at the
time not only had Congress- power to repeal the
grant, but no power but Congress had authority
to make any ohch grant. 1 refer the Senate to
she fifth section Of the Constitution Of Mexico,
which Constitution ~ here:
,ro ,,t ~. Every resolution OF Congress shall have
.ue IA ,rlct.I o. IAN decree
The laws and DEGREES shall b, Tor supporting IN,
= i1nl independence; the union ot he stats, aud p"ac
Add maintain tt' independence at the states e.
"urc q" Caet "portoomrnt IA The "Tscssm"nt ol axrs
.lt 3" ih" exclusive p"w"rs OF r"orr"sT sl"h the
hnt - 70 mcnt the general prosperity. by decree
Inv The nng nf !uas csh,s and their improvement
without 'r'yuns Ga" states FROM opening improving
thrr own esHi't,ng posts aud mails; aud securing fora
limited time Ia nNeutor, inSrnvers, those no intriucr
branch Of Ia tusr 'nusi'e rights To their respoe e
inyeninos improvements, or inLroductOns"
This is the Constitution of Mexico, and the
exclusive power tn make such II grant nIJn
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec was reposed IN
Congress, and was never in the President uc
.Ordlng To that Constitution. But what is more,
che power of Congress was limited Congress,
while it had an exclusive power tn make canals
and railroads without interfering with the
States, had 10 power to open the lothmus so as
90 interfere with tho rights of the States Of
Vera Cruz and Oaxaca which occupied it, The
Provisional President Santa Anna, who had
come into power in an interregnum of the Con
etitutnn Of 1924. under certain CONVERSIONS
called the conventions Of Estanzuela, sod
tain bases called tho bases of Tacubaya, mod-
ned and adopted xsfiose conventions, had in
1912 given to hsS&vorite Il grant which, for
want of COMPLIANCE by the grantee with its
conditions had expired and was void
In l848, the Government established by Pa
redes, and administered by Bravo, was in pow
er. revolutionary movement, distinguished
rs the Revolution Of the Citadel deposed Bravo
and recalled Santa Anna, then in exile, and al
sntertm advanced SAlas, brigadier general, To
the Supreme Executive power He came into
chat Office on the fourth of August, 1916, aud
limited his own powers by the terms of the plan
Of the Citadel aud proclaimed the ro-cstablish-
ment Of the Constitution Of 1924 Here is the
decree Of Salas, which / have translated and
copied from the book of the DEGREES of the Mex
lean Republlc which lies before me
"Ma'trgot tboap Relations II Goconnent and io,,,e
Ills EXcpuc, the senior General in Chef in the
se 90 the supreme Executive power has dir etd to mo the
C'loSinS dnrr,o:
Jose NHrian" de ssns General Brigade and Chiefof
the Lhrratins Republican ARMY Ia tho oNcisc Of the
supreme Executive power, 10 all whom hase presents
come Know ~ IN confederation OF the state Ia which
the Republic Is nov und be has bsen moved to deeree the
following:
1874 shall cover" i All 'hn l. not IN conflict Win the .r
ruton az th plan prc aimed IN the citadel Of this capitol
ON the 4ih NJ M present month aud that til" present
of affairs the Republic will p'rmi "
Thus Salas was in power, acknowledging the
COnsttut on of 1924 and self bound to support
it, when, on the fifth OF November, 1916, he
made decree, extending an already expired
grant which wa' equivalent to making the
grant itself which grant was in direct conflict
with the Constitution He exercised no abso-
lutte power, but u qualified dictatorial power
which va, limited by the Constitution and 10y
the bases of what Was called the Act of the
Citadel.
We have, then, the decree of Salas, Provis-
ional Pres dent, extending this contract for two
years and we have in the first place the Con
stitution of Mexico, declaring it void Here is
one ground upon which the Constitutional Con
gress, on The 22d May, 1851, abrogated the de.
.,ree of Salas