Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-26
THAT PROTOCOL.
Texas Figures in the Protocol to the
Treaty of Guadalupe HidaIgo.
The Status of the Various Mexican Grants and
the Importance of the Mention of
Texas in the Protocol

RATTAN, n. NJ. Feb. %. 1889.
To the Gazette
From the Office of secretary of state 1
am just in receipt of a copy of the protocol
to the treaty of Guadalupe hidalgo of
February ., 184S. The protocol is not
recorded with the treaty in the statutes
at large of the United States, nor is it
attached to the original treaty in the
office of the secretary of state quote
from the protocol this interesting para
graph that has
TEXAS IN IT.
ConformabIy to the law of the United
States, legitimate titles TO every de-
scription of property, personal and real,
existing in the ceded territories are those
which are legitimate titles under the
Mexican law in California and New
Mexico up TO the 18th of May 1876, and
in Texas up to the I'd of March, 1886.
This reference to Texas is, to say the
least, peculiar. 1t seems intended to
convey the impression that the state of
Texas was one of the territories refer
red to in the Sth article of the treaty and
that treaty protection extended to MeXi-
can and Spanish grants in Texas as well
as TO those in California and New Mex
leo. But here is the word with the
bark on it ,; it IS a seuter: To what ter
ritories, says the supreme court, ''did
the high contracting parties refer in the
Sth article? We think it clear
that they did not refer to
any portion of the acknowledged limits
of Texas. The territories alluded to are
70
belonged to Mexico, and which after the
treaty should remain within the limits of
the United States mckinney VS.. Sa-
viego, Is How. 235.
THE BRALs' GRANT.
In the case of the Interstate land
company VS. the Maxwell land grant
company, to be heard in St Louis in
March, it is rumored that the former
company viii claim that the clause in
the protocol referring to Texas warrants
said company in claiming treaty protec-
ton for its so 900 ,000-acre Beals grant.
Here is description of this grant:
Your orator further shows to the
court that upon the 18th day of March,
1888, at Saltillo, the political capital of
Coahuila, Tex, constituting a state in
the republic of Mexico, Jose Manuel Roy
uela and John Charles Beals presented
their petition i'll due form of law to Jose
Maria de Letona, the governor of Texas,
whereby the said petitions Royuela and
Beals requested the said Jose Maria de
Letona to accept them as empresarrios,
and to grant them as such empresarrios
the tract of land included within the fol-
lowing limits, viz: Beginning at
landmark set upon the spot whereat
the SD degree of north latitude is crossed
by the meridian of the 1929 degree of
longitude west from London, said spot
being at the northwest corner of the
grant petitioned for by Col. Reuben
Ross. From thence proceeding west
along the parallel of the 32d degree
of latitude as far as the eastern
boundary of New Mexico; from thence
running north on the boundary line be-
tween the provinces of Coahuila, Texas
and New Mexico, as far as twenty leagues
south of the River Arkansas; from thence
east to the meridian of the I02d degree
of longitude, and from thence proceeding
sonth to the place of beginning -
Ism that a whopper? This descrip-
ton includes, as your readers will per-
ceive, all the land in Texas between the
103d and 102d meridians of longitude for
nearly the full length of the eastern line
ten million acres. Mr.. Charles Good
night. told the writer of this article that
''Texas always ignored this grant -
Good for Texas! But the fact that the
Beals grant has been ignored by Texas
my conviction that its claim
ants will work the Texas item in the
protocol for alIit is worth. First, they
will show from said item limiting grants
in Texas to 1886, that their 1882 Beals'
grant was just in the nick of time:
second, that their monstrous Beals'
grant is "a good and valid grant under
the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, - be-
cause Texas is mentioned in the protocol
with California and New Mexico as one
of the s'ceded territories -
THE RUELAS GRANT.
It is an i'll wind that blows no one
any good; and it happens that the Texas
item in the protocol is a godsend to the
Ruelas grant at Ell Paso which the
press dispatch of the 18th inst. says was
fixed in 1S47.s That lets the Ruelas grant |
ont as easy as falling off log; and it |
may let that other monstrous grant ont |
the Lerma grant-mentioned in the |
same dispatch with the Ruelas; l hope |
it does; but its date was not given.
O. p MCMAINs.
All sfx-1os o,,,l ,r,ofl los ,e bal,,~ .,,,.,;.,.o