Evening star., 1925-08-22
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

will be sufficient that it be estab
| lished that the alleged loss or dam
age in any case was sustained and
was due to any of the causes enum-
Grated in Article III hereof"
The attitude of Mexico, as above
indicated, strikes our officials as un-
usual, in that provision is expressly
made that we are not to prove our
| legal rights, under international law
| but, on the facts outlined in Article
| III, we are to let Mexico settle by
her graciousness and sense of justice.
| Hence, Article III is of special inter-
est. 1t provides:
The claims which the commission
shall examine and decide are those
which arose during the revolutions
and disturbed conditions which ex-
listed in Mexico. covering the period
from November 20. 1910, to May 81,
| 1920, inclusive, and were due to any
| act by the following forces:
"G) BY forces of the government
de jure or de facto.
"(2) BY revolutionary forces as q
result of the triumph of whose cause
governments de facto or de jure have
been established; or by revolutionary
forces opposed to them.
"(3) BY forces arising from the dis
junction of the forces mentioned in
the next preceding paragra phi, up to
the time when the government de
jure established itself as a result OF
a particular revolution.
20 By federal forces that were dis
banded, and"
Here in t5) may come in the lex
gratia" quoted above)
"t5) BY mutinies or mobs or insur-
rectionary forces other than those
referred to under subdivisions (2), (3)
and (4) above; or by bandits, pro
vided in any case it be established
that the appropriate authorities omit
led reasonable measures to suppress
1nSurrectfonists, mobs or bandits. or
treated them with lenity, or were in
fault in other particulars"
1t is pointed out by our Government
officials that the claim might he made
by Mexico, under the above (5) provi-
sion, that we are obliged to prove de-
linquency on the part of every govern
ment during the period of the revolu-
tionS-the burden of proof being put
upon us rather than upon the defend
ant Mexico in such cases. If so, that
may throw light upon Mexico's wish
not to be held to account under inter
| national law, but to be left to her own
generosity, lex gratia," TO make such
settlements of claims as she finds ex-
pedient.
1t is recalled that President Car
rama expressly repudiated certain
bonds issued by his revolutionary-pred
ecessors; also. that for some years
the government de facto and de ture
was Intellectual in restraining the ban
dit Villa, whom even our own special
| commissioner, John Lind, reported to
President Wilson as the man Of des.
| tiny. How the special commission will
| pass upon claims affected by the Car
rama or Villa acts will be of unusual
| interest in the future records of di-
plomacy and international relations.
Foreseeing the diplomatic difficulties
under (5), the bankers, who hold con-
siderable blocks of Mexican bonds, are
taking the negotiations out of the
hands of the special commission and
seeking by parley to arrive at a salts
factory settlement in private arbitra-
ton. Bankers sometimes hold means
Of constraining even lex gratia" gov
ernments into satisfactory settlements
| in view of future credits, even though
disbarring international law.
The commissions are acting under
the terms of convention signed at
Washington September 8, 1923. The
president of the General Claims Com
mission Is Mr.. c. van Vollenden of
Holland, specialist in international
law. The president of the special COM
mission is Senior Rodrigo Octayio, a
prominent lawyer of Brazil. In both
cases the selections of neutral heads of
the commissions has been with the
agreement of the two governments
convened.
tcopyrisAt. 1885. by Paul y. coifinaT