1876.

CLAIMS CONVENTION.

Concluded April 29, 1876; ratification advised by the Senate May 24, 1876; ratified by the President June 27, 1876; ratifications exchanged June 29, 1876; proclaimed June 29, 1876. (Treaties and Conventions, 1889, p. 709.)

The functions of the umpire under the Convention of 1868 were extended by this convention of three articles until November 20, 1876, and provision made for the payment of the awards.

1882.

BOUNDARY CONVENTION.

Concluded July 29, 1882; ratification advised by the Senate August 8, 1882; ratified by the President January 29, 1883; ratifications exchanged March 3, 1883; proclaimed March 5, 1883. (Treaties and Conventions, 1889, p. 711.)

(This convention although temporary in its character is reprinted because Article IX provides for the punishment of persons destroying or defacing the monuments marking the boundary.)

The President of the United States of America on the one hand and the President of the United States of Mexico on the other, being desirous of putting an end to whatever difficulties arise from the destruction or displacement of some of the monuments erected for the purpose of marking the boundary between the two countries, have thought proper to conclude a convention with the object of defining the manner in which the said monuments are to be restored to their proper places and new ones erected, if necessary; to which end they have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, to wit:

The President of the United States of America, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Esquire, Secretary of State of the United States of America; and the President of the United States of Mexico, Señor Don Matias Romero, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of Mexico, in Washington;

Who, after reciprocal exhibition of their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles:

ARTICLE I.

With the object of ascertaining the present condition of the monuments marking the boundary line between the United States of America and the United States of Mexico, established by the treaties of

February 2nd, 1848, and December 3rd, 1853," and for determining generally what monuments, if any, have been destroyed or removed and may require to be rebuilt or replaced, a preliminary reconnaissance of the frontier line shall be made by each government, within six months from the exchange of ratifications of this convention. These reconnaissances shall be made by parties under the control of officers of the regular army of the respective countries, and shall be effected in concert, in such manner as shall be agreed upon by the commanders of the respective parties. The expense of each reconnoitering party shall be borne by the government in whose behalf it operates. These reconnaissance-parties shall report to their respective governments, within eight months from the exchange of the ratifications of this convention:

(a) the condition of the present boundary monuments; (b) the number of destroyed or displaced monuments;

(c) the places, settled or capable of eventual settlement, where it may be advisable to set the monuments closer together along the line than at present;

(d) the character of the new monuments required, whether of stone or iron; and their number, approximately, in each case.

ARTICLE II.

Pending the conclusion of the preliminary reconnaissances provided in Article I, each government shall appoint a surveying party, consisting of an Engineer-in-Chief, two Associates one of whom shall be a practical astronomer, and such number of assistant engineers and associates as it may deem proper. The two parties so appointed shall meet at El Paso del Norte, or at any other convenient place to be agreed upon, within six months from the exchange of the ratifications hereof, and shall form, when combined, an "International Boundary Commision."

ARTICLE III.

The International Boundary Commission shall be required and have the power and authority to set in their proper places along the boundary line between the United States and Mexico, from the Pacific Ocean to the Rio Grande, the monuments heretofore placed there under existing treaties whenever such monuments shall have become displaced; to erect new monuments on the site of former monuments when these shall have been destroyed; and to set new monuments at such points as may be necessary and be chosen by joint accord between the two Commissioner Engineers-in-Chief. In rebuilding and replacing the old monuments and in providing for new ones, the respective reports of the reconnaissance parties provided by Article I may be consulted: provided however that the distance between two consecutive monuments shall never exceed eight thousand metres, and that this limit may be reduced on those parts of the line which are inhabited or capable of habitation.

ARTICLE IV.

Where stone shall be found in sufficient abundance, the monuments may be of stone; and in other localities shall be of iron in the form of a simple tapering four-sided shaft with pediment, rising above the ground to a height of six feet, and bearing suitable inscriptions

a Should be December 30, 1853. See pp. 514, 527.

on its sides. These monuments shall be at least two centimeters in thickness, and weigh not less than five hundred pounds each. The approximate number thereof to be required may be determined from the reports of the preliminary reconnaissance-parties, and the monuments, properly cast and finished, may be sent forward from time to time to such spots as the Commission may select, to be set in place at the sites determined upon as the work progresses.

ARTICLE V.

The Engineers-in Chief of both sections shall determine, by common consent, what scientific processes are to be adopted for the resetting of the old monuments and the erection of the new ones; and they shall be responsible for the proper performance of the work.

On commencing operations, each section shall report to its government the plan of operations upon which they shall have jointly agreed; and they shall from time to time submit reports of the progress made by them in the said operations; and finally they shall present a full report, accompanied by the necessary drawings, signed by the Engineerin-Chief and the two Associate Engineers on each side, as the official record of the International Boundary Commission.

ARTICLE VI.

The expenses of each section shall be defrayed by the government which appointed it; but the cost of the monuments and of their transportation shall be equally shared by both governments.

ARTICLE VII.

Whenever the number of the monuments to be set up shall be approximately known as the result of the labors of the preliminary reconnaissance-parties, the Engineers-in-Chief shall prepare an estimate of their cost, conveyance and setting up; and when such estimate shall have been approved by both governments, the mode of making the payment of the part to be paid by Mexico shall be determined by a special arrangement between the two governments.

ARTICLE VIII.

The work of the International Boundary Commission shall be pushed forward with all expedition; and the two governments hereby agree to regard the present convention as continuing in force until the conclusion of said work, provided that such time does not exceed four years and four months from the date of the exchange of the ratifications hereof.

ARTICLE IX.

The destruction or displacement of any of the monuments described herein, after the line shall have been located by the International Boundary Commission as aforesaid, is hereby declared to be a misdemeanor, punishable according to the justice of the country of the offender's nationality if he be a citizen of either the Unites States or Mexico; and if the offender be of other nationality, then the misdemeanor shall be punishable according to the justice of either country where he may be apprehended.

This convention shall be ratified on both sides and the ratifications exchanged at Washington as soon as possible.

In testimony whereof we have signed this convention in duplicate, in the English and Spanish languages, and affixed hereunto the seals of our arms.

Done in the City of Washington this 29th day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty two. FRED T. FRELINGHUYSEN. M. ROMERO.

SEAL.

SEAL.

1883.

COMMERCIAL RECIPROCITY CONVENTION.

Concluded January 20, 1883; ratification advised by the Senate with amendments March 11, 1884; ratified by the President May 20, 1884; ratifications exchanged May 20, 1884; proclaimed June 2, 1884. (Treaties and Conventions, 1889, p. 714.)

This convention of ten articles made mutual agreements for the importation of certain products of each country into the other free of duty.

Owing to the failure of legislation to carry the convention into effect it ceased to be operative May 20, 1887.

1884.

BOUNDARY CONVENTION, RIO GRANDE AND RIO COLORADO.

Concluded November 12, 1884; ratification advised by the Senate March 18, 1885; modifications consented to by the Senate June 23, 1886; ratified by the President July 10, 1886; ratifications exchanged September 13, 1886; proclaimed September 14, 1886. (Treaties and conventions, 1889, p. 721.)

I. Boundaries in rivers named. II. Changes.

III. Artificial changes.

ARTICLES.

IV. Bridges.

V. Riparian rights.
VI. Ratification.

Whereas, in virtue of the Vth article of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo between the United States of America and the United States of Mexico, concluded February 2, 1848, and of the first Article of that of December 30, 1853, certain parts of the dividing line between the two countries follow the middle of the channel of the Rio Grande and the Rio Colorado, to avoid difficulties which may arise through the changes of channel to which those rivers are subject through the operation of natural forces, the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United States of Mexico have resolved to conclude a convention which shall lay down rules for the determination of such questions, and have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries:

The President of the United States of America, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Secretary of State of the United States; and

The President of the United States of Mexico, Matías Romero, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United Mexican States;

Who, after exhibiting their respective Full Powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles:

ARTICLE I.

The dividing line shall forever be that described in the aforesaid Treaty and follow the center of the normal channel of the rivers named, notwithstanding any alterations in the banks or in the course of those rivers, provided that such alterations be effected by natural causes through the slow and gradual erosion and deposit of alluvium and not by the abandonment of an existing river bed and the opening of a new one.

ARTICLE II.

Any other change, wrought by the force of the current, whether by the cutting of a new bed, or when there is more than one channel by the deepening of another channel than that which marked the boundary at the time of the survey made under the aforesaid Treaty, shall produce no change in the dividing line as fixed by the surveys of the International Boundary Commissions in 1852, but the line then fixed shall continue to follow the middle of the original channel bed, even though this should become wholly dry or be obstructed by deposits.

ARTICLE III.

No artificial change in the navigable course of the river, by building jetties, piers, or obstructions which may tend to deflect the current or produce deposits of alluvium, or by dredging to deepen another than the original channel under the Treaty when there is more than one channel, or by cutting waterways to shorten the navigable distance, shall be permitted to affect or alter the dividing line as determined by the aforesaid Commissions in 1852 or as determined by Article I hereof and under the reservation therein contained; but the protection of the banks on either side from erosion by revetments of stone or other material not unduly projecting into the current of the river shall not be deemed an artificial change.

ARTICLE IV.

If any international bridge have been or shall be built across either of the rivers named, the point on such bridge exactly over the middle of the main channel as herein determined shall be marked by a suitable monument, which shall denote the dividing line for all the purposes of such bridge, notwithstanding any change in the channel which may thereafter supervene. But any rights other than in the bridge itself and in the ground on which it is built shall in event of any such subsequent change be determined in accordance with the general provisions of this convention.