1848, at a conference between their excellencies Nathan Clifford and Ambrose H. Sevier, commissioners of the United States of America, with full powers from their government to make to the Mexican republic suitable explanations in regard to the amendments which the Senate and government of the said United States have made in the treaty of peace, friendship, limits, and definitive settlement between the two republics, signed in the city of Gaudalupe Hidalgo, on the 2d day of February of the present year, and his excellency Don Luis de la Rosa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the republic of Mexico, it was agreed, after adequate conversation. respecting the changes alluded to, to record in the present protocol the following explanations, which their aforesaid excellencies the commissioners gave in the name of their government, and in fulfilment of the commission conferred upon them near the Mexican republic: "1st. The American government, by suppressing the ninth article of the treaty of Gaudalupe, and substituting the third article of the treaty of Louisiana, did not intend to diminish in any way what was agreed upon by the aforesaid article ninth in favor of the inhabitants of the territories ceded by Mexico. Its understanding is, that all of that agreement is contained in the third article of the treaty of Louisiana. In consequence, all the privileges and guarantees, civil, political, and religious, which would have been possessed by the inhabitants of the ceded territories, if the ninth article of the treaty had been retained, will be enjoyed by them, without any difference, under the article which has been substituted. "2d. The American government, by suppressing the tenth article of the treaty of Gaudalupe, did not, in any way, intend to annul the grants of lands made by Mexico in the ceded territories. These grants, notwithstanding the suppression of this article of the treaty, preserve the legal value which they may possess, and the grantees may cause their legitimate titles to be acknowledged before the American tribunals. "Conformably to the law of the United States, legitimate titles to every description 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 13th of May, 1846, and in Texas up to the 2d of March, 1836. "3d. The government of the United States, by suppressing the concluding paragraph of article twelfth of the treaty, did not intend to deprive the Mexican republic of the free and unrestrained faculty of ceding, conveying, or transferring, at any time (as it may judge best) the sum of twelve millions of dollars, which the same government of the United States is to deliver in the places designated by the amended article. "And these explanations having been accepted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Mexican republic, he declared in the name of his government, that with the understanding conveyed by them, the same government would proceed to ratify the treaty of Gaudalupe, as modified by the Senate and government of the United States. In testimony of which, their excellencies, the aforesaid commissioners, and the Minister, have signed and sealed, in quintuplicate, the present protocol. And be it further resolved, That if such paper is in the Department of State, the President be requested to inform this House whether said commissioners or plenipotentiaries were empowered to make said explanations and give said guarantees, and by what authorities they were so empowered; and whether the said protocol has been submitted to the consideration of the Senate of the United States, and been sanctioned by a constitutional majority of that body. And be it further resolved, That the President be requested to inform this House whether he was aware of the existence of such protocol at the time of his proclamation of the final exchange of ratifications of said treaty on the 4th day of July, 1848. And the question being put, Shall the rules be suspended for the purpose aforesaid? It was decided in the affirmative-two-thirds voting in favor thereof, Yeas...... 182 3 The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the members present, Those who voted in the affirmative are, Mr. Amos Abbott Green Adams Jasper E. Brady William G. Brown Aylett Buckner Armistead Burt Chester Butler Richard S. Canby Williamson R. W. Cobb Jacob Collamer Mr. Harmon S. Conger Robert B. Cranston Winfield S. Featherston David Fisher John Freedley Andrew S. Fulton Meredith P. Gentry Mr. Dudley S. Gregory Emile La Sère William T. Lawrence . Sidney Lawrence Mr. Shepherd Leffler Joseph Mullin David Outlaw John G. Palfrey Charles H. Peaslee Mr. John S. Pendleton George Petrie R. Barnwell Rhett Those who voted in the negative are, Mr. Rudolphus Dickinson Mr. Samuel W. Inge Mr. Andrew Stewart Bannon G. Thibodeaux Thomas J. Turner Mr. Frederick W. Lord. Thereupon, Mr. Stephens offered the said foregoing resolutions. After debate, Mr. George S. Houston moved to amend the resolutions by adding ther to the following: Resolved, further, That the President be requested also to communicate to this House, if not incompatible with the public interest, a copy of the instructions of this government to commissioners A. H. Sevier and N. Clifford, together with such other correspondence as appertains to said treaty; and that the information called for in the foregoing resolutions be not communicated, if, in his judgment, it be incompatible with the public interest. After further debate, Mr. Burt moved the previous question, which was seconded, and the main question ordered, viz: will the House agree to the said amendment? And being put, S Yeas..... It was decided in the negative, Nays.. 84 97 The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the members present, Those who voted in the affirmative are, Mr. Amos Abbott Greens Adam James Dixon Richard French Andrew S. Fulton Mr. John P. Gaines John Gayle Mr. James Pollock William B. Preston Augustine H. Shepperd Bannon G. Thibodeaux John Van Dyke James Wilson Mr. Wentworth moved that the vote be reconsidered, by which the said amendment was disagreed to. Mr. Stephens then, at the suggestion of Mr. Wentworth, modified his resolutions, by adding thereto the following: And that the President be requested also to communicate to this House, a copy of the instructions of this government to Commissioners A. H. Sevier and N. Clifford, together with such other cor respondence as appertains to said treaty. Mr. Wentworth then moved that the motion to reconsider the vote by which the House disagreed to the amendment offered by Mr. George S. Houston to Mr. Stephens's resolutions be laid upon the table; which motion was agreed to. The question recurred on agreeing to the said resolutions as modified; And being put, Yeas .... It was decided in the affirmative, Nays The yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the members present, Mr. Amos Abbott Chester Butler Nathan Evans Mr. David Fisher . Joshua R. Giddings Artemas Hale Charles S. Morehead Mr. Henry Nicoll Bannon G. Thibodeaux John Van Dyke Abraham W. Venable Joseph A. Woodward. Mr. Rudolphus Dickinson Orlando B. Ficklin David Hammons |