LETTERS ROGATORY. ART. 121. Letters rogatory to foreign courts shall always be sent through the diplomatic channel, or through such channel and in such form as may be expressly established by treaty. The principle of reciprocity must govern in all cases. These same rules shall be observed in complying in Guatemala with the requests made in letters rogatory of foreign courts whereby it is asked that some judicial act be performed. ART. 122. The legations shall guarantee to the ministry of the interior and of justice the payment of the expenses that may be caused by criminal prosecutions instituted either ex officio, or at the instance of a party declared indigent. The legations shall not transmit letters rogatory of foreign authorities, unless the payment of the expenses that may be caused by compliance with the requests therein contained, in such manner as may be agreed upon with the government of the country, shall be guaranteed. CHAPTER II.-The administration of justice as regards foreigners. ART. 123. Foreigners are subject to the laws and courts of Guatemala in all suits brought by them or against them to enforce the fulfillment of obligations contracted in or out of Guatemala in favor of Guatemalans, or having reference, in general, to property or to the ownership of anything valuable in the territory of Guatemala. ART. 124. The Guatemalan courts shall likewise be competent, and it shall be their duty to take cognizance of such suits between foreigners as may be brought before them, and as may have reference to the fulfillment of obligations contracted or performable in Guatemala, or when it is so provided by treaty. ART. 125. In all other matters in which foreigners are concerned, the courts of Guatemala shall alone be competent to adopt urgent and provisional measures of precaution and safety. ART. 126. The provisions established by the rules of competency in civil matters are applicable to foreigners when they have recource to the judges and courts of Guatemala, soliciting acts of voluntary jurisdiction, taking part therein or appearing in court as plaintiffs or defendants against Guatemalans or against other foreigners, when it is proper for the courts of Guatemala to take cognizance according to the laws of the Republic or its treaties with other powers. ART. 127. Foreigners against whom legal proceedings are instituted, shall, when this is necessary, enjoy the benefit of poverty for purposes of litigation. The same benefit shall be enjoyed by foreigners instituting legal proceedings, if reciprocity is granted to Guatemalans in their country. ART. 128. If the plaintiff is a foreigner, he shall be obliged to furnish, if the defendant shall demand it in limine litis, the security judicatum solvi as a guarantee of his solvency; in default thereof, a delay shall be granted in such cases and in such manner as are required of Guatemalans in the country of the plaintiff. In no case shall such security be required in commercial matters. ART. 129. The provisions which govern commercial matters are applicable to all persons engaged in trade, without distinction or privilege by reason of nationality. ART. 130. The law of the place where a juridical act has been per formed shall determine the methods of proof of which a foreigner must make use before the courts in order to show the existence of such act. From this rule are excepted acts and contracts relating to real property situated in the Republic of Guatemala, which shall be governed by the laws of Guatemala exclusively. FINAL PROVISION. ART. 131. The provisions of this law shall in no wise impair the immunities and guarantees which are secured to diplomatic and consular officers by international law and by the treaties or conventions which the Government has concluded; nor shall they impair the rights granted by such treaties in particular to foreigners of a determinate nation. Done at the national palace of Guatemala, this twenty-first day of the month of February, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-four. JOSE MARIA REINA BARRIOS. MANUEL ESTRADO C., Secretary of State in the Department of the Interior and of Justice. Secretary of State in the Department of Public Works. Secretary of State in the Department of Public Instruction. Secretary of State in the Department of Finance and Public Credit. No. 128.] Secretary of State in the Department of Foreign Relations. GOOD, OFFICES IN BEHALF OF CHINESE.1 Mr. Gresham to Mr. Young. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: Referring to your No. 114, of the 26th ultimo, I have to inclose a copy of a note from the Chinese minister of the 16th instant, concerning the petition addressed to him by Chinese subjects residing in Guatemala. He asks, in consequence of the absence of any treaty relations with that Republic permitting China to appoint consular representatives therein, that you may be allowed to exercise your good offices in behalf of the Chinese subjects living in Guatemala. This is not an unusual request, and the good offices of the diplomatic and consular representatives of the United States have been employed for the protection of Chinese elsewhere as well as other foreigners. The interests of our own people in parts of Turkey, where no United States consular officer resided, have been looked after by British consular officers. In the present instance your efforts are to be confined to the friendly intervention in case of need for the protection of the Chinese in their person and property from unjust and harsh treatment. You are not to hold any representative character or function as respects the Chinese Government, and are to act informally. Before taking any steps in the matter, however, you should represent to the Guatemalan Government the wish of the Chinese minister and the willingness of your Government to accede thereto, as herein indicated, provided the assent of the Guatemalan authorities is entirely favorable. The decision of that Government upon the subject should be reported to the Department. I am, sir, etc., W. Q. GRESHAM. See "Protection of Chinese in Guatemala," ante, p. 175. No. 129.] Mr. Young to Mr. Gresham. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, GUATEMALA AND HONDURAS, Guatemala, October 11, 1894. (Received October 25.) SIR: I have the honor to herewith inclose a note from the minister of foreign relations of Guatemala, and a translation of the same, in reply to my note to him in reference to your No. 128, in relation to the request of the Chinese minister in Washington, that the United States minister at Guatemala be directed to use his good offices in behalf of the Chinese residents in this Republic when they might be required. I am, etc., P. M. B. YOUNG. [Inclosure in No. 129.-Translation.] Mr. Muñoz to Mr. Young. DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA, CENTRAL AMERICA, National Palace, Guatemala, October 3, 1894. I have had the pleasure to receive your excellency's polite note of the 24th ultimo, informing me that the minister of China at Washington has requested the U. S. Government to allow its diplomatic representative in Guatemala to use his good offices in behalfof Chinese residents here, with which request your excellency's Government is disposed to comply, provided that such a step meets the approval of the Government of Guatemala. In reply I have the honor to inform your excellency, having been authorized to do so by the President of the Republic, that my Government will have no objection to giving its approval in this case, provided the Chinese Government addresses to it the request to that end, which seems natural. I reiterate, etc., JORGE MUÑOZ. RECIPROCITY. Mr. Gresham to Mr. Arriaga. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 20, 1894. SIR Referring to our conversation this forenoon, I have the honor to inform you that the so-called reciprocity arrangement between the United States and Guatemala was based on the third section of the statute known as the McKinley law, which was repealed by the going into effect of our existing tariff law, at midnight on the 27th ultimo. This is in accordance with the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury, in which I concur. Accept, sir, etc., W. Q. GRESHAM. Mr. Arriaga to Mr. Gresham. LEGATION OF GUATEMALA, Washington, September 24, 1894. MR. SECRETARY: I have the honor to receive your communication of the 20th instant, concerning the suspension of the reciprocity arrangement between Guatemala and the United States, and I have hastened to transmit it to my Government. I have the honor, etc., A. LAZO ARRIAGA. CASE OF THE STEAMSHIP OTERI. Mr. Gresham to Mr. Young. No. 114.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: In its No. 11 of June 8, 1893, bringing to your attention the memorial of Mrs. Luella A. Oteri, by which she desired this Government to prefer a claim against Honduras for the alleged seizure of her vessel, the Joseph Oteri, Jr., by Honduranian insurgents in the port of Ceiba, the Department instructed you to investigate the circumstances of the seizure and also those attending the subsequent exclusion of the vessel from Honduranian ports and to report the facts to the Department. With the Department's No. 41 of October 25 last was inclosed a letter from Mr. J. Oteri setting forth further acts of exclusion on the part of the authorities of Honduras, which you were instructed to bear in mind in making your investigation. In reply to these instructions nothing has been received from you further than the information contained in your No. 11 of July 13 last, that you would proceed to Honduras as soon as the condition of the roads would admit. Meanwhile the parties interested, thinking a sufficient time has elapsed to hear from you, are pressing the Department for information regarding the result of your investigation. It is assumed that the Department's instructions have been receiving your attention and that your report on the subject will not be long delayed. I am, sir, etc., W. Q. GRESHAM. Mr. Young to Mr. Gresham. No. 107.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of No. 114, calling for a report in the case of steamship Oteri. The investigation has not been made for the reason that it was practically impossible to do it under the circumstances up to this time. There has not been ten days of peace and tranquillity in the Republic of Honduras for fifteen months. On the 3d of June, 1893, when I arrived in Guatemala, I found Honduras under the government of General Vasquez, as provisional President. The country had just emerged from a revolution. In the election held in September Vasquez was elected President, and almost immediately war was declared against Nicaragua. Then followed the Bonilla revolution and an invasion by the Nicaraguan army. Vasquez's government was overthrown and Bonilla proclaimed himself provisional President. He is now provisional President and Dictator. It is supposed that an election for President will be had about the last of August. But there prevails in Honduras at this moment great dissatisfaction and discord among the leaders of the party in power, and trouble may be expected at any moment. I respectfully call your attention to the Department's No. 32, in which my postponement of my visit to Honduras was approved, and also to No. 33 of the Department, in which the last sentence reads as follows: "And deferring your personal visit to Honduras until you shall be instructed to proceed thither." I regret exceedingly that it has been impossible to make a satis factory investigation of this case up to this moment. It will involve a considerable expense to the Government of the United States when made, and therefore it should be done thoroughly, and not until a government that is responsible is in power in this unhappy country. I am ready to make the visit to Honduras at a moment's notice and to proceed with the investigation; but I advise against it until peace is entirely restored and a permanent government shall be established. It is hardly necessary for me to say that not one of the foreign ministers to Central America has visited Honduras at any time during the last fifteen months. With the hope that my course has met with approval in the Department of State, I have, etc., P. M. B. YOUNG. |