I beg you will excuse the following recital in view of what may happen hereafter. I have been a resident of this city since 1890. My home was built by myself here. It has been constantly occupied by my family. My two younger sons were born in it. Their evidence of their nativity is recorded in this country. I am a naturalized American citizen. I have property of some value at Mazatenango, Guatemala, in charge of my agents, whose instructions require them to fulfill faithfully and who do actually perform all the duties imposed by the laws with regard to such property. The President, Mr. Cabrera, since his ascension to office has constantly sought to injure me. In 1898 my brother, then a member of the national assembly, was my representative in that country. This unfortunate brother was murdered, shot in the back, at the very doors of the political prefecture of Mazatenango. I instructed my new agent that he should constitute himself the accuser of the murderer and his accomplices. When judicial sentence had been pronounced against the chief of these, Cabrera ordered the gates of the prison to be opened for his benefit in violation of the law which forbids the President to use the pardoning power when there is an accuser. I was compelled to be silent, because I knew what the will of the President is to all the citizens of Guatemala, as it was to my brother, the only law. In November, 1902, the political chief of Mazatenango made up his mind to take 80 fat steers from my haciendas. He did not carry out his intention, because my agent at that time, Don Juan Maria de Leon, informed him that the property belonged to an American. Lastly, as you know, the same authority undertook to make my present representative, my son Albert, pay $60,000 as war expenses, for which I am not bound as a naturalized American citizen. We shall see what further attacks follow, but I trust that you, sir, will be able to protect my property, not only because of my American naturalization, but also because of the citizenship of my minor children, who were born here and of right are children of this country. Accept, sir, my lasting gratitude for the important service which in such good season you were able to render to my house, and if in anyway I can be of service to you in this city, command, etc., J. ZENON POSADAS. Mr. Loomis to Mr. Combs. No. 52.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I inclose herewith for your information a copy of a letter from Mr. J. Zenón Posadas, of San Francisco, Cal., expressing his gratitude for your prompt and efficient services rendered to his son, in securing his release from arrest by the officers of the Guatemalan Government. I am, etc., SIR: I desire to record with the Department over which you have the honor to preside my recognition of and gratitude for the prompt and efficient services rendered to my son, Alberto Posadas, in the month of March last, by the Hon. Leslie Combs, minister plenipotentiary to the Republic of Guatemala, in securing his release from arrest by the officers of that Government, because of his refusal to yield to their demands for money. My son is a citizen of the United States and joins with me in expressing his appreciation of the action of his country's representative. I have, etc., J. ZENÓN POSADAS. ADDRESS BY UNITED STATES MINISTER AT BANQUET GIVEN BY PRESIDENT OF GUATEMALA. Mr. Combs to Mr. Hay. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, GUATEMALA AND HONDURAS, SIR: On the evening of the 14th instant the President of Guatemala gave a dinner of about sixty covers in honor of the diplomatic corps. In the absence of the Spanish minister it became my duty to respond to the remarks of the President. I have the honor to attach hereto a copy of the few words spoken on the occasion. The President afterwards expressed gratification at their tone. [Inclosure.] LESLIE COMBS. Mr. Combs's remarks to the President. MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN: Upon such an auspicious occasion as this, when, as representatives of our countries, we gather to enjoy the hospitality of your excellency, I am going to take the liberty of disclosing a little family history. When the trying times recently experienced by all of us were safely over, I confess I congratulated myself that the interest, in person and property, of American citizens had not suffered. I rather thought in this, my first experience in my first mission, we had come out uncommonly well-no great damage to any one and every request for consideration in individual cases promptly granted; but when I was called by my amiable colleague, unfortunately absent to-night, to discuss the situation with the diplomatic corps, I found there was but one opinion-all had been well treated. So the consideration shown Americans was not a display of the cordial friendship which has happily always existed between my country and this, was not due, as I modestly thought was possible, to my peculiarly skillful management, but was simply an expression on the part of your excellency of a wise and conservative policy of absolutely fair treatment and protection to all foreign interests. In conclusion, I desire to express the warmest personal consideration for your excellency on the part of the diplomatic corps. It is surely a matter for congratulation that we should meet in the spirit of good feeling everywhere exhibited to-night. TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA FOR THE MUTUAL EXTRADITION OF FUGITIVES FROM JUSTICE. Signed at Washington, February 27, 1903. Ratification advised by the Senate, March 11, 1903. Ratified by the President, July 8, 1903. Ratified by Guatemala, June 12, 1903. Ratifications exchanged at Washington, July 16, 1903. Proclaimed, July 17, 1903. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas a Convention between the United States of America and Guatemala providing for the mutual extradition of fugitives from justice was concluded and signed by their respective Plenipotentiaries at Washington, on the twenty-seventh day of February, one thousand nine hundred and three, the original of which Convention, being in the English and Spanish languages, is word for word as follows: The United States of America and the Republic of Guatemala, being desirous to confirm their friendly relations and to promote the cause of justice, have resolved to conclude a treaty for the extradition of fugitives from justice between the United States of America and the Republic of Guatemala, and have appointed for that purpose the following Plenipotentiaries: The President of the United States of America, John Hay, Secretary of State of the United States, and The President of Guatemala, Señor Don Antonio Lazo Arriaga, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Guatemala to the United States: WHO, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following articles: ARTICLE I. The Government of the United States and the Government of Guatemala mutually agree to deliver up persons who, having been charged, as principals or accessories, with or convicted of any of the crimes and offenses specified in the following article committed within the jurisdiction of one of the contracting parties, shall seek an asylum or be found within the territories of the other: Provided, that this shall only be done upon such evidence of criminality as, according to the laws of the place where the fugitive or persons so charged shall be found, would justify his or her apprehension and commitment for trial if the crime had been there committed. ARTICLE II. Persons shall be delivered up, according to the provisions of this convention, who shall have been charged with, or convicted of, any of the following crimes or offences: 1. Murder, comprehending the crimes known as parricide, assassination, poisoning, and infanticide; assault with intent to commit murder; manslaughter, when voluntary. 2. Mayhem and any other wilful mutilation causing disability or death. 3. The malicious and unlawful destruction or attempted destruction of railways, trains, bridges, vehicles, vessels, and other means of travel, or of public edifices and private dwellings, when the act committed shall endanger human life. 4. Rape. 5. Bigamy. 6. Arson. 7. Crimes committed at sea: (a) Piracy, by statute or by the law of nations. (b) Wrongfully sinking or destroying a vessel at sea, or attempting to do so. (c) Revolt, or conspiracy to revolt, by two or more persons on board a ship on the high seas against the authority of the master. (d) Assaults on board a ship on the high seas with intent to do grievous bodily harm. 8. Burglary, defined to be the act of breaking and entering into the house of another in the nighttime, with intent to commit a felony therein. 9. The act of breaking into and entering public offices, or the offices of banks, banking houses, savings banks, trust companies, or insurance companies, with intent to commit theft therein, and also the thefts resulting from such acts. 10. Robbery, defined to be the felonious and forcible taking from the person of another of goods or money, by violence or by putting the person in fear. 11. Forgery, or the utterance of forged papers. 12. The forgery, or falsification of the official acts of the Government or public authority, including courts of justice, or the utterance or fraudulent use of any of the same. 13. The fabrication of counterfeit money, whether coin or paper, counterfeit titles or coupons of public debt, bank notes, or other instruments of public credit; of counterfeit seals, stamps, dies, and marks of State or public administration, and the utterance, circulation, or fraudulent use of any of the above mentioned objects. 14. The introduction of instruments for the fabrication of counterfeit coin or bank notes or other paper current as money. 15. Embezzlement or criminal malversation of public funds committed within the jurisdiction of either party by public officers or depositaries, where the amount of money embezzled is not less than two hundred dollars. 16. Embezzlement of funds of a bank of deposit or savings bank, or trust company chartered under Federal or State laws, where the amount of money embezzled is not less than two hundred dollars. 17. Embezzlement by any person or persons hired or salaried to the detriment of their employers, when the crime is subject to punishment by the laws of the place where it was committed, and where the amount of money or the value of the property embezzled is not less than two hundred dollars. 18. Kidnapping of minors or adults, defined to be the abduction or detention of a person or persons in order to exact money from them or their families, or for any unlawful end. 19. Obtaining by threats of injury, or by false devices, money, valuables or other personal property, and the receiving of the same with the knowledge that they have been so obtained, when such crimes or offenses are punishable by imprisonment or other corporal punishment by the laws of both countries, and the amount of money or the value of the property so obtained is not less than $200.00. 20. Larceny, defined to the theft of effects, personal property, horses, cattle, or live stock, or money, of the value of twenty-five dollars or more, or receiving stolen property, of that value, knowing it to be stolen. 21. Fraud or breach of trust by a bailee, banker, agent, factor, trustee, or other person acting in a fiduciary capacity, or director or member or officer of any company, when such act is made criminal by the laws of both countries and the amount of money or the value of the property misappropriated is not less than two hundred dollars. 22. Perjury; violation of an affirmation or a promise to state the truth, when required by law; subornation to commit said crimes. 23. Extradition shall also be granted for the attempt to commit any of the crimes and offenses above enumerated, when such attempt is punishable as a felony by the laws of both contracting parties. ARTICLE III. A person surrendered under this convention shall not be tried or punished in the country to which his extradition has been granted, nor given up to a third power for a crime or offense, not provided for by the present convention and committed previously to his extradition, until he shall have been allowed one month to leave the country after having been discharged; and, if he shall have been tried and condemned to punishment, he shall be allowed one month after having suffered his penalty or having been pardoned. He shall moreover not be tried or punished for any crime or offense provided for by this convention committed previous to his extradition, other than that which gave rise to the extradition, without the consent of the Government which surrendered him, which may, if it think proper, require the production of one of the documents mentioned in Article XI of this convention. The consent of that Government shall likewise be required for the extradition of the accused to a third country; nevertheless, such consent shall not be necessary when the accused shall have asked of his own accord to be tried or to undergo his punishment, or when he shall not have left within the space of time above specified the territory of the country to which he has been surrendered. ARTICLE IV. The provisions of this convention shall not be applicable to persons guilty of any political crime or offense or of one connected with such a crime or offense. A person who has been surrendered on account of one of the common crimes or offenses mentioned in Article II shall consequently in no case be prosecuted and punished in the State to which his extradition has been granted on account of a political crime or offense committed by him previously to his extradition, or on account of an act connected with such a political crime or offense, unless he has been at liberty to leave the country for one month after having been tried and, in case of condemnation, for one month after having suffered his punishment or having been pardoned. An attempt against the life of the head of a foreign government or against that of any member of his family, when such attempt comprises the act either of murder or assassination, or of poisoning, shall not be considered a political offense or an act connected with such an offense. ARTICLE V. Neither of the contracting parties shall be bound to deliver up its own citizens under the stipulations of this convention, but the executive authority of each shall have the power to deliver them up, if, in its discretion, it be deemed proper to do so. ARTICLE VI. If the person whose surrender may be claimed, pursuant to the stipulations of the present convention, shall have been accused or arrested |