Page:Difficulties Between Mexico and Guatemala.djvu/30

 Guatemalan engineers were withdrawn by their government without the formality of advising that of Mexico. The President of Guatemala personally informed our minister that he was willing to renew the Convention, and that instructions to that end had been sent to Señor Herrera, Minister of Guatemala in Mexico. Señor Herrera, however, considered himself for several months without sufficient instructions to negotiate, alleging that those received were not sufficiently explicit. It was only recently (July 11) that Señor Herrera, having come to speak with the undersigned about the friendly step taken by the Government of the United States, and the observation having been made to him that the Government of Guatemala had not yet sent him the instructions offered, made known that he had received them in the desired form.

This conduct of his government, not at all sincere, and seemingly incomprehensible, is now explained by the step which the President of Guatemala, through his representative, has taken toward the Government of the United States. President Barrios wished, as may be inferred from the facts, to gain time while he applied to a friendly government complaining of injuries supposed to have been committed by the Government of Mexico, whose conduct he depicted with false colors while soliciting the interposition of good offices. In this application, he apparently omitted, however, to state that, at the request of Mexico, the renewal of the Convention for the survey of the frontier was under advisement, a survey absolutely necessary, as declared by both governments, in order to fix the international limits, whether by diplomatic negotiations or other pacific means.