Page:Difficulties Between Mexico and Guatemala.djvu/51

, in four notes addressed to the Guatemalan minister, Mr. Uriarte, under dates of July 4 and 8 and August 11, 1875, all relating to the said charges. These communications explicitly declare that such charges are unjust; that they rest upon insufficient and erroneous data, and that they are expressed in terms unsuited to diplomatic correspondence. The Government of Guatemala was therefore formally invited to exhibit proofs of the said charges, which invitation, it is needless to remark, was not accepted.

Mr. Romero then narrates at length the circumstances attending his settlement in Soconusco. Having resigned the Mexican Ministry of Finance on June 10, 1872, just before the death of President Juarez, on account of seriously impaired health, he thought it necessary to devote himself to active agricultural labors. His attention had been previously attracted to the Department of Soconusco, whose agricultural resources and capabilities for improvement he had already been instrumental in promoting, by several fiscal measures and by the publication of a memoir devoted to that subject. During a visit which Mr. Romero made to Soconusco, in September and October, 1872, his favorable impressions were confirmed. He then made the acquaintance of General José Rufino Barrios, now President of Guatemala, making him a visit in Quezaltenango, and establishing with him relations of confidence, and even intimacy. General Barrios was highly pleased at the proposed establishment of Mr. Romero on the frontier of Soconusco, where he possessed, in Mexican territory, a hacienda called Malacate, which he offered for sale. General Barrios accompanied Mr. Romero on his return to Tapachula, the capital of Soconusco, where, at the