Cayetano Romero to Cayetano Romero , Secretary, June 12, 1884
No. 265. Mr. Romero to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Mr. Secretary: Referring to the notes which I addressed to your Department on the 13th of March and the 24th May last, and on the 2d instant, in reference to the islands of Morteritos and Sabinitos, in the Rio Grande, of which Mexico has been in possession for the reason that she considered them as an integral part of her territory, I have the honor to inform you that I have this day received from the department of foreign relations of Mexico various documents showing the rights of Mexico to the said islands. I inclose a copy of the principal ones of these documents and of a drawing which was sent as an inclosure to the report of Engineer Garfias, of April 19, 1880, together with an index showing their dates and giving a brief outline of their contents.
It appears from the said documents that the aforesaid islands were to remain on the right of the deepest channel of the Rio Grande, when the demarkation of limits was made according to the treaties of February 2, 1848, and December 30, 1853, belonging consequently to Mexico, according to the report of Engineer Ignacio Garfias (inclosure No. 4); that, among various changes that took place in the bed of the river owing to freshets in the year 1865, the island of Morteritos became united to another which was quite near it, but the new island remained on the right of the deepest channel of the river; that Mexicans were the owners of the island contiguous to the right bank and citizens of the United States the owners of the other, but that when both were united all the parties interested made an agreement on the 9th of March, 1874, before the court at Mier, whereby Mexicans remained in possession of the whole island, that the island has been in the possession of Mexico since that time; judicial acts being exercised there, such as the establishment of a section of vigilance, and grain being sown by Mexican citizens; that another change which took place in the deepest channel of the Rio Grande left the island of Morteritos on the left side of the channel, and for this reason, on the 20th of January last, several armed persons from Roma, Tex., headed by W. W. Bohorman, the judge at Roma, in Starr County, Texas, invaded the island of Morteritos, destroyed several inclosures, drove out the Mexican owners, and divided their property among themselves; and that a short time before several residents of Roma had appealed to the judicial authorities of Texas, requesting them to declare that the island belonged to them by accession.
I shall not now stop to speak of the incident relative to private property on the island of Morteritos, which, as appears from the inclosed document, was declared to belong to Doña Guadalupe Garcia, according to the decision of the supreme court of justice of Mexico, dated October 24, 1836, because in this note I am simply endeavoring to demonstrate its nationality, that is to say, that it forms a part of the territory of Mexico.
Without prejudice to the subsequent transmission to you of the report of the engineer who has been sent by the Government of Mexico to the Rio Grande to make a study of this subject on the spot, together with such other data as I may hereafter receive from my Government, I have the honor to inform you that the department of foreign, relations of the United States of Mexico has informed me, by a note bearing date of the 28th of May last, that—
In the inclosed documents there are irrefutable and full data, showing unmistakably the right of eminent domain of Mexico to the island of Morteritos, among them the survey and the sounding made by our consul at Rio Grande City, the agreement made by the inhabitants of the two countries before the court at Mier with regard to the possession of the land on the island, the report of Engineer Garfias, and the fact that a section of vigilance was established on the island without any attempt having hitherto been made by the Government of the United States to exercise jurisdiction on that island or to interfere with that of the Mexican authorities.
In view of these considerations, the Government of Mexico instructs me “to request that of the United States to issue the necessary orders to the end that the free action of the Mexican authorities on that island may not be obstructed.”
Be pleased to accept, &c.,