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sion has been made. In December, 1880, a commission, composed of the alcalde of Tacaná and four other persons, proceeded to register the inhabitants of some rancherias, which, although a league distant from the Mexican village of Cuilco Viejo, form an integral part thereof. They went—not, as alleged, to take a census in disputed territory—but to exercise acts of jurisdiction in the place, in order afterward to adduce them as a proof of possession by Guatemala. It is to be noted that the inhabitants of Tacaná, whose alcalde is the present subject of discussion, were the same who at a former time advanced the boundary-post of Pinabete, and that the rancherias in question would have been on Guatemalan territory if the said landmark had remained where it was then placed, on which spot the cross was afterward raised by the Guatemalan engineers. The said commissioners, who thus violated the convention binding them to respect the actual possession, were therefore justly arrested, and turned over to the District Judge, in order that he might act in accordance with the laws of Mexico.
The Minister of Guatemala complained of this act, alleging that those rancherias belonged and had always belonged to his country. In the reply made to him, under date of the 27th of January last, the inaccuracy of his assertions was proved by showing that those rancherias were within the provisional limits of Mexico, and that they belong to this republic, even according to the official map of Guatemala. In refuting the charges made by Señor Herrera in his note, against the Mexican authorities, it was shown by recent facts that the abuses have been on the part of the Guatemalan authorities.
As Señor Herrera based the title of his country to
