is his assertion that there is a Constitutional provision in Mexico guaranteeing a jury in criminal trials, but that in practice it is unknown. Our Constitution has no such provision, and it is only in the Federal District, by an Act of Congress, that we have established the jury system, which is now in force, notwithstanding Mr. Smith's statements. It is a fact that Article VII. of our Constitution provided that all offences committed through the press should be tried by a jury, who should decide as to the facts, and, if the accused was convicted, another jury should apply the law and fix the penalty; but the practical result of this system was that no offence of that kind could ever be punished, because the jury always acquitted the accused, and our Constitution was amended on May 15, 1883, abrogating the jury system and submitting the offenders to the common courts, so that now offences committed through the press are tried and punished like crimes of any other character. It is not likely that Mr. Smith could have referred to this occurrence, but even in case he had, his information was incorrect. THE MEXICAN FREE ZONE. There is in the northern part of Mexico, along its border line with the United States, a belt of territory exempted from certain duties, and which is called "The Free Zone." Mexico is a country of high import duties, which, added to the protection by her money having depreciated over fifty per cent., surrounds her people with an almost impassable tariff wall. Against this background the operations of the Free Zone are thrown into strong relief, and as the people of the United States are more concerned with this border commerce than any other people dealing with Mexico, the history of the Zone, its influence upon trade, and the question of its permanency become here questions of interest. Unfortunately, the idea has prevailed in the United States that the Mexican Free Zone was established with a hostile spirit towards the United States, and for the main purpose of favoring smuggling against the interests of the Treasury and the bona fide merchants of this country. As I was perfectly sure that such views were unsound and were based on grave misapprehensions, I thought it would be well-with a view to prevent misunderstandings, which are in the way of closer friendly and commercial relations between the two countries-to give a brief outline of the establishment of the Mexican Free Zone, and its practical results, and with that purpose I wrote an official letter to the Secretary of State of the United States, on February 10, 1888, supplementing it by another on the 14th of the same month, both of which were published with the President's Message of March 16, 1888, in answer to a resolution of the Senate of February 16th of the same year, asking for information on that subject. I insert at the end of this paper the President's Message and both of my letters. In writing the letters referred to I was prompted by a desire to promote a good understanding and harmonious relations between the two countries, and I believed that it would not be presumptuous on my part to offer some important statements on that subject. When, some time afterward, some public men, among others Mr. Crain, a Member of Congress from Texas, asked me for some information about the Free Zone, I referred him to my official letters to the State Department, published by the Senate; and my statements seemed to him so satisfactory that when he spoke in the House on February 27, 1895, against the Cockrell resolution, on the subject of the Free Zone, most of his arguments were taken from my statements made to the State Department. As public documents do not always attain a wide circulation among the people of this country, and as I desired that my statements in regard to the Free Zone should have in the United States as wide a circulation as possible, I thought it would be expedient to embody the views contained in my two official letters to the State Department, in an article for one of the leading magazines of this country, and I therefore prepared a paper, which was published in the North American Review, of April, 1892. I give below that paper, which has been carefully revised and considerably enlarged, with a view to embrace a complete statement of this question and its bearings both towards Mexico and to the United States. My opinions about the Free Zone are at least impartial, as the official records of Mexico show that far from being a friend of that institution, I have ever been its most earnest opponent, having been the leader of the opposition to the same both in the Mexican Congress and in the Mexican Cabinet, as I was the only Secretary of the Treasury who had so far officially advised its abolishment. I will not, therefore, belittle its advantages nor understate its disadvantages as I understand them, my object being to make a full and candid statement of the question in all its bearings for the aforesaid purpose. The following is the revised paper referred to: |