[Treaty -- United Kingdom-Mexico]

[Tratado de amistad, comercio y navegacion, con dos articulos adicionales entre los Estados Unidos Mexicanos y Su Magestad el Rey del Reino Unido de la Gran Bretaña é Irlanda]

MEXICO’S FIRST TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN 

 

Mexico (City): 29 October 1827.

Pot folio (12” x 8 9/16”, 305mm x 219mm): 1² 2-3² [$1 signed]. 6 leaves, pp. 1 2-12.

Disbound (sometime stab-bound, perhaps in a Sammelband). Presented in a modern red morocco portfolio, the title gilt to the front cover.

Sewing perished. Peripheral tanning, with chips and splits. An ink-stain to quire 1, with a small hole. “N. 2.” in ink manuscript to the first page.


In the years after Mexico’s independence from Spain (1821), her colleagues on the world stage sat up and took notice of the nation’s strength and importance. The United States naturally was keen to develop warm relations with her neighbor, which at the time spanned from the Caribbean to the Pacific and in 1826 had a nearly identical territorial extent (both about 1.7M square miles). Mexico refused to sign a treate of friendship until the disputed borders between the nations were resolved, allowing the United Kingdom the opportunity to establish the first European-Mexican treaty (excluding, of course, Spain). Pushed out of continental America, Britain held firmly to her colonies in the Caribbean, making the former “Spanish Main” a powerful ally.

From 1824 the United Kingdom made its desire to establish a commercial treaty with Mexico. The present treaty, the culmination of that campaign (concluded 26 December 1826), was a major achievement for the British Foreign Minister, George Canning, an advocate of free trade; Canning and his contemporaries advocated for “commercial conquest” rather than military force, which was used in India and elsewhere. The document is also an important expression of Britain’s liberal values; Article XV reads in full (the treaty is in parallel Spanish and English): “The Government of Mexico engages to co-operate with His Britannick Majesty for the total abolition of the Slave-trade, and to prohibit all persons inhabiting within the Territories of Mexico, in the most effectual manner, from taking any share in such trade.” (In fact, the slave-trade in Mexico was abolished in 1817.)

The treaty is exceptionally rare; OCLC traces only three examples in institutions: the Library of Congress (2020770892, lacking the final quire), UC Berkeley (Bancroft; xf F1222.1.M36.no.168) and the BNE (Sala Cervantes; VE/1220/42).

Item #JLR0681

Price: $8,750