On the courteous invitation of the President of Mexico, the Secretary of State visited that country in September and October and was received everywhere with the greatest kindness and hospitality.

He carried from the Government of the United States to our southern neighbor a message of respect and good will and of desire for better acquaintance and increasing friendship.  The response from the Government and the people of Mexico was hearty and sincere.  No pains were spared to manifest the most friendly attitude and feeling toward the United States.

In view of the close neighborhood of the two countries the relations which exist between Mexico and the United States are just cause for gratification.  We have a common boundary of over 1,500 miles from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific.  Much of it is marked only by the shifting waters of the Rio Grande.  Many thousands of Mexicans are residing upon our side of the line and it is estimated that over 40,000 Americans are resident in Mexican territory and that American investments in Mexico amount to over seven hundred million dollars.  The extraordinary industrial and commercial prosperity of Mexico has been greatly promoted by American enterprise, and Americans are sharing largely in its results.  The foreign trade of the Republic already exceeds $240,000,000 per annum, and of this two-thirds both of exports and imports are exchanged with the United States.  Under these circumstances numerous questions necessarily arise between the two countries.  These questions are always approached and disposed of in a spirit of mutual courtesy and fair dealing.  Americans carrying on business in Mexico testify uniformly to the kindness and consideration with which they are treated and their sense of the security of their property and enterprises under the wise administration of the great statesman who has so long held the office of Chief Magistrate of that Republic.

The two Governments have been uniting their efforts for a considerable time past to aid Central America in attaining the degree of peace and order which have made possible the prosperity of the northern ports of the Continent.  After the peace between Guatemala, Honduras, and Salvador, celebrated under the circumstances described in my last Message, a new war broke out between the Republics of Nicaragua, Honduras, and Salvador.  The effort to compose this new difficulty has resulted in the acceptance of the joint suggestion of the Presidents of Mexico and of the United States for a general peace conference between all the countries of Central America.  On the 17th day of September last a protocol was signed between the representatives of the five Central American countries accredited to this Government agreeing upon a conference to be held in the City of Washington “in order to devise the means of preserving the good relations among said Republics and bringing about permanent peace in those countries.”  The protocol includes the expression of a wish that the Presidents of the United States and Mexico should appoint “representatives to lend their good and impartial offices in a purely friendly way toward the realization of the objects of the conference.”  The conference is now in session and will have our best wishes and, where it is practicable, our friendly assistance.