106 © | FOREIGN RELATIONS
No. 70.
Mr. Ww whamson to Mr. Fish.

No. 36.) = UNITED STATES LEGATION IN CENTRAL AMERICA, |
| Guatemala, October 6,1873. (Received November 4.,)

Str: I have the honor to inclose herewith a@ certified copy of the |

proces-verbal of the act of marriage solemnized by me at this legation,

on the evening of the 4th instant, between the parties and in the pres-

ence of the witnesses therein named.

In my dispatch No. 34 I have entered so fully into this subject, and
the proces-verbal so fully discloses the reasons upon which I acted,
together with the names of the distinguished witnesses present, that it

Seems to be unnecessary to say more at present. Whether the marriage |

is valid or not, I can declare that I have not allowed myself to be made

the instrument of caprice, unless I have been grossly deceived by the
legal opinion of a distinguished lawyer of this republic. The ceremony,
which took place at the legation, was attended by the President, his
premier or chief minister, Mr. Samayoa, and minister of foreign affairs,
as well as by the British minister and French and Italian chargés
@affaires and other persons named in the certificate or proces-verbal. I
have returned a copy to this government, handed an original to the
bride, handed a copy to the bridegroom to be sent to his government,
send you one herewith, and have filed one in the legation.

This important event of a civil marriage in Guatemala at this lega-
tion will, I trust, prove a happy one to the bridal pair as well as the
beginning of more liberal legislation upon the subject of marriage than
- has heretofore been existing in this country. |

I have, SC, : 7 |
GEO. WILLIAMSON.

[Inclosure. ]

UNITED STATES LnGarton IN CENTRAL AMERICA, a
Guatemala, October A, 1873.

To all to whom these presents may come, greeting : |
Be it known that, by virtue of # license granted. by his native country, Sw itzerland,

to Guido Gruebler, esq., to have the act of marriage between himself and Miss Elvira -

del Carmen Sauvat celebrated before’a consul of the United States, or by a minister
resident or plenipotentiary of the United States of America in Guatemala, and by rea-

son of the fact that the citizens of Switzerland in Guatemala are under the protection ©

of the American legation, and also by reason of the fact that decree No. 105 of the gov-
ernment of Guatemala is construed by the highest officials of the republic to authorize
said marriage to be performed by me, and, further, by reason of the fact that the parties
referred to in said act of marriage,. after having been fally informed by me of all objec-
tion that might be made to the validity of this said act, still insist that it should be so
celebrated, and furnish me with the opinion of an: ‘eminent lawyer of Guatemala, Don
Manuel Ramirez, ex-minister of foreign affairs, that said act of marriage would be

4

legal, I proceeded, in the presence of Sefor Don J. Rufino Barrios, President of the re-—

public of Guatemala, and in the presence of Don José Maria Samayoa, minister of war

and of the department of improvement, and Sefior Lic’do-Don Marco A. Soto, minister of -

foreign affairs, and of Mr. Edwin Corbett, minister resident of Her Britannic Majesty,
and of Mr. J. Tallien de Cabarrus, chargé @affaires of. France, and of the Duke de

Licignano, chargé d’affaires of Italy, and of Mr. Frederick C. Augener, consul of the —

German Empire, and. of Henry Houben, esq., consul of the United States of America,
and of Mr. John Morrell, a citizen of the United States, and other persons then present,

those specially named herein subscribing their names hereto with me and the said ©

Guido Gruebler, esq., and said Miss Elvira del Carmen Sauvat, to celebrate the act of
marriage between said Guido Gruebler, aged 31 years, born the 20th of November, 1842,
in St. Gallien Canton, in Switzerland, and said Miss Elvira’ del Carmen Sauvat, aged