Mr. Secretary: I propose to treat in this note of a
matter which is no longer one of recent occurrence, but against which my
government has not yet protested, only for the sake of giving a very clear
proof of the value which it attaches to the maintenance of its friendly
relations with the United States. Nevertheless, now that the excitement
which the act produced in Mexico has entirely passed, and that the
antecedents which seemed to serve as an excuse for it have been carefully
examined, I have received instructions to present it to the consideration of
the Department of State, together with some reflections upon the grave
importance which characterizes it. I refer to the incursion made into
Mexican territory, on the 18th of May last, with United States troops, by
Colonel Mackenzie. It is well known that the reason alleged for this
proceeding, so different from what is usually required by the relations of
two neighboring nations, at peace with each other, was the necessity of
punishing certain savages, the Kickapoo Indians, who lived in Mexican
territory. Without attaching any higher value to this excuse than it can
have according to international law, I have the honor to send, with this
note, a copy of the report made to my government on the origin and merits of
the complaints against the Kickapoos and of the alleged Mexican depredations
in Texas, by the commission which was appointed on the part of Mexico for
the purpose of investigating them with all possible impartiality. In this
report something of the exaggeration and inaccuracy which have marked the
complaints of certain Texans and their friends (which complaints were
evidently designed to bring about a conflict with the Mexican Republic) is
shown. The Kickapoo Indians, who are more or less responsible for the evils
which have been so much exaggerated, have now been removed, from the
frontier and from the territory of Mexico, their removal having been
accomplished with the efficient aid of my government.
It is therefore now proper to protest against the incursion of Colonel
Mackenzie. No one can now accuse the Mexican government of regarding with
indifference the evils to which I refer, or of refusing to apply the remedy
which seems most suitable. The truth is that this remedy was already in
process of adoption, with the concurrence of Mexico, when the raid of the
aforesaid colonel took place, whence it seems still less excusable. But if
it was even then not just to doubt the sincerity of my government, or the
possibility of remedying the situation by legal means, it is much less so
now that time has thrown light upon the events. When the minister of the
United States in Mexico presented
[Page 769]
his first request, my government manifested its readiness to co-operate to
the extent of its ability in the removal of the Kickapoos; and if it did not
give its consent to the entrance of United States troops into Mexican
territory for that purpose, it was because that was not within the limit of
its constitutional powers. In everything else, however, it gave evidence
that it desired to comply with the desires that were expressed to it. It
issued repeated instructions to this effect to the authorities on the Texan
frontier. These were uniformly obeyed; and the course which affairs had
taken shortly before the act of Colonel Mackenzie is a proof that those
instructions were sufficient for the purpose had in view. The act to which I
allude therefore seemed all the more strange.
It were vain to allege that there have been various cases in which armed men
from Mexico have crossed over into the territory of the United States,
especially in pursuit of marauding Indians, because, in addition to the fact
that this is often done in pursuance of an agreement between the local
authorities of one country and those of the other, it has always been done
without the authorization of the general government of the Mexican Republic,
which, if any complaint had been made, or if the matter had been brought to
its notice officially, would have censured such acts, and would have adopted
the necessary measures to prevent a recurrence of them. The acts to which I
refer, and of which I only have vague information, differ therefore entirely
from that of Colonel Mackenzie.
In view of these considerations, and of the good faith and friendly spirit
which actuate the Government of the United States in its relations with
Mexico, my government hopes that an act similar to the one in question will
not be committed hereafter; and that if any measures shall be deemed
necessary in order to remedy evils on the frontier, which it may be
necessary to carry out on Mexican soil, such measures will be adopted and
carried out by both governments jointly, since an incursion of foreign
troops into the territory of Mexico, beside being at variance with the
principles which govern nations in time of peace, may, in my country, bring
the administration into very serious conflicts, and materially disturb the
peace of the republic. This last consideration will probably be sufficient
for a friendly government; for it will not wish to run the risk of causing
such terrible evils to its neighbor, when it relies upon the good will of
the latter to secure the just ends which it seeks to attain.
[Inclosure.]
Report of Frontier Commission appointed to
investigate matters on the Northern Frontier.
[Translation.]
Having been engaged in collecting private information in relation to the
occurrences at El Remolino on the 18th ultimo, when two Indian camps
were attacked by regular troops of the United States under command of
General Mackenzie, and before taking official steps in regard to this
invasion, the commission deems it essential to transmit to you, for the
information of the citizen President, all the information that has been
obtained, it not having been communicated heretofore for the reason that
the commission did not feel certain of its accuracy.
Now that the commission has received information from persons residing on
the very ground where the events took place, and of whose veracity it
has guarantees, it becomes indispensable to communicate said information
to you, that you may be able to form an exact idea of the situation of
those frontier towns, and of the importance of
[Page 770]
the occurrences which have taken place in them. It
will first, however, he necessary to enter into some details with regard
to the history of these Indians.
The Kickapoos came to this country as long ago as 1850, and to those of
the tribe who did not return to the United States the same year, the
government made a grant of land, situated ten leagues from Santa Rosa.
They settled there with their families and engaged in agricultural
pursuits on a small scale, which they soon abandoned for the sake of
deer-hunting. For this purpose most of them left their settlement and
became scattered in small parties throughout the frontier towns,
especially in those of the Rio Grande district, where their conduct has,
in general, been good, although there have been cases of horse-stealing
in the said towns, the stolen animals having been taken to their
settlement above Santa Rosa.
The small value of the property stolen, the restitution which they were
compelled to make by the authorities of Santa Rosa, and the services
rendered by them in the war against the Comanches, Lipans, and
Mescaleros, together with the occasional assistance which they gave as
agricultural laborers, contributed to cause the faults of those who
engaged in thieving to be regarded with leniency, that is, to induce the
authorities not to hold the whole tribe responsible for the acts
committed by some individuals belonging to it, to the injury of citizens
of Mexico.
As in Mexico, these thefts have likewise been committed in Texas by the
Indians in question. They have been, however, quite as insignificant as
those committed on our side of the river. The unanimous testimony of
respectable inhabitants of the frontier leaves no room for doubt as
regards the fact of these incursions, as well as of their trifling
importance.
The Kickapoos having been scattered throughout various towns until April
last, their pursuits have been invariably the same, and, with the
exception of here and there a complaint on account of horse-stealing,
the residence of the Indians in the towns remained unnoticed, and was
only thought of when complaints were heard from some Texan-Americans,
who charged them with the murders which had been committed in that
State, and with some horse and cattle stealing. As the Indians in
question have made no sales of cattle or horses, save in isolated cases,
these charges were disregarded, being attributed to that propensity, so
general among the Americans, to exaggerate everything that affects
them.
During the twenty-two years that the Kickapoos have resided on the
frontier, the Comanches have never been at peace there, and it has been
observed that whenever those savages have made an incursion from Texas,
the Kickapoos have fought them with praiseworthy zeal, to which they are
in a great measure indebted for the consideration which has been shown
them. During the same period the Lipans made war, and did not agree upon
a peace until the year 1855, after having committed horrible outrages.
Perfidious as they always are, the Lipans did not adhere to the terms of
the peace, and excited the hatred of the people of the frontier, who,
galled by the outrages which they had suffered at the hands of these
Indians, and by complaints from the authorities of the United States,
fell upon them in 1856 and nearly exterminated their tribe, of which
only a few miserable remnants were left, who, as it was afterward
learned, sought an asylum among the Mescaleros, their kinsmen.
Since that time the Lipans have made war against Mexico, in conjunction
with the Mescaleros and the Comanches, living almost constantly within
the territory of the United States, from which they have committed their
depredations against the settlements on the Rio Grande, both Mexican and
American.
About the year 1862 their lack of the necessaries of life on the one
hand, and the active hostilities, which, as is known, were carried on
against them in the United States where they resided, forced them once
more to ask peace of the governments of Nuevo Leon and Coahuila. They
then remained for some months at San Fernando, from which town they
suddenly decamped, lest the people should rise against them to avenge a
murder which they had committed at El Remolino. The banks of the river.
Pecos afforded them a shelter, as usual, and thence, during the last ten
years, they have carried desolation and death to the frontier towns of
Mexico and the United States.
Had the commission not made minute and exact investigations with regard
to this tribe, it would have been very difficult to designate the places
in the desert where they have found shelter during this latter period,
and only through the accounts given by captives and the subsequent
revelations of the Indians themselves has it been possible to reach the
truth, which is that Mexico has suffered more than the United States
from the depredations of these savages, which have been unceasing on
both frontiers. The commission has unquestionable ground for believing
that the last bloody inroad into the Mexican frontier towns, which took
place in 1869, was made by these very Indians. It knows that they have
lived in Texas, on the banks of the Rio Pecos, and that, while they
committed outrages in Mexico, they did the same in the United States,
escaping from pursuit in either republic by crossing the Rio Grande,
with which river they are perfectly familiar throughout its entire
length, as they are with the deserts, which can afford them shelter.
This state of war was
[Page 771]
kept tip
by the Lipan tribe until April last, when they came to San Fernando and
concluded a peace with the alcalde of that town, which was subsequently
approved by the citizen governor of Coahuila.
The commission is not yet aware of the causes which induced the Lipans
and Mescaleros to cross the Rio Grande for purposes of peace, and
perhaps it would be justified in supposing that their action boded no
good either to our towns or to those of the American frontier. The evil
disposition of these Indians has become well known by long experience,
and forces the commission to pass this unfavorable judgment upon them.
Another circumstance, that of their having made a friendly union with
the Kickapoos, who were the chief perpetrators of the massacre of their
tribe in 1856, gives rise to grave suspicions concerning the sincerity
of their intentions, either as regards the Kickapoos, on whom it would
not be unreasonable to suppose that they intended to take bloody
vengeance, or as regards the people on both banks of the Rio Grande. The
Mexican inhabitants of this side of the river having been at all times
victims of the rapacity and treachery and ferocity of these savages,
naturally distrusted their intentions when they proposed peace, and this
explains the conditions imposed, viz, that they were to establish
themselves near a town like San Fernando, in order to watch them, and
that they were not to injure citizens of Mexico or those of the United
States. Although the commission was surprised, at the time of the
adjustment of the peace with the said tribe, that the governor of
Coahuila approved it without giving previous notice to the supreme
government, which alone has power to conclude such arrangements; and
although it considered the policy of placing the Indians near the Rio
Grande as being one of questionable wisdom in view of the charges which
were made in Texas against them, and even against Mexico, it still did
not think that these imprudent acts would cause an invasion of the
national territory, although they thought that they might, perhaps, give
rise to some complaints on the part of the American authorities, to
which the Mexican authorities would certainly have given their prompt
attention.
Hardly had the Indians been one month at El Remolino, when they were
attacked by a force of five hundred men who had crossed the Rio Grande
for the purpose, and who then returned without touching a single one of
the Mexican towns, carrying with them the booty which they had taken.
According to the best information in possession of the commission, the
Indian camp had been removed on the day previous to a place near by,
only a few families having remained at the place where the attack was
made, and these were made prisoners by the American troops, who first
killed six Indians whom they found there, not, however, until those six
Indians had killed eight of their number, three blacks and five whites.
Judging from the desperate resistance made by this small number of
Indians, there is reason to believe that if the sixty or seventy Indians
belonging to the camp had been there, the combat would have been a very
bloody one.
The supreme government must now be aware that the Mexican authorities had
no knowledge of what was going on until some hours after the attack, and
that they were justly alarmed, not being aware of the intentions of the
American forces; the fact, moreover, that these forces had entered the
territory of Mexico without having given notice of any kind, seemed to
them important. Their recollections of the fire at Resurreccion in
November last forced them to adopt precautions. Nevertheless,
tranquillity was soon restored, because it was ascertained that the
attacking party had consisted of officers and men of the Regular Army,
and that they had returned to their camp without doing any damage, and
because they considered that the action of this force, good or bad,
would be productive of good to those towns which cared not for the
attack, but only for the violation of international usages and the lack
of respect which they thought had been manifested by those who had thus
entered the national territory without authorization.
After this surprise to the Indians, say the reports in possession of the
commission, they conveyed their families to the mountains in Mexico,
forty or fifty leagues from the river; the warriors, to the number of
eight or nine hundred, have encamped at the head of the San Diego River,
which is twelve leagues from its confluence with the Rio Grande, and
likewise in the Remolino Canon, which is situated at about the same
distance from the Rio Grande; it should be borne in mind that the
first-named point, on the San Diego, is opposite Fort Clark, whence
Mackenzie’s expedition started, and the second, i.
e., the Remolino Cañon, is opposite Fort Duncan.
The indignation of the Indians and their threats to avenge the blood of
their friends and the capture of their forty women and children, who
were carried off by the Americans, are depicted in very glowing colors
by several citizens from that section, who regard the actions of the
Indians, their encampment in their present position, and their other
preparations as so many threats to the Americans, and as being fraught
with danger to the Mexican frontier.
Perhaps the punishment inflicted upon the Indians at Remolino by the
United States troops was not deserved by their recent acts, and perhaps
this will increase their ire and precipitate their vengeance. The
commission bases this opinion on certain data which
[Page 772]
it has collected, in relation to
depredations committed in Texas by the Comanches, although a great
effort has been made in that State to cast the blame thereof on the
Kickapoos or on the Lipans. The commission, not knowing whether the
government of Coahuila has made any report concerning the attitude of
the Indians, deems it its duty to state what that attitude is, since it
undoubtedly requires the adoption of prompt measure inasmuch as many
Indians, it is said, including some Comanches, daily congregate at the
points above mentioned. The accounts published in the Texas newspapers
confirm those of this side, and in view of this situation great anxiety
is felt in the towns on both frontiers which should without doubt be
quieted.
In making your report to the President, you will be pleased, citizen
minister, to inform him that these statements are furnished in advance
of the report to be made by the commission on closing its labors,
because a situation is arising on the frontier, by reason of the large
numbers of Indians collected there, who threaten to disturb the peace of
that section. It has, moreover, seemed proper to give some account of
the antecedents of the Kickapoos and Lipans, as well as of what really
took place on the occasion of the attack on the 18th of May last by
General Mackenzie.
Independence and liberty.
Candela, July 2d, 1873.
- J. GALINDO.
- FRANCISCO YALDEZ GOMEZ,
Secretary.
To the Citizen Minister of Foreign
Relations,
City of Mexico.
