No. 532.
Mr. Schuyler to Mr. Fish.

No. 10.]

Sir: I have the honor to inclose to you two copies of an extract from the leading article of the Journal de St. Petersbourg, of to-day, with reference to a proposed or rumored cession of the northern provinces of Mexico to the United States.

I am, &c,

EUGENE SCHUYLER.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
[Extract from the Journal de St. Petersbourg, August 12, 1874.]

According to a number of foreign journals there is a plan on foot for the annexation of several provinces of Mexico to the United States. Overtures are said to have been made by the Mexican government to that of Washington for the cession of all the territory situated north of a line drawn directly from the mouth of the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean, and the proposition is to be submitted, with great probability of its being adopted, to Congress during its next session. A number of the heaviest capitalists and of the boldest speculators in California are said to have already commenced a search for mines in the territories which are to be ceded. Several mines in Lower California have already changed hands, and engineers have been sent to Sonora and Chihuahua.

This project has already been discussed by the San Francisco journals. “It is evident,” says the Commercial Herald, “that this news has produced deep sensation here, and that it is generally credited. By this cession the United States would acquire possession of Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Sonora, Lower California, and of a part of the States of Sinaloa and Durango.

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“It is probable that the postponement of the final decision of the Mexican-American commission was based npon this cession, and it is not impossible that the Mexican government has been influenced by the attitude of the Government of the United States in relation to Mexican incursions into our territory. Mexico wants money, the States in question are far from the capital, and are connected therewith neither by railway nor by any other convenient means of communication; these States, therefore, cannot be controlled by the federal authorities, and are almost constantly in open revolt. It is in these reasons that the cause of the present determination of the Mexican government must be sought.”

“It remains to be seen” says the Nord, in referring to this subject, “with what degree of favor these offers will be received at Washington, where several of the considerations which have induced the Mexican government to propose this cession—the distance, the lack of communication, &c.—may be brought up as grounds for their rejection. It is true that the immense resources of the United States would enable them to overcome these difficulties more easily than Mexico could.”