No. 359.
Mr. Foster to Mr. Evarts.

No. 999.]

Sir: Upon receipt of your dispatch, No. 647, of the 26th ultimo, transmitting a letter and accompanying documents from the Secretary of War relating to the reported depredations in Mexico of Indians from the United States, I sent to the minister of foreign affairs a copy of the said documents, and accompanied it with a note, on the 18th instant, of which I inclose copy. In this note I expressed to the minister my gratification that the reports of General Ord and Colonel Hatch (May 6 and May 28), commanding in Texas and New Mexico, proved that there was no remissness [Page 817] on the part of the American authorities on the Rio Grande frontier. I also called attention to the fact that while the whole of the American side of the Chihuahua frontier was patrolled by the Regular Army, it would seem that no such duty was performed on the Mexican side of the border named, and that this being the case the Mexican Government could not with reason charge that the United States was neglecting its duty in that regard.

On yesterday I received from the minister a note, in which he acknowledges the receive of my note of the 18th, and states that he will bring its contents to the attention of the President. He adds that in support of his former communications he incloses a copy of a telegram from General Trevino, stating that barbarous Indians are passing to Mexican territory, proceeding from the reservations in the United States. A translation of the note and telegram are inclosed herewith.

I replied on the same day to the minister, saying I would bring the report to your notice, but I directed attention to the fact that General Ord’s report (as well as Colonel Hatch’s) showed that the crossing last reported must be extremely improbable, but if it had occurred it was the work of Mexican Indians; and I requested that General Treviño be directed to accurately ascertain by what Indians the crossing had been made. I further suggested that the Mexican agents ought to be enjoined to be more careful in transmitting to their government current rumors containing charges of neglect or bad faith on the part of the American authorities, especially as former reports regarding the Indians had been shown to be unfounded.

While the telegram does not state where the Indians are crossing from the United States into Mexico, as the report is sent by General Treviño, I infer that it is somewhere in the State of Coahuila, in front of General Ord’s department. It will be remembered that a similar crossing was reported to me by the Mexican Government in March last, but if it was made by American Indians it is singular that no further details have been furnished me, according to my request.

I am, &c.,

JOHN W. FOSTER.
[Inclosure 1 in No. 999.]

Mr. Foster to Mr. Ruclas.

Sir: In your excellency’s note to this legation of March 12 last, you referred in’ general terms to certain depredations of Indians and other raiders in Chihuahua and Sonora. On the next day I suggested in a note that you would furnish me with detailed information on the subject. Your excellency promptly responded under the same date that you would cause certain data to be prepared and sent me; but in the mean time you informed me that on the 11th of the said month a band of sixty Indians, proceeding from the United States, crossed the Rio Grande in the vicinity of Fort Clark, Tex., and were committing depredations in Mexico.

Almost simultaneously with your excellency’s first note there appeared in the Diario Oficial of March 10, official reports from the State of Chihuahua, of depredations of Indians in said State, some of whom it was alleged came from the United States-Having read these reports carefully, from my knowledge of the situation of affairs in. Chihuahua obtained from minute inquiry of residents of said State, I was satisfied; that the Indians referred to belonged to or had their usual haunts in Mexican territory. I inferred, however, that these were the depredations to which your first note, alluded, and being desirous of bringing the whole subject speedily to the attention of my government to enable it to correct any possible remissness of its authorities, I, sent to it, together with copies of our correspondence, full translations of the publication [Page 818] in the Diario Oficial, and recommended a prompt investigation, and vigorous measures, if the reports should prove well founded.

My surmise as to the publication of the Diario Oficial was in part confirmed by your excellency’s note of April 22, which latter was also forwarded to Washington, but to which I have not yet received a reply, awaiting the investigation which it has doubtless occasioned.

But I am now able to give your excellency the results of the investigations occasioned by your note of March 13 and the publication in the Diario of March 10, which will be found in the copy of the communication of the Secretary of War and accompanying papers which I inclose herewith; and I am gratified-to be able to say to your excellency that they prove that there exists no remissness on the part of the American authorities on the Texas and New Mexico frontier in the cases alleged. General Ord’s report, as well as that of Colonel Hatch, shows that if the crossing of Indians into Mexico, near Fort Clark, Tex., ever occurred, as reported, it must have been by Indians belonging to Mexico, returning from a raid in Texas, although it would seem that the crossing reported is extremely doubtful.

This supposition is confirmed by the fact that your excellency did not in your note of April 22 refer to the event, nor have you since alluded to it. It is to be borne in mind, in this connection, that notwithstanding the Mexican Government has interned most of the Kickapoos, who were on friendly terms with its people, the hostile Indians in its territory are, as I am informed, in great part still in their old haunts and liable to continue their depredations both in Texas and Mexico.

Colonel Hatch, commanding in New Mexico and on the northwest frontier of Texas, gives good reasons upon which to base the assertion that the crimes reported to have been committed in Chihuahua were by Indians inhabiting or hiding in Mexican territory, and that the American authorities ought not to be held responsible for their acts. In the unpopulated regions of the Upper Rio Grande there is doubtless considerable insecurity on account of the vagrant Indians, but it is evident from the reports of the officers just referred to that the American authorities cannot be charged with neglect of duty or want of vigilance, much less with furnishing the Indians with facilities for their depredations. It is to be borne in mind that while the entire frontier of the United States bordering on the vast extent of Chihuahua is constantly and systematically patrolled by troops of the Regular Army of the United States for the express purpose of restraining the Indians and punishing outlaws, it would appear both from the publication in the Diario and from a general knowledge of the occupation and position of the Mexican army that no such duty is performed on the Mexican side of the border named. If such is the case, it cannot with reason be charged by the Mexican Government that that of the United States is neglecting its duty with regard to the peace and good order of that frontier.

I have, &c.,

JOHN W. FOSTER.
[Inclosure 2 in No. 999.—Translation.]

Mr. Ruclas to Mr. Foster.

Mr. Minister: I have the honor to say to your excellency that I have received your esteemed note dated yesterday, relative to the incursions of the savage Indians on the border of Mexico and the United States of America, and that I will bring its contents to the opportune knowledge of the President of the republic.

In support of former communications upon this subject, and of the internation of the savage Indians of the United States resident in the reservation near the frontier, I inclose to your excellency a copy of a telegram received to-day in the department of war.

I improve this opportunity to renew to your excellency the assurances of the high consideration with which I am your very attentive servant.

M. RUCLAS.

Mexican Republic.—Department of War and Marine.—Section 1.

General Geronimo Trevino, from Ventura, says, in a telegram which I have just received, the following:

“I have the honor to inform you that the expeditionary columns against the Indians have departed; the first left the 10th of June, and the second the 18th. Barbarous [Page 819] Indians pass to Mexican territory, proceeding from the reservations of the United States.”

Which I transcribe to you for your information.

Liberty in the constitution.


GONZALES.

To the Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

[Inclosure 3 in No. 999.]

Mr. Foster to Mr. Ruelas.

Sir: I am only this morning in receipt of your excellency’s note, dated 19th instant, in which, acknowledging the receipt of my note of the 18th instant, you inclose to me a copy of a telegram from General Trevino to the minister of war, stating that barbarous Indians were passing to Mexican territory, proceeding from the reservations of the United States.

I will, without delay, communicate the said telegram to my government for its information, but I beg to remind your excellency that the official reports of General Ord and Colonel Hatch, which I sent to you with my note of the 18th instant, render extremely improbable the existence of the facts alleged in said telegram. The point from which the latter was sent indicates that the incursions are supposed to have occurred in the locality described by General Ord as a region where no Indians from the United States are found, and if the incursions have occurred, they are most probably the work of the hostile Mexican Indians still at large in the States of Coahuila and Chihuahua. I have, therefore, to respectfully suggest that General Trevino be informed of the contents of General Ord’s report, and directed to obtain accurate details as to the alleged incursions last telegraphed, especially to ascertain by what Indians they were committed. In the light of General Ord’s report, I am fully persuaded that the raid, of which your excellency’s note of March 13 last gave the details, was made by Mexican Indians.

I have been prompt to bring all the reports to the knowledge of my government which your excellency’s department has from time to time communicated to me, and my government has shown a great readiness to investigate all these reports with a view to suppressing the evils on the frontier. But thus far these reports, in great measure, have been shown to be so unfounded that I must insist that the Mexican Government will require its agents on the frontier to be more careful in transmitting current rumors, especially when they contain charges of neglect or bad faith against the American authorities.

I repeat, with this occasion, the assurances of my most distinguished consideration.

JOHN W. FOSTER.