No. 457.
Mr. Foster
to Mr. Evarts.
Mexico, December 27, 1879. (Received January 13, 1880.)
Sir: I am gratified to be able to report that in my recent visit to the Mexican frontier States, I found a condition of peace and a better measure of order than is customary on the Rio Grande. I met General Treviño, commanding the Northern division of the Mexican army, in Durango, and General Can ales, commanding on the lower Rio Grande, at Matamoros, and had several private and lengthy interviews with them, as also with the governors of the frontier States of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas, and from all of them I received the most hearty and cordial expressions of good will toward the United States, and of all earnest desire to preserve the peace and suppress outlawry on the border. I found also that there was an improved state of feeling between the populations on the opposing banks of the Rio Grande.
I have never doubted the good disposition of the administration of General Diaz in respect to the frontier relations. But, in the midst of the constant turmoil in which his government is involved, which requires his greatest attention to interior a flairs, the poverty of his treasury, which makes it difficult to maintain a large force at points so distant from the capital, and the slender tenure by which he exercises authority in the extreme States, there has been a great tendency to neglect frontier affairs and to leave their administration much to the local and State authorities. I have had occasion heretofore to express the opinion that the firm attitude of our government respecting the Rio Grande border in 1877 has had more to do with the comparative peace which that region has enjoyed, than any voluntary action of the Mexican Government, and my personal observation in that region has confirmed me in ibis opinion.
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It became matter of the first importance for the administration of General Diaz to give the suppression of disorder and raiding on the border preferred attention; hence, the Federal forces there were increased, the commanders, governors, and local authorities received strict and urgent orders, and the present improved condition of affairs is the consequence.
I am satisfied that President Diaz sincerely desires that this satisfactory situation of our frontier relations shall continue, but it is by no means certain that it will even last until the end of his term in November next.
So long as a moderate degree of peace exists, the two divisions of the army now near the Rio Grande, with the aid of the local authorities, can preserve order and in great measure restrain raiding. But, only last month, General Treviño was called away to Chihuahua with a considerable portion of his most available force, the cavalry, to suppress a local revolution in that State, and his return is quite uncertain. The presidential campaign is about to commence, and in times past it has almost invariably been the signal for pronunciamiento and wide-spread revolution, and there are no indications that the coming campaign will be an exception. The country will disappoint the predictions of the most experienced observers, if it is not, during the coming year, involved in such disorder as will require the undivided energies of the government to [Page 727] suppress them, in which case very little attention will be given to frontier affairs.
Besides, the indications are that during the coming year the Mexican borders of Texas and New Mexico are likely to be the scenes of more serious Indian troubles than for some years past.
Upon the urgent demand of our government made through this legation, a somewhat vigorous campaign was undertaken last year against the Kickapoo, Lip an, and Mescalero Indians in the State of Coahuila, who had been accustomed to raiding with disastrous results into Texas. Quite a number of these Indians were captured and brought into the interior of Mexico, and the incursions across the Rio Grande were mostly stopped. But on my late visit I learned that most of the Indians taken into the interior of Mexico had returned to their old haunts, and unless great vigilance is exercised a renewal of their accustomed raids into Texas may be apprehended.
It appears to be a well authenticated fact, both from Mexican sources and the reports of our army officials in Texas and New Mexico, that a large number of Indians have escaped from our reservations and are now hiding in the mountains of Chihuahua. The Mexican Government can scarcely command sufficient force in that distant region to exterminate or expel them. It is almost certain that they will at all favorable opportunities make incursions into Texas and New Mexico with the usual results of murder and rapine.
The conclusions reached by me as to frontier affairs are that while we must recognize the good intentions of the Mexican authorities and give them due credit for the measure of peace and order now existing, we can have no guarantee that such a state of affairs will long continue.
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I am, &c.,