No. 451.
Mr. Blaine
to Mr. Morgan.
Washington, April 28, 1881.
Sir: I forward herein a copy of a telegram, dated Santa Fé the 9th instant, which I have received with a letter from the War Department of the 19th, and in which the commanding officer of the district of New [Page 760] Mexico reports Mexican troops to be operating against hostile Indians, giving the number of the regular Mexican force at El Paso, Mexico, and states that he has ordered Indian companies and detachments with cavalry to the Mexican line to co-operate, if the hostiles should be driven north. Although the telegram is sent for your personal information, its concluding statements might, possibly, be used during any informal conversation with the Mexican minister for foreign affairs upon the subject, as evidencing both a friendly consideration for the Government of Mexico and an earnestness of purpose on the part of this government to punish hostile Indians who may seek refuge on this side of the Rio Grande. Your representations, however, should be carefully guarded in order not to leave the impression on the mind of Mr. Mariscal that they implied an international agreement between the two governments to that end, but that, actuated by a desire to strengthen more and more the amicable relations existing between the two countries, your government was ever willing, in the interest of so laudable an object, to inflict punishment upon such offenders and to maintain peace, so far as may lie within its power, along the frontier.
I am, &c.,