No. 484.
Señor Navarro to Mr. Evarts.
New York , November 16, 1880. (Received November 22.)
Mr. Secretary: The governor of the State of Tamaulipas informed the department of foreign relations of Mexico, on the 25th of September last, that the public officers and a portion of the population of the town of Laredo, Tex., had fired a great many shots toward the Mexican bank of the Rio Grande, on account of the escape of some prisoners from the jail of that place.
An act of the same nature, which took place on the 25th of April last, on the Mexican bank of that river, on the occasion of the escape of some Mexican deserters, induced the representative of the United States Government to call the attention of the Mexican Government to the matter, in doing which he remarked that, inasmuch as firing from one side of a boundary line to the other with intent to kill was an aggressive and discourteous act, he felt sure that, in view of the cordial relations then, as now, existing between the two countries, the Government of Mexico would hasten to express its disapprobation of the conduct of the Mexican officers and soldiers, and to issue suitable orders for the prevention of similar acts in future. My government thereupon hastened to disapprove the conduct of the Mexican officers and soldiers, and the war department at once issued the most positive orders to all the troops garrisoning the Mexican frontier, forbidding them to fire across the boundary, of which the United States minister to Mexico was informed, my government thinking that the surest way to the realization of the desires and purposes entertained by the governments of both republics for [Page 820] the strengthening of their friendly relations is the prompt execution of reciprocal justice.
I feel certain, Mr. Secretary, that you entertain the sentiments manifested in the case to which I have referred both by the representative of the United States Government and by the Government of Mexico, and this renders it unnecessary for me to dwell upon the necessity that exists for the military and civil authorities on the American frontier strictly to forbid the troops and the people to fire in the direction of the Mexican bank of the Rio Grande.
I avail, &c.,