No. 310.
Mr. Nelson to Mr. Fish.
Legation of
the United States,
Mexico, April 26, 1872.
(Received May 13.)
No. 557.]
Sir: Herewith I inclose a copy and translation
(A and B) of Mr. Mariscal’s reply of the 23d instant to my note of the
18th ultimo, upon the depredations of the Kickapoo Indians.
While Mr. Mariscal does not accede to my solicitude for the passage of
American troops into Mexican territory in pursuit of marauding Indians,
he nevertheless makes propositions, which may, I hope, facilitate the
final settlement of the important subject in hand. He assures me that
the government will lend efficient co-operation to the realization of
the plan for the removal of the Kickapoos to their reservations in the
United States. For this purpose it will direct its local authorities to
participate in the conferences with those Indians, and will not allow
the authorities, who are accused of having frustrated the attempt of
last year, to have any share in the proposed conferences.
In case the Kickapoos freely consent to emigrate, the Mexican government
will furnish troops to escort them to a designated place on the
frontier; and, lest the agents employed in the unsuccessful attempt of
last year may have unfortunately excited prejudices and suspicions in
the minds of these Indians, the Mexican government suggests the
propriety of other persons being selected for the proposed new
attempt.
It appears to me that the proposal of the Mexican government deserves
serious attention, and that, if approved, the necessary steps should be
taken with as little delay as possible.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure B.—Translation.]
Mr. Mariscal to
Mr. Nelson.
Department of State,
Mexico, April 23,
1872.
Sir: I have had the honor to receive your
excellency’s note of the 18th ultimo respecting the conduct observed
by certain tribes of Indians located upon Mexican territory near the
frontier of Texas, and I have also received a copy of the inclosed
resolution upon Indian depredations, adopted by the legislature of
the State of Texas. Your excellency reminds me of the several notes
upon this subject which you have addressed to my predecessors in
this department, and makes special mention of those
[Page 421]
in which you have solicited permission
from the government of this republic for the passage of American
troops across the frontier, in order to carry out the project of
removing these tribes of Indians to their reservations in the United
States, and after relating the ill-success of the American agents
sent to induce the Kickapoos to emigrate, your excellency suggests
that upon the re-occupation of the States of Nuevo Leon and
Coahuila, by the forces of the federal government, advantage be
taken of the temporary government of those States by martial law to
take efficacious and speedy measures for the cessation of Indian
outrages; measures which, in your excellency’s opinion, would seem
to consist in lending aid to the removal of the Kickapoos, to be
effected by the employment of American troops in Mexican
territory.
The examination of all the antecedents of this question has delayed
my reply until the present time, and I now have the honor to
communicate to your excellency the views of my government. The
decree which authorizes the executive to exercise temporarily
certain faculties which he does not ordinarily possess in the
department of war, has a manifest limitation in the object which
congress proposed to obtain by its passage. The re-establishment of
peace and of constitutional order in the rebel States was the motive
of that grant, and the President of the republic, to whose
consideration I have submitted your excellency’s suggestions, after
a careful study of the said decree, is of the opinion that it would
not be proper to employ the extraordinary faculties with which
congress invested him for the solution of the difficulty in
question. But the matter may, nevertheless, be arranged by virtue of
the presence of federal forces in Nuevo Leon, and without the
necessity of the passage of American troops into Mexican territory.
The sum total of the facts which your excellency communicates, in
compliance with instructions from your Government, and the desires
which have been manifested to the government of Mexico, concerning
the said Indians, together with the friendliness characteristic of
existing relations between the two countries, are sufficient reasons
to lead the President of this republic to earnestly desire the
speediest solution of this question, and the one most advantageous
to all parties concerned. I have therefore the honor to renew to
your excellency the assurance which this department has before
given, that the government of Mexico will take pleasure in
co-operating with that of the United States in the humane object of
preventing the depredations which certain tribes of Indians are wont
to commit on the Texan frontier, by affording them the means of
emigrating from Nuevo Leon and Coahuila to their reservations in the
United States. For the realization of this project, it would perhaps
be convenient for the Government of the United States to appoint new
agents, and to advise the government of Nuevo Leon of the time when,
and of the place on the frontier where the said agents will present
themselves for their visit to the Indian tribes. The government of
Mexico will, in such case, provide that the authorities who
represent it in that region take part in the conferences, and if the
Indians should freely determine to leave Mexico to settle on their
reservations in the United States, the Mexican military forces will
escort such Indians to the point on the frontier where the American
troops may receive them.
Your excellency will observe that the Mexican government advises that
the agents to treat with the Indians be other persons than those who
made the former attempt. This suggestion is made in the interest of
the success of the negotiation, in order, by such change, to avoid
reviving the suspicions and prejudices against those persons, which
may exist in the minds of the Indians. The Mexican government,
desirous that there may subsist no impediment to the projected
arrangement, will provide, as far as possible, that none of the
authorities accused (it would seem without satisfactory proofs) of
being opposed to the removal of these Indians, have any part in the
execution of the plan suggested.
In closing my reply to your excellency’s note, I take pleasure in
stating that the Mexican government very highly appreciates the
prudence and tact which has thus far characterized your excellency
in this negotiation, and cherishes the confident hope that it will
be concluded in the same spirit of friendship and good
understanding.
I am, &c.,
