New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-02-16
NEW ORLEANS WEDNESDAY,
Especial Correspondence of the Republican.
SAN ANTONIO LETTER.

'tns ''peciA correspondence of the Republics
'ded SAN ANTONIO LETTER,
,her r.. s,..
,ood Ane situation a. it Really 10 in Me,
essness amd Crime-Our
roads and Other Prospects.
90 SAN ANTONIO, February y. ls
wv" ane disturbed condition Of the Me,
po.i'icsi cauldron is beginning to 1T,
universal attention. A few days ago
an interesting conversation on the nrob
causes OF the present Mexican crisis wi
French gentleman, who has lived in Ma
w. ~ 1or number Of years, and is tnorous
"A acquainted With trans Rio Grande poll
al : nrst inquired if the popular impres,
- 'ns' the revolution was inaugurated bv
~ priesthood to regain their lost suprem
IS was not correcf He replied: mot a
- eetner; Lerdo de Tejada is no doubt oppo
oy the great majority of the priests. an,
~ Is very probable that the clerical partv
: peot 10 obtain great advantage in case p
: URIC Dlaz is successful, but that is
what's the true cause Of the revolution. !,
wen, what is the cause" INQUIRED.
NY informant then went on to expla
"Ihe revolution is put in motion bv :
petty guerrilla chiefs throughont Mav;I
not so much from desire to see Lerdo/
seated' as to have an opportunity or
'e1' oy which they can plunder the g.
"ercnants oy means of forced loa. ~
commerce Of Mexico is to a great ol' III
.ne hands of foreigners, mostly " n maas.
:. Inese merchants have not only es eatnrs - 81
Of Of goods on hand, but from Z nature sssn on .,
the trade they are obligsO Aeep M 1n
hand large sums of 'ney IN ell
yer coin, which is 'n' ITO" 'ne
interior to the cs' Saa guaeu-
ed by large escorts 1t is q common
occurrence for these-orelgn merchants TO
have hundreds Thousands of dollars
stored away, andlt can not be gotten out
of the country hurry, either. 10 levy
forced loans. I'd make the merchants dis
gorge, is the real object of the uprising
against Teads In Mexico the great ma
>joity of the people have no regular way of
making living. The haciendas are ruined,
the stock is all killed of, and the poems
demoralized by revolutions. The wealth Of
the country, principally the products of
their mines, is in the hands OF few, and
these revolutions are gotten up for the pur-
pose of bleeding them"
Don't you think the clerical party will
resume it's old time supremacy in case Diaz
is srccessful3'
.'Nonsense! The Catholic Church has no
real strength in Mexico. Nobody goes to
church but the women and the poems.
Every body who is anybody is Free Mason.
monial to the cathedral at Monterey, and
was actually the only man there who had
a coat on. As far as restoring the order of
things is concerned, the clericals will be
treated as they are at present, no matter
who gets into power"
The view Of the Mexican situation, as
contained in the foregoing dialogue, is the
correct one. 1t is great mistake to imag-
inc that religious bgotry is the great fea-
ture Of the Spanish or MexicaL character.
1t is popularly supposed that bigOtry was
at the bottom of the prosecutions of the
Spanish Inqnisitisn. but it is a mistake.
The Jews and Moors we're extirpa ted, not
really because they wero unbelie vers, but
because they owned money and lands.
And the revolution in Mexico is not gotten
up to restore to the Church her plundered
treasure and forfeited privileges, but to
sat;ate that thirst for gold which has ever
been the distinctive mark of the Spanish
character.
Until recently there have been but few
Indian raids to chronicle. There were sew
eral large bands of Indians from the reser-
walton encamped on the Staked Plains, but
these bands were broken up and dispersed
by scouting parties, and Texas has thus
been preserved from the raids which the
Indians Intended to make on the frontier
settlements. The Indian question, as far as
the Indians on the reservation are con-
cerned, is q thing of the past. 1t is
the Mexican KIckapoo Indians that
give US trouble. There Ars only a few
hundred of them in Mexico, but they
will continue to depredate on our from
tier with impunity until another raid, a
la Mackenzie, Is made across the border.
have to-day sent you special dis
patch, announcing that they were robbing
within eighty miles of our city, but there
is not much hope of overtaking them before
they get safely into Mexico. A few weeks
ago q band of Indians were pursued to the
Rio Grande, which they crossed few hours
before their pursuers came up. The mill
tary, United States troops, refused to cross
over without orders, and the pursuers were
too few in number to attempt it alone
The Mexicans and Indians knew this, and
their Mexican projectors traded for the
fine American horses the Indians had stolen,
almost in sight of their owners.
General Ord is exactly the right man in
the right place, and if the government
would only furnish him with the
requisite number Of troops. he would
speedily make it unsafe for Mexicans
to raid on this side Of the river
The colored regiments on the Rio Grande
are not the right kind of troops for that
kind of service. Besides, there are so few
of them. The colored soldier never re-
enliste, and consequently some of the com
panies have been go depleted as to contain
only half dozen privates, and there is no
cclored population from which to obtain
good recruits. The moet expedient method
Of obviatirg this difficulty, which impairs go
greatly the usefulness of the troops on the
R;o r. ronda 1vcn1j h., IN oo~srji1ato a..