The New York herald., 1877-07-06
The Mexican Conn mplication-Does Il
Mean Warg

the recognition OF the Dlaz government
But mt the same time Diaz tells his gem
erals that the order of President Hayes
commanding General Ord to pursue cattle
thieves across the border is an insult to
Mexico, and that any entry by American
forces on Mexican soil must be resisted. Sec
retary Evarts, we are told, does not mean to
take too much notice OF this absurd attitude
of Mr.. Daz; and in this he is very wise.
He will probably strive to convince Senior
Mata that the best way to stop the cattle
raids is to let us do it, especially as Mr.. Daz
| cannot do it. We do not doubt that our
government will be sufficiently patient with
the Mexican but, after all, General Ord
must do his duty, and if General Trevilo
should get in the way no doubt he will come
to grief. AS matters stand, a battle between
our troops and Mexican forces is an event Of
which news may come at any time
The Mexican question appears to us
troublesome one chiefly because we have
| to do with country subject to constant
revolutions with government whose per-
manence, or even whose duration from
month to month no prudent man would
underwrite with a ruler who evidently is
! not strong enough to be reasonable,
and who dares not, or thinks he
dares not, run counter to the pcpu-
lar sentiment in Mexico, even at
the moment when he is seeking recognition
at our hands The cattle raids continue;
there is no doubt that they are encouraged
| by the corrupt local officers in the Northern
Mexican States; the only way to stop them
is to let our troops pursue the robbers
across the border; and SIr. Diaz insists that
this would be an insult which his troops
are to resist at all hazards. There is here
deadlock; sure, unless one or the other side
backs down, to lead to collision Of arms.
But it is hardly to be expected that our
government should change its announced
policy What the President requires, what
Secretary Evarts has demanded of Mexico,
what Secretary McCrary and General Sher-
man have commanded General Ord, is
the merest justice. We want nothing
of Mexico which one honest neighbor
may not seek of another. We might
even ask more and not exceed the
bounds of justice. But our neighbor
replies that we insult him and begins the
negotiation by warlike menaces. 1t does
not matter that such threats from so weak q
Power as Mexico are absurd the fact re-
mains that there are Mexican robbers who
cross the Rio Grande and murder and rob
American citizens; that it is neces-
sary to stop these outrages; that
the Mexican government is unable to
stop them, and that it proposes to
resist our use of the only effective means to
stop them Clearly the situation is such
that, though our government may exercise
the utmost care and patience, unless Mr..
Diaz recalls his instructions to the COM
manders on the border, or unless President
Hayes surenders our border people to the
attacks Of Mexican thieves. we may at any
moment hear OF a collision between Ameri-
can and Mexican troops; and that, we may
as we'll remember, means war.
Senator Blaine, at Woodstock, attacked
the administration on it's Mexican policy,
and charged it with design to annex the
Northern States of Mexico. But the policy
of the administration is simply to secure
the safety of our border people and their
property, and in this it has the support of
both parties--of the whole people. Even
Mr. Blaine would hardly venture to say
that President Hayes ought to let these
border outrages go on. Mr.. Blaine says
of the order to pursue the Mexi-
can bandits across the line:-'A SIM
liar invasion of Canadian soil would pro-
duce war with Great Britain in sixty days"
But he ought to have said that if Canadian
robbers had invaded our soil, as Mexican
robbers have done for years, we should
have stopped it long ago, even if we had had to
90 to war with Great Britain and occupy all
the British provinces. That is the real
truth in this matter. If Mexico were
strong Power we should before this have re-
quired her to do her duty, at the risk of
war; 1t is only because she is so lamentably
weak that we have tolerated abuses which,
if they had been suffered by the people
of Maine mt the hands Of Canadian outlaws,
Mr. Blaine would have been the first to cry
out against. If he had addressed his re-
monstrance, not to President Hayes, but to
President Diaz; if he had warned the Mexi-
Gals tuut tuey muSJ hccP ZIG peuce, We
should have thought him reasonable and
wise. AS it is he seems to us to begin the
new political year by putting himself against
his country, which is mistake. He ought
to look at these matters from an American
standpoint
1t appears to us that unless President Diaz
acts more sensibly than he has done, unless
he allows our forces to pursue and punish
the Mexican outlaws, there may before long
be serious trouble on the border and it is
worth while to examine the results of this
possible collision. We take it for granted
that the administration does not desire a
Mexican war and does not wish to annex
Mexican territory. We believe this be-