The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 79, July 1975 - April, 1976 Page: 378
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
and at the end of 1884, to nearly everyone's relief, Diaz took back the
presidency from Gonzilez without a struggle.
Through these difficult times and indeed for the rest of Sutton's residence
in Mexico, he remained on good terms with the local authorities and
reported knowledgeably on Mexican politics as viewed from the periphery.
He once remarked: "My known friendliness to Mexico has made my work
much easier than it would otherwise have been. I have been particular not
to interfere except in cases where Americans were being ill used and when
I have thus interfered I have had to support me a general feeling that I
was in the right." Also he encouraged United States efforts to stifle the
occasional Mexican revolutionary movements which formed in southern
Texas and advised Washington on controlling banditry without arousing
Mexican resentment. In this manner Sutton acknowledged the realities of
Diaz's dictatorship and reconciled them with American interests.'
The most obvious American interest which Sutton was supposed to
defend was the security of American residents in the border states. He held
firm convictions on the subject-for example: "So long as . . . Americans
are admitted into Mexican territory and are the[re] arrested f o r
whatever cause, the Mexican Government is morally bound to see that
the local authorities give them suitable accommodations." He insisted on
his right to an interview with any American prisoner, if only to see that he
had food and bedding. On the one occasion when this right was questioned,
he threatened to telegraph Mexico City at once. Sutton was no chauvinist,
for he recognized that many American visitors were fraudulent speculators
or other disreputable individuals, but he also refused to condone extortion
by Mexican officials, when this occurred. At one time or another during
his fifteen years in Mexico all of his consular staff had to deal with the
anti-Americanism natural in an age of expanding United States influence.
Perhaps the most flagrant examples appeared in Monterrey, where a bur-
glary of the consulate in 1883 touched off a series of exchanges between
the consul and the state governor. The general loosening of political ties in
the mid-i88os and the notorious Cutting affair of 1886 brought this
Yankeephobia to a climax, and Sutton's last years in Mexico were relatively
free from trouble.7
6Fourth annual report, accompanying Sutton to Hunter, December 22, 1881, CD,
Matamoros, XVI, No. 21o; Sutton to Hunter, April Io, 1884 (quotation), November Ig,
1885, ibid., XIX, No. 152, XX, No. 294; Sutton to James D. Porter, September II,
1886, ibid., XXI, No. 356; Sutton to Rives, November 15, 1888, ibid., XXIII, No. 533;
Sutton to Wharton, July 3, I8go, December 15, 1892, CD, Nuevo Laredo, IV, No. 148,
VI, No. 474; Sutton to Josiah Quincy, April 3, 1893, ibid., VI, No. 519.
7Sutton to Hunter, December 24, 1879, February o20, I883, CD, Matamoros, XIV, No.378
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 79, July 1975 - April, 1976, periodical, 1975/1976; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101203/m1/435/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.