ed States and
Mexico at several points. For instance, the escape of runaway slaves
into Mexico where slavery was legally forbidden, was a factor in
causing disturbances along the Rio Grande between 1850 and 1860.[1]
Again, during the following decade when the colonization of the
freedmen became a vital issue, there was at least one proposal to
settle them on the border between the United States and Mexico. It was
urged that a strip of land extending from the Rio Grande to the
Colorado and westward to the mountains of New Mexico be set apart by
the national government for this purpose. On January 11, 1864,
Honorable James H. Lane of Kansas actually introduced a bill looking
to this end, which received favorable consideration from the Committee
on Territories, but so far as has been ascertained never came to a
vote in Congress.[2]

In support of his proposal Lane urged, among other things, that the
colonization of the Negroes on this frontier would prove beneficial to
Mexico and tend to promote friendship between that country and the
United States. "We can thus plant at the door of Mexico," he said,
"four million good citizens, who can step in at any time, when
invited, to strengthen the hands of that Republic."[3] In similar vein
the territorial committee, of which Lane was chairman, declared: "It
is desirable to cultivate friendly relations with the people of
Mexico. It is known to us that among that people there are no
prejudices against the black man, and that intermarriage is not
prohibited either by law or custom.... It is confidently believed that
the colony provided for in this bill, by intermarriage with the people
of those Mexican States, and friendly intercourse with them, would so
Americanize them as that they would be prepared and seek an annexation
to our then glorious free republic."[4]

The project which is the subject of this paper had no official element
motivating it, however. It was merely a private enterprise conducted
for the profit of a Mexican land company and a member of the Negro
race;[5] and not until the scheme had failed did the United States
government take a hand. On December 11, 1894, H. Ellis,[6] a Negro,
entered into a contract with the "Agricultural, Industrial, and
Colonization Company of Tlahualilo, Limited," for the transportation
from the United States by February 15, 1895, of one hundred colored
families between the ages of twelve and fifty. The company obligated
itself to pay th