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Show THE FEARING 93 raiding. After 1810 a war between the Navajos and Comanches also limited the raids. But, while Spain turned its attention to the rebels in the south, some Navajos raided when they could. The Navajo threat forced the Spaniards to remove all of their herds from the frontier in 1818. By January 1819, though, Governor Facundo Melgares was ready to invade Navajoland once again. During this invasion, enough Navajos were killed to force the headmen to request peace. But, before the treaty-making could get underway, raids began again. Soldiers moved against the People during the spring and summer. At last, in August, peace came. Melgares made a treaty with Joaquin, Gordo, Vincente, Salvador, and Francisco. In that treaty, the Navajos agreed to give up all persons involved in crimes against the New Mexicans. They also allowed the settlers to graze their stock a certain distance within Navajoland. And they agreed to send one of their leaders to Santa Fe as a hostage. The Spaniards agreed to return all captives and to punish anyone who injured the Navajos. The office of General of the Navajos was restored, and the Spaniards chose Joaquin to hold the title. But the Navajos did not keep the terms of the treaty. They had good reason not to. When forty of their people went to Jemez on a peaceful trading mission, they were murdered. Governor Melgares, frustrated by Navajo resistance, decided in 1822 to impose much harsher terms. He called for a treaty which would set a New Mexican boundary running through Bear Springs, Chuska, and Tunicha to the San Juan. Under its terms, the Navajos would turn over all captives and refugees. They were to allow traders to enter their lands. And they would have to permit the Spaniards to punish both Navajos and New Mexicans who disobeyed the treaty. The boundary would have taken the portion of Navajo land in which the largest part of the tribe probably lived. Governor Melgares must have known how hopeless it was to try to enforce such a treaty. The Navajos had been defeated, but they were not likely to agree to such extreme Spanish demands. At last they agreed to a treaty that did not limit their land so severely. This time, Melgares asked the Navajos if they wanted a general. He demanded only that Segundo hold the office if it was restored. Mexico gained its independence in 1821. In many ways, the change from Spanish to Mexican rule meant little to the Navajos. But the People soon learned that, while the Mexicans were trying to set up their new government, affairs in Santa Fe were often |