It is clearly my duty to lay before you, very fully and without
reservation, the facts concerning our present relations with the
Republic of Mexico. The deplorable posture of affairs in Mexico I need
not describe,[D] but I deem it my duty to speak very frankly of what
this Government has done and should seek to do in fulfillment of its
obligation to Mexico herself, as a friend and neighbor, and to American
citizens whose lives and vital interests are daily affected by the
distressing conditions which now obtain beyond our southern border.
Those conditions touch us very nearly. Not merely because they lie at
our very doors. That of course makes us more vividly and more constantly
conscious of them, and every instinct of neighborly interest and
sympathy is aroused and quickened by them; but that is only one element
in the determination of our duty. We are glad to call ourselves the
friends of Mexico, and we shall, I hope, have many an occasion, in
happier times as well as in these days of trouble and confusion, to show
that our friendship is genuine and disinterested, capable of sacrifice
and every generous manifestation. The peace, prosperity, and
contentment of Mexico mean more, much more, to us than merely an
enlarged field for our commerce and enterprise. They mean an enlargement
of the field of self-government and the realization of the hopes and
rights of a nation with whose best aspirations, so long suppressed and
disappointed, we deeply sympathize. We shall yet prove to the Mexican
people that we know how to serve them without first thinking how we
shall serve ourselves.
But we are not the only friends of Mexico. The whole world desires her
peace and progress; and the whole world is interested as never before.
Mexico lies at last where all the world looks on. Central America is
about to be touched by the great routes of the world's trade and
intercourse running free from ocean to ocean at the Isthmus. The future
has much in store for Mexico, as for all the States of Central America;
but the best gifts can come to her only if she be ready and free to
receive them and to enjoy them honorably. America in particular--America
north and south and upon both continents--waits upon the development of
Mexico; and that development can be sound and lasting only if it be the
product of a genuine freedom, a just and ordered government founded upon
law. Only so can it be peaceful or fruitful of the benefits of peace.
Mexico has a great and enviable future before her, if only she choose
and attain the paths of honest constitutional government.
The present circumstances of the Republic, I deeply regret to say, do
not seem to promise even the foundations of such a peace. We have waited
many months, months full of peril and anxiety, for the conditions there
to improve, and they have not improved. They have grown worse, rather.
The territory in some sort controlled by the provisional authorities at
Mexico City has grown smaller, not larger. The prospect of the
pacification of the country, even by arms, has seemed to grow more and
more remote; and its pacification by the authorities at the capital is
evidently impossible by any other means than force. Difficulties more
and more entangle those who claim to constitute the legitimate
government of the Republic. They have not made good their claim in fact.
Their successes in the field have proved only temporary. War and
disorder, devastation and confusion, seem to threaten to become the
settled fortune of the distracted country. As friends we could wait no
longer for a solution which every week seemed further away. It was our
duty at least to volunteer our good offices--to offer to assist, if we
might, in effecting some arrangement which would bring relief and peace
and set up a universally acknowledged political authority there.
Accordingly, I took the liberty of sending the Hon. John Lind, formerly
governor of Minnesota, as my personal spokesman and representative, to
the City of Mexico, with _the following instructions_:
Press very earnestly upon the attention of those who are now
exercising authority or wielding influence in Mexico the following
considerations and advice:
The Government of the United States does not feel at liberty any
longer to stand inactively by while it becomes daily more and more
evident that no real progress is being made towards the
establishment of a government at the City of Mexico which the
country will obey and respect.
The Government of the United States does not stand in the same case
with the other great Governments of the world in respect of what is
happening or what is likely to happen in Mexico. We offer our good
offices, not only because of our genuine desire to play the part of
a friend, but also because we are expected by the powers of the
world to act as Mexico's nearest friend.
We wish to act in these circumstances in the spirit of the most
earnest and disinterested friendship. It is our purpose in whatever
we do or propose in this perplexing and distressing situation not
only to pay the most scrupulous regard to the sovereignty and
independence of Mexico--that we take as a matter of course to which
we are bound by every obligation of right and honor--but also to
give every possible evidence that we act in the interest of Mexico
alone, and not in the interest of any person or body of persons who
may have personal or property claims in Mexico which they may feel
that they have the right to press. We are seeking to counsel Mexico
for her own good and in the interest of her own peace, and not for
any other purpose whatever. The Government of the United States
would deem itself discredited if it had any selfish or ulterior
purpose in transactions where the peace, happiness, and prosperity
of a whole people are involved. It is acting as its friendship for
Mexico, not as any selfish interest, dictates.
The present situation in Mexico is incompatible with the
fulfillment of international obligations on the part of Mexico,
with the civilized development of Mexico herself, and with the
maintenance of tolerable political and economic conditions in
Central America. It is upon no common occasion, therefore, that the
United States offers her counsel and assistance. All America cries
out for a settlement.