(_a_) An immediate cessation of fighting throughout Mexico, a
definite armistice solemnly entered into and scrupulously observed;
(_b_) Security given for an early and free election in which all
will agree to take part;
(_c_) The consent of Gen. Huerta to bind himself not to be a
candidate for election as President of the Republic at this
election; and
(_d_) The agreement of all parties to abide by the results of the
election and cooeperate in the most loyal way in organizing and
supporting the new administration.
The Government of the United States will be glad to play any part
in this settlement or in its carrying out which it can play
honorably and consistently with international right. It pledges
itself to recognize and in every way possible and proper to assist
the administration chosen and set up in Mexico in the way and on
the conditions suggested.
Taking all the existing conditions into consideration, the
Government of the United States can conceive of no reasons
sufficient to justify those who are now attempting to shape the
policy or exercise the authority of Mexico in declining the offices
of friendship thus offered. Can Mexico give the civilized world a
satisfactory reason for rejecting our good offices? If Mexico can
suggest any better way in which to show our friendship, serve the
people of Mexico, and meet our international obligations, we are
more than willing to consider the suggestion.
Mr. Lind executed his delicate and difficult mission with singular tact,
firmness, and good judgment, and made clear to the authorities at the
City of Mexico not only the purpose of his visit but also the spirit in
which it had been undertaken. But the proposals he submitted were
rejected, in a note the full text of which I take the liberty of laying
before you.
I am led to believe that they were rejected partly because the
authorities at Mexico City had been grossly misinformed and misled upon
two points. They did not realize the spirit of the American people in
this matter, their earnest friendliness and yet sober determination that
some just solution be found for the Mexican difficulties; and they did
not believe that the present administration spoke, through Mr. Lind, for
the people of the United States. The effect of this unfortunate
misunderstanding on their part is to leave them singularly isolated and
without friends who can effectually aid them. So long as the
misunderstanding continues we can only await the time of their awakening
to a realization of the actual facts. We cannot thrust our good offices
upon them. The situation must be given a little more time to work itself
out in the new circumstances; and I believe that only a little while
will be necessary. For the circumstances are new. The rejection of our
friendship makes them new and will inevitably bring its own alterations
in the whole aspect of affairs. The actual situation of the authorities
at Mexico City will presently be revealed.
Meanwhile, what is it our duty to do? Clearly, everything that we do
must be rooted in patience and done with calm and disinterested
deliberation. Impatience on our part would be childish, and would be
fraught with every risk of wrong and folly. We can afford to exercise
the self-restraint of a really great nation which realizes its own
strength and scorns to misuse it. It was our duty to offer our active
assistance. It is now our duty to show what true neutrality will do to
enable the people of Mexico to set their affairs in order again and wait
for a further opportunity to offer our friendly counsels. The door is
not closed against the resumption, either upon the initiative of Mexico
or upon our own, of the effort to bring order out of the confusion by
friendly cooeperative action, should fortunate occasion offer.
While we wait the contest of the rival forces will undoubtedly for a
little while be sharper than ever, just because it will be plain that an
end must be made of the existing situation, and that very promptly; and
with the increased activity of the contending factions will come, it is
to be feared, increased danger to the non-combatants in Mexico as well
as to those actually in the field of battle. The position of outsiders
is always particularly trying and full of hazard where there is civil
strife and a whole country is upset. We should earnestly urge all
Americans to leave Mexico at once, and should assist them to get away in
every way possible--not because we would mean to slacken in the least
our efforts to safeguard their lives and their interests, but because it
is imperative that they should take no unnecessary risks when it is
physically possible for them to leave the country. We should let every
one who assumes to exercise authority in any part of Mexico know in the
most unequivocal way that we shall vigilantly watch the fortunes of
those Americans who cannot get away, and shall hold those responsible
for their sufferings and losses to a definite reckoning. That can be and
will be made plain beyond the possibility of a misunderstanding.
For the rest, I deem it my duty to exercise the authority conferred upon
me by the law of March 14, 1912, to see to it that neither side to the
struggle now going on in Mexico receive any assistance from this side
the border. I shall follow the best practice of nations in the matter of
neutrality by forbidding the exportation of arms or munitions of war of
any kind from the United States to any part of the Republic of Mexico--a
policy suggested by several interesting precedents and certainly
dictated by many manifest considerations of practical expediency. We
cannot in the circumstances be the partisans of either party to the
contest that now distracts Mexico, or constitute ourselves the virtual
umpire between them.
I am happy to say that several of the great Governments of the world
have given this Government their generous moral support in urging upon
the provisional authorities at the City of Mexico the acceptance of our
proffered good offices in the spirit in which they were made. We have
not acted in this matter under the ordinary principles of international
obligation. All the world expects us in such circumstances to act as
Mexico's nearest friend and intimate adviser. This is our immemorial
relation towards her. There is nowhere any serious question that we have
the moral right in the case or that we are acting in the interest of a
fair settlement and of good government, not for the promotion of some
selfish interest of our own. If further motive were necessary than our
own good will towards a sister Republic and our own deep concern to see
peace and order prevail in Central America, this consent of mankind to
what we are attempting, this attitude of the great nations of the world
towards what we may attempt in dealing with this distressed people at
our doors, should make us feel the more solemnly bound to go to the
utmost length of patience and forbearance in this painful and anxious
business. The steady pressure of moral force will before many days break
the barriers of pride and prejudice down, and we shall triumph as
Mexico's friends sooner than we could triumph as her enemies--and how
much more handsomely, with how much higher and finer satisfactions of
conscience and of honor!
[D] General Victoriano Huerta had, on Feb. 18, deposed President Madero,
and had been, on the 20th, elected President by the Mexican Congress.
Three days later Madero was assassinated while in the custody of the new
government. An army calling themselves Constitutionalists under General
Villa, defeated the Mexican Federal forces in May. On August 20, Huerta
declined the proposal of the United States government that he should
cease to be a candidate for the Presidency.