File No. 812.00/516.

The President of Mexico to the American Ambassador.

[Translation.]

My Dear Mr. Ambassador: I have the pleasure to reply to your excellency’s kind letter of the 12th instant,1 relative to the telegram which His Excellency President Taft addressed to Secretary Knox expressing his confidence in the ability of the Mexican Government to avoid all difficulty between the two countries and dictate measures to maintain order, extending protection to American citizens residing in this country.

I have been greatly pleased by the high and just opinion of the President of the United States and feel honored by his confidence, and I have already had the pleasure to make my reply through the department for foreign affairs, expressing my sincere appreciation, as well as my profound regret for the demonstrations of hostility against Americans, and giving the assurance that the Mexican Government will dictate all necessary provisions to maintain order and prevent all acts of hostility against a friendly nation.

It affords me pleasure to give your excellency the same assurance of friendship, and that the great majority of the Mexican people as well as its Government maintain cordial and good relations of friendship for the people and Government of the United States, and that only a few political agitators have taken advantage of this incident and acted in a violent manner, inciting the students who, under the impression made on them by the crime committed in Texas against the Mexican Antonio Rodríguez, acted imprudently pursuant to evil suggestions.,

I am, my dear Mr. Ambassador, your friend and obedient servant,

Porfirio Díaz.
  1. Not printed.