File No. 812.00/1970.
The Secretary of State to the Mexican Ambassador.
Washington, June 7, 1911.
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 24th ultimo in which, in connection with a report which you have received from the Mexican consul at San Diego, Cal., that the War Department has again ordered the release of Pryce, “declaring him to be an insurgent, that is to say, fighting for political reasons in Mexico,” you state that it is your duty to say that the said Pryce is, like others you mention, an avowed filibuster and not an insurgent, and add that the raids of these men in Lower California are under the protection of no political flag, and that therefore the Government of Mexico will not deem itself bound to make good claims of any kind on account of damages caused by them, if the authorities of the United States on whatever ground leave them freedom of action, thus favoring, even though indirectly, those adventurers and making it easier for them to commit their assaults on property.
Without desiring to enter into any discussion or controversy with your excellency regarding the status of persons who take up arms and make war under the circumstances recited in your note now under acknowledgment, I beg to suggest for your excellency’s consideration that the movement in Lower California appears to be the result of the activities of a Mexican political party; that it is reported that the avowed object of this Mexican party is the throwing off of Mexican authority and the establishment of a socialistic republic in Lower California; and finally that the subversion of one form of government and the establishment of another has, upon this hemisphere, been uniformly regarded as a political movement entirely irrespective of the propriety or justice of the cause espoused.
In view of these facts the Department is unable to understand the precise import of your statement that the movement in Lower California is under the protection of no political flag, and must dissent from the conclusion which you seem to reach that the Government of Mexico is not bound to make good claims of any kind on account of damages caused by such alleged filibusters. The international rule controlling obligations in cases of this kind seems on the contrary to be quite clear.
In this connection I might observe that it would appear from the information in the possession of the department that there must be in Lower California considerably fewer than 500 persons in arms against the Mexican Government, and that it seems inconceivable that so few a number as this could cause any really serious difficulty to your excellency’s Government. I have no doubt that before this reaches your excellency steps will have been taken fully to meet the situation.
Accept [etc.],