File No. 412.11/48.
The American Ambassador to the Secretary of State.
Mexico, January 10, 1912.
Department’s January 8. Prior to receipt thereof I had been unofficially notified that the Consultative Claims Commission had decided not to consider claims for loss of life and for personal injury. I therefore addressed an informal note to the Foreign Office, in which I referred especially to the Douglas and El Paso claims and asked that the attitude of the Commission be defined. I have just received [Page 952] Mr. Calero’s informal reply, which says that after consultation with the Treasury his Government believes it will be satisfactory to have the Commission consider claims of this character as well as others. But I am of the opinion that consideration of these claims by the Commission will lead only to delay and irritation, and that such claims should be classified and then be made the subject of direct diplomatic representation, en masse and toutefois [sic]. Public opinion and the attitude of the diplomatic representatives here is at present decidedly unfavorable to the Commission; the representatives of France, Germany and Great Britain are now discussing joint action, identical with that taken by these powers against Cuba after the Spanish war. Four [?] Spanish cases for loss of life and personal injury have been rejected by the Commission; these might form a precedent for nearly all of our cases, except Douglas and El Paso. The only two British cases have both been rejected; the German cases for loss of life and for personal injury have been made the subject of diplomatic treatment; no French cases of this kind have been presented.
I shall await the Department’s further instructions before making representations relative to the Douglas and El Paso cases; but with reference to the Alamo claims I shall immediately address the Foreign Office in the sense of the Department’s instructions.