(No file number found.)
The American Ambassador to the Secretary of State.
Mexico, February 4, 1913.
My Dear Mr. Knox: Referring to my telegram of January 30, 7 p.m., which is more or less a confirmation of the correctness of the brief estimate given in my telegram of January 9, 5 p.m., of the true purpose of Mr. Lascurain’s representations in the interviews which he had with you and with the Assistant Secretary of State, I deem it my duty to say to you that I very seriously doubt and question the intention of the Mexican Government to make an earnest and diligent effort to remedy the wrongs complained of in our note of September 15. In view of the attitude assumed by Mr. Lascurain upon different occasions when the matters treated of in our note of September 15 were broached, and in view of the circumstance that there is apparently no effort being made in any specific instance to bring about a betterment of conditions or to procure any remedial arrest of the abuses complained of, I am reluctantly constrained to believe that the real purpose of his mission was to secure delay in the hope that a new administration, either with a different policy or necessarily in need of the time requisite for a comprehensive study of the questions at issue, would enable this Government, as frequently happens in dealing with some of the Latin-American nations, to eventually avoid complying with our just demands.
Some of the questions which you discussed with him, like the Chamizal case and the Colorado River case, while of great importance, I have not considered as subjects for diplomatic protest and I am quite willing to believe that they will eventually find a reasonable and just solution. These cases were not recited in our note of September 15, but two others, the Alamo eases and the Tlahualilo case, were incorporated in the note. Concerning these cases Mr. Lascurain, since his return, has assumed an entirely different attitude and bearing than that which I infer from the memoranda he assumed in the discussions had with you and Mr. Wilson. I confess I am deeply disappointed that better results have not followed [Page 936] your interview with Mr. Lascurain and my purpose in sending this is to prevent any illusions being indulged in by the Department as to the possibility of substantial results flowing from the discussions which took place.
I am [etc.],