File No. 812.00/7206.
The Mexican Embassy to the Department of State.
The Embassy of Mexico presents its respectful compliments to the Department of State of the United States of America and has the honor to say that it has received from its Government a telegram reading word for word as follows:
In some of the notes exchanged between the Embassy and the Department of State the Department refers to the Government of Mexico as “the Administration in Mexico City” and in view of the fact that the phrase implies an idea about various points of great interest to the relations between the two Governments, you will please call on the Secretary of State of the United States and submit to him appropriate remarks in the matter. If by the cited phrase it is intended to intimate that the Government of Mexico is a de facto Government and does not possess the constitutional requisites to be considered as a de jure Government, it must be noted that, in point of law, it emanated from acts that were unquestionably lawful, for although the resignations of President Madero and Vice President Pino Suárez were the result of a revolutionary movement in which elements of very different origins took part, the transfer of power was effected in accordance with the terms of the Constitution and with the concurrence of functionaries belonging to Mr. Madero’s Administration and of men who had long been faithful members of his party, such as the members who form the majority of the Legislative Chambers elected under Mr. Madero’s Administration. [Page 795] To this is to be added the fact that the Administration over which General Don Victoriano Huerta presides is recognized, not as a de facto, but as a Constitutional Government by the Governments of the States, many of which, the great majority, also belonged to the party led by Mr. Madero, were elevated to the offices they now hold in accordance with the political tendencies of that party. The Mexican Government, therefore, is not in the position of a de facto Government of revolutionary organization, nor in that of a de jure Government before which stands another with pretensions to absolute domination throughout the national territory and to the suppression of its adversary, as was the case with the Federal Government during the War of Secession, and with the Constitutional Government presided over by Citizen Benito Juarez during the War of Reform and that of Intervention. If the words “the Administration that is officiating in the City of Mexico” are intended or understood to mean a Government lacking lawful origin, that can not be admitted and much less if the words carry the idea that the Mexican Government commands respect in only a portion of the national territory; for, as already stated, its action covers the whole country and obedience is only withheld by knots of rebels in Sonora, Coahuila, Durango and Morelos, a rebellion that in no wise can be taken as stripping the Mexican Government of all the attributes of an undeniable political power; for even if it be taken for granted that the rebellion be such as to outweigh the means of repression at the Government’s disposal, the rebellion has not as yet come out with the pretension of organizing a new Government and opposing it to the Constitutional Government, but is only bent on continuing the rebellion and withdrawing certain parts of the national territory from obedience to the lawful authorities, involving the authorities in conflicts that might cause the overthrow of the President of the Republic.
It is to be hoped that the foregoing remarks will find an echo in the justice-loving mind of the Secretary of State and that, as a result, they will fully define the consideration which, in the matter of international relations, is due to the Mexican Government as the nation’s sole representative with friendly nations, not merely as an administrative organization accidentally in charge of the various public services in certain places. The Government of Mexico is far from affecting an easiness it does not entertain as to the situation of the country; indeed it is well known, on the contrary, to have divulged, on several occasions, through its official organs, the many difficulties of the situation and the efforts required for the restoration of order and revival of public prosperity; but it also knows that the group at the head of the present situation is not responsible to the nation for the ills that have befallen it and that acceptance of the administration of public affairs in one of the most trying crises that Mexico has undergone is prompted by a sentiment of abnegation and patriotism; for that reason it also believes that not only ought it to be recognized, as a constitutionally organized power but also that the Government of the United States, always a friend of Mexico’s, will appreciate at its true value the significance of the efforts now being put forth by all the men in charge of the public administration to attain the ends above referred to and more particularly the discharge of their duties for the protection of life and property.
Please make special mention to the Secretary of State of the fact, for which there are few precedents in our history, that the Government’s moral authority succeeded in bringing together many political elements of very diverse affiliation which, inspired by a yearning for public peace, vigorously urge forward the undertaking of conciliation applauded by the press, of the country without distinction of party and stimulated by the utterance of public opinion.
Washington , April 19, 1913.