812.00/17510½
Memorandum by the Secretary of State of a Conversation With Mr. Arredondo, March 9, 1916, 4 p. m.
Mr. Arredondo called to ask in regard to the reports of the attack upon Columbus, New Mexico by Villista troops. I read to him the despatches from Cobb and Carothers, sent today.24 I told him that I thought the attack was made in accordance with a definite plan on the part of Villa to compel this Government to invade Mexico, and that I sincerely hoped he would advise his Government to raise no objection to the pursuit by American troops into Mexico of the attacking forces; that it was beyond human endurance to be attacked in the way the American troops had been attacked and when they attempted to revenge the death of their comrades to be stopped at the border; that I thought the case of “hot pursuit” by a punitive expedition was a very different thing from the deliberate invasion by an expeditionary force with intent to occupy Mexican territory.
Arredondo replied that he considered this to be a just conclusion and that he would at once advise General Carranza of this view and express to him the hope that he would raise no objection in case it was proven true that the American troops had entered Mexico.
[Page 555]I said to him that if there should be objection raised and serious trouble should result, his Government would be playing directly into the hands of Villa and would do the very thing that Villa wished them to do. He replied—“I know that is so and I will do what I can to avoid any trouble of this sort.”
I told Arredondo that we had already telegraphed to Mr. Silliman25 as to the facts but that I was not sure yet whether troops had actually crossed the border, although I believed that they had done so; that we did not seek the consent or cooperation of the Mexican Government as we felt it would cause resentment against Carranza and make the political situation most difficult.
- Foreign Relations, 1916, p. 480. For correspondence previously printed concerning the attack on Columbus, N. Mex., see ibid., pp. 480–499.↩
- Ibid., p. 481.↩