Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Address of the President to Congress December 8, 1914
File No. 312.00/12411.
Secretary Dodge to the Secretary of State.
United States, near the Mediators,
Washington, July 3, 1914.
Sir: I have the honor to enclose herewith the original of a note dated the 1st instant, received by the Commissioners from the Mediators, together with an English translation of the same which I have made.* * * I also enclose a copy of a note dated today, addressed by the Commissioners to the Mediators in reply to the foregoing.* * * I further enclose a clipping from the New York Times of the 3d instant, in which is given the reply of the Huertista delegates to an identic note of the Mediators addressed to them.* * *
I have [etc.]
The Mediators to the United States Special Commissioners and the Delegates of General Huerta.
Sirs: I nave the honor to inform you that the Representative in Washington of the Chief of the Constitutionalist Party of Mexico, Mr. Carranza, has sent us his reply47 to our communication of the 21st ultimo, of which we informed you in the [fourth]Plenary Session, of the 24th, in which we invited him to appoint representatives to discuss and agree directly with the Delegates of General Huerta as to the organization of the Provisional Government constituted to consolidate the pacification of the country and to provide for the reestablishment of a normal regime. In that reply the said Representative informs us that Mr. Carranza, duly considering the well-conceived purpose of our invitation and being inspired with the desire to give to Mexico a stable peace, has nevertheless felt bound to consult the opinion of the generals of the Constitutionalist Army relative to the appointment of delegates, as much on account of the necessity of authorizing a modification in what is provided in the Plan of Guadalupe as in order to insure the strict fulfillment of the settlement that might be arrived at. On this account, he adds, Mr. Carranza has already taken the necessary steps to consult the said generals, “and only desires earnestly to request that a short delay may be conceded, in the course of which he hopes to receive the answers of his companions in arms so as to be able to appoint delegates to confer with the delegates of General Huerta.”
The undersigned believe, in view of the communication which they have just quoted, and taking into consideration the sense of the agreements protocolized during the session of June 24, that all that remains to be done for the fulfillment of the task which it was their good fortune to enter upon two months ago does not require for the moment their presence at this place, and that the work, now belonging to the Mexican delegations, can be renewed without any difficulty when the arrival of the representatives of the Constitutionalist Party is announced. In fact, the protocol of June 24 having settled satisfactorily all the matters deriving from the incidents that originated our good offices and [Page 555] the subsequent mediation of the Governments of Argentina, Brazil and Chile in the conflict between the Government of the United States and that of General Huerta, nothing more remains to be done but the organization and establishment of a Provisional Government in Mexico, a patriotic work reserved exclusively to the delegation of the two parties there contending.
Therefore the presence of the undersigned here during the days included in the term alluded to in the communication from the Representative of Mr. Carranza would be devoid of any useful object; but, it is unnecessary to add, at the moment when the Mexican delegations begin their common work the Mediators will be ready to continue, at any place selected, to assist, as they have promised, in the work of adjustment and concord which the patriotic endeavor of these delegations will doubtless accomplish. Consequently any communication from yourselves may be addressed to the Brazilian Ambassador at 2419 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D. C.
We renew [etc.]
- D. da Gama.
- R. S. Naón.
- Ed’o Suarez Mujica.
The United States Special Commissioners to the Mediators.
the United States, near the Mediators,
Washington, July 3, 1914.
Excellencies: We have the honor, to acknowledge the receipt of your esteemed communication dated the 1st instant, by which you have been good enough to inform us of the reply which you have received from General Carranza requesting a short delay in the course of which he hopes to receive the replies of his companions in arms so as to be able to appoint delegates to confer with the Delegates of General Huerta. Your excellencies state that your presence at Niagara Falls during this interval would have no useful object but that as soon as the Mexican Delegates begin their work you will be disposed, wherever it may be, to continue to assist them by your mediation.
Agreeing with you that anything remaining to be done growing out of the matters derived from the incidents which originated your good offices can best be done after the arrival of representatives of the Constitutionalist party is announced, we note that your excellencies have decided to take a recess, and we will accordingly hold ourselves in readiness to reassemble at any time at which you may reconvene the Conference. In the meantime, should occasion require, we will avail ourselves of the opportunity to communicate with you at the address indicated in your note.
We have [etc.]
- J. R. Lamar.
- F. W. Lehmann.
The Delegates of General Hueria to the Mediators.
Your Excellencies: The courteous note of your excellencies of yesterday informs us that the Chief of the Constitutionalist Party, Senor Carranza, answered an invitation which your excellencies addressed to him to send representatives who would confer with us on the pacification of Mexico, setting forth the need he has of a short time in which to consult other military chiefs as to the appointment of delegates, both to authorize the modification of the revolutionary plan and to insure the fulfillment of any arrangement which may be arrived at. The note we have the honor to refer to adds that, to make effective and to carry out the international agreements concluded, all that remains to be done is to organize and establish a provisional government in Mexico, a work of patriotism exclusively reserved to the delegations of the two parties there contending. And in this connection your excellencies are pleased to add that the Mediators continue disposed to help the parties in the struggle with [Page 556] their good offices in that work of harmony for the success of which you hope as a result of the patriotic efforts of the delegations.
We thank you for communicating to us the facts referred to and, with a full appreciation of its worth, your offer to continue using, for the achievement of internal peace in our country, the same good offices which have already and so efficaciously served to solve the international conflict; and in accepting them, with the best of good will, we assure your excellencies that your appeal to our patriotism finds it already active as the chief thing that has inspired and guided our conduct.
The undersigned delegates, foreign to the struggle of which Mexico is the scene and perhaps because of this circumstance selected to form the delegation, did not come to the international conferences to represent any party, because the national honor and external peace are the highest interests of all parties and all Mexicans. Neither do we need to represent any party in the conferences we may possibly hold with the delegates of the other, because it suffices us to represent the national aspiration for peace, which is the real national sentiment and which is above all the animosities aroused by civil war.
Our powers authorized us to confer in the name of the Government constituted in Mexico and presided over by General Huerta; before receiving them we had taken soundings to see of what resolves the Chief of the Government was capable, and we came to the conferences in the confidence, which he has not betrayed, that he would make every sacrifice of himself which was not incompatible with his dignity, always provided it was for the good of the nation. This has been done, and nobody can deny the high merit that lies in those personal concessions, without sacrifice of either national or personal decorum, which have brought to a close the peace negotiations.
The basis of the agreements will insure external peace, the restoration of internal harmony; in a word, national rebirth and national honor lie in the organization of a provisional government in Mexico. If it is organized, all that will remain to be done will be the execution of the agreements that promise these boons; if it is not organized, the agreements, lacking their base, will be destroyed and Mexico’s situation will be the same as before—uncertainty for the future and evil for the present.
As your excellencies know, it is the patriotism of rival Mexicans which must now work to save Mexico. Both the Government he presides over and General Huerta himself have done all that is necessary on their part to bring the situation to the present point. We delegates have put forth our utmost efforts in order that the peace agreements may be carried out by means of the organization of a provisional government effected in accord with the Constitutionalist delegates.
We must trust that patriotism will do its part among the Constitutionalists, but should this not be the case we will not bear the burden of so grave a responsibility.
We have made this exposition of our conception of the present situation in order that your excellencies, if you see fit to do so, may communicate it to the responsible agent of the Constitutionalist Party, as a step toward the rapprochement which your excellencies wish to bring about and maintain.
Once more we thank your excellencies for your noble effort to obtain the pacification of Mexico, and we beg, if you wish to communicate either your orders or your news to us, that you address them to the first of the undersigned in the care of the Mexican Consulate, New York.
We avail [etc.]
- Emilio Rabasa.
- Agustin Rodriguez.
- Luis Elguero.
- See text inclosed with Mr. Dodge’s No. 29 of July 6, post.↩