File No. 812.00/17866
The Secretary of State to Special Representative Rodgers
Washington, April 14, 1916, 5 p.m.
39. You will orally communicate to General Carranza or Señor Aguilar in the following sense:
The Department has received through Señor Arredondo the esteemed note of the de facto Government of the 12th instant and has the matters of which it treats under careful consideration.
The intention of this Government is the same as it was at the outset when United States troops entered Mexico; that is, to endeavor to take the bandit chief, Villa. It desires to repeat again to the de facto Government that it has no intention to violate in any way the sovereignty of Mexico and purposes to withdraw immediately as soon as the object of the expedition is accomplished. It would seem that the best way to hasten the withdrawal of the American troops would be for the de facto Government to throw enough of their military forces into the region where Villa must be in hiding to insure his speedy capture. This Government believes that it is correct in the view that the capture of Villa would result in more benefit to the de facto Government than to the Government of the United States. That his capture can be more speedily accomplished by cooperation between the forces of the two Governments is manifest, which can be most practically accomplished through frequent conferences between the military commanders of the two Governments in the field.
For the American troops to withdraw at once from Mexico would, in the view of this Government, result in encouraging the Villista faction and also the followers of Diaz who are operating near the border. We assume that the de facto Government would deplore [Page 519] such a result and we hope, therefore, that it will approach the question of the withdrawal of the American troops in the most liberal spirit and with full knowledge that this Government’s actions are inspired only by a desire to accomplish the mutual object sought without in any way affecting the friendly relations now existing between the two Governments.