File No. 812.032/8.

The American Ambassador to the Secretary of State.

Note.—The message of the President, Francisco I. Madero, was read to the Congress April 1, 1912, and transmitted to the Secretary of State April 17, 1912, by the American Ambassador.

[Extracts pertaining to relations with the United States.—Translation.]

Our relations with foreign countries continue singularly cordial. All the Sovereigns and Executives of the great powers, and of almost all the other powers, have answered in flattering terms the autograph letters which I addressed to them, informing them that I had taken possession of the Supreme Magistracy of the Republic.

In our relations with the United States incidents have occurred to which, on account of their interest, I must refer, notwithstanding that they are already matters of common knowledge.

the chamizal affair.

I will begin with the Chamizal affair, which has been the subject-matter of long-standing and frequent negotiations between the two Governments.

In June, 1910, there was signed at Washington by the Ambassador of Mexico and the Secretary of State of the United States of America a convention1 in which, after definition and description of the territory in dispute, known as El Chamizal, it was agreed that the difference between the two countries with respect to the eminent domain over that territory should be submitted to the International Boundary Commission, with a third member, who was to be a Canadian jurist, added. In compliance with the stipulations of the convention, and after hearing the case, the Arbitral Tribunal decided by a majority vote that the eminent domain over a part of the territory of El Chamizal appertained to the United States of America, and over the other part, the more extensive of the two, to the United Mexican States.2

Within the period of time fixed by the convention for the execution of the award, the Government of the United States of America informed the Government of Mexico that it could not regard that award as valid or binding, and the President of the United States, in his Message to Congress on December 7, last, made the following declaration: “Our arbitration of the Chamizal boundary question with Mexico was unfortunately abortive, but, with the earnest efforts [Page 707] on the part of both Governments which its importance commands, it is felt that an early practical adjustment should prove possible.”1

This is not the occasion to set forth in detail the reasons which the American Government adduces to maintain that the award was abortive. The Mexican Government has maintained the reverse, notwithstanding the objections publicly made as to the difficulties that might arise in the incorporation under the domain and jurisdiction of the Mexican Republic of a tract which, de facto, forms part of the city of El Paso and which is separated from Ciudad Juárez by the present bed of the Bravo River.

Both Governments being animated by the most earnest desire to solve the difficulty, the Mexican Government, at the invitation of the Government of the United States, has informed the latter that, without foregoing the position which it occupies by virtue of the arbitral award, it will receive and study such propositions as the American Government may see fit to make.2

intervention.

The armed agitation that exists in some parts of the Republic has given rise to rumors as to the possibility of intervention in Mexico by the United States. These rumors, fomented in the United States by certain unscrupulous journals, have not sufficed to occasion differences between the two Governments nor has the Washington Government allowed itself to be influenced by the ignoble propaganda. The great and respectable American dailies, the most prominent American statesmen, the ablest American thinkers, as well as all Americans having legitimate interests in Mexico, know well that the word “intervention” is only an euphemism for war, seeing that the Mexican people, whatever political defects may characterize or be attributed to them, prize the independence and honor of their country more than life itself. The Government of the United States has been the first, by its own acts, to discourage the insensate idea of intervention and has given repeated proofs to the Government of Mexico of its high spirit of justice and its sincere respect for the rights of this country as a sovereign nation. A patent proof of this spirit is to be found in the recent action of the American Congress, in empowering the President to prevent American territory serving as a source of supply of arms and ammunition to individuals who rise in rebellion against the Governments of the other nations of this continent, and the consequent proclamation of the President of the United States,3 prohibiting armed rebels in Mexico being supplied with war material in the neighboring Republic. The President of the American Union has been actuated in this instance, as stated in an official note addressed to our Foreign Relations Department, by his earnest desire that the Mexican nation may at an early date enjoy once more the blessings of peace and prosperity.