UNMOVED BY KINDNESS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16358, 30 September 1913, Page 6

UNMOVED BY KINDNESS.

General Carranza, the chief rebel leader of the hour in troubled Mexico, has an unconciliatory way with him. Ho says that his aim is to "exterminate President Huerta and nil his followers," and apparently he declines to be bound by the result of any election held under the present regime. The cablegram which mentions this declaration states also that ex-Presi-dent Diaz, the old dictator, has been " formally asked to return to Mexico and advise the country in the present crisis," so that it does not seem that Dr Woodrow Wilson, is justified in anticipating any early restoration of order in the neighbouring republic. If General Carranza and President Huerta are going to fight to a finish and the winner is to engage in battle with exPresident Diaz the issue may still be in doubt when Dr Wilson's successor enters the White House. The foreign correspondents in Mexico City say that a presidential election is going to be held in Mexico, but they do not believe that the situation will be eased appreciably by the result. Public opinion cannot bo ascertained in a democratic way while the country is in the throes of revolution, and the new President, whoever he may be, will have rivals who will assert that he won by corrupt methods. Probably the accusation will be justified. The situation really appears as hopeless as it did at the beginning of the year, the one new factor being Dr Wilson's determination to achieve by tact and kindness what fifty thousand horse and foot might, fail to perform by force of arms. His offers of advice and mediation have produced no appreciable effect up to the present time, but it is early to pass judgment on his methods, so unfamiliar in the relations between small countries and large ones. The Mexicans may be more grateful and more reasonable than they seem to be just now.