THE NEW ZEALAND Tablet THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1914. MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES

New Zealand Tablet, 7 May 1914, Page 33

THE NEW ZEALAND Tablet THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1914. MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES

> . -*— —. ■ ■-,•.•..",,- HE press are, of course, expected to have '*L ||i something to say • regarding the' Mexican - "~ v - Itengle; but the situation changes so c l u ! ckl y and so frequently—never being tilat i* is , practically impossible for papers % wF T at this end of the world to say anything r ' that is very much to the purpose. One day we are assured that the auspices are : ' all favorable to the prospect of peace; the next we are told that war is practically certain. One message informs us that both Huerta -and have agreed to the mediation of South America; a succeeding message explains that Huerta has agreed only in order that ' he may . gain, time, and that Carranza has consented to mediation merely with the hope of eliminating Huerta. Uyhder the circumstances it is impossible at this dis- _ tance to so much as form" a conjecture as' to what the outcome of it all will be; the. most that can. .be attempted is a general summary of the plain outstanding features of the situation. .... ,;•'. ; . .■■-.'■', '•- • '" •'■ : -'- ' - • • v ;# * } • .'. '■■> i •'."-i'.X;" '•)/• " (1) It is' generally agreed- by competent and. impartial observers that President Wilson blundered in hot recognising General Huerta "as • Presidentas Great Britain didwithin a reasonable time' of the installation of the Huertan Government. This is the view now taken both by the English and the Continen- - tal press. ■ It is the view which was taken \ at the time by no less an authority than Mr. Henry Lane Wilson, who was until last year 'American h > Ambassador "to: Mexico. Huerta is described, as strong, capable, and sincere;. he has the support of the Catholic party,, which, though not in the majority very strong, and is the only party in Mexico with organisation and dependable membership; and he has, also-, the support ' of the Haciendados, or large landowners, who see in.' Huerta the only man who stands» between them and spoliation. , General,Huerta, as the de facto ruler of >M Mexico, had ; at least -a better 1 chance than anyone else »§ of producing order. '-.- But' President Wilson carried his policy of 'watchful waiting' to the. ppinj>_ of recognis- . ing anarchy in -preference to recognising General \ Huerta; and in his ;.; entirely , praiseworthy . desire to avoid the effusion. of blood, he has, by his soft and ~ , honeyed words in the earlier stages ; of /the trouble;- : - brought the United States to a crisis. vp... which it is ~ doubtful whether a serious war j can r be /aVbided. ' f. : ''-'--'' -' ■"■ ■ - -' : . -*j" * : :...'• ' <-- j ■■': i . (2) No sufficient; explanation has as'yefe been fur- iij nished by President Wilson of his : pb4icy. of discrimination against Huerta, and of his almost -friendly- attitude to the rebels. We are not referring, of course, to the period, subsequent to Huerta's refusal-',t*> f «alute, the ";•;

American flag, but to President Wilson's policy as developed from the very first. General Villa and General Carranza are joint leaders of the rebels, or, as they call themselves, the. Constitutionalists, in. Mexico. excuse originally given by President Wilson for flot;; recognising Huerta—and ,thu3, indirectly, for countenancing ; and encouraging Villa and Carranza—was that ■ Huerta was 'blood-stained.' Truly, this is to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. If Huerta is 4 blood-stained,' much .more so is the infamous Villa and his associates. It was under Villa's authority—if not by his; own hand—that : Mr, Benton, a ? British subject, ; who visited Villa to protest against, the continual footing and destruction practised by the rebels, Was done to k death. . Mr. ;* Benton, l ; who had been [ a very rich man, is said -to have been almost ruined by the depredations of v the rebel bandits. ; ; ; It was one of Villa's subordinates who perpetrated the diabolical act of sending a train containing many innocent passengers into a l burning tunnel :at ! El Cumbre, *as the result of which at least ten Americans' were v burned to death. According to the American Ambassador, Henry Line Wilson,' the rebels "are ' professional bandits who live to loot and loot to live and who have no more idea of constitutional government than a Zulu or a Hottentot.' Disquieting reports concerning the attitude Cf the rebel generals towards priests and. nuns have been received in America. "^At" least one community of nuns has been • attacked. The New Orleans Picayune .recently printed an interview. with a priest who had fled from Victoria, > the capitals of 1 Tamaulipas. i According ,tb*,this..Carranza's.-soldiers have been perpetrating insufferable outrages. . Archbishop r ; Jose de la Guzman died :of injuries inflicted upon him by the rebels. His "aged aunt : lies at the point of death from the same cause. / Churches have'.been-desecrated ; priests. beaten and ! held for ransom; : nuns and .orphans, driven from convents. : A convent of American nuns Was raided, the inmates driven out,, and the building burned. ,As we write, . a late cable ,appears in the . evening papers to the effect that '.the Zapatistas crucified the ..Bishop of Chalapa when he refused to give the rebels the church's funds. - The soldiers nailed him to. a ; cross, and left him to die a lingering ./In the face of such a record, the President's patient and almost friendly attitude to the rebels is extremely difficult to understand. ' . * . ■'/ -.;.:.,- ■.*' '■'':'-'•.'... ,:"_ ] . .. 1..'/ '. ~ (3) In his oft-repeated declaration that hostile action' by America will be directed against one man, and not against the Mexican people, President Wilson is the victim of self<-deception. A schoolboy could have told the ex-President ■of Princeton that one nation can* not declare "War or carry acts' of hostility against 'the de facto of another nation without having, at ;f the same ' time, to reckon with that ruler's followers. .- In this matter the* President's 'attitude- is ? academic /and impossible! - (4) If it .should unhappily come about that war is formally and finally declared against Mexico it is practically certain that "all/parties will unite to resist the invader. ;' The cables - have already made that sufficiently clear. Huerta has a seasoned army of at 'least' 60,000; and if the "Federals and Constitutionalists * came to terms they could raiSe a fairly formidable force. I Apart-from that, the vast area and mountainous chartJ acter of ' the country afford illimitable opportunities for guerilla warfare; A and the struggle, once entered upon, -would be prolonged indefinitely. The one r hope lies; in the 1 South/' American mediation; and candor compels the acknowledgment that it is not a very satisfying •'* hope. -' } •* " ' l "~ A '■'-*. •■*• * V" •■"■:'' ' '"'