File No. 812.00/672a.
The Secretary of State to the American Consul at Cuidad Porfirio Diaz.
Washington, January 25, 1911.
Sir: Referring to correspondence between you and the Department concerning the movements of Mexicans along the border, I inclose herewith an extract from an instruction set on the 14th ultimo to the American ambassador to Mexico, in answer to his dispatch No. 249, dated November 16 last, relative to alleged violations of the laws of neutrality.
You should read with great care this Inclosure, which treats of the general laws and principles of neutrality, both under the rules of international law and under our so-called neutrality statutes, in order that it may be made certain that you do not appear to assume (in [Page 399] connection with the maintenance of order during the present disturbances along the Mexican border) duties and responsibilities which belong not to this Government or its officers, but to the Mexican Government and those officers who may be appropriately charged by it. Otherwise this Government may find itself facing a situation which under its laws it has no power to meet and with which therefore it would be unable to cope, although because of its attitude the Government of Mexico had come to believe that the situation could be met by this Government, and failure to meet it would give rise to discussion and perhaps irritation between the two Governments.
In this connection the Department desires to say that in your efforts to secure a proper observance of the rules and regulations governing our neutrality you should have constantly in mind that while this Government is extremely desirous that none of its citizens should violate the general laws of neutrality and the rules prescribed by our own statutes (and to that end will exercise the legal powers and faculties which it possesses), yet it must at the same time be observed that it is not possible for this Government or any of its officers to interfere in any way with the acts of its citizens or others residing within its territory unless and until such acts bring them within the rules of law above referred to.
You should in this connection have also clearly in mind that it is not illegal, being against neither the international laws of neutrality nor the rules of our neutrality statutes, to trade in arms and ammunition during a war or during a revolution; that trade in such materials is merely trade in contraband of war; and that the persons engaging therein are subject to no other penalty than the confiscation of the materials in which they are trading. Therefore so long as our customs laws are complied with in the matter of the commercial shipment of arms and ammunition into Mexico it is not clear in what way we may legally interfere with traffic in such materials on this side of the border. If the Mexican Government desires to exclude such materials from her territories, it is clearly her duty and not ours to accomplish such exclusion.
You should have further in mind that while, as already stated, this Government has the keenest interest in a strict and conscientious observance of our neutrality laws and acts during the present disturbances in Mexico, this Government can not be regarded and is not to be regarded as an insurer of the peace of Mexico, nor as a policeman charged with the maintenance of order along its northern border. Upon this point it may be remarked that the information which has been received by the Department suggests that perhaps the Mexican authorities confine their own activities very largely to reporting rumored incursions from this side of the border into Mexico, they themselves taking no action whatever in the matter beyond reporting to this Government, or if any action at all, then such action only as would be inadequate to prevent such an incursion were it attempted. It will at the same time seem that they seek to place upon this Government the entire responsibility of preventing such incursion or migration. This places the burden wholly upon the wrong side. The policing of the Mexican border is a matter for the Mexican Government, and not for this Government, and while this Government will continue to use every [Page 400] legitimate endeavor to prevent illegal and hostile expeditions, it can not be charged with the responsibility of preventing the legal importation of arms and ammunition into Mexico, nor the exclusion from Mexico of bands of unorganized Mexican citizens who are returning to their native land. It seems entirely clear that such matters do not constitute a violation either of the rules of international law or of the Federal statutes governing our obligations of neutrality, and they must therefore, if illegal on the Mexican side of the border, be there met and overcome.
You will, therefore, while continuing to be most vigilant in preventing violations of the neutrality of the United States, which this Government has the strongest desire to observe, be certain to keep strictly within the law, and have especial care that you take no action which will, under the circumstances given above, appear to shift the responsibility of maintaining peace on the Mexican side of the border from the Mexican Government, where it belongs, to this Government, where it does not belong.
I am, etc. (for Mr. Knox),
Director of the Consular Service.