File No. 812.00/9180a.
The Secretary of State to the American Chargé Affaires.
Washington, October 13, 1913—noon.
491. Deliver immediately to the Foreign Office the following:
The President, shocked at the lawless methods employed by General Huerta and as a sincere friend of Mexico, is deeply distressed by the present situation. General Huerta’s course in dissolving Congress and arresting deputies the President finds it impossible to regard otherwise than as an act of bad faith toward the United States. It is not only a violation of constitutional guaranties but it destroys all possibility of a free and fair election. The President believes that an election held at this time and under conditions as they now exist would have none of the sanctions with which the law surrounds the ballot, and that its results could therefore not be regarded as representing the will of the people. The President would not feel justified in accepting the result of such an election or in recognizing a president so chosen.