CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER VII.-The First Consequences of the Recognition. -Santa Isabel and Columbus.... CHAPTER VIII.-From Columbus to Carrizal.... CHAPTER IX. The Cruel Side of the Policy of Mr. Wilson. X-Pecuniary Responsibilities of the American CHAPTER XI. False Postulates-"The Struggle for Lib- CHAPTER I. THE FALL OF PRESIDENT MADERO. Early in February, 1913, a part of the garrison of the City of Mexico revolted against the government. The chief of the movement was General Bernardo Reyes. The rebels, with Reyes at their head, tried to occupy the National Palace but failed on account of the resistance which was made to them there. General Reyes perished in the attempt; and the rebels who, from that moment, were under the orders of General Felix Diaz (nephew of former president, Porfirio Diaz), marched to the arsenal — or citadel-which they occupied after a brief combat. There they shut themselves in and fortified the place. The Government immediately determined to attack the Citadel and suppress the uprising. Troops were brought from different parts of the Republic and the command of these, as well as the direction of operations, was entrusted to General Victoriano Huerta. After ten days of fighting, with grave damage to the buildings of the City and considerable loss of life among the inhabitants, the situation suddenly changed. General Huerta, secretly placing himself in accord with the rebels, took possession of the persons of President Madero and Vice-President Pino Suárez; the attacks against the Citadel ceased and peace again reigned in the City. This happened on the 18th day of February, 1913. A few hours after the President and Vice-President were arrested, General Victoriano Huerta and General Felix Diaz held a conference in which it was agreed and declared that the government of Mr. Madero had ceased, that Huerta would take charge of the Executive Power and that Diaz would reserve to himself the right of presenting himself as candidate in the presidential election which would have to be convoked. This famous conference took place in the Embassy of the United States. 7 The principal problem for Huerta consisted in having his authority recognized throughout the Republic. He was able to count upon the passivity of the people, but it was impossible that his spurious government would be accepted by the different military chiefs and by the governors of the twenty-seven states. The situation, however, was cleared within twenty-four hours by the attitude of President Madero and Vice-President Pino Suárez, who consented to resign their offices. The following plan was contrived for the purpose, which Mr. Madero accepted: Upon the acceptance by the Chamber of Deputies—which, according to the Mexican Constitution, is competent for the case of the resignations of the President and VicePresident, the Minister of Foreign Relations, Lascurain, would be converted automatically into provisional President; Lascurain would appoint Huerta to the first post in the Cabinet and thereupon he would resign the Presidency in order that Huerta, at the same time, might remain, also automatically, as provisional President. This plan was executed to the very letter. The easy attitude of Mr. Madero and the action of the Chamber of Deputies were the salvation of Huerta. The latter was immediately recognized as President by the entire army and by the governors of twenty-five of the twenty-seven states into which the Republic is divided. The government was organized without delay and all the nations of the world, with the exception of five, recognized it as the legitimate government of Mexico. It being a fact fully proved that Mr. Madero was a man of great personal valor, it is not easy to attribute his resignation to fear of losing his life. Although he was a prisoner when he resigned, no violence was offered to his person. Mr. Madero knew, on the other hand, as we have already noted, that the immediate effect of his resignation was to give the Presidency to Huerta, and to cover with a varnish of legality that which at bottom was a usurpation. But Mr. Madero consented to all this, surely for the generous and patriotic purpose of avoiding further evil to the country. The Chamber of Deputies, the majority of which was devoted to Madero, lent its concurrence to the unfortunate combination, and the traitorous general was thus able to appear clothed with the character of provisional President, which he would not have been able to attain if Madero had assumed a different attitude. If we wish to apply to these proceedings the standard of American politics, we will have to condemn them as null and without value; but if they are to be judged according to the standard of Latin-American politics, the conclusion will be different. The proceeding followed by Huerta was not of his invention; it is one which has prevailed in the countries that are found south of the Rio Grande and which is still applied and will continue to be applied for many long years in the greater part of them. The temperament, the economic factors, the political traditions, the want of preparation for self-government and, more than all, the decisive influence which is exercised by the mass of Indians, completely ignorant and illiterate, who form the overwhelming majority of the population-all this explains the difference in political methods between those countries and the more favored ones of this continent. It does not enter into the object of this sketch to refer, not even in a brief synopsis, to the history of the changes. of government in the Latin-American countries. Nor could the writer ever justify acts which are repugnant to his conscience. But if it is desired to have an idea of the turbulent political life of those peoples, it will be sufficient to recall the case of Bolivia which in seventy-three years has suffered not less than sixty revolutions and has seen six of its presidents assassinated, and others, in greater number, obliged to seek security in exile. Was not the proceeding of Huerta the same as that which, a few days afterwards, was applied in Peru when a military chief headed an uprising of his soldiers and took possession of the person of President Billinghurst and imprisoned him in the Penitentiary? The new Peruvian government, born in this manner out of betrayal and of military revolt, has been, nevertheless, recognized by all . . . including President Wilson! From the moment in which the resignations of Messrs. Madero and Pino Suárez were admitted by the Chamber of Deputies, the former were converted into simple private citizens. Three days afterwards these ex-officials, who had been detained in the National Palace, were conducted toward the Penitentiary and were assassinated on the road. The defenders of the policy of President Wilson take great pains to reverse the order of these events. As distinguished a man as the Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Lane, has said: "With the elected President and VicePresident murdered and the Secretary of State (Lascurain), who was their lawful successor, cowed into submission, Huerta took the reins of power." (Authorized interview in the New York World, July 16, 1916.) We should not fail to call attention to the political importance which the order of events has in this case. Morally judged, the assassination is as reprehensible and criminal, committed before the advent of Huerta to power as afterwards, but when it is said that Huerta obtained the government by means of the assassination of Mr. Madero, the truth is altered. It has been explained above → that Huerta came into power by virtue of the resignation of President Madero and that the latter knew the material and political consequences of his own act. Mr. Madero was assassinated on the 22nd of February at midnight. Huerta had taken the oath of office as provisional President of the Republic before the Congress on the 19th. What, then, was the motive of this odious action? The assassination of Madero was a "political crime" as in all |