Diaz given three month ultimatum

[Ed. note: Roni's laptop kicked the bucket yesterday before should could write up an article.  While she attempts to procure a new computer in the next few days, I will write up short posts in her stead.]

According to this evening's Washington Times, a number of high ranking War Department officials believe that the United States will give the Diaz Government in Mexico three months to quell the insurgency in that country before U.S. troops currently stationed along the border will be ordered to "Go In."

The troops were ordered to the border last week to ease European fears that the neither the Diaz Government nor the United States will vouchsafe foreign business interests in Mexico from the depredations of the rebels.  While the U.S. was forced to back off from its naval patrols of Mexican ports earlier this week, troops continue to mass north of the border at Army bases like San Antonio's Fort Sam Houston.  The Washington Times published a pair of photos of Fort Sam Houston and one of the commanding officers there, Brig. Gen. J.W. Duncan, overseeing the construction of make-shifts camps.

This possible ultimatum comes shortly after Mexican Finance Minister Jose Limantour left New York on a return trip to Mexico.  In addition to being a potential candidate for the Vice Presidency, it is expected that Limantour may present the terms of the rebels to Diaz in an attempt to bring a quick settlement to the revolution.  In addition the two Americans captured in Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas, are expected to be taken to trial on charges of sedition.  Mexican officials continue to insist that Edwin Blatt and Lawrence Converse were arrested on February 22 on Mexican soil while our State Department still believe that they were taken on American soil. The Mexicans also state that if additional Americans are captured as part of the rebel party, they will treated to same summary executions that are being given to Mexican rebels, a decision that could only inflame further the tensions between our two countries.

If American troops go in, what then?  One senator, Theodore Burton of Ohio, suggested that the U.S. could set up a protectorate in Mexico, much as it has done in Cuba.  One trigger for this action could be the capture of Chihuahua, a border state in northern Mexico by the rebels.  The U.S. could then "intervene to prevent anarchy, and will then seek to restore order, and play the part of the policeman just as it did in Cuba."

Link: Diaz is Allowed Three Months to Quell Revolution [The Washington Times]