File No. 812.2311/31.
The Secretary of State to the Governor of Texas.
Washington, February 9, 1912.
In reply to your telegram of to-day, I have the honor to inform you that this Department does not understand and did not understand that the Mexican troops for the passage of whom over American soil through Texas permission has been accorded to the Government of Mexico are to be engaged in general hostilities in the State of Chihuahua, but were to be used merely for the purpose of preserving order in Ciudad Juárez. The Department has no information to the contrary similar to that conveyed to you. Had the Department supposed that these troops were to be used for general hostilities, permission to allow them to cross American soil would have been refused, as it was refused during the Madero revolt. On learning that the passage of these troops over Texan soil would be agreeable to you, this Government issued instructions to its Ambassador at Mexico City to inform the Mexican Government that permission for these troops to go from Eagle Pass to Ciudad Juárez via the Southern Pacific Railroad had been granted. Unless the Government of Mexico will stipulate that these troops are not to be used in general hostilities this Government will, in accordance with its practice, withdraw the permission granted to the Government of Mexico to transport them over American territory.