File No. 812.00/2973.

The American Ambassador to the Secretary of State.

[Telegram.—Paraphrase.]

Your February 20, 6 p.m. The President of Mexico expressed his opinion to-day that the situation in Mexico was improving greatly. He said that soldiers had arrived at Velardena and that all Americans in that place are safe. He stated that in Morelos and the south the situation was rapidly improving and that he expected that soon there would be in the Laguna district ample troops to restore order. He added that he would give his immediate attention to the situation in the oil district and that he would send a gunboat to Tuxpan. While I have no information to corroborate the optimistic views of the President, the Department is entitled to them, I believe, in drawing its own conclusions.

Wilson.