File No. 812.00/6051A.
The Secretary of State to the Secretary of Navy.
Washington, February 10, 1913.
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I have the honor to request that there be immediately despatched a battleship to Vera Cruz and a battleship to Tampico; that some vessel be sent to Mazatlan; and that the vessel now at Acapulco be detained there for the present, it being made clear to the commanding officers that the sole purpose of these dispositions is that they shall observe and report upon the situation particularly with reference to the protection being afforded foreigners and their interests; that it is of the first importance that there be created no impression of the slightest bias on the part of the Government of the United States as to which side shall gain the ascendancy; and that the naval dispositions herein requested represent no change whatever in the policy of the President but respond merely to the fresh necessity of great caution due to the extreme uncertainty [Page 701] of the new conditions created by the uprising in the Mexican capital.
I make this request as a result of the official reports which I have brought to the attention of the President and which show that a serious outbreak has occurred in the City of Mexico and that a struggle for supremacy is now in progress there between the Government of President Madero and the faction of Felix Díaz, a struggle which is likely to have marked effect upon conditions throughout the Mexican Republic where American citizens and their interests are so very numerous.
I have [etc.]