File No. 812.00/23452c.
The Secretary of State to the Special Commissioners.
Washington, May 21, 1914.
In view of the commanding position the Constitutionalists have secured in Mexico and the necessity of considering the views of those whom they represent, the President suggests that you ask the Mediators whether they do not consider it advisable to renew the invitation to the Constitutionalists to send commissioners without attempting to define the scope of what is to be discussed and without reference to [Page 504] the suspension of hostilities. It is likely to involve many delays and uncertainties if the discussion is conducted without them, and it is extremely difficult to confer with them satisfactorily by indirect ways such as are open to us here.