that, as a democrat, he could not approve of any government "stained by blood or supported by anything but the consent of the governed."
This is an error. April 11, 1913, a Washington dispatch to the New York World, said:
"When asked about it this afternoon, President Wilson said the de facto government of Mexico would be recognized as the new Provisional Government when it had worked out the problem now before it—the establishment of peace."
May 5, the same paper published a dispatch from its Mexico City correspondent, as follows:
"Negotiations between the State Department at Washington and the Mexican foreign ministry regarding recognition of the Huerta Administration have progressed rapidly in the past few days. . . . The United States Government demands (among other things). . . acceptance by Mexico of an international commission to pass upon all claims for damages sustained by foreigners. . . since the beginning of the revolutionary disorders in the republic."
Reports of this character also appeared in other papers. November 10, confirmation came from England. In a speech on that date explaining the British recognition of Huerta, Prime Minister Asquith said:
"We were informed by the Government of the United States that, as regarded the recognition of Huerta, no definite answer could be given, except that they would wait some time before recognizing him."
If the President was unalterably opposed to Huerta from the beginning, why, for nearly six months, did he retain as ambassador to the court of Huerta, one Henry Lane Wilson, who had assisted in setting up the Huerta regime, and who, so long as he remained, was Huerta's most conspicuous apologist and support?
Why, for 176 days after his inauguration, did the President employ his power to embargo arms to assist Huerta in the latter's efforts to crush his enemies, and so "work out the problem" of peace?
Although Wilson did not recognize Huerta in Washington, he recognized the assassin along the border. Under the orders of the Executive, the military patrol, as well as the civil authorities, treated the Huerta government as the lawful government of Mexico, while the enemies of Huerta—Carranza and his friends—were dealt with as bandits. For 176 days the agents of Huerta were permitted to purchase arms in the United States,
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