Meanwhile General Huerta protested against the cancellation of the embargo on arms, and relations with the United States became more strained. On April 21, in view of the outrage on the United States flag at Tampico (April 10, p. 456), the American Admiral at Vera Cruz, on instructions from Washington, seized the Customs House, and intervention on a great scale seemed inevitable. Steps were taken for the protection of foreign residents in Mexico city and British subjects elsewhere had been ordered to seek safety at once.
There was, however, a lull and diplomacy was active with the object of inducing the various parties in Mexico to arrange an armistice between the Federalist and Constitutional or "rebel" forces as a step to agreement on a Provisional Government, the assumption being that Huerta would be eliminated, by consent or otherwise. General Carranza, for the Constitutionalists, accepted this idea, or was reported to have done so at first. After confusing negotiations the facts emerged that Huerta had no intention of resigning, and that Generals Carranza and Villa would not agree to an armistice. A Conference was arranged to meet at Niagara Falls, on the Canadian side, in May, and Huerta despatched his Commissioners. The Constitutionalists resumed operations and drove the Federalists out of Tampico with ease, the Federalists taking to flight when cannon and machine guns were brought into position, commanding the town and harbour. There were other rebel successes. Simultaneously the Mediation Conference, consisting of representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the United States, and the Mexican Commissioners, began their work at Niagara and after eloquent opening speeches sat in private. The Constitutionalists then decided to send a representative to Niagara, but General Carranza stoutly refused an armistice. In the early part of June it became evident that his military position was such that General Huerta's dictatorship had almost disappeared. In this situation General Huerta let it be known at Niagara that he was willing to resign if at the time of withdrawal the country was "politically pacified." A scheme was mooted by a provisional Government nominated and agreed upon by both parties in Mexico, and it was in principle accepted by General Huerta. But General Carranza still declined the terms on which the Conference would admit his delegate, and he acted with rigour towards Federalists in his power. Many executions were reported. General Villa quarrelled with him and the Constitutionalists thus broke into two military parties. The cause of the rupture was obscure, but it was alleged that General Villa had demanded full control of the Army in return for his recognition of Carranza as dictator. The feud still further diminished the already slender chances of success at the "A.B.C," Conference at Niagara. Affairs in the Republic fell into worse chaos, and thus they continued until mid-July when the name of Francisco Carbajal, Foreign Minister in the Huerta regime in succession to Señor Rojas, was discussed as that of a suitable Provisional President. At this time the Constitutionalists under General Carranza were threatening to descend on Mexico city and the situation seemed desperate. On July 16 it was announced that General Huerta, with other officials, had left Mexico city for Puerto Mexico, and that Señor Carbajal had taken the oath before Congress as Provisional President. General Huerta's resignation was presented to Congress and accepted by a vote of 121 to 17. In his message of resignation, he reviewed his assumption of office at the call of Congress. He recalled his efforts to bring about peace, noting that in seventeen months he had formed an army to carry out his promise of peace. He reviewed the difficulties of the Government in doing this, "owing to scarcity of funds as well as to the manifest and decided protection which a Great Power in this continent has afforded to the rebels," and which culminated "in the outrage committed at Vera Cruz by the American Fleet" at the moment "when the revolution had been broken up" by the division among its leaders. He also recounted the success of the mediation negotiations, adjusting the Tampico incident, but noted that "the revolution continued, with the support of whom we all know." Rebutting the allegations that his personal interest was predominant, he offered his resignation as a proof that interest in the Republic was his chief thought. The message aroused prolonged applause, and General Huerta had a hearty popular farewell. He left for Europe, via Havana, landing at Avonmouth and proceeding to Spain.
The new President had been a Judge of the Supreme Court under Diaz, Minister in London under Huerta, and then Foreign Minister. He had the reputation of being a man of peace and distinction of mind,—qualities that made him unacceptable to General Carranza. Negotiations between the two chiefs broke down over the question of the punishment of the Huertist leaders, and ultimately Señor Carbajal fled to Vera Cruz, and the Carranzists entered Mexico city on August 20. The United States Government in September began to contemplate withdrawing its troops from Vera Cruz, but it demanded (1) that the Customs duties and taxes collected by it on Mexican account during the occupation should not be required a second time from the payers; (2) that Mexicans employed by it should not suffer in consequence; (3) that United States citizens and priests and members of religious orders should be protected from harm by the Mexican Government. General Carranza would not give definite assurances to this effect. Villa, whose allegiance to Carranza had long been doubtful, broke with him early in October, ostensibly because Carranza was supposed to be delaying agrarian reform, and a Peace Conference was summoned at Aguas Calientes (364 miles north of the capital on the line to El Paso), which was intended to eliminate both Villa and Carranza and to substitute a Provisional President. Carranza, backed by some of his subordinate Generals in Southern Mexico, refused to attend the Conference, but offered to resign if a Provisional Government were set up and Villa and Zapata would retire also. Villa had come to terms with Zapata, and controlled the Conference; and on October 31 it deposed both Carranza and Villa from their commands—Villa's deposition, however, being only nominal—and elected General Carlos Gutierrez Provisional President (Nov. 2) for twenty days, subject to renewal. It then declared Carranza to be a rebel. President Wilson now decided to withdraw the United States troops in order to leave Mexico free to settle her own affairs, and they left Vera Cruz on November 23, taking with them the Customs duties they had collected, to hold till a stable Government was established, and also some clerical refugees. It was occupied by a Carranzist force under General Aguilar. Villa, however, suspected Gutierrez, and the capital was occupied early in December by a Zapatist force. Carranza had offered to confer with Villa at Havana, but the year ended amid a fresh civil war. A tramway strike in the capital and a dearth of food in Northern Mexico also marked the end of the year.
An agreement was arrived at in June between Great Britain, the United States and Holland to withhold support from any of their respective nationals claiming, directly or indirectly, "any right or title or interest in oil properties acquired since April 24 by reason of the cancellation of contracts or leases, or by reason of the confiscation by de facto authorities of properties on the ground of default of contractual obligations or non-compliance with legal requirements, provided that such default or non-compliance is unavoidable because of military operations or political disturbances."
In Panama the Canal was unofficially opened for general traffic on August 15, the United States War Department steamer Ancon, of 6,000 tons net, going through the locks at the head of a procession of vessels. Barge traffic had passed through earlier, and a number of ocean steamers did so later, but a landslide in October blocked the waterway for a few days and other interruptions occurred in November and December. A report on the work of the Sanitation Department showed a steady improvement in the sickness and death rates among the employees on the Canal and the Panama Railway. Yellow fever and plague had disappeared, malaria had diminished greatly. The death rate of the whole population of the zone, including the towns of Colon and Panama, was 49.94 per 1,000 in 1905, and was reduced to 20.49 in 1912 and 23.57 in 1913. The expenditure on the Canal by the end of 1913 stood at 65,000,000l. In November rules were promulgated on the use of the Canal by belligerents.
In his Message to the Assembly of Guatemala, in March, President Estrada Cabrera announced that the Government had replied to the representations of the British Foreign Office, requesting the restoration of the revenue given as a guarantee for the service of the 4 per cent. external debt, by an agreement made direct with the representatives of the bond-holders.
A treaty between Nicaragua and the United States was before the U.S. Senate at the close of the year (p. [461]). The other Central American Republics had little history except that of financial distress consequent upon the war.
V. WEST INDIES AND THE GUIANAS.
The West India Islands and British Guiana had an uneventful and fairly prosperous year until the outbreak of war, nor do their commercial interests seem since then to have been materially affected. The war stimulated the loyalty of the people and caused less apprehension than might have been expected, having regard to the concentration of the Fleet in home waters and the defenceless condition of the archipelago, in which there were German cruisers late in July, which are believed to have cut the cable on August 3. It was at first thought that the cable had broken owing to an earthquake at Jamaica on that day, but the view of the repairers was that it had undoubtedly been cut. On the defect being remedied the West Indies learned that war had been declared. On October 20 the Governor of Jamaica was able to report that matters had proceeded normally. That had been the case elsewhere. There had been no excitement and no unrest; the bank returns showed an increase of deposits since the opening of hostilities,—one of many signs that the island was recovering from the depression of 1913. The people had displayed a spirit of the greatest loyalty and he had received a large number of offers of personal service. His language is applicable to other islands and the mainland colony. Many West Indians came to England and enlisted in the new army. Though the tide of war did not reach our possessions in the Caribbean and the Guianas, the fact that Germany was at war with France and Great Britain opened up new possibilities in the Western world south of the United States, in the event of German success. So far as can be judged the normal life of the colonies was pursued, but the war checked development projects. Thus no progress has been made with the scheme for opening up the hinterland of British Guiana by a railway. The proposal of the Governor, Sir Walter Egerton, awaits the decision of the Colonial Office. A loan would be required and the chances of such legislation in the Imperial Parliament at an early date may have diminished to vanishing point since August. The need of railway enterprise in this long-neglected colony—the El Dorado of Raleigh—was illustrated during the year by the authenticated discovery of a new gold area between the head waters of the Takutu River and the Tucurutu Mountains. The British route to the field would be partly by existing steamboat and railway services and thence by canoe, with many portages past rapids, then across the Savannah and again by canoe. The journey is commercially impracticable unless the deposits are exceptionally rich. The new gold area is sparsely inhabited by Macusi Indians, who speak the Carib language but are not pure Caribs, and there is no food in the region other than what the aborigines grow for themselves. On this account and because of the long and difficult journey the Government issued a warning notice to those fitting out expeditions. The discovery greatly strengthens Sir Walter Egerton's case for a hinterland railway, without which "the largest undeveloped auriferous area in the world"—to quote the Government expert—cannot be developed.
Hayti and Santo Domingo had another revolutionary year, tempered by the occasional intervention of United States warships for the protection of foreign property.