Page:Mexico under Carranza.djvu/90

74 troops in Mexico was an act of bad faith and was being used by our Government for political purposes; that their presence upon the soil of Mexico constituted a grave wrong to that country and ending with the following threat:

 "The Mexican government understands that in the face of the unwillingness of the American Government to withdraw the above forces, it would be left no other recourse than to procure the defence of its territory by means of arms."

In reply to this letter Secretary Lansing, in his indignant letter of June 20, 1916, quoted in Chapter IV, said:

 "If, on the contrary, the de facto government is pleased to ignore this obligation and to believe that, 'in case of a refusal to retire these troops, there is no further recourse than to defend its territory by an appeal to arms' the Government of the United States would surely be lacking in sincerity and friendship if it did not frankly impress upon the de facto government that the execution of this threat would lead to the gravest consequences."

At the same time General Treviño, in command of a force of Mexican troops located near the camp of the American punitive expedition, sent a note to General Pershing, under date of June 16, 1916, as follows: