The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1915-03-04


subordination to such a length that
when his resignation as division COM
mander was accepted by CarranZa, he
paid no attention to this action and
continued to remain In charge of his
/ Amy.
! Carranzas position in this matter
was similar to that of President Lin
coin during our Civil War, when Nc
Clellan, Fremont, Hooker, Burnside
and Meade scoffed at the Presidents
knowledge of military strategy and re-
fused TO give any heed to his direc-
tions as Commander in Chief of the
Union forces. In each case, Lincoln
was compelled to remove the insubor-
dinate general from his command.
Carranza Retires.
Carranza, setting aside all personal
considerations and desirous, above
anything else, of bringing the revo-
luton to a triumphant conclusion,
agreed to allow General Gonzales to
hold conference with General Villa,
in order that the personal differences
between the two men might be ad-
justed and the welfare of the constitu-
tionalist cause not be jeopardized.
This was effected, but it was clear to
the minds of all Mexicans that unless
Villa changed his mental attitude and
ceased to allow a certain clique of re-
actionaries, who had come close to
his condolences, to initiate his vanity
beyond control, that they would use
him as a tool to undermine the now
all but attained success of the revolu-
ton. Events afterwards proved these
apprehensions to be we'll grounded
From the moment that Villa first be-
gan to dream dreams of an empire
and the traitorous kitchen cabinet that
surrounded him began to see the prob
ability of their nefarious work ripen-
ing into success, there began a we'll
organized and systematic campaign
of publicity in this country with the
purpose of painting Carranza as Anti
American" ambitious" hostile"
"dictatorial," Stubborn" etc. He was
dubbed an ''old man in his tottering
senility," and other such libelous de-
scriptions of him were sent broadcast
as to create in this country an impress
sion that CarranZa was totally unfit
to act as the Chief Executive of Mex
leo.
CarranZa is not diplomat, in fact,
his blunt honesty is at times discon-
certing in its sincerity; straight cuts
rather than winding paths, are the fa-
vorite ways of his mental trains. He
is essentially Anglo-Saxon in his men
tai workings and utterly lacks the usu-
al Latin habits OF eircumlocution and
procrastsiatiun.
-' Vera Cruz Note.
This was strikingly evidenced in his
so-called Vera Cruz note to this coun-
t.-y. Carranza felt that the ocupa-
tion of Vera Cruz by our troops was
a violation of the sovereignty Of Mex.
leo. Northerns in the Civil War would
have entertained the same feeling of
resentment against England had she
on account of some differences with
the Confederacy occupied Mobile. All
America would have been united in
hostile array against the British A
somewhat similar sentiment animated
by force took possession of Vera Cruz.
Fortunately, after storm of aggra.
walton had swept this country over
what was termed "Carranza's insolent
stand" the administration came to
appreciate Carranza's position and
nothing that marred the friendly feel.
ing between the White House and the
Constitutionalist came of this unfor.
tunate incident. In due time the
greater part of the American people |
also arrived at the understanding of |
the patriotism that had prompted Car
rama.
After Carranza had established a
government in the national capital he |
issued a call to all the military lead |
ers and governors of States who had |
signed the plan of Guadalupe to meet |
in convention on October 1st, in Mexi- |
co City, for the purpose of drafting |
a program of reforms and to name a
date for the calling of general elec-
tions.
Villa, ever since his first break with
Carranza, had been throwing obstacles
in the way of successful pacification
of the country. In order to show him
that he harbored no i'll feelings Car
rama named Villa to go with General
Obregon on peace mission to settle
a local strife in the State of Sonora.
Villa in the course of these negotia-
tions became so incensed at Obregon.
who held an equal rank with him in
the Constitutionalist army, because
the latter refused to accept his unau-
thorized dictation and withdrew Gen.
eral Hill from Sonora in order that
Governor Maytorena, Villas ally.
might control the situation and array
that State against Carranza's author
ity, that in frenzy of anger he at
tempted to kill Obregon. Fortunately
being restrained from this by subor-
dinate officers, he highhandedly placed
Obregon under arrest. These events
happened but few days before the
time that the Mexico City convention
was to assemble.
When Carranza was informed of
Villas unwarranted persecution of
Obregon, he ordered the train service
north of the City of AguascaIientes,
some distance south of where Obre-
gon was held by Villa, discontinued
from Mexico City, until he
could determine whether OF not Villa
his treatment of Obregon to
presage hostile military movement
against Carranza.
Villas Insolenee.
Villa sent a telegram to Carranza
lskiny him IN axnlafn what he tav,no5