Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1915-04-02

superior officer and carried his in
subordination to such 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
! army.
Carranza's 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'
tons 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 DESTROYS, 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
q, between the two men might be ad'
! iusted and the welfare of the const1tu-
tionalist cause not be jeopardlzed.
This was effected, but it was clear TO
the minds of all MeXicans that unless
Villa changed his mental attitude and
ceased to allow certain clique OF re-
dictionaries. who had come close to
his condolences, to initiate his vanity
bevond control, that they would use
him as a tool to undermine the now
all but attained success of the revolu'
tion. Events afterwards proved these
apprehensions to be well 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 rlpen.
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 it's sincerity; straight cuts
rather than winding paths, are the IA
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 circumlocution and
representation.
Vera Cruz Note.
This was strikingly evidenced in. his
so-called Vera Cruz note to this coun-
try. Carranza felt that the ocupa-
ton 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
Mexico when the United States army
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 tina married the friendly feel
ing between the White House and the
Constitutionalist came Of this uDfor-
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 call to all the military lead
ers and governors of States who had
signed the plan of Guadalupe to meet
in convention on October LIST, in Mexi-
co City, for the purpose of drafting
a program of reforms and to name a
date for the calling of general cleo
lions.
Villa, ever since his first break with
Carranza, had been throwing obstacles
in the way Of successful pacifcation
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 a 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 a frenzy Of anger he at
: tempted to kill Obregon. Fortunately
being restrained from this by subor-
dinate officers, he Mechanically placed
Obregon under arrest. These events,
happened but a 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 Aguascalientes,
some distance south of where Obre-
gon was held by Villa, discontinued
temporarily from Mexico City, until he
could determine whether or not Villa
intended his treatment of Obregon to
presage a hostile military movement
against Carranza
Villas lnsoIence.
Villa sent telegram to Carranza
asking him to explain what he termed
this hostile action against his division
of the North. Carranza sent him the
following reply: Before answering
your message which l have just re-