The hopes for mediation in Mexico are not great. General
Carranza, the leader of the Constitutionalists, has refused to agree to an armistice, which is regarded as the indispensable condition of receiving his delegates at the Mediation Con- ferences. He ridicules, moreover, the idea of a Provisional Government appointed by the mediators instead of by himself. Why, he asks, should the conqueror allow the conquered to dictate, terms P This means that he has no doubt of Lie ability finally to dispose of the Federal Army and to occupy Mexico City. Indeed, he has remarked that he could go to Mexico City at any time he pleased if the railways were not destroyed. Thus the Constitutionalists have entirely failed to come up to Mr. Wilson's expectations of their amenability. General Huerta, on the other hand, says that he is willing to make way for any Provisional Government approved of by the mediators—when Mexico is "politically pacified." There may be much recalcitrance hidden in the reservation, but, at all events, General Huerta, whom Mr. Wilson wishes to "eliminate," is much more tractable than General Carranal, with whom Mr. Wilson wishes to co-operate. The killing of prisoners is now practised freely by General Carranza as his troops gain ground.
