ne and the same time both national and
international; national in the sense that it is the law of the land and
applicable as such to the decision of all questions involving its
principles; international in the sense that it is the law of the
society of nations and applicable as such to all questions between and
among the members of the society of nations involving its principles.

This Declaration has been criticised as being too altruistic for a
world in which diplomacy has been occupied with selfish aims, yet Mr.
Root, in presenting it at the annual meeting of the American Society of
International Law, claimed that every statement in it was "based upon
the decisions of American courts and the authority of American
publicists."

The Mexican situation put the principles of the new Pan-Americanism to
a severe test. On February 18, 1913, Francisco Madero was seized and
imprisoned as the result of a conspiracy formed by one of his generals,
Victoriano Huerta, who forthwith proclaimed himself dictator. Four
days later Madero was murdered while in the custody of Huerta's troops.
Henry Lane Wilson, the American ambassador, promptly urged his
government to recognize Huerta, but President Taft, whose term was
rapidly drawing to a close, took no action and left the question to his
successor.

President Wilson thus had a very disagreeable situation to face when he
assumed control of affairs at Washington. He refused to recognize
Huerta, whose authority was contested by insurrectionary chiefs in
various parts of the country. It was claimed by the critics of the
administration that the refusal to recognize Huerta was a direct
violation of the well-known American policy of recognizing de facto
governments without undertaking to pass upon the rights involved. It
is perfectly true that the United States has consistently followed the
policy of recognizing de facto governments as soon as it is evident in
each case that the new government rests on popular approval and is
likely to be permanent. This doctrine of recognition is distinctively
an American doctrine. It was first laid down by Thomas Jefferson when
he was Secretary of State as an offset to the European doctrine of
divine right, and it was the natural outgrowth of that other
Jeffersonian doctrine that all governments derive their just powers
from the consent of the governed. Huerta could lay no claim to
authority derived from a majority or anything like a majority of