Not Vengeful, Says Huerta.

New York Times 100 years ago today, February 26, 1913:
Hopes That He Will Be Able to Pacify Government's Foes.
    MEXICO CITY, Feb. 25.— President Victoriano Huerta insists that his will not be a government of retaliation or revenge, but that he will devote his energies to the placation of those persons mildly antagonistic and to the stern repression of its active enemies.
    As indicating the sincerity of the President, most of those who were arrested immediately after the overthrow of Madero have been released, among them Juan Sanchez Azcona, Madero's private secretary. Gen. Angeles, whose reluctance to join in the movement against Madero resulted in his arrest, has been released, and, it is said, will retire. An amnesty proclamation has been sent broadcast.
    The Government has not forgotten to extend rewards. As a General, Huerta long resented the failure of some of his companions in arms to receive promotion, and since his assumption of power new straps have been bestowed upon numerous officers. Among those, thus honored was Col. Diaz Ordaz, Gen. Felix Diaz's chief lieutenant at Vera Cruz. He was removed from the military prison there, promoted to General, and named as commandant of Vera Cruz.
    Rodolfo Reyes, Minister of Justice, will probably retire from the Cabinet, so that he may be free to conduct his own campaign for the Presidency. A report is current that he has had a disagreement with President Huerta. Reyes denies this, however, and says that if he retires it will be on account of private business.
    Hope for immediate peace in Mexico is slight. Rebel activity in the north has increased and the Government's efforts to enter into arrangements with the Zapatistas appear to have failed.
    Whether the rebels, whose centre is the State of Coahuila, have increased numerically is not generally known, but they have so conducted their operations already that communication with the frontier has been stopped, the region between Laredo and San Luis Potosi being practically isolated.
    In the south the Zapatistas continue burning and raiding, and an attack on a military train between Ozumba and Mexico City leaves little room for doubt as to their attitude toward the new administration. The attack on the train was of the ordinary ambush type. The train was stopped by a burned-out bridge, and the fighting continued for more than two hours.
    One of the demands of the Zapatistas, made to-day by commissioners representing that section of the rebels, was that all Zapatista officers be admitted to the regular establishment with corresponding rank, some having taken unto themselves the title of General. To this the Government strongly objected.
    The Commissioners left to report to their chief, and soon word came back that the Zapatistas considered the revolution still in progress. The Government has sent forces southward toward Cuernavaca, along the line of the Central Railway, a portion of which will be rebuilt.
    Reports from the State of Morelos indicate that the work of destruction during the past twenty-four hours has been more complete than ordinarily undertaken by the rebels.
    To offset the antagonism of the Zapatistas, however, the Government believes that there will be no difficulty in concluding arrangements for peace with Juan Andrew Almazan and Julio Radillo, the two most prominent leaders in the State of Guerrero. Nor is there much doubt felt by the officials that arrangements can be made by the Government agents sent to El Paso with representatives of Orozco's army. Benjamin Arguemedo, Cheche Campos, and the two Orozcos, the most valiant leaders, it is announced here, have expressed willingness to cooperate. Their field chiefly has been in the district about Torreon, and if the expected arrangements are made it is not improbable that they may be employed in combating the elements of the new revolution centred in Coahuila.
    The official closing of the Port of Laredo was the first public intimation here that the Government regarded the rebels of the North as unfriendly to the new régime. It had been stated officially that Venustiano Carranza, Governor of Coahuila, had decided to abandon his antagonistic attitude, but hope of this has greatly diminished, and the cutting of the National Railroad between San Luis Potosi and Saltillo, and between San Luis and Tampico indicates that the Government has much work before it can subjugate the rebels.
    The revival of the Diaz influence in Mexico is indicated by an order issued by Gen. Huerta to-day, commanding that the portraits of Porfirio Diaz be restored to the places in the public buildings from which they were removed by the late Francisco Madero immediately after his assumption of office. Several large pictures of the old dictator, equestrian and otherwise, are to be replaced immediately in the corridors and halls of the National Palace. Several of the new Cabinet Ministers, anticipating the Presidential order, had already caused pictures to be dragged from their hiding places, dusted, and hung on the walls of their various departments. The American Ambassador, Henry Lane Wilson, called on President Huerta this afternoon, and at the palace it was officially stated that he presented representations from Washington for a more detailed and circumstantial account of the deaths of the former President and former Vice President.
    The commission charged with the investigation has taken considerable testimony, but has made none of it public.