"It is to this tradition that Britain owes her great leaders; it is these leaders who have created her world-wide Empire, and who, under our astonished eyes, have just made possible for her so prodigious a development.... Their imperialism is a universal danger, but it does not lack a certain greatness."[15] FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 15: Francis Delaisi, _Oil: Its Influence on Politics_.] CHAPTER X THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES IN MEXICO There is no country in the world where the struggle for oil between Britain and the United States has been so acute as in Mexico. That this country has been for many years in a state of perpetual unrest is because of the fight for oil concessions. The _Standard Oil_ enjoyed practically a monopoly in Mexico up to the time when the deposits at Tampico were discovered. It was the only firm which sold oil there, so it did not scruple to abuse its position. It imported crude oil, refined it on the spot, and re-sold it at a profit of 600 per cent. Immediately the oil deposits were discovered, Porfirio Diaz, to put an end to this monopoly, granted important concessions to the British firm of Pearson, which shortly afterwards founded the _Mexican Eagle_. These concessions were the signal for the newspaper campaign which was let loose against Porfirio Diaz in the United States, and for the outbreak of the Maderist insurrection in Sonora and Chihuahua. Rockefeller and Pearson made war on each other with the help of Mexican _condottieri_. The United States supported Madero, Great Britain Porfirio Diaz. The _Standard Oil_ subsidized the Maderists. Lane Wilson, formerly Ambassador of the United States to Mexico, actually stated in public, on January 7, 1913, that the movement on behalf of Madero had been paid for by the _Standard_, and that a document lying in the archives of the State Department at Washington proved it! Manuel Liyo, an official in a high position in the Mexican Ministry of the Interior, stated, before the Committee of the United States Senate, that the brothers Madero had concluded the following treaty with the _Standard_:-- I. If Madero is made President, he will grant to the _Standard_ all available concessions. II. He will withdraw all those granted to Pearson.