File No. 812.00/11659.
No. 2208.]
American Embassy,
Mexico City,
April 15, 1914.
[Inclosure—Translation.]
The Minister for Foreign
Affairs to Chargé O’Shaughnessy.
Foreign Office,
Mexico,
April 10, 1914.
Mr. Chargé d’affaires: The Department of
War and Marine has just informed me of an incident which occurred at
the port of Tampico between a few marines of the American man-of-war
Dolphin and Colonel Ramon H. Hinojosa,
who was in command of the forces of the State of Tamaulipas at
Iturbide Bridge.
It appears from this communication that yesterday at 10:00 a.m.
several American marines in uniform arrived, on a launch at a
warehouse situated
[Page 462]
near
the Iturbide Bridge, in order to purchase gasoline, as was known
afterwards; and that the above-mentioned Colonel Ramón H. Hinojosa,
in charge of the defense of said bridge against the rebels, ordered
that the marines should be taken between two files of Mexican
soldiers to his presence. As soon as the Commander-in-Chief of the
forces in Tampico had knowledge of the event, through the Consul of
the United States at that port and the commander of the Dolphin, he apologized and explained that
Colonel Hinojosa was in command of State troops, and ordered his
arrest, sending him to the artillery barracks.
So far, as you will see, the military commander of Tampico was
courteous to the extreme of arresting the officer in command of the
forces which arrested the marines from the Dolphin, notwithstanding that, as you are well aware, and
of this there are precedents during the Civil War of the United
States of America, when a port is subject to the military
authorities, menaced by an attack from rebels, no free access to it
is allowed by or to anyone; and besides it is perfectly understood
that a military commander who sees the arrival of men in uniform at
the post he is guarding should proceed to arrest them pending an
investigation as to whether the presence of those men is or is not
justifiable. Therefore, the military commander in Tampico has gone
beyond that which international courtesy demands; consequently,
however deplorable the incident may have been it should have been
considered as ended in the above-mentioned form. Unfortunately, it
did not happen in this way, inasmuch as the Consul of the United
States of America and an aide of Admiral Mayo yesterday afternoon
presented to the military commander in Tampico a note containing
five articles, in which they asked: An apology by a commission of
members of the staff of the above-mentioned commander; that the flag
of the United States of America be hoisted in a public and high
place; that a salute of twenty-one guns be fired; and that Colonel
Hinojosa be severely punished; for the execution of all of the above
a term of twenty-four hours was fixed, which expires this
afternoon.
I believe that a knowledge of these facts will be sufficient for you
to at once telegraph to the Consul of the United States at Tampico
and to Admiral Mayo to the end that they withdraw their petition
inasmuch as, without discussing whether or not it is within the
province of the above-mentioned officials or whether their ultimatum
is in accordance or not with the rules of international law, the
articles of said note are lacking in justification in view of the
apology made by the military commander at Tampico and the punishment
imposed upon Colonel Hinojosa.
I renew [etc.].
