File No. 812.00/11522.
Chargé O’Shaughnessy to the Secretary of State.
Mexico City, April 15, 1914, 9 p.m.
856. Referring to your No. 744, April 14, 10 p.m. I finally found General Huerta at 12:15 noon and brought the contents of that telegram to his attention, and did my utmost to impress upon him the gravity of the situation. He said that all the acts complained [Page 464] of were due to ignorance and not intention and that he could not see why the President of the United States did not accept his original statement as sufficient. I said that I did not think that he could stand on the matter of right but rather look to the expediency of coming to a satisfactory arrangement. He then said: “Will you take this matter up officially with the Minister for Foreign Affairs? “To which I answered that I would like to have an interview with both him and the Minister for Foreign Affairs today and he set the hour of five o’clock at Chapultepec Castle.
I met him there and had a long conference, the general tone of which was exceedingly frank, and he unbosomed himself and informed me that the policy of my Government towards him was the result of the machinations of his enemies, etc. I finally was able to get the following out of him, namely, that if the American Government would agree to simultaneous salutes he would be only too pleased to do this; that is: that at the same time that twenty-one guns would be fired by a Mexican battery saluting the American flag, twenty-one guns should be fired by an American battery saluting the Mexican flag. After some time I was able to elicit from him that he did not desire to salute first because he believed that the United States Government would not return the salute and would thereby humiliate his Government. He quoted in this connection the fact that the President of the United States did not answer his New Year’s telegram. He said that if the American Government would not agree to this that the question could go to The Hague and he asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs who was present if the arbitration treaty between Mexico and the United States would not cover this case, and he said that it would.
I told him that I would inform him of your reply. When asked by Huerta for my advice I told him that were I in his place I would get busy and fire the salutes demanded and finish the incident.