File No. 812.00/11540.
Chargé O’Shaughnessy to the Secretary of State.
Mexico City, April 17, 1914, 11 p.m.
860. I presented your number 754, April 17, noon, to the Minister for Foreign Affairs at four thirty today and he informed me that he would bring it up at the Cabinet meeting at six o’clock. I permitted the Minister for Foreign Affairs to read the telegram and gave him a free but strong translation thereof in Spanish for use at the meeting. I told him that I could see only one reason for refusal of our demand in view of the fact that General Huerta had every opportunity to save his face, namely that the cause of the Federal Government was lost and that foreign intervention was the only fair expectation that could save Mexico from anarchy.
At ten o’clock tonight the Minister for Foreign Affairs came to the Embassy and made the following statement which was taken down in Spanish and is faithfully translated as follows:
The President says that he has done everything he is obliged to do as the Chief of the country with regard to the United States in connection with the Tampico incident; that the arrested marines, held for a short time, were released before their release was asked and that an apology was tendered by the military commander of the port, General Morelos Zaragoza, to Rear Admiral Mayo; that subsequently the President himself expressed his regret of the occurrence and promised to open an investigation, as has already been done, a full investigation of the case, in order to punish the person should there be one guilty of the charge; that any nation in the world would have considered the above proceedings as a sufficient satisfaction, as this is all that international law can demand, but that going beyond his own obligation he has agreed that the Mexican cannons salute the American flag, provided that the American cannons simultaneously salute the Mexican flag; that this demonstration is intended to show the good will of the Mexican President towards the people of the United States as well as to indicate that the mutual and simultaneous salute of the artillery to the two flags signifies the satisfaction with which the two countries see the happy end of a conflict which at no time has been really serious.
I have the honor to request instructions regarding what my conduct shall be in general, as the result of General Huerta’s refusal to our [Page 468] demands; and also what advice I shall be authorized to give to American citizens asking for information.