The citizen., 1914-04-24

my duty 10 call your dlleitloh " "
situation which has arisen in our deal
ings with Gen. Victoriano Huerta at
Mexico City, which calls for action, and
to ask your advice and cooperation in
acting upon it.
ION the 9th of April a paymaster OF
the U. S. S. Dolphin landed at the
Iturbide bridge landing at Tampico
with a whaleboat and boats crew to
take off certain supplies needed by
his ship, and while engaged in load
ing the boat was arrested by an officer
and squad of men of the army OF Gen.
Huerta.
Neither the paymaster nor any one
of the boats crew was armed. TWO
of the men were in the boat when the
arrest took place and were obliged to
leave it and submit to be taken into
custody, notwithstanding the fact
that the boat carried, both at her bow
and at her stern, the flag of the
United States.
1.-THE officer who made the arrest was
proceeding up one of the streets OF
the town with his prisoners when met
by an officer of higher authority, who
ordered him to return to the landing
and await orders, and within an hour
and half from the time of the arrest
orders were received from the COM
mander of the Huertista forces at
Tampico for the release of the pay
master and his men.
THE release was followed by
apologies from the commander and
later by an expression of regret by
General Huerta himself. General
Huerta urged that martial law OBJ
tanned at the time at Tampico; that
orders had been issued that no one
should be allowed to land at the Iturbid
bridge, and that our sailors had no
right to land there
"Our naval commanders at the port
had not been notified of any such
prohibition, and, even if they had been,
the only justiiable course open to the
local authorities would have been to
request the paymaster and his crew to
withdraw and to lodge protest with
the commanding officer of the fleet.
admiral Mayo regarded the arrest
as so serious an affront that he was
not satisfied with the apologies offered,
but demanded that the flag Of the
United States be saluted with special
ceremony by the military commander
of the port.
1.-THE incident cannot be regarded as
q trivial one, especially as two of the
men arrested were taken from the boat
itself-that is to say, from the terri
tory of the United States; but had it
tributed to the ignorance or arrogance
of single officer. Unfortunately, it
was not an isolated case.
"a series of incidents has recently
occurred which cannot but create the
impression that the representatives of
General Huerta were willing to go
out of their way to show disregard for
the dignity and rights of this Govern
ment, and felt perfectly safe in doing
what they pleased, making free to
show in many ways their irritation
and contempt.
"a few days after the incident at
Tampico an orderly from the U. S. S.
Minnesota was arrested at Vera Cruz
while ashore in uniform to obtain the
ships mail and was for a time thrown
into jail. An official dispatch from
this Government to its embassy at
Mexico City was withheld by the au'
thorities of the telegraphic service un-
til peremptorily demanded by our
Charge d'Affaires in person.
$50 far as / can learn, such wrongs
and annoyances have been suffered to
occur only against representatives of
the United States. l have heard of no
complaints from other Governments of
similar treatment.
Subsequent explanations ana for
NAL apologies did not and could not
alter the popular impression, which it
is possible it had been the object of
the Huertista authorities to create,
that the Government of the United
States was being singled out, and
might be singled out with impunity
for Sights and affronts in retaliation
for its refusal to recognize the preten-
sions of General Huerta to be regarded
as the constitutional provisional Presi-
dent of the republic of Mexico.
1.-The manifest danger Of such stu
alton was that such offenses might
grow from bad to worse, until some
thing happened Of so gross and intoler-
able sort as to lead directly and in
evitably to armed conflict. 1t was
necessary that the apologies of General
Huerta and his representative should
go much further; that they should be
such as to attract the attention of the
whole population to their significance,
and such as to impress upon General
Huerta himself the necessity of seeing
to it that no further occasion for ex-
plantations and professed regret
should arise.
"I, therefore, felt it my duty to