The incident cannot be regarded as a trivial one, especially as two of
the men arrested were taken from the boat itself--that is to say, from
the territory of the United States--but had it stood by itself it might
have been attributed to the ignorance or arrogance of a single officer.
Unfortunately, it was not an isolated case. A series of incidents have
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 Government 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 ship's 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 authorities of the
telegraphic service until peremptorily demanded by our charge d'affaires
in person. So far as I can learn, such wrongs and annoyances have been
suffered to occur only against representatives of the United States.
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