File No. 312.11/3822.
The British Ambassador to the Secretary of State.
Washington, April 24, 1914.
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I beg to acknowledge with my best thanks your letter of to-day’s date which I have just received enclosing a telegram from the American Consul at Vera Cruz relative to the capture of American citizens and British subjects and their detention by the Mexican authorities. I hasten to assure you that I at once brought the matter by telegram to the knowledge of the British Minister at Mexico and the British Admiral and the British Consul at Vera Cruz. At the same time I suggested to the Admiral and the Consul that they should put themselves in direct communication with the American Consul and be ready to receive and act on any communications relating to the life and property of foreigners in Mexico. May I suggest that your Consul in Vera Cruz should be informed. I entirely share your view that such matters should not be treated on an official basis and we should all cooperate on the basis of humanity.
I am [etc.]