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See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1904-1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (September).
Visit of a Commercial Commission from Japan.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1909 (SEPTEMBER).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (September-October).
Tour of President Taft.
Meeting with President Diaz on Mexican Soil.
In the fall of 1909 President Taft made an extended tour of the country, from New England to the Pacific Coast and southward to Mexico and the Gulf, speaking to great assemblies at many points on all the important questions, political and economical, that were then before the country. In the course of the tour a meeting between President Diaz of Mexico and himself was arranged, and took place on the 16th of October, first at El Paso, on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, and then at Ciudad Juarez, on the Mexican side, formal visits being thus exchanged. Finally, in the evening, President Taft was entertained at dinner in the Mexican city by President Diaz. This was a second time that a President of the United States had left the soil of his own country while in office, President Roosevelt having done the same at Panama in 1906.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (October-November).
Further Disclosures of Corruption in the Customs Service.
The shameful disclosure in 1907-1908 of Sugar Trust frauds on the Federal Treasury afforded glimpses of a state of corruption in the Customs Service of the Government, at the port of New York especially, which were more than verified within the next year and a half.
See (in this Volume) COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &c.:
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1907-1909.
The Collector of Customs, Mr. William Loeb, Jr., who took charge of the New York office in the spring of 1909, exercised a watchfulness which soon put him on the traces of fraud, and he pursued them with an energy and determination that cannot have been brought into action before. The first case brought to light was that of a cheese-importing firm, the members of which, father and son, were found to have paid bribes to weighers of the Custom House for false reports of the quantities on which duties were paid. Conviction was obtained by means of evidence from some of the guilty officials, who were given immunity and retained in service, in order to secure information without which, it was said, the well-covered corruption in the service could not be successfully probed. In his annual report, made in December, 1909, Secretary MacVeagh, of the Treasury Department, had this to say of the vigorous reformatory measures thus undertaken at the port of New York, and of the significance of the consequent revelations:
"The revelations made and proven were so startling and impressive that opposition was silenced; and in this silence the necessary, clear-cut measures could be carried out without meeting serious obstructions.
"It soon developed that the frauds of the American Sugar Refining Company, while, perhaps, the most important instances, were as had been apprehended, symptoms of a diseased condition, not universal by any means, but almost general. And difficult as it always is to sufficiently bring to light the facts of such a condition to afford a basis for rehabilitation, this has been already largely accomplished. Much has been discovered to afford an understanding of the
situation, with the result of numerous seizures, of numerous prosecutions made or projected, and of important and successful beginnings of a complete rehabilitation. While the recovery of evaded duties, and the prosecution of individuals have been of large significance, the greatest asset to the government of these disgraceful conditions is the knowledge and the light which guarantee in time a wholesome reorganization.
"The study of the causes of the demoralization which has been revealed is still incomplete, but the main causes are evident. It is clear, for instance, that the influence of local politics and politicians upon the customs service has been most deleterious, and has promoted that laxity and low tone which prepare and furnish an inviting soil for dishonesty and fraud. Unless the customs service can be released from the payment of political debts and exactions, and from meeting the supposed exigencies of political organizations, big and little, it will be impossible to have an honest service for any length of time. Any considerable share of the present cost of this demoralization to the public revenues, to the efficiency of the service, and to public and private morality is a tremendous amount to pay in mere liquidation of the small debts of political leaders.
{683}
"It is also clear that the widespread disposition of returning American travellers to evade the payment of legal duties has greatly helped to create the conditions which have become intolerable. Those Americans who travel abroad belong to the sections of the people which most readily create public sentiment, and are most responsible for it; and the fact that in so many instances these travellers are willing to defraud the government out of considerable or even small sums creates an atmosphere on the docks that strongly tends to affect the morale of the entire customs service. And when to this is
added the frequent willingness upon the part of these responsible citizens to specifically corrupt the government's men, then the demoralization is further accentuated."
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (November). Arbitration of the Alsop Claim against Chile.
See (in this Volume) CHILE: A. D. 1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (December). Proposal to neutralize Manchurian Railways.
See (in this Volume) CHINA: A. D. 1909-1910.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1910 (January). President’s Message on Legislation relating to "Trusts" and Interstate Commerce.
See (in this Volume) COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &c.: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1910, and RAILWAYS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1910.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Movements of Reform in Municipal Government.
See (in this Volume) MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Comparative Statement of the Consumption of Alcoholic Drink.
See (in this Volume) ALCOHOL PROBLEM.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
The Interchange of People between the United States and Canada.
See (in this Volume) CANADA: A. D. 1896-1909.
----------UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA: End--------
UNITED STATES SENATORS:
Proposed Election by Direct Popular Vote.
"On December 3, 1895, the State of Idaho, taking advantage of that provision of article 5, which permits States to apply to Congress for authority to hold a constitutional convention, passed a resolution requesting Congress to call such a convention. Since then the States of Wyoming, Ohio, Minnesota, Montana, Utah, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nevada, Washington, Tennessee, South Dakota, Colorado, Oregon, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Texas, California, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Alabama, have taken legislative action in some form or other expressing either a demand similar to that of the State of Idaho, or a sympathy with the intent of the Idaho resolution. These thirty-one States form a constitutional two-thirds of the forty-six States of the Union.
"One of the complications which have arisen in connection with these resolutions is the fact that only twenty-four of them are of record as having been actually received by the Senate of the United States. One of them, that of the State of Ohio, which was the third State to act, was only recently discovered to be in the Senate files. It is possible therefore, that since the question of submitting the proposed amendment has become a live issue, a further search of the files may increase the number of State resolutions on this subject which
are actually on hand.
"A legal quibble is bound to ensue over the form of some of these resolutions. Nine of the resolutions now on file in the Senate are already held to be of doubtful legality, but the ground on which they are held doubtful will appeal to most people as a mere splitting of legal hairs. Nevertheless, the Senate of the United States, at least, is, as a whole, a notorious legal hair-splitter, and this fact must be taken into account.
"It is, of course, a matter of record, that the House of Representatives has four times sent to the Senate a proposed joint resolution calling for the direct election of United States Senators."
Washington Correspondent of the New York Evening Post, October 13, 1909.
UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION: Its conflict with the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Plate Workers.
See (in this Volume) LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901.
UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION: The Placing of its Stock among its Employés.
See (in this Volume) LABOR REMUNERATION: PROFIT-SHARING. UNIVERSITIES.
See (in this Volume) EDUCATION.
URIBE-URIBE, RAFAEL.
See (in this Volume)
COLOMBIA: A. D. 1898-1902.
URUGUAY: A. D. 1901-1906. Participation in Second and Third International Conferences of American Republics.
See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
URUGUAY: A. D. 1904. Rebellion and prolonged Civil War.
On the 8th of January, 1904, the American Minister at Montevideo reported by telegram to the State Department at Washington "that another crisis is at hand in Uruguay; that encounters have taken place between groups of ‘Blanco,’ and the Government forces, and that the former, who were neither concentrated nor well organized, have been dispersed. A number were killed and wounded. The Government is making an aggressive campaign and demands obedience to the constituted authority as a condition before peace negotiations will be entered into."
This was the beginning of a state of civil war that was prolonged through nine months, with infinite harm to the country.
When peace came, at the end of September, it was practically bought from the insurgents, the terms of submission, as officially announced, including the following: "Sixth, incorporation into the army of all the chiefs and officers included in the amnesty law. Seventh. A mixed committee appointed by agreement by the Government and insurgents will distribute the sum of $100,000 between the chiefs, officers,
and soldiers of the rebel forces."
URUGUAY: A. D. 1910. Agreement with Argentina concerning the River Plate.
See (in this Volume) ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1910.
URUSSOFF, PRINCE: Speech in the Duma.
See (in this Volume) RUSSIA: A. D. 1906.
URYU, ADMIRAL.
See (in this Volume) JAPAN: A. D. 1904 (FEBRUARY-JULY).
UTAH: Law limiting Hours of Adult Labor in Mines.
See (in this Volume) LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1902.
UTILITIES, PUBLIC.
See (in this Volume) PUBLIC UTILITIES.
{684}
V. VACUUM OIL COMPANY.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &c.: UNITED STATES. A. D. 1904-1909.
VALIAHD, The: Heir to the Persian throne.
See (in this Volume) PERSIA: A. D. 1905-1907.
VANNOVSKY, GENERAL.
See (in this Volume) RUSSIA: A. D. 1901-1904.
VALPARAISO, DESTRUCTIVE EARTHQUAKE AT.
See (in this Volume) EARTHQUAKES: CHILE.
VEHEMENTER NOS, THE PAPAL ENCYCLICAL.
See (in this Volume) PAPACY: A. D. 1906 (FEBRUARY).
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1901. Claims and Complaints of Germany. Memorandum presented to the Government of the United States. Its Reply. Interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine.
On the 11th of December, 1901, the German Embassy at Washington presented to the State Department of the Government of the United States a memorandum of the claims and complaints of Germany against the Government of Venezuela. The principal claim recited was that of the Berlin Company of Discount, "on account of the non-performance of engagements which the Venezuelan Government has undertaken in connection with the
great Venezuelan Railway which has been built by the said Government." In respect to this it is remarked that the "behaviour of the Venezuelan Government could, perhaps, to a certain degree, be explained and be excused by the bad situation of the finances of the State; but our further reclamations against Venezuela, which date from the Venezuelan civil wars of the years 1898 until 1900, have taken during these last months a more serious character. Through those wars many German merchants living in Venezuela and many German land-owners have been seriously damaged"; and the treatment of claims for these damages is characterized as "a frivolous attempt to avoid just obligations." After some recital of circumstances in these cases, the memorandum proceeds to announce that "the Imperial Government believes that further negotiations with Venezuela on the present base are hopeless," and that measures of coercion are contemplated. "But we consider it of importance to let first of all the Government of the United States know about our purposes, so that we can prove that we have nothing else in view than to help those of our citizens who have suffered damages. … We declare especially that under no circumstances do we consider in our proceedings the acquisition or the permanent occupation of Venezuelan territory."
In reply, the Department of State returned a memorandum, in part as follows:
"The President in his Message of the 3d of December, 1901, used the following language: ‘The Monroe Doctrine is a declaration that there must be no territorial aggrandizement by any non-American Power at the expense of any American Power on American soil. It is in no wise intended as hostile to any nation in the Old World.’ The President further said: ‘This doctrine has nothing to do with the commercial relations of any American Power, save that it in truth allows each of them to form such as it desires. … We do not guarantee any State against punishment if it misconducts itself, provided that
punishment does not take the form of the acquisition of territory by any non-American Power. … The President of the United States, appreciating the courtesy of the German Government in making him acquainted with the state of affairs referred to, and not regarding himself as called upon to enter into the consideration of the claims in question, believes that no measures will be taken in this matter by the agents of the German Government which are not in accordance with the well-known purpose, above set forth, of His Majesty the German Emperor."
Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States
(House Doc’s, 57th Congress 1st Session, Volume 1), pages 192-195
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1901. Delegates withdrawn from Second International Conference of American Republics.
See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1902-1904.
Concerted Action by Great Britain, Germany, and Italy to enforce Claims.
Blockade of Ports and seizure of Warships. Intermediation of the United States. Agreements Secured. Reference to the Tribunal at The Hague.
The rebellion and revolution in Venezuela which gave control of the government to General Cipriano Castro, in 1899, and the speedy outbreak of revolt against his self-assumed administration, are told of in Volume VI. of this work.
See, also, (in this Volume)
COLOMBIA: A. D. 1898-1902.
The first insurrection was overcome in May, 1900; but other risings, concentrated in leadership finally under Manuel A. Matos, followed in 1901-1902. Partly growing out of the disturbances in the country and partly due to the arbitrary and wayward conduct of Castro (who obtained election to the Presidency in 1902, for six years) many claims for indemnity and debt against that Government accumulated and citizens of many countries were interested in them. As no satisfaction could be obtained from President Castro by diplomatic methods, peremptory proceedings against Venezuela were concerted in 1902 by Great Britain, Germany and Italy. A blockade of Venezuelan ports and seizure of war vessels was undertaken by the three Powers, with results which are narrated as follows in the Message of President Roosevelt to the Congress of the United States, on its meeting in December, 1903:
The "employment of force for the collection of these claims was terminated by an agreement brought about through the offices of the diplomatic representatives of the United States at Caracas and the Government at Washington, thereby ending a situation which was bound to cause increasing friction, and which jeoparded the peace of the continent. Under this agreement Venezuela agreed to set apart a certain percentage of the customs receipts of two of her ports to be applied to the payment of whatever obligations might be ascertained by mixed commissions appointed for that purpose to be due from her, not only to the three powers already mentioned, whose proceedings against her had resulted in a state of war, but also to the United States, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, and Mexico, who had not employed force for the collection of the claims alleged to be due to certain of their citizens.
{685}
"A demand was then made by the so-called blockading powers that the sums ascertained to be due to their citizens by such mixed commissions should be accorded payment in full before anything was paid upon the claims of any of the so-called peace powers. Venezuela, on the other hand, insisted that all her creditors should be paid upon a basis of exact equality. During the efforts to adjust this dispute it was suggested by the powers in interest that it should be referred to me for decision, but I was clearly of the opinion that a far wiser course would be to submit the question to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. It seemed to me to offer an admirable opportunity to advance the practice of the peaceful settlement of disputes between nations and to secure for the Hague Tribunal a memorable increase of its practical importance. The nations interested in the controversy were so numerous and in many instances so powerful as to make it evident that beneficent results would follow from their appearance at the same time before the bar of that august tribunal of peace.
"Our hopes in that regard have been realized. Russia and Austria are represented in the persons of the learned and distinguished jurists who compose the Tribunal, while Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, Mexico, the United States, and Venezuela are represented by their respective agents and counsel. Such an imposing concourse of nations presenting their arguments to and invoking the decision of that high court of international justice and international peace can hardly fail to secure a like submission of many future controversies. The nations now appearing there will find it far easier to appear there a second time, while no nation can imagine its just pride will be lessened by following the example now presented. This triumph of the principle of international arbitration is a subject of warm congratulation and offers a happy augury for the peace of the world."
Message of President Roosevelt, December 7, 1903.
The claims of the Powers against Venezuela, presented in September, summed up as follows: France, $16,040,000; United States, $10,900,000; Italy, $9,300,000; Belgium, $3,003,000; Great Britain, $2,500,000; Germany, $1,417,300; Holland, $1,048,451; Spain, $600,000; Mexico, $500,000; Sweden, $200,000.
The claim of Great Britain, Germany, and Italy to a right of priority in payment, because of their action which compelled the Government of Venezuela to arrange a settlement, was submitted to the Tribunal at The Hague in November. The decision, rendered in the following January, affirmed the right of the three Powers which had exercised coercion in the case to priority in the payment of their claims, and it imposed on the United States the duty of overseeing the fulfilment of the agreements which Venezuela had made. In this last particular the decision of the Tribunal could be regarded as an international affirmation of the Monroe Doctrine, and of signal importance in that view.
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1902-1905. A short Period of Comparative Tranquility.
"After the blockade instituted in December, 1902, by Germany, Great Britain and Italy, had been raised, and protocols had been signed for the settlement of all duly recognized claims
of foreign nations against Venezuela, Venezuela enjoyed a short period of tranquility; but, by the beginning of 1905, every legation in Caracas had a list of grievances founded on alleged unfair awards of arbitrators, on denials of justice on the part of the Venezuelan courts and on the diminution by President Castro of the percentage he had agreed to pay to the creditor nations from the receipts of his custom-houses. Moreover, Germany and Great Britain began to show signs of restlessness, because President Castro had not provided, as had been agreed in the protocols, for the payment of interest to British and German bondholders. The situation looked even worse than before the blockade, for the principal nation aggrieved was the United States, and it had the moral support of all other nations represented in Caracas by legations.
"The main issue between the United States and Venezuela was the asphalt case. In July, 1904, President Castro had demanded ten million dollars from the American Company, known as the ‘New York and Bermudez Asphalt Company,’ and had threatened, if that amount was not paid immediately, that the whole asphalt lake and the property of the Company would be seized. He based his demand on the alleged support given by the Asphalt Company to the Matos revolution of 1902; but, as he did not demand anything from the countless other supporters of the revolution, it was clear that his demand on the Asphalt Company was piratical."
H. W. Bowen, Queer Diplomacy with Castro (North American Review, March 15, 1907).
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1904.
Adoption of a new Constitution.
The following summary of the provisions of a new Constitution, adopted in Venezuela, on the 27th of April, 1904, was communicated to the State Department at Washington by United
States Minister Bowen:
It reduces the number of States to thirteen Aragua, Bermudez, Bolivar, Carabobo, Falcon, Guarico, Lara, Merida, Miranda, Tachira, Trujillo, Zamora, and Zulia and provides for five Territories Amazonas, Cristobal Colon, Colon, Delta Amacuro, and Yururari and the Federal District, which is composed of the Departments Libertador, Varagas, Guaicaipuro, and Sucre, and the island of Margarita.
The States enjoy equality and autonomy, having all rights not delegated to the central Government. The Territories are administered by the President.
The Government is divided into three branches the legislative, the executive, and the judicial.
The legislative branch is called the Congress, and is composed of two bodies the Senate and the House of Deputies. One deputy will be elected by every 40,000 inhabitants, and all deputies, as well as senators (two from every State) and the President, will serve for six years. Deputies must be 21 years of age, senators 30, and the President over 30. No extraordinary powers are given to the Congress, except that 14 of its members shall be chosen by itself to elect every sixth year a President, a first and a second vice-president, and to elect a successor to the second vice-president.
{686}
The President, besides being charged with the usual executive duties, is authorized to declare war, arrest, imprison, or expel natives or aliens who are opposed to the reëstablishment of peace, to issue letters of marque and reprisal, to permit aliens to enter the public service, to prohibit the immigration into the Republic of objectionable religious teachers, and to establish rules for the postal, telegraph,
and telephone services.
The judicial power is vested in the Corte Federal y de Casacion (seven judges elected by the Congress) and the lower courts (appointed by the State governments).
All Venezuelans over 21 years of age may vote, and aliens can obtain that right by getting naturalized. No length of time is prescribed for an alien to live in the Republic before he can become naturalized.
Article 15 of the constitution denies the right of natives or aliens to present claims to the nation or States for damages caused by revolutionists.
Article 17 abolishes the death penalty.
And article 120 provides that all of Venezuela’s international treaties shall hereafter contain the clause, "All differences between the contracting parties shall be decided by arbitration, without going to war."
In conclusion, the constitution provides that the next constitutional terms shall begin May 23, 1905. Up to that date General Castro will be Provisional President. He took his oath of office as such on the 5th instant, and on the same day Juan Vicente Gomez was made first vice-president and Jose Antonio Velutini second vice-president.
As Provisional President, General Castro has been authorized to name the presidents of the States, to organize the Federal Territories, to fix the estimates for the public expenses, and, in short, to exercise the fullest powers.
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1905-1906. Troubles with the United States and France. President Castro’s Vacation.
Both France and the United States had troubles which became acute in 1905 with the arrogant President of Venezuela, growing out of his high-handed treatment of French and American business interests and rights in that country. In the case of the United States, the most serious grievance, as stated above, was that of the New York and Bermudez Company, which had a concession dating back to 1883, and a later mining title, under Venezuela laws, to the asphalt deposit known as Bermudez Lake, together with the fee-simple ownership of land surrounding the lake. Ever since the advent of Castro, the company had been harassed by litigious proceedings, behind which the Government was said to be always in action. In 1905 these were carried to the point of putting the whole property into the hands of a receiver or "depositary," practically transferring its capital and plant to its rivals in business. A little later, a judicial decision, pronounced by a Venezuela court, annulled the company’s concession. The main ground of this confiscation appears to have been the charge that the company had contributed funds to the support of the Matos revolt, in 1901.
The same accusation was brought against the French Cable Company, whose franchise was annulled and its property confiscated in like manner. In both cases, the matter was a proper one for arbitration, and this Castro refused, maintaining the finality of the decision of the Venezuela courts. Neither France nor the United States could afford to permit such a penalty of confiscation to be imposed on its citizens without a searching investigation of the justice of the act. Under instructions from Secretary Hay, the American Minister to Venezuela informed the Government of that country that if it refused to arbitrate the questions involved in this and other American claims, "the Government of the United States may be regretfully compelled to take such measures as it may find necessary to effect complete redress without resort to arbitration"; and France, about the same time, made
a significant movement of armored cruisers to the French Antilles. Not contented with the strain thus brought on the relations of his Government with those of two considerable Powers in the world, the Venezuelan President soon in January, 1906 gave a fresh and quite wanton provocation to France. The French Chargé d’ Affaires in Venezuela had gone on board a French steamer without official permit, and was refused permission to return to shore, on the pretence that he might bring yellow fever infection. France at once dismissed the Venezuelan Chargé from Paris, and added a demand for apologies to her other claims.
Having brought his country into this interesting situation, the eccentric Castro, of incalculable mind and temper, found the occasion opportune for a vacation, and announced it, April 9, 1906, in a proclamation which opened as follows:
"Fatigue, produced by constant labor, and which I have been endeavoring to overcome for some time past, makes it imperative for me now, in order to restore my broken health, to retire from the exercise of the office of prime magistrate.
"In accordance with a provision of the constitution I have called to power General Juan Vincente Gomez, a very meritorious citizen of well-known civic virtues, who in my absence will fulfill strictly the duties of his office. You all know him, and you know perfectly well that in view of his character you must support him without any hesitation whatever, in order that the administration may continue, as it has up to now, under the surest bases of stability, order, and progress, thus making the action of the executive the most expeditious possible.
"On retiring from power I wish you to take into consideration my effort and my sacrifices for the country’s cause, which has been, and still is, the cause of the people, of reason, justice, and right, so that you will agree with me that he who
has thus labored has a right to even a slight rest, and this cannot be taken except in retirement and solitude.
"On the other hand, our present international situation, completely defined and clear, gives us reason to hope that everything will continue harmoniously and on a basis of mutual respect and consideration."
{687}
The next morning he left quietly for Los Teques, where he has a private estate; his late cabinet resigned, and a new Ministry was formed by the acting President, Gomez. Six weeks later, on the 23d of May, the President-on-vacation, from his retirement, issued a second proclamation, announcing his wish to withdraw permanently from public life, and his intention to resign the presidency at the next session of Congress. But differences appear to have arisen soon after this between the retired President and his substitute, General Gomez, over cabinet appointments, and presently there was a delegation sent to request the former to abandon his intended resignation. The delegation succeeded in its mission, and on the 4th of July the now rested and refreshed Chief Magistrate returned to Caracas and reburdened himself with the cares of state.
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1905-1909. Trouble given to Colombia over the Navigation of Rivers flowing through both countries.
See (in this Volume)
COLOMBIA: A. D. 1905-1909.
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1906. No participation in Third International Conference of American Republics.
See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1907-1909.
President Castro’s obstinate Provocations to France and the United States.
His Quarrel with Holland. His unwary venture Abroad. The Triumph of his Enemies in Venezuela. The Foreign Governments he Quarrelled with take part in Preventing his Return.
President Castro, practically Dictator in Venezuela, continued obstinate in his provocative attitude towards both France and the United States, and added Holland at length to the list of exasperated nations which were questioning and studying how to deal with insolence from so petty a source. His courts, after confiscating the franchises and seizing the property of the French Cable Company and the American asphalt concessionaries, imposed fines of $5,000,000 on each. Of the five claims for redress or indemnity which the American Government pressed upon him he refused to submit any to arbitration, in any form, at The Hague or elsewhere. This situation continued until the American Legation was withdrawn from Caracas, in June, 1908, to signify that negotiation was ended, and the whole correspondence of the State Department with Venezuela was laid before Congress, for such action as it might see fit to take.
Castro had opened his quarrel with Holland in a characteristic way. The bubonic plague had got a footing at the Venezuelan port of La Guayra, and he refused to allow his own medical officers, who reported the fact, to take measures for preventing the spread of the disease. Then, when his Dutch neighbors at Curaçao protected themselves by a quarantine against La Guayra he retaliated by an embargo on commerce with Curaçao, exchanged angry letters with the Dutch Minister at Caracas, and ordered him finally to quit the country. The
Netherland Government acted slowly, with deliberation, on the matter, despatching a battle-ship, at length, to the scene, and otherwise manifesting serious intentions.
But now the domestic situation in Venezuela underwent a sudden change; or, rather, a recurrence to the situation in 1906, when Castro had found it easy to lay down the reins of authority and take them up again at his pleasure. He was afflicted with some ailment, for which he went abroad to seek treatment, appointing Vice-President Gomez to conduct the Government in his absence. Landing at Bordeaux on the 10th of December, 1908, he made a short visit to Paris, receiving no official recognition or entertainment, and went thence to Berlin. In Germany he stayed with his family and suite for about three months, undergoing a surgical operation with subsequent treatment for his malady. Meantime, in Venezuela, his enemies, or the opponents of his rule, had acquired the upper hand, and were prepared to resist his return. On the 16th of December a mob at Caracas, crying "Down with Castro," wrecked considerable property of his friends. A few days later some of his partisans were arrested on the charge of having plotted the death of Acting-President Gomez, and that trusted representative of the absent President became openly antagonistic to him. The Castro Cabinet was dismissed, and an anti-Castro Ministry was formed.
Pacific overtures were now made to the foreign governments with which Castro had quarrelled. The Honorable William I. Buchanan, an able diplomat, of much experience in Spanish-America, was sent from the United States to reopen negotiations at Caracas, where he arrived on the 20th December, and the late Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs went abroad as an agent of President Gomez to treat with the Netherlands, Great Britain, and France. Mr. Buchanan found difficulty in arranging modes of settlement in the case of two American claims, that of the New York and Bermudez Company, and that of the Orinoco Corporation, which claimed very
extensive concessions; but the obstacles were overcome and a satisfactory protocol signed, February 13, 1909.
Before this time, criminal proceedings had been instituted against Castro, on the charge that he had instigated the assassination of Vice-President Gomez, and the High Federal Court had decided that adequate evidence had been adduced to warrant the action. To this accusation Castro made answer from Dresden, February 27, saying: "The only charge that has been raised against me is that I tried to instigate the murder of Gomez. It is incredible that, after having shown my interest in him in so many ways, I should try to cause him to be murdered. If Gomez had given me occasion to suspect him, I would have given orders regarding him before my departure from Venezuela, and I would not have been so stupid as to send such an order by cable. Whoever knows me knows also that I am incapable of such disgraceful cowardice. I give this declaration in the interest of truth to the press and to the foreign countries, in order to set at rest in places where I am not known all doubts and suspicions regarding my behavior."
Having no apparent doubt that he could master the adverse situation in Venezuela, Castro was now making his arrangements to return. On the 24th of March he arrived at Paris, on his way to Bordeaux, to take passage on the Steamer Guadeloupe. There he was met by a statement from the steamship company, "that it had been informed by the Venezuelan government that Señor Castro will not be permitted to land in Venezuela; that he will be arrested on board the Guadeloupe if this vessel calls at a Venezuelan port, and that even the movement of the Guadeloupe in Venezuelan ports will be controlled by the authorities, if Castro is a passenger.
{688}
As a result of this communication the company will embark Castro only on condition that he leave the Guadeloupe before reaching Venezuela, either at Martinique or Trinidad.
This official notification to the steamship company was handed in by José de Jesus Paul, the special Venezuelan envoy to Europe. Señor Paul says in part:
"‘Cipriano Castro is under criminal prosecution in Venezuela, and the High Federal Court having suspended his function as President, he is liable, in accordance with the laws of Venezuela, to imprisonment pending the result of the trial. A warrant of arrest can be executed even on board the Guadeloupe at the first Venezuelan port.’ "
At Bordeaux he was forced to take passage with the understanding that he must leave the ship before she reached a Venezuelan port, and he accepted tickets to Port-au-Spain, Trinidad. On leaving Paris his parting words had been: "I believe that God and destiny call me back to Venezuela. I intend to accomplish my mission there, even though it involves revolution." But he mistook the call, and mere earthly authority sufficed to frustrate the mission he had in mind. The British Government, after consultation with the United States and other Powers most interested in the avoidance of fresh disturbances in Venezuela, forbade his landing at Trinidad, and he found no port to receive him but that of Fort de France, Martinique. From that French soil, too, he was ordered away the next day, and look passage back to France, ultimately settling himself with his family in Spain. If he has made further efforts or plans to recover a footing in Venezuela, the public has not learned of them.
As soon as the out-cast President had been thus eliminated from Venezuelan politics, he was cleared, May 21, of the charge of plotting to assassinate General Gomez, by decision of the Criminal Court. Both Holland and France had settled, by this time, their differences with Venezuela, and restored diplomatic relations. On the 12th of August, Vice-President Gomez was formally elected Provisional President by Congress in the exercise of powers claimed under the new Constitution.
On the 11th of September announcement was made that all but one of the five American claims for which Mr. Buchanan had arranged modes of settlement had been settled, and that one of the Orinoco Steamship Company was before the tribunal at The Hague.
VENICE: A. D. 1902. Fall of the Campanile of St. Marks.
On the morning of July 14, 1902, the Campanile or bell-tower of the cathedral of St. Marks fell to the ground. An attentive architect had been calling attention for several years to signs of danger in its walls, but nothing had been done to avert the destruction of the most interesting monument of antiquity in the city. The building of the tower was begun in the year 888, and underwent a reconstruction in 1329. Its height was 322 feet.
"At 9 o’clock, according to the story of an American architect who witnessed the fall of the tower from the neighborhood of the Rialto, he saw the golden angel slowly sink directly downward behind a line of roofs, and a dense gray dust arose in clouds. Instantly, from all parts of the city, a crowd rushed toward the Piazza, to find on their arrival that nothing was left of all that splendid nave but a mound of white dust, 80 feet high." A press telegram from Venice, January 4, 1910, announced that "the Campanile, after seven years’ work, is now approaching completion. The shaft is finished, and only lacks the belfry, the separate pieces of which are ready to be set in place."
VEREENIGING, BOER-BRITISH TREATY OF PEACE AT.
See (in this Volume) South Africa: A. D. 1901-1902.
VERESTCHAGIN, VASILI, DEATH OF.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904 (FEBRUARY-AUGUST).
VERNON-HARCOURT, LOUIS: First Commissioner of Works.
See (in this Volume) ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1906.
VESUVIUS, MOUNT: Violent Eruption in 1906.
See (in this Volume) VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS.
VETO, CIVIL, IN PAPAL ELECTIONS.
See (in this Volume) PAPACY: A. D. 1904.
VIBORG CONFERENCE.
See (in this Volume) RUSSIA: A. D. 1906.
VICTOR EMMANUEL III., KING OF ITALY: His Agency in founding the International Institute of Agriculture.
See (in this Volume) AGRICULTURE.
VILHENA, SENHOR.
See (in this Volume) PORTUGAL: A. D. 1906-1909.
VILLAZON, ELIDORO: President of Bolivia.
See (in this Volume) ACRE DISPUTES.
VIRCHOW, RUDOLPH: Celebration of his Eightieth Birthday.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE AND INVENTION: ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS.
VIRGINIA: A. D. 1907. The Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition.
See (in this Volume) JAMESTOWN.
VITHÖFT, ADMIRAL.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904 (FEBRUARY-AUGUST).
"VLADIMIR’S DAY."
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1904-1905.
VLADIVOSTOCK: In the Russo-Japanese War.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904 (FEBRUARY-AUGUST).
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS: ITALY: A. D. 1906 (April). Great Outburst of Vesuvius.
The Most Violent since 1631.
"At a meeting of the Geological Society, London, on May 9, a paper giving a scientific account of the recent great eruption of Mount Vesuvius was read by Professor Giuseppe de Lorenzo, of the Mineralogical Museum in the Royal University of Naples, a foreign correspondent of the society. According to the report in the London Times Professor de Lorenzo stated that after the great eruption of 1872 Vesuvius lapsed into repose, marked by merely solfataric phenomena, for three years. Fissuring of the cone and slight outpourings of lava began in May, 1905, and continued until April 5, 1906, when the fourth great outburst from the principal crater occurred, accompanied by the formation of deeper and larger fissures in the south-eastern wall of the cone, from which a great mass of fluid and scoriaceous lava was erupted. After a pause the maximum outburst took place during the night of April 7 and 8, and blew 3,000 feet into the air scoriæ and lapilli of lava as fragments derived from the wreckage of the cone. {689}
The southwesterly wind carried this ash to Ottajano and San Giuseppe, which were buried under three feet of it, and even swept it on to the Adriatic and Montenegro. At this time the lava which reached Torre Annunziato was erupted. The decrescent phase began on April 8, but the collapse of the cone of the principal crater was accompanied by the ejection of steam and dust to a height of from 22,000 to 26,000 feet. On April 9 and 10 the wind was northeast, and the dust was carried over Torre del Greco and as far as Spain; but on April 11 the cloud was again impelled northward. The ash in the earlier eruptions was dark in color and made of materials derived directly from the usual type of leucotephritic magma; but later it became grayer and mixed with weathered elastic material from the cone. The great cone had an almost horizontal rim on April 13, very little higher than Monte Somma, and with a crater possibly exceeding 1,300 feet in diameter; this cone was almost snow white from the deposit of
sublimates. Many deaths, Professor de Lorenzo states, were due to asphyxia, but the collapse of roofs weighted with dust was a source of much danger, as was the case at Pompeii in A. D. 79. The lava streams surrounded trees, many of which still stood in the hot lava with their leaves and blossoms apparently uninjured. The sea level during April 7 and 8 was lowered six inches near Pozzuoli, and as much as twelve inches near Portici, and had not returned to its former level on April 13. The maximum activity conformed almost exactly with full moon, and at the time the volcanoes of the Phlegræan Fields and of the islands remained in their normal condition. Professor de Lorenzo believes that this eruption of Vesuvius is greater than any of those recorded in history with two exceptions those of A. D. 79, the historic eruption which destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum, and of 1631, when Torre del Greco was overwhelmed and 4,000 persons perished."
Scientific Notes and News (Science, May 25, 1906).
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS: WEST INDIES: A. D. 1902 (May). Of Mont Pelee and La Souffrière, on the islands of Martinique and St. Vincent. Destruction of the City of St. Pierre.
The most appalling catastrophe in the annals of the Western Hemisphere is that which burst from the long torpid volcano of Mont Pelée, overlooking the city of St. Pierre, on the French island of Martinique, and from its slumbering neighbor, La Souffrière, of the British island of St. Vincent, on the morning of the 8th of May, 1902. The following particulars of the frightful volcanic explosion are borrowed from a graphic account prepared for The American Review of Reviews by W. J. McGee, of the Smithsonian Institution.
"The outbreak of Mont Pelée seems to have been second only to that of Krakatoa in explosive violence in the written history
of the world. Nor was the catastrophe confined to a mountain and a city, or even to an island: the towns and villages of northern Martinique were devastated or utterly destroyed as far southward as Fort de France, while the scant 400 square miles of the whole island were at once shaken from below and showered from above with uncounted tons of hot rock-powder, scorching what it touched, and desolating the tropical luxuriance of one of the fairest among the gems of the Antilles. At the same time the Vulcanian spasm thrilled afar through subterranean nerves and stirred into sympathetic resurrection other long-dead volcanoes; and one of these, La Souffrière, on the island of St. Vincent, over a hundred miles away, sprang into baleful activity, poured out vast sheets of viscid lava, showered land and sea with its own scorching rock-powder, devastated another gem in the Antillean necklace, and slew its thousands. The vigor of such volcanic outbursts as those of Martinique and St. Vincent, and the vastness of their products, are beyond realization. The governor of Barbados, Sir Frederick Hodgson, estimates that ‘two million tons of volcanic dust’ fell on his island, which is 110 miles from La Souffrière, and still farther from Mont Pelée. …
"About the middle of April of the present year the inhabitants of Martinique and passing seafarers began to note the appearance of ‘smoke’ about the crest of the mountain; and within a few days the report spread that Mont Pelée was in an ugly mood. The smoky columns and clouds increased at intervals, and anxiety deepened both at St. Pierre and Fort de France; but as the days went by without other manifestations, apprehension faded. On May 5, detonations were heard and a tremor shook St. Pierre, while a mass of mud was violently erupted from the old crater. The indications are that this eruption was occasioned by the rise of viscous lava, accompanied by steam and other gases attending its formation, probably through the old vent, in sufficient quantity and with sufficient violence to blow the lake out of the ancient crater and vaporize the water. Portions of the lava were apparently