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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