IV. CASTRO'S SAVAGE DECREE

To show how extreme is the danger to which foreigners are open in Venezuela, a reference to a typical incident is given which occurred at the commencement of the English-German blockade.

At the moment when John Hay, Secretary of State, was permitting Herbert W. Bowen, United States Minister to Venezuela, to engage in a most blustering and demagogic defence of Castro, and American newspapers were uttering thinly veiled threats of war against the allies, the true nature and character of our Sister Republics was disclosed by the following official orders:

(Official Bulletin of the State of Aragua, December 9, 1902. National Telegraph from Miraflores to La Victoria.)

December 9, 1902-6.40 P. M.

FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE STATE: In the most felonious and unjust manner the German and English ships of war have committed the most unusual assault likely to be recorded in history in the port of La Guaira, having captured, without previous notice of war, the steamers Crespo, Ossun, Totumo, and Margarita. Therefore, if the same thing should take place in that port, proceed so as to be able to prepare yourself immediately to repel force with force, holding myself responsible to all of you, together with your companions, that the national honor shall remain unsullied in every case. Also you shall proceed to take prisoners all the Germans and Englishmen who may be there, without any exception, in order that if the foreign rapacity should be directed against you they shall be the first to be fired upon. Thus also you will take possession of all their properties. Acknowledge receipt and fulfilment.

CIPRIANO CASTRO.

(National Telegraph from La Victoria to Caracas.)

December 9, 1902.

FOR GEN. CIPRIANO CASTRO, Caracas: The constitutional President of the State, impressed by the contents of your telegram in which you announced the great assault committed to-day in the port of La Guaira against the national sovereignty by English and German men-of-war, has sent me notice by telegram to notify you that in any case the State of Aragua will show itself equal to its great duties in this new and tremendous test to which the destiny of our beloved Venezuela is subjected.

The Araguan people en masse, and as soon as they had notice of the nefarious occurrence, hastened to protest with strong words of devout patriotism against the foreigners who thus trample upon the principles of international law, proclaimed and observed by all the civilized nations of the globe. Likewise the Chief Executive charges me to say to you that he and his companions pledge themselves to you that the national honor will remain unsullied in any case, since they will follow you steadfastly along this line until they show not only to those who spurn our inalienable prerogatives as

citizens of a free and independent nation, but also to the entire world, that we are the worthy descendants of the forefathers who instituted and crowned with success the great national emancipation.

Your positive orders concerning the most important affair to which this telegram relates have been communicated to all the districts of the State. FRANCISCO E. RANGEL.

(Circular Telegram.)

LA VICTORIA, December 9, 1902.

TO THE CIVIL CHIEFS OF THE STATE: Immediately after receiving this telegram that is to say, without losing even a single moment you shall proceed to place under arrest all the Germans and Englishmen who may be domiciled in each and every one of the municipalities which compose the district under your command. You shall likewise proceed to take possession of the properties which belong to the above-mentioned German and English subjects.

In order that you may understand the rapid and efficacious way in which you ought to fulfil this order, let it be sufficient for you to know that it has been communicated directly from the worthy President of the Republic, General Castro, as a reprisal of the grave assault committed to-day against the national sovereignty in the port of La Guaira by ships of Germany and England.

God and federation.

FRANCISCO E. RANGEL.

Similar and even more savage orders were given to the authorities of all the other States, and every one was given to understand that in the event of any Venezuelan being injured or killed by the blockading forces, every Englishman and German in Venezuela would be assassinated without further ceremony. The wildest excitement prevailed in all parts of the country. Every Englishman and German was seized and taken to hell-holes called carceles; they were surrounded by frenzied mobs both on the way to the jails and after they got there.

Fortunately the State Department at Washington, for once in its history, was aroused to the extreme importance of activity; it feared to be placed before the world as the sponsor for savages engaged in the wholesale butchery of civilized men. The acting American minister in Caracas and every American consul in Venezuela were ordered by cable to take all English and German citizens in Venezuela under the immediate protection of the United States, to hoist the United States flag over all English and German property, and to notify Castro and every official of the Venezuelan government that if they should assassinate any English or German citizen they would do it at their peril. By these energetic and stern measures the English and Germans were released from jail in a few days, although they continued to suffer many indignities.

Secretary Hay seems to have been singularly modest with reference to his part in this memorable affair. While it was doubtless his decisive energy which prevented a massacre which would have shamed the horrors of St. Bartholomew, he does not seem to have even mentioned the matter to the American newspapers, and nothing seems to have been published about it at that time in this country. Doubtless, down deep in his heart, Secretary Hay felt the humiliation of our association with, and moral responsibility for, a dictator who could issue such a decree as that above quoted.

V. OFFICIALS OF NICARAGUA MURDER AMERICAN

The following letter from Secretary Gresham to Minister Baker, at Managua, under date of May 12, 1894, explains itself:

"Instructions were addressed to you on the 26th ultimo at Bluefields, directing you to investigate the killing of William Wilson by the Nicaraguan Acting Governor of Rama on the 22d of March last, and to secure, if possible, the arrest and trial of his slayer. Since then the report of Captain Watson, of the San Francisco, on the same subject, has been received, as also your despatch of May 2, on the general situation at Bluefields, in which reference is made to the Wilson murder.

"Captain Watson's report, and the evidence in the case, leave no doubt that Wilson was shot by the Acting Governor of Rama, Norberto Arguello, without provocation; that Noyles, one of his policemen, was accessory to the murder and was himself only prevented from actually despatching Wilson by the snapping of his cartridge; that the dying man was most harshly treated by his unfeeling jailers, and that the promises of the superior agents of Nicaragua touching the arrest and punishment of the murderer have not been kept. Notwithstanding these specific orders, stated to have been given by Señor Madriz to Governor Torres, of Rama, to arrest Arguello and hold him for trial, the Governor has permitted the murderer to go at large. It is notorious and uncontradicted that Arguello has been at liberty in the town of Bluefields under circumstances which establish the culpability of Governor Torres, in sheltering him from the consequences of his crime, and emphasize the indifference of the superior Nicaraguan agents to their plain duty in the matter. More than this, Governor Torres has replaced Arguello's accomplice, Noyles, in active police service, he having been, as you report, promoted to the position of chief of police of the town of Rama.

"The whole business is marked by such contempt for the most obvious dictates of justice, and such disregard of the simplest obligations of international duty, as to call for urgent and solemn protest on the part of this government.

"I am directed by the President to instruct you to demand that the government of Nicaragua shall manifest its disapproval of the conduct of its officers in terms admitting of no misapprehension. You will ask that the culprit, Arguello, be brought to immediate trial, that his protector, Governor Torres, be dismissed from office; that the murderer's accomplice, Noyles, be dealt with according to his deserts, and that besides the atonement so to be made by the government of Nicaragua for the action of its agents in this case, it

shall adopt such measures as will leave no doubt of its sincere purpose and ability to protect the lives and interest of the peaceable citizens of the United States dwelling in the reservation and to punish crimes committed against them."

Mr. Secretary Gresham's manly and straightforward letter produced no result. Arguello the murderer had been in jail, and was purposely permitted to escape; his accomplice had been appointed chief of police.

H. Guzman, Nicaraguan Minister to Washington, took up the matter directly with Secretary Gresham, and on July 9, 1894, wrote him a letter, saying:

“As I have had the honor to state to you orally on more than one occasion, my government is firmly convinced that the government of the United States has received erroneous reports as well relative to the murder of the American citizen Wilson as in regard to the supposed complicity of the Commissioner of Mosquito, Señor Lacayo, in the flight of the criminal Arguello."

Mr. Guzman further claimed that his government had acted in good faith and that it had made all possible efforts to recapture the murderer.

Arguello was not brought to trial; Noyles, the accomplice, was not dealt with according to his just deserts; and the government of Nicaragua has not to this day adopted "such measures as will leave no doubt of its sincere purpose and ability to protect the lives and interests of the peaceable citizens of the United States dwelling there."

VI. AN AMERICAN IMPRISONED AND EXPELLED

Mr. J. H. Hollander, an American citizen, had lived in Central America many years; he owned large coffee plantations, and the finest printing-establishment in Central America, worth fifty or sixty thousand dollars.

What happened to Mr. Hollander is thus succinctly stated by the Secretary of State, on January 30, 1896, in a letter to the American minister, Mr. Young, at Guatemala.

"The admitted facts are, as outlined in the instruction to you of May 6, 1893, as follows:

"In the year 1888 Mr. Hall was the minister of the United States at Guatemala, Mr. Hosmer was the United States consul-general there, and Hollander, an American citizen, was residing there publishing a newspaper by license of the government of Guatemala. During that year Mr. Hollander made affidavit before Mr. Hosmer that Mr. Hall and certain high officials of Guatemala had been beneficiaries of a fraudulent overissue of bonds of that government; that Mr. Hall's participation therein was shown by the books of certain bankers there, and that a certificate of a prominent citizen, Mr. Herrera, showed the complicity of the Guatemalan officials. Hollander filed the alleged certificate with Mr. Hosmer. Mr.

Hall, hearing of these charges, asked Mr. Hosmer for Hollander's affidavits, the alleged certificate of Herrera, etc. These were refused, but copies were given him, and he, Mr. Hall, brought the matter to the attention of the Guatemalan government, asking an investigation. The investigation was held, and resulted in Hollander's arrest and imprisonment on February 8, 1899, on a charge of calumny and forgery. Before Hollander's trial came on, and while he was in prison, he was, on May 14, 1899, expelled from the country by an executive decree. The expulsion followed immediately on the decree, and he was not even allowed to see his family or to make any business arrangements whatever."

Why did American Minister Hall require the man's expulsion from the country without his being given a chance to produce his evidence in court? Would not any honest man want the evidence produced, so that his exoneration might be complete?

If our Sister Republic Guatemala has such a fine and independent judiciary, if everything is so pure there, how does it happen that a Dictator can take a case away from the court, open the doors of a jail, and expel the prisoner from the country? How did it happen that they did not follow their custom and assassinate the man in jail? Was it because the United States government, through Mr. Hosmer, had been apprised of the facts in the case, so that such a proceeding would have involved too much risk?

Mr. Hollander, as stated by Secretary Olney, was held in prison three months awaiting trial. "Then suddenly and without notice the judicial proceeding was abandoned, and the accused was taken from prison, carried under guard to the coast, and put upon an outgoing vessel, under executive decree of expulsion, leaving his family, his business, and his property unprovided for. He was literally hurled out of the country, leaving wife and children behind, business, property, everything dear to him and dependent upon him."

But that is the way they do things in our Sister Republics.

VII. THE HONDURAN IDEA OF NATIONAL HONOR

Secretary John Hay, November 16, 1899, wrote Minister Hunter at Guatemala:

"The report of Commander Logan, commanding officer of the United States steamship Machias, dated from Puerto Cortez, Honduras, February 21, 1899, conclusively shows that Mr. Frank Pears, an American citizen, was cruelly murdered by a sentinel on post near the office of the Pittsburg and Honduras Timber Company, in San Pedro, Honduras, on the evening of January 31, 1899, while innocently passing between his office and his house."

A pretended court of inquiry of the military examined five witnesses and found the sentry, Cruz Rosalez, not guilty of any crime, and released him. The Mayor de Plaza, Duarte, in command of the troops at San Pedro, approved this finding. In Central America and the more