The Washington times., 1901-08-19

Castro ON the Invasion.
| The statement of General Castro,
I, through his secretary. which was
cabled to this country on Saturday. cor
| roborates previous reports concerning
| the difficulty between Venezuela and
Colombia, which have been published in
| The Times. General Castro no doubt
defines the International situation accu-
rately, in saying that there is no en-
| nifty on the part of the people of Co
| lOmbia toward the Venezuelan nation,
| but that the present reactionary Colom-
bian Government has seized an oppor-
/ tunity to make common cause with the
Andrade Venezuelan rebels. in order. if
| possible. 10 destroy liberalism in both
| countries. Colombia, it may not be
generally known. has been governed for
years by a succession of dictators, be-
! ginning with the sanguinary Nunez,
! who, upon the completion of his term of
! office as President, to which he had
been regularly elected, calmly an
nounced that he had abrogated the lib
eral constitution which had been in
force from the early days of the Repub-
lie and thenceforward it became a dead
letter. Since then the Liberal party in
Colombia, which includes the enlight-
ened and progressive element Of the
population, has made repeated attempts
to GUST the reactionary faction in con-
troll. and thereby secure the chance to
re-sstablish free, constitutional, and
representative institutions. The like
party in Venezuela some time ago sue
ceeded in driving the dictator Andrade
from power, and elevated General Cas-
tro to the Presidency. Following that
event. there has been incessant Plotting
on both sides of the line to destroy lib
eralism and constitutional government
in Venezuela, the Bogota dictator and
his encourage considering its existence
as dangerous menace to their position
and power.
If General Castro, and his Colombian
liberal ally, General Tribe Tribe, had
only the Bogota despotism to count
with. their task would be simple
enough. The ease and celebrity with
which the Venezuelan forces recently
defeated and routed the Colombian in
vaders is evidence of that. But the diff
ficulty is complicated by the fact that
a foreign influence is more than sus-
pected of fomenting the present con-
spiracy against the government Of Cen
eral Castro. in which the Colombian au-
thorities are taking part. and it is wide
ly believed that the influence in ques-
ton is supplying the arms and means
with which the Andrade and Marroquin
movement is being conducted.
When Andrade was in power at Ca
racas he is said to have been extremely
generous in the matter of granting con-
cessions. without much reference TO the
laws or interests of his country in the
premises. An example of his practice
in this regard is to be found in certain
concessions to a foreign corporation TO
work the RermudeZ asphalt deposits.
After his deposition and the advent of
General Castro and the Liberal party,
the laws were more strictly observed,
and perhaps some grants made by An
drade were found to be in contraven-
ton of vested rights antedating them.
1t is unnecessary at this time 10 thresh
over the old straw of the asphalt war,
the circumstances of which are pretty |
well known TO our readers. What in |
terests US at present is to get as clear |
a light as possible upon the issues, open
and concealed, which underlie an inter |
national quarrel in which it is perhaps |
probable that TIE Administration may |
find ground for Intervention at some |
stage Of the proceedings.
Considering the friendly relations ex- |
listing between the Administration and |
the Asphalt Trust. and the official as
sistance that combination has had in its |
efforts to Wrest the Felicidad deposits |
from the small American concern |
known as the Warner Quinlan syndi- |
cate, and. remembering the hostile atti- |
tude of the Washington authorities to- |
ward President Castro, it is unlikely |
that Intervention, should resort be had |
to SUCH thing, would be in favor of |
liberalism or constitutionalism in Co |
lombia or Venezuela, or both. That |
would be to strengthen Castro, the en-
envy of the Asphalt Trust and to de-
feat the ambition OF its friend Andrade |
to again become dictator of Venezuela. |
and dispenser of concessions. Ii is i'm
portant that the American people |
should fully understand what is at The
bottom of this South American trouble
1t is not all asphalt, but that factor is
present to an appreciable and visible
extent. and the course of events will
justify careful watching.