The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-09-23
ANGLO. VENEZUELA FRICTION
DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS ON
 VERGE OF BEING SEVERED.
Handing of Passport to British NIIn- ister nt Caracas With Like Action Toward Venezueian Representative at London May be Expected Any Day Trouble Brought to Q Crisis Over DrItaIn's Claim to PatOs Island.
Claim to Patos Island.

London, Sept. 22.-The Associated Press is in position to announce that diplomatic relations between Great of being severed.
 Any day almost any hour, may bring the announcement that the British min ister at Caracas has been given his passport, with corresponding action to-
 ward the Venezuelan represent ative in London. The cause of the crisis does not seem to be confined to any particu- lar incident but consists in various diff ferences which eliminated in Venezuela assuming such an angry attitude as to
 leave Downing street fully impressed
 with the belief that the Venezuelan government intends to force matters to a crucial issue. That a diplomatic rupture would result in hostilities is a contingency thus far scarcely contem- plated.
 The present diplomatic relations are so strained that, to quote a responsible
 British official: Tt would make really very little difference if the fact became public property by the absence of the diplomatic corps from Caracas and London.''
 The view of the foreign office is that affairs have reached a stage where it is
 impossible to deal satisfactorily with Venezuela in any matter which may come up. In proof of this contention the foreign office instances the report of the United States minister at Caracas, Herbert w. Bowen. announcing that
 the Venezuelan government had pro- tested against the British flag being
 raised over Patos Cor Goose island)
 over which the Venezuelan government claimed sovereignty. According to the
 British governments understanding Patos island belongs to Great Britain just as much as Trinidad and so far as
 known no question as to :ts ownership has ever arisen. Inhabitants of the island have recently been shot or other
 wise endangered through the action of VeneZuelans, whether government or revolutionary partisans is not known. For purposes of, protection the local West Indian authorities ordered the British flag to be prominently displayed
 on the island hence the protest, which
 the foreign office says is only one of
 many. v..l-
 1 An exceptionally prominent official said to a representative of the Associ- ated Press this evening":
 Affairs in Venezuela are so hopeiess- l ly muddled that we can get nothing done. There is no concealing the fact that the Venezuelan government had
 made heated protests to our minister. The chief grievance appeared to be the | allegation that the British government | is aiding the revolutionary army. It is | needless to say this is perfectly base
 less. We only wish the United States
 would take over the whole country and 1 then, perhaps, we would get some peace Of all the disturbances of the | last decade the present seems to be the 1 worst. This combined with the attitude of the nominal government, makes us
 somewhat indifferent to any action which may take place. The Venezue- | lans appear inclined to be rather reck- | less, thanks chiefly to what presume | is the mistaken notion that Washing ton will protect them from the results
 of their own folly, however inimical
 that might be to the lives and property
 of British subjects and those of other
 Europeans. As we understand Monroe
 ism Venezuela is quite mistaken in this
 matter though, apparently the im-
 pression has much to do with her pres-
 ent actions" Washington, Sept, 22.-No notice of a strain on the diplomatic relations be- 1 tween Great Britain and Venezuela has
 reached the department of state. If
 such is the case, however. the depart
 ment officials would have no hesitation | in ascribing the cause of the threaten ed rupture to the dispute which has been revived between the two countries
 over the ownership os Patos, or Goose Island, lying in the Dragons Mouth between Trinidad and the Venezuelan coast. Minister Bowen last week in- formed the department of the fact that the dispute had taken an acute phase through the assertion of British sover- eignty over tEe little island and as he at the same time said that Venezuela had protested against the hoisting of the British flag 1t is not doubted that to this incident must be traced any
 more serious difficulty between the two