Arizona republican., 1902-12-11
The Trouble In Venezuela.

 and taken steps to establish a block ade. How could he refuse to pay the claims of these governments when no bills had ever been presented? And the pathetic shrug of his shoulders doubtless caused tears to flow from the eyes of the correspondents. Venezuela is not to blame if her wicked ministers of finance and ministers of foreign af- fairs have failed to advise their good president that foreign governments are impatiently demanding the payment of long-overdue debts. of course not.
 So there will be no war. Having ''stood off, her creditors to the last moment and to the point of bringing on a war. Venezuela will pay up, And in any event there Is no occasion for any feeling of uneasiness in the United States. The Monroe doctrine will be respected by both Great Britain and Germany. The British and German governments propose simply to protect the interests of their citizens and col- lect bills which Venezuela owes and has refused to pay. This accomplished everything else will be left in statu quo.
 As MT. Balfour pointed out in the house of commons on Monday of this week, for the past two years Great Britain has had grave cause for com plaint on various occasions of unjusti- fable interference by the Venezuelan government with the liberty and prop erty of British subjects. No effort has been spared by the British government 10 obtain an amicable settlement of these cases, but in none of them have satisfactory explanations been forth coming. Latterly, the representations of the British minister have been prac- tically unnOticed. There are also cases in which British subjects and com panies have large claims. The British government has been acting in con- Junction with the German government. which also has large claims against venezuela. A final communication was made to the Venezuelan government by the British minister and the German charge d'affaires. Mir. Balfour added that in the absence of a satisfactory reply the government had decided to take such measures as might be neces- sary to enforce the claims.
 The German government has been patient. in the extreme. This govern ment was fully informed by Ambassa- dor Won Holleben of Germany's inten- tions in the matter in December of last year. and the course pursued by the latter in postponing the contemplated action until President Castro had tri- umphed over his domestic enemies and most considerate and fair. The claims in question arose from the non-per- formance of engagements which the Venezuelan government had made with the Berliner Disconto Gesellschaft in connection with the Great Venezu- elan railway, and also for contributions levied on German residents of Vene- zuela during the civil war of 1S9S- 1900 after long negotiations the Venezuelan government finally appointed com mission, which promptly declared that no claims antedating the establish ment of the Castro government would be considered, and arbitrarily reduced to one-quarter of the amount proved due the few accounts which it permit ted to be filed. Even thus reduced, the demands remain unpaid.
 Representations to the effect that the government of Castro is responsible, as are all other governments, for the deeds of it's predecessors, made no i'm pression on the authorities at Caracas, who finally repelled all diplomatic pro- testations with the assertion that the settlement of the claims in question were purely a matter of internal af- fairs, and that no foreign power could be permitted to intermeddle While this may be true in a measure, the principle is also well recognized that u denial of justice to it's citizens in a foreign land justifies a government as last resort to employ its forces to redress the wrong.
 What is proposed by the intervening powers is the establishment of a pacific blockade of two of the main ports of Venezuela-that is to say, a blockade unaccompanied by a declaration or war. Neutral vessels attempting to run the blockade would not be seized. as in the case of actual hostilities, bur would be turned back. These proceed Caracas to terms, a number of ports are to be seized and the customs col