The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-05-15

submit in advance to the requirements made and provided by the new legisla- tion. If they fail to do so they are to be expelled forthwith.
 But the really pregnant section of the law is that which provides that no for eign resident shall seek to redress any grievances he may have by ''the diplo- matic road until he has exhausted all means before the regular Venezuelan tribunals and it clearly appears that there has been g. denial of justice This means, of course, that foreigner may not apply to the minister of his own country In order to be relieved from any oppression that may have been practiced upon him by the government of Venezuela or its citizens; he must take his case before the Venezuelan courts. This section is the putting into law of President Castro's proposal Of some time since. It is further provi- ded. that no claim shall be brought against the government for loss or :; damages incurred through the acts or revolutionary agents.
 As there is a revolution in progress iGdl4g dll l1lC cAAN o9 NS -~ almost impossible to tell which is the regular and which the revolutionary government till the question is settled by force, the harshness of this last provision is apparent. Yet it is easy enough to understand why recourse has been taken to such drastic inhibl- tions. Venezuela has been sadly troubled by the coming of foreign ad- venturers who get valuable concessions and then invoke the aid Of their home governments to enforce the acceptance of their interpretations of the conces- sions and to drive hard bargains. The inconvenience, and what is often the injustice, of such conduct is what the government now proposes to rid itself of. No doubt there have been cases where foreign governments have been too ready to press dubious claims i'll behalf of their citizens. But, on the other hand, some perfectly just claims must at times arise: and the foreigners who have them may well protest that being forced to prosecute them before Venezuelan tribunals wholly dominated by president like Castro, who is very likely to repudiate all his promises, would deprive them of even the most ordinary assurance of security.
 Of course, however, such protests will not avail much to modify the new law. What will operate ultimately to repeal or soften it will be the discovery by the venezuelans themselves that they are suffering from its severe restrictions. If the law is enforced 1t will come near ito stopping all immigration, certainly all such immigration as brings large capital and high intelligence with it. But Venezuela needs outside capital and expert advice that cannot be had at home for the full development of her resources. Consequently when the present troubles are over and calmer feelings prevail, if not before repeal of the obnoxious statute may naturally follow the discovery that it initiates as much against the prosperity of na- lives as against the comfort of aliens In that case it may not be necessary, as might at first be thought, for other powers to remind Venezuela that she cannot be allowed to repudiate ordina- ry international obligations by domes- tic legislation, which seems to be what she has, really undertaken to do.-Prov- idence Journal.