The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-04-08
RELATIONS
 ARE STRAINED The Venezuelan Minister Charges Misconduct.l NOTES ARE EXCHANGED Incident of Opening of Taeoma's
 Mail Pouches. Dr. Paul of the Foreign once of vsne- sueIa Says American Minister z.
 Russell Is Possessed of a
 Preiudiced Mind.

Caracas. saturday, March 2s.-The arrival in LaGuaira, March i7. of the cruiser Tacoma. and the ensuing notes exchanged between the American mn ister and the Venezuelan Minister TOT Foreign Affairs, over the incident or inc opening of the Tacoma's mall pouches in the LaGuaira postomce. has greatly increased the long-existing strain in the diplomatic relations oe- tween the two countries.
 These relations recently have been aggravated by diplomatic correspond ences regarding the American claims against Venezuela and by the resolu- tion of the American Congress calling for the ventilation of the Venezuelan question before that body.
 Minister Russell on March 21. in note to Dr. Paul. Minister for Foreign Affairs, made the following statement which was qualified by the latter In his answer as "emanating from pre- iudiced mind" and as showing "sus- piciousness or levity."
 Tnasmuch as having broken the seal of the United States which had been placed on the mail pouches addressed to United States warship visiting tn a Venezuelan port and having touched wrongfully the correspondence of said ship, Is a serious matter I respect fully ask your excellency to make a prompt and complete investigation of this .act on the part of the function- aries of the Venezuelan postoffice in LaGuaira."
 The Foreign once ordered an inves- tigation to be made by the Postmaster General. This showed that the pouches had been opened by mistake. and that the contents had not been disturbed. pr. Paul then answered Mir. Russell un- der date of March {, as follows both nA AAEt nh A1 @of1 day in Fl Constitucional:
 ITO the susriciousness or levity shown by the observation contained In your excellency's note, the venezue- Ian government. even more interested in clearing up the matter. replied by immediately addressing the minister of Fornento. in conformity with your de- sire. to the end of opening a fapid investigation of the facts. From the l report. your excellency will see tho facts are completely. cleared up and in way which attaches no respon- sibility which could affect the good name of the administration and the credit of government such as vene- zuela has today.
 the government of Venezuela could have no interest in interfering with correspondence of no importance to 1t, and only a prejudiced mind could have called it very Serious matter the first moment.
 Tt Is perfectly we'll explained that the seals of the two bags received
 by the posfoffice in LaGuaira and not three as stated in your excellency's note and which 1t afterwards became known, was for the cruiser Tacoma.
 were exactly similar to the ordinary
 seals used by the New York postoffice, and 1t Is also explained that-the cor respondence was delivered as soon as it's destination became known. integral hand intact. as was shown by the sec- retary of the American consul receiv- ing 1t without question. This is also
 shown by the contents of your excel | lency's note to which I refer" The Tacoma arrived just at the time of the bubonic plague scare fin La Guaira and two days later left for Curacoa with dispatches for the state | department in regard to health condi- 1 tions in that port.
 When she returned a few days later, l all of Caracas jumped to the conclu- sion that at least the American ques- | tion had come to a crisis, but 1t was
 a false alarm. as the Tacoma sailed away after 1t was ascertained that the plague was not bubonic.