The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-28

States Government to intervene. So u was that GuzT1an Blanco listened to another American. .. George TurnbulI. who promised that he would get the Washington V, Governrnent to step. in If concession. rhereupon the then dics tator, disregarding the contractoral ob- legations of his Government, gave the same concession to TurnbuIL
 Fart of the Manoa colony was driven rom its settlement by British troops who forcibly occupied the territory. On the heels of this came the Turn bull grant, and the original FItzger- aid concern was ordered to stop work. In September, 1886. the Fitzgerald con tract was anruIled By executive reso- lution-that Is, by resolution of the President and. the Executive Council. but not by action of Congress-
 After lapse of nine years, in which the Manoa Company had assign- ed it's contract to the Ofinocc, CoYnpauv. limited. which fe~'the parent JuG ths present oricono Corporation, the rccOl- onization of the concession was begun, This was during the ascendency of General Crespo, when the Venezuelan Government again acknowledged the validity of the Fitzgerald concession.
 Work was begun In developing iron mines on the concession. and hun
 
 lars were spent in the tract There was every prospect that the delta sec ton would be opened up to consider able migration and that 1t would soon be a great wealth producer. when troubles with the Government again stopped progress. Leaving aside minor details, 1t came to the point that, m october. 1900 President Castro bv ex- ecutive resolution. again annulled the contract with Fitzgerald. Work at the iron mines already had been stopped
 CAstros Goverhment granted conces- sions Co other persons and corporations within the limits of the Fitzgerald con- sessions and utterly Ignored the exist ence of the contract, despite vigorous The company offered to 50 change its contract as to impose upon itself many additional burdens. but all proposi- tions looking to a compromise were coldly turned down.
 Under the protocol of February. 1903. the claim of the cofnpany was submit ted to the American and Venezuelan mixed commission which sat at Cara cas. That body held that the contract was valid and that the company could hold under the Fitzgerald contract.
 A few years later, Castro. still per sisting In granting other concessions in derogation of the Fitzgerald con tract. a suit was brought by some Venezuelan concessionaire against the claimants under the Fitzgerald con tract This suit was tried out in the Venezuelan courts and was decided on March 1, 1906. by the Federal Court of Cessation, the highest tribunal in Venezuela.
 mat court held. in an opinion signed by ali its seven judges. that the Fitz- gerald contract was still in full force and ~eftect. It set aside the two an- nullments by executive resolution as void. on the ground that the original contract had been approved by a law passed by Congress. and that a legis- lative act could not be set aside by an executive act. It also held that the failure to keep al work on the conces- sion did not invalidate the contract In brief. the decision was a complete victory for the Fitzgerald contract.
 But President Castro declined to abide by the decision of his own courts He was furious with tn e judges because of their action and ac- tuaily 's1ired" all seven of them from the bench and replaced them with men whom he believed would obey and re- spect his will without regard to law