Mr. Loomis to Mr. Day.
Caracas, June 7, 1898.
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that I received from the consular agent of the United States at Ciudad Bolivar a few days since a daily newspaper published in that city containing an official printed announcement to the effect that the Spanish vice-consul in that city had opened books for the enrollment of volunteers and the reception of subscriptions to be made use of by Spain in warfare against the United States. The Spanish vice-consul also announces that he makes this call for men and money by authority of the Spanish legation in this city. I inclose the official announcement of the vice-consul, with a translation.
It seemed to me that this public solicitation of recruits and funds was not admissible in a friendly neutral State, and I straightway called at the foreign office and said to the minister that this open call for men and money clearly evinced a disposition on the part of the representatives of Spain here to take advantage of Venezuela’s neutral position, and that it was an open assault upon her dignity and sovereignty. Recalling the fact that the United States Government had permitted German consuls during the Franco-Prussian war to send home their countrymen upon whom the Government had a claim for military service, I observed that under some circumstances it might be proper for the Spanish consuls to quietly send back from Venezuela citizens who were temporarily residing here and who owed military service to Spain, but that a public call for men and money was apparently a violation, in spirit at least, of both international and the municipal law. I also showed the paper to the President. It was agreed upon by both the minister of foreign affairs and the President that the Spanish legation had gone too far, and that a stop should immediately be put to its efforts to raise men and money on Venezuelan soil with which to oppose the United States.
The inclosed decree was then drawn up and published in the Official Gazette. You will see by it that a person who opens an office for the enlistment of troops without proper authority violates the penal code of Venezuela. It seems to me that an example should be made of the offenders in this case, not only because they have overstepped the bounds of good tase and disregarded the laws, but for the value of the example at this time. Taking advantage of race affiliations, the Spaniards are trying to carry things with a high hand in South America, and are here making a violent and persistent attack upon everything that appertains to the United States. They have conducted a well-organized warfare in the public press against us and have lost no opportunity to slander and abuse the President and Government of the United States. This has been done by writers in the pay of the representatives [Page 1135] of Spain, and this call for volunteers and money is the logical result, of the public assaults upon the good name of the United States. It is assumed that public opinion is so unfriendly to us that no objection will be made to this or even more flagrant violations of the neutrality of Venezuela on the part of the Spanish minister. The truth is, the people here, to a great extent, have been imposed upon by the Spanish campaign of boasting and bluster. The whole conservative faction is violently pro-Spanish. The Government is very friendly to the United States, the President particularly so, but the Government has to recognize, to a certain extent, the conservative element. * * *
I have asked the minister of foreign affairs to withdraw the exequatur of the Spanish vice consul at Ciudad Bolivar, and to have criminal proceedings instituted against him. If he acted under the directions of the minister at Caracas, as he states he did, * * * then it seems to me the dismissal of the minister himself might be asked. I cabled you for instructions on this point, but the answer has not yet arrived, and doubtless will not before the mail closes. * * *
I have, etc.,