Mr. Day to Mr. Loomis.
Washington, June 20, 1898.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 145 of the 7th instant, in which you report your action in relation to a public announcement in a newspaper of Ciudad Bolivar that the Spanish vice-consul in that city had, by the authority of the Spanish legation at Caracas, opened books “for the enrollment of volunteers and the reception of subscriptions” in aid of Spain in her war with the United States. You state that both the President and the minister of foreign affairs of Venezuela agreed “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,” and it appears that as a result of your representations the ministry of foreign affairs issued on the 1st of June a decree in which attention is called to various provisions of the penal code of Venezuela by which it is forbidden to anyone, without authority of the national government, to make levies or to arm and equip “Venezuelans or foreigners on Venezuelan soil destined for the service of another nation, or to arrogate to himself illegal functions, and, without authority, to open an office for making subscriptions or enlistments.
Upon your report of the matter by cable, with the inquiry whether you should demand the dismissal of the Spanish minister at Caracas, the Department, in its telegraphic reply, instructed you to lay such evidences as you possessed of the minister’s offenses before the Venezuelan Government, with an expression of confidence that it would take appropriate measures for the vindication of its sovereignty. The Department deemed it proper, after the proofs should be presented to the minister of foreign affairs, to afford the Venezuelan Government an opportunity to investigate the matter, and of its own motion to take such further action as the facts should require. It is assumed that the Venezuelan Government, especially in view of what you say of its friendly disposition toward the United States, will not be disinclined to signify in a substantial way its displeasure at what seems to have been a flagrant attempt to disregard its laws and its neutrality.
[Page 1137]The Department will await with interest your report of the action of the Venezuelan Government in regard to the minister and the vice-consul.
Respectfully, yours,