Mr. Loomis to Mr.
Hay.
Legation of the United States,
Caracas, February 23,
1901.
No. 564.]Sir: I have the honor to inclose a copy of a
note from the minister of foreign affairs, with translation of same, in
reference to the presence of the Scorpion in the
Orinoco River. I also inclose a copy of my answer to this note based
upon your cabled instructions.
In this connection it may be of interest to the Department to know that
when the British gunboat Alert went to Ciudad
Bolivar last summer to inquire into the facts concerning the killing of
the British consular clerk at that port, Mr. Grant-Duff, the British
chargé d’affaires here, asked permission from the Venezuelan Government
for the gunboat to go to Ciudad Bolivar. He reported his action to the
foreign
[Page 543]
office in London and
was promptly informed that what he had done was not at all necessary,
and that in the future permission for English war vessels to navigate
the Orinoco River was not to be asked.
I have, etc.,
The Minister for Foreign
Affairs to Mr. Loomis.
[Inclosure
l.—Translation.]
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
United States of
Venezuela,
Caracas, February 9,
1901.
Mr. Minister: The law of May 15, 1882,
numbered 2419 in the national compilation, gives to the head of the
Government the power to grant or not, in his judgment, permission to
foreign men-of-war to enter, for scientific purposes, ports that are
not open. Every time that a war vessel of the United States has made
a request of this nature it has been granted without any difficulty,
and not long ago United States war vessels were engaged in
scientific work in the Cano of San Juan and at the bar at the mouth
of the Orinoco, but these vessels had gone through with the legal
formality above mentioned, and this formality can not be dispensed
with, except in violation of the well-established principles of
international law.
By direction of the Supreme Chief of the Republic, I call your
excellency’s attention to the aforementioned law for the reason that
this Government has been disagreeably surprised to learn that a war
vessel called Scorpion, flying the flag of
the United States, had entered the harbor of Santa Catalina, a port
that is not open, and situated in the Dalla Costa district of the
State of Guayana; that an officer in uniform went ashore from said
war vessel and returned on board accompanied by a gentleman called
Boynton, an employee of the company which has its agency at said
port, and that no explanation was given for this flagrant violation
of the usual formalities.
The grave nature of this act, violating, as it does, the very
principles on which national sovereignty are based, compels the
Supreme Chief of the Republic to respectfully call the attention of
the Government of the United States to this delicate question, and
to protest in the most solemn manner against the action of the
man-of-war Scorpion as opposed to the
principles of international law and a violation of the laws of this
Republic.
In compliance with an imperative duty, I have directed the foregoing
communication to your excellency, and I renew, etc.,
[Inclosure 2.]
Mr. Loomis to
the Minister for Foreign
Affairs.
Legation of the United States,
Caracas, February 16, 1901.
Mr. Minister: I have the honor to
acknowledge receipt of your note of February 9 in which you state
that an American war vessel, the Scorpion,
has been seen in the Orinoco River at Santa Catalina and that her
presence there was not in conformity with certain sections of the
law of Venezuela, which, as I gather from your note, provides that
foreign men-of-war shall not enter the Orinoco River for scientific
purposes without first having asked permission of the chief of the
Venezuelan Government. I was not aware that there was a law in force
closing the Orinoco River to the public vessels of a friendly nation
bent on the peaceful and inoffensive mission of seeking information
from its nationals engaged in lawful business on the banks of that
stream. It is true that when it was desired to do certain scientific
work for the benefit of navigation and the shipping of all nations
at the bars of the Orinoco and San Juan rivers, the formal
permission of the Venezuelan Government was asked; but in these
cases it was deemed necessary to keep a war vessel in Venezuelan
waters for many weeks, and the officers and men on these scientific
expeditions were at work in small boats taking many observations and
measurements, so it was only natural that their presence for a long
period, and their activity, should be explained in the form of
asking permission for the performance of the task in question.
[Page 544]
The Scorpion, as I understand it, recently
made a very quick trip to Santa Catalina and immediately returned to
the coast. Her visit was of course wholly inoffensive in character
and devoid of significance in any other sense than the one I have
the honor to indicate, and, as your excellency knows, there are
precedents for the informal visits on the part of war vessels of a
friendly nation.
I should esteem it a favor if you would be kind enough to furnish me
with a list of the Venezuelan ports, streams, and harbors,
concerning which there is a special provision of law respecting the
entry of foreign men-of-war.
I take, etc.,
