THE VENEZUELAN CRISIS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 80, 2 April 1908, Page 4

THE VENEZUELAN CRISIS.

When Tv-e read of tlie necessity for "prompt and vigorous action" on the , part of a great Power, we are naturally inclined to interpret the warning as a j menace to the world's peace. In the present instance, the quarrel between Venezuela and the United States, which has ; now reached an acutely critical stage, is hardly likely to embroil the great nations in deadly strife, but it is by no means improbable that it may lead to dangerous complications with far-reach-ing results. The special point upon which the Washington Government intends to assert its dignity is the claim made by the Bermudez Asphalte Company against President Castro; and the whole incident is remarkably characteristic of the curious fashion in which some of the South American republics conduct their affairs. There seems to be no doubt that the Bermudez Company — which is an American concern managed from New York—had not only failed to carry out the terms of its concession, but had committed the serious misde- | meanour of giving aid to General Matos, the insurgent leader, in his conflict with President Castro. The Venezuelan Government began quite correctly by starting two judicial suits against the company —one to annul its concessions, the to recover damages for aid given to the revolutionaries, to the amount of 10,000,000d0L But wliile the cases were still pending, President Castro suddenly seized the_ company's) property, ejected its agents, and generally took the law into ! his own hands. These irregular and arbitrary proceedings have been accepted at : Washington as a deliberate challenge to i the American nation; and whatever Castto's intentions may have been, there is no doubt that he has thrown upon President Koosevelt the responsibility of I upholding the prestige of the United | Slates and maintaining the rights of its citizens, if necessary by force of arms. To understand precisely how the present crisis has developed, we must go hack six years to the " Venezuelan mess,*'' when England gave Germany the use oE her Heel to collect European debts from Castro. The Venezuelans cleverly enough appealed to the Monroe Doctrine, and thus induced the United States practically to warn oil' the European Powers. But Castro was justly indignant at the extortionate claims put forward against his country, and when the Hague Tribunal, to which the dispute had been referred, granted preference to the blockading Powers, the Venezuelans, thinking that they were being unnecessarily humiliated, began to resent the supposed indignities heaped upon them, and laid the blame for their discomhture on their American defenders, if the ruler of Venezuela had been a far-seeing statesman, or even a. rational man, any serious dilliculty would have been avoided. But President Castro is the very worst type of autocrat for such a situation. He ha 3 been described as courageous, ignorant, shrewd in small matters, but lacking the rudiments of statesmanship.- His administration has been hopelessly corrupt, and his natural dislike ot foreign aggression is intensilied by his overweening belief in himself and his arrogant contempt for Americans and Europeans. He has seriously declared that if necessary, he would not hesitate to meet I any of the Powers, or even a combination of the Powers, in open fight on a battle ground of his I own choosing, and the defiant tone that he has adopted toward the United States I is only one of many proofs that he entirely fails to realise the risks or the responsibilities of his position. If Castro i persists in nis desperate folly, it may I be necessary for the Americans to take over the country and reorganise it, as they did in the case of Cuba. Many patriotic Venezuelans would gladly support such a policy, if only to free their country from the corrupt tyranny of Castro; and this course would be at least consistent with the only rational interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine. If the United States intend to keep the European Powers out of South America, thoy must at least undertake to keep order, and to protect foreign interests throughout the Continent; and their responsibilities arc none the less weighty in this case, because the rights threatened happen to be their own.