A PRESIDENT'S CAPERS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 280, 19 August 1908, Page 4

A PRESIDENT'S CAPERS.

——«— — ■ ■ THE LONDON "TIMES" ON THE CASTRO NUISANCE. Here is quite a diverting article on President Castro, whom "The Times" calls "an international nuisanco." " President Castro is a highly interesting personality," says "The Times." "Nine years ago he was an obscure politician who sat- in the; Federal Senate of Venezuela, for the remote Andine State of El Tacliira. The Senator could not, or would not, pay his taxes, and his cattlo. were.seized to,raako good his default. Thit was the real start-ing-point in his career,: "He went into rebellion with a handful of followers, marched against. Caracas, seduced the 6000 well-armed troops of President Andrade,' who "prudently put to sea in 'tho navy,' and installed himself provisionally atthe Yellow House. There ho has sinco remained; hand of iron, trampling /under foot the obliga--tioris of international right, and treating with insolence the remonstrances of'all Powers who' seelc redress for the grievances of their subjects. ■, His yjews. "Ho has recently, expounded to..a"repre-" sentative of the'' Matin r his views bn things in general. They may bo studied with profit and with amusement by those who care to understand the. character of tho civilisation and of the-politics of certain South American Republics. Franco is one of the many countries with : which President Castro's ■ Government have a' difference. . Two years and. a half' ago they took possession of the property of a French'telegraph company, on the pretext that some of its agents had been hostile to the ; President's, rule. When' tho : French Government remonstrated, M. Taigny,: the" Charge d'Affaires, received his passports,'ahd jtub ports:were closed to French shipping." His Dream. . ■~ . "President Castro looks upon the situation thus created" witli ~eqifanimity. He justly points out that, while France has a good deal on money sunk in Venezuela, Venezuela has not a penny invested iu France. _ If M. PalMeres wishes to renew diplomatic relations, he must tako the necessary steps. His brother President bears no' malice, and will be ready to rcceive his'advances with affability .'"He has indeed a special predilection for Franco. Was not Napoleon her ruler, and does not President Castro, as a soldier, venerate ;the memory of that man? J! "For Bolivar also ho has the deepest admiration, but his innate sincerity compels him to admit that Bolivar's, achievements will be rated-in history below his own. The, 'Liberator'; drove put tho Spaniards. The task of-tho 'Restorer', is to:expel the cosmopolitan capitalist. In Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, and Ecuador tho economic life of tho country is in-the hands of strangers. The 'Restorer' intends to make them loosen their grasp—and to keep'their "money".' 'Why,' ho exclaimed to his French .visitor, 'should I conceal it? My. dreijm.is to i;egenerato tho Republics; of the north of South America by reuniting them in a common defence against tho invasion of the barbarians of Europe and of the other America.', , - -•

An international.Nu|sa(ice.: - ■ r "It is impossible not to admire his very real ability and courago, • or not to laugh at his amaziii£ arrogance. The messages in which' he belauds himself and Jiis sway, and assures tho world. with all the extravagance of Spanish-American rhetoric, that ho" has" made Venezuela great, glorious, and free are masterpieces of impudent mendacity. But the man is not only a .'ruthlfess * and greedy tyrant at homo. He has long been an international nuisance, and sooner or later, by one Power or by another, that nuisance will'have to be abated." ' ... :• :. .