A MAN OF THE MOMENT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9662, 10 February 1903, Page 4

A MAN OF THE MOMENT.

The most prominent figure m the Venezulan '"mess, ' as Lord L/raiiOuine term.: tlie present situation, is umloubledly Mi Herbert W. 13 o wen, the American Minister at Caracas, m whose hands lie tlie arrangements lor arbitration on the mutters ill dispute between Venezuela and the foreign Powers. Judging iioui a biographical article, on Mr Bowen appearing m one of the American magazines, aim from what- one has learned o>i him during tlie present difficulty, he is (says a writer m me Press) a man oi whom more will be heard m the future. He comes ol New England ancestors, and can call himself a great-greait-grand-nepliew of Benjamin I'rankiin. His school and college career showed him possessed of fearless courage, and striking independence, traits which got him into many combats and not a- few differences of opinion with tlie authorities. Before settling down as a lawyer, he spent two periods abroad, the- latter being devoted to the study of Italian and the cultivation of a very fine tenor voice. In 1890 he- was appointed American Consul at Barceiomt, and since then he has been continually m the diplomatic service. In 1895 he became Lon-sul-General at Barcelona, and for the next Uu-ee years his position was not a pleasant one, for the agitation m Spain against the United States began, before he had held the office for a year, and it grew m intensity, culminating with the outbreak of the Avar. For the last two years he Mas considered by the police to be m constant danger of assassination, and towards tlie end of his stay they would not let him leave the consulate except to cross the square to get his meals at an hotel, and then they guarded him. The {Spanish mob gathered outside tlie hotel diningroom, and shook toy pigs m tlie Consul's face as a token of tlieir opinion of his nation. Guards slept at the consulate, and secret police shadowed its occupant day aud night. Mobs congregated m front of the consulate, and on one occasion, at least, it looked as if a determined attack was to be made upon it, m order to seize the national coat-of-arms, the eagle aud shield, that was displayed over the door. On this occasion Mr Bowen was out of the building, but he pushed through the crowd until he got his back to the door, and then awaited results, lieinforcements arrived m the shape- of one. big man, and these two faced the angry mob until the police came and dispersed it. "I asked the stranger who lie was," said Mr Bowen subsequently, "and he replied, 'I am Norman Harrington, of Chicago. This is my first day m Barcelona. It seemed to me tliere might bt some trouble for the eagle up there, and 1 thought I would take » bit of it.' " Mr Bowen was the last American official, if not the last American citizen, to leave Spain when the war was declared, and was conducted to the frontier m a train guarded by soldiers. Subsequently he wsis appointed to Persia, and later oil to Veijezuula, whore he- still represents his country. He is an accomplished linguist, an authority and author oil' international law, and a minor poet, his verses being "not very good and not very bad."