harmony and cordiality, the interest which the President and the people of the American Union showed toward Venezuela in the unfortunate days of our international disturbance. The good offices of the First Magistrate of that friendly nation were interposed more than once to obtain a pacific solution and avoid the action which was then threatened against us. With a view to expressing to the people of the great Republic the gratitude of Venezuela for this friendly action, and also for the purpose of strengthening our friendly political relations, it was resolved last year to reestablish the Venezuelan legation at Washington. The compatriot appointed by the Government as the head of the legation has received a courteous reception by the PresiIdent of the United States. * REESTABLISHMENT OF RELATIONS BETWEEN VENEZUELA AND No. 276.] COLOMBIA. Mr. Bowen to Mr. Hay. AMERICAN LEGATION, Caracas, Venezuela, April 17, 1904. SIR: I have the honor to inform you that this afternoon Gen. Rafael Reyes, President-elect of Colombia, after a long conference with President Castro, called on me and told me that General Castro agreed to send consuls to Colombia this week, and that Colombia would then send consuls to Venezuela. No date was named for appointing ministers, but it was understood that they should be named I judge from what General Reyes added that all questions in dispute between the two countries will be submitted to arbitration, and that the arbitrator will be Señor Herboso, the Chilean minister to Colombia and Venezuela. Señor Herboso is in Caracas, and it is principally owing to his efforts that President Castro and General Reyes were brought together. General Reyes wants the Orinoco River opened to Colombia and the Maracaibo district provided with liberal transit regulations and facilities. General Reyes will leave here day after to-morrow, after a visit of less than a week. soon. SIR: I have the honor to inform you that President Castro on the 11th instant issued the following decree: DECREE. ARTICLE 1. Traffic with the Republic of Colombia is reestablished. ART. 2. Foreign merchandise, fruits, and products imported into Maricaibo in transit to that Republic, as well as her exports, may be carried in steamers, boats, and canoes on the Zulia River between El Guayabo and Puerto Villamizar without any restrictions except those established by law 23 of the Treasury Code. I am, etc., HERBERT W. BOWEN. NEW CONSTITUTION OF VENEZUELA. Mr. Bowen to Mr. Hay. No. 281.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Caracas, Venezuela, May 14, 1904. SIR: I have the honor to inform you that on the 27th of April last, the ninety-third year of the independence and the forty-sixth of the federation of Venezuela, a new constitution was adopted for the Republic. It reduces the number of States to thirteen-Aragua, Bermudez, Bolivar, Carabobo, Falcon, Guarico, Lara, Merida, Miranda, Tachira, Trujillo, Zamora, and Zulia-and provides for five Territories Amazonas, Cristobal Colon, Colon, Delta-Amacuro, and Yururari—and the Federal District, which is composed of the departments Libertador, Varagas, Guaicaipuro, and Sucre, and the island of Margarita. The States enjoy equality and autonomy, having all rights not delegated to the central Government. The Territories are administered by the President. The Government is divided into three branches-the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. The legislative branch is called the Congress, and is composed of two bodies the Senate and the House of Deputies. One deputy will be elected by every 40,000 inhabitants, and all deputies, as well as senators (two from every State) and the President, will serve for six years. Deputies must be 21 years of age, senators 30, and the President over 30. No extraordinary powers are given to the Congress, except that 14 of its members shall be chosen by itself to elect every sixth year a President, a first and a second vice-president, and to elect a successor to the second vice-president. The President, besides being charged with the usual executive duties, is authorized to declare war, arrest, imprison, or expel natives or aliens who are opposed to the reestablishment of peace, to issue letters of marque and reprisal, to permit aliens to enter the public service, to prohibit the immigration into the Republic of objectionable religious teachers, and to establish rules for the postal, telegraph, and telephone services. The judicial power is vested in the Corte Federal y de Casacion (seven judges elected by the Congress) and the lower courts (appointed by the State governments). All Venezuelans over 21 years of age may vote, and aliens can obtain that right by getting naturalized. No length of time is prescribed for an alien to live in the Republic before he can become naturalized. Article 15 of the constitution denies the right of natives or aliens to present claims to the nation or States for damages caused by revolutionists. Article 17 abolishes the death penalty. And article 120 provides that all of Venezuela's international treaties shall hereafter contain the clause, "All differences between the contracting parties shall be decided by arbitration, without going to war." In conclusion, the constitution provides that the next constitutional terms shall begin May 23, 1905. Up to that date General Castro will be Provisional President. He took his oath of office as such on the 5th instant, and on the same day Juan Vicente Gómez was made first vice-president and José Antonio Velutini second vice-president. As Provisional President, General Castro has been authorized to name the presidents of the States, to organize the Federal Territories, to fix the estimates for the public expenses, and, in short, to exercise the fullest powers. I am, etc., ** * HERBERT W. BOWEN. INDEX. A. Page. Abduction of Ion Perdicaris by bandits in Morocco.. 307, 338, 496 656 Abynemer, Assad Kalil, Syrian, fraudulent naturalization of 398 298 Acre Territory, termination of the dispute between Bolivia and Brazil 98, 104 Activity of secret societies (antiforeign and antidynastic) in China. 200 398 Agreement. (See Treaty.) Alaska, delimitation of the boundary_of____ 324 Alexandretta, Turkey, assault on the American consul at, by Turkish 833 Aliens, citizenship of children of, born in the United States.. 853 491 American: cargoes and American-chartered vessels, seizure, of by Russian naval doing business in Haiti, license tax imposed upon.. 371 790 license to do business arbitrarily denied to, in Haiti__ 384 397 citizenship of persons born in foreign countries of naturalized Ameri- 854 citizenship of persons born in the United States of alien parents.... 853 833 286, 859 236 7 institutions, educational, charitable, and religious, in Turkey; negotia- newspaper correspondents, arrest of, by Russian authorities_ 777 451 ship Benjamin Sewall, murder of shipwrecked seamen of, in Formosa_ 440 407 transportation companies, discrimination against, in carrying emi- Page. Annexation of the Dominican Republic by the United States... 371 Anniversary, seventy-fifth birthday, of King Oscar, of Sweden and Nor- 810 Antiforeign movements in China 200 Application, passport, of: Ablahat, Odishu Samuel. 656 Arbitration: agreement between France and Great Britain__ Böker, Robert Albert_ Tappen, William A.. Arabia, American-chartered vessel, seizure of, by Russia__ invitation to the government signatories to The Hague convention to enter into arbitration treaties__ 312 778 36 36 814 732 9 8 of Alto Juruá and Alto Purús claims, convention between Brazil and 111, 699 of boundary dispute between Colombia and Peru__ 694 of boundary dispute between Ecuador and Peru__ 680 542 of the claim of the San Domingo Improvement Company against the 270 of the preferential treatment of claims against Venezuela_ 505 of Venezuelan claims by the Mixed Claims Commissions under proto- 863 treaty between Bolivia and Peru respecting limits__ 685 701 treaty, and of nonintervention, between Guatemala, Honduras, Nica- 351 Ardova, steamship, seizure of American cargo on, by Russia. 732 36-41 boundary convention between the Argentine Republic and Chile_____ 40, 116 37 neutrality proclamation 15 passport application of William A. Tappan and his son, Charles L. 36 settlement of the difficulties between Uruguay and the Argentine 861 treaty of friendship and commerce between the Argentine Republic 38 Armenia, Turkey, revolutionary movement and disturbed condition in__ 836 647 Arrest of American citizens. (See Imprisonment.) Assault on the American consul at Alexandretta by Turkish officials_-_- for political refugees (see Revolution in Paraguay) right of, in United States consular offices (see Violation of the United of the arbitration of the claim of the San Domingo Improvement 274 of the arbitration of Venezuelan claims by the Mixed Claims Commis- 863 |