No. 472.
Mr. Frelinghuysen to Mr. Soteldo.
Washington, May 2, 1884.
Sir: In compliance with my request you were so good as to favor me with an interview this morning, when I took occasion to advert to a recent occurence at Ciudad Bolivar, whereby Mr. John Dalton, the consul of the United States at that point, together with some twenty other persons of that place, had been by an executive order of his excellency President Guzman Blanco, subjected to three days incarceration in the military barracks, and I expressed to you the painful effects which such action would impose upon the Government of the United States if it were found that such an arbitrary proceeding had in fact been enforced against any citizen of the United States, especially one holding a consular appointment under our flag.
You were pleased to state the facts of the occurrence as they had been communicated to you. Briefly, a recent federal law of Venezuela has granted certain extensive rights and usufructs over tracts of unoccupied Government land to a foreign citizen or association, the grant carrying with it commercial privileges at Ciudad Bolivar; a number of respectable residents of that city, among them Mr. Dalton, joined in signing a protest against the provisions of this grant. The language of the protest is said by you to have been severe and in effect subversive of the law, which the signers were bound to obey and respect; and moreover, the petition or protest was printed in the local papers before it reached the Government at Caracas; in view of all which you say the Venezuelan Executive adopted a recourse allowable in that country and undertook to enforce respect for the laws by ordering the military arrest for the constitutional term of three days, of all those who by their action had shown disrespect to the law and the Government.
It seems that Mr. Baker has already addressed a remonstrance to the Venezuelan secretary for foreign affairs, and elicited from Mr. Seijas an unsatisfactory reply.
From your statement of the occurrences, I must consider Mr. Baker’s remonstrance to have been warranted by the facts and I deem it my duty to say also to you, as the accredited representative of Venezuela, that this Government would and does feel bound to protest against any summary act of the Executive of Venezuela, whereby any citizen of the United States may have been, or may be, subjected to military condemnation and sentence to any term of imprisonment, however brief, without due form of trial and opportunity for defense under the treaty of 1860, and under the accepted principles of international law.
It is sincerely hoped, however, that the executive order of President Guzman Blanco will not be found to have been enforced against any citizen of the United States. Until that material fact is known, I reserve further comment in the matter.
Accept, &c.,