Mr. Partridge to Mr. Gresham.
Caracas, December 27, 1893. (Received January 6, 1894.)
Sir: With reference to my dispatch, No. 97, of the 18th of October last, I have the honor to inform you that since then I have had several informal conferences with the minister of foreign affairs relative to the case of J. H. Dialogue & Son, agents for Mr. E. Lee, arising out of the closure to foreign commerce of the lesser mouths of the Orinoco River. The matter has lately been under consideration by the cabinet, and during a conversation with Señor Rojas at the ministry yesterday he said to me that he expected that the case would be satisfactorily settled within two or three weeks by a revocation of the decree of July 1. This is the disposition of it most to be desired, and the one which in our conferences I have urged upon the minister, in so far as I could with propriety, as the best course for Venezuela, irrespective of foreign interests. I am convinced that the decree instead of preventing contraband would increase the opportunities for it.
I have, etc.,