Mr. Russell to Mr. Hay.
Caracas, July 14, 1901.
Sir: I have the honor to report that the Government has issued a decree in reference to the claims allowed by the late claims commission.
[Page 551]The decree states that as the Government is at present short of cash with which to meet these obligations, the matter is referred to the next Congress which will decide as to how the claims shall be paid.
In the list I inclosed in a former dispatch you will notice that the largest number of claims passed on by the commission were from Italians. Italy has a clause in her treaty with Venezuela by which claims against Venezuela from Italians must be submitted to the Venezuelan tribunals, and this would appear as the reason why so many Italian claims were presented to the commission. “La Voce d’ Italia,” an important Italian journal of this city, published an article last week stating that, although Italian claims had been presented to the commission, it had been done with the understanding that the Italian Government was not bound by the decision of the commission, and that there could always be an appeal to the legation. Whether this was an authorized statement is not known, but the Government organ here, commenting upon the article of “La Voce d’Italia,” made it the occasion for a violent attack on all foreigners, stating that they were here for no other purpose than to rifle the national treasury.
I have, etc.,