Minister Bowen to the Secretary of State.
Caracas, Venezuela, April 16, 1904.
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that President Castro has not granted audiences to any of the diplomatic representatives of the creditor powers during the last year, and that I have not had a talk with him since a year ago last January. I called on him then by appointment. The report, therefore, that I brusquely demanded some time ago to see him while he was in a private house is absolutely false. All negotiations with his government are carried on through the foreign office under his direction. * * * As President Castro stated for publication to the Herald reporter a few days ago that the French cable case and the asphalt case are just alike, I respectfully call your attention to the fact that he began his attack on the asphalt property by seizing it, while he has not even yet, after months of litigation, taken the property of the French Cable Company. Consequently we have more reason than ever to complain of the injustice of his courts. * * *
I am, etc.,