the Government and people of Venezuela the congratulations and good wishes of the Government and people of the United States of America and my own personal best wishes for the continued success of your administration. WM. H. TAFT. File No. 831.415A/5. No. 620.] Chargé Whitehouse to Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, SIR: I have the honor to inform you that, by decree of October 6, the minister of foreign affairs is instructed to invite the following nations to take part in the festivities of the Venezuelan centennial, which occurs next July, for the following reasons: Spain, the mother country, as a sign of filial affection. Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, the sister Republics freed by Bolivar. Great Britain, for the help that her sons lent to the cause of Venezuelan emancipation. The Republic of Haiti, for the support that its Government lent to the struggle for independence. The United States of America, in commemoration of their having been the first nation that recognized the independence of Venezuela. The Argentine Republic, and the United States of Brazil, as a mark of gratitude for their friendly behavior in moments difficult for Venezuela. Mexico, in return for the invitation that its Government extended to Venezuela to celebrate the Mexican centennial. This decree amplifies the original program, forwarded in my No. 530 of March 31, by adding the United States, Argentine, Brazil, and Mexico to the list of specially invited nations. I have, etc., SHELDON WHITEHOUSE. File No. 831.415A/6. The Venezuelan Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Secretary of State. No. 1940.] [Translation.] MINISTRY OF FOREIGN RELATIONS, MOST EXCELLENT SIR: Venezuela is celebrating the first centennial of its independence and would be most highly gratified if the most excellent President and Government of the United States, whom I have the honor to invite by order of the Constitutional President and through your excellency's worthy medium, would be represented at the festivities, which, on that imperishable and transcendent occasion, will take place during the first week of the grand month of July next, in which comes the fifth, the glorious date of that proclamation, and so join in the patriotic rejoicings of Venezuela, which ever remembers that the first nation to recognize its independence was the United States of America. Owing to the existing good and cordial relations and the desire that these relations shall grow day by day more intimate, the Government and people of Venezuela entertain the belief that the United States will favorably receive this invitation. I avail, etc., [To be continued in Foreign Relations, 1911.) M. A. MATOS. MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA TO THE VENEZUELAN CONGRESS. File No. 3136/296. No. 544.] Chargé Whitehouse to Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, Caracas, April 28, 1910. SIR: I have the honor to transmit under separate cover duplicate copies of the message of President Gomez delivered to Congress on April 19, and to inclose herewith a translation of the portion dedicated to the United States. I have, etc., [Inclosure-Translation.] SHELDON WHITEHOUSE. Message of the President of Venezuela. EXTRACTS. The diplomatic relations between the United States and Venezuela, based upon the greatest harmony, continue to draw closer the multiple ties which unite the two nations. As a result of negotiations between the President of the United States and the minister for foreign affairs of Venezuela, the benefit of the minimum American tariff has been granted to the products of Venezuela imported into the United States, and I am pleased to announce to you an arrangement so favorable to Venezuelan agriculture and industry. The Republic was officially represented at the celebrations which took place last year in New York, and it will likewise assist at various international meetings which will shortly be held in the United States and to which it has been courteously invited. There will be inaugurated in Washington in a few days the building destined to be the office of the American Republics, to whose construction the Republic has appropriately contributed, and in which will be displayed the Venezuelan flag and a marble bust of the Liberator. In accordance with the stipulations of article 12 of the protocol of agreement between Venezuela and the United States of America, concluded February 13, 1909,1 and approved by Congress in its sessions of last year, the minister for foreign affairs signed with the United States minister the respective protocols for the settlement of the claims of the United States & Venezuela Co. and of the Orinoco Corporation against the Republic. The minister for foreign affairs will give you a detailed account of the said agreement, which I consider beneficial to the Republic. Thanks to this agreement, the arbitral tribunal of the Permanent Court at The Hague organized by the protocol of February 13 will have only the case of the Orinoco Steamship Co. to try. The arbitrators appointed in conformity with the agreement met in the second fortnight of February at The Hague and elected as third arbitrator the Austrian jurist, Mr. Henry Lammasch. The cases of the litigants were cited for presentation on February 1, and the counter cases will be presented June 1 next. The arbitral tribunal will convene on the 20th of the coming September. 1 See Foreign Relations, 1909, p. 617. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES AND CONVEN- CONVENTIONS OF THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL PEACE CONFER- See House Document No. 1151, Sixty-third Congress, second ses- FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICAN STATES. See under Argentine Republic, page 12. THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MARITIME LAW, 1910 See under Belgium, page 105. JOINT INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION FOR THE INVESTIGATION See under China, page 292. THE INTERNATIONAL PRIZE COURT AND THE PROPOSED COURT OF ARBITRAL JUSTICE. See under Great Britian, page 597. 869 INDEX. A. Accession to the throne of- Maha Vajiravudh, King of Siam... Page. His Majesty George V, King of England.. Acquisition of property for American missionaries in Morocco and rental of house in Moorish quarter of Mequinez.. Administration of affairs in Korea. Affairs in- 524 842 734 677 Agreement between Russia and Japan relative to Manchuria.. Agricultural corporations, right of, to purchase and hold lands in Philippine Albana, Sr. Don Elias Fernandez, Vice President of Chile, death of.. Alienage: trial in Greece of Greek subjects for extraditable crimes committed in 835 80 132 594 640 Alleged discrimination against Italian subjects by courts of Pennsylvania.. 657 673 Alsop & Co., an American corporation, arbitration of claim of, v. Chile... 138 110 American: charitable, religious, and educational institutions in Turkey.... collection of supplementary income tax from, engaged in business in extradition of, from United States to Italy. 128 1,3 649 jurisdiction over, in the Isle of Pines.. 415 marriage of, abroad... 855 American women to subjects of Greece. 640 military service case of Antonio S. Nunes... 831 naturalization and military service, case of Rene Dubuc.... 514 notice to those, formerly subjects of Austria or Hungary, who contem- 70 payment of municipal taxes by, in Harbin.. 230 prosecution of, by United States, for crimes committed in foreign coun- tries.... 517 protection of native, residing abroad.. 1 consular- courts, enforcement of local laws in extraterritorial countries by........ alleged discrimination against Italian subjects in Pennsylvania. 657 138 197 diplomatic officers, forbidden to perform marriage ceremony. 855 educational, religious, and charitable institutions in Turkey. 857 |