NEWS OF THE WEEK.
AGAIN we have nothing definite to record as to the Venezuelan crisis. Up till Friday a vague belief pre- vailed that things were going well, and that Mr. Bowen, who has arrived in Washington, was satisfied with the progress he has made. On Friday, however, it was announced that the Venezuelans were pressing that all Powers having claims on the Republic should be placed on terms of equality with the three co-operating Powers, and that Germany, Italy, and Britain had refused to accede to this demand. An item of interest in regard to the Venezuelan imbroglio, telegraphed by its New York correspondent to Tuesday's Times, is the state- ment, made" on the highest possible authority," that it was not England that sought German co-operation in Venezuela, but Germany which applied to England. That, of course, has been apparent all along to those who have watched the case, but it is just as well that it should thus be put beyond doubt. In this context we may notice, as one of the immediate results of the crisis, the acceptance by the Senate of an Appropria- tion Bill for retaining transports for service, and for Im- proving the personnel of the coast defences. During the discussion on the Bill in the Senatea Senator is said to have declared that the United States must make it plain that "Germany should not be allowed to 'bluff' the Government by any attitude she might assume." Does this, we wonder, mean that Germany has been using the language of veiled menace in regard to the openness of the American coast to naval attack? If so, it is certainly not one of the obligations of the
a ill-starred Alliance to support her in such diplomatic tactics.
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