POLITICS IN VENEZUELA. THE STORY OF THE " REVOLUTION."

North Otago Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7464, 12 September 1892, Page 4

POLITICS IN VENEZUELA. THE STORY OF THE " REVOLUTION."

The f )l'owirjg oommnnicat ons throw pome light upon thn obscure end little understood troubles which have lately been reported from Venezuela. The writer is ore of the principal Englishmen in Venezuela : " Caracas, May 14 — You have probably seen in some of tbc English papers a sensational report of the little political troub'e the Government of Venezuela have on thefthands at the preient time. I myself have seen in papers sent here from the Sta»es aocouUsof the revolution whioh are no nearer the truth than Caracas is to London. As was stated in a previous letter, this trouble is really scarcely worth speaking of at all, it ia on such a small scale; buk to remove any false impression you may have received from the papers, I send you a few facts devoid of any sensationalism. Congress during tbeir latt session p»B9fd a law ohanging the term of Preedeat from tiro to four years. The people at the time let the affair pass withuir much Oppoiition, beleiving it wou'd come loto force after the completion tf the present President's term. There is no doubt that the change is a gre«,t improvement in the Con^bution, a^ it renders lees frequent the exe foment and interruptions to business which naturally take place in every republic during the time of tbc election*. Tae President, who was really tbc cause of the change, wished it to come into effect during his o?n term, thug i?iv ng hirns If two yeara more of the Presidency. At thiß there was a split in the feelings of the people, who formed two opposite factions, termed Cont nuiats and Non-Continuists. The result was an immed ate resort to arms, and in several d-fferent parts of the republio loiall lands of from fifty to a hundred men commenced a kind of guerrilla warfare against the Government. The President, however, had made all his arrangements in antioipat on of this e?ent, and immediately d ■ ach d forces to cope with the revolutionary binds. He was enabled to do this very easily, as the army regained s'aunch to hirn; and in every caße the Bmall bodies of revolutiouaries were beaten and dispersed by the Government troop8 ( In Caracas wc have seen nothing of this affair excepting the despatch of troops for the interior, and laat'y the return of these. As to th a ac val fighting, this has all be j n in the interior, wc not having heard a single shot. What haß caused the trouble to be felt here in the capital ia the stagnation of commercial business there being no trade with the interior during this upset. The merchants have refrained from buying more than wrb absolutely necessary for their immediate s»'es, thus lesbening the import trade, and consequently \n an indirect manner a 1 kinds of bus nese. Wc also passed through a slight mometary erisis on account of the distrust in the paper money of the two Caracas bonks. F>r a t'me no one cared to receive paper money in payment, and all who had p*per money were in a hurry to get rid of it. A rush was immediately made on the banks for the purpose of cashing all paper, and the banks not having on hand sufficient haid money to redeem all I heir note", it appeared for a while that a crash would occur. Th s was fortunately averted by 'he spirited action of the merchant*, who iamediat ly caused to be printed and circulated a notice to the effect that they would be respon&i' le for the notes. Tbo banks have since received more gold from the States than is represented by the bills in c rculacion, so that all danger is of course past."