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VENEZUELA. 



V 



TENEZUELA, a federal republic in South Amer- 

 ica. The Senate consists of 3 members from each 

 State, 27 in all, elected for four years. The House 

 of Representatives has 03 members, 1 to 35,000 of 

 population, elected also for four years by the di- 

 rect suffrage of the male citizens of the age of 

 twenty-one years and upward. The President and 

 the Council of Government are elected for four 

 years. The President for the term ending March 

 5. 1898, is Gen. Joaquin Crespo. The Council of 

 Government consists of Manuel Guzman Alvarez, 

 President ; Dr. P. Acevedo, Vice-President : and 

 Dr. II. Rivero, Gen. Custodio Milano, Luis Zagar- 

 zazu. Jose G. Riera, Tomas Jose Guillen, and Man- 

 uel M. Gallegos, members. The President's Cabi- 

 net at the beginning of 1896 was composed as 

 follows ; Interior, Dr. J. F. Castillo ; Foreign Af- 

 fairs, Dr. Ezequiel Rojas ; War and Marine. Gen. 

 Ramon Guerra ; Public Instruction, Dr. Federigo 

 R. Chirinos ; Fomento," Dr. Manuel A. Diez, ad in- 

 terim ; Public Works, H. Perez, (id interim. 



Area and Population. The area of Venezuela 

 is estimated at 593,943 square miles, including a 

 large area claimed by Great Britain. The popula- 

 tion according to the census of 1891 was 2.323,527, 

 consisting of 1,137,139 males and 1,186,388 females. 

 The number of foreigners was 42,898. There were 

 6,705 marriages in 1889. and the number of births 

 was 76,187 and of deaths 55,218. The number of 

 immigrants in 1890 was 1,555. 



Finances. The budget of 1896-'97 makes the 

 total revenue 40.300,000 bolivars (1 bolivar = 19'3 

 cents), of which import duties give 27,000,000, other 

 customs duties 162,000, taxes 7,300.000, and state 

 property 6,000,000 bolivars. The expenditures are 

 9,721,179 bolivars for the Interior, 1,950,570 for 

 Foreign Affairs, 1,994,970 for Fomento, 3,068,221 

 for Public Instruction, 2,668,424 for Public Works, 

 15,558,130 for Finance, and 5,338,506 for War and 

 Marine; total, 40,300,000 bolivars. 



The public debt in 1896 consisted of 15,794,305 

 bolivars of consolidated debt paying 5 per cent, in- 

 terest ; 1,119,291 bolivars of 6-per-cent. internal 

 bonds issued in 1894 ; the internal consolidated 

 debt of April 14, 1896, amounting to 42,277,205 boli- 

 vars, paying 6 percent. ; 3,663,490 bolivars of war- 

 rants, paying 1 per cent, a month ; the Spanish, 

 French, and German 3-per-cent. debt, amounting 

 to 4,266,338 bolivars ; and 10,792,190 bolivars raised 

 to construct the Caracas aqueduct ; total, 141,744,- 

 528 bolivars. 



Commerce. The trade of Venezuela is mainly 

 carried on with Great Britain, the West Indies, the 

 United States, Germany, France, and Colombia. 

 The exports in 1894 amounted to 107,655.694 boli- 

 vars. The principal articles of export were : Coffee, 

 84.769,000 bolivars ; cacao, 9,651.000 bolivars ; gold, 

 2,884,000 bolivars; hides, 2,849,000 bolivars; ani- 

 mals, 1,142,000 bolivars. Rubber, timber, cocoa- 

 nuts, cinchona bark, copaiba, and tonca beans are 

 also exported. 



During 1894 there were 1,480 steamers and 7,620 

 sailing ships entered and cleared. 



Communications. The railroads have a total 

 length of 394 miles. The length of the state tele- 

 graph lines is 3,882 miles. 



Defenses. The army as reorganized under the 

 law of July 30, 1895, consists of 11 battalions, each 

 formed of 6 companies of 60 men each. Every 

 able-bodied citizen between eighteen and forty-five 



years of age is enrolled in the militia, which num- 

 bers about 250,000 men. 



The fleet consists of 3 steamers, to each of which 

 is attached a company of marines. 



The Boundary Commission. The commission 

 appointed by President Cleveland to report upon 

 the true divisional line between British Guiana and 

 Venezuela for the information of the President and 

 Congress was organized under the presidency of 

 Justice David J. Brewer early in January, 1896. 

 President Cleveland had declared that "when such 

 report is made and accepted it will, in my opinion, 

 be the duty of the United States to resist by every 

 means in its power, as a willful aggression upon its 

 rights and interests, the appropriation by Great 

 Britain of any lands or the exercise of governmental 

 jurisdiction over any territory which, after investi- 

 gation, we have determined of right belongs to Vene- 

 zuela." The Secretary of State at the request of the 

 commission called the attention of the governments 

 of Great Britain and Venezuela to its -appointment, 

 and explained its object, which was to inform the 

 Executive upon certain facts touching a large ex- 

 tent of territory in which the United States have an 

 indirect interest, not one of territorial aggrandize- 

 ment or material gain in any form, their sole con- 

 cern being the peaceful solution of a controversy 

 between two friendly powers for a just and honor- 

 able settlement of the title to the disputed territory 

 and the protection of the United States against any 

 fresh acquisition in our hemisphere on the part of 

 any European state. The note suggested to each 

 Government that it might see a way consistent with 

 its sense of international propriety to give the com- 

 mission the aid it could furnish in the way of docu- 

 mentary proof, historical narrative, unpublished ar- 

 chives, or the like. An act of either Government in 

 this direction might, it was added, be accompanied 

 by an express reservation as to its claims, and should 

 not be deemed to be an abandonment or impair- 

 ment of any position heretofore expressed, and by 

 designating an agent or attorney whose duty it 

 would be to see that no proofs were omitted or over- 

 looked, it would, by acting the part of armcus curies, 

 throw light upon difficult and complex questions of 

 fact. The British as well as the Venezuelan Gov- 

 ernment welcomed the friendly co-operation of the 

 United States, and both engaged jurists to pre- 

 pare their cases, the British case being ostensibly 

 prepared as a parliamentary document. The Gov- 

 ernment assurance of title on which the holders of 

 land and mining claims in the contested regions 

 did not antedate March 19, 1889, when Viscount 

 Gormanston, then Governor, declared that, so far 

 as the territory included in the line known as 

 Schomburgk's was concerned, no doubt need exist. 

 Two years before the Secretary for the Colonies had 

 instructed Lieut.-Gov. Bruce to caution all persons 

 interested in mining licenses that they were issued 

 and must be accepted subject to the possibility that 

 in the event of a settlement they might become 

 part of Venezuelan territory, in which case no claim 

 for compensation could be recognized. When the 

 gold discoveries were made the zealous British Gov- 

 ernor, according to the report of a Venezuelan 

 commission appointed to make an investigation on 

 the spot, used the influence of the colonial Govern- 

 ment to promote emigration to the gold fields, while 

 the Venezuelan settlers there were attracted to the 

 coast settlements of the colony, and the Indians 



