776 



VENEZUELA. 



VERMONT. 



and paying subsidies to the Puerto Cabello and 

 Valencia Railroad Company. 



Army and Navy. The strength of the regular 

 army is 2,785, of whom 240 are officers. There 

 is, besides, the militia, enrolled in time of revo- 

 lution or war. The naval force is so far re- 

 stricted to a few revenue cutters, hardly de- 

 serving the name of men - of - war ; but the 

 President has asked Congress for authority to 

 build a real man-of-war in view of the re- 

 newed revolutionary attempt, taking the coast 

 for its basis. 



A Rebellion. The regenerator and former 

 President of Venezuela, Gen. Guzman Blanco, 

 being absent in Europe as minister of the re- 

 public, a formidable attempt at revolution was 

 made, during the last week in June, by three 

 noted rebel chiefs Gen. Venancio Pulgar, 

 Urdaneta, and Pucido. These men succeeded 

 in raising funds at 15 per cent, interest at Port 

 of Spain, Trinidad, with which they fitted out 

 a steamer, the " Justicia," and another to keep 

 them supplied with coal, the u Oriente." Land- 

 ing troops at Campano, they obtained posses- 

 sion of that port ; but the Government forces 

 attacked and completely routed them on July 

 3, with a loss of several thousand rebels slain 

 and wounded. When the three defeated lead- 

 ers perceived that all was lost, they re-em- 

 barked with what troops they could gather, 

 and steamed to the island of Margarita, capt- 

 uring it by surprise and intrenching them- 

 selves there. This point they held from July 

 4 to July 14, when the Government had landed 

 a military force large enough to give them bat- 

 tle and again defeat them. A small Venezue- 

 lan man-of-war captured the "Oriente" the 

 same day, while the latter was conveying de- 

 feated rebels to Trinidad. The vigor of the 

 Venezuelan troops under Gen. Velutini had 

 thus disconcerted Pulgar's plans from the be- 

 ginning. Driven to sea, with a large reward 

 offered for the capture of their vessels as pi- 

 rates, and with their leader in hospital at Port 

 of Spain, the disheartened insurgents made 

 sail from Margarita, on board the " Justicia," 

 for Santo Domingo, where they surrendered to 

 the authorities on July 25. 



Public Works. In October it was reported 

 that the work of building a breakwater at La 

 Guayra was to begin at once. The cost of the 

 breakwater is estimated at $10,000,000. Blocks 

 of concrete weighing 500 tons each will be laid 

 in the sea. No money will be taken from the 

 public treasury. A London company has been 

 formed to carry out the work, and has agreed 

 to accept a certain sum per package for all 

 merchandise going over the breakwater for 

 ninety-nine years. 



Mining. A most important reform the Gov- 

 ernment proposes in the mining laws of the 

 country. In future, the net product of a mine 

 is to be taxed instead of its merely paying a 

 license. Furthermore, miners are to be allowed 

 to work small mines on Government lands, so 

 that people who are laborious, but can not get 



capital enough to work mines on an extended 

 scale, may have a chance to acquire some means 

 in a small way. Some idea may be formed of 

 the amount of English capital invested in the 

 gold-mines, from the ensuing list, which does 

 not include theNasupai mine : 



CallaoBis 180,000 



Chile 600.000 



New Chile 500,000 



New Callao 75,000 



Potosi 850,000 



New 1'otosl 800,000 



Nouveau Monde 200,000 



Victoria . . 



West Callao , 



La Guayana 



New Cicapra and Mercedes. 

 Nouveau Monde mortgage. . , 

 La Concepcion 



200.000 



7r.,coo 



250,000 



250,000 



70,000 



110,000 



Total 8,060,000 



The Callao mine alone shipped in 1883, from 

 Ciudad Bolivar, 5,279 kilogrammes of gold and 

 2,313 kilogrammes of gold quartz, worth in 

 the aggregate $3,543,383. The decline in the 

 value of copper has not prevented the New 

 Quebrada copper-mine of Venezuela from ship- 

 ping nearly as much copper as ever, so that 

 the arrivals thence at Liverpool and Swansea 

 during the first ten months of 1885 reached 

 3,351 tons fine, against 2,950 tons in 1884; 

 3,470 in 1883, and 2,886 in 1882. 



Railroads. In the summer of 1885 the Gov- 

 ernment made a contract with Don Benito 

 Roncayolo, granting him concession to build 

 the La Ceiba-Sabana de Mendoza Railway, in 

 the State of Andes, who in his turn contracted 

 for the necessary material with Messrs. A. de 

 Lima & Co., of New York. Simultaneously 

 the Carenero-Paparo Railroad was finished. It 

 is a coast line of 15 miles, but of great import- 

 ance in its connection with the river Tuy. 



Commerce. The number and tonnage of ship- 

 ping that entered Ciudad Bolivar in 1884 were 

 as follows : 



The American trade with Venezuela in 1885 

 was as follows: Imports from Venezuela into 

 the United States, $6,309,580; domestic ex- 

 ports from the United States to Venezuela, 

 $2,992,968. 



VERMONT. State Government, The following 

 were the State officers during the year : Gov- 

 ernor, Samuel E. Pingree, Republican ; Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor, Ebenezer J. Ormsbee ; Sec- 

 retary of State, Charles W. Porter ; Treasurer, 

 William J. Dubois ; Auditor, E. H. Powell; 

 Inspector of Finance, Carroll S. Page; Rail- 

 road Commissioner, Wayne Bailey, succeeded 

 by Thomas O. Seaver ; Commissioner of Taxes, 

 W. P. Dillingham ; Superintendent of Educa- 

 tion, Justus Dartt. Judiciary, Supreme Court : 

 Chief Judge, Homer E. Royce ; Assistant Judges, 



