776 



VENEZUELA. 



12,785 ; Ciudad de Cura, 12,198 ; Merida, 12,- 

 018 ; Ciudad de Bolivar, 11,686 ; Guanare, 10,- 

 880 ; Capatarida, 3,606. The number of mar- 

 riages registered in 1889 was 6,705 ; births, 

 76,187 ; deaths, 55,218 ; surplus of births, 20,969. 

 The number of immigrants in 1890 was 1,555. 



Commerce and Communications. The fol- 

 lowing values were exported of the principal com- 

 mercial products of the country in 1889-90 : 

 Coffee, 71,168,000 bolivars ; cacao, 9,329,000 bo- 

 livars ; gold, 9,072,000 bolivars : hides and skins, 

 4,728,000 bolivars ; copper, 1,972.000 bolivars ; 

 live animals, 1,290,000 bolivars. The total value 

 of the imports was 83,614,411, compared with 

 81,372,257 bolivars in 1889, and the value of the 

 exports was 100,917,338, compared with 97,271,- 

 306 bolivars. 



There were 430 kilometers of railroads in oper- 

 ation in 1891. The state telegraphs had a total 

 length of 5,645 kilometers. The number of dis- 

 patches in 1890 was 419,724. The receipts were 

 326,904 bolivars, and the expenses 949,846 boli- 

 vars. The post-office forwarded 1,572,292 letters 

 and cards, and 1,365,576 items of printed matter. 

 The expenses for 1890 were 961,815 bolivars. 



Finances. In the budget for 1890-91 the 

 total receipts of the Government were set down as 

 35.976,000 bolivars or francs, of which 25,000,000 

 bolivars were the estimated receipts from cus- 

 toms, 162,000 bolivars represent other duties, 

 6,060,000 bolivars indirect taxes, and 4,916,000 

 bolivars rents. The expenditure was made to 

 balance the revenue, 7,340,406 bolivars being 

 allocated to the Interior Department, 2,004,969 

 bolivars to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; 

 2,685, 437 bolivars to the Department of Fomento, 

 which includes colonization, posts and tele- 

 graphs, and the state printing-office; 3,758,158 

 bolivars to the Ministry of Public Instruction, 

 5,790,767 bolivars to the Ministry of Public 

 Works, 4,953,226 bolivars to the Ministry of 

 Finance, 5,445,120 bolivars to the public debt, 

 and 3,997,917 bolivars to the army and navy. 

 Since no budget was passed for the financial 

 year 1891-92, the same one, under the Constitu- 

 tion, was applicable for that year. 



The public debt on Dec. 31, 1890, amounted to 

 110,938,687 bolivars, of which 38,130,077 bolivars 

 constituted the consolidated national or internal 

 debt, 67,388,462 bolivars the foreign consolidated 

 debt, and 5,420,148 bolivars a debt raised in 

 Spain, France, and Germany. 



The Army and Navy. The permanent army 

 consisted in 1891 of 11 battalions, each of 4 com- 

 panies of 120 men, 2 separate companies of 

 infantry, and 2 companies of artillery with 15 

 guns, and numbered altogether 5,760 men. For 

 1892 the effective was fixed by Congress at 

 5,000 men. The fleet in 1891 was composed of 

 an iron steamer and 3 sailing vessels, and there 

 were 4 gunboats under construction. 



Constitutional Dispute. Amendments to the 

 Constitution adopted by Congress in June, 1891, 

 and approved late in the year by the State Legis- 

 latures, provided that Congress should elect the 

 President, instead of the Federal Council, pro- 

 longed the Presidential term from 2 to 4 years, 

 restored the original 20 States, and introduced 

 changes tending to enlarge the powers of the 

 central executive and of Congress at the expense 

 of State sovereignty. Under the old Constitution 



it was the duty of Congress on assembling in Feb- 

 ruary, 1892, to choose a Federal Council, which 

 should immediately proceed to elect a President 

 to succeed Dr. Andueza Palacio for the term of 

 two years beginning Feb. 20. President Palacio 

 and his Cabinet and supporters in Congress held 

 that Congress should immediately declare the new 

 Constitution in force and elect a President in 

 accordance with its provisions. The Opposition 

 insisted on proceeding under the old law and pro- 

 claiming the new Constitution only after the in- 

 auguration of a new Administration. They sus- 

 pected that Dr. Andueza Palacio, prompted by 

 Dr. Casafias, Minister of the Interior, and other 

 members of the party in possession of the offices, 

 was scheming to have himself continued in power 

 by the election of a candidate who would be a 

 mere stalking-horse for his schemes and was ac- 

 cused of attempting to secure the election of a tem- 

 porary President or be made provisional President 

 himself until a Congress elected under the new 

 Constitution could assemble. They dubbed his 

 party the Continuists, while they called them- 

 selves Legalists, as upholding the legal and con- 

 stitutional mode of procedure. The contending 

 factions both formed part of the great Liberal 

 party. When the time for the assembling of 

 Congress came, the Continuists kept away, as 

 they had been placed in the minority by the ac- 

 tion of the State Legislatures in electing Senators 

 opposed to Palacio and his supposed dictatorial 

 projects, and hence the Legalists, who met at the 

 regular date and organized Congress, were unable 

 to elect a Federal Council, not having the neces- 

 sary two-thirds quorum in the Senate. The Sen- 

 ate therefore closed its doors, and did not after- 

 ward meet. The House of Deputies had enough 

 members to proceed to business, and continued in 

 session. The Opposition held that in such an 

 emergency Congress should organize a Provisional 

 Government, but the President's faction asserted 

 that in the absence of a constitutional successor 

 he was the rightful President in the interim. He 

 therefore held over, though he was denounced as 

 a usurper and all his acts were declared to be 

 illegal by the Constitutionalists. Palacio tried to 

 win over the less determined of his opponents, 

 and when persuasion failed, he attempted to in- 

 timidate his enemies by arresting some of the most 

 prominent of them. On March 8, 1892, a formal 

 protest was signed by 46 members of Congress, 

 who then withdrew. As soon as it appeared 

 Palacio assumed dictatorial powers, and ordered 

 wholesale arrests. The Rotunda or city prison of 

 Caracas was filled with political prisoners, and all 

 who escaped to Curacoa or Trinidad were pro- 

 scribed and prohibited from returning on pain of 

 death. The seats of the imprisoned or exiled 

 Legalist members were filled by Presidential de- 

 cree with creatures of Palacio and Casanas, in 

 some cases by policemen. While rebellion was 

 breaking out in the provinces, the sympathizers 

 with resistance in the capital appealed to the 

 Federal Supreme Court to decide the question 

 whether Palacio's continuance in office was legal. 

 On March 26 the judges rendered a unanimous 

 decision pronouncing Palacio's retention of office 

 unconstitutional. When Palacio heard this he 

 was so transported with anger that he ordered the 

 judges to be imprisoned. All except those who 

 evaded arrest were thrown into jail, and kept 



