828 



VENEZUELA. 



mande-d their surrender. The Venezuelan officers 

 and crews left the vessels, which were then towed 

 outside. The Gen. Crespo, the Totunio, and the 

 Margarita the Germans sunk in the night. The 

 reason given was, they were not sufficiently sea- 

 worthy to undertake the voyage to Trinidad 

 alone, while to tow them thither would impede 

 the freedom of action of the German fleet. The 

 German ships Falke and Panther then steamed 

 awav to Carupano to seize the Venezuelan vessel 

 that was blockading the mouth of the Orinoco. 

 'Hi is blockade the British and German defied 

 after officially pronouncing it null, before coer- 

 cive steps were taken in the matter of the claims, 

 by sending war-vessels up the Orinoco river, 

 against which action President Castro formally 

 protested. The representatives of France and 

 Italy joined in the declaration that the blockade 

 was ineffective, but the United States minister 

 declined to identify himself with them in its no- 

 tice. The President replied to the seizure of the 

 fleet by arresting all the British and German resi- 

 dents in Caracas, and such was the spasm of re- 

 sentment for the aggressive acts of the two pow- 

 ers that their citizens were for the moment safer 

 in prison than in their homes against the mob 

 which damaged the German legation building and 

 some European property. The President ordered 

 the imprisonment of all Britons and Germans in 

 the country, but on the urgent remonstrance of 

 Mr. Bowen he released them on the following 

 day and had them escorted to ships that took 

 them away. The Ossun, a French steamer that 

 had been chartered by the Venezuelan Govern- 

 ment, was the only vessel found at La Guayra 

 that was not sunk by the allies. The Venezuelan 

 flag-ship Bolivar was seized at Port of Spain. 

 On Dec. 10 the troop-ship Zamora was taken, and 

 on Dec. 12 the gunboat Restaurador, formerly the 

 American yacht Atlanta, was seized at Guanta. 

 The ship Topaze at Puerto Cabello was compelled 

 by a mob to lower the British flag. The com- 

 mander of the British cruiser Charybdis demand- 

 ed reparation. Before receiving a reply he 

 shelled the forts, which responded feebly. When 

 the guns were silenced a landing party destroyed 

 with dynamite and fire the Libertador Castle and 

 made a prisoner of the commandant. In retalia- 

 tion the allies bombarded the tow r n. The officials 

 of the English harbor corporation at La Guayra 

 were threatened with violence by a mob and also 

 with arrest by Venezuelan soldiers before British 

 marines were landed to rescue them. The Italian 

 Legation had examined the claims of Italians for 

 compensation and pronounced claims amounting 

 to 330,000 francs to be valid. The Italian colony 

 in Venezuela numbers 7,000 persons. The Venez- 

 uelan Government did not anticipate coercive 

 action from Italy because, in the treaty conclud- 

 ed with that country on June 19, 1861, it is stipu- 

 lated that in case of claims for damages arising 

 out of revolutionary acts Italians shall receive 

 the same treatment as that accorded to Venezue- 

 lans. President Castro, in appealing for the dip- 

 lomatic intervention of the United States, com- 

 plained because the powers had acted before they 

 had resorted to the Venezuelan courts for a deci- 

 sion on their monetary claims, which were insig- 

 nificant in amount and entirely disproportionate 

 to the efforts made to collect them by force, and 

 because they had proceeded to hasty and violent 

 measures lx>fore the resources of diplomacy -were 

 exhausted. Germans who had laid claims before 

 the Venezuelan tribunals have in many cases ob- 

 tained awards. The Venezuelan Government con- 

 tended that it is a recognized principle of interna- 

 tional law that when the courts of a coun- 



try are open to claims for damages against the 

 Government, diplomacy shall not be resorted 

 to until the claims have been presented to the 

 court and there has been a manifest denial of 

 justice or unusual delay or a violation of inter- 

 national law. This doctrine was accepted by the 

 delegates to the Pan-American Congress at Mex- 

 ico. Another principle of international law that 

 Germany and Great Britain set at naught for- 

 bids armed intervention for the collection of pub- 

 lic debts or guaranteed interest. 



Italy determined to join in the naval hostil- 

 ities, and sent the cruiser Giovanni Bausan. The 

 Italian minister to Venezuela on Dec. 13 for- 

 warded an ultimatum analogous to those present- 

 ed by Great Britain and Germany. Italy first 

 proposed to Germany and Great Britain to be 

 associated with them in the measures they were 

 about to take, and in any arrangements that 

 might be made, as the claims of Italians were 

 of the same nature as those pressed on behalf 

 of Germans and British. This proposal was fa- 

 vorably received. Commodore Scheder selected 

 La Guayra as the center of the movements of 

 the German ships. Each commander took a dif- 

 ferent part of the coast and neither was respon- 

 sible for the acts of the other except when they 

 acted in concert. The squadron sent by Great 

 Britain under the command of Vice-Admiral 

 Douglas was much the stronger, having a tonnage 

 of 23,000 tons and 1,700 available men in the 

 crews. The Italian naval force arrived on Dec. 

 16. The United States sent to Trinidad two 

 squadrons to observe developments and to be 

 ready to defend American interests or protect 

 American lives and property, consisting of the 

 Kearsarge, Alabama, Massachusetts, Iowa, and 

 Scorpion, under Rear- Admiral Higginson, and the 

 Chicago, Newark, and Eagle, commanded by Rear- 

 Admiral Sumner. Alter a few days most of the 

 vessels returned to their station in Porto Rico. 

 A wave of patriotic enthusiasm swept over Venez- 

 uela. All citizens fit for military duty enrolled 

 themselves in the militia, even those belonging to 

 the revolutionary party. The people everywhere 

 pledged themselves to buy no British or German 

 goods while the differences remained unsettled 

 and foreign military forces menaced Venezuela. 

 When the news of the bombardment of Puerto 

 Cabello reached the capital 10,000 men surround- 

 ed the Government building clamoring for arms 

 to repel the invaders. The Government ordered 

 the enrolment in the militia of men between the 

 ages of eighteen and forty-five, and Gen. Ferrer 

 formed an entrenched camp between La Guayra 

 and Caracas, which was occupied by 3,000 troops 

 under the Minister of War and Gen. Modesto 

 Castro. President Castro issued a proclamation 

 granting amnesty to all political offenders and 

 restoring confiscated estates. The Venezuelan 

 consul at Port of Spain in Trinidad closed his 

 office and departed. The German cruiser Panther 

 attempted to enter the harbor of Maracaibo to 

 take out the only war-ship not yet seized, which 

 was moored along the wharf. Gen. Bello, the 

 commandant at the old Spanish castle of San 

 Carlos, fired a warning shot. The German vessel 

 did not go in and take the Venzuelan vessel until 

 the Vineta, Falke, and Panther of the German 

 squadron shelled the fort. The old guns of the 

 Yene/iielans responded and did some damage to 

 the nearest German vessel. The vc>~> -N dc]iar1eil. 

 but returned two days later and demolished the 

 fort. The village of San Carlos was destroyed 

 and some of the inhabitants were killed. 



On Dec. 12 President Castro requested Minister 

 I'.mven to arrange a settlement with the allies. 



