The republic., 1851-01-03
I'll h r L P u BLIC.
From The "N.io York Sun" of Dec 26h., 1850.
General Paez.

Sir: When Paez, the champion of South Ameri-
can liberty, and founder of the Republic of Vene-
zuela. was eXiled for life by the tyrannical admin
stration of General Monagas, and on his arrival
III the United States, was greeted with public
marks of esteem and respect by great, free, and
intelligent people, no man acquainted with the
mean and oppressive character OF tyrants in all
periods of the world, doubted but that the illusri-
exile, notwithstanding his great historic name,
and life devoted to the cause Of liberty would
necessarily become the subject of the libels and
slanders of the tyran, propagated by his employees,
so long as he had power and money at command.
Thus 1t has ever been, and thus will it ever be.
Every great public character. no matter how emf
nent has had his Thersites. The great Washing
ton had his bitter enemies, and coarse and nam-
Gus deiamers; and il is not long since Daniel Web
ster, the eminent patriot and statesman, was pub
cly and filthily libclled by female, in the very
country that boasts of his fame and glory. To
show still more strikingy the utter mpossibty
of escaping the attacks Of malicious slanderers,
even after life of immaculate purity and sei-sac.
rifice will but mention the recorded in Holy
Writ When the Saviour Of mankiad wrought
wonders, and his enemies and sanderers could not
deny the miraculous acts he performed, still they
were not silenced, but ascribed those miracles 10
the power of the Devil But this last mentioned
parsonage cannot perform good and laudable acts,
although his character is well known as the father
of lies
In the New York Daily Tribune of the 7th No
vember last, under the head of Later from Venc-
zuela," appeared the information following, viz
"By private letter, which we have seen, il is
stated that the Government intends to publish an
historical narrative of all the events which have
occurred in Venezuela since the election of 1876,
together with all the official documents relating
thereto"
AT last anonymous pamphlet entitled " Mo-
nagas and Paez," has appeared few days since
containing eighty pages; three thousand copies of
it have been printed, and it has been extensively
and gratuitously distributed through this city and
elsewhere. The getter up of this publication is
well known, and perhaps it may be unnecessary
to say that he is neither native of North nor of
South America, and that he is person in the
poy OF the Monagas government.
The pamphlet consists of two extracts from
newspapers, unsupported by proofs of any kind,
but ls chiefly made up OF paper published in 1916
by one Rafael Aceyedo, former Secretary of State
of the Monegas Administration, under the tite of
:" Notes for the History of the Conspiracy of Paez
against the Institutions of his Country and of
extracts from answer of the Acevedo
written in lS49, to the Rerisor, paper then pub
lished at Curacao The preface or introduction TO
the pamphlet contains the following explanation of
its character, and the following Recommendation
of Senor Acevedo. We quote the very words;
"The greater part of the following pages haze
been extracted from the work OF a Venezuelan,
who was for many years the friend and adhercnt
of Gen. Paez; one who has long been intimately
connected with the administration of the republic
having held some of the highest offices in the State,
and who consequently in position obtain
more accurate information the events in ques
ton than almost any other person The work Is
entitled Ap,tes para la Historic, notes for his
tory on the conspiracy OF Paez against the nstitu
tions of his country We also present sketches,
drawn by the same hand, of the character OF Mo-
nagas and Paez. that all their antecedents may be
fully understood in this country" &c. &c.
Whoever has read the long pamphlet in question
must have perceived that the assertions and pre-
tended facts, in Senor Acevedo'5 paper solely
ION the authority of his name. The inquiry then,
pho rs this Senior AceUedo? becomes material. This
chosen advocate of Monagas is not unknown to
fame, either in the United States or Venezuela and
few facts, supported by documentary evidence,
will place his character i'll its true light before this
commercial community. In the latter part OF lS45
he was sent by Monagns Charge d'AtaveS TO
Washington, and after spending few days in that
city, and also in Philadelphia, he about re-
turning to Venezuela He then applied to the re-
spectacle firm of Dallett Brothers. of Phi adephia,
merchants, TO trust him with the amount OF his
passage home, and for tritie in cash TO pay GER
tam small expenses. IT was no great thing, after
all, passage and all amounted only to the sum
of ninety five dollars Messrs. Dallett Brothers
trusted him for the passage, and advanced the tr-
he in cash, and thereupon the Honorable senor As
cevedo executed and delivered the following ac
acknowledgements viz:
al will pay to the order of Messrs Boulton, Da-
lett & Co., of La Guayra, merchants, three days
after my arrival in that port, the sum Of ninety
five dollars, hard currency uertes,) for passage aud
advances made to me here by the house Of Messrs.
Dallett, Brothers Philadelphia, January Gath.
lS40.-Rafael Acevedo."
Well, the Honorable Senor Acevedo arrived safely
at La Guayra; three days passed, and three times
three, and more; and Boulton, Dallett Co., of La
Guayra, merchants, must have begun TO suspect
that Senor Acevedo was going TO pay them off in
hard currency indeed They wrote to him, politely
limiting that the payment OF his obligation would
be acceptable, and thereupon the Honorable Senor
Acevedo penned and sent to them the following
note, viz
"Messrs, BoULToN, DALLETT & Co.
"CARAcAs, MAY 2s, 1889.
"Gentlemen: 1t has not been through forgetful-
ness that have omitted paying the Ss5, which
owe to the house of Messrs Dallett, Brothers, and
which suppose have been endorsed TO you, but
owing to absolute want of means, all my hopes hav
ing failed me; so am constrained by crcumstan-
ces to seek refuge in the laws "a buscdr un Tgugio
en- las kyes.) You cannot possibly Imagine my
pain in answering you thus; but, as il s the truth,
have only to say that you will be cited as well as
all my creditors that you may determine what is
proper
self your obedient servant.
RAFAEL AcEvEpo."
The public will, doubt, recollect that short
time before the date of this letter the Monagas ad
mnistration had passed the famous law de esperd,
or stop law, by which debtor could compel his
creditor to wait SIR, and in cases, nine years.
before the payment Of the claim could be forced, no
interest III the mean time accruins; and that this
law not only pros pective but also retrospective,
in it's operation. The foregoing receipt and letter
Of Acevcdo were published in Spanish in the news
paper called La pos de Pueblo, of June 20th, lSi9,
printed in Caracas, and also in other Venezuelan
papers, while Acevedo was in Venezuela.
Now, for a direct proof of the Hon. Rafael Aceve.
dos varacity On page ~ of the pamphlet in ques-
ton the following passage, taken from his above
mentioned answer to the Revisor, occurs
H'lt is also well known throughout Venezuela
what was the conduct of Paez with regard the
President of the Republic, Doctor Jose Vargas, in
1885 and 1896 ,Pe kno,c that this virtuous man
has written historical notes the times of his
Presidency, and in them it will appear that Paez,
in a thousand tortuous ways, showed himself 10 be
dsloyal soldier, who sought only his own glory
at the cost of the Republic and of the man whom
he had called his friend"
What must be the astonishment of the public at
the impudence of the publisher of the anony
pamphlet, and at the audacity of the Honorable
Rafael Acevcdo, when apprised that this falsehood
of the honorable" was exposed to public execra-
tion by the "virtuous" Dr. Vargas himself, in Ca
racas, more than two years since. DR.. Vargas
published card ON loose sheet printed in the
printing office of Tomas Antero. of Caracas, and il
also appeared in several Of the public papers The
following is the card, viz:
"a ConaEcTioN.--In the paper entitled Brief An
swer to the Manifesto of Pacz in st. Thomas, and
subscribed by Senior Acevedo, the following cx-
preston was found: ,'We know that this man (Dr.
t.a. NaR. h.a =