The Irish standard., 1895-12-21
lis WAITING FOR ENGLAND. ] !
That What Venezuela Is Doing
And Dares the Old Woman, ri.
81. TO Come On. . ..ss5.
The People There Believe They Are
A flatch for The World
And Are Ready: INV, s.sss. ], /.
Interesting History of Bolivar and
The Kind of a r,an Is
Crespo. II

/ Crespo. 4
FdUfi aodla eehST oolE, If it comes to Il
/ If it comes to fighting between Eng
1 land and Venezuela there will be some fun
and some hard knocks from an unexpected
quarter. With only 2,500,000 people and
no coast. defenses to- speak OF, England
might yet find it easier to whip country
I nearer her own size on the other, side o.
the water. Venezuela is far better equip
4 ped today to defend herself than the Amer
lean colonies were in 1776, and has su-
nerior situation and natural advantages
7 that make her difficult for an invading
1 army to conquer. The North American
colonists were peace loving, but the smoke
of battle is the breath in the nostrils Of the
Venezuelan. With an earthquake on an
average of once every six days, bonn
bardment of the capital would be bur
lrifing incident. There are difficulties
about that too. England, powerful but
4 taught by experience Of the doubtful ad-
vantage of even successful war at long
1 range, declines the challenge of every col
oniai contest II however she sets aside
the precedent of 120 years and attempts 70
settle the boundary dispute with Venezu-
ella by force of arms, this Is the kind OF
people she will have to fight and the con-
ditions under which she will have to do It,
says the Chicago Herald.
/ An insane, benighted, bigoted, fanatical
blindness, rivaling that OF Don Quixote,
! marks the conduct of the Spaniard in
Spain; the slaves of Spain are damned In
this world whatever comes of them In
the next, but the people who have fired
themselves from Spain-7nd always by
their own unaided efforts-are fire eaters,
and lost eternally lis the man of' them
who shows his back to- the enemy. Their
courage is of such description that they
dare be insolent TO a superior farce. Not
so long ago President Cre.rc5, Of Venezu-
ella. gave the ambassadors Of England,
France and Germany one week to get out
OF Caracas. They got out and nothing
happened Since 1887 no minister from
Great Britain has been received at the
capital. ~ 4. AS
4 In 1910 Spain owned the entire CONT
nent of South America, with the exception
OF Brazil, which was Portuguese pos
session, ard France, Dutch and British
Guiana on the Caribbean Sea. The ey-
treme western boundary Of the British ter
ritory was the Esequibo river. In 1910
Spain was peculiarly powerless in Europe.
the Bourbons lad been succeeded by Jo-
seph Bonaparte, the country was under
French tribute: the priests robbed the pow
er Spain could torture and bleed no.
where but beyond the seas ,, Even when
sick almost to death. Spain has. never
ceased to aim her feeble blows at her pro-
gressive offspring.
i In the Spanish colonies the inquisitiOn
was in force through the first quarter Of
the nineteenth century. The grannees
ruled with the despotisn Of the slnle OF
Isabella; a hereto was put to the torture,
8 republican hanged, the builder Of fac
tory or ship or developer Of mine was
imprisoned and his property contiscated.
The colonies were kept agricultural to
j consume the product o. the factories and
maintain the commerce Of Spain, and, im-,
posts and direct taxes replenished the.
constantly depleted treasury of the mother
country The native creole population, Of
partially Spanish extraction, however
wealthy and cu,tivateatd were treated
! with contempt by Spanish officials, men-
aced by Spanish soldiers progress de-
feated by Spanish laws, confessed by Span-
ish priests. In short, the southern conti-
nent Of the western hemisphere was treat
ed much as Cuba was before the rebellion
and will be again should the revolution be
a failure. 81 '$1
In 1910, a Venezuelan creole, Simon Boz
livar, returned to Caracas, the city Of
earthquakes, with a bride from Madrid 3
! In the years he had passed IN European
capitals he had drunk deep of the reycil-s
tionary principles everywhere rampant.
He met Lafayette and heard Of the heroic
4 struggle of washington. scarcely an echo
Of which had reached the Spanish colonies
He saw the weakness Of Spain anG the gall
ing disgrace of suffering the despotism Of
a third rate power.
Simon Bolivar was 27 years old. He had
vast plantations Of sugar, coffee and cocJs
and thousands of slaves. He was scllati-s
waited, handsome, eloquent, stately in de-
4 rnea nor ambitious but lice1fioIs, cruel
and crafty. His wife dying, he-gars him
self up to all these passions with ndo1lta.5
bly, energy and pride. He seemed to- nayes
a contempt for wealth: He freed his slaves
declaring that no man deserved freedom
who held others i'm bondage. AT the aga
I of 20 his estates were conftscated andEa
4 price was set on his head and he was in
4 exile. Aja
In the interval Venezuela enjoyed eight
months of freedom from his rule At this
4 height OF the festivities the awful earth
quake of 1911 demolis she'd the city killing
4 IL 900 people, Amid the topping walls
4 and shrieks OF the dying the prior of the !
iDominicaus preached In the open squares,
calling tia Just Judgment and turning
4 the people to repentance. Yet in 1917
Bolivar freed y Caracas again, was mads
4 dictator, and again defeated The third
time he fitted out anexpeditiOn and canrN5
down the Orinocn between junglss otss
i dark. moss grown d Forests gl1ttertng
i with green parrots and scarlet sl..
4 Red monkeys anH venom o,1s snakes q e. ana 4
mar eating ALI gators infested esdread-s'
Il full solitude, but lie was I,lred on
4 lovely line ofs the san sebAsti Ian I1o,irs
4 fains, above Che high atean ut tl lless
5I|tire city, the plain ofs palms and tEe wide;
5Ib,ue sea, wslterfng in the sun ard and sntsrys
4 ranean heat $s Ss ssSs
When he had made stand
cut 10 spiecss and fed 'tls tl,es =
a Imines WITH half q dozen foaaiiGIg ra
j months Itle ilads gathsassd all
4 |ol ililksfnp y
4 of ttestropfs ssaa1ct IN
dead us tnter se g
1l,s I! &c e l.ll1sI Z