The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-12-21

Ii w festD,lnded sEcuad DOR Peru, Bolivia;stl The
. United States Of Colon bia, and NenHE:
snefa e Chile etlared herself free and Ar.
sgentina. ~ The dper of all these deeds, the
Washing ton Of South, America declared
! heswould vet free Cuba, He died in exile
when only AZ years s6f age, the victim 81
a political party ~ =. g. s 80.
d He refused A. ctatQr ship. Today he
rel2p9 supreme as the. greatest hero Ct all
the countries freed by his sword }. and his
system OF: government remains in force
1t WAs' II 1880 that the e:republics sf1n-
ally took shape Venezuela has. a consti
tuition modelled after that of the United
Sta&eBs bit With more local. iadep enaneee
The country is governed by federal
c9dRcif fs19s 1nembe who elect presi-
dent for two years from their own num-
Der. He has however, no veto power
There are two Legislative branches, the
senate with "a members and the repre-
sentatives with552sn members - IL
1.-THE Roman Cath6ii &c: IS the state refi-
gion, but all the scots are tolerated; edu-
cnttpn is comp lsory aud there are two
UNIVERSITIES and over 80 colleges, l-.of
these being for girls. The revenue Of he
country amoiii1t to S9,000,000 year, and
the public debt Is only $25, o00, 900 at q
per cent. ..:..-..,.
The country has:an area Of nearly $780,
600 square miles and population .of. =,
666.UJN:z Vast tracts Of forest land and
mines are undeveloped, nearly two-thirds
of the entire country. Fully one7ffth. OF
the people are engaged in agriculture,
and the varieties, Of climate. permit the
widest range of crops from coffee, sugar,
cocoa, and tropical fruits to wheat aud
pasture CROPS. The minerals are the rich
est ,insthe world. Only last year St ,OO0,-
600 In gold, silver copper and quicksilver
wsry taken out. and 500 miles of rail
road are projected into the heart Of the
Yuruari region that is almost untouched.
These mines.ar the objective point OF
Great Britain. For fifty years now Eng
land has crept on ,by~stolen marches from
the Eseauibo to the Morocco, to. Aber-
deems boundary, to Benom burg line, con-
ceding this, denying that, repudiattng the
other, declaring territory in dispute,
and then invading lit, establishing
status qui and disregarding it; creeping
on, planting survey stakes, gaining over
a hundred miles OF. coast line, Selling the
mouth of the. >Qrinoco, down whose. s40O
miles of lovely, length the parrots AND
scarlet macaws still scream and the red
monkey chatters, just asthee-qelarters OF
aaalcentury ago z they chartered anu
screamed and glfttered when Bolivar
vert his 'perilous way down the river III
the heart Of a country he felt it his mis-
sion to free from European domination
There are now 1880 men in the stand
ing army scattered Through towns, gar
risops4 an s-.ships, one iron steamer. and
three coast vessels to defend a territory
ten times. the, size Of Illinois from Great
Britain, But it must be taken into ac-
count that the national militia includes
men from is to 49,, Sixty thousand men
have beensgot into the field at one time,
ana that to duer civil rebellion, and Pres
ident ,Crespo, claims that over quarter
of the entire male population would he
llnder arms within month after a DEC
laratipn of war by "a, foreign power. Ihere
would be only the coast line of a few hum
dred miles. in length with few harbors
and the Guiana frontier to defend.
On the other hand the English troops
would have the climate to-. contend
against All unaeveloped country with
mountains. and forests, and. unbrldged
streams. yenomous reptiles, poisonous In.
sects.,, .swamps,, snow ice, and tropical
heat; besides the, difficulty Of transport
i1,gv a sufficient number Of troops TO be
effective, and thereby diverttng ships
a nj men FROM Europe and India. Besides,
they. believe that the other South Ameri~,
cam republics are with them, that the
Monroe doctrine counts for something
and that there is CrespO, who had rather
fight than eat any day: 81, 90 -
Crespo is g. host. With seven other hot
heads he. in. his youth, rebelled against
the Catholic church. He was rebel ana
the state troops were called out against
him. Two thousand regulars camped
nea,r him, fully; armed: He had 600 or
ZOO straeglers with no equipment but
c11wb,ooys Knives. At: midnight white the
regulars slept Crespo seized a store or
cocoa butter, had each man strip and
grease himself and slip: through the camp
to steal arms.athe. absence OF shirt ana
presence of a creased skin marked a com
rades rag of clothing an enemy, In the
darkness every man came out armed To-
the teeth. and the regulars had to MAKE 3S'?
terms and contribute uniforms the. next
day to the naked men 'catnped', on the
other side of them.
Now he sits IN; the s'Yellow' House"
fhe .oresid ential mansion OF Venezuela,
With a guard of white duck uniformed
cuwboys who are regarded by the clti-
Zens much as the Turks Of Constantlnople
must have Looked upon the janlzarles
about the persop, of the. sultan, and they
will tell you that when this terrible
guard is on the battlefield no man can
stand up before them. =:
Term after term has Crespo served tue
p,esopie and served weTI in the office Of Chief
executive. TIE old inconsistencies and con-
vents have been converted into a federal
palace. an opera house and a pantheon III
which to lay the nations great men.
Church is separated, from state, though
Crespc is q good Catholic, Heis afraid Of
nothing. The United States in Diminishing
plenipotentiary extraordinary OF big
mower would use much diplomacy, and
when the Objectionable person did take his
leave It would be with all the appearance
of taking vacation, with Uncle Sam bid
Gang him fearful au revoir at the dock.
When Crespo has enough, of a nation he
tells it's representative to get within week
or be kicked out At one time it was con-
fldently expected that British, German
and French gunboats would arrive to- take
OF tie ministers who we're SO sumrnari1y
dfsna ssed. ,Fhe astonishing part Of; it Is
that nothing happened. ,Crespo shifts at
dIrYI6mat!c' correspondence. He deals
uftimatunls. He does things with fmpHn-
ity which the United. States. because. Of its
size, would not dare to do. but he is not
afraid Of the consequences and is ready
to FACE them. ..S 49,. ,.., $3.50.
!. "a wonder the, Yenezuelans love their
,GnA,tlt ry, 2 2 that fair: land with a elf
mate like that of :southern France, so Tar
from us; more 'foreig than italy or Japan,