Evening star., 1901-08-31

and that night Hernandez, having col
lected an army of 1000 men. marched out
of Caracas and started a new revolution
his own account Castro chased him
all over Venezuela and finally caught him
and put him in jail, where he still re-
mains.
Capture of Puerto CabeIIO.
Parades, a young man of an energetic
turn of mind was the commander of Puer-
to CabellO under Andrade. After his lead
er's flight Parades considered the matter
and decided to control Puerto Cabello. The
most important port of Venezuela, was too
good a thing to relinquish. He therefore
continued to collect the revenues of the
port and to dominate the countryside, and
when Castro sent him summons to sur
render the port his reply was an invitation
TO Castro to retire to a warmer place than
Venezuela. The supreme chief of the re-
public thereupon opened negotiations with
his rebellious subject and offered him
$40 600 to move out Parades replied that
post placed in his charge by the rghtful
president of the republic and that, at any
rate, he could not think of moving out for
less than S9G,0D. Castro considered the
subject and came to the conclusion it
would be cheaper to put Parades out than
10 buy him out. He therefore sent down
an army of four or five thousand men and
fleet of four small gunboats. Parades
held two forts at Puerto Cabello and he
very thoroughly barricaded the streets of
the town. In November, 1899 there was
an extremely spectacular night attack on
Puerto Cabello. The harbor was filled with
foreign war vessels. whose crews were in
terested spectators of the scene The at
tack was by both sea and land and several
hundred. thousand rounds of ammunition
were fired on both sides, with the sole re-
suit that one shell was put through the
American consulate. The government
troops finally secured a lodgment in the
city, and then ParadeS' fort on the hill
opened direct fire on the town, and during
this hiring there were a good many cas-
uaities. Parades finally decided that dis
cretion was the better part of valor and
ne surrendered and is now an occupant of
one of the Venezuelan jails In the last
iew weeks another small revolutionist
cupieS a jail. w
1t is peculiar phase of these people that
they rarely execute the leaders of revolu-
tiOns. In Venezuela there is no such
crime as treason. A revolution is an an-
cepted mode of an expression of nubHc
opinion, and no taint hangs around the
analr. thousands of men are known as
professional revolutionistS, ready at anv
time to take up the cause of any one
VINO Is able to pay them The revolut;on
lS ISL mas little to lose and big possibility of
salh. revolution takes the place here
OF an election. They are born in an bonr
and within few days are full grown. No
preparation Is necessary in oreanizinp an
ar d my Inc regular army itself consists of
o,ooo or 900 men, but the men draw Iit
Tie or no pay there is no commissarv do.
partment, and no hospital arrangements
w men a revolution starts the poems are
drafted INTO one army or the other and
upon the first victory they promntIv no
over to the winning side az
Has Supreme Power.
castro is not the president of the .renub-
TIC. he Is dictator with supreme mower
having absolute control over all the bra nch
es OF the government, drawing money from
the treasury as he may require it, either
ZOE government or personal use He has
called constitutional convention. the
main purpose Of which is to extend the
term OF the presidency to seven years It
Is then his intention to be elected presi-
dent and this will occur unless somebody
In the meantime upsets him. This last con-
tingency, however. is likely to occur at any
eiiie: any one OF the revolutionary lead
ers now in jail is liable to escape any dark
night, and the moment such an escape ia
made will see the birth Of a new revolu-
tion: Andrade is lowering around the out
skirts or the country, and with some firm
men to uphold him might also make an
effort to regain his lost presidential seat
Then, again, there is no falling off in rhe
crop Of would-be dictators in Venezuela.
and young men are constantly coming to
the front with ambitions to emulate Nano-
leon. AS soon as a man becomes a die
tator In Venezuela he models himself upon
Napoleon he promptly and at short in
tervals issues high-sounding proclamations
Soldiers these documents say every few
words. Soldiers! in two months you have
climbed two miles of the Andes SoldfersI
! by means of your valor l have defeated
your foes ana captured SIX burros. Sol
diers! you are true descendants of Boil
war; ETC.
Some Characterization.
| They have no such thing as capital pun
| ishment liz this country. The maximum
| penalty for any crime is eleven years i'm
| prisonment. This period is usually given
| for stealing. For murder a man usually
/ gets year or so There are few violences
! and few tbefts committed. The ordinary