The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-10
DONE BY THE REBELS
THEIR FLEET FORWARDED
 TOWN or RIO HAcHA.
Dr. Restrepo Denies That Venezuela is Responsible-Nicaraguan and Ecuadorean Forces operat-
 ing Against Colombia.

New York, Sept 9--The statement given out by the Colombian minister at Washington that Venezuelan neet was nied by Dr. A. ]. Restrepo. diplomatic representative of the Colombian insur- gents here. He says that the attack was made by the revolutionary fleet Local revolut.onists had expected the news of the engagement for the last Ssek and md were jnSiians yesterdsy he he port being already in their possession: Dr. Restrepo said the capture of the ancs lc Hachs Ia 1s was of the utmost & impor,tss place the entire Atlantic coast. including Barranquilla and Santa Marta at their mercy and bring about an early victory sanguine the battle had been fought and that 1t had resulted in a defeat for the government which is withholding the Dr. Ricardo Becerra, who cabled the Colombian legation at Washington from Snrscao that the Veneeuelan navy was bombardfng the territory of her neigh Dor. was exiled about year ago by fresident Castro. He was the minister of of Colombia 5s here during the insurrection or lSS5 and secured the armed interven- ton of the United States.
 Raoui Perez, Secretary of the Colom- b,a ss,. re.volutionsry s. diplomacy agency in fleet bombarded Rio Hacha said The Venezueians are not fighting in Colombia. The only fighting at present going on in South America Is between the Colombian liberals and the Coiom- bian clericals. The liberals are revolu- tionists. whose land and sea forces have. clude four-ffths of the Colombian nation. This vast majority of the country's popu- lation is fighting five thousand Filipino friars who have come to our shores. and many Italians, Spaniards and other Euro peans allied against us President Castro Is struggling for our. liberty and not for his own prestige and advantage. This, fact should always be kept in mind. This Is no war of conquest. Venezuela has nothing to do with 1t. Several hundreds of thousands of our countrymen who are helping us, but they are Colombians and not Venezuelans. The cable between Curacao and Maracaibo is broken and so we have no positive information of the last battle. but with only 1,500 clerical troops against our army we are almost positive that we are now in possession of the entire northern coast of Colombia.
 There will be no invasions from Ven- ezuela, Ecuador or Nicaragua. There will be no attack made on the isthmus. Rio Hacha is nine hundred miles from Pan anna. which proves that the published account of an attack to be made on the isthmus Is cut out Of whole cloth. Our manded by Generals Comacho and Mar1n. now occupy the very heart of Colombia. There is no peace there. We are pushing the war of freedom into the very center of our country. In two months i predict we shall conquer and man whom all Colombia respects and loves will be at the head of the government"
 Several Expeditions.
 Washington, Sept. Swallowing is a translation of cablegram received late today by the Colombian Legation from a confidential agent of the Colombian Gov Grnment:
 Kingston, Ja., Sept g.. 1901. "Colombian Legation. Washington:
 Tt Is known officially that the Ecua- dorean vessel CotopaM sailed with arms from Esmeraldos (Ecuador) Fem he- sieged by filihusterers from Ni.aragda. A considerable expedition was about to start from Corinto CNicaragua) which was expected to land near Panama on the fifth (September.)"
 The signature of the dispatch was not made public, but the information con tained in the message is believed by the Colombian officials here to be entirely authentic.