Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-12-24

expected or had been led to expect by
Germany and Great Britain.
Castro's Forts Destroyed.
For three-quarteFs of an hour Satar-
day evening the German cruiser Nineta
and the British cruiser Charybdis united
In a bombardment of Fort Solano ond
the Castle Libertador. the chief harbor
defense of Puerto Cabelo.
After reducing the forts to ruin, dis
mantling the shore batteries, wounding
two Venezuelan soldiers. and making Il
prisoner of their commanding officer, the
allies took possession of the castle, and
then, leaving the dismantled fortiiica-
tons, the war ships put back to La
Guayra.
This summary action by the command
ers of the British and German war ships
had its provocation in the seizure and
pillaging the previous Wednesday of a
British tramp steamship lying in the har-
Dor of Puerto Cabello by Venezuelan
rabble. which subjected ber captain end
crew to arrest and other indignities.
Forts Were Old Fashioned.
The entrance to the inside harbor at
Puerto Cabelo is through narrow chan
mel not more than a few h lndred feet
wide To the left of the channel as
one enters the harbor, situated OH low
sand spit, is the fortress which was bonn
barded by the German and British cruis-
ers. 1t il an old-fashiuned structure,
which was rebuilt in the eighteenth cen
fury. Its sides are comparatively low
and would offer poor resistance to mod
ern shells. The Venezuelan governmnt
had no modern cannon there.
The custom house at Puerto Cabello
is situated on the right or mainland side
of the channel. Ii is a long, two-story
brick building and contains, besides eX-
ecutive offices. large warehouses. Steam
ers discharging at Puerto Cabello tie up
Immediately in front of the custom
house. The town itself is fat and
stretches from the water front inland to
the base of the hills. Assistance of two
or three miles.
The outside harbor ct Puerto Cabrllo
is hardly more than large bay, Offering
comparatively little protection to ship
ming. The inside harbor is secure and
quite commodious
The geographical conformation of the
country causes fear that unless Cas-
tro's people rise and overthrow him.
substituting an administration which is
willing to treat with the blockading pow
ers. the settlement of the difficulty will
be indefinitely postponed.
Blockade a Big Task.
prolonged blockade would be a ri
cantic undertaking. Venezuela has.
with it's many indentations and irreEu-
larities. a coast line of nearly LOO
miles. To guard this effectively by steam
launches, as the joint feet has proposed,
would require monstrous mosquito
fleet. Even with such fleet. enterpfis-
Ing blockade runners would speedily ind
lcopholes, and by repeated successes
would, under the rules Of war. force the
United States and other neutral powers
to declare the blockade void.
Venezuela's vital statistics give these
fenres,: Area J93.943 square miles; pop
ulat:on. 100000; yearly imports. most
~ from Britain. $S.45T.0TT exports.
mostly to Britain, S1T,062.23T; total
debt S3S 100000. mostly due to British
and German investors: total yearly reye-
nue.. $4,000 total yearly expendi-
lures. S9.000000. showing il steady an
nual deficit Of $2.500.000
II is to be seen that q blockade actu-
nIly destroying Venezuelas commerce
cannot help the Angio-German investors
in the long run. The duties collected on
SS.JOOo0O of imports will certainly not
mas the arrears Of interest, 10 say moth
ing IF the large cost Of bl0ckading. There
j. much point in the London Posts re
mark that il is not worth Germany's
and Great Bntain's while - spend
r.il'ians in coercing a country which gan
not be annexed and is likely TO prove
bankrupt"