Waterbury Democrat., 1902-12-16
Only a Request for Payment of
 Sums Due Italy.
vENEzUELANS WERE SCARED.

SlioJSI uued lllo Ine hdTDOT dI
 La Guaira-Under Secretary Cran-
 borne Says Great Britain Has Made
 No Attempt to Arbitrate the Trou-
 ble With Venezuela.
 La Guaira, Venezuela, Dec 16.-The arrival of the British cruiser Charybdis and torpedo boat destroyer Quail here yesterday morning caused a bad scare among the population of this place. The commander of the fortress visited the American, French, Spanish and Dutch consuls and asked them. in case the British landed marines, to inter vene to prevent firing on the fort and to delay any movement upon the fort, because he had received orders from the government to evacuate the place. The commander added that if the con- Suls refused to intervene and the fort. was attacked he would defend his post and could not answer for the conse- Quences to the town, which is without any defence now except few armed. policemen. At o'clock however, the Charybdis and the Quail left La Guaira and the fears of the popula- ton subsided.
 What caused most of the alarm was the fact that when the British ships arrived here they took up command ing position, their guns covering the fort, and remained stationary for few moments as if about to open fire. The people ashore seeing these move T ,@S.. houses, and the government officials had great difficulty ill preventing an exodus. But they eventually succeed ed in calming the populace. The Charybdis and the Quail steamed away in the direction of Curacoa.
 The foreign consuls subsequently, called on the prefect, who assured them there was no danger at present. He added that the commander of the fort had been needlessly excited and had only succeeded in almost causing a panic. The prefect further assured the consuls that the commander of the fort was under the orders of General | Ferrer, minister of war, who is in charge of the Venezuelan forces sur Founding the town. .~.
 The consuls tried to find out if the | prefect had received any message from | the allies. but they were unsuccessful, l for the Venezuelan official would not | speak on the subject, though he prom ised to communicate with the consu1s If necessary.
 London, Dec 16.-Replying to ques- l tfon in the house of commons to-day. | Under Foreign Secretary Cranborne | said that no attempt had been made by Great Britain to refer the dispute | with Venezuela to arbitration.
 Washington, Dec 16.-The Italian ambassador called at the site depart | ment to-day and advised Secretary | Hay that Italy had joined the allies in | the operations against Venezuela. He | requested MT Bowen to assume charge | of the Italian interests The secretary l granted the request. subject to the ap- proval ~e lezuela
 Caracas, Dec 15-The Italian Minis ter Rivas only handed to the Ven enzuelan government certain demands | which were not in the form of an ulti- 1 matum and which did not specify any limit of time for an answer. His note simply asked for payment of sums due tc Italy, and in case of payment being | made to other countries it asked for the same treatment
 The government answered to-day in | the negative to the note of Minister Rivas. saying that tribunals exist in Venezuela to judge any claims arising from the revolutions.
 The Associated Press correspondent | Is informed that the Italian minister Ho1 Io6 fo !, structions.
 The correspondent called to-day at | the Italian legation and saw Minister RiVas and his wife and two daugh- fers with rega.d to the report that they had embarked on the Giovanni Bausan l They laughed and said: We have | never left the city of Caracas and much l less embarked on the Italian cruiser at | La Guaira."
 There is no excitement among the | people here against Italians because as yet no Italian naval demonstration | has taken place.
 Caracas, Venezuela. Dec 16-The governor of Margarita Island reports | that British and German warships are of that island.
 Minister Bowen, yesterday, politely | refused to have a monster patriotic | parade pass before the United States legation
 Everyone here hopes that the arbi- tration proposed by Venezuela through | MT Bowen and Washington will be granted.
 When the combined fleets seized the | Venezuelan ships at La Guaira, the ] German commander delivered to the | Venezuelan captains the following doc ument
 By order of my sovereign, and at the command of the commodore of the German squadron in West Indian wa ters. the commander of the Panther, | requests you to lower your ships flag | Immediately and leave your ship with | your crews within ten minutes. This Is not measure of war on the part | of Germany. but only with the object of making a provisional seizure of vour ship in order to oblige the Ven ezuelan government to recognize our {nsf demands In case you disobey and wish to defend your ship shall be obliged to prevent you from so 7oiue bv the discharge of arms.
 r<r Iz