The only important port In this State is Vela de Coro, which is rarely,
if ever, visited by United States vessels.
The proclamation of blockade was published October 31, and an official
notice thereof was given to me November 4. No notice has been officially
given that any ports, except those of Falcon, are closed, and it is
understood that all others are practically open except for suspected
vessels sailing for Curaçoa, which is said to be now, as heretofore, the
headquarters of those who planned the insurrection, and the base of its
supplies.
Every day confirms my opinion, expressed in Nos. 23 and 25, that the
rebellion will be promptly and entirely crushed. The newspapers are
filled with loyal addresses. Enlistments are prompt. General Pulido, who
tried to incite the east to revolt, failed, and is believed to be a
fugitive. It is also reported, but not credited, that General Colin a
has been defeated by General Marquez. It is said that President Guzman
will take the field on November 9, marching for Falcon. It is to be
regretted that the military operations are likely to interfere with the
harvesting of the coffee-crop.
[Inclosure 1 in No.
28.—Translation.]
Antonio Guzman Blanco, constitutional President of
the United States of Venezuela:
To the Venezuelans;
Fellow-citizens: Performing one of the
severe duties that the country demands in its days of affliction, I
have to give you the sad news that General Leon Colina, preferring
his personal ambition, as blind as it is impatient, to his duties
toward the country and the liberal cause, has raised the flag of
rebellion against the constitutional government of the republic.
It belongs to the people to come forward in the defense of their
destinies, so impiously threatened, and for me it is the duty of
offering my services with the same loyalty as in 1870.
The revolution is not against me, because I do not seek power, and
because I exercise it against my will, against my private interests,
and even to the injury of my health, yielding to the vote of the
people, of the States, and of Congress, solemnly proclaimed and
inexorably imposed. It is against the triumph of the revolution of
April; against its conquests and advances, political, civil, and
religious; against the liberty which the republic enjoys; against
the established order; against the organized treasury; against our
newborn credit; against the railroads commenced and to begin;
against the roads undertaken; against the canals and aqueducts; the
postal routes by land and the steam-lines that we have; against the
people’s schools, which I have created; against the universities and
colleges, which I have revived; against the immigration, which
already permeates [our country] with varied and infinite germs of
prosperity, to hasten a future of greatness and civilization.
It is a revolution of the ambitious and rapacious against liberty,
order, the credit, and progress of the republic, which is realizing
the revolution of April. There is no body, no lawful interest, not
one honorable citizen, who does not feel threatened by it, and who
does not hurl against it the protest of his indignation.
But with the sad news I can at the same time inform the country that
I shall concentrate
[Page 1220]
an
army of ten to twelve thousand men, posted even today from
Barquesimeto to Caracas, because the people from State to State,
from village to village, feel their sovereignty wounded by the bold
attempts of the rebellion, and even before I had denounced the
odious crime, have flown to take arms with the universality and
enthusiasm which have always made decisive the triumph of popular
causes. With this great army, which only represents the spontaneity
of opinion, with 14,000 muskets which I have in the arsenal, and
munitions and explosives for four campaigns, with a million of hard
dollars to satisfy the cost of war, with four steamers, two of war
and two for transport, it is impossible that in the end the rebels
shall not be subdued, peace be reestablished, and the titles of my
government be strengthened.
This ambitious attempt must cause evils to the country; but perhaps
it has entered into the mind of the Eternal to give a lesson to
agitators, to assure the future stability of Venezuela.
As chief of the revolution of April, I count now upon the visible
protection of Providence. Never have I thought of myself, but of the
success and honor of the cause of which I have been the leader.
During the war I neither omitted efforts nor sacrifices till the
enemy remained conquered and in submission. And during the two past
years of peace I have realized such a change, moral and material,
and so palpable are the results, that this period may be called,
without arrogance, the period of the regeneration of Venezuela.
I have done more to conjure down the war. When I asked, when, as I
may say, I demanded my retirement on the 20th of February, 1873, it
was not because I did not have the noble aspiration to complete the
work of my mission, nor was it for the selfish pleasure of reposing
in Europe; I was not seeking the theatrical glory of inopportune
disinterestedness, nor was it because I felt worn out and would take
care that the future should not expose me. It was solely and
exclusively an act which my patriotism desired to offer to the
ambition of the generals, Colina and Pulido.
I knew that neither of them could wait the constitutional end of a
period of four years, and that they would make attempts against the
public repose to possess themselves more speedily of a power that
makes them insane, because they do not know how much they are
inferior to the duties which it imposes, nor how it martyrizes those
who have ideas in their heads and virtues in their hearts to perform
those duties worthily.
The country has done justice to my patriotism; it believes in my
disinterestedness; and it is a witness, it is more than a witness,
it is an actor, in its own regeneration. It will defend this with
all its power, and I will serve it with my inflexible loyalty.
Long live the federation! Long live the revolution of April! Long
live the peace of the republic!
GUZMAN BLANCO.
Caracas, October 30,
1874.
