Mr. Pruyn to Mr.
Seward.
No. 14.]
Legation of the United States,
Caracas,
July 23, 1868.
Sir: I have the honor to forward you a
communication, marked inclosure No. 1, with the translation of the same,
inclosure No. 2, from this government, concerning certain Venezuelan war
vessels now in the possession of Bruzual and his partisans. You will
also be pleased to find in inclosure No. 3 a translation of a decree of
this government, declaring
[Page 957]
that any sale, &c., of such vessels, or of any of them, on the part
of Bruzual or his followers, to be null and void.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[Translation.]
Señor Villegas to Mr. Pruyn.
UNITED STATES OF VENEZUELA, DEPARTMENT
OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, CENTRAL BUREAU—No. 82.
[Circular.]
Caracas,
July 16, 1868, 5th and
10th.
The undersigned, minister of foreign affairs of the United States of
Venezuela, executes an order of the national executive by
communicating to the incumbent of the legation of the United States,
in the hope that, through his respectable channel, it may come to
the knowledge of the authorities and citizens of his nation,
especially of those who reside in its colonies of the Antillas, the
annexed decree, wherein the government notifies that all sales,
transfers, or contracts that may be made, for account of the
military mutiny of Puerto Cabello, in regard to the steamers
Bolivar, Mapararia, and Pururechi, the schooner Mariscal, and
whatsoever other vessels of those belonging to the war marine of the
United States of Venezuela, are null and of no value.
Not only would such nullity result from the disavowal made by almost
all those of the government that was, and that finds itself to-day
reduced to the town of Puerto Cabello, this latter event being,
nevertheless, in consequence of the infraction of the capitulation
which their chief asked for and obtained, and which produced the
interruption of the attack of the last barrack of the capital, but
also from the following reason: The President himself of the
republic, in full exercise of his powers, and without obstacle of
any kind, has not, by the federal constitution, the least right to
sell, transfer, nor obligate in any other way the national
properties. It corresponds, solely and exclusively, to congress, on
the strength of article 44, that grants to the legislature the power
to pass laws of a general character that may be necessary. And as,
according to its articles 104 and 105, all usurped authority is
ineffectual, and the acts thereof null, all corporations or
authorities are forbidden the exercise of whatever functions that be
not granted to them by the constitution or the laws, it follows,
without the least difficulty, that the executive is incompetent to
sell, transfer, or contract, in regard to the property of the
nation. How much more so will be the faction that has risen up with
Puerto Cabello and the vessels by the means described.
Lastly, if the President of the Union has assigned in the
constitution the power to make contracts of national interest
conformably to law, it is under the express restriction of
submitting them to the legislature, without whose approving vote
they do not acquire any binding force.
The undersigned, &c., &c., &c.
Union and liberty!
[Translation.]
I, the provisional executive of the United States of Venezuela,
decree:
Article 1. All sales, transfers, or
contracts that may be made for account of the military mutiny headed
in Puerto Cabello by General Manuel E. Bruzual, in regard to the
steamers Bolivar, Mapararia, and Purureche, the schooner Mariscal,
and whatsoever other vessels of those belonging to the war marine of
the United States of Venezuela, shall be null and of no value.
Art. 2. The ministers of the interior and
justice, and of foreign affairs, remain charged with the execution
of this decree.
Given in Caracas
on the 14th of
July, 1868, 5th and 10th.
GUILLERMO TELL VILLÉGAS.
It is a copy.
RAFAEL SEIJAS, Secretary of the
Department for Foreign Affairs.
