22 FEBRUARY 1896, Page 3

Parties in the South American States stop at nothing in

their contests, and enable us to understand what must have been the condition of Rome just before the Republic sub- mitted to an Emperor. On February 2nd, while the President of Venezuela was inaugurating a new arena for bull-fights,

a desperate and nearly successful attempt was made to assassinate him. A dozen men with revolvers appeared on the tier above his box, and one of them rushed towards Pre. sident Creep°. A soldier who was acting as sentry cut him down with a blow on the neck, and the President and his friends, drawing revolvers, retreated towards the lobby. Thence they returned escorted by soldiers with fixed bayonets, and sat out the performance. It seems natural to Englishmen, at all events if not to Americans, that British settlers in Guiana intent on mining operations should not relish the prospect of being transferred, even by arbitration, to the government of men whose notion of political argument is of this kind.