At the close of Falcón’s presidency the Centralists again attempted forcibly to gain power under the leadership of the changeable J. T. Monágas, by whom Carácas was occupied in June. He died in November, and J. R. Monágas was chosen provisional President in 1869. The Federalists meanwhile were endeavouring to regain their position by force of arms, with the result that Monágas was never elected, and on April 27, 1870, Guzman Blanco was able to call together a Congress which nominated him provisional President. Owing to continued disturbances he was only formally elected towards the end of 1872. In 1874 an Act was passed reducing the presidential period from four years to two, and Francisco Linares Alcantara was elected in 1877, but the fatal series of individual revolutions now begins with Gregorio Cedeño, by whom Carácas was occupied in February, 1879. Guzman Blanco was immediately recalled from Europe and hailed as _Director Supremo de la Revindicacion Nacional_, being made provisional President by the new Congress, and formally elected in 1880, and again in 1882, doing much to advance the reputation of his country during these years. General Joaquin Crespo, a llanero, who had been Minister of War since 1870, succeeded him for the period 1884-6, but in the latter year Guzman Blanco, again President, was dispatched by Congress to Europe as plenipotentiary. Doctor Rojas Paul and R. A. Palacio successively occupied the presidential chair till 1892, by which time Venezuela’s trade had reached an amount never touched before or since, and the country was generally in a prosperous condition. Despite the advance made by Venezuela during the period from 1880 to 1892, throughout which Guzman Blanco was either actually or virtually President, his rule was at times unduly autocratic, and his affection for statues of himself and for high-sounding titles, such as “_El Ilustre Americano_,” seems strange in a man with so great business ability both on behalf of his country and himself. In time he might have raised Venezuela to a position comparable to that of Mexico under Diaz, but as it was the less attractive and dignified side of his character began, for the time being, to undermine the affection and esteem in which he had been held by his countrymen, and a desire for a change of control became general. It is hardly necessary to add that the Venezuelans of to-day remember only the beneficent aspects of his periods of office. Unfortunately, the example of Cedeño, and the successful internal revolutions of earlier days, had not been forgotten, and now Crespo secured his re-election by force, his first act being to restore the presidential period to four years. In 1898 he was succeeded by José Andrade, formerly Venezuelan Minister at Washington, and though his period of office was short it was important as marking the settlement of a dispute which, after lasting for over sixty years, nearly led to a rupture between this country and the United States.