tends seriously to interpose her protectorate again to obtain dominion over the isthmus. I am assured that whatever may be contained to the contrary in any dispatches emanating from the British foreign office, of which rumor speaks, the fact is that a portion (represented to be one half) of the claim of the Mosquito king has been lately bought up by American citizens, with the concurrence and approbation of the British government, and that negotiations are on foot, with a fair prospect of success, for the purchase by the same persons of the residue of that claim.

Before closing this letter, I would congratulate you and our country on the brightening prospects of a speedy construction of the great work to promote which you have devoted yourself so long and so faithfully. American and English gentlemen of high character have, it seems, interested themselves in the exploration of a canal route indicated by Humboldt across the isthmus at Darien. Their engineers have reported the route from the Savannah river, emptying into the harbor of Darien and the gulf of St. Miguel, on the Pacific, to Caledonia bay, on the Atlantic, as being certainly practicable for less than seventy-five millions of dollars, and that the harbors on each side are admirably formed by nature for the purpose, being sufficient to contain the navies of the world. The deepest cut on this route, which extends but for a very small distance, is represented to be only about 150 feet, and the whole distance, from a point on the Savannah river, seven miles from the harbor of Darien, where the depth of water is 36 feet, to the noble Bay of Caledonia, is only 33 miles. In consequence of your negotiation the 8th article of the treaty of the 19th of April, 1850, binds both Great Britain and the United States to protect this route as well as all other canals and every railroad across the isthmus while in or out of Central America. I understand that, pursuing the spirit of the treaty, engineers under the sanction of the government of Great Britain and the United States are now actually engaged in surveying and exploring this Darien canal route, and that we may, during the next year, expect their official reports. American citizens and British subjects are to be equally concerned in the management of the canal. The British exploration, pursuant to the understanding between the two governments, is proceeding on the Pacific, and the Cyane (United States ship-of-war) sailed not many days ago from Philadelphia, for the purpose of aiding in surveying Caledonia bay and exploring the route on the Atlantic side. The protection of New Granada would be indeed utterly insufficient to induce capitalists to under

take such an enterprize; but the joint protection of the American and British governments, secured by the treaty, is held to be ample for the purpose, and under the assurance of that protection it is believed this great enterprize-by far the greatest and most important ever undertaken by manwill be consummated. If completed, the passage to San Francisco from New York will be shorter by, probably, 12,000 miles, and the danger of the Cape avoided. Our country will then become the great depository of the incalculable treasures of the Pacific. Aware, as you probably are, of the facts connected with this enterprize, you cannot but rejoice in the belief that the subject to which you have devoted so much labor, and for which you have incurred so much responsibility, has at length assumed a shape promising the realization of your brightest hopes.

I am, dear sir, sincerely your friend and obedient servant, REVERDY JOHNSON.

Hon. JOHN M. CLAYTON,

United States Senate, Washington.

THE BOMBARDMENT OF GREYTOWN.

[From documents communicated by the President, July 31, 1854, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate calling for all the information in his possession respecting the bombardment of Greytown or San Juan de Nicaragua by Captain Hollins, in command of the United States ship Cyane, with copies of all orders or instructions, if any, given by the Executive to said Hollins in relation thereto.] OUTRAGE ON THE AMERICAN MINISTER.

Mr. Borland to Mr. Marcy.

WASHINGTON, May 30, 1854.

SIR: Having arrived in this city from my mission in Central America, I beg leave to submit the following statement of occurrences, which I regard as important, and ask for it your early consideration.

Inclosed herewith and marked (A,) is a printed slip, cut by me, from a New York newspaper, which purports to be a statement of those occurrences, prepared by the officers of the steamer Northern Light, and which I find to be correct in all material particulars. I present it in lieu of any separate statement of my own, and adopt it as such.

Inclosed, also, marked (B,) I hand you a copy of the agreement made by me with the persons I employed to remain at Punta Arenas, as a guard over the persons and property of our citizens.

In addition, I deem it proper to remark: That although I was personally cognizant of the conduct of Captain Smith, for which he was charged with murder, and sought to be arrested by the so-called authorities of San Juan, or Greytown, and was (as I now am) clearly and decidedly of opinion that he was justifiable in all he did, the question of his guilt or innocence did not enter into the considerations for which I interposed to protect him. He was a citizen of the United States, and the persons who sought to arrest and claimed the right to punish him, were not recognized by the United States as a government possessed of the right, or invested with the power, to exercise jurisdiction over any portion of Central America, or to determine any question involving the persons or property of our citizens. This ground I was not only authorized but required to assume, as well by the precedents of interposition to protect our citizens at the same place and against the same persons, heretofore directed and sanctioned by our government, as by the special instructions under which my mission was undertaken. Besides, even

supposing the so-called authorities of San Juan, or Greytown, to be a government invested with the rights and powers I have denied over the territory embraced within their town limits, they certainly had no jurisdiction over that portion of territory upon which the obnoxious act of Captain Smith had been done, as that was, although on the north bank, yet some ten or twelve miles above the mouth of the San Juan river. So of the place where his arrest was attempted (Punta Arenas,) on the south bank of the San Juan river, and the opposite side of the bay from San Juan, or Greytown. The act, then, of Captain Smith, whether criminal or not, was done within the territory of Nicaragua, and for it he is amenable to Nicaragua alone, if to any authority; and the place of his attempted arrest (Punta Arenas) is territory in dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, so that no legal process, civil or criminal, could rightfully be executed there, unless by authority of one or the other of those powers.

It will be observed that at one moment I resorted to a threat of violence to repel the armed men of San Juan from the steamer. I wish it to be distinctly understood that I did this from no impulse of passion, nor with the expectation that my threat would have to be executed, though, if unheeded, it would have been. My course was adopted from a conviction of its necessity as the only mode then at my choice to prevent a collision which could hardly have ended without the destruction of many lives.

But

It is true that the mayor (Sigaud) came to me and disavowed the acts of those who arrested and assaulted me. it is equally true that he presided at the meeting at the station house, (town hall,) in which it was proposed (by Martin, the ex-mayor,) and resolved to arrest me; that the authorities took no steps to prevent it; and that armed men who arrested me were composed, mainly, of the police guard of the town, and were armed with the muskets of the corporation. Their leader declared that he came by order of the mayor to arrest me.

From the best information I could obtain, the population of San Juan, or Greytown, numbers about three hundred, of all sorts, and consists of a few Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, and men from the United States, but mainly of negroes from Jamaica, and some natives of the Mosquito shore. There are also some two or three natives from the interior of Nicaragua. When I reached that place, last September, the number of negroes was much smaller than at present. This number has been increased, as I am informed, by recent arrivals from Jamaica; until now they constitute

At the last

the majority, and exercise the greater influence. elections and corporate organization, no American (except one mulatto man from New Orleans) was included.

Of these people, I am informed that some seventy-five to one hundred can be mustered for military service, and they have in their possession three brass cannon-one 18-pounder and two 12-pounders, and some two hundred muskets. With the exception of a few persons, these people own no property, and have no ostensible means of livelihood. In their anomalous condition, without a government which any civilized nation recognizes-indeed, occupying, by usurpation, territory which our government recognizes as belonging to Nicaragua; being persons, almost without exception, of notoriously bad character-some of them discharged penitentiary convicts and refugees from justice, habitually manifesting evil dispositions towards our citizens, and indulging those dispositions to the injury of persons and property, whenever they are not restrained by force, I am unable to regard them in any other light than as pirates and outlaws, upon whom punishment, to the extent of extermination, may be rightfully inflicted by any hand that has the power; and, in my opinion, the interests of good government and humanity impose the duty, upon any offended party, of inflicting such punishment in a manner at once summary and effective. Heretofore, when these persons have committed their lawless acts upon our citizens, the armed hand of our government has been interposed, not to punish for the past offence, but only to prevent its threatened repetition. As a consequence, as soon as the restraining force was withdrawn, the offence was repeated. Until now, they have got to believe that restraint for the time, and not punishment, is the worst they will have to suffer for their worst acts. When I warned them of the consequences of their bad conduct, they boldly told me they intended to do as they pleased, and were reckless of consequences.

Under these circumstances, and informed by our commercial agent, Mr. Fabens, as also by Mr. Scott, the agent of the Accessory Transit Company, who has under his care many thousand dollars worth of property, that, in view of the evil dispositions of those persons, as manifested for some time past, and then in a state of high excitement, they did not consider that the persons and property of our citizens would be safe after the steamers had left, unless protected by an adequate force, I deemed it my duty to employ the services of the men, as set forth in the printed slip and the agreement inclosed, in order to afford that protection. As these