SENOR YRISARRI TO SECRETARY CASS.

219

claims for himself the title of Lawful Executive Power of

Nicaragua.'

"This is ample to prove that the expedition, composed of spurious colonists, is, in reality, one of soldiers, moving with the design of supporting this dream-begotten legitimate executive power of the country. But whatever may be the character of this colonizer, and of those colonists under a new patent, they cannot set foot on the territory which they are about to invade, nor be there received, save as real pirates; because, in Nicaragua and in Costa Rica, as well as in the other Republics of Spanish America, Walker is held in no other light than that of a traitor to the party which he went to serve in Nicaragua, of an usurper of the sovereignty of that country, of a blood-shedder, whose object was to destroy the defenders of their country; whilst his satellites were nothing else than accomplices of his crimes. In proof of this, I transmit to the Secretary of State the decree of the 31st of August last, officially communicated to me by the Minister of Foreign Rela tions of Nicaragua, by which it will be clearly seen that the expedition which Walker intends to lead into that country, under the appellation of colonists, will be received as an expedition of pirates; in view of which, communication through the Isthmus has been ordered to be foreclosed.

"Neither in Nicaragua, nor in any Republic of Central America, is any colony desired, formed by Walker, or by any

Ex

other adventurer, who, like him, has dreamed of mastery over its lands, to divide them among his foreign followers. perience amply teaches there, as well as here, that the thousands of individuals shipped as colonists for Nicaragua, from New York and New Orleans during the course of the last two years, went there with the exclusive aim of waging war against the natives of the land, under the command of an intrusive usurper. And if, with miserable cunning, they can baffle the laws of the United States, which forbid the citizens of those States to disturb the peace of friendly nations, they will certainly not deceive now, as they never have been able to deceive, the Central Americans; and they must not complain of the fate that may befall them, however hard it may appear to them. Natural law imposes on the Central Americans the duty of making an example of the incorrigible violaters of the laws of all the nations.

"Walker never was, nor can he ever be, President of Nicaragua, or a citizen of that Republic from the time that he was declared to be a traitor to it; nor can any men that may be led by him, or any one else in his name, fail to be received and treated in any other manner than that due to bandits and pirates, by whatever name they may be known, or from whatever quarter they may come. This is a fact which grows out of authentic documents from the true executive power, national, and not foreign, of Nicaragua; and to this should.

YRISARRI APPLIES HARD WORDS TO FILLIBUSTERING. 221

the citizens of the United States rivet their attention, so that they may not venture to follow the private banner of the adventurer of Sonora and of Nicaragua.

"It is of world-wide notoriety that Walker was not elected President of Nicaragua, save by a foreign soldiery, which backed him in the usurpation of the supreme power which could not be vested; and wonderful, I repeat it, is the impu dence of the man who pretends to vindicate, as a right, that which bears no other character than that of the worst imagin

able outrage.

"The undersigned, as Minister Plenipotentiary of Guatemala and of Salvador, and in his appointed capacity by the Government of Nicaragua to represent her in the United States, cannot but protest against the contemplated expedition of colonization and peace to Nicaragua under the leadership of Walker; declaring that, as it cannot be received in that Republic save as a hostile expedition, it shall be treated by the three States, Guatemala, Salvador, and Nicaragua, as one of real pirates. This the undersigned has deemed it his duty to bring to the knowledge of the Government of the United States."

CHAPTER XXII.

▲ PROMISE FULFILLED-GENERAL HENNINGSEN'S LETTER TO SECRETARY CASS -HIS COMMISSION FROM PRESIDENT WALKER-WHAT HE SAYS ABOUT WALKER'S ELECTION--HIS PERMANENCY AS A RULER-HIS SOLICITUDE FOR THE SOLDIERY-AN APPEAL TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES-THINKS CAPTAIN DAVIS DID NOT DO THE RIGHT THING-WHAT PRESIDENT MORA DIDWHAT GENERAL WALKER DID-HOW LONG THE INVADERS WERE KEPT FROM INVESTING RIVAS-HOW THEY ATTEMPTED AT VARIOUS TIMES TO STORM THE PLACE-HOW ANXIOUS THEY EVENTUALLY BECAME TO KEEP OUT-POSITION OF BESIEGERS AND BESIEGED ON THE FIRST OF MAY-WHAT WALKER EXPECTED TO DO, AND HOW HE WAS GOING TO DO IT-WHAT CAPTAIN DAVIS DID, AND THE WAY HE DID IT-HOW IT AFFECTED WALKER'S PLANS-THE SCHOONER GRANADA SEIZED AND HANDED OVER TO THE COSTA RICANS-THE GUATEMALA NAVY PUTS TO SEA AND MURDERS CAPTAIN LILLY.

WE promised, in Chapter Twentieth, to give the documents relative to the evacuation of Nicaragua. We now discharge that promise, by inserting extracts embracing the points at issue, from a letter of General Henningsen's to Mr. Cass, dated, Washington, November 12, 1857.

WHAT GENERAL HENNINGSEN SAYS.

223

That

"On the first of May last, in Nicaragua, I was charged by President Walker with negotiating, drafting, and subsequently carrying into execution the Convention of Rivas. negotiation was entered into, and the capitulation was made solely with a United States officer, Captain Davis, of the United States ship-of-war St. Mary, under the guaranty of the United States flag that certain terms would be observed by the besiegers.

"General Walker was regarded as the legitimate President of Nicaragua, and without any possibility of influencing the ballot, was elected by a larger majority than any President ever received before, or probably will ever receive again in Nicaragua, because the only classes who labor or produce had witnessed under his auspices the abolition of forced military service, and saw in his election, for the first time in their generation, the prospect of not being coerced by ambitious factionists to fight through interminable revolutions for a cause in which they took no interest. When the pressure of internal treachery, foreign invasion, and extraneous influence, prevented him from protecting them from conscription, they came to regard this as an illusion, and resigned themselves, as they had done from time immemorial, to be dragged from their peaceful avocations, and driven to slaughter by leaders whom it was never my fortune to see or hear of in the front of battle. It is difficult for any one acquainted with facts, not to have regarded