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 HON. PERCY WALKER, OF ALABAMA. 
 
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 CENTRAL AMERICAN AFFAIRS; 
 
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 IN TIIK HOUSE nr RKPRESKNT.\T1VCS. DECEMBER IT, 1S56. 
 
 
 
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 WASHINGTON: 
 PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE 
 
 1856. 
 
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 CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 Thp noaaehavlngiinderconsiileration the motion to refer 
 and prim tlie President's Message- 
 Mr. WALKER said: 
 
 Mr. Speaker: As I said some days ago, when 
 1 first obtained the floor, it is not iny purpose to 
 follow in the current of debate of the last eight 
 or ten days. I have no campaign speeches to 
 rehearse. The canvass is over, and the heat and 
 «xcitement it produced should cease. 1 would 
 eultivate that freedom from prejudice and that 
 calmness of thought which are essential to wise 
 legislation. 
 
 The election has taken place, and 1 can imagine 
 no good to result from a renewed discussion of 
 tJhe principles which controlled it, or of the mo- 
 tives and conduct of the rival parties. Such a 
 ■discussion will certainly not affecis the policy of 
 the present Administration, and will hardly be 
 looked to by the incoming one as affording reli- 
 able guides for its action. At this early day it is 
 impossible for us to anticipate what is to be the 
 result of that election upon the destiny of our i 
 country. It may be, sir, that within the next 
 four years the winds of sectional hate which have ! 
 so fearfully swept over the land may subside, I 
 that fanaticism may exhaust itself by its own { 
 violence, and that those who have used it for bad j 
 purposes may be stranded upon the shores of 
 popular contempt, and the country restored to ! 
 something like quietness. On the other hand, it j 
 niay be that the late election was a mere skirmish j 
 in advance of a great sectional fight four years i 
 hence, on which the issue will be the life or 
 death of the Republic. But be that as it may, 1 | 
 for one am prepared to wait the tide of events, 
 iu)d shall not, if I can avoid it, contribute to 
 party asperity or sectional prejudice. 
 
 In this spirit, therefore, I shall endeavor, as far 
 as I can, to lift this House, for a brief season at 
 kast, above the turbid pool of party strife, to the 
 consideration of questions of common interest to 
 us all — North and South, East and West— and 
 which, in their importance and magnitude, should 
 address themselves to the minds of all thoughtful 
 men; for in their solution are involved the great 
 
 interests, presentand future, not only of this coun- 
 try, but of the civilized world. I refer to the Cen- 
 tral American States, their present condition, and 
 our relations with them. 
 
 In his annual message, now ander considera- ' 
 tion, the President has called our attention to the 
 posture of affairs in Nicaragua, and informs ua 
 that he has ceased to hold diplomatic relations 
 with that State. It is my purpose to comment, 
 at some length, on that portion of the message, 
 and therefore I send it to the Clerk's desk to be 
 read. 
 The Clerk read as follows: • 
 " The peculiar condition of affairs in Nicaragua in the 
 early part of the present year, rendered it important that 
 tliis Government should have diplomatic relations with 
 that State. Through its territory had been opened one of 
 the principal thoroughfares across: the Isthmus connecting 
 North and South America, on which a vast amount of 
 properly was transported, and to which our citizens resorted 
 in great numbers in passing between tlie Atlantic and 
 Pacific coasts of the United States. The protection . of 
 both required tliat the existing Power in that State should 
 be regarded as a responsible Government ; and its Minister 
 was accordingly received. But he remained here only a 
 short time. Soon thereafter the political affairs of Nica- 
 ragua underwent unfavorable change, and became involved 
 in much uncertainty and confusion. Diplomatic repre- 
 sentatives from two contending parties have been recenUy 
 sent to this Government; but, with the imperfect informa- 
 tion possessed, it was not possible to decide which was tbe 
 Government de facto; and, awaiting further developments, 
 I have refused to receive either." 
 
 Mr. WALKER proceeded: The House will 
 recollect that in the month of May last, the Presi- 
 dent transmitted to Congress a special message, 
 in which he announced the fact that he had ree- 
 ogni7.ed the Minister sent hither by what vifaa 
 then the Ri vas-Walker Government in Nicaragua. 
 In that paper he set forth at large the reasons 
 influencing him to that act, averring what is 
 doubtless true, that from the foundation of our 
 Republic it had been the invariable custom of all 
 Administrations to recognize foreign Govern- 
 ments., de /acto, without regard to the source of 
 their power or the manner of their creation. 
 
 The President then further stated, in addition 
 to this general rule, that there were other aad 
 special reasons for recogniaung the Governraent 
 
©f Nicaragua, and opening amicable relations 
 with it; that the establishing of such relations 
 was necessary to the protection of the persons 
 and property of American citizens in that country; 
 and that the " interoceanic communication be- 
 tween the opposite shores of America " makes 
 the maintenance of friendly relations between 
 this Government and the Central American States 
 a matter 6f high commercial and political im- 
 portance. 
 
 Now, sir, let us follow the history of events in 
 connection with this subject, and see M'hether 
 they justify the discontinuance or stoppage of 
 these friendly relations. It is far from my pur- 
 ;;jse and my, feelings to comment upon the action 
 ^f the Executive in a captious spirit. I desire to 
 stale my views fairlj'-, frankly, and I trust clearly, 
 upon this subject. In my opinion, the Govern- 
 Bient made a great mistake in the course taken, 
 from beginning to end, upon this whole Central 
 American question. Before I come to an exam- 
 ination of the 'present posture of affairs in that 
 Republic, I shall call the attention of the House 
 4 for a few moments to the past history of that 
 country. 
 
 We know, sir, that from the time that the 
 broken, irregular shores of Bonaca first greeted 
 the eyes of the adventurous sailor of Castile, at 
 the opening of the sixteenth century, all com- 
 mercial nations have looked to Central America 
 as affording a passage between the two great 
 oceans — that pathway, in quest of which so 
 many gallant spirits have fallen in the wilderness 
 to rise no more. The bold seamen and valiant 
 captains of Clueen Elizabeth sought it with the 
 fervor of religion — the infatuation of romance, 
 through the gorgeous mazes of Central Ameri- 
 can forests, where hunger, thirst, and fierce trop- 
 ical heats wete the foes that combined with the 
 cruel and jealous Spaniards, and their more wily 
 and ferocious allies, the Jesuits, armed with the 
 power and the terrors of the Inquisition, to guard 
 the way. The Gilberts, the Raleighs, the Drakes, 
 skilled and dauntless soldiers and sailors, gallant, 
 courteous gentlemen, and incomparable scholars, 
 every one found his death either directly or indi- 
 rectly in the vain pursuit of this same passage, 
 that was to open the doors of El Dorado to the 
 sons of Old England, and place it the brightest 
 jewel in her crown. 
 
 We all know, too, the valued lives', the countless 
 treasure which England has dedicated to death 
 and destruction in the terrific seas and deserts of 
 the North Pole in search of a northern passage. 
 Many of her best and bravest sons have perished 
 there from the biting cold, or went down beneath 
 som« giant iceberg as it moved along in its sullen 
 progress. But our old mother England pauses 
 MOlat such loss, and, with the lust for commercial 
 power, still persists in her endeavors. 
 
 Look at the position of the Central American 
 States. Cast your eye over the map, and you 
 will find what, to my mind,isamoststrikingand 
 wonderful fact, that as you travel south, the con- 
 tinent itself seenis, in obedience to some great 
 law of nature, gradually to grow smaller and 
 smaller, until, as you approach the Central Amer- 
 ican States, the waters seem constantly encroach- 
 ing upon the main land, until, when you have 
 passed the State of Honduras, the waves of one 
 ocean admost touch those of the other, as if the 
 
 restless and turbulent Atlantic struggled to clasp 
 in marriage the more peaceful western sea, 
 I say, that from their very position they have 
 been, and must always continue to be, a great 
 object of interest, if not of acquisition, to the 
 leading Powers of the world. Why, sir, saga- 
 cious England saw this long before the birth of 
 a Republic on this continent. From the time of 
 the discovery by Spain in 1502 — I may say down 
 to this very moment, she has never withdrawn 
 her eye from that point. As far back as 1642 a 
 body of Englishmen, pirates and marauders, in 
 the Island of Jamaica, banded themselves together, 
 and crossed over, and made an inroad upon the 
 possessions of Spain in Central America, It is 
 true they were dispossessed afterwards, I think, 
 in 1650, by the Vice General, as he was called, of 
 Guatemala, but they again and again renewed their 
 attempts at different points — at Grasioz a Dia^i, 
 on the Mosquito coast, and that part of Guate- 
 mala now called the Belize, and always with the 
 secret connivance of England. They still made 
 successful inroads upon the Spanish provinces; 
 and finally, in 1742, they were taken possession 
 of formally and avowedly by the British Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 At the end of the war that followed, in 1763,, 
 Great Britain entered into a treaty with Spain by 
 which she at once relinquished all right to any 
 portion of Central America, then called Spanish 
 America, But, sir, pursuing that policy of bad 
 faith which stands out upon all her history, she 
 made another descent upon Spanish America; it 
 was, however, afterwards regained, and, in 1783', 
 another treaty was made, in which she, in moci 
 emphatic terms, renounced all sovereignty over 
 that soil. In 1786 there w;as still anotlier treatj'. 
 in which she, in j^et more emphatic terms, relin- 
 quished any such claim. The war of 1796 sus- 
 pended the enforcement of these stipulations, and 
 in 1814 there was a final treaty entered into be- 
 tween Great Britain and Spafn. It is important, 
 sir, that we should bear in mind the language of 
 that treaty, because it has a direct connection, 
 with and throws light upon our controversy with 
 England growing out of what is known as the 
 Mosquito coast question. In that treaty of 1814 
 she not only again recognized the right of Spain 
 to all Central America as paramount and superior 
 .to her own, (the House will recollect that this 
 treaty preceded the independence of Central 
 America some nine or ten years,) but in express 
 terms pledged herself to " abandon the contnifjit 
 and all the islands adjacent thereto." 
 ■;'. Well, sir, things remained in this state uniiU 
 in 1821, the States of Central America, viz: Gna- 
 temala, Nicaragua, San Salvador, Flonduras, aiwl 
 Costa Rica, proclaimed their independence, re- 
 nounced their allegiance to the Crown of Spain, 
 and afterwards erected themselves into a sepa- 
 rate and independent Republic. But, sir, unfortu- 
 nately for the well-being of that infant Republic, 
 dissensions soon grew up:^ She lacked a thought- 
 ful and enlightened Icadui'f She had not been thor- 
 oughly imbued with the true spirit of republican- 
 ism. In 1824 these States formed a constitution 
 modeled after our own, but the peace that resulted 
 from the cooperation of the several Slates and 
 their union was but short-lived. After the adop- 
 tion of the constitution dissensions speedily man- 
 ifested themselves; there were several aspiF&n-te 
 
for power, and the result was that the Republic 
 soon fell to pieces. 
 
 But, sir, before we come to that, let me recall 
 the recollection of the House to the fact that, 
 before they entered into this formal union, as 
 far back, I think, as December 2, 1822, these 
 embryo States, apprehensive that they might be 
 merged in the larger Republic of Mexico, (which 
 had about the same time severed herself from the 
 Crown of Spain,) as a means of guarding against 
 the efforts of Mexico to absorb them within her 
 limits, and thereby rob them of their independent 
 existence, passed solemn resolves incorporating 
 themselves into the Union of the North American 
 States. This project, of course, passed away 
 upon the adoption of the Constitution of 1824; 
 and, as I have already said, unfortunately there 
 appeared various rival leaders, and in the contests 
 that followed the life of the Republic was crushed 
 out. In 1827, however, it seems that a new ray 
 of hope and promise broke over that distracted 
 land. In one of their intestine wars, a man, who 
 seemed to the patriots to have been born for the 
 crisis and the emergency, was lifted above the 
 vulgar herd of factious spirits. He was no or- 
 dinary man, no mere ambitious soldier who pre- 
 sented himself, but a man of laj-ge gifts, who, by 
 his wisdom, his caution, the statesmanship he 
 evinced, and the purity of his private character 
 and life, induced the hope, which died out not 
 for many years in that country, that through his 
 instrumentality, by his valor, courage, and skill, 
 peace might be once more restored to them. That 
 man was Morazan, the descendant of a West 
 Indian planter, who had married in Honduras. 
 With great power he swayed the destinies of 
 that country for a number of years; but not even 
 his wise policy and prudent counsels could quiet 
 tlie discordant elements of that disturbed land, 
 and the several States were constantly engaged 
 in wars. 
 
 Some ten years after his advent on the stage of 
 action, a man of opposite elements came forward, 
 of savage instincts, without refinement or culti- 
 vation of any sort. Carrera was a fit instrument 
 of a crafiy priesthood. He came into notice in 
 1837, and from that time to the present must be 
 regarded as the evil genius of the entire Central 
 American States. A common herdsman — the 
 " pig driver of Guatemala," as Squier tells us he 
 was called — v/as rude, ignorant, and unpolished, 
 of gigantic strength, ferocious passions, indom- 
 itable will, and dauntless courage. This man was 
 taken up by the priesthood as the instrument of 
 crushing Morazan, and thus effecting their pur- 
 poses. 
 
 After many a conflict and disaster, now and 
 then relieved by victory, Morazan, defeated and ! 
 taken prisoner, fell a victim to the vindictive rage j 
 of the Carrei-a faction. After his death, but slight , 
 obstacles barred Carrera 's way to absolute power; 
 and he now stands, not the President of a repub- 
 lican government, but the Dictator of Guate- 
 mala, the chief State of Central America, and the 
 most powerful enemy of the liberal party of 
 Nicaragua. 
 
 I have dwelt at some length on the intestine 
 troubles of the Central American States; and I 
 would now add , that the history of those wars and 
 dissensions show throughout the active agency 
 and interference of England; and I think I am jus- 
 
 tified in saying that, but for her interference, there 
 would have been at least a chance for a Repub-- 
 lic of Central American States. Though Great 
 Britain had abandoned to Spain all right to any 
 portion of Central America, she was so fully 
 aware of the advantages a foothold there would 
 give her in controlling the commerce of the worlds 
 that, notwithstanding her disclaimer in 1814 and 
 previously, she was constantly active to secure 
 control over those States. To effect that purpose, 
 she contributed to keep alive the discord of which 
 I have spoken. It is known, and has never been 
 denied, that within the past eighteen months she 
 has supplied the Costa Ricans with arms and 
 munitions, if not with funds, to carry on the war 
 against the Government of Nicaragua, whose 
 iVIinister was recognized by President Pierce in 
 May last. Her attempted Mosquito protectorat* 
 was no measure of philanthropy, but a trick re>- 
 sorted to to insure to herself the control of a 
 transit route. 
 
 I have not the time now to review the history 
 of our controversy with England in reference to 
 that matter. I can only glance at it. We know 
 the terms of the treaty commonly known as the 
 Clayton-Bulwer treaty. We remember the dat« 
 of its promulgation. We cannot forget the aim 
 and purpose of this Government in entering into 
 that treaty. It was promulged in July, 1850. 
 Yet, not long afterwards, England again asserted 
 her rights over the Bay Islands. If gentlemen 
 will look at the correspondence between the two 
 Governments they will find that England assumed 
 the ground that Central America did not have the 
 ownership of its islands and dependencies; and 
 this in the face of the settled law that discovery 
 carries with it the right of sovereignty. Spain 
 had originally the sovereignty of Central America 
 by reason of her first discovery of that country: 
 and when Central America achieved its inde- 
 pendence from Spain, as a necessary consequenca 
 the right of sovereignly went with it. 
 
 I have mentioned these things to show tha 
 great importance of our country having some 
 settled policy with reference to Central America. 
 We know the character of the population of those 
 States.' We know that, though they embrace a 
 large geographical area, not much below one mil- 
 lion of square miles, they are sparsely populated. 
 There are Indians, mixed races, and foreigners, 
 who have gone there from time to time, forming 
 a most heterogeneous aggregate of inhabitants* 
 Now, from the history of the past, I lay down 
 this proposition: It is preposterous to suppose 
 that a rude, uncivilized, thrice-mixed race can 
 ever have control in those latitudes. The ques- 
 tion then resolves itself into this: Either that 
 country must fall in the future into the grasping 
 hands of our great commercial rival, England, 
 or it must, in obedience to what I conceive to be 
 the laws of nature, become, by geographical posi- 
 tion, community of interest, and political sym- 
 pathy, our firm ally. At any rate there must bo 
 established a separation between Central Amer- 
 ica and the great Powers of Europe, so as to 
 insure us the rights to which we are entitled. 
 
 1 hope the House will not so far misunderstand 
 me as to imagine that 1 am seeking now to incul- 
 cate the idea of annexation. Such is not my 
 purpose. That if our Government lasts our 
 domains will be enlarged , I have no doubt. I am 
 
6 
 
 not disposed to hurry events. I prefer leavins^ 
 them to the regular order of time. But I would 
 at least afford encouragement to the efforts now 
 making to regenerate theCentral American States. 
 I wish to see our Government abandon the policy 
 of stretching our neutrality laws beyond their 
 proper interpretation. And it seems to me that 
 a greater error never has been committed, not 
 only by this, but by past Administrations, than 
 in the course which has been taken in regard to 
 Central America. Why, sir, how do matters 
 stand .' 
 
 I have spoken of the controversy between our- 
 selves and England on account of their Musquito 
 protectorate, and their well-known assumptions of 
 right to control the fate of that country. I venture 
 the assertion, that although the declaration of 
 James Monroe in 1823, that the interest of this 
 country required that no foreign Power should be 
 allowed to interfere with the affairs of this conti- 
 nent, has received theindorsementandapproval of 
 every leading statesman, North and South, since 
 its promulgation, yet the diplomatic history of this 
 Government shov.'s an entire and total disregard 
 of that great doctrine. In my judgment, if there 
 had been a wiser — and by that I mean a bolder 
 and more energetic — foreign policy adopted by 
 this Government, at this very hour we should 
 have upon our southern border a republic af- 
 fording to us, either by railroads across their 
 narrow isthmus, or by canals, what we so much 
 require and demand. If you take up your tables 
 it will be found that it is only across the Central 
 American States that the oriental markets are 
 really open to us. If you take the distance 
 around the Cape of Good Hope, j^ou will find that 
 England is one thousand se^en hundred miles 
 nearer Canton and Calcutta ihaa is the port of 
 New York; while, by a canal across the Isthmus 
 of Nicai-agua, the relative position is entirely re- 
 versed, and the great fact stands out that there is 
 a diminution of three thousand miles in favor of 
 the American port. 
 
 The same is true in regard to the trade with the 
 western coast of South America and the Sand- 
 wich Islands. If any gentleman will take the 
 trouble, from these simple data, to calculate, not 
 merely the distance in miles, but the time — for that 
 becomes important in regard to the discovery 
 and application of steam — he will find that it is 
 across these Central American States that we can 
 only expect to obtain full and complete control of 
 our possessions upon the Pacific, and at the same 
 time bring t > our own doors the trade of Asia and 
 China. England was aware of this, and hence 
 (ler unremitting efforts to check our progress to 
 commercial greatness. 
 
 Though by the terms of the Clayton-Bulwer 
 treaty, England engaged to protect the construc- 
 tion of, and to maintain the security of property 
 and rights of transit on all railroads, canals, or 
 other contracts of communication from Tehuan- 
 tepec to Darien, we soon witnessed the subtile 
 turnings of British diplomacy. After the United 
 States were bound to the position that suited her 
 purposes, England managed, before the delivery 
 of her ratification, to dispatch a force to seize the 
 Roatan Islands, and create them into a British 
 colony. These islands belong to Honduras, and 
 are so situated at the outlet of the admirable Isth- 
 mus transit across that State, that, with them, a 
 
 strong maritime Power could exclude at will our 
 trade and travel through that route to the Pacific, 
 Competent engineers had examined the route, 
 and had reported strongly in favor of the harbors 
 at each terminus ; and British policy acted promptly 
 on the suggestion. It was an item in her sched- 
 ule of. antagonism to American progress to seize 
 and keep in her own power the portals of this 
 tempting pathway to California. The movement 
 was exactly timed. If she had robbed an Amer- 
 ican State of these valuable islands before she had 
 firmly bound the United States, even our meek 
 and much-enduringGovernment might have taken 
 the alarm, and rejected the treaty. If she ratified 
 it completely before she acted, the proceeding 
 would be too barefaced for even English effront- 
 ery. Her Minister is therefore directed to inform 
 our Government, at the last moment, that the 
 treaty " is not to be understood to apply to her 
 Britannic Majesty's settlements of Belize and 
 its dependencies." This word " dependencies" 
 was selected as indefinite enough to cover the 
 premeditated plunder of the Roatan Islands 
 which she was in the act of perpetrating. These 
 islands had never before been called or consid- 
 ered British property, or in any way " depend- 
 encies" of "the British settlement of the Belize. 
 They were usurped and created into a "de- 
 pendency" of the Belize, and re-baptized by 
 the name of the Colony of the Bay Islands. 
 Honduras protested indignantly at this open 
 piracy of her territory. She reminded the United 
 States of the Monroe doctrine, and proposed thai 
 we should accept her as a State of the Union, and 
 annex her territory at once, rather than see it 
 torn from her piecemeal by England. So stands 
 the matter at the end of six years. England 
 retains the plunder. Our Government barely 
 ventures to whisper a timid dissent; and all 
 Europe may well declare, in tones of undisguised 
 contempt, that the American Union is, after all, 
 but a " noisy braggart, and her doctrine of non- 
 encroachment on American soil mere bluster and 
 bravado." Yet the question at stake is of incom- 
 parable inagnilude. It is, whether England or 
 the United States shall have the control of the 
 most important pathways, not only of our inter- 
 State trade, but of oriental traffic. The gold dis- 
 coveries in our extended territories on the Pacific, 
 our bold approach to the mastery of Asiatic com- 
 merce, and the general revolution in the channels 
 of trade which steam and American enterprise are 
 turning from its old paths, to lead, by shorter 
 routes, across the American Isthmus, startled ^le 
 fears of England. She felt her decay was near, 
 when she beheld American ships rivaling and 
 outstripping hers, in tonnage as well as speed 
 and power, on every sea. Her last hope is to 
 forestall her vigorous competitor of the West, by 
 seizing the gates of our invaluable home avenues 
 of commerce, and so retain yet awhile the scepter 
 in her own hands. On this idea she acted when 
 she laid robber grasji on the Roatan Islands, and, 
 in violation of truth, right, and international 
 I comity, she took illegal and violent possession 
 of the port of San .tuan del Norte, the lawful 
 j property of the Republic of Nicaragua 
 I Sir, we have been recreant to our republican 
 ' principles in abandoning the Monroe doctrine 
 i whenever and wherever it was attacked by Eu- 
 rope, and now the penalty of our dereliction is 
 
f 
 
 being visited upon us in all directions. We have 
 fallen so completely into the habit of non-resist- 
 ance to European encroachments, that vi^e are 
 almost afraid to oppose them with firmness even 
 in the safe warfare of diplomacy. Our apathy, 
 if not our timidity, has provoked the aggressions 
 growing out of the forced and fraudulent con- 
 struction of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty. That 
 treaty was a snare and a deceit from the begin- 
 ning, and only devised to entrap the United 
 States into an engagement never to obtain a foot- 
 hold on the American Isthmus, while England 
 could go on taking all she wanted. When this 
 duplicity was made evident by the seizure of the 
 Roatan Islands, the treaty should at once have 
 been declared forfeited and void, as an instrument 
 obtained under false pretenses, and signalized by 
 the evasion or denial of all the conditions and 
 equivalents which the United States were induced 
 by diplomatic artifices to believe it contained. 
 Every month that monstrous and suicidal blunder 
 remains uncanceled is a lowering, of the dignity 
 of our Government — a cause for the impeachment 
 of its wisdom — a distrust of its courage. But, sir, 
 1 cannot longer dwell upon this branch of the 
 subject. The time to which, by the rules of the 
 House, I am limited, is nearly gone, and I must 
 hasten on. 
 
 It will be remembered that thus far I have not 
 spoken in reference to the existing state of things 
 in Nicaragua. It is my purpose now to trace, 
 briefly, the current of events in that State for the 
 last few years, the action of our own Govern- 
 ment, and the career of General William Walker. 
 
 I confess frankly that I enter upon this portion 
 of my subject in afar less hopeful spirit than that 
 which ruled me some days since; because recent 
 intelligence places things in Nicaragua upon a 
 different footing from what I had hoped. But, 
 though at the present time clouds seem to be low- 
 ering upo« Walker, yet I am one of those who 
 believe in the virtue of the element of self-reliance; 
 and if I read him aright, there is that about him 
 which marks him for a longer and still more 
 brilliant career. 
 
 There is, sir, a terrible power in calumny and 
 detraction, which ever treads fast and remorse- 
 lessly upon the heels of virtue; and where it can- 
 not entirely destroy, disappointment only adds 
 new force and power to its hate. There is no 
 man in our day who has been more maligned than 
 he upon whom, I may now say, the eyes of the 
 world are cast. Walker is no vulgar adventurer, 
 but a profound observer, an earnest, scholarly 
 man, above all mercenary considerations, tem- 
 perate, grave, courteous, and habitually silent. 
 Secretive and self-reliant, he is not so cautious as 
 you would conceive so thoughtful a man to be, 
 but hurried on occasionally by the impetuosity of 
 
 feniusj as all the master spirits of the world have 
 een. 
 
 A young, bold, adventurous, thoughtful man, 
 imbued with the truest spirit of Americanism, 
 the keenest instincts of his peculiar nationality, 
 the brave, enduring pioneerism of the West and 
 South, prompt to the faintest voice of freedom, 
 sallies forth to establish a nationality, to which 
 he would impart, by his own energy, genius, and 
 enthusiasm, the deep love of liberty, industry, 
 morality, and it might be prosperity, of his own 
 happier land. Inspired by that heroic dream of 
 
 freedom, and a love of glory which has character- 
 ized the purest and noblest natures, he, at the 
 call of the liberal party, then struggling in Nicar- 
 agua, entered that State wTth the small force of 
 fifty or sixty men. This was in June, 1855. For 
 some months civil war had prevailed, the " ser- 
 viles and the liberals" contending for the ascend- 
 ency. Chamorro, the leader of the former, and 
 Castillion, the leader of the liberals, were candi- 
 dates for the Presidency. Chamorro had usurped 
 the government, and by superior force had con- 
 fined his opponents within narrow limits. At 
 this stage Castillion, the representative of liber- 
 alism, with the concurrence of Salazar and others, 
 invited General Walker, then in California, to 
 aid him in the effort to rescue the country from 
 the grasp of despotism. He did so; and landing 
 at R.ealijo proceeded to Leon, where the liberal 
 party was stationed. He obtained reinforcements 
 of one hundred and fifty natives, and shortly 
 afterwards marched upon the village of Rivas, 
 which was defended by the whole force of the 
 opposing party. His native allies deserted, and 
 with his little band of fifty or sixty he fought 
 against some four or five hundred. He was not 
 successful in defeating the rival forces; but he 
 gave the most signal and never-to-be-forgotten 
 evidence of his prowess as a soldier. Afterwards 
 he defeated the enemy at La Virgin. 
 
 In a short time the whole aspect of affairs was 
 changed. Such was the impulse given the liberal 
 party by this small force, that it soon became 
 evident that full and complete success would 
 crown their efforts. Chamorro and Castillion 
 had died. Walker headed the liberal party, and 
 General Corrall commanded the Chamorro fac- 
 tion. 
 
 On the 23d of October, 1855, Walker and Cor- 
 rall entered into a treaty at Granada. As a com- 
 promise, the treaty declared Patricio Rivas, who 
 had been connected with the Chamorro party, 
 but who had taken no active part in the contro- 
 versy. Provincial President for fourteen months 
 unless he should decree an election before the 
 expiration of that time. This mam Rivas was 
 at the time collector at the port of San Carlos, at 
 the head of the San Juan river, and although he 
 held that post under Chamorro, yet, in the hope of 
 restoring peace and quiet. Walker consented that 
 he should occupy the highest place in power, and 
 he was accordingly proclaimed President of the 
 Republic. Rivas afterwards issued a decree for 
 an election of President by the people; but before 
 it took place, he and Corrall left the capital and 
 set to work to overthrow the Government. A 
 short time after entering into the treaty, Corrall 
 was detected in treasonable correspondence, and 
 was shot, as he deserved to be, by Walker's orders. 
 Walker was elected President by the people. 
 
 Before the breach between Rivas and Walker 
 occurred, to wit: in November, 1855, the new 
 Government was recognized by our Minister, 
 Mr. Wheeler; and in May last our Government 
 received Padre Vigil, the representative of the 
 Rivas- Walker Goveniment. It is known that at 
 that time there were protests made against this 
 recognition. But from whom did these protests 
 come .' Not from any party claiming to be the 
 ruling power in the State of Nicaragua, but from 
 some of the other and hostile States of Central 
 America. Mr. Josaari, who, if I mistake not, 
 
r\ 
 
 8 
 
 is the Minister from Guatemala, and who also 
 claims to be the present representative of Rivas, 
 protested, a few months ago, against the recog- 
 nition of Padre Vigil,' and in his protest alleged 
 that " there is not either in the United States, or 
 any part of the world, any body who is not aware 
 that Senior Rivas, who styles himself as Pres- 
 ide/it of Nicaragua, is nothing but a creature of 
 Walker — the complacent slave to the ruler of his 
 country." 
 
 And yet this denunciator of Rivas comes now, 
 if I have not been misinformed, and claims to be 
 the Minister to our Government from Rivas. 
 
 In his annual message to this session, the Pres- 
 ident employs language which by many is re- 
 garded as a statement that diplomatic relations 
 with Nicaragua ceased with the departure of the 
 Padre Vigil from this country. If this be so, a 
 large portion of the public has been misled. It 
 has been publicly declared that the Government 
 held official communication with Mr. Heiss, who 
 was left in charge by the Padre. Walker was 
 elected President on the 13th of July, 1856, and 
 on the 19th of the same month was recognized 
 by our Minister at Nicaragua. Since then, as 
 declared in the public journals, our State Depart- 
 raent has had negotiations with the Walker Gov- 
 ernment for the discharge of American soldiers, 
 and also in reference to what is known as the 
 " privateering" proposition. 
 
 Sir, it may have been wise in the President to 
 refuse to continue intercourse with Walker's 
 Government; but it seems to me that the mere 
 fact that this man's fortunes seem momentarily 
 under a cloud should not weigh against the well- 
 established fact that he is at the head of the only 
 party constitutionally authorized to rule in Nica-r- 
 agua. He represents not only the liberal party 
 in that State — those in favorof legitimate govern- 
 ment— but, what is greatly important to us, he 
 is the type and representative of our own n.ation- 
 aUty. And, in addition to this, the struggle now 
 going on in Nicaragua is not between the people 
 of that Stete and Walker as an invader, but 
 between Wcdker, the duly-elected President, and 
 an iavading army from the hostile States of 
 Guatemala, Honduras, San Salvador, and Costa 
 Rica, whose object is not merely to crush him, 
 but to exterminate all the Americans who have 
 selected Nicaragua as their home. 
 
 The recognition in May last met with my 
 approval, and I regret exceedingly our Govern- 
 
 ment has thought proper to change its policy. 
 The reasons urged for the change are, in my 
 judgment, insufficient. After the recognition in 
 May, our political and commercial interests re- 
 quired that our Govern,ment should have afforded 
 every encouragement to the new one in Nicara- 
 gua. Cordiality on our part would have gone far 
 to have insured to it permanency and stability. 
 If the United States had acknowledged the Rivas- 
 Walker Government immediately upon it is form- 
 ation, in all probability peace and order would 
 have been maintained; the election for President 
 there would have passed off quietly, and Walker 
 might now be the head of a Government v/hose 
 course he would shape after our own, and whose 
 destinies he would endeavor to link with those of 
 this Union — not by the absorption of Nicaragua 
 into our Confederacy, but, in a just estimate of 
 the value of geographical relations, mindful of the 
 value of republican principles, and true to his 
 American instincts, would aid us in our reach 
 after commercial sway. 
 
 Our clock tells me that my time is nearly out, 
 and 1 cannot speak fully upon this subject. 
 I have been much hurried, and have perhaps 
 achieved nothing more than to call the attention 
 of the House and the covintry to matters of great 
 moment to us — matters demanding the calm ex- 
 amination of all thoughtful men in this country. 
 If we are to afford no countenance or encourage- 
 ment to the efforts being made there to establish a 
 Government in Central America, based upon the 
 principles of our own, it seems to me, sir, the 
 day will come when, in spite of ourselves, the 
 whole power and control of that country will not 
 onl}'- pass from our hands but will go into the 
 hands of those whose interests are antagonistic 
 to our own. 
 
 Now, Mr. Speaker, I beg to assure the House 
 that, in broaching this subject and advocating 
 the claims of President Walker to your respect 
 and confidence, I am in no wise influenced by hia 
 late decree authorizing slavery in Nicaragua;for, 
 sir, however convinced I may be of the inevitable 
 destiny of the negro to a condition of servitude, 
 and of the adaptation of the soil of Central Amer- 
 ica to slave labor, I am willing to leave it to the 
 laws of nature, to be governed by climate and 
 soil, and the "eternal fitness of things." At 
 any rate, my advocacy of a change in our policy 
 towards those Central American States has been 
 in no wise influenced by that decree. 
 
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