The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-14 00:00:00

THE WAR IN CENTRAL AMERICA.

KING'S LYNN, Thursday Afternoon
The proceedings before Mr. Beloe, the borough
coroner, was resumed this morning at the Guildhall.
Mr. Edwards represented the railway company,
and Mr. Coulton, solicitor of Lynn, appeared for
the family of the deceased, Mr. John Dennis.
After some evidence had been adduced similar to
that given on the former inquest,
Captain Tyler read the following statements by
the permission of the coroner, as the company felt
the decision of the inquest as too strong :
" I will now, gentlemen, with the coroner's per-
mission, say a few words in my owa defence, in
consequence of the censure which I have so unex-
pectedly, and as I think very unjustly, received in
a recent verdict.
" It was quite impossible for me to distinguish, in
passing over the line in September last, between
those ditches which retained and those which would
lose their water during the present summer. The
farmers who live on the land from year to year
have good opportunities of observing the rise and
fall of the water in the district, but no person
visiting the country for the first time, and for a
limited period, can pretend to form an accurate
judgment in this respect. It any of them had taken
the trouble to write ever so short a note to the
Board of Trade before the line was inspected, and
expressed, however feebly, the apprehension that
they now, after the lamentable occurrence, proclaim
so loudly, my attention would in that case have
been specially directed to the subject. I should have
placed myself in communication with them when I
made my inspection, and we should have had a dif-
ferent result. I need hardly tell you, for instance,
if I could have foreseen that the ditch opposite Mr.
Bloomfield's field would become dry in the present
year, and be for this reason a cause of danger to
the public, I should have required the railway com-
pany to place a higher fence on the inside of it.
" Mr. Valentine, the engineer who constructed
the line, who has had considerable experience in
similar marsh districts, was himself deceived with
regard to the water. The low fence was, of course,
only intended as an additional protection to wet
ditches. He paid great attention to the construc-
tion of those fences, and if he could have formed a
more accurate, judgment he would, of course, have
extended the high fence for a greater distance along
both sides of the line.
" I have myself no control over the construction
of railways, and am only called upon to inspect
them after they are supposed to be complete and
ready for traffic; and I would put the question to
you in this way. Supposing that I was called upon
near the end of next month—as September is coming
round again—to inspect a similar line through a
similar country, and were to find, as in this case,
wet ditches with a low fence; and dry ditches with
a high one, should I say to the engineer, ' I mis-
trust your wet ditches, and therefore you hall now
add a high fence along the whole of the line, and
I will recommend the Board of Trade to postpone
the opening of the line from month to month
until it is completed. If I were to adopt
this eourse, gentlemen, shareholders and directors,
engineers and managers, would all cry out, and
would justly complain of being put to unnecessary
expense in construction and delay in opening ; de-
putations would be Sent up to the Board of Trade,
and an impatient public would join in denouncing
me as an unreasonable inspector, and one to whom
such duties ought not to be entrusted.
"The engineer of the line would naturally cry
out, 'Let us open the line, and we will add to the
fences, from time to time, as experience may show
it to be necessary ;'
and I should be obliged to recom-
mend the Board of Trade to allow the opening of
the railway upon that explanation, leaving it to the
rail way company
to maintain, from time to time, a
sufficient fence at the side of the railway, and to
clear them out and to repair them, and add to them
as may be required, taking due care of the safety
of the public while they did so.
"I can only, by recommending the Board of
Trade to postpone the opening of the line from
month to month, cause such deficiencies to be recti-
fied as I am able to observe, and I feel, I assure you,
to trust to the care and watchfulness of the officers
a heavy responsibility in doing so ;
and servants of the railway company in guarding
ainst contingencies which con but lam obliged
constantly arise—many
agtghan the condi-
tionsof a railway.
bring the ques-
prominence
of them of far greater importanceowwo.ervkei
however,
The!
on op froeffseentnhctees into greater than anything
that has previously occurred in railway history, and
will, no doubt, induce greater care on all hands
with regard to it.
It is the means of
line, does good in many WaYs.
"Government inspection, before the opening of a
obtaining for you stronger bridges, a better perma-
nent way, more substantial earthworks, superior
system of signals, and a more finished railway than
you Would have in the majority of cases without it ;
hut it cannot be expected to make up for defeot of
main tee ene ;woo- neh As the insreet or bag no eon-

The Panama Star and Herald of July 24, in its
summary of news from the Pacific coast brought by
the steamer Bogota to Panama, says
" The news from the Central American States
engaged in war is important. Hostilities which
have been going on for some time between the States
of Guatemala and Nicaragua, as allies, on the one
side, and Salvador and Honduras on the other, are
approaching a conclusion in the success of the
former States. Gen. Carrera, President of Guate-
mala, chief in command of its invading Salvador,
had at last accounts complete possession of Santa
Ana and Sonsonate, the chief towns in the two
departments of Salvador bordering upon Guatemala.
The success of Carrera was chiefly owing to the dis•
affection and treachery of Gen. Gonzalez, who pro-
nounced against President Barrios. The particulars
of the affair, as near as we can get at them, are as

follows :
" On the 28th of Jane the people in San Salve
dor, the capital, were very much surprised, at
three in the afternoon, at hearing General
Barrios had returned from the army at Santa Ana,
which twenty leagues (sixty miles) he had ridden
since three in the morning of the same day. It
seems be had learned of a certain arrangement en-
tered into by some of the principal citizens of the
capital to pronounce there, at the same time with a
similar movement in other towns; while, as events
proved, the army itself in Santa Ana was to join
the movement. One of these principal citizens was
Don Jose Antonio Gonzalez (brother of the general
of that name), who, hearing on the afternoon of the
28th of June of the President being so unexpectedly
at his country seat about a mile from San Salvador,
actually rode out to welcome him, escorted him to
his house, and, leaving him there with many com-
pliments, suddenly at midnight decamped with
several others engaged in the conspiracy.
"The next day Gen. Barrios (who knew, or said
he knew, all the conspirators) was furious that the
leaders had so tricked him. He at once put down
their names for very pretty little sums in the way
of a forced loan, and (Gonzalez being down for
10,000 dols) proceeded to seize their goods, &c. He
also placed an officer in the doorway of Gonzalez'
house, where only hie family remained, and held his
wife and daughters prisoners, demanding 10,000
dols. for their release. Gen. Barrios, however, in
the midst of his rage, calculating that the clearing
out of the leaders was worth a large sum of money
to him, saying they would have to pay him from
5,000 dols. to 10,000 dais. each, and said he wished
a few more would go. Gen. Barrios also wrote to
Gen. Gonzalez, with the army in Santa Ana, stat-
ing the measures ho was about to take against his
brother (J. Antonio), and telling him be could re-
sign if he chose so to do. Gen. Gonzalez, however,
had probably notice of this, and, on the 30th June,
during the temrorary absence of Gen. Cabanas,
caused the army in Santa Ana to pronounce against
Gen. Barrios, and in favour of himself. General
Cabanas, Bracamonte, and others, who refused to
join, were allowed to return to San Salvador.
" Gen. Gonzalez at once addressed a letter to Car-
rera, who was in Chalchuapa, offering propositions
of peace. They, however, could not agree, and on the
3d July Carrera, after being at first repulsed, occu-
pied Santa Ana, drove out and scattered in every
direction Gonzalez' army. General Gonzalez was
himself wounded in the arm, and hid himself in the
mountains. General Osorio (Salvadorean), who
commanded that portion of the artnywhich had been
encamped on a hill near Santa Ana, refused to join
Gonzalez, and with some other officers came into
San Salvador with some 600 men in all on the 4th
July. Meantime an aide of General Gonzalez who
had taken part in the pronunciamento, Castellanos
by name, and another officer (Zepuda) also impli-
cated, came into San Salvador, were taken, con
.
demned, and shot at 5 p.m.on Sunday, sth July, in
the Plaza de Santo Domingo,
" The conspiracy or movement against General
Barrios had extended to various parts of the State
—in San Vicento (east of the capital) Cojutepeque
(N E.), as well as in Santa Ana and Sonsonate
(W.) In Cojutepeque, which has in its neighbour-
hood some 8,000 or 10,000 Indians, they have re-
volted against the Government, driven out the
whites and ladinos, have murdered and cut into
pieces Dr. Be,zsieres, a Frenchman settled there ;
and their cry is Viva Carrera, venga el Obispo !'
Bracamonte was sent against them with 500 troops
defeated and scattered them, in Cojutepeque, to
which of course they returned and took possession
as soon as Bracamonte and his forces passed on to
San Vicente. There also he had a skirmish, shot
some of the pronunciados, and brought back with
him into San Salvador, on the 11th July, some 25,
tied and driven ahead.
"General -Cerna, with his Gautemalan column,
having defeated and routed the army of Honduras
on the llanos or plains of Santa Rosa, in Honduras,
and installed Don Jose Maria Medina provisional
president, returned from Honduras to Santa Ana,
joined Carrera, and by him he was sent towards
Chaletenago (due north of San Salvador), where
he entered on the 11th July, and whence he came
4,m1-01, a.,, twn afterwards to Curbitoto, 10