Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1851-08-23

aiken away and buried" The execution took place
in the road south of the Castle Atares, at eleven
o'clock A. M.
[Since the above paragraph written and in type, we
have received satisfactory testimony cooboravs of the view
we have taken Messrs ADAMS & Co., the express COM
psny, bad board the Cherokee special messengers
from California another in charge of the freight and specie
Of their New Orleans and Mobile express Mr. SrEAH, the
New Orleans messenger, present at the summary
ton Of these at Havana and contracs the story u
dragging the bodies through the Streets &C. He says the
execution conducted with soIemnity and the bodies of
the slain were removed to the place Of nement in heaes
respectfully fitted out and caparsoned any this city
Further accounts say that two of the men in the
launches escaped, leaving their arms behind them
that of the fifty twenty-five were taken in the boats,
and the others among the recesses of Key Levisa,
and that their presence was made known to the
officers Of the Habanero by some Of the country
people.
Of Lopez himself there is little intelligence. He
appears to have fled to the mountains in the rear
Of the Bahia Honda, with some of his forces The
following is published officially in the Faro In
dustrial:
His exceency the Captain General has received from the
acting governor OF Msriel communication from Cabanos,
brought by some sailors who arrived by the railroad The
Governor took deposition from the sailors, which a.
follows
.sWsh the expedition Narciso Lopez disembarked. and
when the steamer sailed he had all his forces landed The
expedition, the sailors say amounted thousand
Ofthe munitions Of war they had only landed barrels Of
POWDER Eve rounds Of cartridges and two Of mukes
Every armed with brace of sixbarelled pistols
e-kn and musketthe latter not Of the best quality
They only landed days atons of which fowls
and he rest two barrels of beef The expedition Is composed
Of fifty natives Of the island and the North Amer
cans and Of other nations
son dsembsrking Narciso Lopez threatening let
obddng, pain Of DEATH the spreading of the
Of his arrival and ordering that they should send him
gon with which he removed all his munitions and raions
The personnel Of the expedition much varied it il
posed Of very young and very old they without the
least instruction in military matters"
In the same paper is,.another official commune
cation, which says that the inhabitants Of the coun-
try in the neighborhood Of Bahia Honda and Caba-
nos had mounted and armed themselves, and had
gone with The company Of Barcelona in search Of
Lopez, who was said to be strongly entrenched in
the mountains, near Bahia Honda. The expedi-
ton had previously abandoned positions in which
they had been attacked by detachmen,s Of Spanish
troops. Their actual number is estimated at about
three hundred.
These are all the facts furnished in the Havana
papers and by passengers on board the Cherokee.
Some of tie latter speak of the execution as most
must have been. A fearful responsibility in the
premises rests upon those journals and those per-
sons who have originated and fostered this Cuban
invasion scheme. TO their account must be charged
this fearful tragedy-the deaths of these fifty men,
fellow-citisens with themselves, and of yet prob
ably many others. There can be little doubt that
the authorities Of Cuba will take terrible vengeance
upon the class of men who have SO pertinaciously,
and without justification of any kind, disturbed the
peace of the island and promoted the spirit Of re-
bellion; Into the pit of this vengeance have the
prime movers of the Ubiquitous scheme led SO many
of their cdlntrymen.
Inexpre.sibly distressed and shocked as every
American must feel at this terrible slaughter, we
believe tina, the law of nations ustifes the act of
the Captain General of Cuba, and that the "expe-
dition" in which the men were engaged leaves the
United STATES Government without any ground to
demand reparation. However keenly we may feel
the severity of the retrbution which has overtaken
portion of the invaders, and whatever strong con-
vctions we may entertain that milder sentence
might have equally served the Cuban Government,
we are constrained to admit that after the repeated
warnings of the Captan-G General, and in defence of
the island and the security of his Government, that
officer had the legal right to infict upon them the
sentence of death. The wisdom of his course we
Captain General seems to have had no idea of it.
He has practised stern, rigid, implacable Justice
severity of vengeance-and we own he had
right to do SO but the good policy of his decision
we entirely deny. The people of this country, we
apprehend, will entertain this feeling.
However, there is much more to be considered.
1t has been alleged that the prisoners had trial.
This is not probable. They were doubtless tried
before court martial, very summarily, as is usual
under such circumstances and the evidence of their
true character very probably was conclusive
enough. Again they are represented as being ap-
paren,ly on their way to New Orleans, retreating
from the attempt in which they had been engaged.
We look upon this as very doubtful. The officers
bear that proportion to the men which gives the
detachment very different appearance. Such
company were not likely to attempt to reach New
Orleans in open launches. II they were abandon
ing the enterprise they would scarcely carry their
arms, and retain other evidences Of military or
ganization; and though they would naturally
enough avoid contact with Spanish steamer, they
would scarcely have manifested 80 much fear of
being captured, and especially would not have been
prowling around so to attract the attention and
awaken the suspicion of the country people.
We much more incline to the admission made
by the New York Sun, (the organ Of the Cuban
Junta,) even though that admission exonerates the
Cuban authorities from all injustice in the premi
ses That paper says that they were apparently
cruising along the coast, probably to execute some
military movement, under orders. If so, they we're
armed invaders of the Spanish possessions, and
amenable to Spanish justice.
1t is impossible to read the accounts published
thoee w hich nathize with the