The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1854-12-13
faction within time specified, he would
lombard the town.

faction within time specified, he would
lombard the town.
by this procedure he afforded them opror.
tupity to provide for their personal safety. To
those also who desired to avoid loss of proper.
ty, in the punishment about to be Inflicted on
the offending town, he furnished the means of
removing their effects, by the boats of his own
ship, and of a steamer which he procured and
rendered to them for that purpose. At length
pcrceiving no disposition on the part of the
town to comply with his acquisitions, he ap-
pcaled to the commander III her Britannia
Majesty's schooner Bermuda, who was seen
to have intercourse, and apparently much in
flucncc with the leaders among them, - to in
calculated to save the nceessi Y of rcsortirr
lamatiOn bit that officer, instead of accetlinp
to the request, did nothing more than to pro-
test against the contemplated bombardmcnt.
No steps Of any sort were taken by
the people to give the satisfaction requi-
red. No individuals, if any there were
" no regarded themselves as not respon-
sible for the misconduct Of the commu-
nifty, adopted any means 10 separate
themselves from the fate of the guilty.
The several charges, on which the dc.
mands for redress were founded, had
been publicly known to all for some
time, and were again announced to
them. They did not deny any of these
charges, they offered no explanation.
nothing in extenuation of their conduct;
but contuma ciou~ly refused to hold any
intercourse with the commander of tho
"Cyane." BY their obstinate silence
they seemed rather DESTROYS to provoke
chastisement than to escape it.
There is ample ,c.son to believe that this conduct
Of wanton defiance, their part, is mpuab'c chiefly
to the delu>ive idea that the American vernment
would be deferred from furnishing them. through fear
Of displeasng formidable foreign power, which they
presumed TO think looked with compIaecpcy npon
their aggressive and insulting department towards tho
United States. The Cyane at length fired upon the
town. Before much injury had Ecen done, the fro
WAS twice suspended, in order to afford opportunity
FIR arrangement: but this was declined. Most Of
the buildings Of the place, Of little value generally,
were, in the sequel costroyed but owing the con,
sdcrate precautions taken by our naval commander,
| there destruction of lie.
When the Cyane was ordered to Central
America it was confidently hoped and expect
ed that no occasion would arise for "a resort
t. violence and destruction of property and
loss of life" Instructions to that effect were
given to her commander. And no extreme act
would have been 10 Iuis.tc, had not the people
themselves, by their extraordinary conduct in
the affair, frustrated all the possible mild
measures for obtaining satisfaction. A with.
drawal from the place. the object of his visit
entirely defeated, would. under the circumstan-
c,s i'll which the COZ m ndcr of the Cyano
found himself, have been absolute abandonment
of all claims of cur citizens for Naturalization,
| on1 c-,hmiSciya orf,uipccnnco N national in1ir-
nifty.
1t would have encouraged in these law
l. IS men a spirit of insolcnce and rapinc
mCs5 dangerous to the lives and property
of Our citizens at Punta Arenas, and pre- b.
ably cmbOdencd them to grasp at the trta-
sure and valuable merchandise continually
passing over the Nicaragua route 1t GER
tainly would have been most satisfactory to
me- if the objects of the Cyane's mission
could have been cOnsummatCd without any
act of public force but the arrogant COLI
tumacy of the offenders rendered it impos-
siblc to avoid the alternative, either to
break up their establishment, or to leave
them impressed with the idea that they
might pcrscvcrc with IMMUNITY in career
of insOlcncc and plumber.
This ira! sact on ha; been tie subject of
complaint on the part of some foreign pow.
ers, and has been characterized with more
of harshncss than of justice. If compare
sons were to be instituted, it would not be
difficult to present repeated instances in the
history of states, standing on the very front
Of modern civilization, where cOmmunit:e,
far less offending and more dcfenccless than
GreytOwn have been cllastised with much
greater serverity, and where not cities only
hvae been laid in ruins, but human life has
been rccklessly sacrificed and the blood Of
the innocent made profusely to mingle with
that of the guilty.
Passing from foreign to domestic af-
RI fairs, your attention is naturally direct
ed to the financial condit of the coun-
, try, always subject of general inter-
est. For complete and exact informa-
, ton regarding the finances, and the va
rious branches ofthe public service con-
nected Herewith, refer you to the re-
port of the Secretary of the Treasury;
: from which it will appear that the amt
: of revenue during the last fiscal year
- from al sources, was seventy-three
million five hundred and forty-nine thou
sand seven hundred and five dollars
and that the public expenditures for the
!, same period, exclusive of payments on
p account of the public debt, amounted to
' flty-one million eighteen thousand two
+, hundred and forty mine dollars.
: During the same period the payments made
in redemption of the public debt, including IN
+ tcrcst and premium, amounted to twenty-four
y million three hundred and thirty-six thousand