Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-08-02

cretion reposed in him by those instructions.
He could not have acted otherwise without
making his mission a ridiculous failure. He
could not remain at San Juan, and the demand
for restitution and redress had been secuted
and scorned when preferred by our CONNER
cial agent, and treated with silent contempt
when preferred by him. What was ne to
do under these circumstances--haying Mr..
Dobbin's instructions and Mr.. Marcy's letter
before him? He had but two courses to choose
between. He had either to set sail tor the
United States amidst the insolent jeers OF negro
buccaneers, or punish the outrages for which
he demanded satisfaction. If he had retreated
to the United States, he would have been ar.
rested, and, in all probability, ruined in his
profession; so that the bombardment of San
Juan was necessity which could not be
avoided.
These remarks are not dictated by desire
to shift responsibility from Captain Hollins to
the administration. We do not believe that
officer would thank US for manifesting any such
disposition, and we thoroughly approve of all
that has been done from the beginning to the
end of the transaction. Bot the Washington
Union's demand for authentic information car
ries along with it pointed intimation that
Captain Hollins is not fully justified by the in.
formation now before the public, comprising his
official statement; and the denial of the same
journal, that he did not act under specific in
structions, is calculated to prejudice the public
mind and throw the burthen of accumulated
responsibility upon him.
The settlement at San Juan was an illegal
settlement. Its political existence was mere
pretence. Its authorities used the flag of an
Indian chief which was not recognized by
civilized nations and by virtue of an authority
they did not even pretend to respect, they under
took to rule portion of the territory of the
State of Nicaragua. True, this was no con-
Germ Of ours whilst the Jamaica negroes of San
Juan did not interfere with us; but they did
intefere with US. We might have overlooked
the illegitimate settlement and pretended or
ganization at San Juan, if they forbore to
modest our citizens. But when they undertook
to levy contributions on our trade and travel on
the San Juan river, and when they undertook
to rob our citizens, and to arrest them beyond
the jurisdiction they claimed, and to insult and
imprison one of our ministers returning from
foreign service, we could not do otherwise than
punish them. Their origin was illigitimate
and their conduct was piratical. No recog'
nized government was responsible for theil
conduct and we were therefore forced to hold
them responsible in their own persons and theil
own goods for the outrages they had committed
on our citizens. They have met the fate they de-
served and they ought to have met it sooner; fol
they were no better than band of violent mer
who had, under the auspices of pretended Brit
ish protectorate, made use Of the name of
drunken savage to fix themselves on q grea
highway in defiance of the territorial rights offs
civilized nation, for the purpose of levying con
tributions on our commerce and plundering the
property of our citizens.