Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1856-12-17
The Position and Prospects of General Wal
ker-A Crisis in His Career.

The advices from Nicaragua possess absorb
ing interest. We have two accounts-one by
way of New Orleans, the other by way of
Charleston. These are SO contradictory. that
it may be well enough to lool, into them with
some care. The steamship Texas" arri-
rived at New Orleans, on the 18th of the pre-
sent month, with San Juan dates to the 5th.
According to the Intelligence by this convey
ance, Gen. Walker had been successful in a
series of battles with the Central Americans,
and after four days fighting, had routed them
in a most signal manner. 1t is stated that on
the 10th, Gen. Hornsby. with two hundred
men, defeated clever hundred men under Gen.
eral Canas, Costa Rican. and that while the
former lost only two killed and eleven wound
ed the latter lost two hundred 1t is added
that General Walker had returned to Granada,
that he had destroyed that place and Massaya
and had removed to Rivas, which, for the fu-
ture, is to be the capital of Nicaragua Ano-
ther rumor is, that in naval battle Costa
Rican brig of war lad been blown up with
all on board, and that the Allies had lost three
thousand men in the various battles since
October. The intelligence by way of Charles
ton has quite another aspect The dates from
San Juan are to the 4th, and not so late by
one day as those by way of New Orleans
They were brought to Key West by the steam
ship Tennessee, (Which has since arrived at
New York; and then to Charleston by the
steamship '' Isabel" The passengers in the
g Tennessee" affirm that General Walker
had been driven from every place where he
had obtained footing, except the transit
route'-that he himself was on board steam
er on the Lake without communication with
his army. that his men were suffering by dis
case and for want of provisions, and that a
force Of four hundred, after fighting for nine
days at Granada, was surrounded by the COM
bined forces of Costa Rica, San Salvador and
Guatemala. These accounts. it will be seen,
arc in broad contradiction and one or the
other must be utterly erroneous
The Panama Herald of the 18th announces
the arrival of four deserters from Walkers
army, who described the troops as in great
destitution. and that several died daily of
| cholera. We have also, by way of Havana,
intelligence from the Allied troops of Central
America. Their version of the battles Of
Granada and Masaya is very different from
that Of Walker, although they admit that
they have lost five times as many men as the
flibusters. The Central Americans never
had possession of the capital, as was reported.
Walker had left a garrison of two hundred
men there when ne marched upon Massaya,
and the troops who attacked Granada were
unable to obtain foothold in it, They had
merely occupied the main guard and Walkers
house. When in Walkers house the native
troops seized the archives of the government
Among the letters were two written by Gen
Walker-one to the Emperor of the French
and the other to Lord Clarendon, to obtain
their moral support and the acknowledgment
of the Walker government by England and
France, as the only means of preventing the
annexation of Central America to the United
States. These letters were consistent with
the instructions which Walker gave to Gen
| Goicuria
| On the whole, we cannot but regard the
position of General Walker as highly critical.
| His men will doubtless fight bravely and to
the last, but the odds evidently against
| them
GS The deficiency in the Post Office De-
! nc