New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1858-01-20

N@ot1~ 49,
wilfal misrepresentation.
The Commodore says .with this pretension he
(Gen. waiker) claimed the right Of lawful govern
ment over all persons and things within sight Of bis
ffae.r This is not true and the Commodore knew u
to be false when he wrote it. Gen. Walker did no
such thing. The property he occupied was rented
and no private property was nterfered with, and no
control wss exercised over any person OF thing be
vnud tho limits Of bis camp. Had he done 50, be
rou,d have done no more than have exercised the
ec;t;pat. mower OF President Of Nicaragua, to which
oice he was regularly and legally elected by the peo
ia Of that state and Of which he was dispossessed
Nv foreign invaders and the interference Of officer
i az the United States Navy. His officers and men re-
coansed General Walker the rightful President Of
l Nicaragua, and respected him as SUCH
The Commodore further says: f" Without right or
authority he (Walker) landed fifty men at the mouth
Of the river Colorado, seized the Fort Castillo, on the
San juan captured steamers and the goods Of the
merchants in transit to the Interior killed men and
made prisoners Of the peaceful inhabitants sending
to the barber Of San Juan del Norte some thirty or
forty men. women and children. in the steamer Nor
GAM Why did not Commodore Paulding arrest the |
Costa Ricans for seizing the river boats when plying
the river San Juan under contract or grant from
the WaIker-Rivas Government Gen. Walker had |
Just as much right aud authority to rctake the river
boats from the Costa Ricans, as they had to take
them from the Transit Company. He acted under the
authority vested in him by virtue Of his election TO
the Chief Executive Office of Nicaragua. He was
securing to his Government rights which had been
wrested from it by foreign power-the Transit
Route and the forts on the Suan Juan river In doing
this. he did not make war upon the citizens of MIC
aragna. The river the boats and Fort Castillo were
..of, n~fsr 4aL
ing these, there was not single man killed. fact
which the Commodore well knew when he wrote his
dispatch to the Navy Department. But it is really
astonishing that the Commodore should perpeirate
so silly falsehood that about the seizure Of the
goods Of the merchants in transit to the Interior.
The falsty Of this statement is apparent upon its
face. 1t is well known that the river was blockaded
By the Costa Ricans on this side Of San Carlos and
that Cauty was on the lake with the steamer San
Carlos. The Nicaraguans held Fort San Carlos, be-
tween these two forces This being the case, how was
It possible for merchandise to be in transit to the
interiorl" Every citizen Of Nicaragua caught on
the river was held by the Costa Ricans as prisoners
and their merchandise taken. Much Of this was
found in Castillo. The thrty-two brought down the
river on the steamboat Morgan were mostly Costa
Ricans. Some two or three were deserters (Ameri-
cans) from Gen. Walkers army while in Rivas, and
DR.. Tilden. who had been kept at Castillo against
his will, the Costa Rcans refusing to pay him for
past services The women were mostly camp follow.
ers From these facts, it is plain that Commodore
Paulding has been guilty Of gross preyarieation in
order to justify his outrageous violation Of right and
law. And in view Of these false charges preferred
against Gen, Walker and his followers, the Com
modore gravely asserts " that they were guilty of
rspine dpunder, and must be regarded as outlaws
and pirates" thus adding insult to injury He says
r Humanity, as well as law and justice and ma
tiona honor, demanded the dispersion Of these law
less men," Pitful old dotard Had Gen. Walker
been foreigner and been depredatng, in fact upon
the lives and property OF American citizens this pot
valiant hero wonld have had but little to say about
the demands OF humanity, law, justice and national
i honor. Why has the Government not been as prompt
in demanding satisfaction and redress for the rapne
and murder committed upon American citizens at
Virgin Bay, San Juan del Sur and Granada, by Costa
Rieans and Guatemalansi Have these insults and
outrages been hushed up because the sufferers were
Americans and the perpetrators foreigners? 1t would
seem 30. Look at the Panama outrage, the insult
offered the American flag at Acapulco, the imprison
/ ment OF American citizens at Durango and other
outrages that might be named Why has the Govern
met not acted as promptly in these cases. in behalf
of its own citizens as it has ia behalf Of the half
breed population of Nicaragua2 Is il because they
were from the South or in favor of Southern insti
tntions5
rherai ,vaa a vast ar,ount of bnoanitv manifested
n t,e ,snvnat,on of Commodore panldng in sezino
men nnop tho so;l of their sdontiou and dragging
tha,, h forca ron, !. mild and oap;sl cline IN the
rr;.s lot;,rde of tba Nortb 10 Er.y tina. MANY If
the mon whom, he was TINS forcing from Nicor,p,a