Kenosha tribune & telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1856-1859, 1858-01-07
ELAG-sHIP WARAsH.

Navy, detailing the circumstances under
which he arrested Gen. Walker:
/ FLAGSHIP WABASH,
/ Orr AsPISwALL, Dec. Is, 1857.
j SIR: Ny letter of the 18th instant, in.
formed the Department that had bro.
ken up the camp ofGen. Walker at Pun
t. Arenas, disarmed his lawless follow.
ers, aud sent them to Norfolk in the Sar.
atoga. The General came here with me
and will take passage in one OF the
steamers for New York, where he will
present himself to the Marshal of the
District. The Department being in
possession of all the facts in relation
to Gen. Walkers escape with his follow
ers from the United States, as well as
letters of Capt. Chatard and Gen. Walk
er 10 me after he landed al PuntaArenas
the merits of the whole question will, /
presume. be fully comprehended. i
could not regard Gen. Walker and his
followers in any other light than at out
laws, who had escaped from the vigil
ance of the officers of the Government,
and left our shores for the purpose of
Irapine and murder; aud saw no other
way to vindicate the law and redeem the
honor of our country than by disarming
and sending them home.
In doing SO, am sensible of the re-
sponsIbiIity have incurred, and conf
IDENTIFY look to the Government for my
justification. Regarded in its true light
the case appears to me a clear one, and
the points few and strong. Walker
came TO point Arenas from the United
States, having in violation of law, set on
foot military organization to make war
upon a people with whom We are at
peace. He landed there with armed
men and munitions of war, in defiance
OF the guns of ship of war placed there
to prevent his landing. With nothing
to show that he acted by authority, he
formed q camp and hoisted the Nicara-
guam flag, called it the " Headquarters
of the Army of Nicaragua" and signed
himself the Commander-inC Chief. With
this pretension, he claimed the right of
lawful government over all persons and
things within sight OF his flag. With
out right or authority he landed fifty
men at the mouth of the River Colorado
seized the Fort of Castillo on the San
Juan River, captured steamers and the
goods of merchants in transit to the in
terror, killed men, and made prisoners
of the peaceful inhabitants, sending to
the harbor of San Juan del Norte some
thirty or forty men, women and children
in the steamer Morgan.
In doing these things without the show
of authority they were guilty of rapine
and murder, and must be regarded a.
outlaws and pirates. They can have no
claim to be regarded in any other light
Humanity, as we'll as law, justice and
national honor demanded the dispersion
of these lawless men. The remnant of
the miserable beings who surrendered
at Riyas We're conveyed in this ship last
Summer to New Y ork, and their suffer-
ings. are yet fresh i'll the memory of all
on board. Beside the suffering that
must necessarily be inflicted upon an in
nocent and unofiending people, these
lawless followers of Gen. Walker, mis-
guided and deceived into a career OF
crime, would doubtless have perishedin
Central America, or their mutilated and
fostering bodies would have been bro hit
back to their friends at the expense of
their country. For the above reasons,
which appear to my mind quite sufficient
lave di. armed and sent to the United
States Gen. William Walker and his
outlawed and piratical followers for trial
or for whatever action the Government
in its wisdom may think proper to pur
sue. Capt. Ommanny of ii. b. M. ship
Brunswick offered to cooperate with me
in removing the party from Point Are
mas, but as they were my countrymen, /
deemed it proper to decline the partici
patton of Il foreign flag.