Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-01-26
The Affairs of Nicaragua-Gen.,
 ker's Letter

Walkers second attempt to Amenc' ts Republic of Nicaragua. It canno. v that the General set forth on this ls,,N f; tion with totally inadequate forca 'a C in a strategic point of view Puuta 4. s the very worst position he could ba.N 2 as his headquarters. Even with I IS' u number of men he might, had he cbaa rs
 Bay, have fortified himself so as toss months siege with impunity.
 General Walkers sympathisers
 in this land. Misfortune cannot cbllS ;. The cause is recognized as true av~ the errors of individuals may rends, ! for a season dubious. A very lon.
 written letter has been addressed by q (, ral to MT. Buchanan, bearing date h%S tl As the first portion of the document n is but recapitulation of the prev;.1 z ments of Walker, we omit it. m, n publish gives full particulars of the l dition. We could have wished to n President of Nicaragua contentipo b;,. c simple statement of facts in his as :. style. It would have been far moroS t' Walkers letter seems to us prore,' 2 before the last two paragraphs begin T !, be wrong, but we believe we recogn. q conclusion the horid language of biT b.T n Mir. Thomas Francis Meagher. Let " sentences, and ask if the same person, . dite them. " presume not to direct your wisd,. V, course 1t shall pursue; but in the pams 7, 7, men whose rights your officers have ,L V and whose honor has been most ,aT n heedlessly trampled in the dust, es1i .' .' justice 1t Is your high prelogative to h. . ?,
 This is admirable in tone and son.e r The following Is exactly its reverse. r
 Permit your officers, # you can to h Ii under foot the constitution and the ar Q unnoticed, / you ,oiH, the most vioIs, . sions of individual rights and puBc Il treat with Scorn and contempt, # you o,. n demands for justice which we delsrsntid s, at yo,r feet, We will not be cast down m couraged. We fight for the rights of n, h which have been denied us by an ,snqroS = degraded aristocracy." t, But, as we have before said, it is il,
 and not trivial errors which should eD,, W attention, though errors too oft repeated O certain shame and ruin. We subscrk n Walkers narrative: W
 "After long effort and much patient ers Il we at length sailed from Mobile for S,, Il de Nicaragua on the 14th day of Non u last. The vessel on which we sailed, A gularly cleared by the collector of the p. n a special inspector was sent aboard to e, a the cargo and passengers. Our rights tl Nicaraguans, were acknowledged for n lector refused to clea: the Fashion, wit W Fayssoux commanding on the ground c was not citizen of the United States h regular register and clearance we suppose h once on the high seas that we were beva V possible interference of any United Stss d thority, for even if we were admitted b, l ents against a power with which the States were at peace, the owners of the Il vessel had clear right to carry warlkep | as well as contraband of war, subject IT the risk of capture by the enemy's eruse We did not for a moment imagine that c officers would undertake to place res.rsa ! American commerce in the absence of kl law and Congressional authority. The q ence, too, we know your Excellency haslc constitution of the United States, preclutsIr supposition that any orders had been iss; i. detain or capture an American vessel e papers showed she was engaged in I voyage. Satisfied as we were of the entire Is of our voyage, we did not hesitate to eDp | port of San Juan de Nicaragua, althou! knew that United States sloop-of.yr present in the harbor. But we had sxtt landed before we were subjected to ser illegal and insulting acts by the commap5 the Saratoga. These acts have been dets, two letters addressed by me to Comm Paulding, and now on file, 1 presume, ' Navy Department. While we were being embarrassed bl action of the Saratoga We had not beer Colonel Anderson-who had served his !. country throughout the Mexican war; head of fifty men, had ascended the rive, gained possession of the stronghold whl' the last century, had for days defed th nius of the proudest naval name in Bnts nals. Not only this, but he had regainei session of valuable American property U, fully held by Costa Rcan soldiers, and given the order to restore it to the agentt- ing 1t for the owners. Permit me to ask ther it is such acts as these which au!t your naval officers to apply to us the vllz thets of the language?
 Scarcely, however, had the possess Castillo Fiejo opened to use the way fol Nicaragua, and to the reganing of all V. l lost hv Eaptoin nay;.,s ;,,,of- Al most grievous wrong was again inflicted by Commodore Pauding. On the 8th o cember the latter officer summoned me R render to him, and the Nicaraguan flag second time hauled down on Nicaraguan the orders of the United States Navy.
 " It would be superrogatorv, sir, for say that the act of Capt. Paulding was wi warrant of law. Much, too, as we fel wrong, It was not the act itself as much manner In which 1t was done, that cuts | the quick. We knew that the act was lation of the sacred charter-the constitut the United States. We knew that an auti higher than that of any Commodore-h than even the President of the United would vindicate the sanctity of violate and punish the offenders against the Am. constitution. We felt, too that the augu most potent sovereign--the people of the ted States--would render justice for u jurles we sustained. But far more sr, than the surrender-far more gaIEng tn see our own flag lowered on our own soil 1t to be told that we were there to the db of the United States. There were men U sandy beach, MT. President, who had a your flag aloft amidst the thckest of th and one had been promoted by predeces your office for first planting your colon the heights of Cerro Gordo. Others q them had led your soldiers across the cont and always in the path of duty and of For such men to be told that they disgrao flag that they once had served so nobly well was pang sharper than that of deal might have wrung tear from men hard' more callous than he who inflicted the irr ble injury.
 "l need not tell you that I was una anticipate the act of Captain Paulding. M necessity required me to hold Punta \ and the Idea never entered my mind | American officer, protesting to execute th would so far forget his duty as to infrin only we'll established international law, b the requirements of that instrument with are involved the best hopes of mankind constitution of the United States. Even l have forseen the action of Captain Pag military reasons would have prevented m leaving the Point But it was impoSs imagine that so violent a step-marke was in its details by conduct worthy of s in the sack of a town--would have been by an officer of the United States navy.
 Mir. President, in the name of the officia which you have taken in the presence
 mighty God. I call upon vou to nunish