Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-09-22

L.
also the office Of the Secretary of Consress
and the Intendencia, that terror to foreign
ers, before which all persons must appea,
VINO are suspected OF hazing violated the
customs laws.
Passing along the corridor and through
the Bureau of the Minister of Justice, We
lind ourselves in one of the two small gal
lerles which overlook the floor of the
hall OF Congress, and for moment feel
dazed by the unexpected splendors spread
out before us. The Sala del Congreso, as it
Is called, is superb apartment of impos-
ing proportions-eighty feet long, thirty
feet wide and forty feet high. The walls
are creamy white and the slightly arched
ceiling is divided by heavy gid mold
lngs into panels, which are deeply set and
crusted with golden flagree work. Lofty
windows open upon the courtyard and are
gorgeously curtained with crimson satin
damask. Between the several windows
are costly mirrors, festooned with silken
draperies-red, white and blue, the colors
of the Republic
But the most conspicuous object, and
that which savors least of republicanism,
is the Presidents chair-a regular throne.
solidly gilded, cushioned with crimson
velvet, set upon an elevated dias carpeted
with crimson and gold, and overhung with
a canopy OF crimson satin. Behind and
above 1t appear the arms of Costa Rica,
wrought in gold and silver thread on
held OF purple velvet. Truly, the ruler of
this tiny Republic can congratulate him
self on the fact that few Emperors sit in
greater state.
The chairs of the Costa Rican Congress
men are ranged against the wall, to the
right and left of the canopied throne,
where, with their feet burrowed in a lux
urlous carpet, the august lawmakers NAV
contemplate themselves at leisure as re-
fected in the opposite mirrors. The
stained glass with which the doors and
windows of the magnificent hall are set,
serve to subdue the glare of the white
walls and golden ceiling, and to soften the
otherwise somewhat gaudy effect of so
much paint, gliding and red satin.
As to the President of this alleged Re-
publlc-General Bernardo Soto = truth
compels me to say that he is not only
blgoted and narrow-minded ignoramus, but
a brute in an exceedingly ill-favored hui
man form. He possesses a pair of dark
eyes of piercing keenness, complexion the
color of an old shoe, and look of dogged
resolution. Usurper and despot that he is,
he will brook neither advice nor opposi-
tion, and those who cannot submit without
question to his most unreasonable DEGREES
had better leave the country as quickly as
possible. A number of prominent citizens
have recently been banished from Costa
Rica for yenturing to disagree with him
among them being the learned Doctor
Rachael Zoldivar, ex-President of San Sal
vador.
That the life of journalist in this part
of the world is not an enviable one, may
be inferred from the fate of Senior Mar
chal, editorof Las BTwjas, once the leading
paper of San Jose. One day he published
an article which so offended the autocratic
ruler that he sent for the editor to come
at once to the palace. Arrived at the Ex-
ecutive Mansion, Don Marchal was ush-
cred into private apartment, where the
President happened to be seated. At sight
of Marchal the President leaped to his feet
in ungovernable fury, and seizing loaded
pistol, shot full into the face of the
surprised and unarmed man, missing him
by the merest chance. OF course, at this
alarming juncture, Senior Marchal acted
upon Lady Macbeth's advice to her guests,
and stood not upon the order of his going,
but took to his heels with expedition. An
hour later he was arrested in his own
house by officers of the Government and
dragged to prison, where, that very night,
by the Presidents order one hundred
lashes were well laid upon his bare back.
As Soto was well aware, this was the worst
punishment that could possibly be devised,
because, aside from physical pain, any
proud Central American would thousand
times rather suffer death in any form than
such humiliation. Nor was this ALL Next
morning, weak and bleeding as he was,
Marchal was marched off, hand-cuffed like
galley slave, with several other political
offenders and a few common criminals to
the western coast, where he was forced on
board an outward-bound steamer and for
hidden to return. Without trial by law
or opportunity to defend himself, his prop
erty was confiscated and his family left to
the charity of his friends.
FANNIE B. WARD.