The herald., 1895-04-30

ereSS OF the REVOLUTIONARY nloVemen1 III
Colombia was ordered to proceed at
once to San Juan del Sur, the nearest
cable port to Corinto, Nicaragua. The
Raleigh. now on her way from Kingston,
Jamaica, TO Key West. and expected to
arrive at the latter place any moment,
will find awaiting her orders to sail at
once to Grey town, the eastern terminus of
the proposed Nicaraguan canal. The
Montgomery. now at Mobile. will follow
the Ralelgh on May eth. with the Nicara-
guam canal commission aboard. The
Monterey having sailed yesterday from
Acapulco direct for Panama. is not ex
pected to touch at Corinto and as she is
now beyond the reach of orders by WIRE
she will probably be allowed to relieve
the Alert on guard ac Panama, whence
she can be ordered back To Nicaragua if
trouble arises in the future.
Secretary Herbert explained briefly the
meaning of these orders. He said the
movements OF the ships bad absolutely
nothing to do with the occupation of CO.
rinto by the British, that being a matter
to be sc tiled between the Nhcaraguans
and the British. The real purpose of the
orders was to guard American interests in
Nicaragua against possible revolution.
Being asked what measure of protection
the NicaTaguan commission would receive
in the pursuance of its work of inspect
ing the line of the canal, the secretary
said the Montgomery would remain at
Greytown while the committee was at the
interior and with the two ships on one
side and one on the other they would
surely be forced To protect the commits
sion and all other American interests.
The action of Secretary Herbert may be
attributed to the visit to Washington of
ex-senator Warner Miller of the Nicara-
guam Canal company and of some reports
made by him on the basis of private re-
ports as to the real condition of affairs in
Nicaragua and those coming to the Mica
raugan minister directly. Certainly the
character of the Uns5ed States vessels
which have been order ed to Nicaragua is
a sufficient evidence that Secretary Her
bert does not expect them to come into
hostile conflict with til g British ships or
if it came to that the mall cruisers Mont
gomery and Raleigh you'd find them
selves opposed to the whole British West
Indies squadron, while on the Pacific the
Alert would be left single handed against
the British Royal Arthur, Wild Swan and
Satellite.
In Mr. Miller's conferences with Secre
tary Gresham and tother cabinet officers
he presented verv strong case on the
urgency of the situation and the menace
to American control to the canal. He
brought out clearly the fact that the Brit
ish threatened to go to Gueytown and to
10 .a
points on the Atlantic and Pacific ends of
the canal. 1t was soon after this that the
orders to the vessels were made. Mr.
Miller said the canal company was very
much Interested in events i'll Nicaragua
The revelation which has been threat
ened as result of British occupation
NAV disturb the canal company by 80.
venting work Oh surveys and the possible
destruction of its property. The compa-
ny. Mr.. Miller said, wanted the protection
of its interests. if not from the -Nicaraguan
government, then from the outside. The
concessions of the company were safe,
but the line of the canal was not. He also
said the concession entitled the entire
line of the canal to protection, but an
uncomfortable movement may result in
the destruction of property by irrespons
ibe persons. Mr.. Miller said he had called
the attention of the state department to
the necessity of protection to the COM
mission that is soon to leave for Nicara-
qua to examine the route of the canal.
He says it will be very dangerous in case
of revolutionary disturbances, for an I'M
protected party to make a trip over the
line OF the canal. The commission being
under the direction of the state depart.
ment, it will, of course, be necessary for
the state department to ask the navy de-
partment for an armed force in case of
trouble.
Mr.. Miller urged upon both Secretary
Herbert and Secretary Gresham the ne
cessity of such protection and also added
in case of revolutionary disturbances the
United States should not depend upon
the Nicaraguan government to pro tect
the property. Mr.. Miller said Nicaragua
had been tranquil up to two years ago,
but the revolution at that time had dis
turbed affairs and since then there had
been an unsettled condition. Mr.. Miller
says the canal company wishes to give
every opportunity for the com mission to
thoroughly examine the canal. He ex-
poets the chief engineer, Mr.. Menocal.
will accompany the commission over the
route of the canal