The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-02-15
A woULD-BE AUTocRAT.
Zelaya, the Man Who Would Rule Gen.
 traI America.

l tral America.
 l One day, some years ago, the presi- dent of Nicaragua was sitting with his cabinet in his council-room in the city /, of Managua. They were waiting to greet their victorious General Zelaya, who had just entered the city at the | head of his army after quelling revo- l lution. The general entered, a fine, stall wart, soldierly man, with cold, gray eyes. At his heels there followed a mob of his officers, clad like most Latin- American warriors, in a queer medley of rags and gold lace As they tried to push into the room after him he gave them one angry glance and they tum- bled down stairs in a hurry. The presi- dent began to thank him in the fulsome language so dear to Spanish-Amerieans The generals illustrious patriotism and magnificent heroism, he declared, had 1 saved the republic The general si- fenced him by wave of the hand, drew revolver and rapped on the table sharply with the butt. The faces of the cabinet officers turned pale. Silence reigned in the room.
 ''The revolution is dead" announced the general, after playing silently with his frightened audience for a full rlin- ute as cat plays with a mouse. Long live the revolution I am now the rev. olution. Do you think won the victory for you? No! My army holds the town and the country. The soldiers are l devoted to me. It is useless for you to protest or resist. To-day you must all leave the city under escort, for the coast, and you will depart to the United States or Europe by the first steamer. If you refuse you will be shot.'
 | They left. There was something in the generals glance which stopped even protest, much more resistance. Two or three of the cabinet officers volunteered to serve under the new president, but he curtly refused their offer. T have my own men," he said. If you would de- sert your present leader you would de- sert me- One man remained inportu- nate. The general took him by the arm and led him to window fronting on the street. Do you see that tree?" he asked. If you say another word will call in my men and order them to lead you out and shoot you beneath it.''
 Thus it was that General Jose Santos zelaya, president of Nicaragua, came into power. He has now been the ruler of his country for five or six years, and from present indications seems likely to have as long lease of office as Guzman Blanco had in Venezuela. There is no- body in sight strong enough to over throw him. Several Nicaraguans have tried and had good reason to regret their temerity. No sooner was Zelaya | firmly seated in power than he began to sigh for fresh conquests. He induced the neighboring republics of Honduras and Salvador to join Nicaragua in a 1 federation under the title Of the United States of Central America, Nicaragua, of course, being the predominant part ner. The federation was agreed to by treaty signed at Managua on August 27, 1898 But it soon became evident that Zelaya intended to be president of the new republic and rule 1t automatically, as he ruled his own country. Three months sufficed to prove the futility of the scheme. and on November 30 the federation was dissolved, Honduras and Salvador resuming their sovereignty as l independent republics.
 Ever since then Zelaya's ambition has been to weld into one federation the five republics of Central America-Nicara- qua, Honduras, Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala-and to make himself the ruler of that federation. This ambi- 1 tion of his has led to several petty wars and revolutions, and set the whole of Central America by the ears. Nearly every month some of the republics are threatening to fight others, occasionally alone, but more frequently in alliance. Sometimes 1t is Nicaragua against Hon. duras, sometimes Nicaragua and Hon. duras against Guatemala and Salvador, and again, all the four against Costa Rica, There is perpetual chopping and changing of allies, but there is never absolute. peace.
 "zelaya is the stormy petrel of Cen tral America" said an American mer- chant who has large commercial inter- ests in that part of the world When | ever trouble breaks out in any one of the five republics, or in Colombia either, 1 for that matter, you may be sure he has had a finger in the pie" Zelaya is great fighter, and has proved his per- | sona1 courage on many field of battle. | Tn a skirnish with some revolutionists, soon after he became president said an Englishman who lived for several | years in Nicaragua, "he was beset by seven of the enemy, who rushed upon l him suddenly from ambush, while he was watching the fight from distance 1 through pair of field glasses. He shot four of them with his revolver and put the others to flight. They fired at
 him several times at the distance of a. few paces, but only one bullet touched
 him. wounding him slightly on the left ear. Since then the more ignorant and superstitious of the Nicaraguans have believed that he is in league with the devil, who makes him invunerabe to bullets and swords. Certainly his many
 marvellous escapes on the battlefield and
 from plots to assassinate him lend color
 to that belief Some people say that he shares it himself"
 News was brought to Zelaya by his spies in the summer of 1899 that a revo-
 lution was being organized, in which several of the officers of his army were involved. They were to meet at the
 house of one of the conspirators that
 evening to arrange the final details of
 the uprising. While they were eagerly
 discussing the best way to seize the