Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-24
NOTE ABOUT THE TROUBLE
Communication Suggesting the Sup.
preston of the Revolution.
PRETEXT FOR WAR OPERATIONS
Defamation to Ratify the San Jose
Supplementary Treaty Has Added
to the Difficulty.

NEW YORK, February 23-A member
or the consular corps here who Is familiar
with the situation In Central America after
reading the recent dispatches from the
seat Of war, today said:
1t would seem that the Nicaraguan gov
eminent has allowed itself to be made tn.
catspaw OF Honduran revolutionists. The
names and the doings of the latter occupy
prominent place In the kilograms received
IRON various points I'm Central America
At the beginning Of last January the pres
ident Of Honduras had sent to the gov
eminent Of Costa Rica, merely In the way
Oh information. a confidential note indicat-
Ing his intention OF sending troops to the
Nicaraguan frontier to suppress the revo.
lutionary movement prepared there against
Honduras Therefore. 1t is quite possible
that some Honduran troops may have
crossed the Nicaraguan frontier upon a
sort OF scouting expedition. This seems to
have given the Ncaraguan government
pretext to invade Honduran territory and
begin the military operations just reported.
Seized the Opportunity.
This pretext appears to have been seized
upon with all the more alacrity since Mica
ragua. which was a party to the treaty of
peace and amity signed at San Jose de
arrangement concluded among the Central
American republics on board the United
States cruiser Marblehead on the high seas
of the Guatamalan coast July 20, 1906 had
declined to ratify that San Jose supple
mentary treaty. The motive alleged for
this denial was that the treaty of Corinto
which was initiated by Nicaragua and sign
ed by the other Central American republics
covered the same ground and therefore
rendered the San Jose treaty unnecessary.
But the latter one was more precise
than that OF Corfnto. especially in regard
to the ways OF maintaining peace between
the republics -
The Treaty Agreement.
The breaking of the treaty on the part Of
Honduras or Nicaragua (for it Is not yet
known definitely which of the two repub-
lies opened hostilites) is an indication that
one Of the presidents aims at subjugating
his neighbor and utilizing his success to
assume the hegemony of Central America
and re-estabiish the old confederacy (pro-
claimed by Norazan In 1880 Of the five
states. Gen. Zelaya, who has been so long
the President Of Nicaragua. would. II is
claimed. hardly indulge in that dream after
tho sad experience Of Rufne Barrios, the
President of Guatemala. That country was
then by far the most powerful Of the Ave
republics, and still the scheme of Barrios
to re-establish the confedcracy under his
own rule was defeated by the smallest OF
these republics, namely, Salvador. and Bar
rios was killed at the head Of his invading
Guatemalan army.
Confdant Of Barrics.
"Soon after that event Marco Aureliano
Soto, the President OF Honduras, who was
a political conffdant of Barrios, was over
thrown, and he is now living in Paris.
Sotos successors to the Honduras prest-
dency have had trouble not only with revo-
lutionists Of their own country. but also
often and even quite recently, with the
United States. some of whose citizens had
been molested in the Honduran republic.
The actual president, Senior Bonilla, is now
threatened by revolutionists who form the
vanguard OF the invading Nicaraguan army.
But none of these men have any reputation
as statesmen or as military leaders"