Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-06


rTszT5=T57a ROM the time when Nelson:
l-Nl then an humble officer OF
lksN >A marines, but afterward the
iSA Fess hero of Trafalgar, lost ms
lEsxS kEdI shoes in wading through a
sas3sa@Eill quagmire to receive the sur
render of a Spanish battery,
down to the living present, there mas
! been little rest from political trlpula-
tion ana revolution in Central Amer
lea. Internecine strife has been so
constant as to call forth the remark
that there never was time When
Central America was not planning d
revolution. fighting one or ending one
The cause is not far to seek. me
people are not temperamentally htted
for freedom. The republican form OF
government obtains in theory but not
in fact. The ballot box, in the United
States a great engine of liberty Wnlch
transforms the will of the people into
action, there stands for little more
than a pleasing fiction. No sooner
does a Central American ruler get lllto
power than he makes plans to stay
there, with the result that the only
way to change his administrator Is
at the point Of the bayonet. He I'M
mediately clothes himself with more
power than Edward of England ever
knew, and more than William of Ger
many ever expects. to have.
1t was said that the last presidential
contest in Panama was the first fair
election ever known in tropical Amer
lea. Plans had been perfected to insure
the perpetuation of the Amador gov
ernment and only healthy display OF
power on the part of Uncle Sam pre-
vented a revolution there. The ms
were planning to operate the election
machinery in such way as to insure
ho tO1ifGi5 de-
termined to enforce their rights at the
point of the bayonet Except for the
part Uncle Sam played in that event
this outline might serve for a hundred
different election rows in Central Amer
lea, with the details merely filed in.
Sometimes it is the Moderates against
the Liberals, sometimes the ConserVa-
tives against the Radicals, sometimes
the Centralists against the Federalists,
and sometimes the Democrats against
the Republicans; but nearly always the
trouble is brought about by the efforts
Of the 'ins' to make the results of the
ballot box favorable to them, no matter
what the will of the people. 1t is SIM
ply a case of the shadow of democracy
and the substance of tyranny
The Central American states, con-
sistine of Guatemala, Costa Rico, Hon
duras, Salvador and Nicaragua, spent
three full centuries under Spanish rule.
Explored and taken possession of by a
representative of Cortez, in the name OF
Spain, they Immediately became Span
ish territory. 1t would be long and
tedious process to review their history
during these three centuries, starting
with Spanish possession in 1921 and
ending in independence in 1921. The
latter part of this period has a deep
interest because there was a we'll laid
plot on the part of Great Britain to re-
coup her losses of the Revolutionary
War in North America by getting con-
troll of Central America.
1t was at this time that Horatio
Nelson, still an humble subaltern, at
the head of 500 marines, waded
through mud and water and boarded
Spanish battery, as he termed it.
Successful in his first battle, the cam
paign as a whole went against him.
Once his life was saved by a lizard
running across his face and awakening
him in time to escape a deadly viper
coiled at his feet. Not long thereafter
he was poisoned by drinking water
from a spring in which grew deadly
tree, and it is said that his health
never recovered from that experience.
Although England failed to get pos
session of Central America, she was
responsible for Spain losing it. 1t was
at Trafalgar that the spell of Spanish
power was broken and the invincible
armada hurled back in defeat and de-
spair. What England did not do in
driving Spain to poverty and weak
ness was completed by Napoleon. EN-
boldened by the weakness of the moth
er country and cheered by the exam
pie of the United States, the Central
American colonies wrote their declara-
tion of independence, and through an
all but bloodless revolution estab
lished themselves as independent
states. 1t fell to the lot of the title
province of Chiapis, then portion of
Guatemala, to start the movement
that resulted in freedom from the
Spanish yoke. 1t declared itself inde-
pendent of Spain, Guatemala followed
quickly and her action was duplicated
by the other states. Mexico sought