Affairs in Washington.

[Correspondence of the Courier and Enquirer]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21, 1854.

Central American Negotiations

Lieut. Joll, has been appointed for his conduct in the Greytown disturbance. When Capt. Hollins announced his intention of blowing up the place, the jolly old tar, now verging on four score, took Mayor Martin and the rest of the government on board his bottle vessel. After the departure of the Cyane it is reported that he took formal possession of the site of the town and established martial law. This latter proceeding was a practical assertion of the protectorate, a pretension which had lain dormant for two years. For this he has received the special mark of favor of being advanced two grades above his mental rank.

Mr. Crampton has made a representation to this government in connection with this affair, which will form part of an important correspondence. It is given Mr. Marcy occasion for preparing a statement of the case, in which he will define the post which this government has assumed, and means subsist in reference to the occurrence. It is stated that the Secretary will justify the bombardment as an act of necessary severity, for which the United States can be held responsible only to that government possessing the right of jurisdiction over San Juan, thus cutting off all claims of indemnity pending in any European government. This case is in a way prove a matter of grave importance, for it is admitted that property to a very large amount was destroyed being to the subjects of England, and Spain, France, Holland and Germany. It is difficult to perceive how the fault of a quarrel with the heaviest municipal government of an obscure settlement like Greytown, could justify the agents of the United States in the destruction of this property. The idea of referring the claimsants to the Mosquito Chief or to the government of Nicaragua seems a cruel and wanton mockery of justice.

It is asserted that Mr. Crampton protested against the destruction of the town on the further ground that it was an infringement upon the territorial rights of Great Britain. The re-assessment of this principle will give Mr. Marcy a great advantage. In the Koszta affair, every first class European minister in Washington, except Mr. Crampton, joined in the protest and remonstrance, and Mr. Marcy answered them, that with the exception of the Austrian Minister, he could not recognise in them any right of interference. No communication on this subject has yet been received from any other than the British embassy.

The negotiation proceeding in London under the case of Mr. Buchanan, will proceed independently of this casual side issue, and will result, no doubt, in a satisfactory arrangement. The presentation by Mr. Crampton of the remonstrance alluded to, under the terms of his government, was probably the origin of the rumor that the whole subject of British and American pretensions in Central America was under discussion in Washington.