80 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 



highly prosperous, will soon receive a fresh 

 impulse for further development from a rail- 

 road which is now in course of construction. 

 This road, which is the work of an English 

 company, is to connect the. capital, Guatemala, 

 with the port of Santo Tomas on the Atlantic 

 coast, traversing the departments of Santa 

 Rosa, Jupitapa, and Chiquimula. 



SAN SALVADOR. President of the Republic, 

 F. Duefias (1868-1873) ; minister resident of 

 the United States at San Salvador, General 

 Torbett. In the budget for 1869, the revenue 

 amounts to $1,024,531 ; the expenditure to 

 $801,802. The consolidated public debt amounts 

 to $730,357 ; the non-consolidated to $141,243. 

 The imports, in 1868, amounted to $1,794,061; 

 exports, $9,184,429. Cochineal, which was for- 

 merly the principal article for exportation, and 

 generally reached from 50 to 60 per cent, of the 

 aggregate value of exports, has of late been 

 rather neglected, as the culture of coffee is 

 found to be more profitable. The annual ex- 

 ports of the latter are from 85,000 to 90,000 

 hundred- weight. 



NICARAGUA. President of the Republic 

 (1867-1871), F. Guzman, who is also com- 

 mander-in-chief of the army ; minister resi- 

 dent of the United States, in 1870, C. N. Riotte; 

 minister resident of Nicaragua at Washing- 

 ton, in 1870, J. R. Perez. Revenue, in 1865, 

 $632,471; expenditure, $630,120; expenditure, 

 in 1868, $517,709. The public debt is esti- 

 mated at $4,000,000. 



HONDURAS. President of the Republic, Cap- 

 tain-General J. M. Medina, reflected in Feb- 

 ruary, 1866, and again proclaimed President 

 in 1869. The United States Government is 

 represented by II. Baxter, minister resident 

 at Comayagua. Revenue, about $400,000 an- 

 nually; expenditure, about $185,000; total 

 public debt, in 1868, $1,050,000 ; consolidated 

 debt, $600,000, for the redemption of which 

 the import duties at the port of Truxillo, and 

 a part of those at Amapala, are pledged. A 

 report of President J. M. Medina estimates 

 the exports for 1869 at $1,805,000, as fol- 

 lows : Gold and silver, $600,000; indigo, 

 $200,000; cattle, $150,000; wood, $180,000, 

 and leather, $100,000. Open ports on the 

 Atlantic coast, Truxillo and Omoa ; on the 

 Pacific coast, Amapala. The construction of 

 the Interoceanic Railroad through Honduras 

 is now pushed forward in good earnest ; in July, 

 1870, more than 50 miles were levelled, and 

 over 1,000 laborers were at work during the 

 dry season. The line proposed by Mr. 0. G. 

 Squier, of New York, starts from the Port of 

 Puerto Cavallos, which is now called Cortez, 

 and will, ere long, be connected by a submarine 

 telegraph-line with the islands of Cuba and 

 Jamaica ; thence the road traverses the whole 

 country in a nearly southerly direction, and 

 terminates at the magnificent Bay of Fonseca, 

 on the Pacific Ocean, at the port of Amapala. 

 The length of the road is 691 English miles. 



The Government of Guatemala during the 



first weeks of the year was considerably har- 

 assed in the remote departments of the State 

 by a revolutionary faction, headed by Serapio 

 Cruz. The revolutionists were completely 

 defeated on the 23d of January, and their 

 leader killed. In the latter part of the year, 

 Miguel Granados and Barrios, both formerly 

 members of the gang of Cruz, succeeded in 

 collecting some fifteen hundred men in the 

 Mexican State of Chiapas, and entered the 

 northern departments of Guatemala, as they 

 said, for revolutionary, but as others believed, 

 merely for plundering purposes. In October 

 a rupture between the chiefs of this party 

 dispelled the fears which were entertained 

 with regard to their invasion. 



Severe earthquake shocks were experienced 

 in Guatemala during the month of June, some 

 with destructive effects. The shocks were of 

 such frequent occurrence as to occupy public 

 attention to a great extent ; many towns and 

 villages were severely damaged. 



The bishop of Nicaragua, in accordance 

 with instructions received from Rome, ear- 

 nestly opposed the establishment of secularized 

 education. On January 1, 1870, the official 

 paper of the republic published the following 

 letter from Cardinal Antonelli to the bishop : 



"We have lately been informed here that an attempt 

 Las been made to change the order of things hitherto 

 existing in that republic by publishing a programme 

 in which are enunciated " freedom of education " 

 and of worship. Both these principles are not only 

 contrary to the laws of God and of the Church, but 

 are in contradiction to the concordat established 

 between the Holy See and that republic. Although 

 we doubt not but that your most illustrious and rev- 

 erend lordship will do all in your power against' 

 maxims so destructive to the Church and to society, 

 still we deem it by no means superfluous to stimulate 

 your well-known zeal to see that the clergy, and 

 above all, the curates, do their duty. 



The Congress of Nicaragua approved all 

 the acts of the Executive from and after the 

 21st of March, 1869, to the 19th of January, 

 1870. It, in particular, sanctioned the following 

 contracts entered into by the executive : With 

 a company for the exclusive privilege for ten 

 years of preparing by machinery and export- 

 ing all classes of vegetable fibre, excepting 

 that called cabrilla ; with Captain Andrew T. 

 Douglas, of the Central American and Cali- 

 fornia Steam Packet Company, for the estab- 

 lishing of a line of steamers between the ports 

 of the republic and the ports of Central Amer- 

 ica, Mexico, and California ; with Messrs. J. 

 E. Hallenbeck & Co., of Greytown, for twen- 

 ty-five years, for the navigating by steam of 

 the inner waters of the republic. This latter 

 concession is not to interfere with that given to 

 M. Chevalier for a canal. 



On the 27th of April a revolution occurred 

 in San Jose 1 , the capital of Costa Rica, result- 

 ing in the overthrow of the government of 

 President Jesus Jimenez, and the establishment 

 of a new one, with Dr. Bruno Carranza at its 

 head as Provisional Governor. The following 

 details of the overthrow of the administration 



