

HONDURAS. 



417 



4,066,236 piasters. The country is flooded with 

 depreciated paper money of unknown amount. 

 A statement of the debt makes the amount out- 

 standing of the foreign loan of 1875 4,657,803 

 piasters, and the internal debt 4,450,193 piasters. 

 An advance of 1,000,000 piasters was obtained 

 from bankers of Port-au-Prince in the spring of 

 1890, for the purpose of retiring paper currency. 



The Political Situation.--After Hippolyte 

 had conquered his rival and established his Gov- 

 ernment at the capital, he was officially recog- 

 nized by the United States, Spain, Germany, 

 Greece, and other powers, and more tardily by 

 the British and French governments, which had 

 established regular diplomatic relations with 

 Legitime during the conflict. A complaint was 

 made of his treatment by the Haytian Govern- 

 ment by the British consular representative at 

 Port-au-Prince. In August a collision on the 

 frontier was reported, growing out of a boundary 

 dispute. In 1876 a commercial treaty was made 

 with the Dominican republic, which, at the same 

 time, defined the boundaries of the two countries. 

 It contained a clause for the cession or, as the 

 Dominican Government asserts, the lease of a 

 tract of territory, in consideration of which 

 Hayti agreed to pay $150,000 a year. The treaty 

 stipulated that all imports from Santo Domingo 

 should enter Hayti free of duty. The annuity 

 that Hayti agreed to pay was paid for a few 

 years, and since then there have been no pay- 

 ments, the arrears amounting, with interest, to 

 about $2,000,000. In 1890 the Government of 

 Hayti desired to terminate the commercial con- 

 vention and establish custom houses on the front- 

 ier, alleging that the imports of rum were so 

 great as to cause a large loss of revenue. The 

 Santo Domingo Government made preparations 

 to reoccupy the ceded or leased district. A force 

 of Haytian soldiers was sent to hold it, and a 

 fight with Dominican troops was reported from 

 Santo Domingo to have occurred on Aug. 20, in 

 which the Haytians were repelled. 



HOLLAND. See NETHERLANDS. 



HONDURAS, a republic in Central America. 

 The Constitution, amended in 1880, vests the 

 legislative authority in a Congress of 37 Depu- 

 ties. The President is elected by popular suf- 

 frage for four years. Gen. Luis Bognin was 

 made President when M. A. Soto was deposed 

 and exiled in 1883 and was re-elected in Septem- 

 ber, 1887. 



Area and Population. The estimated area 

 is 46,400 square miles. The population in 1889 

 was 431,917, consisting entirely of Indians ex- 

 cept in Santa Rosa, near which are plantations 

 of tobacco, and the coast towns on the Pacific. 

 About 60 Americans reside in Tegucigalpa and 

 200 in the entire republic. 



Commerce. The exports to the United States 

 for the financial year 1887-'88 amounted to 

 2,790,405 pesos or dollars ; to other countries of 

 Central America, 331,959 pesos ; to Great Brit- 

 ain, 105,088 pesos ; to France, 81,566 pesos ; to 

 Belgium, 30,345 pesos ; to Germany, 6,004 pesos ; 

 to other countries, 5,297 pesos. The exports of 

 bananas were 866,714 pesos in value ; of cocoa- 

 nuts, 110,231 pesos; of indigo, 78,645 pesos; of 

 rubber, 38.928 pesos ; of sarsaparilla, 36,282 pe- 

 sos ; of cedar wood, 32,482 pesos ; of other prod- 

 ucts, including mahogany, cattle, hides, and 

 VOL. xxx. 27 A 



deer skins, 2,187,382 pesos. The departments of 

 Yoro and Olancho nave in recent years been 

 opened up to rubber planting and sugar grow- 

 ing. Americans have been engaged in raising 

 cattle and also in gold placer mining and in 

 working the silver mines on the northern side of 

 the Sierra with modern machinery. The capital 

 of the mining companies has been subscribed 

 mostly in England. Banana plantations have 

 covered the lowlands near the coast, and on the 

 sandy shores and keys cocoa-nut palms have 

 been planted. Farther back is a zone where the 

 orange tree thrives remarkably, and beyond that 

 is the coffee country. The only hindrance to 

 successful coffee growing is the scarcity of labor- 

 ers and the danger of being left without any in 

 the event of a war, when all who are capable of 

 bearing arms are drafted into the army. When 

 the crop is left to decay on the trees they do not 

 bear for the three succeeding seasons. 



Finances. The main sources of revenue are 

 customs duties and internal-revenue taxes on 

 spiritous liquors and tobacco. The finances are 

 in a state of disorder, owing to civil conflicts 

 and wars with the neighboring republics. The 

 revenue for 1885 was 994,780 pesos, and since 

 then it has increased, but not more than expend- 

 itures. On the old English and French loans, 

 amounting to 5,398,570, no interest has been 

 paid since the wars with Guatemala and Salvador, 

 which broke out in 1872. The arrears of interest 

 on Jan. 1 , 1890, reached 8, 108,883. There was an 

 internal debt on Aug. 1, 1888, of 2,031,379 pesos. 



Civil Disturbances. -Honduras was com- 

 mitted to the project of a federal union of Cen- 

 tral American states which was approved at a 

 conference of the five republics in 1889, but was 

 opposed by a powerful party in Salvador that 

 overturned the Government (see SALVADOR) and 

 carried on a successful war with Guatemala (see 

 GUATEMALA). President Bogran assisted the de- 

 feated party in Salvador, and was only deterred 

 by the failure of the counter-revolution attempted 

 by Rivas and by the fear of revolution at home 

 from declaring war against the Provisional Gov- 

 ernment of Salvador. Under threat of an inva- 

 sion by the victorious Salvador troops he issued a 

 proclamation from Tegucigalpa on Aug. 4, rec- 

 ognizing Gen. Carlos Ezeta as Provisional Presi- 

 dent, since the majority of the people of Salva- 

 dor sustained him and there was no reason why 

 they should not choose their ruler without in- 

 terference from the sister republics, with the 

 proviso that Ezeta should keep his pledge to 

 call a constitutional congress to elect a Presi- 

 dent as early as possible. Civil disorders had 

 broken out in Honduras as soon as Gen. Bogran 

 made preparations for active co-operation with 

 Rivas and Barillas. Guerilla bands gathered for 

 the purpose of marching on Tegucigalpa and 

 deposing Bogran and others for the purpose of 

 raiding Salvador. The leaders were apprehended 

 and the President caused to be hanged, not alone 

 his enemies, but, as an evidence of his pacific in- 

 tentions, those of Ezeta as well. He took the 

 initiative in proposing the postponement of the 

 Union Congress that was to be held in his capi- 

 tal on Aug. 20, 1890. When hostilities were 

 about to be resumed, Honduras was made the 

 base for another inroad into Salvador, which 

 was checked by rapid tactics. 



