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NICARAGUA. 



crease of 21.523 over that of 1892, which was the 

 largest previous registration. The canvass turned 

 largely on the question of sound money, and a 

 business-men's parade in behalf of that cause on 

 Oct. 31, " broke the world's record as a civic dem- 

 onstration." It was said that " 100,000 men were 

 in the line; 100,000 flags blossomed above them; 

 100,000 throats sang ' The Star-Spangled Banner,' 

 all in the line of inarch." On election day nearly 94 

 per cent, of the registered vote was cast, of which 

 the Republican electors received a plurality over 

 the Democratic and the People's ticket of 20,713 

 votes. The Republican State candidates also re- 

 ceived majorities, as well as the Republican candi- 

 date for coroner. Of the candidates for the Assem- 

 bly, 23 Democrats and 12 Republicans were elected. 



Events. On Feb. 28 Secretary Lamont ap- 

 proved the plans recommended by a board of engi- 

 neer officers for the construction of the bridge 

 across the East river from New York to Brooklyn. 

 They provide that the height of the structure shall 

 be 135 feet in the center at mean high tide, and 

 for a distance of 200 feet on each side of the center. 

 The pier heads are to be 117 feet high. On March 

 3, the Board of Aldermen changed the name of 

 59th Street from Fifth to Eighth Avenue to Cen- 

 tral Park South ; also the name of Fourth. Vander- 

 bilt, Myrtle, and Railroad Avenues above the 

 Bridge to Park Avenue. On March 6 the same 

 body decided that the strip of land bounded by 

 Barrow, Christopher, Grove, and West 4th Streets 

 should thereafter be known as Sheridan Square, in 

 honor of Gen. Philip II. Sheridan. On March 24 

 the Armory Board decided that the site for the 

 new armory of the 69th Regiment should be that 

 now occupied by the College of the City of New 

 York, 22d and 23d Streets and Lexington Avenue, 

 together with three additional lots of land, making 

 in all a plot of 13 city lots. Also a plot on the 

 south side of West 66th Street, between Central 

 Park west and Columbus Avenue, was designated 

 as the site for the new armory of the First Battery. 



On June 27 the 9th Regiment took possession 

 of its new armory, in 14th Street, west of Sixth 

 Avenue. 



NICARAGUA, a republic in Central America. 

 According to the Constitution of July 11, 1894. the 

 Congress is a single house composed of 2 members 

 elected for two years by the people of each prov- 

 ince and 2 others elected by each provincial legis- 

 lative body, 48 representatives in all. The Presi- 

 dent is elected for four years by direct popular suf- 

 frage. He must be a citizen of Nicaragua or one of 

 the other Central American republics, aged at least 

 twenty-eight years. The President for the term 

 ending Jan. 31, 1898. is Gen. Santos J. Zelaya. The 

 following were members of his Cabinet in the begin- 

 ning of 1896 : Minister of the Interior, Justice, Po- 

 lice, Public- Safety, and Ecclesiastical Affairs, Gen. 

 F. Balladares Teran ; Minister of Foreign Affairs 

 and Public Instruction, Dr. M. C. Matus ; Minister 

 of Communications and Public Works and of War 

 and Marine, Gen. R. Alonzo ; Minister of Finance 

 and Commerce, Col. S. Callejas. 



Area and Population. Nicaragua has an area 

 of 49,200 square miles, and a population estimated 

 in 1895 at 420,000, including 40,000 uncivilized In- 

 dians. The people are Indians, negroes, and mixed 

 races. There are only about 1,200 persons of pure- 

 white race, but their number is increasing through 

 immigration. The town of Leon has 34.000 inhab- 

 itants, and Managua 20,000. The Mosquito Reserve, 

 by the vote of the Indians, was incorporated in the 

 republic on Nov. 20, 1894, forming the new depart- 

 ment of Zelaya. 



Finances. The revenue is derived from Govern- 

 ment monopolies on spirits, tobacco, and gunpow- 



der, and from import and export duties and a tax 

 on slaughtered cattle. 



The internal debt amounts to $7,000.000. A loan 

 of '285,000, raised in London in 1894 at 6 per cent. 

 interest, was secured by a mortgage on the rail- 

 roads ; but no interest was paid after July 1. 1894, 

 till 1896, when payments were resumed in accord- 

 ance with an agreement with the bondholders. 



Commerce. The raising of cattle and latterly 

 coffee-planting are the principal industries. There 

 are 400,000 head of cattle. Sugar, indigo, cocoa- 

 nuts, cacao, Brazil wood, and cedar are exported, be- 

 sides coffee and bananas, the culture of which also 

 is extending. Over 100 gold and silver mines are 

 worked by American companies. Most of the coffee 

 plantations belong to Americans. The imports in 

 1892 were valued at $6,006,806 in silver; the ex- 

 ports in 1891 at $2,376,500. There were 123,180 

 quintals of coffee exported in 1894. The exports 

 from the port of Corinto in that year were $3,642,- 

 997, the coffee export being worth $2,865,924. The 

 foreign trade is with Great Britain, the United 

 States, France, and Germany. 



Communications. There is a railroad from 

 Corinto to Momotombo, 58 miles. Another be- 

 tween Managua and Granada is 33 miles long. 

 The two cost the Government $2,700,000. Conces- 

 sions for lines from San Miguelito to the head waters 

 of the Blue river, 100 miles, from the Pueblos dis- 

 trict to Masaya, 25 miles, and from Momotombo to 

 the Rio Grande, 200 miles, have been forfeited, and 

 the Government has undertaken to extend the rail- 

 roads itself, and in 1895 undertook to build one 

 from San Miguelito to Rama, 102 miles. The Nic- 

 aragua Maritime Canal Company in 1896 secured a 

 concession, with a grant of timber lands, for build- 

 ing a railroad from Rama to Santombaldo, 96 miles, 

 with an extension to Tipitapa. 

 There are over 1,700 miles of telegraph lines. 



Rebellion. A third attempt to overthrow the 

 administration of President Zelaya by force of arms 

 was begun in February, 1896. The trouble arose 

 from a division in the Conservative party that 

 placed President Zelaya in power and from a re- 

 vival of the local jealousy of the people of Leon, 

 who resented the removal of the seat of Government 

 to Managua. When a revolt broke out in the North- 

 west Department President Zelaya declared himself 

 dictator. The movement was started by the Ultra- 

 Conservative, or Clerical, wing of the party, and 

 hence the sympathies of the Liberal Opposition were 

 rather with the Government, but later some of the 

 Liberal politicians made common cause with the 

 revolutionists. Gen. Jose M. Chanvarria, Military 

 Governor of Leon, Gen. Godoy, and Gen. Ruben 

 Alonzo and Gen. Francisco Baca, ex-Ministers of 

 War and the Interior, assumed the direction of the 

 movement to upset Zelaya, and the revolution 

 spread all over the western part of the republic. 

 The revolutionists accused Zelaya of aiming so to 

 change the Constitution of the republic as to create 

 a permanent dictatorship. The Vice-President, 

 Gen. Baca. on this ground declared against him, 

 and, taking his departure from the capital and 

 joining the malcontents at Leon, was proclaimed 

 Provisional President of Nicaragua. As general-in- 

 chief of the revolutionary forces was chosen Gen. 

 Ortiz, who, after fighting with Zelaya in the revolu- 

 tion of 1893. had aroused his jealousy and was sum- 

 marily banished, and who now landed in Corinto 

 and took the lead in the revolution that was started 

 on Feb. 24. Between 2.000 and 3,000 men living in 

 Leon and the surrounding district at once joined 

 his standard, obtained possession of the arms stored 

 in the city, and made ready to march against Ma- 

 nagua. By Feb. 24 the regular army, numbering 

 2,000 men, was under arms. The insurgent force, 





