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CATLIN, GEORGE. 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 



pearing before the march of civilization. He, 

 therefore, resolved, if possible, to rescue from 

 oblivion the types and customs of the unfortu- 

 nate Indians. From that moment dated the 

 commencement of his life-study, to which he 

 clung through the remaining years of his ex- 

 istence, in good or evil fortune. In 1831 Mr. 

 Catlin, though discouraged by his friends and 

 by the Government, accompanied Governor 

 Clark, of St. Louis, then Superintendent of 

 Indian Affairs, in a Western tour among the 

 Winnebagoes and Menompnees, the Shawnees, 

 Sacs, and Foxes, and with these interviews 

 began the series of his Indian paintings. After 

 the close of the " Black Hawk War," he visited 

 Black Hawk and five of his warriors, prison- 

 ers, at Jefferson Barracks, where he painted 

 their portraits. In the following year he de- 

 scended the Missouri River, from the mouth 

 of the Yellowstone to St. Louis, in a canoe, 

 with two men, a distance of two thousand 

 miles, steering it the whole way with his own 

 paddle ; and in that campaign visited and 

 painted the Mandans, Crows, Blackfeet, K'nis- 

 teneux, Assiniboins, Minataries, Riccarrees, 

 Sioux, Puncas, and lowas. During these voy- 

 ages he was the correspondent of the New- YorTc 

 Spectator. These letters and others, written 

 during subsequent trips to the West, were 

 collected and published in 1841, the volume 

 being entitled " Catlin's Life among the North 

 American Indians." The artist's anxiety to 

 procure faithful and complete portraits of all 

 the Indian celebrities, and of representatives 

 of every well-known or obscure tribe, led 

 him into many dangers, and he travelled thou- 

 sands of miles in a bark canoe and on horse- 

 back. He visited nearly every State in the 

 Union, and was, doubtless, the best-informed 

 man in the world on Indian life and customs. 

 He married and went to Europe in 1840, tak- 

 ing with him his collection of paintings, which 

 he exhibited in London for three years. He 

 afterward went to Paris, where his wife sud- 

 denly died, leaving three daughters who are 

 yet living, while the French Revolution turned 

 him out "neck and heels," as he expressed it 

 in his book. In 1852 he sailed to Venezuela, 

 and for several years was employed in explor- 

 ing the innermost parts of South America, 

 interviewing scores of tribes of wild Indians. 

 "Last Rambles in North and South America," 

 from his pen, is a graphic description of his life 

 in the wildernesses of those countries. He 

 also wrote a little book entitled " Lifted and 

 ided Rocks of America," based on his ob- 

 servations made during his travels. A very 

 valuable work, "North American Folio," con- 

 taining twenty-five plates of hunting-scenes, 

 was published by him in London. He also 

 prepared, some years since, a little volume 

 entitled "Keep your Mouth Shut; or, The 

 Breath of Life." His books possess very con- 

 siderable merit, and his paintings, though, per- 

 haps, not ranking among the highest speci- 

 mens of the limner's art, are yet of great value 



as faithful portraits of a fast-departing race, 

 and views of landscapes, which, under the 

 progress of civilization, are already undergoing 

 a rapid transformation. They will be of in- 

 calculable worth by-and-by in an historical 

 point of view. His works descriptive of In- 

 dian life, and his adventures among the tribes 

 both of North and South America, are also 

 valuable, both for their graphic delineations 

 of the Indian character and their unswerving 

 fidelity to real life. In the autumn of 1871, his 

 collection, comprising five hundred portraits 

 and landscapes, was exhibited in New York 

 city, and a movement has been set on foot by 

 the artist's friend, Gen. J. G. Wilson, for its 

 purchase and preservation in the Central Park. 

 CENTRAL AMERICA (CENTRO-AM&RICA) 

 comprises five independent republics : Guate- 

 mala, Honduras. San Salvador, Nicaragua, and 

 Costa Rica. In the city of La Union, Re- 

 public of San Salvador, Central America, on 

 February IV, 1872, the ministers plenipoten- 

 tiary of four of the Central-American States, 

 Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, and San 

 Salvador, united in conference, with a view to 

 establish the bases of the union of the Central- 

 American States, conformably to the desires 

 of their respective governments ; to protect in 

 an effectual manner the interests of Central 

 America, and of each one of the high contract- 

 ing parties; preserve and maintain peace be- 

 tween them, and within each of the republics, 

 as the best means of insuring prosperity at 

 home and respect abroad ; to extend and sus- 

 tain republican principles, guarantee the au- 

 tonomy of Central America, and the integri- 

 ty of its territory against the aggressions and 

 pretensions of all foreign powers, and to de- 

 fend the sovereignty of each one of the States, 

 and, finally, to promote every branch of prog- 

 ress, moral, intellectual, and material. The 

 representatives, having duly conferred to- 

 gether upon the various subjects of their im- 

 portant mission, agreed upon certain stipula- 

 tions, the chief of which were as follows : 



ARTICLE I. The Central- American Republics en- 

 gage to preserve intact the autonomy and integrity 

 of the Central-American territory, so that none of 

 the Governments, for any motive or pretext, shall 

 make any sale, cession, or alienation whatever, 

 which might affect the sovereignty or diminish the 

 respective territory ; nor admit annexation to, or the 

 protectorate of, any government or foreign power. 

 In this resolution are not comprehended voluntary 

 territorial arrangements by whom it may concern, 

 provided always that these be with Spanish- Amer- 

 ican States ; but, should any of the republics be vio- 

 lently deprived of her rights, it shall be the duty of 

 the other Central-American States to assist in an 

 efficacious manner toward revindication, making 

 common cause with the State aggrieved. 



ART. II. No other form of government than the 

 republican shall ever be established or permitted in 

 Central America. 



ART. III. The preservation of peace in the Central- 

 American Kepublics is one of the strictest duties of 

 their respective governments and peoples, and all 

 disputes which may arise between them, no matter 

 what may be the motives thereof, shall be settled by 

 the mediation of the other Governments that had no 



