CENTRAL AMERICA. 



01 



and continued so until his death. Besides his 

 position as editor, Mr. Cassidy exercised great 

 influence in the councils of the Democratic 

 party, and was on intimate terms with its 

 leaders, and his social, genial disposition made 

 him numerous friends. When Mr. Cagger 

 died, he succeeded him as Secretary of the 

 State Committee, and evinced good judgment 

 and keen prescience. His contemporaries have 

 Hoarded Mr. Cassidy as undoubtedly the 

 ablest Democratic editor in the country. He 

 was at once a wit, a scholar, and a politician. 

 His subtile gift was not simply that of talent 

 it was genius. Joined with the finest taste and 

 the best culture, it made him one of the most 

 accomplished and brilliant men of his times. 

 As a writer, he might at his best fairly rank 

 as a classic. His compositions had an Attic 

 severity, a chaste finish, and a gleaming bright- 

 ness which commanded tlie admiration even 

 of those whom they assailed. He had an ex- 

 traordinary faculty of condensed expression. 

 R.-irely undertaking prolonged logical argu- 

 ment, he rather flashed his reasoning in com- 

 prehensive statement, in surprising point or in 

 deft snggestion. His pen had the edge of a 

 Damascus blade. He could cut to the quick 

 with a single stroke, and with a little sentence 

 leave a sting which would rankle for years. 

 This quality sometimes made him seem ran- 

 corous when there was nothing of bitterness 

 in his heart when the thrust was nothing 

 more than fine intellectual fence. His gener- 

 ous character was indicated in his well-remem- 

 bered article on the death of Lincoln da-lu-il 

 off in the first hours after the news of the 

 assassination, and fragrant with feeling. But 

 in the social circle this was still more appar- 

 ent. Those who met him there saw the real 

 kindliness of his genial nature. He was emi- 

 nently social, and his influence in every circle 

 in which he mixed was joyous and inspiring. 

 As a conversationalist he had few equals and no 

 superiors. His sentences sparkled withwitand 

 gems of thought, of which he was apparently 

 wholly unconscious. There was no touch of 

 rujM-rity. If the leader seemed icy and sharp, 

 its impression was here dissolved in sunshine. 

 In that field, Mr. Cassidy was peculiarly fasci- 

 nating. His wit, and knowledge, and culture, 

 inadu him the chief figure. Mr. Cassidy 

 seemed indifferent to official honors. His ca- 

 reer was that of the political editor. Ho 

 helped to make and unmake men. He lifted 

 others from obscurity to renown; but he 

 sought none of the honors of public station 

 for himself. For thirty years he had been a 

 prominent figure in the politics of the State, 

 lint the only public position he held was that of 

 member of the Constitutional Convention of 

 1867, and of the similar commission which 

 now monrns his loss. 



CENTRAL AMERICA rCEXTizo-AMfeRioA) 



comprises the five independent republics of 



Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, San S:il- 



>;-, and Costa Rica. After these states 



shook off the yoke of Spain, and asserted their 

 independence, in 1821, they established a 

 confederacy named the Republic of Central 

 America; which, however, was, by reason of 

 internecine dissensions, dismembered in 1839. 

 Ineffectual efforts were made in 1842, and 

 again in 1847, to restore the Union ; and in 

 1849 commissioners from the different coun- 

 tries assembled at Leon, Nicaragua, and agreed 

 upon a basis of reunion to be called the " Na- 

 tional Representation of Central America." 

 This assembly afterward met at Tegucigalpa, 

 Honduras, in 1852, but was dissolved, owing 

 to the refusal of some of the states to send 

 delegates. The last attempt at reconstruction 

 took place on February 17, 1872, when minis- 

 ters plenipotentiary from four of the republics 

 met in conference in La Union, San Salvador. 

 Nicaragua was not represented at that con- 

 ference.* Since that time events have trans- 

 pired of a nature to retard, at least, the re- 

 alization of the project, although the latter is 

 eagerly desired by, and seriously occupies the 

 attention of, most of the leadingmen in Central 

 America, who are aware that thereupon de- 

 pends the permanent welfare of that distracted 

 country 



One obstacle to the formation of the Union 

 is the difficulty to find a constitution at once 

 agreeable to each individual state, and favor- 

 able to the interests of all ; a difficulty which 

 might nevertheless be easily overcome, did 

 not others of a graver character stand in the 

 way. The vexed question of territorial limits 

 between Costa Rica and Nicaragua may in all 

 probability not be settled without an appeal 

 to arms, in spite of the disastrous results 

 which must attend such an issue, especially 

 for the former of these two powers ; for Costa 

 Rica has more at stake at the present time, 

 in material progress, national credit, and na- 

 tional honor, than any other of the Central 

 American states. None would suffer so much 

 in the event of hostilities, nor would any 

 gain so much from the establishment of the 

 confederation against which she alone now 

 raises a dissenting voice. Nicaragua, in com- 

 mon with the other Spanish-American re- 

 publics, had her share of the political strife 

 and social perturbations which succeeded the 

 epoch of independence, nor was her experience 

 as a member of the first Central-American 

 Union more enviable than that of Costa Rica; 

 and, notwithstanding, and spite of her satis- 

 faction with, the present order of things, she 

 is now willing to unite with the sister states. 

 This readiness on the part of Nicaragua to re- 

 enter the Union is rather a mark of true 

 patriotism, and far-seeing policy, than of mere 

 selfish ambition ; for, with a fertile soil, 

 watered by a river and lake system the most 

 extensive in Central America, and the only 

 one offering adequate facilities for internal 

 navigation ; and the prospect, besides, of see- 



* For the stipulations agreed upon, tee the ANNUAL 

 Dii for 1872. 



