HONDURAS. 



353 



pon nor drawing was then forthcoming, but 

 added that such an idea as repudiating the na- 

 tional debt had never for a moment been en- 

 tertained by the Honduras rulers, and that, on 

 the contrary, he could assert, without fear of 

 contradiction, that every exertion had been 

 made to fulfill the financial obligations of the 

 state, and complete the Interoceanic Railway, 

 upon which rested the hopes of both natives 

 and bondholders. He believed that the in- 

 debtedness would be faithfully discharged, if 

 only time were allowed; that all the loans 

 had been raised for the sole purpose of con- 

 structing the railway; and that the Govern- 

 ment had only applied a very small proportion 

 of the funds "to any other purpose than the 

 railway durinjf the five years then elapsed since 

 1867. "The chairman having next replied to 

 certain inquiries made by letter, and adverted 

 to the series of untoward circumstances which 

 had retarded the progress of the railway, 

 enumerated the events which had occurred 

 since the previous meeting, touched upon the 

 opposition he had met with in Paris while en- 

 deavoring to negotiate a new loan there, and 

 read'a statement from the Honduras commis- 

 sioner, Dr. Bernhard, which was regarded as 

 encouraging, and in view of which ''it mitrlit 

 fairly be hoped that the bondholders' interest 

 would not suffer." Dr. Bernhard said that the 

 object of his visit to England was to see the 

 bondholders, and inquire into the possibility 

 of raising the necessary funds in that country; 

 that sixty miles of the railway had been opened 

 to public traffic on November 20,_1872; and 

 that, for the second and third sections, thirty 

 to thirty-four miles of rails were ready, as were 

 the locomotives. He added that there 

 was no lack of passengers and goods traffic to 

 support the line, and that of copper there 

 was an inexhaustible supply, bnt no means of 

 carrying it to the coast. A committee of exami- 

 nation was then appointed, composed of Messrs. 

 Fitzgerald, Armstrong, Sickles (U. S.), Hig- 

 gins, and Seymour, Major-General Course, of 

 the D. S. Artillery, and others. 



By way of contrast to the foregoing reports, 

 it may not be inopportune to state here that 

 the general tone of the Panama and Central 

 American press does not tend to confirm the 

 statement of Captain Pirn, but rather to show 

 that the people of Honduras have made up 

 their minds that the railway and the railway 

 loan in a grand enterprise, cunningly set on foot 

 by the Government for its own special benefit. 



The Panama Star and Herald, of June 

 17th, has the following extract from aComa- 

 y.iu'iia. journal: 



'The credit of Honduras was guaranteed in Europe 

 for 5,000,000, intended to be devoted entirely to 

 the building of the railroad. But, to the question, 

 where are the accounts of the trustees appointed in 

 London by the Government of Medina, and Mr. 

 Gutierrn his minister, who were to manage them ? 

 Echo answers where 1 If General Medina, in the 

 name of the republic, was the contractor, and the 

 committee in London the administrators of the funds, 

 and these funds have neither been employed for the 

 VOL. xui. 23 A 



benefit of the country, nor kept subject to the order 

 of the Government as they ought to be, then these 

 funds can only exist in the power of those agents ; 

 or if not, why, in the interest of their good names, 

 have they refused to present the accounts for which 

 they have been so repeatedly asked, at least ever 

 since 18691 



In a leader on the invasion of Honduras (the 

 incidents of which we shall relate below), 

 published by the same Panama sheet, under 

 date July 3d, are the following paragraphs : 



This unfortunate section of Central America (Hon- 

 duras) seems destined never to get free from being 

 the tool and plaything of ambitious demagogues 

 and interested financial speculators. 



Ex-President Medina and his financial agent, Don 

 Curios Gutierrez, under whose auspices the notorious 

 scheme of the Interoceanic Railway was set afloat, 

 now see their sins brought to the light of day by dis- 

 coveries made by the provisional Government. In a 

 pamphlet printed in San Miguel, and written in 

 Comayagua, in defense of Don JustoBuseso, reasons 

 are given for showing that Senor Gutierrez has been 

 the gainer by the discredit of his country in the am- 

 ple sum of 140,000. 



At a meeting of Honduras bondholders held in 

 London, on November 24th, to receive the final re- 



Eort of the committee, the chairman, Mr. Digby 

 eymour, Q. C., stated that, a firm of railway con- 

 tractors in Kentucky having entered into a contract 

 to finish the Interoceanic Kailway at a cost of 2,500,- 

 000, the bondholders would be called upon to sub- 

 scribe 500,000 of that sum (including 50,000 

 already subscribed by the committee), and the con- 

 tractors would furnish the balance of 2,000,000 on 

 the company's debentures at ten per cent. This 

 scheme being approved, resolutions were passed to 

 the effect that 



1. This meeting approves and confirms the rec- 

 ommendations of the committee of bondholders, 

 and the bondholders present pledge themselves to 

 use their best efforts to promote the success of the 

 proposed Interoceanic Railway Company (limited). 



2. That the committee be requested to hold their 

 present office during the construction of the railway, 

 and to act as provisional directors of the proposed 

 company during that period. 



8. That the committee be empowered to apply to 

 the contractors for the original loans, or some of 

 them, to defray the reasonable expenses of the com- 

 mittee, the issuing of the debentures, and registra- 

 tion of the Interoceanic Railway Company (limited), 

 and relating thereto. 



About the beginning of January, disturbances 

 were produced by a band of assassins and incendi- 

 aries in the department of Choluteca. From subse- 

 quent report and private letters received in Salvador, 

 it was seen that these were isolated acts of robbers, 

 without being connected with any political or party 

 movement. The Government kept up an active pur- 

 suit of the outlaws, and those caught were severely 

 punished. 



In February, the columns of the official or- 

 gan were taken up with decisions relative to 

 the French claim of $20,000 against Honduras 

 for the piratical capture of a French vessel in 

 the port of Omoa, by General Antonio Medina, 

 when he was in command of the San Salvador 

 troops that effected the overthrow of Presi- 

 dent Jos6 Maria Medina. 



The same journal chronicled the defeat, in 

 the first week of February, of a party of rebels 

 in the Cerron. They fled in all directions, 

 leaving behind them a number of Chassepot 

 and Remington rifles. 



The death of General Rafael Osorio, which 



