336 



HONDURAS. 



were supposed to be waiting in Jamaica for a fa- 

 vorable opportunity to land in Hayti and organ- 

 ize a revolution, all working in harmony for the 

 overthrow of Hippolyte, on the understanding 

 that the people should freely choose a President 

 from among them, and that the other two should 

 have the most lucrative and important posts 

 under him. Gen. Manigat was the favorite can- 

 didate, and a plot to oust Hippolyte in his favor 

 was discovered, in which members of the Cabinet 

 and officers of the navy were supposed to be im- 

 plicated. On Dec. 2 an attempt was made to 

 kill President Hippolyte by three men, who were 

 caught and immediately shot. Hippolyte's Gov- 

 ernment had a controversy with the United 

 States because an American citizen, Frederick 

 Mevs, was arrested on a charge of smuggling, 

 and kept in jail without trial for twenty days, 

 though Dr. Terres, the American charg6 d'af- 

 faires demanded his release. 



HOLLAND. See NETHERLANDS. 



HONDURAS, a republic in Central America. 

 The Constitution, as amended in 1880, vests the 

 legislative authority in a Congress consisting of 

 a single chamber of 37 Deputies. The executive 

 head of the Republic is the President, who is 

 elected by the suffrage of the people, and ap- 

 points his ministers independently of Congress. 

 Gen. Ponciano Leiva was elected President on 

 Nov. 10, 1801. There is a regular armed force 

 of about 500 men and 20,000 militia. 



Area and Population. The republic has 

 an area of 46,400 square miles. The population, 

 consisting of aboriginal Indians, except in some 

 of the towns and in the tobacco-growing dis- 

 tricts, where there are descendants of the Spanish 

 conquerors, numbered 431,917 in 1889. Tegu- 

 cigalpa, the capital, has 12,600 inhabitants. It 

 is situated nearly midway between the two 

 coasts, and has very imperfect communications 

 with the sea. The interoceanic railroad which 

 is to be constructed from Puerto Cortez, on the 

 Gulf of Mexico, to Arnapala, a port on the 

 Pacific, will pass through the city, and is ex- 

 pected to give a great impulse to agricultural 

 production and commerce and to the develop- 

 ment of the neglected mineral resources of the 

 country. The Government does much for educa- 

 tion, and the country is provided with two uni- 

 versities, several colleges, and 600 primary 

 schools, with 23,000 pupils in attendance. 



Finances. The strife of factions and wars 

 with the neighboring republics have unsettled 

 the financial condition of the Government, 

 though some improvement was made during the 

 administration of President Bogran. The reve- 

 nue for the two years 1887-'88 was $2,814,264, 

 compared with $2,596,936 for the preceding 

 biennial period, and the expenditure was $2,- 

 826,532. For the year 1889 the receipts were 

 $1,432,522, and the disbursements $1,385,000. 

 For several years fresh loans have been required 

 in order to balance the accounts. The revenue 

 is obtained chiefly from customs and internal- 

 revenue duties. On the foreign debt, consisting 

 of 3,222,000 borrowed in England and 2.176,- 

 570 raised in France, there were arrears of in- 

 terest amounting to 7,645,518 in 1891, none 

 having been paid since 1872. 



Commerce and Production. The customs 

 revenue is farmed out to private persons, who 



make no trustworthy reports regarding the im- 

 ports or exports, because they do not wish to 

 disclose the amount of their receipts. The im- 

 ports consist mainly of cotton cloth, silks, and 

 hardware. The exports for the year ending 

 July 31, 1888, were valued at $3,350,664, of 

 which $2,790,405 went to the United States, 

 $367,599 to Central American republics, $105,- 

 088 to England, $81,566 to France, and $6,003 

 to Germany. The exports of vegetable products 

 amounted to $1,122,716 ; of animal products 

 and manufactures, $376,645 ; of minerals, ex- 

 clusive of gold and silver, $1,673,449: of pre- 

 cious metals, $78,853. The largest exports are 

 cattle, bananas, mahogany, hides and deer skins, 

 and India rubber. During 1887 there were 139 

 vessels, of 59,723 tons, entered at the ports. 

 There are 1,800 miles of telegraph. The only 

 completed railroad is one 37 miles long connect- 

 ing Puerto Cortez, the starting-point of the pro- 

 jected interoceanic line, with the San Pedro 

 Sula. Another line is planned which will tap 

 the rich fruit-growing districts of the north 

 coast, and put them in communication with the 

 New Orleans steamship lines at Puerto Cortez. 



Revolutionary Uprising 1 . Gen. Luis Bogran 

 retired from his second term as President in 

 November, 1891. He was urged to accept a third 

 term, but believed that the precedents of the 

 United States, after whose Constitution and 

 customs the political system of Honduras is 

 modeled, ought to be followed. His late Secre- 

 tary of War, Gen. Ponciano Leiva, was elected 

 to succeed him by a majority of the popular 

 votes over Policarpo Bonilla. Gen. Bogran, 

 who was in bad health, abandoned the presi- 

 dential chair in favor of Leiva a short time before 

 his term had expired. The Cabinet constituted 

 in January, 1892, contained the following mem- 

 bers : Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Jeronimo 

 Zelaya; Minister of Home Affairs, Dr. Bendana; 

 Minister of Finance, Col. Vidaureta ; Minister 

 of War, Gen. Alvarado; Minister of Public 

 Works, Ponetano Planas; Minister of Justice 

 and Public Instruction, Dr. Zuniga. 



There was considerable opposition to the new 

 administration in Choluteca and elsewhere. On 

 May 13 the defeated candidate, Bonilla, at- 

 tempted a revolution. Gen. Manuel Bonilla, 

 coming from Guatemala, took possession of the 

 customhouse at Puerto Cortez on May 18, and 

 demanded the surrender of the Cuartel. The 

 commander refused to surrender, and when 

 Bonilla attacked the Cuartel he was defeated, 

 with the loss of several officers and men, 'and 

 fled with his broken force in canoes to Living- 

 ston, Guatemala. The plot to seize the Cuartel 

 in the capital was revealed to the Government, 

 and Policarpo Bonilla, Gen. Dionicio Guiteirez, 

 Dr. Enrique Lozano, and others were banished 

 from the country. In Choluteca Gen. Lerencio 

 Sierra raised a force of 1,400 men and proclaimed 

 Bonilla President. Bonilla's friends claimed 

 that the Liberal party had been victorious in 

 the presidential election, but that the officials 

 had suppressed the true returns, and Congress 

 had made a fraudulent canvass. Gov. Domingo 

 Vasquez, at the head of the Government troops, 

 attacked Sierra's forces in the mountains, and 

 drove them into Nicaragua. 



Gen. Roque L. Munoz, who was appointed 



