345 
Chap. XXI.—B.P.] U.S.S. CYANE AND C.S.S. ALABAMA. 
decencies upon the Mosquito flag for having a Union 
Jack in its upper canton, and upon the English flag 
itself for being mixed up with that of Mosquito. 
This act was followed by the usual “bullying and 
cajolery,” but no redress has been obtained to this 
day. The pecuniary loss has never been recovered, 
but a salve has been administered to the wounded feel¬ 
ings of those interested by a contemplation of the pro¬ 
ceedings of the Alabama; which vessel, without de¬ 
stroying any defenceless town of the United States, 
inflicted a righteous retribution on that Great Nation 
for the part it bore in the ruin and misery with which 
Greytown was visited by its orders. 
The subsequent history of the place has been that 
of disorder, turmoil, and bloodshed, so constant as 
to be utterly incompatible with its commercial re¬ 
covery or even the steady continuance of the transit. 
The rival parties have not only themselves fought out 
their quarrel to its bitter end, but have contrived 
to drag all the Central American States into it. They 
have instigated a very bloody revolution in Nicaragua 
which led to an eruption of filibusters, thus bringing 
its nationality to the very verge of destruction; and, 
finally, under pretence of improving, they have ma¬ 
naged most effectually to destroy a great high-road 
into the interior of the country ; I mean the river San 
Juan, by hastening the silting up of its lower arm and 
harbour, so that what was, twenty years ago, a navi¬ 
gable channel and excellent seaport, is now a mere 
driblet and shallow lagoon. Such has Greytown now 
become by a policy disgraceful at once to the age and 
