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Page 4
* * * * *
Central America is in a very disturbed condition once more.
Revolutions are in progress, or have just been suppressed in Guatemala,
Costa Rica, and Nicaragua; and Honduras is again in an unsettled state.
In addition to this, there is bad feeling between Costa Rica and
Nicaragua, which may break out into war at any moment.
As this last quarrel concerns the Nicaraguan Canal, in which our country
is so much interested, it is perhaps better to tell you about it before
we speak of the more serious troubles in Guatemala.
The cause of the unpleasantness between Nicaragua and Costa Rica is the
boundary line which divides them.
This boundary question involves the mouth of the Nicaragua Canal.
In 1858 it was agreed between the two countries that the channel of the
Rio San Juan del Norte at its exit into the ocean should be the dividing
line between them.
Owing to changes of current and other causes, the course of this river
has changed, until it is now several miles farther south than it was in
1858.
Costa Rica claimed that the boundary should be the spot where the old
channel was; Nicaragua, that the treaty called for the channel of the
river where it emptied itself into the sea, and that therefore the new
mouth of the river is the boundary.
It is a serious matter for Nicaragua, for the opening to the Nicaragua
Canal on the Atlantic Ocean side is through the Rio San Juan del Norte.
If Costa Rica were to own the mouth of the canal while Nicaragua owns
its body, there would be no end to the complications and troubles which
would arise.
The matter was therefore submitted to arbitration, President Cleveland
appointing the arbitrator.
The decision has just been rendered, and is against Costa Rica. The
arbitrator decides that the old treaty holds good, and that the boundary
line of Nicaragua is the channel of the river as it flows into the
ocean, and that no matter how far the Rio San Juan del Norte creeps down
into Costa Rican territory, Nicaragua will always own to the channel
where it flows into the sea.
Costa Rica is of course angry that the decision was against her, and she
may try to secure her lost territory by force of arms.
This is the Nicaraguan and Costa Rican trouble. The disturbance in
Guatemala is in the shape of a revolution, which, if the accounts we
hear are true, is of a serious nature.
We have told you before of the many revolutions that are constantly
taking place in South America, and that the people have become so
accustomed to them that they take very little notice of such things, and
no one regards a Central American revolution as a serious affair.
Now while it is amusing to make fun of these toy revolutions, some of
the best people of the country suffer severely through them, and to
these people they are very real and terrible. Those who suffer most are
the merchants. During the disturbances caused by constant changes of
government, trade cannot properly flourish, and many of the merchants of
Central America wish heartily that a means may be found to restore order
and give them a government which will be likely to last.
Some time ago a plan was made to form the five republics of Guatemala,
Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica into one republic, under
one government.
At this time Mexico objected to the plan. She was afraid that a strong
republic at her doors might give her more trouble than she was likely to
have from the five weak little countries.
Attempts were made to carry the plan through, but it was finally
abandoned.
It was not, however, forgotten, and in January of this year the first
step was taken toward such an arrangement, by the union of Nicaragua,
Honduras, and Salvador, forming together the Greater Republic of Central
America. It was hoped that Guatemala and Costa Rica would also join in,
and in June of this year Guatemala did join the other republics.
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