NICARAGUAN REVOLT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 730, 1 February 1910, Page 5

NICARAGUAN REVOLT.

...; EXECUTION OF AMERICANS. '.''• A'.- COURT-MAETIAL ACQUITS THE ; '■; ;.' :, OFFICERS;!: v; -i V.," By TelccraDh-Press AESociation-OoDyrieht. ■ . ■■■':,.' -.':.■' London,.January 30.V , In connection-with charges arising out of the execution of; the two Americans, Groce and Cannon, captured by the forces of ex-President Zelaya, while. they were serving, with the .rovolutionanes, news has. been 'received that a courtmarHal in Nicaragua .acquitted General Median, .and others "'charged;' . ,

"AMERICAN-MADE REBELLIONS."

SOLIDIERS OF FORTUNE-HOW THE r :.. ; ; .GAM IS;PLATED. ..- ■

Leroy. Cannon,. 29 years old/a native of Uarnsburg, /Pemisylvania, ■ United States, tad. been:'for- some.-.years ;in Central and he owned n plantation near tne capital, Managua/ Involved in a revolution m Honduras 'a: year'.or two belore, ho narrowly escaped execution, and he iiad practically:, been, driven , .out■■■ of Nicaragua by Zolaya. Leonard Groce, 32 .years of age, a native'of Texas, X3nited htates, had mado a fortune, in mines, and lt; was alleged, in tho'. United .States .that A:laya had persecuted him for the pur-: P °S ?5 sotting his money;. While acting with the Nicaraguan revolutionary forces in :November, they .were , captured by the tiovernment forces 'near Greytmvh, and were ;Shofc. It was alleged in the United orntos that the. execufioDS were carried out nnder. the personal orders: of Zelaya and against l the advice.of some of his of- , ■.' ':.■'■■ / ■' ■' >.■■■' •■■ . v ..

The Prisoners, Laid Mines. '■', : .: _It is,.stated that oni.'November, 20 President Maya cabled his side of tho case to a' New York-paper, in the. following .terms:—"The revolutionists occu-pied-a strong position:at the mouth of the,Eiver,San Juan, with a , view, to blow: up the ■ steamers .conveying' Government, troops. Ono-miho-was exploded near tho Diamante, which .'had-. 500. Soldiers on board.; Cannon and Groce.were captured 111 the: ndaud they-confessed voluntarily their, giiilti .They wore'-tried by coiirtmartial, were giveii-.every legal privilege to introduce an ample defence, and'scnteuce was.pronounced'according'to ■. the , military .code. '.Cannon';had. taken. pqrHti various revolutions.since 1897.V:The.Government, of-Honduras.'pardbhedhim on the; express condition that ho would abstain in. future from Central' American civil trouhles. ,When:, Cannon, and Groce were ■' captured they ..were serving as - officers with' the .revolutionists.",..', : . ;'/,'■

;" .;('•-;:'■■'■■, On December-i-thV United States Government sent ihe. Nicaraguan Charge d'Af--1 aires Uus passports, .': emphasising that the. executed. Americans.; were-' "officers connected with;the.revolutionary : forces, and, .therefore, entitled to bo 'dealt with -according to the ■ enlightened practice of civilised nations." .The outcome.was that Zelaya renounced the Presidency'. , .'But in doing so he fired tho following . parting shot:^ —, '• ■ ■ *' ~,'. :v ■: ~- y. .. ; "Defenceless against , the hostility" of a powerful nation, I must'submit,; although I have been condemned unheard. This coercion of. the United States will not re-dound-to the credit of that nation, whoso motives are .'.-questioned,- in , all- -Latin America.'-.The ;shooting^ of- Groco. and Cannon is used as a pretext. ; . Bbtli were amenable to tlio .law of Nicaragua,, which distinctly authorises .the;, shooting of in-' dividuals commanding, rebels. ■• It is different if a person is captured during the course ! of an : international war.: ..The attempt'of Secretary Knox to.establish the inviolability of the-pprsons of: Americans' participating-.- in . foreign, revolutions .will result in .constant, revolutions, :: led'. by immune. Americans. Initiative .in , tho shooting of Groce, and Cannon" was''not mine. I simply refused, to extend'clem-ency-to them after a proporiy'constihited military tribunal had passed upon tho case." . ■■■■ , .•■-.- ■■ .- .'•-■•: v, .:,.: --.

An Important Distinction. .■:"'■■'. '.;, .."/■'"'," 1 . .■■ In:: view. of this contest - between interested parties, Zelaya-andthß.Washington Government it is worth while quoting a very temperate article -in'the New York weekly, "The Independent," by'. Edwin ■Emerson, a traveller in Central America. He does,not by .any • means'-'find-: .that American hands are. entirely olean. -Mr. Emerson remarks that tho Nicaragiinn trouble • "has focussed attention on the new-diplomacy, of our State Department under the guiding hand . of - Mr.Knox. Santos. Zelaya; the tyrant of- Nicaragua, has long been'a thorh-in the side of our State Department, largely for the reason that, he would not take orders from our Stato Department, ns.transmitted to him' through our diplomatic representative in Nicaragua.: In, this respect.lie .has differed .strikingly'from his most formidable rival::in Contral. vAuujrica—Cabrera ■of Guatemala.. ..This ruler, though ..no loss bloody -a tyrant than Zelaya, • has recognised tho wisdom of 'playing good dog' to American interests in Guatemala. '. ■.. :;■..

Washington's Shifting Policy. '-, ■■,;.. "■ '-■. .: "Hence tho. striking difference, in'-' the treatment of these two potty despots,by our. State .Department.'/ When:. Oabrera" last found himself confronted with.a revolution and civil war, the. Guatemalan revolutionists wore: moved back. from, the Guatemalan border by the: intervention of the 'United' States, aided: by; Mexico. /General , .Leo Christmas, .an American soldier of fortune, operating in Guatemala, was proscribed by Mr. Eoot as an outlaw without a country, who should bo treated as a piratoty any American naval officer who might come across him on tho.higli seas. . Shipments ;; of' arms and munitions of war originating. in Now Orleans. wero promptly, stopped ■-.. by our Federal. :au- ; thorities. .Now, on the other hand, when the object, of; tho revolution was'' not Cabrera-, but his Zelaya,. Ameripan soldiers of. fortune, who have sujl'ered in consequenco of taking part , , in l a .war against, ■ a foreign Government,; nre re-' garded. by: our' State .Department.: as martyrs. Eevolntionary, shipments '■' of arms, so far from being: stopped in Now Orleans, have been directly encdufagctt, whereas othor shipments of ■ arms undertaken :by tho de facto Government of Nicaragua havo been: frustrated. -International-'Ethics. '•'':■■''.".. - i "In plain terms, the latest, revolution, in Nicaragua'has been ah American-mado rovolution, firinnced by American capital, fomented and encouraged by. the''American State Department, and carried on with the connivance and active co-opera-tion of all the American . interests it Bluefields, Greytow'n,' Georgetown, America, and other North American settlements on tho Atlantic coast' ,of Nicar-' agua; aided by Cabrera, of Guatemala. "While the international ethics of such a proceeding, may bo called, in' .question, there'is''no doubt whatever that Zelaya has long deserved his present fate."