gainst the Republic of Nicaragua, that on the
18th of September, Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, issued a circular
letter, warning all persons against setting on foot such expeditions,
and urging all officers of the United States to enforce the provisions
of the law cited by him, to prevent such expeditions "so manifestly
prejudicial to the national character and so injurious to the
national interests."

A copy of this circular was transmitted to Commodore Paulding, for
his guidance, by the Secretary of the Navy, and he was required to
regard the instruction contained in it as addressed to himself.
Commodore Chatard was suspended for failing to arrest Walker within
the port of San Juan. Commodore Paulding arrived at San Juan on
the 6th day of December. Walker and his men were in sight on shore,
at Punta Arenas, opposite San Juan. This point, though within the
limits of Nicaragua, has been successively claimed and occupied by
Costa Rica, Nicaragua and the so-called Mosquito Kingdom, under
British protection. It was an almost deserted point, to which a
British subject had set up a doubtful title, founded upon a purchase
from a pilot of the port of San Juan. Its occupants were engaged
as a military force, and were then waging war against the existing
government of Nicaragua--a government with which ours was at peace,
and one so weak that it was inhuman to fight it. Although freshly
landed from our shores, in violation of our laws, and controlling
no spot except that they occupied--receiving, so far as we know,
no accession or aid from the natives of the country, they issued
orders and manifestoes headed;

"Headquarters Army of Nicaragua,
Punta Arenas, December 2, 1857."

Their leader signed these orders:

"William Walker,
Commander-in-Chief, Army of Nicaragua."

There was no doubt that the expedition was the very one denounced
by the Secretary of State in the circular, and by the Secretary of
the Navy in his orders, for Walker and his men sought no disguise.

Under these circumstances, Commodore Paulding arrested Walker and
his men and returned them to the jurisdiction of the United States.
This brief and imperfect sketch of the voluminous majority and
minority reports of the committee will convey but a faint idea of
the excitement created by this arrest. An attempt was made to
censure Commodore Paulding, but it utterly failed. The purpose of
Walker was to seize Nicaragua, adopt slavery and conve