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ing into the Lands of the filibusters by the accident of having taken a difterent road on his return. During this visit to San Márcos, Colonel Lopez avowed that the destruction of the "Cafetal Juarez" had been effected pursuant to orders of President Barrios, but he came to an understanding, apparently amicable, with Mr. Romero, as to the future conduct to be observed by both parties.
Since Mr. Romero could not be proved to be directly responsible for the filibustering expedition in question. General Barrios afterward undertook to hold him indirectly responsible, as having been the adviser of the sending of a Mexican federal garrison to Tapachula. It is true that, as early as September, 1871, before having visited Soconusco, Mr. Romero suggested, in an official document, the sending of such a force, and that, during the early part of his residence in Tapachula (September, 1873), he repeated the suggestion. This was, perhaps, the cause of the sending of the first installment of federal troops, consisting of but sixty men, who arrived in November, 1873. Unfortunately, through the ignorance and inaptitude of their commander. Captain Tellez, these men were, for the most part, seduced into the filibustering expedition against Guatemala, as above mentioned. The plan of sending such a force had, however, been warmly approved by General Barrios in letters to Mr. Romero. After the events above referred to, Mr. Romero solicited the sending of a more numerous federal force, under an officer of greater intelligence and confidence. In fact, a small battalion of federal infantry was sent from Acapulco, under the orders of Lieutenant-Colonel Antonio Ponce de Leon, and arrived in Tapachula early in September, 1874. That officer had instruc-
